ek text] of the writer would be manifested, and
carry with it a certain degree of weight. There would be the weight
which attached to the document as emanating from the government, and
there might be an additional weight from the character of the person who
had been entrusted to write, and, perhaps, carry out, in some degree, the
requirements of, the dispatch. In the case of a recorded revelation, it
appears then probable that God would permit those feelings and powers
which He has implanted in man, and which exert such a strong influence on
others, to do their work, subject, however, to His own control and
guidance. In this way there would be a Divine and a human aspect of the
record; a Divine and a human power in it. All of it would be the truth
of God, and it would be presented to us in a manner peculiarly adapted to
our condition, and likely to ensure our acceptance of it. At the very
least such a method of recording would be exactly consistent with
truthfulness.

We may go a step further, and say that it would be difficult, if not
impossible, to conceive any circumstances under which the record should
not bear a human aspect. If the views propounded in the former part of
these "Thoughts," with regard to the conditions under which a revelation
must be made, and especially with respect to anthropomorphic views of
God, be correct, a revelation _must_ assume, in some measure, a human
aspect. But if the human aspect must exist in the presentation, it must
also in the record. The only question which is really open to discussion
is, whether there should be the _same_ human aspect in the record, as in
the original revelation; in other words, whether it may be expected that
God would always present that particular human aspect in the original
revelation which He considered best adapted for the record. For the
reasons already assigned it does not seem probable that this would be the
case.

It must be remembered, moreover, that in the case of a revelation, made
at different times, and to different persons, either the character of
each individual writer must be manifested in the record, or some other
character, alien perhaps to that of the writer, and certainly not equally
adapted to that of all the readers, must be adopted. Which method of
record appears the most probable, and the most calculated to promote the
object of a revelation--namely, to instruct and influence mankind--it
does not appear very difficult to d