That this is so indeed, as before asserted, and to give a reason why this is to be received as a principle, he adds, (verse 21,) Ov yap ^iXrifx^art avdpu'xou ^vsy^&rj 'TTori ■TT/'opjjrs/a. That word of prophecy which we have written, is not idlag sTiXussMg — " of private conception" — " for it came not at any time by the will of man." 'Uvsxh, which is the passive conjugation of (pspu from s/eyxu, denotes at least to be " brought in " — more than merely it " came" — it was brought into them by the will of God. The affirmative, as to the will of God, is mcluded in the negative, as to the will of man ; or it came as the voice from heaven to our Saviour on the mount. (Verse 18, where the same word is used.) So Ezek. i. 8, "ilT n^n n^'H, " essendo fuit verbum," it was brought into him, as was showed before. Thus God brought the word to them, and spake m them, in order of nature, before he spake hi/ them. As mx^n-, it was brought to them, it was nin^ "pip, " the voice of the Lord," (Gen. iii. 8,) or ^ip n3, as the Jews call it : as spoken by them, or written, it was properly n'^n^nnn, "verbum Dei," "the word of God," which by his immediate voice he signified to the pro- phets. Thus some of them, in visions, first ate a written book and then prophesied, as was instanced before. And this is the first spring
THE PROPHETS INSPIRED BY THE HOLY GHOST. S05
of the Scripture — the begmning of its emanation from the counsel and will of God. By the power of the Holy Ghost it was brought into the organs or instruments that he was pleased to use, for the revelation and declaration of it unto others.
That which remains for the completing of this dispensation of the Word of God unto us is added by the apostle : 'Tto Uvivfj^arog ayiou fipo^ivoi sXdXriffav ayioi Qsou avSpwTroi. When the word was thus brought to them, it was not left to their understandings, wisdoms, minds, memories, to order, dispose, and give it out; but they were borne, acted, [actuated,] carried out by the Holy Ghost, to speak, de- liver, and write all that, and nothing but that — to every tittle — that was so brought to them. They invented not words themselves, suited to the things they had learned, but only expressed the words that they received. Though their mind and understanding were used in the choice of words, (whence arise all the differences — that is, in their man- ner of expression — for they did use ypn nn'n "words of will," or choice,) yet they were so guided, that their words were not their own, but immediately supplied unto them. And so they gave out "iK^* ^-ins, the " wiiting of uprightness," and nox n^"^, "words of truth" itself (Eccles. xii. 10.) Not only the doctrine they taught was the word of tnith — tnith itself, (John xvii. 1 7,) — but the words whereby they taught it were words of truth from God himself Thus, allowing the contri- bvition of passive instruments for the reception and representation of words — which answer the mind and tongue of the prophets, in the coming of the voice of God to them — every apex of the written Word is equally divine, and as immediately from God as the voice where- with, or whereby, he spake to or in the prophets; and is, therefore, accompanied with the same authority in itself, and unto us.
What hath been thus spoken of the scripture of the Old Testament, must be also affirmed of the New, with this addition of advantagfe and pre-eminence, viz., that ap-)(riv 'iXa^iv "KakiTs&ai dia rov Kvpiou, (Heb. ii. 3,) " it received its beginning of being spoken by the Lord himself." God sj)ake in these last days, h ra T/'w, " in the Son." (Heb. i. 2.)
Thus God, who himself began the writing of the Word with his own finger, (Exod. xxxi. 18,) — after he had spoken it, (Exod. xx.,) ap- pointing or approving the writing of the rest that followed, (Deut. xxxi. 12; Josh, xxiii. 6; 1 Kings ii. 3; 2 Kings xiv. 6, XAai. 13; 1 Chron. xxii. 18; 2 Chron. xxv. 4; Ezek. ii. 8-10; Hab. ii. 2; Luke xvi. 29 ; John v. 39, xx. 81 ; Acts xvii. 11,) — doth lastly command the close of the immediate revelation of his will to be -written in a book ; (Rev. i. 11;) and so gives out the whole of his mind and counsel unto us in wi'iting, as a merciful and stedfast relief against all that con- fusion, darkness, and uncertainty, which the vanity, folly, and loose- ness of the minds of men — draAvn out and heightened by the unspeak-
VOL. XVI. 20
306 THE DIVINE OKIGINAL OF SCEIPTUEE.
able alterations that faU out amongst them — would otherwise have certainly run into.
Thus we have laid down the original of the Scriptures from the Scripture itself. And this original is the basis and foundation of all its authority. Thus is it from God — enth-ely from him. As to the doctrine contained in it, and the words wherein that doctrine is de- livered, it is wholly his; what that speaks, he speaks himself. He speaks in it and by it ; and so it is vested with aU the moral autho- rity of God over his creatures.