2. I find certain quotations, the whole value of which entirely depends on verbal accuracy. In Gal. iii. 16, St. Paul quotes from Gen. xii. 7, and his whole argument turns on the distinction between the singular and plural number in one word contained in the promise made to Abraham: ‘He saith not, and to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.’ So in Matt. xxii. 32, our Lord quotes the words spoken to Moses in Exod. iii. 6, and rests his whole argument on the present tense of the substantive verb: ‘I _am_ the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living,’ proving by that present tense that Abraham was at that time an existing person awaiting the resurrection. It may perhaps be said that both these instances occur in direct divine communications; but we must remember that we have to consider the inspiration of Moses who recorded that communication, and surely the quotation proves that the historical inspiration of the author might be trusted for verbal accuracy. 3. There are many passages in which the words are quoted quite independently of the thoughts of the context. As an illustration, refer to our Lord’s quotation of Isa. lvi. 7. The whole of that passage refers simply to the admission of the sons of the stranger into the covenant. The emphatic words of the prophecy are ‘for all people,’ and the one idea of the context is the admission of all people to the covenant. But, in unfolding this truth, the prophet was led to express the prophecy in the words, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer;’ and this expression our Lord extracts from the prophecy, and makes it the groundwork of His stern rebuke when He cleared the temple.