361 
appearing a little exaggerated, and another appearing incom- 
plete ; I fall back on the recollection that these things have 
nothing to do with the grand moral and spiritual truths of 
Revelation.” 
33. This sentiment reappears in so many forms, and on so 
many occasions ; it is so often repeated, that the Bible is not 
intended to teach us science, but religion ; it is so constantly 
insinuated that there are many things touched in it which 
are non-essential to its scope, and which, therefore, may be 
erroneously described, without derogating from it as a rule of 
faith and practice, — that it is worth while to examine it. I 
widely differ, from the opinion. I believe it to be a great 
mistake. I judge it to have its root in a total misapprehension 
of the real object and scope of the written Word. Those who 
accept the Holy Scriptures as a rule of life and nothing more, 
intended to enlighten man how to live a righteous life ; nay, 
those who see no more in them than a revelation how sinners 
may be saved from condemnation by the sacrifice of Christ, 
and delivered from the wrath to come j — fail to grasp the 
scope of the Word as really, — not as egregiously, not as 
fatally,, as those who see in it only a true history of venerable 
antiquity. The object of the inspired writings, uninterruptedly 
kept in view throughout the ages, as the successive portions 
were communicated by the Eternal Spirit to the prophets, 
may be, I think, described as the “ Mystery of God's will, 
accoiding to the good pleasure which He hath purposed in 
Himself: that, in. the dispensation of the fulness of times. 
He would gather into a Head (avaKEffraXciiiocracrOai) all things 
m Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on 
earth (Eph. i. 9, 10). In other words, the reconciling of all 
things to Himself by the death, of Christ, and the subjecting 
of all to Manhood in resurrection, in His person, to the glorv 
of God the Rather. (See also Ps. viii. ; Heb. ii. ; 1 Cor. xv. : 
nl. n. ; Col. i. ; Rev. v., &c.) This is a vast theme, on 
wmch the Holy Ghost has vouchsafed to discourse with man. 
lhe salvation of sinners, and their sanctification, forms indeed 
one chapter— a very important part, but still only a part— of 
the great Epos, which begins before man was made, and which 
runs on till the Church sits on the throne of glory with the 
glorified Chnst, members of His body, [made] of His flesh 
ana of His bones, and thence into eternity to come. Every- 
thing, therefore, may find place in the Scriptures of God. 
dare not say, of anything. This is irrelevant or non-essential : 
natural history, geology, cosmogony, chronology, Gentile 
history, ethics, -whatever it is, its place in the record depends 
on its connection with the grand purpose, more recondite or 
