ing forth persuasions,' to seek heavenly knowledge and purity of life.

It may be added, that to read the Old Testament in the original language, is the way to understand the New. The student who has made himself acquainted with the treasures of revealed truth under the first dispensation, will not stop there, but will proceed with impatience to a still nobler theme in the inspired strains of the New Testament, which are written for the most part in the idioms of the Old. And here he will have the advantage of that rich and precious mine for the theologian, the Syriac New Testament; for he who can read the Old Testament in Hebrew, will soon be able to read the New in Syriac. I call it a rich and precious mine, for. Syriac is the language which our blessed Lord himself spake in the land of Judea; and it is probable that every parable and every speech in the four Gospels is recorded nearly in the very words which proceeded from his lips.'

He adds a remark on the means of reviving this study, which is too important to be omitted.

The power of reviving Hebrew learning in the church lies principally with the bishops. It is presumed that the object might be effected by the following means by requiring that candidates for deacons orders should be able to construe the Hebrew Pentateuch; and that those who offer themselves for priests' orders should be competent to read the whole of the Old Testament, ad aperturam libri; and by refusing ordination to candidates coming from the universities, who should continue, after due notice, for which three years would suffice, to neglect to acquire this qualification. By this simple regulation, it is probable that Hebrew literature would be restored very generally to the church in a few years.'

Many of Dr. Buchanan's remarks apply also to the

See Dr. Buchanan's sermons, pages 24, 69, 70.

GREEK SCRIPTURES. Some of the noblest heathen writings being in the Greek language, it has never been so neglected as the Hebrew has. Owing to this incidental circumstance, rather than to the vigor of Scriptural piety, many can study the most important of all books in the original tongue. It is very desirable that this knowledge should be maintained and turned to the best use by a daily study of the Greek Testament.

The Septuagint and the original writings of Josephus and Philo Judæus, will familiarize the idiom of the New Testament to the student, and to the mode of life, thought, and expression common to the Jews.

The author would only add one caution, with reference to the original Scriptures, that no student should think the daily critical reading of a chapter in them will supersede the daily devout study of the translation of them in our own language. We want every day a study distinct from critical study, a prayerful, humble, self-applicatory, devotional, meditation upon the word, and our souls will assuredly suffer loss if we neglect this.

Let no man think that the diligent reading of the Holy Scriptures will leave him with slight and imperfect knowledge. Such a study embraces the chief points of all human learning and science. In thoroughly knowing the Bible, he will know the most ancient and authentic history, the most sublime strain of poetry, the most just lessons of deep wisdom to guide his life, the most curious antiquities of nations, the most perfect book of devotions, the only infallible theology, and a sufficient sketch of all false theology; the true origin and nature of the world in which he lives, and the only true information concerning that to which he is going; he will have laid open to him the elements of oratory, and the purest specimens of eloquence; the secret spring of all human actions, and the chief events that shall hereafter take place up to

the final judgment of all things.

One justly said, Give me a candle and a Bible in a dark dungeon, and keep me there, and I will tell you all that the whole world is doing.' What an unveiling of the true character of that world in the book of Ecclesiastes ! What a depth of practical and daily wisdom in Proverbs! Where is there grandeur of sentiments comparable to the sentiments contained in the prophets ! The whole Bible in all its parts is complete and entire; a solution of all the most important questions that the humble and upright mind of an immortal spirit need now be desirous of having answered, and a guide to the full supply of every want in God, our reconciled Father, our satisfying portion, and our final rest.

Let no man think that once or twice reading the Scriptures will exhaust its sacred treasures, or because the words may be familiar he has acquired all the meaning and knowledge which those words convey. There is always in the sacred word, when we read it in a serious and devout spirit, something new that enlightens the mind, excites holy feelings, and edifies the heart.

'Such is the depth of holy Scripture,' says St. Augustine, that I could draw from it every day of my life fresh advantages, although I had already spent an age in the study of it, and that too with the greatest and uninterrupted application; not that the things necessary to salvation are hard to come at, but because when every individual shall have drawn his faith from thence for the religious conduct of his life, there will still remain an infinite number of things concealed under mysterious veils for those to search into who would make further advances in this science. For there is such a sublimity and dignity not only in the expression, but in the things themselves, that the most subtle and sagacious, although far advanced in life, and thirsting after the knowledge of these sacred books, finds that text verified in him, which says,

when a man thinks he has finished his work, he is but then beginning. The manner in which the holy Scriptures are expressed is so wonderful, that it is scarce penetrable by any man, although it be at the same time intelligible to all the world. In those things that are clear and manifest it speaks like a familiar friend, without disguise and artifice to the heart of both the learned and the ignorant; and although some of its truths are hidden under mysterious expressions, yet it is not done in a haughty style, so as to discourage lowly minds, and hinder their approach, as the poor are fearful of approaching the rich and the great, but on the contrary it invites all the world by its simplicity, and encourages us to gather refreshment from its manifest truths, and to exercise ourselves in the search of its hidden ones, bringing with us to both, the same fund of wisdom and understanding.'

Blessed, then, for ever blessed be our God, for that inestimable gift, the word of his grace! This word, like its divine Author, the rock of ages, remains immoveably fixed, unchangeably the same. The worldly man thinks he can do without it, and his building perishes. The subtle disputant thinks that he has rubbed off its rough and unsightly parts, but his subtilty passes away, and is remembered no more. The waves of error dash against it on every side, and are all in course broken at its feet. The Bible in its majestic grandeur lifts up its towering head, only the more proved by every assault to be the word of Him that liveth and abideth for ever.

While the reading of the holy Scriptures is thus earnestly pressed, let us not forget that without the enlightening beams of the blessed Spirit all will be in vain let us never read them without asking for divine teaching. How clearly our reformers saw this, and how careful they were to teach this, will be evident from the following prayer in Edward the VIth's Primer, with which we close the chapter.

PRAYER FOR THE TRUE UNDERSTANDING OF

GOD'S WORD.

O Lord, as thou alone art the author of the holy Scriptures, so likewise can no man, although he be never so wise, politic, and learned, understand them, except he be taught by thy Holy Spirit, which alone is the schoolmaster to lead the faithful unto all truth. Vouchsafe therefore, I most humbly beseech thee, to breathe into my heart thy blessed Spirit, which may renew the senses of my mind, open my judgment, reveal unto me the true understanding of thy holy mysteries, and plant in me such a certain and infallible knowledge of thy truth, that no subtle persuasion of man's wisdom may pluck me from thy truth, but that as I have learned the true understanding of thy blessed will, so I may remain in the same continually, come life, come death, unto the glory of thy blessed name.

CHAPTER V.

THE CHARACTER OF SCRIPTURAL DIVINITY.

WHEN we look at the different sentiments prevailing among the various bodies of Christians who all profess to derive their opinions from the word of God; and when we notice the diversity which exists even among those who belong to the same denomination, it may seem a hopeless task to state in an unexceptionable manner the character of scriptural divinity.

Yet Christians are agreed in far more sentiments, and those the main and most important truths, than at