and that they would have been in danger of producing an inaccurate and unfair account, by confounding one thing with another. Befides, from fo large a mass of particulars, men of uncultivated minds, who were not in the habit of diftinguishing, and claffifying, could not have made a proper felection; nor would perfons, unfkilled in the art of compofition, have been able to exprefs themselves in fuch terms, as fhould enfure à faithful representation of doctrines and facts, and with fuch dignity as the nature of the subject required. A divine influence, therefore, must have been exerted on their minds, by which their memories and judgments were ftrengthened, and they were enabled to relate the doctrines and miracles of their Master, in a manner the best fitted to imprefs the readers of their histories. The promise of the Holy Ghost to bring to their remembrance all things whatfoever Chrift had faid to them*, proves, that in writing their hiftories, their mental powers were endowed, by his agen cy, with more than usual vigour.

Farther, it must be allowed, that, in feveral paffages of Scripture, there is found fuch eleva

*John xiv. 26.

tion

tion of thought and of style, as clearly fhews, that the powers of the writers were raised above their ordinary pitch. If a person of moderate talents fhould give as elevated a description of the majesty and attributes of God, or reason as profoundly on the mysterious doctrines of religion, as a man of the most exalted genius, and extenfive learning, we could not fail to be convinced, that he was fupernaturally affifted; and the conviction would be ftill ftronger, if his compofition fhould far tranfcend the higheft efforts of the human mind. Some of the facred writers were taken from the loweft ranks of life; and yet fentiments fo dignified, and representations of divine things fo grand and majestic, occur in their writings, that the nobleft flights of human genius, when compared with them, appear cold and infipid.

III. It is manifeft, with respect to many paffages of Scripture, that the fubjects, of which they treat, must have been directly revealed to the writers, They could not have been known by any natural means; nor was the knowledge of them attainable by a fimple elevation of the faculties. With the faculties of an angel, we could not difB

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cover the purposes of the divine mind. This degree of infpiration we attribute to thofe, who were empowered to reveal heavenly myfteries, "which eye had not feen, and ear had not heard;" to those, who were fent with particular meffages from God to his people; and to those who were employed to predict future events. The plan of redemption being an effect of the fovereign counfels of heaven, it could not have been known but by a communication from the Father of lights.

This kind of infpiration has been called the infpiration of fuggeftion. It is needlefs to dispute about a word; but fuggeftion seeming to exprefs an operation on the mind, by which ideas are excited in it, is of too limited fignification to denote the various modes, in which the prophets and apoftles were made acquainted with fupernatural truths. God revealed himfelf to them, not only by fuggeftion, but by dreams, vifions, voices, and the miniftry of angels. This degree of infpiration, in ftrict propriety of fpeech, fhould be called revelation; a word preferable to fuggeftion, because it is expreffive of all the ways, in which God communicated new

ideas to the minds of his fervants. It is a word, too, chofen by the Holy Ghoft himself to fignify the discovery of truths formerly unknown to the apoftles. The last book of the New Testament, which is a collection of prophecies, is called the revelation of Jefus Chrift. Paul fays that he received his gospel by revelation; that "by revelation the mystery was made known to him, which in other ages was not made known unto the fons of men, as it was then revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit ;" and in another place, having obferved, that "eye had not feen, nor ear heard, neither had entered into the heart of man the things which God had prepared for them that love him," he adds, "But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit *."

I have not names to defignate the other two kinds of inspiration. The names used by Doddridge and others, Superintendence, Elevation, and Suggeftion, do not convey the ideas ftated in the three preceding particulars; and are liable to other objections, befides thofe which have been mentioned. This account of the inspiration of

*Rev. i. t. Gal. i. 12. Eph. iii. 3. 5. 1 Cor. ii. 9, 10,

the

the Scriptures has, I think, these two recommendations, that there is no part of Scripture, which does not fall under one or other of the foregoing heads; and that the different degrees of the agency of the Divine Spirit, on the minds of the different writers, are carefully difcriminated *.

Some men have adopted very ftrange, and dangerous notions refpecting the infpiration of the Scriptures. Dr Priestley denies, that they were written by a particular divine infpiration, and afferts, that the writers, though men of the greatest probity,

were

* According to the Jews, there were three kinds of infpiration, or modes of revelation. The books of Mofes they afcribe to that kind of revelation, which they call mouth to mouth, or face to face, and in proof of which they quote, Numb. xii. 8. Some other books of the Old Testament proceeded from the gift of prophecy, of which they fancy feveral degrees corresponding to the different methods, which God ufed in revealing himself to the prophets. The remaining books were written by the inSpiration of the Holy Ghost; and to thefe they give the name of the holy writings. That there was a difference in the kind, or degree of infpiration must be admitted; but this way of expreffing it is inaccurate, and abfurd. The whole Scripture, and not a particular part of it only, was written by the infpiration of the Spirit. Can any thing be more ridiculous than to fay, that the two books of Kings were written by the spirit of prophecy; but that the two books of Chronicles, which fo much refemble them, were written by the infpiration of the Holy Ghoft?