ture, the rule which Scripture itself furnishes is, that, as far as it is religious instruction, it is infallible; as far as it is not, its authority is that which attaches to the work of an honest and sincere author, and varies according to his individual circumstances, and the circumstances of the country and age in which he wrote.

§. 2. Historical and other statements of facts.

WHEN, for example, Moses, in relating the history of the Creation, speaks of the sun being set in the firmament", his authority for the astronomical truth is only human, the religious truth involved in it is, that God created and appointed the sun its sphere; and in this the authority of Moses is infallible. In St. Luke's Gospel, Herodias is described as the wife of Philip the tetrarch Herod's brother; Josephus represents the brother of the tetrarch as likewise called Herod. The religious truth here remains unchanged, whichever of these assertions be correct; and accordingly we may safely leave the question to be decided, as if

b Gen. i. 17.

с

Chap. iii. 19.

both authors were alike uninspired, the inspiration of the Evangelist not being at all affected by the issue. St. Matthew relates the cure of a leper by Jesus as he came down from a mountain, and before he had entered into Capernaum; St. Luke's account is, that Jesus was in Capernaum at the time, and withdrew after the miracle into the wilderness". In this instance there is an apparent contradiction between the statements of two inspired writers; but clearly not in that respect in which they were inspired. The essential circumstances of the miracle, the religious instruction conveyed, remains the same, and the inspiration of the author is unimpeached, whether the contradiction be owing to a lapse of memory in one, (the point being too unimportant to call for the divine interposition to correct it,) or be only apparent and admit of explanation".

Matt. viii. compared with Luke v.

The same remark will apply to the account of a blind man healed by Jesus as given by Mark and Luke. According to Mark (x. 46.) it took place as Jesus was going out of Jericho, whilst Luke represents him as going into Jericho when he performed it. There are several other instances of the same kind. See note to Dr. Whately's Ninth Essay on the Difficulties of St. Paul, p. 313.

At the same time that the Holy Spirit should have allowed his agents to commit abundant or gross errors, beyond their age and circumstances, on any subject, must be felt as a supposition derogatory to the character of an inspired work; and inasmuch as it would have brought discredit on the Scripture, was, doubtless, provided against by that general improvement of talent, which has been recognised as one branch of inspiration. Indeed, the same extent of superintendence may, not unreasonably, be claimed even for their style and grammatical propriety, when we consider, how much the work of any inspired author would have lost in estimation-how much suspicion it would have excited—if it had displayed all the worst faults of a rude and unlettered attempt to write.

The labours of those, accordingly, who have endeavoured to vindicate the Scriptures from apparent mistakes on subjects of natural science; and still more of those who have sought to reconcile their assertions of historical facts with those of profane history and of each other, are not to be considered as useless or unimportant. Only let us never allow the question of inspira

tion to depend on the full success of such a vindication. Scripture does not claim these views and facts as part of the subject-matter of its infallible inspiration; and the consequence of claiming this character for them is not unfrequently to awaken suspicion, and to create disbelief of all inspiration. And this feeling operates perhaps the most fatally when it is least likely to be expressed. It is not the philosopher pining in a dungeon that exhibits the worst results of such a system. Bigotry can do more than bind the strong man-she can beguile him of that holy strength which resists her worst bondage-she can bring him to conform and be indifferent. The well known protest which appears on the pages of the celebrated French edition of Newton, is after all a more melancholy record than the history of Gallileo's imprisonment. It exhibits that unresisting acquiescence which results from a want

f Newtonus in hoc tertio libro telluris motæ hypothesim assumit. Auctoris propositiones aliter explicari non poterant, nisi eâdem quoque factâ hypothesi. Hinc alienam coacti sumus gerere personam. Cæterum latis a summis Pontificibus contra telluris motum decretis nos obsequi profitemur.

of faith, and an indifference to the object of itit is the submission of the strong man when his locks have been shorn.

§. 3. Doctrines and precepts.

THE foregoing remarks have been directed to the mode in which the test of infallibility may be applied to a narrative of events or a statement of facts in the Bible. But Scripture, whilst it exhibits our religion as founded on facts and events, comprises a great deal more. Its authors were employed not only as historians and witnesses, but as expositors of the great historical picture of God's dealings and revelations-in exhorting, commanding, and reasoning with us-in giving us precepts and principles for regulating our behaviour, as individuals, and as a church.

To all this didactic portion of Scripture, the same test is appropriate, which has been applied to the historical department. Infallible authority must here too depend on some religious view being involved, some reference to God's appointments being implied. The direction of Paul to Timothy