Excerpt from Thoughts on the Study of the Holy Gospels But when we come to consider the very high authority there is for supposing that these Living Creatures were prophetically intended to set forth the Gospels, it raises immeasurably this whole view of the subject, and puts all these points at once in that position of Divine dignity, in which we must ever wish to consider every part of the Holy Writings. For in the critical study of the Gospels we are too apt to forget the greatness of Divine purpose which must prevail in them throughout; and sometimes unconsciously to suspect them of imperfection, of a want of order and accuracy. Whereas it may be supposed that Revelation in these respects is like Nature and Providence: for in these we doubt not that there is the perfection of exquisite order and arrangement but it may appear to us in many respects otherwise, because we can not comprehend the whole design, although often forced to notice that things apparently trivial are full of Divine intent. In like manner we cannot doubt but that the Gospels are constructed with consummate arrangement to serve their ends, although we may be unable to perceive how those ends are best attained, or what they are. The one great end of the Gospels is, of course, our in struction in righteousness, but still it seems not improb able that even in their composition they may be replete with admirable intrinsic order and arrangement, and hid den beauty of structure. For so it is in the natural world, -the plant that seems intended for the sustenance of God's creatures, is wonderful in the beauty of its forma tion, and forms of itself but one link and trivial part in a vast system of exquisite and harmonious correspondence. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.