Israel, men, women, children, and the strangers that were within their gates." And not only this; but mark, 3rdly, the result which was to ensue, as in the former case; "that hearing they may learn and fear the Lord-that their children who are now ignorant, may hear and fear," &c. Why, Sir, we hear a vast deal about the obscurity of the word of God, but in this passage we find that the reading of the law, the written law, which was thus commanded, was the very thing to preserve them from ignorance, and to lead them into the fear of the Lord.

I shall now call your attention to the book of Joshua, chap. i. verse 8:

"Let not the book of this law depart from thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate on it day and night, that thou mayest observe and do all things that are written in it; THEN shalt thou direct thy way, and understand it."

First of all, here is a negative exhortation, if I may so speak, to Joshua-he was not to neglect the written law. There is, 2ndly, a positive exhortation-he was not only not to neglect, but he was to meditate on it. I cannot imagine how he could meditate on the law without exercising that judgment which God had given him. Then, 3rdly, it was the written law, because it is said, that he might "do all things that are written therein"-not all those things conveyed by oral tradition, but all those things "written therein." And, 4thly, what was to be the result in Joshua's case? I suppose he was not to understand the law? -the law would be too obscure for him? but what says the Lord? "THEN shalt thou direct thy way, and understand it."

Now we shall turn to the second book of Chronicles, or, as it is called in the Roman Catholic Bible, (from which, I beg to say, I have quoted all these passages) the second book of Paralipomenon, chap. xvii. verse 7-9:

"In the third year of his reign (that is, of Jehoshaphat's) he sent of his princes, Benhail, and Abdias, and Zacharias, and Nathanael, and Micheas, to teach in the cities of Juda ; and with them the Levites, Semeias, and Nathanias, and Zabadias, and Asael, and Semiramoth, and Jonathan, and Adonias, and Tobias, and Thobadonias, Levites, and with them Elisama and Joram, priests. And they taught the people in Juda, having with them the book of the law of the Lord."

Here is a fact recorded in the history of Jehoshaphat, and mark you, 1st, that when these individuals were sent about to teach the people, the rule that they carried with them was the written law-it was not a supposed infallible authority with which they as a body of men were invested, but it was the written law, for the text says, "they had

with them the book of the law of the Lord."

And it is a

very remarkable thing also to notice, 2ndly, that laymen, as well as priests, were included in the commission, because we find in the 7th verse that he sent several princes, as well as Levites and priests, to teach the people out of the law of the Lord.

In the 34th chapter of the same book, ver. 29-33, we read thus :

"And he (that is, Josiah the King) called together all the ancients of Juda and Jerusalem, and went up to the house of the Lord, and all the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Priests and the Levites, and all the people from the least to the greatest. And the King read in their hearing in the house of the Lord all the words of the book. And standing up in his tribunal, he made a covenant before the Lord to walk after him, and keep his commandments, and testimonies, and justifications, with all his heart, and with all his soul, and to do the things that were written in that book which he had read. And he adjured all that were found in Jerusalem and Benjamin to do the same: and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of the Lord the God of their fathers. And Josias took away all the abominations out of all the countries of the children of Israel: and made all that were left in Israel, to serve the Lord their God. As long as he lived they departed not from the Lord the God of their fathers."

Upon this circumstance, recorded in the history of Josiah, let me make one or two remarks. First of all, be it observed of this passage, as of others to which I have referred, that the law was to be for all the people, for the words are, "all the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Priests and the Levites, and all the people from the least to the greatest." ver. 30. It was thus to be for all the people, no matter how ignorant they were in this world's knowledge; and I cannot understand, if the people of old were to have the written law, which was not half so plain as the New Testament, why the people of the present day should be afraid to follow the direction of the written word of God. 2ndly, It was not the Priests merely who were to read the law to the people, but laymen too, even the King. 3rdly, Observe it is not oral tradition of which the passage speaks, but the written law for what did Josiah say to the people? He exhorted them "to do the things that were written in that book which he had read." Josiah was a good King, and the only law to which he referred was that "written in the book;" and he not only read it for himself, and kept those sayings, but he "adjured all those in Jerusalem and Benjamin to do the same:" he told all the people to attend to the written law, and therefore he recognised it as the supreme rule that they were to follow. 4thly, What was the result of all this? We often hear that men, acting according to this obscure and unin

telligible book (as it is called), namely, the Bible, get into strange notions, and a variety of other things are said respecting it, upon which I shall not dwell; but this was not the case with Josiah, for we find he had a clear knowledge of the things that were written. And what was the effect? First of all, he expelled idolatry-" he took away all the abominations out of the countries of the children of Israel ;” and, secondly, they were preserved during his whole life by an adherence to the written law; for, “ as long as he lived," says the last verse," they departed not from the law of the God of their fathers."

I have only one more passage to which I shall refer, at present, out of the Old Testament; it is contained in Isaiah xxxiv. 16-it is a short passage, but it says much.

"Search ye diligently in the book of the Lord, and read."

To what were the Israelites here directed, in order to find out any truth of God? They were directed, I suppose, to a living, speaking, infallible tribunal? I do not read anything about that. They were directed to follow oral tradition? Not a word about that-but they were directed to follow the written law:-" Search ye diligently in the book of the Lord, and read." It was not merely to be casually read, without the exercise of the judgment upon it, but they were to "search it diligently;" and, I am sure, they found the more diligently they searched, the more were they preserved from error. But so far, I think, this is distinctly established, that the written law was the only one which the Jewish Church had :—if they had another law, let us be told where it was, and let our opponents produce the evidence upon it.

Now, I proceed to another observation, which establishes, in my mind, that the written word is to be regarded as the only Rule of Faith. OUR LORD AND HIS APOSTLES invariably referred to the written word as the standard of appeal. I shall read some passages from the New Testament on this subject; and the first to which I shall refer, is the account of the temptation of our Lord in the wilderness, as related in Matthew, chap. iv.

"Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert, to be tempted by the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards he was hungry. And the tempter coming, said to him, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread." v. 1, 2, 3.

Here was the first temptation by Satan; and how did our Lord overcome him? Simply by the testimony of the written word of God-he referred to nothing else—

"Jesus answered and said, IT IS WRITTEN, Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God."-(v. 4.) The devil still thought he had some hope, and we find he came with a second temptation :

"Then the devil took him up into the holy city, and set him upon a pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down, for it is written, that he hath given his angels charge over thee, and in their hands shall they bear thee up, lest, perhaps, thou dash thy foot against a stone."-v. 5, 6.

Now, if there were another law, to which our Lord might have referred, doubtless, when it appears that Satan did not give way after the first temptation, we might expect that our Lord would have referred to it; but this was not the case; he referred to the very same law as before— "Jesus said to him, IT IS WRITTEN, again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."-v. 7. The devil made a third attempt: :

Again the devil took him up into a very high mountain; and shewed him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them. And said unto him, all these will I give thee, if, falling down, thou wilt adore me."-v. 8, 9.

What was Christ's answer? Then Jesus saith to him, "Begone, Satan, for IT IS WRITTEN, The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and him only shalt thou serve.”—v. 10. Here are three attempts of Satan to seduce our Lord; and in each of the three cases, he was overcome by the simple testimony of the written word of God; and the consequence was, that "the devil left him, and angels came and ministered unto him."-v. 11.

The 21st chapter of Matthew, contains the next passage to which I shall refer, the 15th and 16th verses:

"And the chief Priests and Scribes seeing the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David, were moved with indignation, and said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus said unto them, Yea, have you never read, out of the mouths of infants and of sucklings thou hast perfected praise?"

Here was a recognition of the written law, as the only one to which the people had access, and by which they were guided; and our Lord appeals to it in attestation of the circumstances that had taken place. He did not say, have you never heard, by tradition, conveyed from generation to generation? Have you never heard from a supreme infallible tribunal, the Jewish Priesthood? but, have you never read?—it is the written word he produces as a testimony.

A similar case occurs in the 42d verse of the same chapter,

where, after the perusal of a parable, which was especially directed against the Jewish Priests, and the Pharisees, we read as follows:

"Jesus saith unto them: Have you never read in the Scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner ?"

There was a subject which vitally concerned the essentials of religion. It was about Christ himself-the chief corner-stone of his Church-the very and eternal God -and whence did our Lord derive proof of what he said on this subject? Not from tradition-not from an infallible tribunal among the Jews-if such there was-but from the written word- "Have you never read, &c. ?"

The next passage is in the 22d chapter of Matthew; and this is a very remarkable chapter. I shall read the entire passage, beginning at the 23rd verse.

"That day-there came to him the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, and asked him, saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no son, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up issue to his brother. Now, there were with us seven brethren; and the first, having married a wife, died; and not having issue, left his wife to his brother. In like manner, the second, and the third, and so on to the seventh. And last of all, the woman died also. At the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of the seven shall she be ?for they all had her. And Jesus, answering, said unto them, You err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they shall neither marry nor be married, but shall be as the angels of God in Heaven. And concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read that which was spoken by God, saying unto you, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. And the multitudes hearing it, were in admiration at his doctrine. But the Pharisees, hearing that he had silenced the Sadducees, came together, &c."

Now, attend to this very remarkable circumstance,1st. The Sadducees had fallen into error-they denied the resurrection. I know that some people tell us, that the reason of that error, was, because they rejected tradition, and I read this statement in a publication very lately. I think, however, our Lord was of a different opinion, because he said, " you err," not because you neglect tradition, but "not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God." Then mark, 2ndly, how our Lord proves the doctrine that was denied. He proves it simply by a reference to the Scriptures:-" And concerning the resurrection of the dead"-the very doctrine about which they were in error"have you not read that which was spoken by God, saying to you," and then he refers to a passage in the 3rd chapter of Exodus, and thus proves the resurrection of the dead from the written word, and not from any other authority. 3rdly, What was the effect of all this? The Bible is, we are told, a dumb judge-its testimony will never lead a man