Thus in the particulars. Consider them together, as in the general assembly and church of the first-born written in heaven; and so they are the new Jerusalem, the bride or Lamb's wife, to whom it is given, in regard of justification, to be clothed with linen white and clean, which is the righteousness of the saints. As to holiness, it is clear as a most precious jasper, and walled high, and guarded by watch of angels from all defilement. As to happiness and eternal security, the Lord God and the Lamb are the light thereof, and the glory of God enlightens it, that it can see in no other light; God and the Lamb are the temple of it, that cannot be defiled; the city hath the tree of life, bearing twelve several kinds of fruit, viz., an universality and perfection of life, and a river of life clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne (Heb. xii. 25; Rev. xx., xxi., xxii).

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'Q. Are the thousand years of Christ's kingdom literally or mystically to be understood?

"A. They are both ways to be understood; literally, adding so many years to the time allotted to the visible creation, till all be delivered up to God himself: mystically, as a thousand years are a cube of time, signifying the perfection of time, which none of the patriarchs after Adam's fall could attain, how near soever they came to it (Gen. v.).

"Q. Is it no impeachment to the kingdom of Christ never ending, that Satan is loosed at the end of the thousand years, and deceives the nations to a new attempt?

"A. No; for it only gives just occasion to Christ to magnify His power, judiciary authority, justice, in the final putting down all rule and power, and subduing the last enemies, the devil, the dead, and death and hell; and having quickly drawn up all the living saints to His own throne first, according to 1 Cor. xv. 24–51, 1 Thess. iv. 17, Rev. iii. 21, Rev. xx., and so giving up the kingdom, every way perfectly prepared, to God all in all, the glory of having faithfully managed and happily achieved all things is for ever due to Him (John xvii. 24).

"Q. Are the worship and ordinances of the New Testament any way prefigurative of this kingdom of Christ?

"A. Very fully, for the gospel is the gospel and word of this kingdom; the prayer we style the Lord's Prayer is the prayer of this kingdom taught to all His disciples; the Lord's Day is the type and pledge of that Sabbatism; baptism is the figure of being saved (1 Pet. iii. 21) from that deluge of fire; the Lord's Supper is the shewing forth His death till He come (1 Cor. xi. 26). Then that passover is fulfilled, and that fruit

of the vine drunk new (Luke xxii. 16-18). Nor can any of the Old Testament types, prophecies, and promises be fully drawn out but in that kingdom and appearance; so that in sum, it is the everlasting gospel, God hath always been gospelising throughout the Old and New Testament (Rev. x. 7).

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Q. But if these truths are of this great weight, can the Churches of the saints be so unacquainted with them?

"A. Even as the Jewish saints and the very apostles were ignorant of the sacrifice, resurrection, ascension, and intercession of Christ, so fundamental points, till the pouring down the Spirit for preaching the gospel then; even so, and much more, may the saints of gospel times, even now, till the second pouring down the Spirit for the preaching the everlasting gospel, be and have been ignorant of the full dimensions of the redemption of Christ fulfilled in His kingdom; of the glory of that economy to the highest glory of God the Father in His creation and love of man; of the resurrection, as such a visible appearance of the just and unjust for a thousand years, the dead in Christ rising first; of the mystery of the saints remaining and living on earth, making up the full number of all saints, and not dying but being changed; of the necessity, according to this economy of the infinitely holy and wise Being, of such a preparation for the saints, as priests of God and Christ a thousand years, to be united to God all in all. And notwithstanding this ignorance, they may be true Churches of saints; but the nearer the time approaches, the slowness of heart to know and believe these things will argue a great lukewarmness for the kingdom, glory, and coming of Christ, and it hath been all along a dark shade of the apostasy upon the Churches. Q. What spirit are we then to be of, with relation to the coming of Christ in this His kingdom?

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"A. Of the vehement, and even passionate spirit of the bride, which says, Come; make haste my beloved to the mountain of spices, anointed for Thy kingdom with that precious ointment (that Antichrist now counterfeits to His death) as the Great Prince Messiah, the Priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek, and Thy saints, as kings and priests with Thee in that great day of Thy nuptials in Thy kingdom (Rev. xxii. 17; Čant. viii. 14; Exod. xxx. 33; Ps. cx. 4; Rev. xx. 2).

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Q. You seem to have forgotten this marriage, so great an emblem of the thousand years' kingdom of Christ in Scripture? "A. I reserved it as the best wine for the last: for it is indeed most often so made use of in holy writing-by Solomon in that most prophetic nuptial song of his, of the kingdom; by Isaiah (lxii. 5); by Christ often, and He makes His coming

to be on purpose (EK Tŵv yaμwv) [for] the sake of the wedding, and not as we translate [from] it (Luke xii. 36); by the Apostle Paul calling it (as the kingdom is called) 'mystery' (Eph. v. 25-32); by the Apostle John in the prophecy of the kingdom just appearing (Rev. xix. 7, xxi. 2, xxii. 17). And it carries great argument and instruction.

"Q. What is the argument?

"A. That the kingdom, which is this wedding everywhere in Scripture, is not yet; for the Bridegroom is now taken from us, as Christ foretold He would be (Luke v. 35). Nor can it be at the kingdom delivered up; for the second Adam (of which the first Adam's and Eve's marriage was the type) who is the Bridegroom, is then the Bridegroom no longer; but He unites Himself with the bride to the Father all in all (John xvii. 21, &c.).

"Q. What is the instruction?

"A. In three things: 1. That even the wise virgins not bearing this new wine in their old bottles, slumber, even as the foolish, though with oil in their vessels-grace in their hearts-which the foolish not having, were shut out (Matt. xxv. 1, &c.); and, 2. That we ought to be in fasting and sackcloth, as the children of the bride-chamber, all these days of the Bridegroom being taken from us (Luke v. 35); 3. That we should, hearing with an ear to hear, and thirsting most affectionately to the Bridegroom saying, 'Behold, I come quickly,' resound, Even so, come, Lord Jesus;' that He may say to us in grace, Come then also, and with me drink the water of life freely. And that we may do thus, the grace of the Lord Jesus be with us all. Amen. (Rev. xxii. 17 to the end.)*

* At the end of this Catechism there is a list of Mr Beverley's works, both practical and prophetical. We give a few of their titles :

:

1. A Solemn Persuasion to most Earnest Prayer, for the Revival of the Work of God, bringing forth the Kingdom of Christ, whenever it appears declining under His Indignation: Whether 1. In our own souls: 2. In the Nation to which we belong: 3. In the Churches of Christ throughout: Upon occasion of the late stroke of Divine Displeasure in the Death of the Queen of blessed remembrance (Amos vii. 2-5). Price 6d.

2. The Loss of the Soul; The Irreparable Loss Opened and Demonstrated, 1. By the excellency of the soul: 2. The utter incompetency of the world to answer it: 3. The misery of a soul lost: 4. The eternal sting of that question, What shall a man give in exchange for a lost soul? In a Sermon on Matt. xvi. 26, "What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or, What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Price 6d.

3. Jehovah Jireh: or In the Mount will the Lord be Seen: Opened and Applied, in a Practical Discourse, on a Day of Seeking God in Prayer: Month 10th, Day 19, 1694. Price 6d.

4. The Blessing of Moses on the Tribe of Asher; Opened and Applied in the Mystical and Spiritual Sense, to every Saint and Servant of Christ: In a

ART. II. THE INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE: OBJECTIONS.*

HAVING, in the articles on this subject in former numbers, stated the nature of inspiration as it is defined and affirmed in the Scriptures, shewn its consistency with the laws of the mind, and proved, from the nature of the revelations recorded in the sacred volume, its reality; we shall now notice the leading objections that are made to it. These are of two classes: one directed against the nature of inspiration as we define it, as a direct and supernatural transfusion into the minds of the prophets of thoughts clothed in words; the other founded on the contents of the Scriptures.

Of the former, the first that we shall notice alleges that such an inspiration of thoughts clothed in words implies that the faculties of the prophets, while in the reception of communications from God, were intercepted from all their natural functions, and reduced to a sheer "passivity." Thus Dr Davidson says:

"On the one side [that of those who regard inspiration as a transfusion of thought embodied in language] the passivity of the human [mind] is maintained. It is argued that the mind of a prophet in conceiving and in uttering either orally or in writing, his oracles, was wholly passive. The human element was entirely suppressed. It was the divine which alone manifested itself. What the prophets thought, and what they expressed-both_the matter and the form of their communications-was exclusively divine. They were only human conveyancers of divine messages; organs or vessels through which divine truth was communicated to men.

"We have no reason to believe that the Divine Spirit ordinarily acts upon

Sermon on Deut. xxxiii. 25, "Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy day is, so shall thy strength be." Price 6d.

5. A Compendious Assertion and Vindication of the Eternal Godhead of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the Blessed Spirit; in Answer to a Paper cast into both Houses of Parliament in Denial thereof. Price 6d.

6. An Exposition of the Divine Standard of Prayer, styled the Lord's Prayer; particularly treating of the Preface, of every Petition of it, and of the Conclusion; as of the Prayer of the Kingdom of Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ; according to that of the Evangelists, Matt. vi. 9; Luke xi. 1. Shewing that according to its true Elevation, it is the Prayer of the Kingdom, viz., of the Thousand Years' Kingdom of Christ in the New Heaven, or Jerusalem above; and in the New Earth, or Jerusalem below. Price 1s.

7. The Pattern of the Divine Temple, Sanctuary, and City of the New Jerusalem: Measured according to Ezekiel's Last and Greatest Vision, chap. xl. to the end; which Temple shall be seen Opened in Heaven in the days of the Seventh Trumpet, that there may be a daily conformity to it. Price 6d. 8. A Scheme of Prophecies now to be Fulfilled. Price 1d.

*Having given part of an article in the American Theological and Literary Journal, stating the true theory of inspiration, we give the following answers to objections from the 39th number of the same able Journal.

I

the human mind in any other method than by uniting His influence with it, and elevating it to a higher and holier tone than it could otherwise reach. The Divine Spirit does not supersede, or set aside the use of the natural powers, but quickens and purifies them, so that they can see much further and higher.”—The Text of the Old Testament, pp. 448–450.

And he maintains that such an interception of the minds of the prophets from all their natural functions actually took place in the revelation of such future events-which he holds are very few-as could not have been foreseen by them, by their own powers, when under a stimulating, in distinction from a revealing influence of the Spirit.

"But special predictions cannot be accounted for in this manner [by a mere stimulation of the mind]. When we find, for example, that the fate of an individual, the destruction of a city or people, is announced with historical definiteness, we must believe that the knowledge was supernaturally given. We concede that there are comparatively few predictions of this nature. In respect of number, they are subordinate to those of which we have just spoken. We allow also that they do not bear the same intimate relation to the idea and essence of the prophetic office. They are not of the same importance with those general theocratic predictions which involve what is great and important for humanity. Yet they must not be overlooked, explained away, or unduly depreciated, as they are by Lutz. The passages which exhibit them cannot be justly charged with interpolation. They form an important exception to the other prophecies, and should not therefore be left out of account in determining the character of prophecy generally. Instead of attempting to explain them in the way already presented, or of subordinating them so much to the rest of prophecy as to decide upon its nature without them, we are rather inclined to believe that in respect to them, the divine entirely overruled the human, so that the natural faculties of the prophets had no share in suggesting the knowledge contained in them. God revealed certain things to the prophets at various times, that totally surpassed all their apprehensions, in receiving as well as uttering which they must have been passive. It is remarkable, however, that these predictions are obscure, difficult of explanation, and comparatively few. Prophecy cannot be judged of by them either exclusively or chiefly. They are not the rule but the exception."-Pp. 450, 451.

This concession that a part of the prophecies were a direct and supernatural transfusion into the minds of the prophets, in contradistinction from being suggested or discovered by their own faculties, is a very extraordinary one to come from a writer, who, like Dr Davidson, strenuously, and on the ground of the nature of the things inspired, and of the laws of the human faculties, maintains that inspiration, in its proper and ordinary form, was a mere stimulation of the mind to unusual energy and activity; and is not adapted to conciliate a high measure of confidence in his perspicacity or consistency as a speculatist. As he admits that a portion of the prophecies were absolutely communicated to the prophets, and in the form in which they exist in the sacred volume, how is he to prove that