reathed on them,
and said unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whosesoever sins
ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye
retain, they are retained." Chap. 20:22, 23. The authoritative
forgiveness of sin is a prerogative of God alone, the exercise
of which implies omniscience as well as supreme authority in
heaven and earth. The prerogative of remitting and retaining
men's sins here conferred on the apostles is part of the general
power of binding and loosing already considered. It was
exercised _in the sphere of the visible church on earth_. As it
respects the actual forgiveness of sin and consequent admission
of the soul to communion with God here and eternal life
hereafter, God's ministers can only declare the terms of
salvation as they are set forth in the gospel.

The same general principle is applicable to the interpretation
of all passages containing "things hard to be understood." The
"unlearned and unstable" wrest them, by taking them out of their
connection and in contradiction to the general tenor of God's
word. But the candid student of Scripture never uses that which
is difficult in revelation to obscure that which is plain. He
seeks, on the contrary, to illumine what is dark by that which
shines with a clear and steady light.

13. As a fitting close to this part of our subject we add some remarks
on _the analogy of faith_. "We may define it to be that general rule of
doctrine which is deduced, not from two or three parallel passages, but
from the harmony of all parts of Scripture in the fundamental points of
faith and practice." Horne's Introduct., vol. 1. p. 269, edit. 1860. It
is based on two fundamental principles; first, that "all Scripture is
given by inspiration of God," and therefore constitutes a
self-consistent whole, no part of which may be interpreted in
contradiction with the rest; secondly, that the truths to which God's
word gives the greatest prominence, and which it inculcates in the
greatest variety of forms, must be those of primary importance. Thus
understood, the analogy of faith is a sure guide to the meaning of the
inspired volume. He who follows it will diligently and prayerfully study
_the whole word of God_, not certain selected parts of it; since it is
from the whole Bible that we gather the system of divine revelation in
its fulness and just proportions. "If we come to the