Under the former supposition, our sincere solicitude would be to ascertain the true intent and meaning of the contracting parties, not to seek out plausible excuses for departing from it; not to cull out and exaggerate beyond their simple and natural bearing, such expressions in the deed of agreement, as might seem to justify us in adopting the view of the contract most agreeable to our present wishes and most favourable to our own interests.  Rather it would be our fixed and hearty resolution, at whatever cost of time, or labour, or pecuniary sacrifice, or personal discomfort, to apply to the instrument our unbiassed powers of upright and honest interpretation.

Or adopting the latter analogy, we should sincerely strive to ascertain the chief and leading objects of our parent’s will; what were his intentions generally; what ruling principles seemed to pervade his views in framing the testament; and in all cases of obscurity and doubt, in every thing approaching an appearance of inconsistency, we should refer to that paramount principle as our test and guide.  We should not for a moment {16} suffer ourselves to be tempted to seek for ambiguous expressions, which ingenuity might interpret so as to countenance our departure from the general drift of our parent’s will, in cases where it was at variance with our own inclination, and where we could have wished that he had made another disposition of his property, or given to us a different direction, or trusted us with larger discretion.  Moreover, in any points of difficulty, we should apply for assistance, in solving our doubts, to such persons as were most likely to have the power of judging correctly, and whose judgment would be least biassed by partiality and prejudice;—­not to those whose credit was staked on the maintenance of those principles which best accorded with our own inclination.  Especially if in either case some strong feeling should have been raised and spread abroad on any point, we should seek the judgment and counsel of those who had been familiar with the testator’s intentions, or with the views of the covenanting party, before such points had become matter of discussion.

Now only let us act upon these principles in the interpretation of that covenant in which the Almighty has vouchsafed to make Himself one of the contracting parties, and man, the creature of his hand, is the other:  only let us act on these principles in the interpretation of that testament of which the Saviour of the world is the Testator; and with God’s blessing on our labours (a blessing never denied to sincere prayer and faithful exertions) we need not fear the result.  Any other principle of interpretation will only confirm us in our prejudices, and involve us more inextricably in error. {17}

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SECTION II.—­DIRECT EVIDENCE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.