stern and severe monarch, rather than a loving and Heavenly Father,—or, what is a still sadder alternative, to lead benevolent minds into a state of doubt as to whether the Volume, purporting to be the Word of God, can be truly such, when it presents the Divine Being in a light so different from that in which they would wish to regard Him.
It will be our endeavor, in the present chapter, to show that neither of these alternatives is necessary; that there is a way of reconciling these seeming contradictions; and that when the subject is viewed in a just light, the Holy Scriptures may still be adhered to, as truly the Word of God, and yet the Divine Being be seen to be a God of perfect love and goodness, as well as of infinite wisdom and power.
And what, now, is the principle that can effect this reconciliation between statements so contradictory? what is the consideration, which being kept before the mind while perusing the sacred volume, can render it all satisfactory, can cause it all to shine alike, and can enable us to see, written in every page and every line, the word Love? For as God is Love, and as God also is the Word, therefore, Love must not only be in every part of the Divine Word, but must actually constitute that Word. The great principle of interpretation, the important consideration, which, kept before the mind, will so enlarge and elevate our view of the Scriptures, is an understanding of what may be termed the law of Accommodation,—which is the great law that ever regulates God's dealings with His creatures, the Infinite's dealings with the finite. To perceive the necessity of such a law, we have only to reflect on the infinite distance between God and man—
