otherwise. Words may be oral, or written. As the latter
are more likely to be well weighed and definite than the former, and are,
moreover, better calculated to hand down a truth from age to age, we
shall confine our attention to them, although what we have to say is, in
a great degree, applicable to spoken words also. We start with the
supposition that God has already made known to some particular person, as
perfectly as He has thought fit, and, it may be, as perfectly as the
nature of the subject admitted, or the capability of the person to whom
the communication has been made would allow, some truth which is to be
recorded for the benefit of the present, and future generations. The
question we have to answer is,--how this may be most effectually
accomplished.

It is obvious that, in the case of a revelation, made by words, _the
words might be recorded exactly as they were delivered_. The words which
God is said to have spoken on Mount Sinai, and to have written
afterwards, on two tables of stone, may serve as an exemplification of
our meaning. In this case God is described as writing them with His own
hand: but they might have been written, with equal truthfulness, by any
of those who had heard them. If future generations had convincing
evidence that they possessed a faithful record of what God said, and the
meaning of the words had not changed during the lapse of time, the
revelation would be as perfect to them as it was to the original
recipients. So, too, if God, instead of speaking the words of the ten
commandments, had, in some way which should authenticate the reality of
the revelation, called up in the mind of Moses the ideas corresponding to
the words, and he had faithfully written them down; those words would
convey as full a revelation to those who read them, as that which Moses
himself had experienced. Both these would be verbal revelations in the
strict sense of the word. They would be, in fact, the very words of God
Himself. If any book, professing to be a revelation from God, could be
proved to be entirely of this description, there would be little or no
room for discussion about it. The only things which could give rise to
dispute would be such as attach to the interpretation of all records.
Questions might be asked as to the exact meaning of the words, and
inquiries might be raised as to whether they retained the same meaning
which they had when they were originally written down: but any di