science, and the rules by which language is ordinarily interpreted. To teach by human language, is to teach by ideas. which already form a part of the stock of human knowledge. If terms are used in a new sense, they will be found to be explained by the sacred writers. If divine grace is necessary to the reception of spiritual things, this also will, as we have frequently observed, be fairly avowed in the Revelation itself. But the language will, after all, be human, and be subject to the usual laws by which ideas are conceived. and expressed. There is, indeed, a poverty in all language; and translations, and distance of time and place, may throw an ambiguity over certain passages of ancient authors; yet, in point of fact, there is only one true sense to be attached to any word, in any writer, ancient or modern; which sense is indicated by the connexion and series of the discourse, by its subject-matter, by the design of the speaker or writer, or by some other adjunct.

In common life, no prudent and conscientious man intends that a diversity of meanings should be assigned to what he writes or says. And if books are handed down to us, as of authority and credit, it is because they were composed with integrity of purpose. Now, if this be the practice in all fair and upright intercourse between man and man, much more is it so in the Book of God. The perspicuity of Scripture, the plainness and simplicity of the style, the artless form of the narrative parts, its brief and diversified hymns and psalms, the gospels and epistles penned by the Evangelists and Apostles, for popular instruction; the manner in which truth is generally conveyed, surrounded with practical uses, and as occasions served to develope it-all this assures us that the ordinary commonsense laws of human language, are our safe guide in the interpretation of the sacred Records. The design of God in his Revelation would be lost to his creatures, if an endless multiplicity of senses were once admitted.

Some chief rules, however, may be laid down, which are nothing but the application of these principles: but which still may be of use in a day like the present, when novelties

of all kinds are afloat, and the very grounds of an honest interpretation are disputed.

1. THE SIMPLEST SENSE IS GENERALLY THE TRUE ONE. The Bible is the most popular book in the world. "Where the simple and obvious sense will stand," says the judicious Hooker, "he that departs from it, goes farthest from the real mind of the Spirit." The methods of obtaining this sense are not arbitrary, any more than in any other book; but fixed by laws drawn by experience and observation from the nature of language. All important truth lies on the surface of the Scriptures, recurs again and again, is stated in a variety of forms, and presented in many different lights. No man can mistake it, so far as the comprehension of it depends on the terms employed. It is not interpretation, but faith which is wanting. It is the passions of men, not the difficulties of Scripture, which corrupt our decisions. The vast bulk of mankind are quite as capable of understanding all its main statements, as the learned few, though these can combine truth better into a system, and defend it more successfully against the arts of sophists. This one rule embraces nine hundred and ninety-nine parts out of a thousand of the doctrinal and preceptive parts of the Bible.

2. If the sense of certain passages be not obvious, then consult more at length THE OCCASION OF THE BOOK BEING WRITTEN, the time when it was published, the persons to whom it was addressed, the context by which it is surrounded. This is what an honest man does as to any human writing. Generally the sense is simple, and he follows it. If difficulties occur, he pauses, he reads the passage again, he looks to the preceding and following sentences, he considers the occasion, the persons, the time, the general subject of the writing. Thus he soon obtains the true meaning, or a meaning not very remote from the true one. For no material false sense can be put upon a particular expression, but some other expressions in the sentence, some other parts of the narrative or argument will detect it. The false meaning may suit some few of the surrounding terms, but not all; and, like a key to a lock, unless it be the true one, it will only be the more difficult to pass, as force

and violence are applied. Matters of history, names, chronological dates, geographical niceties, genealogies, lie generally the most open to uncertainty; and it is of little comparative moment to determine these things over accurately, so far as the practical influence of Christianity is concerned. Other passages are illustrated by the usages of the time, by the observations of travellers in the east, by the established force of proverbial language, by the comparison of parallel phrases. Here a cautious criticism has her natural province, and no limit can be assigned to the just improvements and discoveries which every age brings. All this is the dictate of common sense. Another rule follows.

3. Let BRIEF PASSAGES BE EXPLAINED BY THOSE THAT ARE MORE FULL ON THE SAME OR KINDRED SUBJECTS.

The col

lation of parallel texts is the master-key to the Holy Scriptures. It makes the Bible its own interpreter. It surrounds the short, apophlegmatic summaries of truth with a divine exposition. It gives the pregnant word its real, because inspired, meaning. I read of the Almighty being a rock, a refuge, a hiding-place; I read of Christ being the shepherd. of his people; I read of the preaching of the cross; I read of the Comforter of the church. I want to know the import of these or the like brief phrases. I turn to what the same sacred writers have themselves said more at length on the same topics. This is my clue. I throw into the single term all the ideas conveyed in the enlarged instruction. Thus the mysteries of the being and perfections of the eternal God, of the incarnation, of the sacrifice of the cross, the fall of man, the operations of grace are all expounded for me by the presiding Spirit. The prophecies of the Old Testament, again, are thus made to illustrate the transactions of the New; and the history of the New to reflect light upon the Old. The phraseology of the Mosaic economy is thus traced out in the language of the Evangelical, and is interpreted according to that more spiritual dispensation. The historical parts of Scripture are also blended in one body with the preceptive; and the prophets' allusions to passing events, are illustrated by the reigns of the kings under whom they flourished.

There is nothing which is necessary for man to know, but, if it is expressed concisely and briefly in one part of Scripture, is given more fully and explicitly in another. It is the same inspiring Spirit that speaks every where, and it is our duty to follow his infallible guidance.

"I will not scruple to assert," says Bishop Horsley, "that the most illiterate Christian, if he can but read his English Bible and will take the pains to read it in this manner,' (comparing the parallel passages according to the references,) "will not only obtain all that practical knowledge which is necessary to salvation, but by God's blessing will become learned in every thing relating to religion, in such a degree, that he will not be liable to be removed, either by the refined arguments, or by the false assertions of those who endeavor to graft their own opinions upon the oracles of God. Let him study the Bible in the manner which I recommend, and let him never cease to pray for the illumination of that Spirit by which these books were dictated, and the whole compass of abstruse philosophy and recondite history shall furnish no arguments with which the perverse will of man shall be able to shake this learned Christian's faith."

4. Let FIGURATIVE AND POETICAL PARTS BE INTERPRETED BY THE FIXED AND ORDINARY LAWS WHICH ARE CONSTANTLY

APPLIED TO SUCH LANGUAGE IN COMMON LIFE. Every one knows the difference between an act of Parliament and an ode; and every honest mind applies the rules of language as they are respectively suitable to each. In grave and strait-forward history, in the lives of patriarchs and saints, in the narratives of our Saviour's, actions, in the delivery of solemn doctrine and precept in the epistles, the obvious sense of words is the true one. In the lofty poems of Moses, of Isaiah, of David; in the allegories and parables of our Lord; in the Proverbs of Solomon; in the poetical imagery of the Canticles and the book of Job; in other parts of Scripture where the style is figurative, highly sublime, richly adorned with metaphors, abounding with sudden transitions; filled with those kinds of expressions which an impassioned feeling or the prophetical impulse dictates-the interpretation is subject to different rules, but rules as strict

as in the plainest and most unadorned prose. Every man feels this, and insensibly obeys the leading of common sense in interpreting the language of the Scriptures. The danger arises when weak or ill informed persons take occasion to impose wild and fanciful senses, merely because certain terms, independently considered, might admit of them, though in their connection they reject any such violence. And still greater evil springs from the application of typical or poetical rules of interpretation to the preceptive parts of Scripture, and thus explaining away all the force of the most solemn truths under the pretence of eastern imagery or Mosaical types. Common sense distinguishes. Common sense, as the handmaid to faith, passes on securely. It is the perverse and wilful, or the weak and inconsiderate, who are led astray. No man can wander far, that desires to seek truth, and uses the proper means for attaining it. The parables have commonly a key given by our Lord. The loftiest flights of the prophets have some main import. The most profound observations on human life, in the Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, have a clear and declared practical purpose. The devotional poems are the genuine language of the soul under deep emotions; and are instantly understood when similar emotions are felt. The few difficulties that remain are not generally so circumstanced, as to embarrass the humble student. The unfulfilled prophecies, indeed, where the highest poetical and figurative language is connected with the obscurity which the wisdom of God has spread over this part of his word, to be only explained by event; call for more than usual caution in what we venture to interpret; but involve no practical difficulty, if faith and humility be duly regarded.

5. It is a good rule, further, to sUSPEND OUR JUDGMENT WHERE A PASSAGE IS, AFTER ALL, NOT OBVIOUS, AND TO WAIT FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, rather than to commit ourselves rashly and prematurely to a decision which may turn out to be unsound. Work with the plain texts, imbibe the simple and main instructions, fully enter into the large and ample materials, where nothing is wanting but time, prayer, meditation, love. Suspend your judgment on the