while the style of John is simple, clear, and hortatory. The style of Matthew and John is Hebraistic, and their Greek is bad and full of orientalisms, while Luke and Paul, being educated men, are far more classic and correct. This argument weighs heavily with many minds against verbal inspiration. We cannot, however, see anything so formidable in it as has been seen by others. The following is

our answer:

(1.) God speaks to man more humano, that is, after the manner of men; and hence he uses human language, and, of course, human language with its imperfections. If God uses human language in communicating with men, why may he not use the peculiarities of certain men, as the seraphic fire of Isaiah, the majesty of Ezekiel, the simplicity of John, or the logic of the apostle Paul, to communicate that which is peculiarly suited to each one to communicate? It is indeed no more than we should expect, that God would use the individuality of such men for the more ready reception of his truth in the minds of men.

The human mind is fond of variety, and a subject which awakens thought and emotion in one man will not always do it in another. The Bible should be a book adapted to the human mind: and such a book it is, having every variety of subject and every variety of style, calculated to arouse, to enlighten, and elevate the human mind in all its varied conditions. If then the Holy Ghost had written in one uniform style, in the purest style of Hebrew, and in the purest and most classic Greek, it would not have accomplished its object. And therefore individuality in the writers of the Scriptures inspired by the Spirit is just what we might expect.

Other objections have been raised, as that the Scriptures are hard to be understood, and if the Holy Ghost had written the book it would have been easy of comprehension. But may not the difficulty be in us? We may not have used the means best calculated to accomplish this object. Others say the translations are not inspired, and therefore the doctrine of a verbal inspiration is of no practical importance. We answer, if the translations are not inspired, yet the originals are, and we have the means of reading them as they were given to us by the Holy Ghost. Is it of no practical importance to an ambassador to a

foreign court to be able to prove his commission by original documents? Of how much greater importance that the ambassador from God to a wicked world should be able to produce and read his instructions, not only the translation, but the original documents?

Thus, we think, all objections to this, as we conceive, fundamentally important doctrine of our holy religion vanish at the touch of investigation. “This word came not of old by man, or by the will of man ; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."

INFERENCES.

1. If the Holy Scriptures are divinely inspired, human reason ought to be held in abeyance to their teachings. There is a tendency in the natural mind to exalt human reason above the Holy Scriptures. It is the natural tendency of human pride and self-sufficiency. The distinguishing doctrine of French infidelity was that reason alone should direct mankind, and the awful results of this doctrine in the French nation is a matter of history. Human reason is weak, capable of seeing but a short way, and the great subjects of revelation are utterly above its unaided comprehension. Revelation is founded on the reason and knowledge of God, and is infinitely above that of men. Human reason, therefore, must be an humble learner in divine things, and not a teacher taking the place of God.

2. If divinely inspired, they must teach us truth without any admixture of error. This is a most consoling truth, and one which enhances the value of the Bible infinitely above all other books. All other books are human, and of course adulterated with human weaknesses; but this book, being divine, teaches no error, but truth alone.

3. We also infer that, if divinely inspired, they contain a sufficiency of truth for our salvation. The works of God are perfect. None of his works are imperfect, or fall short of their design. The design of God in giving us his law, is that our souls may be saved. "Let my soul live," saith the Psalmist, "and let thy judgments help me." "They are profitable for doctrine, for correction, and instruction," says the apostle, and hence their entire sufficiency for our spiritual instruction is beyond a doubt.

4. We also infer the duty of yielding ourselves to the

III.] NATURE, CONDITION, AND DESTINATION OF MAN. 43

guidance of the Scriptures in all matters of faith and practice. As the Scriptures have God for their author, and their design is to instruct man in spiritual knowledge and in religious duty, there must be a sufficiency revealed for our faith and practice. This is a most important result of the doctrine of the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. Were they human compositions, or an admixture of human reasonings and sayings with divine, we could not heartily yield ourselves to them in all matters of faith and practice. But they are divine, and exactly adapted by the all-wise Mind "to make the man of God perfect, and thoroughly furnished unto all good works." Let us then receive the Bible as the man of our counsel and the guide of our life, and it will assuredly lead us to a happy eternity.

SERMON III.

Nature, Condition, and Destination of Man.

BY REV. HOMER J. CLARKE, A. M.,

PRESIDENT OF ALLEGANY COLLEGE.

"What is man?"-Psalm viii, 4.

THE sentiment which dictated the text is admiration and. astonishment, inspired by a view of the immensity of the works of creation. The contemplation of the nocturnal heavens is calculated to awaken in the mind conceptions of beauty and magnificence, of distance and magnitude, beyond any other subject. From this exterior display of the wealth and splendor of the Author of the universe, the mind is led to contemplate the glories of his being. Its own faculties shrink to insignificance when thus standing in the presence of powers, vast even beyond its ability to comprehend. But contemplating human nature exclusively in this light might lead us to a wrong estimate of its value. For though it would seem impossible it should claim the attention, much less the regards, of one so exalted as the divine Being, it is nevertheless true that it

does. God condescends to visit man, even in his low estate, fallen and degraded by sin.

The question in the text is one of great practical importance, and in its examination we shall briefly notice the following particulars: man's origin, nature, condition, and destination.

I. The nations of antiquity all pretend to some traditionary account respecting the origin of the human race, though these accounts are, in many of their particulars, discordant, puerile, and irrational. Men were supposed at first either to have sprung from the earth, like plants, or from some inanimate substance, or from the lower animals; a few only, entertaining juster views of the dignity of man's nature, believed him descended from the gods.

The knowledge on this subject, possessed anciently by the Jews, and since by all Christian nations, is contained in the writings of Moses. His account is more perfect and credible than that of other ancient traditions, though in some things it agrees with them. From him we learn that the human race sprung from a single pair; that this original pair received their being, not in the way of natural descent, but from the creative power of God. This doctrine of the common origin of the human race, of identity of nature amidst all the varieties of color and form which so strikingly characterize the inhabitants of different portions of the globe, is maintained by St. Paul, who says, God "hath made of one blood all nations of men, to dwell on all the face of the earth." He hath also "determined the times before appointed" for their dispersion into the different countries they inhabit, and "fixed there the bounds of their habitations." This doctrine of one blood, of one race, so clearly the doctrine of the Bible, is not less clearly the doctrine of reason and philosophy, despite the pretended objections of infidels. All objections against the identity of the human race are founded either in ignorance or prejudice, as might be conclusively shown by a reference + facts.

The practical bearings of this doctrine are numerous

portant. It has an intimate connection with the doctrines of the gospel, as the doctrine of inherited sion and the atonement of Christ. If mankind uniy have not the same parentage, are not descended

from the same original pair whose history we have recorded in the book of Genesis, who will undertake to trace the line of their descendants after the revolutions of ages have destroyed the records of nations and families; after the operation of almost numberless causes, during a period of more than five thousand years, to amalgamate and utterly confound the different races of men? Yet it is to their descendants only that the doctrines of the fall, of depravity, and of redemption, relate. Nay, it is to them only that the gospel is to be preached; that the system of revelation refers, in its threatenings and promises, its requirements and provisions. The opinion which, on account of certain complexional differences, intellectual or physical, would destroy the identity of the human race, does thus manifestly overthrow the gospel, while, as we confess, it aims merely to disfranchise a particular portion of the race; to exclude, it may be, a single branch of the great family of man from the rights and privileges of fraternity. We repeat, the practical bearings of this doctrine are important. It teaches us to regard every man as our brother; that the American Indian, though wild and uncultivated as the savage beasts which he pursues in the chase; the African negro, in the kraal of his native land, degraded by superstition and ignorance, or transported to more favored climes, where, reduced to hopeless and heartless servitude, he toils like a beast of burden, and like one perishes, ignorant of his origin and destination; the Laplander, seeking shelter from the frozen breath of his inhospitable climate with the quadruped in his subterraneous dwelling, and, till enlightened by the labors of the Christian missionary, exhibiting few of the distinguishing attributes of human nature; in a word, it teaches that man, under all circumstances, ignorant, degraded, and miserable, though he be, has still a claim on our sympathies and benevolent regards— is to be embraced in the arms of a universal brotherhood. We are to respect his rights, to promote his happiness; in all things to regulate our conduct toward him by the divine maxim, "Whatsoever ye would that others should do unto you, do ye even so unto them, for this is the law and

the prophets."

II. What is man in his nature? We read that man was created from the dust of the earth, and that the inspiration