THAT the "God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob" is also the "God and Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus

Christ," and that "they which are of fa ith, the same are the children of Abraham," - these are among the most

precious truths of revelation. They show us not only the faithfulness of our God, and the greatness of our

privileges, but also the marvelous wisdom of the plan of salvation, and its consistency throughout. For the

Bible should be viewed, not only in its single books, but in their connection, and in the unity of the whole.

The Old Testament could not be broken off from the New, and each considered as independent of the other.

Nor yet could any part of the Old Testament be disjoined from the rest. The full meaning and beauty of each

appears only in the harmony and unity of the whole. Thus they all form links of one unbroken chain,

reaching from the beginning to the time when the Lord Jesus Christ came, for whom all previous history had

prepared, to whom all the types pointed, and in whom all the promises are "Yea and Amen." Then that which

God had spoken to Abraham, more than two thousand years before, became a blessed reality, for "the

Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto

Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful

Abraham." That this one grand purpose should have been steadily kept in view, and carried forward

through all the vicissitudes of history, changes of time, and stages of civilization, - and that without

requiring any alteration, only further unfolding and at last completion - affords indeed the strongest

confirmation to our faith. It is also a precious comfort to our hearts; for we see how God's purpose of mercy

has been always the same; and, walking the same pilgrim-way which "the fathers" had trod, and along which

God had safely guided the Covenant, we rejoice to know that neither opposition of man nor yet

unfaithfulness on the part of His professing people can make void the gracious counsel of God: -

"He loved us from the first of time,

He loves us to the last."

And this it is which we learn from the unity of Scripture.

But yet another and equally important truth may be gathered. There is not merely harmony but also close

connection between the various parts of Scripture. Each book illustrates the other, taking up its teaching

and carrying it forward. Thus the unity of Scripture is not like that of a stately building, however ingenious

its plan or vast its proportions; but rather, to use a Biblical illustration, like that of the light, which shineth

more and more unto the perfect day. We mark throughout growth in its progress, as men were able to bear

fuller communications, and prepared for their reception. The law, the types, the history, the prophecies, and

the promises of the Old Testament all progressively unfold and develop the same truth, until it appears at

last in its New Testament fullness. Though all testify of the same thing, not one of them could safely be left

out, nor yet do we properly understand any one part unless we view it in its bearing and connection with

the others. And so wh en at last we come to the close of Scripture, we see how the account of the creation

and of the first calling of the children of God, which had been recorded in the book of Genesis, has found its

full counterpart - its fulfillment - in the book of Revelation, which tells the glories of the second creation, and

the perfecting of the Church of God. As one of the old Church teachers (St. Augustine) writes:

"Novum Testamentum in vetere latet,

Vetus in novo patet." 1

That in a work composed of so many books, written under such very different circumstances, by penmen so

different, and at periods so widely apart, there should be "some things hard to be understood, which they

that are unlearned and unstable wrest," can surely not surprise us, more particularly when we remember that

it was God's purpose only to send the brighter light as men were able to bear it. Besides, we must expect that

with our limited powers and knowledge we shall not be able fully to understand the ways of God. But, on the

other hand, this may be safely said, that the more deep, calm, and careful our study, the more ample the