will be obvious to all, who are acquainted with the objections occasionally advanced; but we must now turn to the more immediate subject of these works. We repeat, therefore, that we consider a sound and clear view of the authenticity and inspiration of the Scriptures, to lie at the foundation of every investigation of their doctrines. It is more even than a foundation stone; it is to us as the stratum or basis on which the great foundation stone itself is laid; and if, when the storm arises and the tempest beats, it prove to be sand, away go foundation and superstructure together. The greatest truth revealed in Scripture must yield in importance to the doctrine of the plenary inspiration of Scripture; since that truth must be deteriorated, and its hold on the consciences of men weakened, if it be not clearly and indubitably held as spoken of God.

We have always held these two great points the authenticity and inspiration of the Scriptures-to be very simple and susceptible of proof, not to those only who can enter into it through metaphysical ratiocination or laborious erudition, but to "the way-faring man, though a fool." The authenticity of the Old Testament we rest upon the plain declaration of our Lord, "All things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses, and in the Pro

our Authors ;-ALL Scripture is given by inspiration. And if the question of the authenticity of Scripture thus becomes chiefly matter of Revelation, the doctrine of its inspiration is entirely so; and is to be received with the same child-like simplicity as any other doctrine; without troubling ourselves with presumptuous and mischievous inquiries into the quantum or nature of that inspiration.

The two works now under consideration are professedly written in unison; Mr. HALDANE taking up the subject in the way of demonstration and proof: and Mr. CARSON attacking the objections and aberrations of those, who have altogether denied plenary verbal inspiration, or made improper concessions. Mr. Haldane alone enters upon the authenticity of the Scriptures; which he considers to be a necessary introduction to their inspiration; and the more called for, as the late controversy on the Apocrypha proved an occasion of betraying great unsoundness in regard even to the Canon of Scripture. But we shall give a few extracts from Mr. Haldane's preface, which will more ably represent his views in undertaking this work.

"The Bible not only contains things that are divinely accredited as true, but it contains all the truth on divine subjects that is accessible to man. Hence every

me;" (Luke xxiv, 44;) little information being needful to prove this to be the three great and acknowledged divisions of the Jewish Bible, and to comprehend all the Books esteemed canonical. Nor is much learning afterwards required to add to them the Authenticated Books of the New Testament, as we shall presently

see.

The inspiration of the whole Scriptures, may then be rested upon another text, such as that chosen by

composing the Canon, and the inspiration of these books, is of the liveliest interest to every christian."—" Is it a light thing to admit a principle that unsettles the evidence of every book in the Bible? Is it an innocent thing to charge as superfluous, unimportant, unholy, or unworthy of God, anything that there is authority to hold as his word? What, then, shall be said of those Christians, who bave not only discovered an unbecoming facility in surrendering parts of the book of God, but have laboured with the most strenuous exertions to unsettle the Canon, and have availed

themselves of every resource, with which a perverse ingenuity could supply them, to degrade some of the books that are as fully authenticated as any in that sacred collection. Pp. ii, iii.

The

"The inspiration of the Scriptures is a thing of equal importance with the authority of the Canon. If God is not the author of them, in the fullest and most complete sense of that term, we cannot receive them as the word of God. Scriptures so plainly assert their inspiration, that it is matter of astonishment that any who profess to believe them should have denied it. Yet many have contrived to hold the word, and to deny the thing itself.

In this way, they perhaps hide even from themselves the boldness of their unhallowed speculations. That inspiration extends to the words as well as to the matter, is a thing so obvious, that it could never have been questioned, if those who deny it had not misled themselves by their vain reasonings on the subject, or taken the contrary for granted without inquiry, on the authority of others. A writing inspired by God self-evidently implies in the very expression, that the words are the words of God; and the common expression of mankind coincides with this most entirely. That the inspiration is in the matter, not in the words; that one part of Scripture is written with one kind or degree of inspiration, and another part with another kind or degree, is contrary to the phraseology, and totally without foundation in any part, of the Scriptures themselves, and never could have suggested itself as a natural meaning of the word. This unholy invention is the figment of an ill-employed ingenuity, either to invalidate some Scripture truths, or to repel some objections, which appeared otherwise unanswerable. It is an expedient to serve a purpose, and as little to be approved, when it is used to defend the declarations of God, as when it is used to overturn them. Yet degrading views both of the Canon and Inspiration of the Scriptures too generally prevail; and the writers of most influence on the public mind, instead of correcting these errors, lend all their influence to their establishment.

The plenary or verbal inspiration of the Holy Scriptures is not only established by the most express passages in the way of direct authority; but it is a matter of no light consideration, that there are no opposing passages on the other side. Hardly an error ever was maintained, but

what could press some passage of the Word of God into its service, by the use of torture. Indeed, very many important truths of the divine word are not without their difficulties, from passages that afford a handle to human ignorance and human depravity." Pp. iii-vi.

"But the inspiration of the Scriptures in the words as well as in the matter, is not opposed by any difficulty of this kind; and the authors of the low and derogatory view of the word of God, which ascribes to it different degrees of inspiration, cannot plead a single passage that will afford them even the shadow of support." P. vi.

"To establish with the utmost precision what are the books belonging to the Canon of Scripture, to fix the brand of reprobation on all false pretenders to the honour of inspiration, and to vindicate the writings of the Old Testament and the New, as the words of the Spirit of God, can at no period be a useless labour. But present circumstances add greatly to this importance, and recent events have discovered not only ignorance on these subjects, where knowledge might have been expected, but opposition even from the friends of the Gospel. It is much to be regretted, that unscriptural opinions concerning these subjects have long been entertained, and have of late been advocated by persons, who might have been expected to be the most zealous in opposing their progress. The christian public are in the greater danger from the infection of this heresy, from the circumstance that it is propagated by persons whom they have long been accustomed to regard as among the brightest ornaments of true religion. Had these dangerous opinions made their appearance in the works of Socinians, Christians would have stood on their guard against them. But when the Canon is unsettled, and verbal inspiration is denied by men, who profess to hold the distinguishing doctrines of the Gospel, many will be misled." Pp. vii, viii.

"It is the object of the following pages to exhibit the abundant evidence by which the authenticity of the books of the Old and New Testaments is confirmed, and to prove that the inspiration to which the Scriptures lay claim, is in the fullest sense plenary in every part of them, extending both to the ideas, and to the words in which these ideas are expressed." Pp. xii, xiii.

"An account is added of the Apocryphal writings, in which a view is given of the reasons that forbid their being received along with the word of God. Their usurpation of the place they have long occupied in the estimation of many, is traced to its origin; and their presumptuous claims to inspiration, or to any authority, are exploded. This is the more necessary, as many are but little acquainted with the manner in which these forgeries have obtained the situation they hold in the Bibles of Roman Catholics and even with Protestants, or with the impiety of their contents. It is proved, that the Apocrypha is not a part of God's word; and that instead of being a book of useful though uninspired instruction, it is a book of imposture and destructive delusion." Pp. xiii, xiv.

In proceeding to the Treatise itself, we must pass over much important matter in regard to the number of Books in the OLD TESTAMENT, and also as to their genuineness and authenticity: contenting

ourselves with two or three short extracts.

"Of the genuineness and authenticity of their Scriptures, the Jews had the strongest evidence, which produced a corresponding impression. The five books of Moses are addressed to the Israelites as his contemporaries, and had they not been both genuine and authentic, they never could have been imposed on his countrymen, whose religion and government were founded upon them. The transactions of their own times were narrated by the several writers of the other books, and the truth of their respective histories was witnessed by all their countrymen who lived at the same period. The plainest directions were given for ascertaining the truth of the mission of all who declared themselves prophets, those who were sent being furnished with ample credentials, while every one who pretended to deliver the messages of God without these credentials was to be put to death. Deut. xviii, 20. And although false prophets did arise, and for a time obtained a degree of influence, their wickedness was exposed by the failure of their predictions, or by the

judgments inflicted on them, as in the case of Hananiah. From the miracles, too, which the people of Israel constantly witnessed, as well as the fulfilment of the prophecies which was all along taking place, they had complete proof that the true prophets wrote by the authority of God himself. During the whole period from Moses to Malachi, a succession of them was raised up, under whose direction the word of God was infallibly distinguished from all counterfeits; and by their means, in connexion with the visible interference of the God of Israel in punishing those who made the people trust in a lie, the Scriptures were preserved pure and unadulterated." Pp. 6, 7.

'Nothing can be better authenticated than the canon* of the Old and New Testament, as we now possess it. We have the fullest evidence, that it was fixed 280 years before the christian era, when, as has been noticed, the Greek translation, called the Septuagint, was executed at Alexandria, the books of which were the same as in our Bible. And as no authentic records of a more ancient date are extant,

it is impossible to ascend higher in search of testimony. As held by the Jews in the days of Jesus Christ, their canon was the same as when that translation was made, and it has since then been retained by them without any variation, though by separating books formerly united they have increased their number. The integrity

and divine original of these Scriptures are thus authenticated by a whole nation,who have preserved them and borne their testimony to them from the time of Moses down to the present day. That nation

was selected by God himself to be his witnesses, (Isaiah xliii, 10,) to whom he committed "the lively oracles ;" and amidst all their wickedness he prevented them from betraying their trust; the Jews never having given admission into their canon to any other books, but to those which by his prophets and servants were delivered to them.

In addition to the unanimous testimony of the Jewish nation to the genuineness and authenticity of the Old Testament Scriptures, of which they had been constituted the depositaries, we have the decisive attestation of the Son of God. sus Christ, who appeared on the earth 1500 years after Moses the first of the prophets, and 400 years after Malachi the last of

Je

them, bore his testimony to the sacred canon as held by the Jews in his time, and recorded it by his holy Apostles. Among all the evils with which he charged the Jews, he never once intimated that they had in any degree corrupted the canon either by addition, diminution, or alteration. Since with so much zeal he purged the Temple, and so often and sharply reprehended the Jews for perverting the true sense of the Scriptures, much more, we may be assured, would he have condemned them, if they had tampered with, or vitiated, these sacred writings; but of this, he never accused them. By often referring to the " Scriptures," which he declared "cannot be broken," the Lord Jesus Christ has given his full attestation

the whole of them as the unadulterated word of God. "Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me." Here he warrants, in the most explicit manner, the canon of the Hebrew Scriptures. He told the Jews that they made the word of God of none effect through their traditions. By calling them the the WORD OF GOD, he indicated that these Scriptures proceeded from God

himself. In his conversation with the disciples going to Emmaus, when, "beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, he expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself," he gave the most express testimony to every one of the books of the Old Testament canon.

Just before his ascension, he said to his Apostles, 'These are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning

me.' By thus adopting the common division of the Law, and the Prophets, and the Psalms, which comprehended all the Hebrew Scriptures, (to which division Josephus, as we have seen, refers,) he ratified and sanctioned with his authority the canon of the Old Testament, as it was received by the Jews; and by declaring that these books contained prophecies which must be fulfilled, he established their di

vine inspiration, since God alone can enable men to foretell future events.

The

The same testimony is repeated by the Apostles, who constantly appeal to the Jewish Scriptures as Jewish Scriptures as the lively oracles' of God. Referring to the whole of the Old Testament, Paul declares, that 'All Scripture is given by inspiration of God.' term 'Scripture,' or 'the Scripture,' (the writings,) was then, as it is still, appropriated to the written word of God; as both the Old Testament and the New are now, by way of eminence and distinction, called the Bible, or the Book." "When the same Apostle declares, that whatsoever things were written afore time were written for our learning; that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope,' he gives his attestation to the whole of the sacred writings, and proves that they exist entire; for he could not have said this if any of them had been lost, or had any additions been made to them.*"

"Thus, the writers of the Apocrypha come as the bearers of messages from God, and as such they deliver them to mankind. They profess to communicate a portion of spiritual light, not borrowed from the Holy Scriptures, but immediately derived from the source of light. In every sense of the word, these books present themselves as a part of Divine Revelation, and if they were what they pretend to be, would be entitled to equal attention and reverence with the Holy Scriptures. Here, then, there is no

medium, and the conclusion is inevitable:The Apocrypha is either an addition made to the Old Testament Scriptures by God himself, or it is the work of lying prophets. This important question ought, therefore, to be considered by every Christian, and happily its solution is attended with no difficulty." P. 24.

His next objection is, that their contents, besides being a tissue of absurdities, superstitions, and falsehoods, are directly opposed to the doctrines of the Holy Scriptures; which he more especially insists on in regard to the grand doctrine of justification; shewing that they make void the plan of redemption. The following extract powerfully exhibits this truth :

"It is written in the Apocrypha, 'Whoso honoureth his father maketh an atonement for his sins;' and again, 'Water will quench a flaming fire, and alms maketh an atonement for sins.' Eccl. iii, 3-30. Sentiments more directly opposed to the doctrine of the Holy Scriptures, more dishonourable to God, more contrary to his holiness, more derogatory to his justice, or more fraught with mortal poison, and destructive to the souls of men, cannot be imagined.

The apostle Paul solemnly declared to the churches of Galatia, that if an angel from heaven should preach any other gospel, than that which he had preached unto them, he should be accursed. That very occurrence which the apostle here supposes, has, according to the Apocrypha, been realized. An angel from heaven, it affirms, has descended and declared that he came from God. "I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels, which present the prayers of the saints, and which go in and out before the glory of the Holy One;not of any favour of mine, but by the will of our God I came." Tobit, xii, 15, 18. And that very doctrine does this angel explicitly contradict, which the Apostle so earnestly inculcated, accompanied with the solemn asseveration, that the curse of God should rest on any creature who dared to pervert it. "It is better," says this angel," to give alms than to lay up "to gold: for alms doth deliver from death, and shall purge away all sin." Tobit, xii, 8, 9. If the man or angel who shall preach another gospel than that which the Bible

contains, is pronounced by the Holy Ghost to be accursed, then must this awful denunciation apply to a book, which, pretending to record the message of an angel from heaven, teaches another gospel. On the Apocrypha, therefore, does this anathema rest." Pp. 26, 27.

Having shewn that the primitive Fathers never acknowledged these books, neither the council of Nice in 325; that they were decisively repudiated by the council of Laodicea in 363, and by writers of any eminence subsequently; that the Reformers also strenuously denied their authority, though they yielded to the suggestions of a sinful expediency in allowing their existing connexion with the Scriptures; he next observes :

"While there are those who have dared to add certain Apocryphal books to the Jewish canon, which form no part of it, but are the production of lying prophets, and therefore under the curse pronounced upon such by God; there are others who have contended, that certain books included in that canon do not constitute a part of divine revelation. This has been particularly the case respecting the book of Esther and the Song of Solomon, which, it has been alleged, are not quoted in the New Testament. But though this may be true as to particular passages, yet the books themselves are quoted each time that either the Lord Jesus Christ or his Apostles refer to what is written,' or to 'the Scriptures' of which they form a part." "The incontrovertible proof respecting their authenticity and inspiration is, that they form a part of those Scriptures which were committed to the Jewish church, and sanctioned by the Lord and his Apostles. On these incontrovertible grounds, all the books of the Old Testament Scriptures are most surely believed by the great body of Christians to be the oracles of God; and could it be shewn that any one of them is not worthy of being received as a part of the sacred canon, this would invalidate the claim of all the rest. That man, therefore, who rejects a single one of these books as not being canonical, (in other words, as being equally the dictates of inspiration as the rest,) proves that he does not rely on the true and secure foundation which God has laid for entire confidence