Haggai. He is the longest (the most lengthy) and the most obscure of all the minor prophets. His style is interrupted and without connexion. But his prophecies concerning Christ are more particular and express than those of the other prophets of his time." The light of prophecy was now like that of an almost expiring lamp, or of a flickering taper, which often brightens just as it is about to expire.

MALACHI. This is the last of the Jewish prophets. Not only the spirit of Hebrew poetry, but even the elegance of their language, was now on the decline. In a few years, they both expired. Malachi however, notwithstanding this, spoke clearly of the coming of the Messiah, and of his forerunner, John the Baptist. (Chap. iii. 1; iv. 5.)

LECTURE V.

ON THE DIVINE INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES.

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God."2 Tim. iii. 15.

As the writings of the New Testament are so well known, it is thought unnecessary in this place to give a description of them; but we will now enter more particularly upon the question of the Divine inspiration of the whole Bible.

1. It will not be denied, that the whole nation of the Jews, from the time of Moses to the time of Christ, believed in the divine inspiration of their sacred books; and it must be confessed that they had greater opportunities of satisfying themselves of the truth of this, than any unbeliever at this day has of proving the contrary. We therefore fearlessly assert that such a belief obtained in the time of our Saviour, that it was well founded, and that it is impossible for any one to prove that the scriptures of the Old Testament were not divinely inspired. Suppose, for example, what no one can deny, that these books were in ex

istence in the time of Christ, and that in them were contained prophecies respecting his birth, ministry, miracles, and death; who will be so bold as to deny that these predictions were given by inspiration of God? The Jews indeed refused to apply them to Christ, but this was no proof of their wisdom; it was their sin, and their folly; but though they were guilty in rejecting Christ, they never, as a nation, denied the inspiration of their sacred books.

2. It must be acknowledged that the whole Christian world, both Catholic and Protestant, and every sect among Protestants believe the same, and if the Protestants refuse to admit the divine inspiration of every book claimed to be canonical by the Catholics, this shows that they have examined the question thoroughly, and have not decided thereon, on slight and equivocal grounds. And if on the other hand, the Protestants profess a higher regard for the scriptures than for the authorities of the church, this proves that they believe in their divine authority and inspiration.

3. Among both Catholics and Protestants, there have not been wanting men of the profoundest erudition, who have examined this qestion with a diligence and patience of research, worthy of the highest praise. Witness the labors of Eusebius, Origen, Jerome, and a host of others, down to the time of Calmet; and then add Grotius, Poole, Lightfoot, Whitby, and many others, down to the time of Paley, Townley, Horne, and Clarke.* How weak and

* See Dr. Clarke's general preface to his Commentary.

wicked it must be for a young philosopher just come from college, or any other man, unless he have more learning than all these put together, to deny the authenticity and inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, I need not say-the thing speaks for itself!

4. But let any one who has not the opportunity of examining such elaborate works as Townley's Biblical Literature, and Horne's Introduction to the critical study of the Sacred Scriptures, just furnish himself with Alexander on the Canon of Scripture, and Dick and Parry on Inspiration, two small volumes within the reach of almost every one, and he will find enough to confound his scepticism, if not to satisfy all his inquiries; or let him read the first part of Watson's Theological Institutes, or Newton, or Keith on the Prophecies, or Shuttleworth on the Consistency of Revelation, or Turner's Sacred History, or Faber's Difficulties of Infidelity, and he will find that Christians have not, for eighteen hundred years, "followed cunningly devised fables." But if in the absence of all these, he be disposed to look into the sacred volume itself, he will there find,

5. An agreement among the sacred writers themselves, which, considering the many authors employed, the different places and times in which they wrote, from the time of Moses until the time of St. John, that will truly astonish him. Let the very great number of facts recorded, and the particular circumstances of time, place, and persons mentioned be considered, and it will appear impossible that the Bible should be a forgery. Constant allusion and reference are made to facts and customs then existing, in every part of the book of God, which if the

Bible had been a forgery, would have been carefully left out. Things are said to have been done in the presence of witnesses, who never attempted to disprove them, and facts are stated, which, if they had not existed, would forever have discredited the writer, and brought eternal infamy upon his name. These things, in themselves considered, may not prove the Bible to be a volume of divine truth; but if we admit that they disprove the charge of forgery, and establish the claim of authenticity, then the fact of a prediction being interwoven with the narrative, and that prediction since fulfilled, the claim to Divine Inspiration is established.

6. The prophecies of the Old Testament anticipate the existence of the facts recorded in the New. In the New Testament it is recorded that Jesus opened the eyes of the blind,-in the Old Testament it was foretold that he should do so. "Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped; the lame man shall leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing." This prediction was recorded by Isaiah many years before the coming of Christ. When, therefore, he opened the eyes of the blind, &c., he not only performed miracles, but the very miracles that had been foretold; and herein it is proved to demonstration, that the prophet was divinely inspired, and that Christ was no impostor, but the true Messiah, the Saviour of the world. If any one should deny the justness of this conclusion, let him show the fallacy of the reasoning. Where in the writings of George Fox or William Penn, can we find any thing like the predictions of Noah, Jacob,