Excerpt from The Divine Plan of Revelation: An Argument From Internal Evidence in Support of the Structural Unity of the Bible; Being the Boyle Lectures for 1863 Revelation will be threefoldz - I. It rests on the argu ment from final causes. An examination of the Bible proves that it is constructed on an intelligent plan; generally, inasmuch as it holds towards Christianity at large the relation Of a means to an end; specifically, because the dealings Of God recorded in the Scriptures, and the Scriptures which record them, consist Of an unbroken series Of causes and effects, involving the adaptation Of means to ends at every stage. Hence we intuitively deduce design and a Designer. This is the only proof available to natural religion, and if it be admitted to have force in natural, it must equally have force in revealed religion. II. The existence Of a plan is implicitly stated in the general doctrines Of Scripture on the personality Of God, His creative right over the world, His moral government, His active and minute Providence, and His attributes Of infinite wisdom and power. Amid such truths there can be nothing fortuitous or undesigned. III. Scrip ture itself explicitly states the plan on which revelation has been constructed. It is not found formally ex pounded in any one place; but there are a variety of statements which, in their combination, form a logical, consistent, and perfect whole. The necessity imposed upon men of studying and combining these separate statements is so thoroughly in accordance with the whole mode Of God's teaching, both in the scheme of Scripture and the scheme Of Divine Providence alto gether, that no Objection can be raised to the one that is not equally fatal to the other. The very fact that these statements are scattered up and down the Bible, equally proves a Divine intention, and disproves a human intention. The line Of thought, thus Opened, rebukes all human speculation, and makes it necessary for the student to follow strictly and solely the re vealed declarations Of God Himself. 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.