were the literary men of their day to the Jewish nation. They wrote in prose and in poetry, and according to the best literary standards, they wrote well. They made the best use of the language they had. Judging of them as mere literary men, they did the most that could have been done with their materials. Though their poetry may not have those characteristics, which give a finish to modern verse, it had the most essential and the grandest features of versification, while the idea of its inspiration, its God, its spirituality, and its immortality, invests it with an unearthly sublimity, and elevates it far above the poetry of the more modern and most refined languages.

Now it must be evident to every person of reflection, that the better one's acquaintance with the general literature of his own country, the more fully qualified, will he be, to appreciate the literature of the Jews, or of any other people. It must not be forgotten, that separate from the inspired character of the Bible, it possesses as distinct a literary character as appertains to any other class of writings.

8. We must not omit to notice Commentaries and Bible and Theological Dictionaries, written by learned and good men, as vastly important helps for understanding the Bible. Some, we are aware, affect to despise such aids, but we cannot see on what rational ground. It is said that there is no agreement between those who have commented upon the sacred. writings. A large share of this objection, is mere imagination. True, Commentators disagree on some points, but they are few, compared with their points of agreement. It is really astonishing that learned and pious men of dif

ferent schools and sentiments, are so well agreed in their expositions of the sacred text. If we act upon the principle of being our own Commentator, refusing to hear or read, note or comment, lest we should be misled, we ought scrupulously to carry out our principle, by troubling no one with disquisitions of our own. It is, however, to be feared that those who discard all human helps in understanding the Bible, are not the most quiet persons in the community, either with tongue or pen.

9. A strictly conscientious and blameless life is essential to an understanding of the Bible. "If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine," said our Lord Jesus Christ. He, who lives constantly in the light of God's countenance, who fears all sin as deadly poison, who is constantly solicitous to know and do all the requirements of God, having an abiding sense of his responsibility to his Maker for every act, word and thought of his life, he is the most likely to sympathize with the holy men who wrote as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, and to have a clear understanding of that way which the vulture's eye hath not seen, nor the lions whelp trod.

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10. Prayer is another means for understanding the Bible. The direction is still in force and the promise is still -"If any man lack wisdom let him ask it of God, who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not." If we need Divine help to enable us to comprehend that word which is food for the soul, is it not just as rational that we should ask for it, as it is that we should ask for our daily bread? Prayer, that we may understand God's word, not only brings the mind into that humble state which prepares

it for an answer, but it really secures the ear of omnipotence, and hence the Christian can pray with sincerity and confidence.

Thus after having prepared ourselves by a proper course of intellectual training, and by striving to live constantly in God's fear, we should then rely solely upon Him who alone can give success to all our exertions, and with the psalmist pray, "Teach me O Lord the way of thy statutes." And then, when the inquiry is made of us that was made of the eunuch, "understandest thou what thou readest," we may feel that we have within our own bosom the best of all leaders—an enlightened intellect, a live conscience, and that Spirit who leads the humble and contrite into all truth.

LECTURE IV.

THE INTERPRETATION OF THE BIBLE.

"WHOSO READETH, LET HIM UNDERSTAND."-Matth. 24: 15.

In our last lecture, we noticed some necessary qualifications for understanding the Bible; and in this we purpose to refer to some of those principles or rules by which it is to be understood.

An eminent linguist used to say, that he desired no better grammar in learning a language, than he could make himself, by carefully noticing the grammatical forms of words as they occur in the New Testament of that language. Whether all students in linguistic lore would be alike successful in forming their own grammar or not, it is quite certain that the student of the Bible, by carefully noting the peculiarities of Scripture composition, will, in time, find himself in possession of a set of rules for Biblical interpretation far more valuable, than any arbitrary rules he is obliged to commit to memory. A good judgment, therefore, with an honest inquiry after truth, in connection with the qualifications for understanding the Bible, mentioned in our last lecture, will enable us to deduce our own rules from the Bible itself.

When we take a view of the elaborate rules of Horne

and Ernesti, with their almost innumerable subdivisions and exceptions, we can but feel, that did those authors fully carry out their plan, the young student might be presented with a book of rules, quite as large as, and far more intricate than the Bible itself. This would be very much like putting a book into the hand of the beginner nearly as large, and much more difficult to learn, than the Hebrew Bible, as the grammar of that Bible. In all studies, it should be one of the first and most important rules, to spend no more time in learning a rule, than would be requisite for learning all embraced within its compass, without any rule

at all.

Elaborate rules of interpretation, may be of great service to the minds that deduced them from the Scriptures, and they may, from time to time, give many good suggestions and much encouragement to others as the same principles are becoming developed in their own minds, but to learn them, as arbitrary lessons, is of little use. Every man must, to a great extent, construct his own rules of interpretation.

We shall not attempt to pass over a tithe of the ground that writers on this subject explore, but bring what we have to offer into the shortest possible compass, showing rather, how rules of interpretation are to be made, than to attempt to lay them down ourself. Our remarks will come under the following heads :

1. The literal meaning of words. 2. The figurative use of words. 3. The poetical parts of the Bible. 4. The prophetical parts of the Bible.

I. The literal meaning of words first claims our attention.