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meant, he may rest assured, that sistent with the will of God, is truth. The testimony of men who spoke and wrote by the Spirit of God, is the testimony of God himself; and the testimony of the God of truth is the strongest, and most indubitable of all demonstration.

The above view of the apostolic inspiration will likewise enable us, as I apprehend, to understand the apostle Paul, in the seventh chapter of his first epistle to the Corinthians, where in some verses he seems to speak as if he were not inspired, and in others as if he were. Concerning some things he saith, "But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment :"* and again, " I have no commandment of the Lord; yet I give my judgment as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful." The subject of which the apostle here delivers his opinion, was a matter of christian prudence, in which the Corinthians had desired his advice. But it was not a part of religious sentiment or practice; it was not a branch of christian doctrine or duty, but merely a casuistical question of prudence, with relation to the distress which persecution then occasioned. Paul therefore, agreeably to their request, gives them his opinion as a faithful man; but he guards them against supposing, that he was under divine inspiration in that opinion, lest their consciences should be shackled, and leaves them at liberty to follow his advice or not, as they might find convenient. Yet he intimates that he had the Spirit of the Lord" as a christian teacher, that he had not said any thing conVer. 25

* Ver. 6

trary to his will; and that the opinion which he gave was, on the whole, adviseable "in the present distress." But the apostle's declaration, that as to this particular matter, he spoke "by permission, and not of commandment," strongly implies, that in other things, in things really of a religious nature, he did speak by commandment from the Lord. Accordingly, in the same chapter, when he had occasion to speak of what was matter of moral duty, he immediately claimed to be under divine direction in what he wrote. "And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband.”* This would be a breach of one of the chief obligations of morality, and therefore Paul interdicts it under the divine authority. Respecting indifferent things, he gave his judgment as a wise and faithful friend; but respecting the things of religion, he spake and wrote as an apostle of Jesus Christ, under the direction and guidance of his Spirit.

SECTION III.

Arguments in support of the above view of the Apostolic Inspiration.

FROM a survey of the manner in which the apostles came by their knowledge of christianity we have concluded, that they were under the infallible guidance of the Holy Spirit, in every religious sentiment which they taught mankind, whether by their preaching or their writings; that they were

1 Cor. vii. 10.

directed by the Spirit of truth, what to record for the instruction of the church; and that in what they have written and recorded, they were infallibly preserved from error, so that every religious sentiment contained in their writings, is to be received as divine truth. This view of their inspiration, arising from their own account, may be confirmed by various arguments drawn from scripture, and the nature of the subject.

I. It may be proved from the nature of the apostolic office, which was designed to supply the place of Christ's bodily presence to the church. It is generally allowed that the Lord Jesus Christ was a perfect teacher of the will of God; that he was acquainted with all religious truth, and that he taught nothing but truth in his doctrine. As the teacher sent from God, he knew the mind and will of God. "He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him." He came to instruct men in the knowledge of divine truth, and he was "The faithful and true witness." But it is evident that, in this respect, the office of the apostles was similar tơ that of Christ himself; and that they were commissioned and qualified as his agents, and in his room, to discharge the work of instructing the church, and to communicate to it the will of God. There is a positive declaration of our Lord, which places this matter in the clearest light. He said to his apostles, "As my Father hath sent me, even 80 send I you." As the Father sent Christ into the world to "bear witness unto the truth," so Christ sent his apostles with a commission of the same naJohn xviii. 37.

* John iii. 34. † John xx. 21.

ture, and to answer the same end.

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As he was sent to be an infallible teacher of the divine mind and will, so they in like manner were sent by him, on the same important and gracious errand. As he received his authority and his furniture, as the great prophet of the church, from his heavenly Father, so they received their authority and their ability from him. They were sent by him on business of the same nature, in this respect, as that on which he had been sent by the Father: and were appointed by him, to carry on that work which he had begun by his personal ministry, namely, the instruction of men in the knowledge of God and salvation.

But what valuable end would have been answered, by giving the apostles a commission of this nature, if they had not been endowed with abilities to discharge it? To what purpose would it have been to send them in Christ's room, to teach men the things of God, unless they were enabled to supply his place, and had the same Spirit of truth to guide them in what they declared, and preserve them from error in the sentiments which they taught? How could our Lord himself have fulfilled the office of a "teacher sent from God," if he had not had a perfect knowledge of the will of God? And. how could the apostles have fulfilled the office of his representatives, to declare the same mind and will to the church, if they had not been abundantly supplied with his Spirit, and preserved from mistakes concerning it? If they had erred in the doctrines they taught, the sentiments they inculcated, or the duties they enjoined, how could they, as teachers, fill up the place of him, who came forth from God, and who had the words of God? How

could they be "The light of the world,"* if they themselves were subject to darkness?

When the Father sent Christ among men as a divine and infallible teacher, he gave him in that character, not only a commission to teach, but a fulness of wisdom and knowledge, an immeasurable communication of his spirit, to enable him to fulfil that commission, and "teach the way of God perfectly." If, therefore, the apostles had not been under such a degree of inspiration and guidance from the Holy Spirit, as gave them a complete knowledge of christianity, and kept them from error in communicating it, they could not be said to be sent forth by our Lord, even as the Father had sent him. The grand points of resemblance, between their mission and that of Christ, as teachers. of a divine religion, lay in the nature of their commission, the end it was to answer, their ability for the proper execution of it, and the authority of what they declared under it. From their office, therefore, as intended to supply the place of our Lord's bodily presence, and personal instructions to the church, it may justly be concluded, that they were under the direction of his Spirit, in all that they have taught concerning the gospel.

Agreeably to this representation, when Christi informed the apostles, that he sent them into the world as the Father sent him, "He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy' Ghost." This action and expression signified the necessity of the Spirit's special assistance and influence for them, the certainty of its bestowment upon them from Christ himself, and the authority † John xx. 22.

* Mat. v. 14.

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