The one is in chap. i. 20: "No prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation." But can the apostle here mean that the Scripture is not designed for the private reading of all men? Certainly not; for in the preceding verse he tells us, that to this sure word of prophecy, we "do well that we take heed." Instead of advising us to lay it aside, he expressly urges us to take heed to it, just because it is not of private interpretation; we are to read it the more carefully, and examine it the more diligently,-not rashly forming our own ideas concerning it, but prayerfully seeking to find out God's meaning,-not hastily pronouncing judgment from one single portion, but comparing one part with another, that we may come to understand the right sense of the whole.

The other passage is in chap. iii. 16, where Paul is spoken of as having written in his Epistles" things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures, unto their own destruction." Here again you will easily see that Peter, far from forbidding these Epistles to be read, refers to them as writings which

were, and which ought to be, well known and well studied. He speaks indeed of the “unlearned," but, by classing them with the "unstable," he shows it is a moral hindrance he speaks of the wilful ignorance of the heart blinded by sin, rather than the unavoidable ignorance of the untaught mind. No! our God is no respecter of persons. To rich and poor, high and low, old and young, is the word of his salvation sent. How clearly does David show that God's word is suited even to the feeblest intellect: "The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple," Psa. xix. 7: if so, must not the simple have free access to it? Consult the teachings of Jesus on this point: some he blames, saying, "Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures," Matt. xxii. 29: and on another occasion he thus addresses the multitude of common people; "Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they which testify of me," John v. 39. Such, too, was a habit

* Some indeed understand this as an assertion, not as a command. This, however, does not materially affect the argument. Whether we read it, "Search ye the Scriptures," or " Ye search the Scriptures," in either case the Saviour's approbation of the practice is sufficiently clear.

commended in apostolic times. The Bereans are praised," in that they searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so;" even the teaching of apostles would not satisfy them, unless they found that teaching to be in accordance with the written word of God, which they had in their own possession, and consulted for their own satisfaction. We are expressly told, likewise, the result of their search; it ended, not in their proud and ignorant rejection of Christ, but the reverse: "Therefore," that is, because they had studied Scripture," many of them believed." Of this number, some were "women;" yet even they were deemed competent to carry out the investigation for themselves, Acts xvii. 11, 12.

One further passage we adduce, namely, Rev. i. 3, where the most difficult portion of the entire sacred volume is prefaced with the emphatic beatitude," Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy," -whoever they be, without any limitation of age, attainment, or capacity.

But we may appeal also to experience. Have you never seen a humble individual, unlearned in human knowledge, weak in intel

lect, and destitute of outward privileges, who has yet secretly pondered over the wondrous sayings of this holy Book, till, under the Spirit's teaching, he has been made wise unto salvation, and has rejoiced in the assurance of many gracious truths, that have been hidden from the wise and the gifted of this world? Do we not hear of men but lately buried in Pagan darkness, and characterized by savage stupidity, who now earnestly study and heartily prize the blessed pages of sacred writ? Who shall dare to say there is one so debased and darkened in inind, that the rays of this "candle of the Lord" would prove to him a bane, and not a blessing? Far, far be it from us so to impugn the wisdom of Him from whom the book of revelation comes. Be it ours to rejoice alike in its simplicity and in its sublimity the former marks it as adapted for our use; the latter stamps it as descending from above.

We have said that the Romanists withhold the word of God. This is true as far as they have power to carry out their wishes and designs. You have often heard how in past ages they made every effort to suppress trans

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lations of the Bible, and persecuted all who were found to possess them. It is still the same in countries where the Papal religion has the ascendancy. In Italy, and Spain, and parts of South America, the Bible is very little known; some few Latin ones are kept by the priests and monks; but copies in the native language of the countries are introduced only by stealth, and kept always in secret. In France and Ireland, the Romish priests cannot entirely prevent the spread of the Scriptures; but they still inspire the people with a dread of it, as a forbidden and dangerous book, and use every effort to make them surrender it; and where their power is too weak, or the spread of knowledge has awakened too great a spirit of inquiry to render the suppression of Scripture possible, then we find that where they cannot withhold it, they ALTER it. In modern times and in enlightened countries, they are obliged to go cautiously to work; finding they cannot prevent the reading of translated Bibles, they have now sent out versions of their own, though they distribute them as little as possible, and have made them to suit their own purposes. They have not