or instance, that He is a God of love and holiness; that He will
act towards us in a particular manner; that He will punish some actions
and recompense others; and this knowledge also may be a true knowledge,
so far as it goes, and one that we may safely act upon, although we may
still be in ignorance of His exact nature and many points of our
relationship to Him.

There is, however, a light in which revelation must be viewed, which
involves considerations of a somewhat different character from those
hitherto noticed, and to this we now turn. A revelation must not only be
limited by the extent of the human capacity for receiving it, and by the
proposed object of it, but also, in a considerable degree, by _the state
of knowledge existing in the world at the time it is made_. In fact,
without some such limitation, it would be unintelligible, and,
consequently no revelation. As this truth has frequently been
misapplied, we will endeavour to explain, as accurately as we can, our
meaning. God could, perhaps, if He thought proper, give in an ignorant
age a revelation, as full and explicit, as in a more enlightened
period--a revelation we mean which should be understood--but it must be
remembered that this could only be effected by altering the conditions
under which human knowledge is acquired. For example, to have given a
correct theory of the motions of the heavenly bodies, before the age of
Newton, would have been impossible, without an entire change both in the
existing state of knowledge, and also in the method of acquiring it.
Down to the present time all history and experience testify to the fact
that the acquisition of knowledge is _gradual_; but such a revelation, as
that to which we have referred, would require that it should be made _per
saltum_. If knowledge were given in this way the usual course would be
completely changed; and not only so, but the knowledge communicated would
be altogether out of proportion to that possessed on other points, and
would place those who had it in a false and unsatisfactory state with
regard to the world in which they lived. To see this we have only to
picture to ourselves the condition of a man living in a savage, or only
partially civilized state of society, with his mind preternaturally
expanded to that of a Newton, and put into possession of the knowledge
which he had on some of those subjects which the Bible touches on. How
entirely out of harmony would he be with his f