That the whole authority of the Scripture in itself depends solely on its divine original, is confessed by all who acknowledge its autho- rity. The evincing and declaration of that authority being the thing at present aimed at, the discovery of its divine spring and rise is, in the first place, necessarily to be premised thereunto. That foundation being once laid, we shall be able to educe our following reasons and arguments, wherein we aim more at weight than num- ber, from their own proper principles.
As to the original of the Scripture of the Old Testament, it is said, God spake, rrdXai h roTg 'Trpo(p7;rati, (Heb. i. 1,) " of old, or for- merly, in the prophets." From the days of Moses the lawgiver, and downwards, unto the consignation and bounding of the canon deli- vered to the Judaical Chm'ch, in the days of Ezra and his companions, n^nan npaa ''K'px, the " men of the great congregation" — so God spake. This being done only among the Jews, they, as his church, eirtanldrisav Tu Xoyta. rod ©sou, (Rom. iii. 2, ix. 4,) were " intrusted with the oracles of God." God spake, h roTg '7rpo<p^Tuig; ev for Bjd, (Chrysostom, Theo- phylact,) in for bi/ : did ruv Tpo<prirc!Jv, " by the prophets," as Luke i. 70, 8id aro/j^arog tuv dy'im Tpoipi^ruv, " by the mouth of the holy prophets." But there seems to be somewhat further intended in this expression.
In the exposition, or giving out the eternal counsel of the mind and will of God unto men, there is considerable [to be considered] : 1. His speaking unto the prophets; and, 2. His speaking by them unto us. In this expression, it seems to be that Vlp na, or filia vocis — that voice from heaven that came to the prophets — which is under- stood. So God spake in the prophets; and in reference thereunto there is propriety in that expression, h roTg Tpo^jjTa/^ — " in the pro-
298 THE DIVINE ORIGINAL OF SCRIPTURE.
phets." Thus the Psahns are many of them said to be, To this or that man. ivf? DJ?3p, " A golden psalm to David " — that is, from the Lord ; and from thence their tongue was as the " pen of a writer." (Ps. xlv. 1.) So God spake in them, before he spake hy them.
The various ways of special revelation, by dreams, visions, audible voices, inspirations, with that peculiar one of the lawgiver under the Old Testament called D'^?-^^? D^JS "face to face," (Exod. xxxiii. 11; Dent, xxxiv. 10) and '^^'^^ ^^, (Numb. xii. 8,) with that which is com- pared with it and exalted above it (Heb. i. 1-3) in the New, by the Son, viz., £x xo'K'xov roZ Tarpog, " from the bosom of the Father," (John i. 17, 18,) are not of my present consideration — all of them belonging to the manner of the thing inquired after, not the thing itself.
By the assertion, then, laid down, of God " speaking in the pro- phets of old," from the beginning to the end of that long tract of time (consisting of one thousand years) wherein he gave out the Amtmgs of the Old Testament, two things are ascertained unto us, which are the foundation of our present discourse.
1. That the laws they made known, the doctrines they delivered, the instructions they gave, the stories they recorded, the promises of Christ, the prophecies of gospel times they gave out and revealed, were not their own, not conceived in their minds, not formed by their reasonings, not retained in their memories ft-om what they heard, not by any means beforehand comprehended by them, (1 Pet. i. 10, 11,) but were all of them immediately from God — there being only a passive concurrence of their rational faculties in their recep- tion, without any such active obedience as by any law they might be obliged unto. Hence,
2. God was so with them, and by the Holy Ghost so spake in them — as to their receiving of the Word from him, and their delivering of it unto others by speaking or writing — as that they were not them- selves enabled, by any habitual light, knowledge, or conviction of truth, to declare his mind and will, but only acted as they were immediately moved by him. Their tongue in what they said, or their hand in what they wrote, was ">?iD DV^ no more at their own dis- posal than the pen is in the hand of an expert writer.
Hence, as far as then OAvn personal concernments, as saints and believers, did lie in them, they are said Ipiwav, " to make a diligent inquiry into, and investigation of," the things which shfi'kou rh h avroTg TLviv^Mo, XpigTov, the " Spirit of Christ that spake in themselves did signify." (1 Pet. i. 10, 11.) Without this, though their visions were express, so that in them their eyes were said to be open, (Numb. xxiv. 3, 4,) yet they understood them not. Therefore, also, they studied the Avritings and prophecies of one another. (Dan. ix. 2.) Thus they attained a saving, useful, habitual knowledge of the truths delivered
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by themselves and others, by the illumination of the Ploly Ghost, through the study of the Word, even as we. (Ps. cxix. 104.) But as to the receiving of the Word from God, as God spake in them, they obtained nothing by study or meditation, by inquuy or reading. (Amos vii. 15.) Whether v^^e consider the matter or manner of what they received and delivered, or their receiving and dehvering of it, they were but as an instrument of music, giving a sound accord- ing to the hand, intention, and skill of him that strikes it.