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temper. Now, in view of this second, and still more signal instance, we confidently anticipate the three results, as in the first, -1st, That the modern geology will not merely keep its ground, but advance on its course: 2dly, That Christianity will nevertheless hold its position, as the religion of the most enlightened communities, and of the most enlightened individuals in these communities, and that it will spread itself over the earth; and then, and as an inevitable, as well as much-to-be-desired consequence of the working of the first of these events upon the second, namely, of geological science upon Biblical interpretation, that the GENUINE RULE of sacred exegesis will be further ascertained, and demonstrated, and carried out, with a more extended application to the canonical writings; excluding thenceforward, on the one hand, impracticable and superstitious assumptions, and, on the other, neological evasions of the supernatural import of the Scripture history. We have only to add the expression of our belief that a Third, and a not less signal instance-closely analogous to the two already mentioned, is likely to occur as a consequence of those unrestricted researches physical, architectural, and ethnical, which the rising curiosity of the European mind must, sooner or later, obtain leave to prosecute in Palestine. The Turk, even if he continues to rule, cannot for ever resist (we speak not of political changes) the impetus that is now converging upon the Syrian soil, from England, from America, from France, and from Germany. The Holy Land—its natural surface-its rivers-its depths, and these as far down as excavation may reach, will be spread out upon the library tables of Europe and America. But then, and as a consequence of this unfolding and unveiling of the land of sacred history, there will take place, what we have named as the third, and perhaps it will be the final collision, between certain religious prepossessions, or groundless assumptions, and certain unquestionable facts -physical and archæological. It is this still future collision which, as we think, will bring to maturity, and will fully establish that rule of Biblical interpretation, which every historic document must demand for its true explication.

Whatever attaches to the Inspired Books, in so far as they are human compositions-the writings of men, must, sooner or later, be submitted to the authenticated processes of philological and historical criticism, and these processes now await a further knowledge of the native country of the Bible, and of its ancient monuments. These severe analyses-these rigid and fearless scrutinies, cannot but issue in bringing home to the convictions of all men, and with a new and solemn force, a sense of the certainty of whatever is indeed "from Heaven." And all true religion is from Heaven, and so is all genuine morality; but geography is

not from Heaven; nor is geology, nor is astronomy, nor statistics; nor is common and profane history; nor are topographic surveys;-all these things, and things like them, are "of men," and therefore are subject to the conditions that necessarily attach to whatever is human :-these things are progressive;-they have their period of infancy, their period of rapid development, and their period of ascertained maturity; and when severally they reach their last and ripened state, whatever belonged to their infancy must, of course, be "put away," or if not, they are conserved only by men,-not child-like, but childish.

In any such instance as those to which we have alluded, we are not called upon to relinquish so much as one particle of that which belongs to the substance of REVELATION, equally illogical and irreligious would be the supposition! We relinquish, in fact, some too hastily assumed notions of our own, as to what the inspired writers were instructed to teach; and perhaps the relinquished article is nothing more to be regarded or regretted than an incompetent and faulty rendering of the original text! In any such case the operation of removing that which is human from that which is divine, instead of its loosening the principle of faith, brings it to cohere more firmly to what is the proper object of faith,—namely, the divine testimony concerning divine things; -it does not unsettle our convictions, but, on the contrary, it establishes them upon the rock-the very rock, bared of earth and sand. When the Psalmist proclaims this noble and consolatory truth-that "from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same the Lord's name is to be praised," nouncement containing more of poetry, more of moral impulse, and more of theology, than is found in volumes of pagan poetry, ethics, and philosophy, David's notions of the relative position, the magnitudes, and the motions of the earth, and the heavenly luminaries, are no elements of the truth so announced, and might now be granted to be utterly wrong, without in the least degree derogating from the heavenly theorem, any more than the badness of the paper upon which our Euclid is printed, or than errors of the press, lower the applicable value of his demonstrations, or throw a doubt upon his methods of proof. All this is now pretty well admitted and understood,-it is a concession that has been wrung from theological persistency by evidences which could not be gainsaid.

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Concessions, precisely analogous to this, and yet of a rather more extended application, have, for some while past, been waiting to be allowed and authenticated by Biblical interpreters. Sturdy applicants have knocked, and are still knocking, at the door of theological halls, and when their petition has been listened

to, an inestimable boon will have been received, rather than anything valuable parted with by the authorities.

But what has this to do with Palestine ?-much, or so we humbly think. From the unrestrained and thorough examination of the regions round about Jerusalem, and from the turning up of its own rubbish-burdened sites, and from the opening of its subterraneous halls and sealed chambers, facts will be incidentally gathered, small perhaps in their apparent disc, but conclusive and irresistible as to the inferences they support, which shall lead, by a tacit necessity, to the establishment of a matured science of biblical interpretation; and this ripened exegesis will bring with it, not indeed a triumph of neologism or of infidelity, but a final refutation and expulsion of every theory or assumption that is opposed to "the Truth of God." Thenceforward all men will gladly receive it as certain that "holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost," this miraculous influence extending to the utmost limits of that which is indeed "from Heaven," and leaving, liable to its ordinary conditions, whatever, within the area encircled by inspiration, belongs to the range of human knowledge.

ART. IX.-Essays on Christian Union. London, 1845.

On the forenoon of the second day of the bicentenary commemoration of the Westminster Assembly, held at Edinburgh, July 12th and 13th 1843, there stood up one to address the assembly on the subject of Union among Christian Denominations, and during the delivery of his sentiments, which were not trite common-places or pointless generalities, but the vigorous thoughts of a disciplined mind, prompted by a pious and catholic spirit, a gentleman present at the meeting was so deeply impressed by them that he at once formed the idea of carrying out, in more enlarged shape, the hints and suggestions thus brought by Dr. Balmer before the immense audience that filled the Hall. But he, in whose remarks the conception of the book before us originated, has gone to his reward-lived not to see the publication of the volume of which his Essay is an ornament, and the revising of the proof-sheets of which was his last public work in this world. From the inculcation of love on earth he passed into the society of Heaven. His spirit entered into the communion of all that is loving and lovely, while it was yet flushed with the excitement of urging on

the Churches prompt and universal obedience to the new commandment-Love one another.

Amidst the various pleasing fruits of the bicentenary meeting, the publication of this volume is one of the most delightful and appropriate. That meeting was one of union as joyous as it was unexpected. It presented a vision of surpassing beauty to the Christian philanthropist-an omen of future co-operation, yet more extended and fraught with more important results. This collection of Essays exhibits that co-operation in another sphere, and is itself a symbol of the union which the various contributors are labouring to promote. May its wide and rapid circulation accelerate the advent of that happy day when the "truth shall be spoken in love," and "Ephraim shall not envy Judah_nor Judah vex Ephraim." Our hope is, especially, that in Scotland its projector may see to some extent the realization of that harmony and intercourse which his zealous generosity is so anxious to secure, and to attain which, so far as his own sphere of influence reaches, he may say in the words of the illustrious Calvin on the same subject, quantum ad me attinet, siquis mei usus foret, ne decem quidem maria, si opus sit, ob eam rem trajicere pigeat.

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It is an auspicious sign for the cause of union when, for present divisions, there are great searchings of heart"-when the Churches, having drunk into one spirit, anxiously ponder the cause why yet there is "schism in the body," and its various members have not "the same care one for another," and begin to reason and feel that, as "envyings, and strife, and divisions are among them, surely they are carnal and walk as men." wonder is that the contrast between the spiritual and visible state of the Church has not shamed her into public recognised union in her various branches. The Church is one, professing "one Lord, one faith, one baptism." The one Atonement is her trust, the one Spirit her purifier, the one grace her sustaining power, and the one heaven her ultimate resting place. The one Faith is the organ of her justification, and love is the index of her sanctification. Partakers of the same nature, and originally under the same curse, rescued by the same redeeming love, and introduced into the same holy fellowship with similar fears and hopes, professions and duties, the Churches have common sympathies, trials, and enjoyments. In reality they are all one in Christ-members of that body of which he is the head-branches of that vine of which he is the root-living stones in that temple of which he is the foundation. But the frailty and passions of even sanctified humanity have produced jealousies and alienations. These baneful effects were felt in the infant Churches of Apostolic era. There were contentions in the Church of Corinth produced by overweening attachment to good men, almost canonizing

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them; one saying, I am of Paul, another I of Apollos, another I of Cephas." Similar feuds prevailed in the other Churches. The writings of the Apostolic fathers contain many allusions to such dissensions. Fearful divisions ensued, from corrupting the simplicity of the Gospel, by the introduction of terms and phrases from the current systems of philosophy. One party resiling from the truth in one direction, created another at its remote antipodes. And, in subsequent times, the love of Christ too often degenerated into bigoted attachment to the peculiarities of some creed or symbol; the love of the brethren was lost in ravening factions; zeal consumed itself in internal controversy, as if engaged in a war of extirpation against the inhabitants of some modern, Canaan, and so the temple of the Lord has presented the melancholy spectacle of a house divided against itself in proud and vindictive scorn. Yet amidst all this "envying and strife," followed by "confusion and every evil work," the Churches acknowledged their theoretic unity, and not a few were found to exclaim in earnest pathos; "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." It is refreshing to read the sentiments of the illustrious writers of those early periods, on the subject of these "Essays." Again and again does the sacred orator of the Greek Church inculcate the doctrine of unity; "the Church," he says, "is a name not of separation but of oneness, ὄνομα ου χωρισμοῦ, αλλα ἕνωσεως. Distance may separate, but the Lord unites."* Clemens Alexandrinus compares the local separation of the Churches with their real union, to the harmony produced by the varied chords of one musical instrument, while a skilful leader strikes them, and declares again, "that in the midst of apparent schisms there is substantial unity."† Basil not unfrequently insists upon all believers being one people, and one Church; rejoices that the severance of heretics does not destroy the unity of the Church, and feels his heart warming at the thought that Christian societies scattered through such a variety of places, are yet one in Christ, knit together in the bond of charity by the communion of the Spirit, whose office it is to found and perpetuate this holy junction, which is accordingly described by him as ἡ κατὰ πνεῦμα συνάφεια. Cyril's Catechism taught the youth of Jerusalem to say believe in one Holy Catholic Church. Irenæus describes the Church ὡς ἕνα οἶκον οικοῦσα, and as possessing and being animated by, one soul and one heart.§ The Latin Church was not behind its eastern sister. Cyprian's treatise on the Unity of the

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+ Stromata, VII.

* Chrysostomi Orat. in I Corinth.

Epist., 192.

§ Advers. Haeres. Lib. I., c. 3.

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