Balaam, so was it the case with Moses and the prophets; they could only utter and write what the Lord commanded them to utter and to write.

The reason of this is abundantly obvious; for when God reveals His Thoughts, which are as high above the thoughts of men as the heavens are high above the earth," (Isaiah, lv. 9.) words of a specific character are required to reveal God's thoughts, so infinitely exalted above the thoughts of men.

God in all His operations acts by determined and unchangeable laws. In nature we know this is universally the case. As a God of order He acts solely by the unchangeable laws of His own divine order. In the natural world there is a law which causes the sun to rise and to set at its appointed time, a law by which the planets revolve in their orbits,a law by which the earth rotates on its axis, a law by which the seed germinates in the earth, by which it grows into the "blade, into the ear, and finally ripens into the full corn in the ear." These laws are universal and unchangeable. There are also laws which govern the spiritual universe, which are likewise fixed and unchangeable; and, à fortiori, there are laws by which the regeneration and salvation of mankind are accomplished. These laws of God's unchangeable order, by which He conducts His operations in saving and blessing mankind, are the divine Truths and Precepts revealed in His Word; and if they were not revealed, man could never know them, and consequently could not obey them, and could not be saved. These revealed and divine laws relate universally to the following points:-First, The being and nature of God,-what He is and who He is. Secondly, Man's relation to Him, as totally dependent on Him for life and ability to will, to think, and to act; so much so, "that without Him man can do nothing." (John, xv. 5.) Thirdly, The existence and nature of heaven, and of hell, or of the life after death. And fourthly, The divine Truths of the Word as the appointed means by which man is regenerated, that is, withdrawn from evils which are hell; and prepared for the reception of God's wisdom and love, which is heaven. All revealed Truth in its universal sense relates to these great realities of man's spiritual life, and is made known to us exclusively by the revelation of the Word.

As God then conducts everything in the economy of His Providence by certain laws, it must, we think, be abundantly evident that He has also revealed His Word by a fixed law of His Providence. What is this law? And what is the nature of that language by which God has revealed His Word? Man's work and God's work are two very different things. An artist paints the image of a man; and when you have seen

the surface, you have seen all that can be seen of the work. The more you examine it, the more visible become its imperfections and defects. Take, on the contrary, the man himself, of whom an image is made, and you have a work of God. When you look at this work you by no means see all that can be seen of its structure, and of its wonderful constitution and nature. The more you penetrate beneath the surface, the more wonders you discover; the more you examine it the more you detect its perfections, and the admirable order in which everything is arranged. This is a great, yea, an infinite distinction between the works of God and the works of man. But the distinction is not yet

fully pointed out. In every work of God, besides its internal structure and its form, there is a principle of life adapted to its nature. Thus there is besides the form, a life in the plant, in the animal, and in the man, which the ingenuity and art of man cannot impart.

The same must be the case with the Word of God, which is in perfect analogy with His works. There is within it, as there is within a man, a wonderful structure, not visible on the surface, and an admirable series of things, which can only be seen, as the apostle says, when "spiritually discerned." (1 Cor. ii. 14.) But besides this, there is a "spirit and a life" which cause the Word infinitely to transcend the composition of man. This "spirit and life" conveyed from God by His Word, is as the "fat of wheat," (Deut. xxxii. 14.) which as the medullary substance of its nourishing power, gives sustenance and health to man's body; in like manner, the "life and spirit" conveyed by the Word give salvation and happiness to his soul. But above all, there is the "flesh and blood" of the Lord as the Son of Man, that is, as the Word, for as the Word the Lord is thus designated in the Gospel, (John xii. 34-36.) and unless "we eat and drink of this flesh and blood, we have no life within us."

The law, then, by which God reveals His Word, is the law of correspondence between things natural and spiritual. No finite intelligence can accurately and universally understand and determine this law and its application. No angel in heaven could have dictated God's Word; still less could any man upon earth. God alone knows what natural object, event, or phenomenon is perfectly correspondent to his divine thoughts, and fully adequate to reveal and express them in spiritual language to the angels of heaven, and in natural language to men upon earth. A little reflection will show this to be the fact. Thus, no angelic and human intelligence could possibly have revealed the "Word by which all things are made, and without which nothing was made that is made." None but God, who is the Word, (John i. 1.) could possibly do this. Thus the revelation of the Word expressed in natural

language adapted to man's understanding, is as much a work of God as is the creation and formation of man himself. It would be as impossible for a man to form a being with all its internal and external faculties and forms adapted to the reception of life, as it would be for any finite mind to have inspired and dictated the Word of God. The creative power and wisdom for the one is as much required as for the other.

The Word, then, as we saw in our last article, was revealed, not by mediate, but by immediate inspiration, as shown and illustrated in our former paper. That is, it was revealed immediately and directly by the inspiration and action of God, into the words and expressions in which we find it written in the manuscripts in which it has been most providentially preserved to us. The variety of readings which occur in these manuscripts do not affect the sense. And where the literal sense, as is the case in a few passages, is affected, as in Gen. xlix. 6, where in the common version we read "digged down a wall," instead of "houghed oxen," as in other copies, yet this must not be considered as a mutilation or defect; for both statements are true, as Simeon and Levi did make a breach into the city of Shechem, or break down its walls," and also "houghed [or slew] their cattle." (See Gen. xxxiv. 25, 26.) Either statement serves as the basis of the spiritual sense, with this distinction, that "to dig down a wall" is the basis of the spiritual sense, as the prominent idea, whereas, to "hough the oxen" is the basis of the celestial sense, as the prominent idea. For the wall is to a city what the hamstring, or the great tendon of the leg, is to the ox; and to "break down the wall" is to a city what "houghing" is to the strong muscle of the ox. The Word, we believe, is not preserved to us exclusively in any one single manuscript, although some may have, in the estimation of critics, a preference over others; but the Word has been preserved in its entirety in the mass of manuscripts extant. it is most probable, that what is called the textus receptus, as the result of the Hebrew manuscripts collated together, is that which is the text itself of the Divine Word.* In the New Testament the text, as the result of the labours of Griesbach or of Tischendorf, is probably the most correct, in which the variety of readings, with a few exceptions in the Epistles, consists chiefly of the retention or omission of particles, called enclytics, which in a translation do not affect the sense, but as read or omitted in the Greek, add more or less of power, by affecting the accent and the tone, to the expressions employed. As in English, a speaker may conclude, in addressing his hearers, by saying,-" Well,

* See Dr. Davidson's Treatise on Biblical Criticism, pp. 445-6.

then, what do you think of the subject?" or, he may leave out the "then," and say,-" Well, what do you think of the subject?" In the former case the sentence may have more weight, but the sense is the same. The Greek abounds with particles of this kind, which, it is true, add elegance and power to the diction, but which, if omitted, scarcely affect the translation, and cannot, but in few instances, be felt or perceived by the reader. This, however, shows us that there is a great advantage in being able to read with facility the Greek text of the New Testament, as well as the Hebrew of the Old.

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A true idea of the Word, as a revelation from God, is presented to us by the ladder which Jacob saw in his dream. Jacob dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it; and Jehovah stood above it," &c. (Gen. xxviii. 12, 13.) The most obvious interpretation of this ladder is, that it is a medium of communication and conjunction between God and angels in heaven, and between God and men upon earth. Now that this medium of communication and conjunction is the divine Word, there can be no doubt. Man whilst in the world is in the ultimate or lowest position, and so long as he remains unawakened to a sense of religion, he is like Jacob, asleep. The Lord lets down from Himself His Word to man, in order that, as upon a ladder, he may ascend from the earth to heaven, that is, become regenerate, "spiritually-minded," and thus saved. There is no other possible way of ascending to heaven, or of being saved, than by ascending and descending this ladder. We ascend by the knowledge of Truth and Goodness, and of heavenly things revealed in the Word; and we descend by bringing into the life and into our daily conduct the principles of faith, charity, holiness, &c. from the Lord, at the head or top of the ladder, which we learn from the Word.

The process of regeneration is a constant ascent and descent upon this ladder. And this ladder has a similar signification to that of the appellation, "Son of Man," which, as we have just seen is the Lord as to the Word, as is evident from the declaration that the angels of God were seen ascending and descending upon the "Son of Man," (John, i. 51.) as they were seen ascending and descending upon the ladder.

This, then, gives us a true idea of the Word as revealed from the Lord through heaven to man. It also teaches us, that the Word is the source of wisdom to angels as well as to man. For the angels, once the "spirits of just men made perfect," (Heb. xii. 22.) ascended up to heaven solely by the Word, and the application of its truths to their life. And in heaven higher degrees of angelic perfection can only be attained by ascending up

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this ladder, or by perceiving and loving more interiorly and intensely the truths of the Word. Thus the Word is settled or established in heaven as well as upon the earth. (Psalm cxix. 89.) The Word, as a ladder, not only teaches the way to heaven, but gives us at the same time, from its life and spirit, as from the Lord at the top, all power to ascend its steps. Every step as it is reached opens out a more interior and a more spiritual view of its divine contents, and enables the faithful mind to become more imbued with "its spirit and its life," or to become more fully a "partaker of the divine nature;" or as in the Lord's own words, to eat and drink more abundantly of His own "flesh and blood, as the Son of Man."

From this view regarded, the Word and its revelation is a miracle so great as to be second only to that of the incarnation of God himself, or "of God manifest in the flesh" for the purpose of redemption. Thus the Word is the most holy thing upon earth; it is, indeed, Emanuel— "God with us." It is the Lord with all the life of his love and wisdom speaking to us, for He is the "Word,"-struggling with us for our good, strengthening us in temptations, consoling us in afflictions, combatting for us against our spiritual enemies, and delivering us from their power.

But how can a correct idea be had of the doctrine of correspondences by which the Word is written, and how can these correspondences be interpreted and understood? In answering these questions, we cannot do better than refer to the man who, by a providential interposition, was instructed and commissioned to make known the doctrine of correspondences, especially in relation to the Word, for the purpose, on the one hand, of shewing its true nature, and on the other, of vindicating its divinity against the attacks of infidelity. This man was Swedenborg, and we will now adduce him in one of the most pertinent extracts from his works, to explain the subject, trusting that it may be taken up and discussed with that solemn reverence which its importance demands :

"It shall be explained," says Swedenborg, "what is the nature of correspondences, likewise of influx or inspiration, otherwise it cannot be comprehended what the quality of the Word is within its bosom, thus as to its life from the Lord, which is its soul. But what correspondence is, and what influx, shall be illustrated by examples. The variations of the face, which are called the countenance, correspond to the affections of the mind, wherefore the face is varied as to its aspect as the affections of the mind are as to their states: those variations in the face are correspondences, consequently also the face itself corresponds; and the action of the mind into it, in order that the correspondence may be exhibited, is called influx. The sight of man's thought, which is called the