sition of the latter by the familiarity which its LECT. I. authors possessed with the language and contents of the former. Though written originally in different tongues, and marked respectively by certain peculiarities of style, structure, and allusion, both belong evidently to the same national literature, and bear the stamp and hue of the same national taste, intellect, and character.

Besides establishing this connexion, however, the materials we have been considering clearly point us to one of a deeper and more intrinsic character-to one not in outward form merely, but also in substance. The terms in which our Lord and his apostles speak of the Old Testament, the frequent references which, in their discourses or writings, they make to its contents, and the purposes for which these references are made, are such as to leave no doubt in the mind of the reader respecting the views entertained and taught by them on this head. That the Jewish Scriptures contain a system of religious truth substantially identical with that which they promulgated, that the prophecies recorded in these Scriptures concerning the Messiah and his kingdom find their fulfilment in the events in which they either were chief agents, or of which they are witnesses to the world,that the symbolical and typical institutions of Moses adumbrated those great spiritual truths which they had come forth to proclaim among mankind, that, in short, Christianity is only

F

LECT. I. the full manifestation of those glorious facts which had projected their prophetic shadows into the previous economies,-announcing that the source of light was in the direction from which they came,-are positions inseparably interwoven with the whole texture of the evangelical history and doctrines. If we profess to take our religion from the New Testament we must take this as a necessary part of the whole system therein revealed.

To attempt an articulate proof and illustration of these positions is the interesting and important duty which lies before us in the subsequent part of this course.

LECTURE II.

INTERNAL OR DOCTRINAL CONNEXION OF THE OLD AND NEW
TESTAMENTS.-DOCTRINES RESPECTING THE DIVINE NATURE.

HEB. I. 1, 2.

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son."

from the

source.

In that revelation of the Divine will which the LECT. II. Bible contains, we have a series of communications All Scripture stretching through a course of many centuries, same Divine conveyed through individuals of different habits, tastes, education, and talents, and characterised by the greatest variety of form and style. Amid all this diversity, however, of outward circumstance, the great Author of the whole remained from first to last the same. By whomsoever the message was borne to men-whether by patriarchs, or prophets, or by the Son of God himself; at whatever period it was announced-whether in the early dawn of the world's history, or after "the fulness of the time" had already come; and

LECT. II. in whatever form it appeared-whether clothed in symbols or conveyed in the language of direct annunciation, whether set forth by some silent yet significant type, or proclaimed by the living voice of some gifted seer,-whether uttered in brief and naked terms, or wrapt in the gorgeous mantle of impassioned poetry; it was throughout the same Divine Spirit who inspired the messenger and authorized the message. "God," the apostle tells us, "who at sundry times and in divers manners spake unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son." As in the natural world, the media through which the rays of the sun pass, and the degree of warmth and illumination experienced in consequence at the earth's surface, are different at different times

Consequent

harmony of

"Non habet officii Lucifer omnis idem"

whilst it is in every case and at all times the same luminary to which we are indebted for whatever of light and heat our atmosphere may transmit to us; so in the spiritual world it hath pleased the Sovereign of the universe that the radiance of divine truth, flowing as it ever must from the fountain of his own eternal mind, should descend in different degrees and with diversified hues upon those to whom it was originally sent.

The effluence of all the portions of Scripture

all Scripture. from the same Divine source secures the perfect

harmony of the doctrines which they respec- LECT. 11. tively unfold. Of their Almighty Author it has

66

been justly said, “ Opera mutat, nec mutat con-
silium,"*—he may change his mode of operation,
but his counsel-that which embraces the prin-
ciples of his government and the scheme of his
grace-remains unchangeable. He is "the Father
of lights, with whom there is no variableness, nor
the shadow of turning;"-"nunquam novus, nun-
quam vetus."+ In him there is no deficiency; with
him there is no progress. Growth, experience,
acquisition, are terms without meaning if applied
to him. No prejudice can bias, no ignorance
becloud, no confusion mislead his holy and
omniscient mind. "He is a rock, his work is
perfect for all his ways are judgment: a God
of truth and without iniquity, just and right is
he." Nor are the truths of revelation of such
a kind as to be affected by the lapse of time, or
any change in the circumstances of the parties
addressed. They are the expression of certain
great facts respecting the character and govern-
ment of God, the relation in which man stands
to his Creator and Ruler, and the provision
which God has made for the restoration of
mankind to his favour, in consistency with the
glory of his character and the claims of his
government. These facts are necessarily the
same in all ages and in every part of the world;
+ Ibid.

* Augustine. Confess. I. 4.
Deut. xxxii. 4.