the Holy Ghost," that the great general body of believers received their knowledge;-while, at the same time, this knowledge, though imparted by their instrumentality, was discerned and received under the illumination of the Spirit of God. This we take to be the plain testimony of the inspired writers themselves; in proof of which passages from their writings might be multiplied. A few must suffice. To the Corinthians he says " Who, then, is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers, by whom ye believed, even as God gave to every man ?" 1 Cor. iii. 5. Paul had come to Corinth, " declaring unto them the testimony of God;" the testimony, namely, concerning "Jesus Christ, and him crucified:" chap. ii. 1, 2. This testimony, communicated to them by his instrumentality, they had believed. It was he who taught them "the things of the Spirit of God;" while, at the same time, it was by a higher teaching than his, even by the accompanying illumination of the Holy Spirit himself, that they "spiritually discerned" their truth and excellence, and received them, as no longer "foolishness," but "the wisdom of God:" chap. ii. 14.-" When ye received the word of God," says he to the believers at Thessalonica, "which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of man, but, as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe." 1 Thess. ii. 13.-To the Galatians

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Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach unto you any other gospel than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed:-as I said before, so say I now again, if any man preach unto you any other gospel than that ye have received, let him be accursed." Gal. i. 8, 9. They received it, then, not by any direct revelation, but by the preaching of this commissioned and accredited ambassador.-To the Corinthians again-" I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand: by the which also ye are saved, if ye hold fast what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain." 1 Cor. xv. 1, 2.-The style of other apostles is the same. "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of Life :-that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. This, then, is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is Light, and in Him is no darkness at all." 1 John i. 1, 3—5. And this style, which pervades their writings, is in full accordance with the terms of their commission from their divine Master, by which they were constituted the

authoritative teachers of mankind,-his witnesses, whom he was to accompany with satisfactory credentials, and so to sanction their testimony :- -"Then opened he their understandings, that they might understand the Scriptures; and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved the Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name, among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things. And behold I send the promise of my Father upon you; but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high." Luke xxiv. 4549.

This view of the divine procedure makes all sufficiently plain. There were inspired men, to whom the truth was communicated by direct revelation. They were commissioned to be the instructors of others, the medium of communication to the rest of mankind; and their commission was attested by adequate credentials. At the same time, so hostile was the natural mind to the reception of the message they brought, that the agency of the divine Spirit was necessary to its being discerned by any in its truth and excellence, and received in the love of it. And so the case remains. They are still his witnesses. Their inspired writings are the same in authority with what was uttered by their living voice. By these,

"they, being dead, yet speak;" and the Spirit still makes the truth which they have there recorded "the power of God unto salvation."-The language of Barclay, quoted above, implies that, "though it befall not many," yet it does befall some, to be "led inwardly and immediately by the Spirit of God," not only "in the same manner," but even " in the same measure," with the "saints of old:"—that is, that there are still a few to be found, however rare, who enjoy immediate revelation, in the same degree as the apostles; for he quotes the promise to the apostles in proof of it, about their being "led into all truth!" And, although he does not affirm that there are many who have inspiration in the same measure, he does affirm, that not only many but all believers, under the new economy, have it in the same manner or kind. This, I repeat, arises from confounding the extraordinary with the ordinary operations of the Spirit. The truth is, that none now have either the same measure or the same kind of inspiration; inspiration, properly so called, having ceased, when the canon of revealed truth was completed in the Scriptures. All have the same amount of privilege, in having the full discovery of the Divine Mind in this completed canon; while, in regard to the enlightening, sanctifying, gladdening, directing, and strengthening influences of the Spirit, the command to all is, "Ask, and ye shall receive."

I have to notice, thirdly, that Mr Barclay greatly misapprehends, not to say misrepresents, the sentiments of those whom he opposes.-Thus, in speaking of the sameness of the object of the saints' faith in every age, he writes:-" Such as deny this proposi"tion now-a-days use here a distinction, granting "that God is to be known by his Spirit, but again denying that it is immediate or inward, but in and "by the Scriptures; in which the mind of the Spirit "(as they say) being fully and amply expressed, we

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are thereby to know God, and be led in all things." -Now the words "immediate or inward" are misleading. The two terms are not synonymous. To deny that spiritual influence is immediate, and to deny that it is inward, are not the same thing. Who amongst us denies the latter? There have been some, I am aware, who held the sentiment, and there are some who hold it still, that the sole agency of the Spirit consists in the inspiration by which the Scriptures were given; and that those Scriptures now operate of themselves, independently of any accompanying influence. But this is not the view held by any who pass under the common designation of evangelical. They are far from maintaining that the operation of the word and the operation of the Spirit are one and the same, or (for to this it amounts) that