What then is this WONDER OF WONDERS, called the WORD OF GOD? Shall we say that it is a mere dead letter, or history, or even a code of moral instruction, which has in it no Divine meaning; and which was intended only to make an impression on the outward ears of our bodies, or on our conduct as moral agents? We must then deny that it is the WORD OF GOD, unless we will be rash enough to assert, that GOD has no design in speaking except to affect our outward senses by noise and sound, or to regulate our manners as members of civil society. But if we cannot bring ourselves to assent to such a rash assertion, we must then conclude that there is something in the WORD OF GOD besides sound, and history, and morality; and that this something, too, must be the will and wisdom of the DIVINE SPEAKER—just as in the words of man (if he be sincere), is always contained the will and the wisdom of man. This conclusion, too, is in exact agreement with the testimony of the DIVINE SPEAKER HIMSELF on the subject, Who was pleased to declare, “The words that I speak unto you are spirit and are life,” [John vi. 63.].
But what shall we say is spirit, and what is life, when predicated of the words of the GREAT GOD and SAVIOUR? Can spirit, in this case, mean any thing but that DIVINE INTELLIGENCE which, by the same DIVINE
