//,^0.2 2.
Jrom tt|f Etbrarg of
l^quf atl|f Ji by Ijtm ta
tl|0 SItbrarg of
Prtttrrtott ®Ijwl0gtraI g>^mtnarQ
.DSZZ
Copy (
WHAT IS INSPIRATION?
A FRESH STUDY OF THE QUESTION
WITH NE W AND DI SCRIM IN A TIVE REPLIES
BY
/
JOHN DE WITT, D.D., LL.D., Litt. D.
A MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN OLD TESTAMENT REVISION COMPANY,
AND FOR MANY YEARS PROFESSOR OF BIBLICAL EXEGESIS
IN THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY AT NEW BRUNSWICK, N. J.
AUTHOR OF "THE PSALMS; A NEW TRANSLATION WITH
NOTES," ETC.
NEW YORK
ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH
& COMPANY
(incorporated)
182 FIFTH AVENUE
Copyright, 1893, by
ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & COMPANY,
(incorporated).
PRESS OF
EDWARD O. JENKINS' SOU,
NEW YORK.
?Debication.
This volume is inscribed to the meifiory of one who
was here when it was planned and large portiofis of it
were written. It has received precious consecration from
her deep interest in its purpose and progress, and her
pleasure in anticipati?ig its publication. Yet she could not
wait for the end, but is gone to the reward of her faith-
ful, patient, loving, self-sacrificing, and gracious life.
PKEFACE.
This essay is a response to an imperative demand. '
Any questioning that bears upon the inspiration of the
Bible is of like interest and vital importance to all
Christians.
The arraignment of two theological Professors for
aeresy on the ground of their opinions upon this sub-
ject, has created great anxiety, — yet not so much the
fact of their arraignment, as the vindicatory statements
in their defence, and the acceptance of these as satis-
factory, if only by a large minority. Opposite decisions
have been reached in the lower tribunals, and by many
upon both sides the outcome is awaited with apprehen-
sion. I am neither a partisan nor an opponent of
plaintiff or defendants, and only refer to these proceed-
ings as historic facts that involve principles and results
of the deepest concern to us all.
Whatever be the issue as respects the individuals
impleaded, it has been claimed and is not denied, that
Christian scholarship in this specialty is nearly unani- ^
mous in discrediting the verbal inspiration and iner-
rancy of the Scriptures. It cannot be doubted that
unprofessional intelligence will be greatly influenced by
those who have studied the documents as experts, and
in whose ability, attachment to the Bible, and unim-
peachable Christian excellence it has absolute confi-
dence.
It is not at all strange that many are gi'eatly dis-
tressed. They have never before had a doubt that
(iii)
iv PREFACE.
every word of this treasured Book is divine and fault-
less, and honestly think that the foundations of their
faith are destroyed. " What is inspiration," they ask,
" that leaves errors behind it ? " They demand some-
thing positive, — some conception of the grace that has
given us the Bible, that shall reassure them against this
appalling negation.
In fact, the question is pressed from all sides: " What
definition of inspiration will you substitute for thai
which scholarship has disparaged ? " It is vaguely
claimed, some will say, by these adepts and their
friends, that the Bible, released from the misconcep-j
tions that have obscured it, is a grander book than be-j
fore. But what proof have we of this, and on what in-j
telligible ground can it be claimed that we shall gain'i
more than we lose ? I
An answer to these appeals must not be refused]
For the opinion gains ground and is strongly expressed,
that widespread injury will result from these trials and
resultant discussions, unless clear, definite, and conclu-l
sive statement shall very soon bring rehef to those they
have disturbed. A prosecutor in the New York case
indignantly exclaims: "Is our doctrine to be throwii'
aside on the demand of a body of critics who have as
yet found nothing to put in its place ? " * \
The same thought is expressed more fully by a writer (
in a religious journal f in connection with the case of \
Prof. Smith : " The least that can be demanded is the con-
cession from the Professor and his class of scholars,
that this is an unsettled question. The theory is yet in
* Dr. Lampe's reply to Dr. Briggs.
f The Interior, Chicago.
PREFACE. V
the raw. The doctrine has not been wrought out so
that one holding it can identify the alleged human
from the admittedly divine in Scripture Has
he not run before his tidings were ready ? Has he not
broken down before he was ready to rebuild ? It is
undoubtedly true that the question is one of fact, which
lies within the field of scientific research; and if it be
found to be true, the church will be forced to recon-
struct her theory of inspiration."
In a different tone, but assertive of the same necessity,
is an article in a leading New York daily journal on the
ethics of the Briggs trial. The writer takes a hopeful
view of the future. He refers to all that has recently
been said and written on the subject — as " embraced in a
campaign of education that will in a reasonably short
time change the attitude of the whole Christian world
toward the Bible," and he expresses his confidence that
it will not end in the depreciation of its contents, nor
the refusal to regard it as of divine authority. But he
speaks emphatically of " the shock which millions of
devout people are receiving, as they find that they have
put an estimate upon the Bible that is altogether dif-
ferent from what a knowledge of its character and
claims will sustain, as greatly to be regretted
The pressure of the heresy trials in the Presbyterian
body has hastened the distress of these people, and
done nothing to sup2:)ly the loss which has been caused
by partially destroying their confidence in the Bible."
Nothing can be clearer than the obligation of those'
who have rejected the theory of verbal inspiration, as
not in accordance with what they find by the most
careful scrutiny of the contents of the Bible, to furnish
with the least possible delay a definition that shall ro-
vi PREFACE.
place it as consistent with undeniable fact, and thus
quiet the prevailing agitation.
In preparing the following chapters it was impos-
sible to conceal my deep interest in the recent discus-
sions in their important practical bearings, and so I
have occasionally referred to them. I have spent the
larger portion of my active life in giving instruction in
the Old and New Testaments, separately and in their
connection. Every year, and month, and day, they
have become more precious, and all labor in developing
their glorious import, and their significance in connec-
tion with every aspiration and hope of man, has be-
come more absorbing. I have therefore felt consci-
entiously impelled to render this further service,
hoping that the thoughts presented, however doubtful
or perplexing to some in their earlier impression, may
prove helpful and restful in their conclusions.
I rejoice that I am permitted to magnify the grace
that has been shown me, in urging the claim of him
who came down from heaven to show us the Father, to
pre-eminence over all others as the Teacher of men.
The principles that are observed in defining inspiration
in the closing chapters, I pass over to younger men to
test and develop. If they seek it, their heart and their
lips shall be touched with fire from above, and they
shall speak as was impossible for me. May the dear
Lord help them !
Then shall our present apprehensions be completely
quelled, and we shall find a charming significance for
our present need in our Saviour's words of farewell:
" Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you.
Not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not
your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."
CONTENTS.
PAGE
I. Preliminary, 1
n. Verbal or Plenary Inspiration, .... 9
m. Inspiration and the earlier Biblical
Study, 16
rV. Two Theologies in Contrast, 23
V. The Higher Criticism, Destructive and
Constructive, 31
VI. Minor Inaccuracies, 37
VII. Minor Inaccuracies — Historical, .... 45
Vin. Moral Incongruities, 58
IX. Turning Forward — General Considera-
tions, 68
X. Inspiration defined by Revelation, ... 78
XI. The Human Coefficient in Revelation, . 86
Xn. Revelation keeping pace with Develop-
ment, 97
Xin. The Revelation as addressed to Men, . 103
XIV, Hope long deferred, 115
XV. Hope long deferred — Continued, . . . 130
XVI. The Purpose of the Revelation, .... 139
XVn. The Glory of the Old Testament Rev-
elation, 146
XVm. The Prophets — The Christ — The Apos-
tles, 154
XIX. The Discriminative Definition in part, . 161
XX. The Definition Completed and the Final
Test, 166
XXI. The Final Test— Continued, 174
WHAT IS INSPIRATION?
I.
PEELIMIKARY.
A FEW months ago, at the close of a letter upon
personal affairs to a highly gifted friend, a postscript
was added containing only this question : " What is
inspiration ? "
He understood it, as was intended, to relate wholly
to the Bible. His reply was as follows, — this also in
postscript: "You ask, 'What is inspiration?' Would
that the Lord would raise up and inspire some one of
his servants to give a reasonably clear answer to your
question. I have not found such an one, though I
have been looking for him for some time."
We all believe that God often gives such aid, en-
abling those who receive it to use their faculties to
better purpose than would otherwise be possible.
A remarkable story is told in the annals of the
Westminster Assembly concerning George Gillespie
of Edinburgh, the youngest member of that body. It
is the same George Gillespie of whom it is related
that he was requested by the Moderator, in view of
the difficulty that was found in framing for the Gate-
2 INSPIRATION.
chism a suitable definition of God, to lead the Assem-
bly in prayer for divine aid, and the first sentence of
whose prayer was immediately and unanimously
adopted as containing the answer sought. This fur-
ther instance of a similar kind is on record: A
day was appointed by the Assembly for considering
the nature and constitution of the Christian Church.
Great anxiety was felt by the Presbyterian divines,
principally because the leader of the Erastian party,
who would have subjected the Church to the State,
was John Selden, the most learned man in England.
He was especially strong in Eabbinic lore, from which,
in connection with the constitution of the Jewish
synagogue, his opinions on the subject were derived.
His argument was masterly, and apparently unan-
swerable. The representatives of Presbyterianism
stood aghast and thought their cause lost. But some
one who had observed that while Selden ^as speak-
ing the young Scotchman Gillespie seemed to be
diligently taking notes, earnestly beckoned to him to
reply. He did so promptly, taking up Selden's argu-
ment point by point, and tore it into shreds and tat-
ters, to the entire discomfiture of Erastianism.
After the debate was closed, one that sat near Gil-
lespie managed to get hold of the paper on which he
had been writing, expecting to find a full sketch of
his effort, or at least, its principal points. But it con-
tained only the simple words, ''Da lucem, Bomine!
Da lucem, Domine ! " (Give hght, O Lord !) written
again and again from the top to the bottom of the
page.
WHAT IS IT? 3
Tliere is no subject upon wliicli light from the
source of all light is at present more needed than the
inspiration of the Scriptures. Let all Christian hearts
unite in imploring it.
The most suitable expression of the scope, contents,
and spirit of the following pages is interrogative. Is
it possible to adjust our theory and definition of the ;|
inspiring grace that has given us the Bible to the,i
facts that have been ascertained by its critical andjj
conscientious study during the last half century ? 1
The question relates to the theory of verbal inspira-
tion in both its forms, the mechanical and the plenary,
as not in accord with the observed phenomena of rev-
elation. By this test every proposed definition, how-
ever plausible and satisfactory a priori^ must stand or
fall. There should be no conflict between our ideal
and the actual. Whatever it has pleased God to give
us as suited to our need should be gratefully accepted.
Our ideal, if different, is a delusion.
Hitherto, by common consent, the subject has been
referred to the future. Definition has been held in
abeyance, by the wisest and safest men, until the
ground should be thoroughly explored. It is an un-
authorized assumption, promulgated under circum-
stances unfavorable to dispassionate inquiry, that
henceforth the narrower view alone shall be toler-
ated, and the broader stamped out by ecclesiastical
ostracism and censure.
There has been good reason for delay, but now.
with better reason we grapple the problem hopefully.
Yet our induction, as in all broad questions of fact,
4 INSPIEATION.
requires the patient study of various conditions and a
multitude of details. It must proceed slowly, reserv-
ing its definitions to the last.
It is said that several years before his death the
late eminent and venerable ex-President Theodore
Woolsey was solicited to prepare an article on in-
spiration for a leading quarterly. He positively de-
clined, alleging the difficulty of tlie subject, and avow-
ing his personal incompetency. He added that the
time for successful effort in that direction had not yet
come.
We cannot doubt that he expressed the feeling of
many of those who are best qualified to deal with
such mysteries. Yet, without the slightest misgi^nng,
they have yielded their mind, heart, and will to the
Scriptures as given by the inspiration of God. Such
undoubting faith is not at all inconsistent with a con-
fessed inability to explain the divine energy by which
the result was produced. This has special reference
to the phenomena of the earlier stages of revelation.
We may feel painfully that no theory has been
propounded that relieves all the difficulties of the
^ case, yet enjoy an unfaltering confidence that the Bi-
j ble is the word of God. For our confidence does not de-
pend upon human theories concerning its production,
but upon many infallible proofs of the divine origin
both of the Old Testament and of the I^ew, and these
intrinsic, wrought into their substance, and filling
^them with light, and life, and power.
Discussions have recently become rife in one of the
largest and most influential bodies of Protestant
WHAT IS IT? 6
Christendom about the inerrancy of Scripture. It is
between those who maintain the jnpst Jiteral verbal
inspiration, on the one side, and on the other, those
who hold to an inspiration in the thought rather than
in the words, that produces results that are infallible
in all matters of faith and practice, but which does
not preclude inaccuracies in matters not affecting the
substance of religious truth.
There is reason to believe that while the latter po-
sition is earnestly opposed by an apparent majority in
the church referred to, there are not a few, still num-
bered with that majority, who have become convinced
that the Bible contains some inaccuracies in connection
with extra-religious and unimportant matters, but have
not spoken out plainly. They cannot yet reconcile this
view with their Confession of Faith, and utter the ad-
mission reluctantly and scarcely above their breath.
They consider such an admission premature and in-
judicious, and heartily regret that entire silence upon
the subject had not been maintained. They do not
see their way to any statement of the doctrine of in-
spiration that recognizes the least error in the Bible
without a dangerous concession to those who deny its
divine authority, and serious disturbance to the simple
faith that receives every minutest item in the sacred
Book as perfect and infallible. While they are under
the pressure of such doubt, we can scarcely wonder
that they are intensely disturbed.
But it is too late for regrets. The issue has been
raised and must be met without flinching. It impera-
tively demands all reasonable effort to furnish such
6 INSPIRATION.
defining and explanatory statements concerning the
inspiration of prophets and apostles as shall fairly
cover the facts that confront us in their writings.
It must be confessed that the principle of verbal
inspiration has been inflexibly maintained by many of
our representative men, — intelligent, conscientious,
and entitled to the highest respect for their gracious
qualities, — and that they have been in the majority.
It is painful to resist them. But a change is going
on before our eyes, and it must surely prevail. It is
not a caprice, originating in fondness for novelty and
change, but a legitimate and necessary onward step
in sacred learning. It is the result of more exhaust-
ive study of the Scriptures by improved critical
and exegetical methods, leading to a more correct
apprehension of their ruling principle and con-
tents.
It should be noted, too, in this connection, that
knowledge in all departments is characteristically
progressive. This arises from the constitution of the
human mind, and from the vastness of the fields to be
explored on every side. The active intellect, having
abundant material to work upon, must make con-
tinual acquisitions. There is no such thing possible,
except with fossils whose organic life is a thing of the
by-gone ages, as settling down in contentment with
the past, as if the utmost limit of attainment had
been reached. Most of all, steady advance may be
expected in divine knowledge, the partial ever be-
coming more perfect, and with every ascent to higher
truth, the horizon expanding illimitably, and inviting
WHAT IS IT? 7
to fresh toil, in order that still loftier heights may be
sjrmoiiiited.
It may further be observed among these prefatory
generalities, that an important step forward is seldom,
if ever, simultaneous on the part of the great mass,
as if moved by a common impulse. Usually an in-
dividual explorer makes a discovery, and another here,
and another there, all of like drift and bearing. At
first a very few will grasp and accept the conclusion
in which his alleged facts converge, perhaps with
some necessary modifications, where the ardor of suc-
cessful inquiry has carried the explorer too far. As
the proof of its correctness becomes more convincing,
others and still others will join in, until the new
truth has become established as part of the sum of
human knowledge.
There is always, and it is well that there should be,
in order that hasty generalizations and rash con-
clusions may be avoided, a cautious conservative
element, that clings fondly and tenaciously, — often too
fondly and tenaciously, — to the old ; that resists vigor-
ously, — often, but not always, wisely, — all abandon-
ment of positions previously occupied.
It is unquestionable that sometimes strong and cul-
tivated minds tend toward ultra-conservatism. Con-
servatism within bounds is wholesome, and serviceable
to truth in restraining ardent and too credulous
natures. As to extreme conservatism and extreme
progressiveness, it is hard to say which is the more
harmful. If we must have either, it is well that we
should have its opposite as a necessary counterbalancing
8 INSPIRATION.
force. Sound, sober, and unbiassed judgment will
find the truth somewhere between them. This re-
mark would not be entitled to a place here if it did
not seem applicable to present theological differ-
ences.
II.
VERBAL OR PLENARY INSPIRATION.
The coDception of those who believe in the iner- ■ >''^i^^-*^
rancy of all the contents of the Bible, implies a divine - ^vM.^
energy that so completely absorbs and controls the - *^
human composer, as to ensure absolute truth in the
most unimportant details, rendering the slightest
inaccuracy impossible. If this assumption be war-
ranted, a denial of the flawless perfection of these
records, or of any part of them, is impugning the
truthfulness of God. , ,-- . /
The argument is a priori, and very simple and V o^w^^^^
intelligible. It is held to be so conclusive that any "^V^
attempt to test its soundness by critical examination
is scarcely less than profane. Let the reasoning be
approved, and the verbal inspiration of the Scriptures
becomes virtually axiomatic. No evidence to the
contrary is entitled to the slightest consideration. On
this principle the actual must be forced into con-
formity with the theoretical, and facts that present
opposition have a prospect before them of torture
and suffering.
With respect to apparent inaccuracies, it is con-
tended that the text may have been accidentally or
intentionally corrupted, — or some other satisfactory
(9)
10 VERBAL OR PLENARY INSPIRATION.
explanation will be discovered, as often before in
cases of alleged error, — and that at all hazards, without
admitting the shadow of a doubt, the original text
must be maintained, infallible and unexceptionable to
the letter. " Let God be true and every man a
liar."
We are reminded of a fierce controversy that raged
more than two centuries ago between mighty
chieftains in Biblical philology, about the Greek of
the New Testament. The contending parties were
called respectively Purists and Hellenists. The
former claimed that the language of this highest in-
spiration must have been the most perfect of its kind
— classic Greek of the purest type. How could the
all-perfect God in communicating with men employ a
medium so far below the highest standard as de-
servedly to be branded as corrupted and impure ?
The opponents of this a priori theory simply
appealed to facts. They examined the words *and
phrases of the JNew Testament, and exhibited their
prevailing correspondence, not with Greek of the
golden, classic age, but with Jewish contemporaries of
the K^ew Testament writers, who borrowed their con-
structions, idioms, and forms from their native
Hebrew ; whose finest models are found in the Old
Testament Scriptures. This Greek, as compared
with the language of Homer, Herodotus, and
Demosthenes, must be pronounced corrupt.
It hardly needs to be mentioned which party had
the best of it. Who cannot see now a wondrous
providential wisdom by which a language was pre-
VERBAL OR PLENARY INSPIRATION. 11
pared in which the divine thoughts of a new revela-
tion, that depended on Hebrew pro})hets and bards
for its germinal principles and its grandest conceptions
of a God unknown to the sages of Greece, could be
more adequately expressed than by the finest Greek
that ever vibrated upon the human ear ? That
splendid language in its earlier and purer form, with
all the wealth of its vocabulary, could not give utter-
ance to the thoughts that were now to enlighten the
world. But as modernized, or even vulgarized and
corrupted, in the mongrel Hellenistic Greek, it was
more perfectly adapted to the gracious purposes of
God and the needs of men. The illustration has a
bearing upon our present line of thought which we
need not more distinctly exhibit.
An apparent majority in the recent discussionsj
esteemjhe^riptures of the Old and New Testaments,/
all of them equally, to be the inspired and inerrant
word of God for all the world and for all time, aa
truly as if they had come immediately from God,
word by word, without human intervention. Yet
the idea of verbal inspiration in the more mechanical
sense, regarding the writers as mere amanuenses, has
been generally abandoned. It is now freely admitted
that differences in style and in modes of expression
that exhibit individuality, forbid the thought of
their writing, as if from dictation, by the injection of
words apart from any normal intellectual process of
their own.
The substituted conception is called by preference
Plenary Inspiration. It is that the unerring divine
12 VERBAL OR PLENARY INSPIRATION.
^'^' ,' wisdom takes possession of the prophet and controls
every activity of his mind and heart, and that its
I expression of truth is human only in_fprm — nay,
more, that its form is absolutely, though mediately,
determined in every syllable and letter. For it is held
that indirectly, through the medium of human facul-
i ties, yet no less truly, the words are produced by the
! inspiring power. They are consequently of immuta-
1 ble significance and value, and infallible through all
time as a directory for thought and conduct.
If the a priori argument be valid this ideal perfect-
ness, quite apart from any thought of the intrinsic im-
portance of a given record, is unquestionable. All
personal deficiency in the prophet must have been
miraculously supplied. There can be no failure of
memory or lack of information, philosophical or
scientific, geographical or historical. There can occur
neither solecism nor anachronism — no inapt quotation
or illustration, no dialectic flaw, and scarcely a rhetor-
ical infelicity.
Must this beautiful conception, which anchors the
soul fast to permanent and unchangeable truth, and ex-
cludes every blemish from the Scriptures, be abandoned
or even modified ? We answer, however reluctantly,
that it must surely be put aside, unless it corresponds
with the observed fact, and is confirmed by other than
a priori reasoning. Yet the questioner has the right
to ask, what new discoveries require the modification,
and enable us to describe the inspiration of the
Scriptures more intelligently ?
It is the point toward which without solicitation we
VERBAL OR PLENARY INSPIRATION. 13
are steadily pressing. But there can be no idealizing
here. Our conclusion must be well considered, and
founded upon a broad induction of facts. The ^ul<^Hr3rC^
problem to be solved requires imperatively the care- : ^[^"^^^J^ttX
ful, dispassionate examination of the writings that ^J"^.^ »^^
have come to be accepted as having their origin in the , ^.::^-^ '^^ 7
mspiration of God. This can only be properly /^^^x~^^^ i^
accomplished by men of acute and honest minds, and ' c//^.:^^^
thoroughly trained for their work. It must, too, ^^ r^
have extended over suflScient time to admit of the
revision of hasty judgment, and the abandonment of
hypotheses not supported by adequate evidence.
Yet the time need not be immeasurably protracted, |)
inasmuch as a discovery of inaccuracies in any apprecia- [
ble degree must compel us to revise our theory of,
inspiration, if it be one that requires absolute iner-,f
rancy. Neither should we ignore whatever labor has
been already expended in this investigation. Indee^,
wedistinctly; claim that facts have already been dis-
covered that discredit the exactnes s _ of statement so
earnestly affirmed, and that enable those who scoff at ^ .j
supernatural revelation to work with terrible effect in {^ 'cjx /.i^
gathering into their own camp those not thoroughly h^uC^ ^
THE EARLIER BIBLICAL STUDY. 21
more ingeniously adjusted, and more thoroughly
fortified at every point where weakness was dis-
covered.
The principal improvement in later elaborations
arises from the advance in exegetical science during
the last fifty years. But the authors of many of the
ablest theological text-books, which are still appealed
to as great authorities, were not accomplished in exe-
gesis. Their citations were often made without the
slightest regard to their setting or connection in the
Sacred Volume, as usually determining the thought
in the writer's mind. A close examination on sound
hermeneutical principles often exhibits a meaning
quite different from that assumed by the dogmati-
cian. Now and then they dash upon any form of
words in the current version of the Bible that seems
pertinent, and the student must find in the exegetical
room a corrective for the errors of his system.
But whatever improvement has been made in the
method of imparting a comprehensive knowledge of
the contents of Scripture, its ruling presupposition re-
mains the same. The working hypothesis in System-|
atic Theology is that of verbal inspiration, uniform in/|
^erfectness and value from beginning to end. This'
is not only incorporated in its definitions, but exhib-
ited in all its details. A disposition is now most mani-
fest to cling to it with the utmost tenacity and exclu-
siveness, as if the slightest weakness at this point were
a fatal concession to the opponents of supernatural
revelation. The question is, whether this hypothesis
can stand before the freer and more exhaustive inves-
22 INSPIRATION.
/ tigation to which we have been constrained bj irie-
/ sistible forces from within and without.
We shall presently give more thought to this branch
of ministerial training. But we can already see very
clearly in what connection the principal difficulty in
securing general acceptance for any other view of in-
spiration will probably be found.
lY.
TWO THEOLOGIES IN CONTRAST.
We are ready now for a postponed question. If
the simple view of inspiration that anchors the soul
fast to the inerrant, permanent, and unchangeable
truth, must be exchanged for some other, wha t new
discoverigS_xequire the exchange, and enable us to
describe the inspiration of the Scriptures more intel-
ligently ?
The answer to this question is found in a more
thorough acquaintance with the character and import
of these Scriptures as exhibited in Biblical Theology,
with the aid of the indispensable adjunc t, the H igher
Criticism.
We might ask, as a counter question to the above, [
whether the inqu irer is sure that divine communica-^
tions, through an inspired prophet, recorded in the
Bible, always exhibit perfect, permanent, and un-
changeable truth, and are never, as imperfect and
unworthy to endure, modified and superseded in
adaptation to improved conditions at a subsequent
time.
One would suppose that the ready unanimity with
which we agree Jthat the Levitical worship has been
thu s superseded, should prepare us for other changes
' ^^^^ /-.
24 TWO THEOLOGIES IN CONTRAST.
on the same principle. It is a hint for the future.
Its ground will appear more distinctly as we advance.
It is important to state here more fully what these
sciences are, for the benefit of those who scarcely
know them except as names, yet are deeply interested
in discussions that relate to the inerrancy of Scripture
and the nature of inspiration. It should be known
that they are indeed sciences, and that their principles
and contents are of great value in their bearing upon
our present subject of thought.
Until within the last twenty-five years Biblical
Theology has been almost unknown except by those
fully acquainted with the theological literature of
Germany. Systematic, sometimes called Dogmatic
or Didactic Theology, previously held an exclusive
position in the orderly exhibition of divine truth.
The title of neither indicates very sharply the dis-
tinction between them, for either designation is in
some degree descriptive of both methods, the System-
atic and the Biblical.
They agree in finding in the Scriptures a compre-
hensive and reliable statement of the facts and princi-
ples of God's moral administration in the earth — a
'; spiritual religion, embracing all the material for the
1 education of our higher nature, and relatively perfect
I in its wise adaptation to the condition and needs of
men during their earthly existence. It follows that
Systematic Theology is Biblical, as well as the so-
called Biblical.
The two Theologies also agree in recognizing a
relation between the truths of the Bible, and that
TWO THEOLOGIES IN CONTRAST. 25
they can only be adequately apprehended in their j
mutual bearings and interdependence ; and each meth- 1
od has its framework and principle of coherence. It |
follows that Biblical Theology is systematic, as well
as the so-called Systematic.
But as already intimated the frameioorh of Sys-
tematic Theology is artificial and scholastic, rather
than Biblical. It distributes the contents of the
Bible into general heads, and then by logical gradation
descends from generals to particulars. It is pre-
eminently scientific and symmetrical, but cold, meta-
physical, abstract, and lifeless. It assumes that the
whole truth is known upon every subject, and can be
stated with such precision and accuracy in definitions,
theses, and dialectic formulae, that it can be fully
apprehended by faculties capable of mastering any
other systems of science or philosophy.
Systematic Theology is Biblical, but it treats the
Bible as a heterogeneous mass of religious truth, its
elements indiscriminately commingled, and requi?'ing
severe and accomplished critical sagacity, — a purely
intellectual process, — in order to bring its statements
into some intelligible order and coherence under the
most approved methods of classification. It gives
scope to the finest and most subtle tact and ingenuity
in lining up inferentially any chasms that may be
discovered, in removing excrescences, or, at least,
smoothing them down so that they shall not repul-
sively obtrude, in reconciling apparent contradictions,
and in furnishing shrewd replies to objections from
whatever source they may emanate.
26 TWO THEOLOGIES IN CONTRAST.
The truth is thus introduced to the world in good
form, that is, truth as estimated by the theologian and
his circle. It commends itself to cultured intellect
as worthy of all respect, and entitled to a distinguished
place among the sciences into which the sum of human
knowledge is distributed.
Moreover, it has long stood approved as an indis-
pensable part of the scholastic cultivation to which
the minds of the professional conservators and ex-
pounders of divine truth must be subjected before
they are qualified for their office. Every minute
point in theology is in its right place, and the system
can be easily memorized, and always held ready for
use upon suitable occasion. The young man who has
fully mastered his system of Didactic and Polemic
Theology has a complete outfit. If properly hus-
banded, it may last him for a lifetime. As a warrior
in the ranks of the church militant, he can never be
put to shame before the adversary.
The term JBihlical Theology was first used as the
title of a book in 1792 by C. F. Ammon, a. rationalist.
His view is without vitality or coherence, and based
on no discriminating definition. It entirely disre-
gards the suggestion of Gabler five years earlier, that
it is the historic principle that distinguishes Biblical
Theology from Dogmatic. Moreover, it is far less
Biblical than the scholasticism against whose inexora-
ble logic it rebels.
Various theories, verging more and more toward a
correct conception, were propounded during the next
forty years by L. Baur, Kaiser, De Wette, and others.
TWO THEOLOGIES IN CONTRAST. 27
Tlie mythical hypothesis of Strauss in his " Life of
Jesus," and the " tendency " theory of F. Baur, the
father of the Tiibingen Theology, called forth the
masterly replies of Neander in his "Planting and
Training of the Christian Church " (1832), an im-
portant step in advance. It is based on a sound
historic criticism of the New Testament writings, the
principle of which is easily carried over to the Old.
It is that of a normal historical development of divine
truth, in a series of successive revelations. The course
and order of this development are ascertained by the
careful examination of the inspired writings in the
fundamental conception of each, and in their mutual
relations as essential parts of a harmonious and con-
Bistent whole.
It is in the " Biblical Theology of the New Testa-'^ S *^'^.
ment," by C F. Schmid (Tiibingen, 1853), and thej)pst:j^^^
humous " Theology of the Old Testament," by G. F. cM^Xr t
Oehler (Tiibingen, 1873), that the subject first receives K*"^"^ ^
a definition and treatment that establish its claim to J^^^^^'^Q
be recognized as a special and independent training. ^-^^ ^
They understand by Biblical Theology, the historico- ^
genetic presentation of revealed religion in the
canonical writings of the Old and New Testaments.
They distinguish it from Systematic Theology by its
historical character, while by its limitation to the
canonicarwrltlngs of the Old and New Testaments, it
is separated from Historical Theology, and character-
ized as an integral part of Exegetical Theology.
These discriminations by Schmid are of great im-
portance.
28 TWO THEOLOGIES IN CONTRAST.
Biblical Theology has its beginning and source in
patient and thorough exegetical training and labor.
Its exegesis is historico-grammatical, but always with
due regard to the unity, and living coherence and
symmetry that distinguish a progressive revelation
of divine wisdom, grace, and power in connection with
sin and redemption. It is important to notice that it
embraces, not only didactic utterances, abstract an-
nouncements of truth, but persons, events, institutions,
and the whole concrete substance of history in con-
nection with the divine administration of human
affairs.
Biblical Theology, in pursuance of its historic
principle, follows the order of revelation in the
Sacred Books. It presents truth, not in preconceived
logical combinations, but in accordance with the general
development required for the education of man in the
successive stages of his existence upon the earth. It
begins with the rudiments of knowledge, and ad-
vances step by step in successive disclosures, adapting
itself to a growing capacity in men for the apprehen-
sion of the highest truth, and ever tending toward
the culmination of God's grace in a completed
redemption.
Revelation, as considered by this science, keeps
pace with Providence and the course of human events
as divinely directed, as well as with the intellectual
and moral advancement of its subjects. Hence
Biblical Theology takes careful note, as part of its
material, not only of inspired communications, the
words of God through the mouth of a prophet, but as
TWO THEOLOGIES IN CONTRAST. 29
above stated, of everything connected with the divine
ordering of human affairs by which men might
attain a fuller knowledge of God, and their purposes
and conduct might be swayed in the right direction.
It will thus be seen that Biblical Theology regards
the matter of revelation, not abstractly, as made up of
certain logical propositions to be proved and main-
tained by the most conclusive dialectic methods, the
substance and sinew of an inspired System of Theol-
ogy, but concretely, as wrought by the divine Spirit
into human existence, individual and social, and
adapting itself to all varieties of character, condition,
and circumstances that diversify the race.
In Biblical Theology the truth, as embodied in the
Sacred Books in facts and events more than in words,
is a living organism that separates from everything
extraneous to itself. It exhibits the Old Testament
and the Kew, with all their coherences and contrasts,
as parts of a great whole, and the relation between
them as not accidental, nor arbitrary, nor mechanical,
but natural, necessary, and vital.
Its central idea and ruling principle, its inspiration, is
the development of a gracious purpose of God per-
taining to the salvation of the human race as a fact in
the course of accomplishment. The science wliich
treats the divine revelation in the Scriptures most
philosophically and correctly, and with the clearest
discernment of its grandeur, is that which follows the
course and order of its expansion from a feeble begin-
ning till its full glory is realized in the ultimate
30 TWO THEOLOGIES IN CONTRAST.
triumph of the grace and righteousness of God over
all evil in the ascension glorj of Christ.
We have precious material in this whole description
for our promised reconstruction. It must surely be
remembered in our a posteriori definition, toward
which by easy stages we are moving forward.
h^o^xy^^J--^ f^^^\ /"i^'^*^ Mo^V)'' ^ A-^^
V.
THE HIGHER CRITICISM, DESTRUCTIVE
AND CONSTRUCTIYE.
Biblical Theology is a growth. It is becoming
more and more a strong, beautiful, and fruitful
growth. It is mainly the product of two living forces,
that have been vigorously at work for years. They
are Biblical Exegesis and the Higher Criticism.
The three are inseparable, and have matured co-
ordinately. Their advance has been quickened and
determined by the activity of opposing forces against
which they have combined.
It will be understood that it was for the assailants
of revealed truth to choose their point of attack, to
which its defenders must necessarily accommodate
themselves. Wherever an onset is made, the repel-
ling force must be rallied. Every thrust must be
at once warded off by the quickly advanced shield
and buckler. Every mine must be met by a counter-
mine. Every sophism must be exposed, and an-
nihilated by sound logic. Every misrepresentation
must be nullified by correct statement.
Those who read the Bible devoutly as part of their
religious discipline, finding in it strength and salvation,
but who can spare no time from their daily pursuits for
(31)
32 THE HIGHER CRITICISM,
its careful study, are not usually aware what fierce
battles have been fought over every inch of the
surface. To them it is all holy ground. They come
to some rough places, to some things that are un-
intelligible, to some early records that seem incon-
sistent with the spirit and substance of the Gospel.
But not willing to be perplexed, they do not dwell
upon them anxiously. They find some relief in
remembering that the statements in question are con-
nected with long past conditions, and were not in-
tended for their guidance. It is enough for them
that they see throughout the whole mass of writings
the footprints of the Almighty, and they are content
to leave everything doubtful to be cleared up by the
brighter light of the future. Taken as a whole, what
they find here is sacred and delightful.
The battle with the destructive school in its various
branchings began with its adoption of a false exegesis.
As a first and ruling principle it discredited all state-
ments that involve the supernatural. There were the
' accommodation theory ' of Semler, the ' moral interpre-
tation ' of Kant, the ' naturalistic view ' of Paulus, the
' mythical hypothesis' of Strauss, the tendency theory'
of Baur, and the arbitrary assumptions of Schenkel
and Kenan. All of these are rationalistic, and each
urged its claim to reception as a satisfactory solution
of the alleged monstrosities of the Bible.
Their attacks were repelled by advancing against
them sound exegetical principles. An important
result of the contest was the discovery and adoption
of right methods in interpreting Scripture. Every
DESTRUCTIVE AND CONSTRUCTIVE. 33
word and phrase must be carefully scrutinized, and
its meaning determined in accordance with the
linguistic use of its own time in the evolutionary
development of language.
More and more fully the histori co-grammatical
system of exegesis in its application to the Scriptures,
was exhibited and adopted. It held as a primary
conception, that always, in endeavoring to understand
the meaning of an author, due regard must be paid to
the unity and living coherence of a progressive
revelation.
By this matured and impregnable exegetical science
the great chasm that separates us from those who
" spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost " in
very ancient times, is bridged over. In imagination
we place ourselves among them. We learn to think
as they thought, to speak as they spoke, to consider
everything in their circumstances, history, and
intellectual or moral culture, that would affect their
modes of thought and speech. It is only when we
have done this that we can fairly understand them.
Here came in the Higher Criticism, known long
before by another designation. It is imperative in Bibli-
cal Theology that everything embraced in the writings
that constitute its material should be assigned, as
nearly as possible, to the right time and place. Until
this is done the exegetical process, as above described,
cannot be completed.
The Higher Criticism has most to do with the
human element in the Bible. It considers questions
of age, authorship, genuineness, and canonical author-
34 THE HIGHER CRITICISM.
itj. It traces the origin, preservation, and integrity
of the various books, and exhibits their scope, con-
tents, relations, and general character and value.
Thus by the closest and most patient examination
of these writings, on such scientific principles as are
commonly applied to very ancient books, each
several portion comes to be duly appreciated and
fitted into its right place in relation to other revela-
tion. The more general and older name of this
science is Isagogics, or Biblical Introduction, It is
called the Higher Criticism to distinguish it from
Textual Criticism, which only seeks to ascertain the
exact words of the original Scriptures.
More recent investigations in the Higher Criticism
have excited the strongest prejudice in many, as if
new and graceless methods had been introduced by
men in close sympathy with the destructive criticism
of the Bible. They regard it as imperilling every-
thing holy and precious in revealed religion, and
fervently desire that it could be banished into oblivion.
They surely are not aware how actively and craftily
the enemies of their faith are using the Higher
Criticism, and have long been using it, in undermining
the fabric of revelation. The grandest efforts in this
same Higher Criticism, followed by the most import-
ant results in the establishment of correct principles,
were compelled by the spurious conjectural criticism
of Spinoza, a renegade Jew and Pantheist, who antic-
ipated by nearly two centuries the teachings of the
later rationalists, and the untenable theories of Eichard
Simon, Clericus, and Semler.
DESTRUCTIVE AND CONSTRUCTIVE. 35
In reply to these Dii Pin, Witsius, Prideaux,
Yitringa, and Calmet laid the foundations of legiti-
mate historical inquiry into the origin, character, and
value of the Sacred Writings. These were followed
in the same field by the Abbe Fleury, Astruc, Bishop
Lowth, and the poet Herder.
The products of their labors in the accumulation of
facts and the discovery of right principles, prepared
the way for the comprehensive work of J. G. Eicli-
horn in 1780, who has justly been styled the father
of the Higher Criticism. Under the more general
name Biblical Introduction, important contributions
to the science have been made by the English and
American scholars, T. H. Home, Moses Stuart, Ed-
ward Robinson, S. H. Turner, Samuel Davidson,
and others.
In 1862 new interest in the subject was roused by
the attack of Bishop Colenso on the historical char-
acter of the Old Testament writings, and by the
rationahsm of the authors of " Essays and Reviews."
These called forth able and conclusive replies on both
sides of the Atlantic. Since then the German Well-
hausen and the Hollander Kuenen, in the spirit of
Colenso, have compelled fresh efforts to maintain the
credibility and authority of the Old Testament Scrip-
tures against the assaults of rationalism.
In_ Great Britain and America, th e constrpfitive
Higher Criticism, iiow be comi ng reconstr uctiv e, seems
to be dividing itself between the more" progressive,
represented by Bishop Lightfoot, Drs. W. Robertson
Smith, Briggs, Cheyne, Driver, Harper, Brown, and
36 THE HIGHER CRITICISM.
others, and those less willing to accept advanced
views, headed by Dr. "W. Henry Green, with a large
following, especially in his own branch of Protestant-
ism. Whatever may be the further outcome of their
investigations and discussions, truth cannot suffer at
their hands.
It is too late to decry the Higher Criticism, or to
deny that it is a field of research on which have been
won the noblest triumphs in behalf of the supreme
authority of the Scriptures as embodying a divine
revelation, over the destructiveness of rationalism.
YI.
MINOR INACCURACIES.
"We postpone for tlie present a further consideration
of the result of tliese labors in a more complete and
illuminative Biblical Theology. It will come in its
place.
We have now reached the most ungracious part of
our task — that of mentioning i naccura cies injthe Bible /
which make it nec essary to reconstruct the theory of I
inspiration as generally accepted.
It will be sufficient to adduce a f ew out of the j
multitude j of instances in which human infirmity is
app aren t. For the definition referred to as unten-
able, claims absolute inerrancy and faultless perfection
for the whole.
"With respect to inerrancy, whether of the received
or the original text, tjie Old Testament is far more '
questionable than the New. But even in the New I
Testament inaccuracies occur^ to which the following ^
description of Professor Green, and which he vir-
tually admits, will certainly apply : "They are in the
minhna of Scripture, in trivialities that are of no
account, and neither disparage the truthfulness of the
narrative, nor in an}' way affect its doctrinal state-
ments; and which are compared by Dr. Charles
(37)
38 INSPIRATION.
Hodge (' Systematic Theology,' vol. i., p. 170) to
' the specks of sandstone here and there in the mar-
ble of the Parthenon.' "
/ts<3 •^'^^J][2^70f this trivial character is the citation in Matt.
"^iLpL^ xxvii. 9 of a passage from Zech. xi. 12, 13, giving
|t'\t^ r^ Jeremiah as its author. A simple lapse of memory,
'^' '^ utterly unimportant.
. ^. , Such, too, is the discrej)ancy between Matt. xx. 29,
^' "^ 30, and Luke xviii. 35. In the former we have two
^/j . • blind men crying after Jesus as I^q went out from
Jericho, in the latter of one blind man as he drew
nigh to that city.
^-' . Similarly trivial is the difference between the Gos-
"^ 2i-i^'P®^^ about the hour of the crucifixion, and scarcely
more important, that between John and the Synopti-
cal Gospels with regard to the time of the last Pass-
over. If we can reconcile them, it is well ; but if
not, we need not be disturbed.
Even in the discourses of our Lord, where as a rule
we find far more exact verbal agreement than in the
narrative portion of the Gospels, there is sometimes a
difference in language, where the forms of expression
, they severally employ are not precisely equivalent,
i^^" ^^^ a^slight difference in thought is conveyed.
■5-^ .Here, also, belong the linguistic inaccuracies
III sketched in the following extract from the late Dr.
Alexander McClelland's " Manual of Interpretation "
(pp. 61-63). One who received from that distin-
guished teacher more than fifty years ago his instruc-
tion in the rudiments of Hebrew, and his earliest
training in Criticism, Hermeneutics, and Exegesis,
MINOR INACCURACIES. 39
may be excused if he finds pleasure in giving the
quotation here :
"Language is not the invention of metaphysicians
or convocations of the wise and learned. It is the
cc'Timon blessing of mankind, formed for their mut-
ual advantage in their intercourse with each other.
Its laws are popular, not philosophical, being founded
on the laws of thought which govern the w^hole mass
in the community Scarcely will we hear in a
long and serious discourse between the best speakers
a sentence which does not need some modification or
hmitation, in order that we may not attribute to it
more or less than was intended. Nor is the operation
at all difficult. We make the correction instantly, .
with so little cost of thought that we would be
tempted to call it instinct, did we not know that
many of our perceptions that seem to be intuitive,
are the results of habit and education. It would be
an exceedingly strange thing if the Bible, the most
popular of all books, composed by men for the most
part taken from the multitude, addressed to all, and
on subjects interesting to all, were found written in
language to be interpreted on different principles.
But in point of fact it is not. Its style is eminently
and to a remarkable degree that which we would expect
to find in a volume designed by its author to be the peo-
ple's book — abounding in all those kinds of inaccuracy f>
which are sprinkled through ordinary discourses, hyper-
boles, analogues, and loose catachrestical expressions,
whose meaning no one mistakes, though their deviation
from Xhe'plunib occasionally makes the small critic sad." J , *0^
40 INSPIEATION.
These are what Professor Green calls " the minima^
trivialities, that neither disparage the truthfulness of
the narrative, nor in any way affect the statement of
doctrine." But who does not see that the admission
of error, however comparatively unimportant, is fatal
to the hypothesis of absolute inerrancy ? They are
unconscious mistakes, variations from the absolute
truth, although as is claimed, they are no larger com-
pared with the glorious substance of the revelation
than the tiniest grains of sand in the marble of the
Parthenon, as compared with the whole massive pile.
But degrees of imperfection are not in question here.
The mistakes are such as a human narrator might
\ make most innocently. Bu^ivjua authorship i n the
absolutely controlling sense that is asserted, must ex-
clude even the least of them. In the matter of error,
however harmless, the a priori theory admits of no
maxima and minima.
That the Books of the Old Testament are inspired
is proved mainly by our Saviour's endorsement of
the Jewish Canonical Books. He continually quotes
from them as fulfilled in himself, as worthy of all
confidence, as diligently to be searched for testimony
to his coming and glory. We shall not examine the
sentences in which absolute endorsement is thougEFto
be expressed, in order to ascertain whether they bind
us to a strictly verbal inspiration of all the Scriptures.
It is more than doubtfuL
')i/irt^Ar-C ^ bal accuracy is practically treated as not of the slight-
It only needs to be said for the present, that in our
Lord's frequent reference to the Old Testament, yer-
MINOR INACCURACIES. 41
est consequence. He refers constantly to translations
in common use among the Jews, never hinting that
their value is impaired by erroneous rendering ; al-
though very often, and in important places, they go
very far astray from what could be the meaning of
the original. The Septuagint version is much nearer
to the Scriptures endorsed by our Saviour and his
apostles than the received Hebrew text ; for they gen-
erally quote from the former, and only occasionally
from the Hebrew, or from some Aramaic version
which in the Gospels is translated into Greek.
It cannot properly be inferred from this that the
Greek translation was better than the Hebrew, and is
to be substituted for it as the only inerrant Scripture. ^
It^simplymeans tha t truth .-as.inspired by God is of /^^^?22I^ I*
such quality and nature that invariable verbal accu-|
racy_isnot material. It may be expressed with great
freedom and in various forms without impairing its /
substantial value. It is the thought that is inspired. /*^ / -
In turning to the Old Testanient we are confronted
by the fact that those who have most dih'gently en-
gaged in the research that is needed to decide the > .i-'U tN/^
question of inerrancy, the recognized speciahsts and 'y-/^^*^wl-y
adepts, the class of scholars properly looked to as au- )C^ iJ*^'
thorities in historic and literary criticism, — whose ^^'^''^^
competency, integrity, and absolute confidence in '■w^^' ^
Old Testament revelation are unquestionable, — re- ^ r~^ '
gard the insistance upon inerrancy in the inspired ^^ v^
Scriptures as false in principle and in fact. Apply- )f^^
ing the scientific tests to these writings that are ap- ^-^^
plied to other ancient literature, they find many inac- -^ ^
42 INSPIRATION.
curacies and conflicting statements. Questions arise
in these investigations on which individual opinions
are of little worth, even of men eminent in intellect,
learning, and love of truth, unless they are approved
workmen in the line of study which entitles them to
a hearing on matters of the kind. The dogmatist, the
metaphysician, the etymologist, the rhetorician may
each be treated with great deference in all that relates
to his own special science. But as an authority for
final decision in a case of great difficulty and import-
ance, he must be kept within his own limits.
Let the circumstance be recalled from our prelimi-
nary statements, in view of which we are most anx-
ious in maintaining the divine origin and authority of
the Scriptures. It is that we are surrounded by an
incomputable mass of unbelief of every shade and de-
gree. In part, it is bold, defiant, even malignant,
ready to see every weak point, and to use unscrupu-
lously every advantage in confirming latent sceptical
tendencies, and in gaining over those whose early faith
in the Christian religion is becoming unsettled by
philosophic, materialistic, or agnostic unbelief.
If it comes to be understood that it is the authori-
tative doctrine of the Church that the inspiration of
the Scriptures depends upon the absolute immaculate-
ness of the whole ; and on the other hand, that a large
proportion of those whose special scholarship qualifies
them to speak decisively upon the subject admit that
the Scriptures are not without error, and that they
stand ready to prove it by many instances, we fear
beyond measure the result.
MINOR INACCURACIES. 43
In fact the claim of Scripture infallibility in all his-
toric and scientific details, where errors are visible to
every eye, is making infidels by thousands.
Very clear and decisive upon this point is the lan-
guage of the late Professor Evans : " You protest against
the unsettling of faith. You do well. But they also
do well who protest against keeping up needless bar-
riers to faith. You condemn criticism which destroys
belief in the Scriptures as the word of God. But be-
ware of including in your condemnation the criticism
which helps to make such belief in the Scriptures pos-
sible. You may be sure that so long as you hang the
infallible authority of Scripture as the rule of faith on
the infallible accuracy of every particular word and
clause in the Book, as long as you exalt the Bible to ^ \ Cqj^
the same pinnacle of authority in matters respecting i%(yj^
which God has given us fuller and more exact revela- ' '^^rS
tions elsewhere, as in matters respectino* which the
Bible is the only revelation, the irrepressible conflict ^
between faith and science will go on, and the Drapers /^^-^^g^
and Whites of each generation will have their new ^- ^ct^»
chapters to add to the record. Every new discovery A^5t>j'^i^
in science or in archaeology that seems to contradict h^Uk^ t.
some particular statement will produce a panic. •*^^ ^^^^
Every advance in criticism will tend to unsettle the Ao»-i^^
faith of somebody whom your teaching has led to ^^*^^*^
confound the form with the substance. ^^^o-u^
" This is a mistaken defence of Divine Revelation.
^ A^
eu^
Shipwrecks of faith without number have been caused>^^
by it. It is the very thing according to his own con- ^a ' *^
fessions that made an unbeliever of the most brilliant / , *^^*^
44 INSPIRATION.
scholar of France, perhaps of the world to-day, Ernest
Eenan. It is the very thing that drove into infidelity
the strongest champion of the popular infidelity of
England, who died the other day in his unbelief,
Charles Bradlaugh. So testifies his own brother, a
believer. But for this the iridescent declamation of
Eobert Ingersoll in his 'Mistakes of Moses,' would
r collapse like a pricked balloon. The Christianity of
i our day cannot afford to fight the battle of the Book
! on that line. It cannot ailord to silence the larger,
profounder, more Scriptural restatements of revealed
truth made imperative by improved methods of Bibli-
cal research."
YII.
MINOR INACCURACIES— HISTORICAL.
Two instances of variations from fact in the
Old Testament have been recently adduced by an
accomplished Assyriologist.* The iirst is chronolog-
ical. It is one out of many such embarrassments that
occur in the Books of Kings.
It is in 2 Kings xxviii. 9, 10, where the chronolog- CfJP^* ]*
ical statement implies that Ilezekiah began to reign u^JaA-* \^
727 B.C. ; for we know from Assyrian records that v' v-^» ^
Samaria was taken in 722 b.c. tn*^J-y6
The diflSculty lies in adjusting this record to the "jC^vv
statement in verse 13 : " Now in the fourteenth year ^ pj" *
of Ilezekiah did Sennacherib, king of Assyria, come V^ ^^
up against the fenced cities of Judah, and took them." sJ^-h"^!
There is scarcely any Assyrian campaign about which
we are better informed from Assyrian sources than
this campaign of Sennacherib. He made but one,
and that took place 701 b.c. We are thus faced
by a dilemma. Either 701 b.c. was the fourteenth
year of Hezekiah, in which case he could not have
commenced to reign in 727, or else he began to reign
* Professor Francis Brown, D.D.
(45)
46 INSPIRATION.
727 B.C., in which case 701 was not his fourteenth
year.
Of this the writer says : " Scholars differ as to the
choice they make under these circumstances
Attempts to sliake the date of Sennacherib's cam-
paign have failed. As far as the material at our
command permits us to go, the error was in the
original document, — ^. ^., is due to the responsible
compiler of the Book of Kings, who wrote after
the i^orthern Kingdom had for a hundred years
or more ceased to exist, its people been deported
or scattered, its records doubtless in large measure
destroyed, and its territory largely given over to
idolatry and semi-barbarism. I shall be grateful to
any scholar who will give me light on this, as on other
difficult questions of Biblical Chronology.
" But I refuse to shut my eyes to the fact of an ap-
parent error, and I decline as a Christian man to con-
nect my faith in my Redeemer, and in the revelation
of God's love in him, in any way, shape, or manner
with the dates of ancient Hebrew kings."
The second example given by the same writer is in
the Book of Daniel. It relates to the statements in
chap, v., with regard to affairs in Babylon after the
reign of Nebuchadnezzar. He refers to various
matters of complexity and difficulty. " But the
difficulty reaches a climax in the mention of Darius
the Mede (v. 31), who appears in the narrative to
have been the immediate successor of Belshazzar, to
have organized the empire (chap, vi.), to have been
* the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes '
MINOR INACCURACIES— HISTORICAL. 47
(ix. 1), and to have himself been succeeded by Cyrus
the Persian (vi. 28). For this personage, cuneiform
decipherment appears to have left no room. Per-
fectly explicit contemporary records do not permit a
student of history any longer to doubt that Media fell
before Babylon did; that the conqueror of Babylon wa3
not a Mede, but a Persian ; that this conqueror was
Cyrus, as the Old Testament elsewhere represents
(e.g.^ Isa xliv. 28, xiv. 1 ff., cf. xlvi. 1; 2 Chron.
xxxvi. 22, 23=Ezr. i. 1-8) ; that his reign over
Babylon was reckoned as beginning immediately upon
the conquest, and that therefore no reign intervened
between that of Kabonidus, the last Shemitic king,
and his own ; that the only royal Darius known to
history in that century, was not a Mede, but a Persian,
not the son of Ahasuerus (Xerxes), but his father, not
the predecessor of Cyrus, but a successor of his, ac-
cording to the statement of Ezra iv. 5 : 'All the days
of Cyrus, King of Persia, even until the reign of
Darius, King of Persia'; in short, that as little as
there is any place for Darius the Mede before Cyrus,
just as little is there any extra-Biblical evidence that
there was a Darius the Mede to take such a place ;
while there is strong evidence, such as historical
students are bound to accept, and do accept, that there
was not. The judgment expressed in the only com-
mentary on the Book of Daniel, written in recent
years by a scholar of com])etent equipment for the
task — I refer to that of Meinhold, in the series of
Strack and Zockler — is in accordance with the weight
of evidence : ' No Median sovereignty over Babylonia
48 INSPIRATION.
preceded the Persian, and Darius the Mede is not a
historical figure.'
*'I know that there is a great sensitiveness in some
rehgious minds in regard to the Book of Daniel. I
am sorrj to disturb such minds. But it is indispensa-
ble that it should clearly be shown whither the ex-
treme dogma that is claiming to be the sole orthodoxy
is driving us. I am quite ready to grant that there
are elements in the history of the third quarter of the
sixth century e.g., which are not yet understood,
and which may by some better understanding of them
hereafter, enable us to see more distinctly the relations
of various Bible statements : but from the point of
view of historical scholarship, there is no reason to
suppose that Darius the Mede will thereby be
rehabilitated as an actual personage, any more than
there is to expect the rehabihtation of the Sar-
danapalus and Semiramis of Greek legend. Even if
that should occur, however, it remains true that no
one who fairly weighs the facts as they at present
appear, can say that they are favorable to the tradi-
tional opinion, and no one who loves the Bible can
reflect without a shudder on the temerity of those who
condition the fact and authority of divine revelation
upon the slender possibility that the prevailing testi-
mony of the credible witnesses to the facts may at
some remote date be overthrown."
The above extracts are given because they are the
latest instances of error in Biblical history that have
been prominently mentioned, and are connected with
the writer's very extensive examination of cuneiform
MINOR INACCURACIES-HISTORICAL. 49
tablets. Yarious explanations have been attempted
of these, as of other apparent inaccuracies equally
formidable, which, however, dispassionate and ac-
complished scholarship pronounces strained and
improbable. Some of these are of such a nature that
it is scarcely supposable that they should have resulted
from the carelessness of a copyist, or that any one
could have an object in altering the text intentionally.
It may be said that accidental or intentional altera-
tion is in no case absolutely impossible. But as cases -f
of extreme improbability multiply, the possibility that
not one of the apparent errors were in the original
text, becomes infinitesimal. Who must not regard
with profound pity the anxious inquirer after saving
truth, in its bearing upon his prospects for the life to
come, who is informed that the truth of the Gospel
as a revelation of divine mercy must be abandoned if
the Old Testament or the New contains a single his-
toric inaccuracy, however unimportant?
The recent discussions upon this subject in a branch
of the American Church that embraces a larger num-
ber of devoted specialists in the Higher Criticism
than any other, have raised an issue that can no longer
be evaded. AVhatever may be the ultimate action of
that conservative body, the distinguished representa-
tive of conservatism who stands foremost, as entitled
by his chosen line of study to speak as a specialist,
stands nearly alone.
It is impossible to estimate what harm may result
unless the whole subject be considered afresh, and
some ground intelligibly stated upon which the in-
50 INSPIRATION.
spiration of the Bible can be firmlj and consistently
maintained, without regard to occasional lapses of
memory or defective information, which do not in
the least affect the substance and gracious purpose of
the revelation. We may well echo the exclamation
of the writer last quoted against the temerity of sus-
pending our faith in the Kedeemer, and our eternal
hope, upon the minute historical accuracy of every
incident recorded in the Book of Genesis, or the
Chronicles of the Kings of Judah.
We here quote with satisfaction the language of an
anonymous writer describing a common misapprehen-
sion concerning the Higher Criticism in its purpose
and results : '^ Many earnest and uncompromising
Christians cannot see anything good in criticism.
They arraign it as a foe to Christianity, and a would-
be destroyer of the Bible. This is not at all strange ;
for the average man, untrained in historic criticism,
cannot appreciate the nice discriminations of the
critic. He wants a plain categorical statement, a
simple alternative, with no possible middle ground,
and no question left in suspense. He does not recog-
nize the force of probable evidence, which in all
departments of thought is the very guide of life.
And least of all can he understand how a man can
give up some views of the Bible without giving up
the Bible itself. It is all or nothing with him. If
he believes in the Bible at all, he believes in it as an
infallible oracle, free from all errors and misstate-
ments. And when criticism, which in its first touch
is always destructive, like the frost, rejects a text
MINOR INACCURACIES— HISTORICAL. 51
here, gives a new meaning to a passage there, and
throws over the whole vohime a novel and strange
atmosphere of naturalness, he cries out in wrath that
the critics are trying to destroy the Bible.
" Such fear of criticism, however, does not belong to
Christianity itself, but to its over-cautious defenders.
As a matter of fact, the result thus far of Biblical
Criticism has been to bring out more clearly the claims
of the Bible to the regard of men. In innumerable
ways the researches of the critics are confirming the
veracity of the Bible, and investigation has left it in
a much stronger, because more rational, position than
it occupied before. Even the discrepancies and con-
tradictions that criticism has discovered in it have /
confirmed its honesty and veracity, strange as it may .^ y iT
appear. For they are just such discrepancies and ', - — ^
contradictions as would be made by honest and truth- \f , **^^'
seeking men in the circumstances under which they • -. ..
wrote. For instance, there are two accounts given '^
of the origin of the name Beer-sheba. In the twenty-
first chapter of Genesis, we are told that it was so
named by Abraham because of a striking event that
happened there. And in the twenty-sixth chapter of
the same book it is said that Isaac gave the place its
name about ninety years later for a wholly different
reason. Of course the harmonizers have tried to
smooth over this difficulty, but with no success. The
true explanation of this and many other contradicti(ms •
of a similar character is that the Biblical writers and
editors incorporated into their narrative accounts from
different documents, and did not always notice the
52 INSPIRATION.
diflFerence between these documents. This does not
impeacli the Bible as a record of God's deahngs with
men ; but it does overthrow the theory that every
word in it is infallibly inspired.
" The real enemy of the Bible is not the man who
would test its claims by rules of legitimate and candid
criticism, but the man who, by refusing to allow such
tests, gives color to the belief that he fears the result.
Christians of serene faith, who have caught the finer
spirit of the religion of Christ, welcome all investi-
gations and all tests, however disturbing may be their
temporary effect."
Since the foregoing chapters were written we have
examined with great interest an article by Professor
"VY. Henry Green upon a difficult question of Old
Testament Chronology.*
It is a comment upon the genealogies in Gen.
V. and xi. The former of these records gives the line
of descent from Adam to Shem, the latter thence-
forward to Abraham. The Professor proposes to
remove the conflict between the Biblical chronology
and the conclusions of science with respect to the age
of the world. That the scientific claim is imperative
is sufficiently evident from the willingness to concede
it manifested by so conservative a scholar.
We quote several leading sentences : " As mention
is made of the age of each patriarch of the entire
series at the birth of his son, it has been assumed that
this supplies a basis for computing the length of time
* n
Bibliotheca Sacra," April, 1890.
MINOR INACCURACIES -HISTORICAL. 53
covered by tbese genealogies, and that it would be
only necessary to add together the numbers thus given
in order to ascertain the interval from Creation to the
Flood, and from the Flood to the birth of Abraham.
Estimates thus made out have been commonly
accepted as the Biblical chronology of this primeval
period, and the age of the world thus determined has
been set over against the results of scientific investi-
gation."
" I deny most emphatically," the writer goes on to
say, " the antagonism, and the legitimacy of the as-
sumption on which it rests. The author of these
genealogies gives no intimation that they were con-
structed for any such purpose. He never puts them to
this use himself. He nowhere sums these numbers,
nor suggests their summation. No chronological
statement is deduced from them, either by him or by
any inspired writer. There is no computation any-
where in Scripture of the time that elapsed from the
creation or from the deluge, as there is from the
descent into Egypt to the Exodus (Ex. xii. 40), or
from the Exodus to the building of the temple
(1 Kings vi. 1). And if the numbers in these
genealogies are for the sake of constructing a
chronology, why are numbers introduced which have
no possible relation to such a purpose ? Why are we
told how long each patriarch lived after the birth
of his son, and what was the entire length of his 'ife ? "
The Professor makes room for the indefinite exten-
sion of time within the limits mentioned in the record,
by suggesting that the Hebrew word ^' id'^«^ " may
54 INSPIRATION.
be used with equal propriety of an immediate or a
remote descendant ; and he cites several instances in
which genealogies are constructed with the omission
of some names, yet with no change in the word that
expresses the connection. This usage is unquestiona-
ble. A notable instance is our Saviour's genealogy
in the Gospel of Matthew.
But the proof from analogy unquestionably fails in
there being no single genealogy on record which
binds us fast at each successive step to an immediate
descendant by mentioning the age of the father at the
birth of the son. This mathematical precision forbids
the supposition that in any instance the name given
is not that of the progenitor's personal offspring, the
nearest in descent, — that is, if historical accuracy is of
the slightest importance.
But this is not all. The Professor must further
r assume that the genealogist has intentionally concealed
his omission of one or more links in the chain, by
substituting the name of the later descendant whom
he chooses next to introduce, for that of the son
actually born within the given limit of time. This
involves a serious departure from historic fact.
Suppose, for illustration, that two more generations
had been dropped from chapter xi. — those next after
Arphaxad ; omitting Shelah and Eber, and passing
over to Peleg. If the text is altered to correspond
in apparent exactness with the remainder of the chain,
we must read by compression in verses 12-16 : " And
Arphaxad lived five and thirty years and begat Peleg.
And Arphaxad lived after he begat Peleg four hun-
MINOR INACCURACIES— HISTORICAL. 55
dred and thirty years, and begat sons and daugh-
ters."
Now Peleg was at the nearest Arphaxad's great-
grandson. If the genealogist has ah-eady omitted
other generations at this point, the relationship must
have been still more remote. But supposing the
omission of only the two above mentioned names,
Arphaxad muse have been stated to be thii*ty-five
years old at the birth of his great-grandson, and to
have lived four hundred and thirty years there-
after.
We thus exemplify that according to the proposed
theory the genealogy must contain at every omission
of an immediate lineal descendant ajpalpable misstate-
ment in respect to names, or figures, or both ; and this
by Moses, who is expressly mentioned in the article as
undoubtedly the author. It involves the supposition
that every error in figures has been adroitly covered
up by a change in names, only to be discovered at
this late period.
The esteemed writer was greatly perplexed, as
many others have been before him, by the discrep-
ancy between this genealogical record, in the only
significance that has ever before been thought of as
possible, and the fact ascertained by scientific re-
search. But his ingenious proposition is an attempt
to wrest asunder an iron chain, every link of which
is thoroughly tempered and forged. It shows what
bold expedients the Higher Criticism, if not too
scrupulous, may resort to in dealing with the prob-
lems of the Bible. It is all in vain. The Hebrew
m INSPIRATION.
terms that express relationship bj descent are elastic.
But there is no elasticity in mathematics.
The genealogical inaccuracy in Genesis remains.
This brave effort only accentuates it, and we cannot
hope that others will be more successful.
Tlie same respected authority concedes a historic
inaccuracy in Gal. iii. 17. It is in connection withr
Bishop Colenso's assertion of the impossibility of so
large an Israelitish population as that given in Ex.
xii. 40 having descended from the seventy souls who
went down into Egypt 237 years before. This state-
ment of time is based on the Septuagint rendering
of Ex. xii. 40, which the negative critics assume to
be correct. Professor Green says of it : ^' The gloss
thus put upon this passage in Exodus, as it seemed to
have the authority of an inspired apostle in its favor
in Gal. iii. 17, and as the genealogy of Moses, Ex. vi.
16-20, appeared to preclude the supposition that 430
years were spent in Egypt, became the well-nigh uni-
versal view of the case. It still has its advocates,
though the leading Biblical scholars of Europe have
abandoned itP
On the passage in Galatians, Dr. Green says:
"^"This language of the apostle, however, does not
appear to us to be decisive of the point at issue.
The interval of time is only incidentally mentioned.
Precision of statement regarding it was of no conse-
quence to his argument^ His opinion upon the
chronology itself is very emphatic: " The evidence is,
we think, conclusive that the abode iii Egypt lasted
430 years. This is the natural sense of Ex. xii. 40,
MINOR INACCURACIES— HISTORICAL. 57
and none would ever think of extracting a different
meaning from it, but for reasons outside of the verse
itself."
This nobly ilhistrates a recent deliverance from the
same pen upon the untrammeled freedom that should
be accorded to the Higher Criticism in discharging
its appropriate functions. Even an inspired apostle
niaj^be historically inaccurate, when his statement is
merely^ i nciden tal, and precision is of no consequence
to his_argument. One would suppose that the same
pnnciple might apply to the incidental mention by our
Saviour, in quoting from the Old Testament, of the
name of any author with whose writings the passage
adduced was connected by Jewish tradition and in
common thought. In every such instance his purpose
was to identif V it to his hearers as of recognized divine
authority. The human authorship was secondary and
insignificant, not in the least affecting the purport
and power of the words that are cited, whether legal
or prophetic.
It is worthy of note that the author's distinguished
scholarship would not permit him, in either of the
above examples of historical inaccuracy, to refer to
a difference in the autograph manuscript, as even
possible. Any want of precision in the genealogies
was evidently wrought into their original substance.
In the Epistle to the Galatians a change in the original
reading by a copyist or corrector is precluded by the >^
manifest fact that St. Paul, according to his estab- f
liflhed custom, followed the Septuagint.
YIII.
MOEAL I^'CONGEUITIES.
The scope of the recent discussions centering upon
the alleged inerrancy of the Scriptures was not
broad enough to include all that properly belongs to
the subject. For this reason it was impossible that
by any protraction it should reach a thoroughly
satisfactory conclusion.
The only errancy asserted or denied related to
empirical matters, — history, science, and the like, —
for which men ordinarily depend upon their own
observation and the testimony of others. It seemed
strange that no one should think of m,oral errancy in
. the Bible, as existent, or even possible! Yet it has
/ long been recognized by Christian thought, that there
is a contrast between the spirit and teachings of our
Saviour, and those of the earlier revelation.
The connection between minor inaccuracies iti
historical'and scientific statement, and imperfect con-
ceptions of right and wrong, as estimated by the
liighest standard, does not seem to have been discerned.
I They differ in their nature and kind, yet nothing can
j be surer than that they are similar in origin, and in
I the principle upon which their presence in an in-
spired book must be explained.
(58)
MORAL INCONGRUiriES. 59
They alike indicate that the independent activity of
a human agent in the revelation was not so absolutely
under the repression and control of the inspiring
Spirit as we, in our imperfect wisdom, are apt to
think essential to the surest guidance. We must con-
clude that the failure of the divine energy utterly to
suppress the hiunan^ iiwi^i have had an all-sufficient
reason in the import and purpose of the revelation,
and this reason it may not be very difficult to find.
The combination that we suggest here is important.
For any considerations that will account for the
greater and unquestionable errancy, will fully account
for the less.
Let us then face fairly these imperfections in the
ethical ^here. Objections to the moral lessons of
the Old Testament, sometimes as presenting repulsive
conceptions of God, in what he seemed to approve or
disapprove in the government and conduct of human
life, are actively employed, even more than errors in
science and history, as effective weapons in the most
virulent assaults upon revealed religion.
They are perplexing to many who in spite of them
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ with all their heart.
There are not a few who accept the Old Testament as
containing a divine revelation, who are not able to ac-
count for serious moral blemishes in a book like this,
and reject many of its statements, considering them ab-
solutely incredil)le under the rule of the God of truth
and grace. Who will not say that this option is bet-
ter than the rejection of the whole ?
Such difficulties, pertaining to the substance of re-
60 MORAL INCONGRUITIES.
ligious belief, — the very centre and heart of revelation,
— are harder to deal with than those that relate to its
shell and husk. The inspired books are more vulner-
able here than at all other points. The boldest scoffer
of our times in flaunting " The Mistakes of Moses "
has declared that there are laws in the Mosaic code
that would disgrace any modern statute-book, and his
assertion cannot reasonably be disputed. He refers
for example to punishments that our later civilization
would cry out against as bloody, cruel, and shocking
beyond conception. One example adduced is the
stoning to death of those who perform labor on the
Sabbath, — even of a boy gathering sticks for a fire (Ex.
xxxi. 14, 15 ; Num. xv. 32-36) ; another, the fearful
sentence to be executed upon any one who should en-
tice another to idolatry : " If thy brother, the son of
thy mother, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom,
or thy friend who is as thine own soul, shall entice
thee secretly, saying, ' Let us go and serve other gods,'
etc., .... thou shalt surely kill him, thy hand shall
be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward
the ha ad of the people ; thou shalt stone him with
stones till he die " (Deut. xiii. 6-10).
^ Passing over from legal enactments we find simi-
^^^ /lar use made in the interests of infidelity of the utter
extermination by divine command of the inhabitants
of Canaanitish cities by the Israelites under Joshua,
involving the utter destruction of helpless infancy.
For we read again and again with reference to indi-
vidual cities : " He destroyed them, neither left he
any therein to breathe," thus educating to the highest
Mj^ ^
MORAL INCONGRUITIES. 61
intensity every fierce and savage impulse of whicli
barbarians are capable (Josh, x., xi., xii.).
In this con nectiou the black treachery of Jael comes /jx^^isj^.
to mind, violating the sacred laws of hospitahty ; un- C/vwwAJ!
der promise of protection and safety, alluring the dis-
comfited Sisera to her tent, and in order to dissipate
all apprehension, bringing him generous refreshment,
and then foully murdering him in his sleep. This is
the act that is presently celebrated by Deborah the
prophetess, even emphasizing as praiseworthy the ly-
ing arts by which she accomplished her purposes :
'* He asked water, and she gave him milk;
She brought forth butter in a lordly dish.
She put her hand to the nail.
And her right hand to the workman's hammer;
And with the hammer she smote Sisera,
She smote off his head, when she had pierced and
stricken through his temples."
Of this woman, and with reference to this act,
Deborah, a prophetess, and the judge of Israel, who
had predicted, '' The Lord shall sell Sisera into the
hand of a woman,'' sang a song of triumph (Jud. v. 24) :
" Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Ke-
nite be.
Blessed above women in the tent."
In this connection we only yet refer to untruthful-^ yj^ ^^"
ness, endorsed, and even commanded by God, the un- o •^-i!^
truthfulness of his most eminent servants in the per-
formance of their highest official acts. There is an
instance of this in the history of Samuel, when sent
62 MORAL INCONGRUITIES.
bj God to the house of Jesse in Bethlehem, to anoint
David as king over Israel (1 Sam. xvi. 1-6). Sam-
uel expostulating asks, '^'How can I go? If Saul
hear it, he will kill me.' And the Lokd said, Take a
heifer, and say, ' I am come to sacrifice to the Lord,'
and call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show thee
what thou shalt do ; and thou shalt anoint him whom
I name unto thee." It may be said that he offered
the sacrifice, and therefore his words were true. But
the man must be very dull of apprehension, or anx-
ious at all hazards to maintain that Old Testament
revelation embodies the highest ideal of truth and vir-
tue, who can deny that the words were intended to
deceive Saul with regard to the object of the prophet's
journey. The action is boldly, but appropriately, de-
scribed in the chapter-heading of the Authorized Ver-
sion : " Samuel^ sent ly God, under pretence of a sac-
rifice, anoints David.^''
A similar case may be found in the history of the
prophet Elisha (2 Kings vi. 18-20). The king of
Syria sent a large force to Dothan, where Elisha for
the time abode, intending to capture, and probably to
destroy him. In answer to his prayer the spies who
came to the city to search for him were smitten with
blindness. When they approached him " he said to
them, ' This is not the way, neither is this the city ;
follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom ye
seek.' And it came to pass, when they were come
into Samaria, that Elisha said, ' Lord, open the eyes
of these men that they may see.' And the Lord
opened their eyes and they saw, and they were in Su-
MORAL INCONGRUITIES. 63
n.aria." So his safety was secured by an artifice.
We are not distinctly told that the falsehood uttered
was in this instance directly suggested by the inspiring
Spirit, but the divine power which was essential to its
success, and which might as easily have saved him
without the violation of truth, was invoked and
granted for its confirmation. It must be confessed,
however, that it is all, just as it stands, quite in keep-
ing with the morality of the times, and if the false-
hood had been avoided, a very artistic, realistic, and
effective story would have been quite spoiled.
Those who contend for the absolute inerrancy of
the Bible, vindicating the Old Testament and the
New on the same basis, as made up of precisely simi-
lar material, and making every word as truly divine
and immaculate as if suggested by the mechanical in-
spiration they disclaim, are not aware how many there
are that cannot hold to their theory in the face of such
obstacles, how many outside their own safe camp
are wandering in darkness, repelled from the glorious
grace of the New Testament and a divine Saviour by
the incomprehensible and discordant elements they
find in the mass of writings through which they
must grope, as the only legitimate entrance to the
temple of truth. We are surely warranted in seek-
ing to win them back, in correcting what we deem
mistaken apprehensions of the revelation of God in
the Scriptures.
Let us now take our bearings, in order to ascertain
precisely where we are, as the result of what we have
supposed an advance movement. We are prepared
64 MOEAL INCONGRUITIES.
to find that some will regard it as a retreat before the
enemy. But we still claim that on general principles
the abandonment of an untenable position is not nec-
essarily a weakening of the defence. It may be most
emphatically the opposite.
Have we then, it may be asked, an uncertain
Scripture? Can we be satisfied when we feel the
ground trembling under our feet? What have we
that we can rely upon w^ith implicit confidence in
matters pertaining to the great God and ourselves, and
to the eternal verities ?
If we reply that there is an absolutely trustworthy
element in the complex ma^s, which preponderates
over the human and imperfect, it may reasonably be
asked, how can the divine be distinguished from the
human ? We hope to have a better answer by and
by than we are yet prepared with, or rather, better
than can be appreciated until some other things have
been said. We are working our way toward results,
but not too precipitately.
It is usually assumed that where such questions
arise, reason must decide. Those who ^'have their
senses exercised to discern between good and evil "
need not be often perplexed. But this is liable to
be exclaimed against, as profanely exalting reason
above Scripture. To say that we may go boldly
through the Bible, and accept as divine and authorita-
tive only what commends itself to our own individual
\ judgment as worthy of God, will be pronounced no
I better than the baldest rationalism. It must be
/ granted that it sounds somewhat so. But we shall
MOKAL INCONGRUITIES. 65
see by and by. It may be that mitigating circum-
stances will be discovered, that should modify the
severity of the judgment, or even so change the
quality of the act as utterly to absolve us from the
charge of rationalism.
And what if we shall assert that the divine so perme-
ates the human, or ratlier, that in the purpose of the
ins piring Spirit i t so includes it, that they cannot be
mechanically separated without the mutilation of the
system which it was the purpose of God to produce
for the instruction and guidance of men, in the past,
if not in the present. Do we not read in another \
department of divine administration of the growing
of tares with the wheat, not to be separated till the i
harvest? And do we not see something like it in
the wondrous scheme of divine providence, evil
commingled with the good, the evil suffered and the
good directly originated by the divine will, and the
evil so often overruled for good, and itself the means
of greater good in the future? God will effect the
separation in due time. Meanwhile if we, in the use
of conscience and enlightened reason, distinguish be-
tween them in moral decisions that relate to the
regulation of our own lives, shall we be charged with
rationalism ?
With reference to error other than moral, we may
surely claim with abundant warrant in Scripture that
this revelation was of such excellent and enduring
quality and nature, that its substance and spirit were
not bound down to the letter, and could not be injured
by great variation from the inspired statement, in-
66 MORAL INCONGRUITIES.
volving even some inaccuracies in matters of fact.
We have already referred to our Saviour's indorse-
ment and free use of a translation which no textual
critic would employ in restoring the original readings,
except most cautiously and discriminatively ; a trans-
lation which is often paraphrastic, and in prophecy as
well as in history, widely astray from the inspired
thought ; a translation which pushes forward a hundred
years the age of each antediluvian patriarch at the
birth of his eldest son, and by its plausible perversion
of the Hebrew text in the instance we have mentioned
at the close of Chapter YII., betrayed an apostle into
chronological inaccuracy. The opinion of Prof.
Green as there cited, justifying St. Paul's inaccuracy,
is conclusive, and embodies a principle of immense
value, as applicable to many similar cases : " Precision
of statement was of no co7isequence to his arguntentP
We do not, however, desire to ignore or treat with
contempt the honest fear of those who are thinking
of infidel attack and apologetic controversy, and that
if we concede that the Old Testament is not in errant
to the letter everything precious is sacrificed. They
fear that all is lost if any one of the alleged " mis-
takes of Moses " should be proven, or if it be con-
ceded that any prophet, poet, or historian has used
language which does not accord with the highest
conception of God, or the most perfect results of his
grace in the thoughts and lives of men.
But can any one seriously contend that our confi-
dence in the Bible as a genuine revelation must be
abandoned, even should we be obliged to admit that
MORAL INCONGRUITIES. 67
the memoir of Adam is a myth, the story of Jonah a
drama, or the Book of Daniel the production of a
later age than tradition has assigned to it ?
Yet let it not be supposed that these interrogative
and hypothetical concessions represent the personal
opinion of the writer. They only express the strength
of his conviction that no conclusions that may be
reached with reference to matters so far from the
centre of light and truth can shake the hold of these
Scriptures upon his heart.
IX.
TURNING FOEWAED. — GENERAL CON-
SIDEEATIOKS.
Examples of imperfection in the Scriptures, of the
kind indicated in the foregoing chapters, might be
multiplied indefinitely. But enough doubtless have
been given to arouse in many minds the most serious
apprehension — enough to discredit the whole volume,
unless a broader definition can be found for the
inspiration that produced it than any that has yet
been advanced. It may be questioned by some
whether a reasonable and intelligible definition can
ever be adjusted to pl:kenomena so contrary to pre-
vailing conceptions of the possible contents of an
inspired book.
Especially shocking are its moral blemishes. God
may 'permit evil to be done without launching his
thunderbolts against it. But can \\^ do evil, or sug-
gest it, or approve and reward it? And what cor-
rective can be compounded for the injury that may
result from such disclosures ? To devout readers of
the Bible it has been an ideal of perfectness, in ac-
cordance with whose rulings all human conduct must
be judged, and api)roved or condemned. What shall
they do, if their ideal is shattered before their eyes ?
(68)
TURNING FORWARD. 69
It were better, it may be said, not to have spoken
so plainly, and even under sceptical pressure, not to
admit so much, — better to have left men the comfort
even of a delusion, — than to destroy their confidence
in the consummate immaculateness of the Scriptures.
There must indeed have been a shrinking from the
task, it would probably have been declined as too
painful, if relief from perplexities had not been visible
in the distance — reasons why God should employ /
fallible men as the medium of communication with
their kind, and might suffer their work to contain
such errors as in his judgment would not impair the
ultimate moral purpose and value of the revelation,
but might, on the contrary, greatly enhance its effect-
iveness.
It may not be the way that our poor human sagacity
would have indicated, if we had been permitted to
suggest the best method. But "the foolishness of
God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is
stronger than men." By profounder thought we may
discover this, even in imperfections the mention of
which is vehemently exclaimed against, as only evil
and destructive.
What is inspiration f It is a question of sur-
passing interest,— one that can no longer be evaded.
Even within the few days that have elapsed since the
preceding chapters were written it has become evident
that the investigations that are to determine the
ecclesiastical standing of two distinguished Theo-
logical Professors will turn principally upon their
denial of the inerrancy of the Bible, as contrary to
70 INSPIRATION.
the cardinal doctrine tauglit in the Scriptures and in
the Confession of Faith of the Presbyterian Church,
that " the Scriptures of the Old and N^ew Testaments
are the only infallible rule of faith and practice."
Much as religious controversy is to be deplored, if
even in the heat of controversy a definition might be
forged that shall remove its cause, all will be well.
Too often these ardent discussions open up new dif-
ferences of opinion, excite acrimony, and separate
rather than unite. Let our fervent supplications
ascend that in this instance an issue so disastrous
may be averted.
I It was stated in the second chapter that the theory
of the absolute inerrancy of Scripture is an a priori
conclusion. That is, it does not result from observa-
tion and thought directed to facts, but is derived
inferentially from an antecedent. It is reasoning
from cause to effect, determining from the former
what we shall find in the latter.
This is an excellent way of attaining some proba-
bility, if not certainty, in the absence of known facts.
But it is speculative and very fallacious. A conclu-
sion reached by this process should never be affirmed
positively unless the antecedent is axiomatic, nor
unless furthermore it is sure that no contingency can
possibly have occurred that might invalidate the
inference. Those not accustomed to the technicalities
of logic are not aware of the mental process by which
their conviction upon this subject has been reached,
if not by themselves, by those from whose teaching
they have imbibed it. ^
TURNING FORWARD. 71
In this case the matter to be determined is the
absolute perfeetness of the Scriptures in every part.
The antecedent is inspiration by the Holy Spirit ;
properly, the inspiration of the prophets or other n
mediators of a divine revelation ; inferentially, of their "' J^"^^
writings. But the inference is not simple and direct. ;,^>.v/Cr, i
There are tioo middle terms, either of which may modify j^ZZUC^ ]
the effectiveness of the antecedent, and consequently
the soundness of the conclusion. The Ji?'st is that
the inspiring Spirit is possessed of perfect knowledge
and cannot directly communicate any error. This is
unquestionable. The second is an inference from the
first, namely, that any person or writing inspired by
the Spirit must be absolutely inerrant, whatsoever
obstruction may intervene. It is included in a mere
general proposition, tha t every divi ne activity must
produce absolute perfection, without reference to any
contingencies or intermediate conditions. This is
most decidedly questionable — to be tested and verified.
If any product of creative power can be discovered
that was not, at the first moment of its existence,
perfect as God is perfect, that despatches it. The
a priori process, relied upon for proof of the in-
errancy of Scripture, is vitiated hopelessly. The
premises have failed and the conclusion is a nullity.
We have proposed to reverse the process. The re- \- -i*'
suits of inspiring energy are before us in a divine rev- ' '
elation. We all agree upon that. All theories and (>>^ ^^P^
hypotheses are to be tested by facts, if facts are within ^v^J\^Tr
reach. The revelation, as expressed by human Ian- ^'j^J^-^^^
guage and thought in the Scriptures, exhibits the j)/ie- l\tu^ M-a
72 ^-^^"-^ inspiration: /t^v^^^j— -^,-
.j^^^ riomena oi inspiration. 13y their careful Examination
ki^'t^^ may get some glimpse of the noumena^ or divine
jJ^J U conceptions in which they originate. In other words,
^J;Ju->'^ been accomplished bj immediate and independent
»^ - J>^ activity, or if the human agency employed had been
passive and mechanical, the subject of inspiration
would have been far less difficult.
^coj*^*- \ But it originates in the activity of two personal
factors, whose respective products are not so easily
distinguishable as might be imagined, considering
fiow much they differ. They are combined in the
Same fabric, and so intimately that separation is im-
possible. Yet we know that in individual contrast
divine thought is higher than human thought as the
heavens are higher than the earth.
This is a " mystical union " not mentioned as such
in our theologies. It is just here that our feeble com-
prehension is most thoroughly baffled. We can know
either factor alone only in part, — the life and Spirit
of God, or the life and spirit of man. In these
Scriptures they blend, the higher infusing itself into
the lower for gracious purposes, and with wondrous
adaptation of means to the end. '
These inspired compositions throughout bear the
(86)
THE HUMAN ELEMENT IN REVELATION. 87
human impress and stamp, and tliat of various human
individuaUty. This is partly exhibited in differences
of style. It lies in the use of severally characteristic
forms of words and structure of sentences, — in the
more or less elevated, ornate, or impassioned utterance
of thought, — in comparative clearness or obscurity of
expression, — in differences of tone that indicate differ-
ence in temperament, — in a varying experience as af-
fecting the feelings and character — strains pitched
upon the major key of exhilaration and hope pre-
dominating in one, and those upon the minor key of
depression and discouragement in another.
It is noteworthy here that this human coloring,
taking its precise shade from the individual agency
employed, is even more strongly marked in prophecy,
with its oft-recurring formula, " Thus saith the Lord,"
— as if every word were purely divine, — than in his-
tory, professedly written by men. This would seem
to indicate that the great God not only condescended
to use the language of men in some general way, but,
whenever he employs men as his messengers, must
needs transform himself into an Isaiah, a Jeremiah,
or an Ezekiel, as respects all individual characteristics
of feeling and expression, having no style of his own.
Something of the same kind has been observed, and
commented upon unintelligently by hostile criticism,
in the resemblance between the diction and style of
the Apostle John, and that of our Saviour in the dis-
courses recorded in the last of the Gospels.
The Scriptural idea of inspiration, then, even in its
higher flights, admits of the divine thought being cast
f
88 THE HUMAN ELEMENT
into any human mould that may be selected, and bear-
ing its impress so completely that one judging by the
exterior form might pronounce it thoroughly human,
yet claiming to be so divine as to be introduced by a
'' Thus saith the Lord."
If we turn to the historical Books, it might seem
to superficial thought that only human observation,
sagacity, and faithfulness were required, or, if inspira-
tion is implied at all, that its oflSce was little less than
absolutely passive, nearly a sinecure. The earlier
treatises on inspiration make a distinction between the
inspiration of suggestion, and that of mere superin-
tendence ; the latter finding its place in historic de-
tail, its province confined to guarding against acci-
dental oversight. If the agents w^eie thoroughly
qualified long histories might have been prepared
without need of the active aid or interference of the
superior power.
This might be true of these histories, if correctness
were the only requisite to the fulfillment of the
divine purpose in their preparation.
But remembering what they contain, in its highest
significance and value — the story of God's gracious
achievements, guidance, and general providential ac-
tivity in directing all human affairs; remembering
what was stated in describing Biblical Theology, that
there is a revelation of the living God in the facts
here recorded, no less than in didactic or prophetic
utterances, and that these must be related, if they are
to be effective for good, not as dry-as-dust chronicles,
principally of value to the professional antiquarian or
IN REVELATION. 89
historian, but iii such a waj' as to make an impression
upon the hearts of all readers, in such a way that the
wisdom of God in providential appointments and
deliverances may be duly appreciated, — remember-
ing all this, how necessary it is that all the higher
faculties of the narrator should be so wrought upon
as to do their very best work, every human power
that might contribute to its completeness and effective-
ness aroused to its highest capacity by the divine
Spirit, who penetrates the deepest recesses of the
heart, and turns it whithersoever he will.
It is to this that we are indebted for the charm of
many of the beautiful and impressive Old Testament
stories. It is owing to this that our children never |
become weary of hearing them, and their lessons of
faith, obedience, and courage, on the part of men, and
of wisdom, power, love, and truth, in God, sink into
the depths of their hearts and can never be forgotten.
They find here exquisite tales of the personal rela-
tions of men in weakness, sore peril, and distress, with
the great God who rules in omnipotence in the heavens
and in the earth — tales of his tender care and sym-
pathy with their sufferings and dangers.
They read of little Samuel responding to the call of
God as he lay by night on his tiny couch in the
temple — of the lad Joseph imprisoned in a cave, and
sold by his heartless brothers to Ishmaelites of the
desert — of baby Moses wailing in the bulrushes — of
Daniel in the lion's den, and of a score of others.
A mother's lips may translate them into language
suited to the age of her eager listeners. Her version
90 THE HUMAN ELEMENT
may not be exact to the letter. But do not rebuke her
inaccuracies, as if verbal precision were all-important.
She and their heavenly Father know them better
than we — what will iix their attention — and w^hat they
can bear. The inspiring Spirit could scarcely improve
upon the inspiration of a mother's heart, or at least,
he condescends to use it for his own gracious purpose.
There is no danger of her spoiling the story, or marring
its effect, by her apparent perversion. The blessed
substance is there, and may be exhibited with many
delicate and delightful departures and interludes, like
the variations of a skillful composer upon some of our
dear old tunes, each adding a fresh charm to the
original melody.
Here we see what gave their prevailing historic
form to these early products of inspiration. They are
addressed through the intellect to a part of the nature
more susceptible to impression, and influential over
the life, especially in those not trained to abstract
thought, who constitute the great bulk of mankind.
They cannot understand a philosophy, however simply
it may be stated and explained. But exhibit it dra-
matically in the incidents of personal life, and they fol-
low you with the deepest interest ; not an item is lost.
They drink it in eagerly and its moral impressions
abide. Here lies the power of graphic narrative,
depicting stirring scenes in individual existence, of
prophetic utterances as woven into the history of men,
and of inspired personal prayer and communion with
God, in connection with personal danger and deliv-
erance.
IN REVELATION. 91
Thus even human history may be luminous with
divine wisdom, truth, and love. Perchance poor, silly
men may be convinced by such lessons that the
everlasting God will become their friend, if they
crave his friendship. If they call in their hour of
need, he will hear them as he heard others before
them. These lessons come to them most effectively
through men of like passions with themselves, human
hearts and human lips relating a personal experience
of the mercy and faithfulness of God.
It might be feared, however, that any advantage in
moral impression through the employment of men as
mediators of the revelation, might be more than
counterbalanced by resulting impairment, that the
glorious light of divine revelation would surely be
darkened through the imperfect transmission of its
rays. Let us have, it might be said, God's own pre-
cise words, without human intellection intervening.
Then we shall know that we have truth, and nothing
but the exact truth.
This is very plausible, but God knows better than
we. Our a priori judgment is a delusion, and in con-
flict with fact. What if it be granted as fairly '
proven that some slight impairment in the exterior
form has occurred, and that this was permitted by
God, and wrought into his plan as thereby more
effective for his purpose \
Here Biblical Theology adv^ances to our aid, with
its careful scrutiny, in accordance with its principle
and methods as already described. It takes the
Scriptures apart, and carefully observing the historic
92 THE HUMAN ELEMENT
order, so far as it can be approximately ascertained
by the preliminary discipline, it judges each prin-
cipal portion, both in general scope and in detail,
by its own specific period and its manifest par-
pose as then to be accomplished, and not by the ad-
vanced illumination and needs of our own more fa-
vored time. It enables us to understand how a gen-
uine revelation of God may be somewhat impaired,
its images confused, discolored and distorted, bypass-
ing through an imperfect medium, not transparent,
but feebly translucent ; yet the impairment graciously
permitted, because the divine thought was thus better
adapted to the still lower intellectual and spiritual ap-
prehension it was intended to reach.
The prophet is a man, not over- wise, and only par-
tially receptive to divine truth ; and the people to
whom he is sent are human, and much more ignorant
than he. The Deity as discerned through this narrow
human capacity, the higher as well as the lower, the
prophet and the people alike, is necessarily in some
degree humanized, anthropomorphic, brought down
to man's native standard of thought, feeling, and ac-
tion. The objective illumination was perfect. The
prophet took in for the people what he could, and
could give them no more than he had. As an exhibi-
tion of the God of glory, it was poor, feeble, and un-
worthy. Nevertheless, it was much nearer the true
conception, than could have been possible, but for the
revelation.
Through the inspiration came light, at first glim-
mering faintly through the darkness ; yet true light,
IN REVELATION. 93
for darkness cannot emit even the faintest glimmer.
It is like the omnipotent touching of tlie blind man's
eyes, as related in the Gospels. He saw very obscurely,
but he actually saw. His vision was far from perfect
at first. It was very poor. The objects before it
were uncertain in outline, color, and movement, and
blurred in all minor details. But notwithstanding, it
was true vision, and not optical illusion. It conveyed
some correct apprehension to the brain. It was men
that were seen, not grotesque monsters ; as ti^ees^ not
as reptiles prone to the earth ; walking^ not crawling.
So in the Old Testament. The divine impress is
upon it all. It is the light shining in darkness, — not
our midday sunlight, but relatively bright and pure,
suggesting unlimited possibilities of increase, — cast
athwart the opacity and moral abomination of hea-
thendom. Even that degraded heathendom must re-
ceive from it some glimpse of a higher type of divin-
ity than it had ever before recognized — a living God,
a spiritual God, a personal God, a holy God ; one that
can see, hear, speak, promise, threaten, reward, pun-
ish, projecting himself into the life and history of
men, so far as they were capable of apprehending
him.
He comes in the person of his accredited messen-
ger into the presence of a high earthly mightiness, —
one that had never trembled at the presence of man,
that knows no loftier worship than that of birds, and
beasts, and creeping things, or of the lifeless forces of
nature. It is the great Jehovah who speaks, but
through human lips, and in terms adapted to human
94 THE HUMAN ELEMENT
thought : " Israel is my son, even my first-born, and
I have said unto thee, ' Let my son go that he may
serve me,' and thou hast refused to let him go. Be-
hold, I will slay thy son, even thy first-born." The
God that so speaks is no scarahaeus of Egyptian
mythology, and the human consciousness of such
times could not have originated him. The message
bears his impress and superscription — divine upon
its face — and Pharaoh quails before it, and yields to
a power greater than his own.
In some way — we need not know how — God thrusts^
forth into our murky atmosphere a pure thought con-
cerning himself, to be caught up and apprehended by
human faculties according to their condition and ca-
pacity. The form which it exhibits on these historic
pages is principally the result of human brainwork,
the best possible at the time. The delineation is full
of life and power, but to the highest intelligence, as
h educated by later revelation, while often charming and
/, most attractive, it is sometimes repellent, or even ut-
li terly intolerable.
V Is it possible to find relief in the preceding para-
graph from the thought of the atrocities practised in
taking possession of Canaan, as referred to in a former
chapter ? All the inhabitants of many populous cities
were ruthlessly slain, and it is stated that God com-
manded their utter extermination. Imagine Joshua
with the armies of Israel under his control, charged
with an imperative divine commission to put an end
to the idolatry of the land throughout all its borders,
^nd to the shameful practices that defiled it as in the
IN REVELATION. ^ 95
days of Sodom. The commission may not have been
m words, but in an impulse which he recognized by
infallible signs as not emanating from his own will,
but from the will of God. Inspired by the most ex-
alted zeal for tlie honor of Jehovah, but with sensi-
bilities deadened by the cruel usages of the warfare of
his time, may he not have f elt him self authorized and
impelled by the Holy Spirit to consume the accursed
race, root and branch ? Confusing his own savage in-
stincts with the promptings of the true inspiration— —-j
within li ijxL^ he asserted with perfect sincerity a divine Jy/JiX\
warrant and command.
It is a conjecture and cannot be verified. But it
may lie upon the borders of possible deliverance from
the oppression we feel when we read in the Bible de-
scriptions so contrary to the teachings of our Saviour, ^.^
— that an impulse in its origin divine and holy may ^M*^/^
undergo a fearful change in its transition to consum- ^ jU f^
mated acts. The meteorolite, a fragment detached t^^^j.
from a much larger mass in its revolution around the ^y?^,, 7
sun, moves with inconceivable swiftness and cleaves
ether or space, invisible and noiseless. But coming
within the sphere of the earth's attraction and atmos-.
phere, it burns with fierce heat, and bursts asunder' ^
with terrific force, and with destruction to everythin^i^'^ .^^
in its way. So a pure and righteous emotion of ha- j >^
tred to moral perversity breathed into the heart of a-, V. ^^^
man may become fierce, cruel, and implacable. \sh€vJ<^
We need not be disturbed if we do not find in the /w ia/K»m^
earliest inspiration the spirit and the deeds that we '^'^^^^^-W^
enjoy in this later time, as walking in the light of Jk!^^^^
^-'<^^0^ \^ta-»jS* a^*t«.*^^C-v^ y^^^ Ot'. kw4^i/^
96 THE HUMAN ELEMENT IN EEVELATION.
divine love incarnate in our Saviour, witli the advan-
tage it gives us in all right conception of things human
and divine. If we should be transported from our
present illumination into that past, having what God
gave to the men of the time, and no more, the con-
trast would overwhelm us, and we should be of all
men the most miserable.
But again, let us not be disturbed. Whatsoever we
have through divine grace, we shall have and hold
forever, with as much more as the God of revelation
will give us. There is no retrograde evolution to be
apprehended, no going back from the advanced day-
dawn to the midnight shimmer of the stars, — much
less to the primeval darkness of the chaotic world.
No, surely not, with a single proviso, — unless in
moral perversity we make choice of the evil. There
is a sad power in will, even in our poor human will —
a power of retrocession, of shutting off from our
vision what we do not wish to behold.
But barring that, we are all right, and on the
ascending grade, — from faith to faith, from strength
to strength, from light to light, from life to life,
from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the
Lord.
XII.
REVELATION KEEPING PACE WITH
DEVELOPMENT.
While we are yet thinking of God as revealing
himself to men, we must not leave unconsidered the
co-ordinate and proportional advance, as in living
unison, of the principle and its product, of the cause
and the effect. The divine manifestation and the
human apprehension move forward together toward a
goal in the future, — the perfected Christ of the Gos-
pels, reproduced in the lives of men.
By a persistence of the original energy a historic
revelation increases in clearness and efficiency, and
this with distinct reference to the growth of its recip-
ients in knowledge and grace, growth ever stimulating
growth.
How like this is to the advance, from stage to stage,
and from form to form, in the sphere of nature since
the first creative act ! What name shall we give to
the principle or law that connects all phenomena,
spiritual and physical, with other preceding phenomena
in which they apparently, and in some respects really,
originate, — although not by any causation that operates
independently of the immediate, immanent presence
and pressure of the divine will ? Thus carefully
(97)
98 REVELATION KEEPING PACE
guarded, there is no better term than that which
modern science has chosen, and might have caught up
from the creative account in Genesis, with its hirths
or generations of successive typical forms, as ex-
pressed by a familiar Hebrew word, which always
ivci^WQ^ parentage. The term evolution^ although less
graphic than the Hebrew conception 5^>^A, describes
admirably the principle manifested, not only in the
material universe, but in God's self-revelation, in all
that addresses itself to the mind, as including all
intellective and reasoning faculties, in the natural
sphere ; and also to the heart, the conscience, the will,
the affections, and all organs of a highly spiritual
nature, in the moral sphere.
The writer of these pages is a believer, and ever
more intelligently and thoroughly a believer, in a
divine principle of evolution. He sees it in the wide
and varied outspread of nature, and in all the activi-
ties of natural law. For what is natural law, but the
human conception of divine and orderly action ? He
sees it, not only in the rocks, with their fossil remains
of vegetable and animal life, but in language, in his-
tory, in science, in religion — in things in the heavens
and things in the earth — above, beneath, around,
everywhere — and so, with the rest, in the revelation
of God in the Bible.
It is Herbert Spencer's idea — a magnificent gener-
alization. As expressed by the philosopher it is
lamentably deficient, in failing to recognize distinctly
the omnipotent, personal God immanent in nature, as
its animating and impelling energy. With this in-
WITH HUMAN DEV^ELOPMENT. 99
dispensable correction, we accept it in principle, with
whatever variation in details.
The living personal God is the centre and source of
all Hfe, of all organic development, of all advance to
more perfect modes of existence, processes, and func-
tions. Nothing is out of his reach and grasp, nothing
too great or too insignificant for the exercise of his
power. The infinite Spirit in his wise and loving
activities is behind the scene. He that was, and is, and
shall be — o ifrj^o/ieuo^, the coming one — is ever coming
out more manifestly from the depths of his infinite
nature, infusing himself into, and impressing himself
upon, everything that through his will exists. He
ever progressively and more distinctly unfolds him-
self before those who have eyes to see ; and so is ever
educating their eyes to see more clearly whatever, as
his scheme develops, he may yet have to show them.
In this moving, changeful exposition, the grand
panorama of all that may be known among men, God,
working from within outwardly, is the Exhibitor,
wisely adapting the exposition in its breadth and con-
tents to the ever-growing capacity to which it is ad-
dressed. Man, the spectator, as well as, in his gener-
ations, a principal component in the exhibition, ever
beholding more appreciatively, and becoming more
deeply interested in the unceasing progression, onward
and still onward.
As a consequence, through an inner divine impetus
and illumination — this is psychical evolution, one
grade higher in the divine process — he invents new
appliances, instruments, scientific formulae, and inde-
100 REVELATION KEEPING PACE
scribable methods for observing more accurately, more
profomidly, deeper down, farther awaj in time and
space, in the past and in the future. He harnesses in
universal nature to bear triumphantly forward the
royal chariot of knowledge and truth.
Here come in steam, electricity, and what not, — new
discoveries or developments of natural law. All ele-
ments and forces are utiHzed progressively and expan-
sively in subservience to the growth of humanity in
wisdom.
Thus all human capacities, — although many of the
most efficient workers have not the slightest glimmer-
ing of it, perhaps professedly and boastfully agnostic, —
are evolving, illustrating, and so magnifying and
glorifying God more perfectly. They will understand
better hereafter the magnificent proportions and sig-
nificance of the work in which they have been en-
gaged. Everything in its time.
It is a pleasant thought that many an atheist is a
theist in embryo. He calls himself an evolutionist
and agnostic. Earnestly studying the great volume of
nature, — and most intelligently in his chosen sphere,
even if blindly as respects what is above him, — he is
working toward the light. He will discover the grand
secret by and by, an evolutionist still, but an agnostic
no longer.
Yet even a thoughtful child, as he beholds how the
world is moving on, may give glory to God. There
go the ships, packets and clippers of beautiful mould,
flying upon the wings of the wind, coming like a
cloud, and like doves to their lattices, from Tarsus and
WITH HUMAN DEVELOPMENT. lot
the isles afar off. Then, the steamers ; first, for tlie
river, bringing the products of toil from villages and
farms to some seaport ; next, for the great ocean,
moving swiftly and majestically with their enormous
contents, distributing people and wealth in every part
of the globe. Then, we have railways spanning
broad continents, with telegraphs, telephones, electric
illumination and electric motors, inventions of every
sort; immeasurable capacity, ever pushing forward,
forward — who can realize what triumphs may be cele-
brated at the same rate of advance within the next
little century, though but a tiny fragment of the vast
eternity beyond ?
We shall speak more of this further on, in its bear-
ing upon revelation. We only care now to confirm the
principle already asserted, that every divine activity
connected with men and their advancement in wisdom
and righteousness, and their attainment of ultimate
blessedness in completed fellowship with God, is neces-
sarily progressive.
We shall delight in the opportunity, and it will
come in due time, of saying something about the per-
sonality of God, which modern philosophy denies, as
necessarily limiting an infinite nature, and therefore
an impossible conception ; and on the further ques-
tion, how far evolution in the domain of spirit, reason,
and will, as the substances upon which it operates,
corresponds with physical evolution, and how far we
may claim for it in the relations of Spirit with spirit,
of Mind wHtli mind, of Person with person, and of Will
with will — the Infinite with the finite — a hiorher and
102 REVELATION KEEPING PACE.
freer activity than that of natural law in a material
system, with special divine adaptations to changeful
moral conditions and needs.
It may appear that the accomplished agnostic,
whether scientist, philosopher, or both, is true to his
name — that he does not know all about the world of
thought to which we are led by questions like these.
Let him not philosophize here. By his own definition
his sphere of knowledge is limited to conditions in-
finitely lower. " I^e sutor ultra crepidam,''^
XIII.
THE EEYELATION AS ADDRESSED TO
MEK
In the order of thought suggested in the ninth
chapter, we are next to consider the nature and
needs of those to whom the revelation is addressed, as
partially determinative of its principal characteristics.
A flood of light may be thrown upon the inspira-
tion that has given us such a Bible as we have, in its
marvellous adaptation to specific ends, if we in-
quire whether there is anything in men, whether
latent or developed, that is appreciatively responsive
to this divine condescension, or capable of becoming
so. Otherwise, it is casting pearls before swine.
The question is not sufficiently answered by a ref-
erence to intelligence and reason. For these faculties,
exalted as they are, cannot apprehend the higher re-
alities exhibited in this Holy Book, except under a
broader definition than is usually attached to them.
With whatever undeveloped capacity for such knowl-
edge our nature was originally endowed, it is now dor-
mant and inoperative.
What if we put together several sentences from the
New Testament that bear upon the question. Take
one from our Saviour's Sermon on the Mount : " If
(103)
J 04 THE REVELATION
thine eye be evil, tliy whole body shall be full of
darkness ; if then the light that is in thee be dark-
ness, how great is that darkness." Another is from
the Gospel of John : " In him was life, and the life
was the light of men. And the light shineth in
darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not."
A third is from the pen of the apostle to the Gen-
tiles : " For the natural (Gr. psychical) man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he
know them, because they are spiritually (Gr. jpneu-
matically^ i.e., through thepneuma) discerned."
Lest it should seem to some readers that these cita-
tions are misconceived in the interests of a too rigid
orthodoxy, something may be added from the un-
orthodox pen of a leading English Unitarian. He has
recently been branded a rationaHst. But surely in
the following language he assigns the right place to
the intellect, the pure reason, apart from the moral
sensibilities. It would be impossible to make selec-
tions more satisfactory from the most orthodox theo-
logian : " The intellect alone, like the telescope waiting
for an observer, is quite blind to the celestial things
above it, — a dead mechanism dipped in night, — ready
to serve as the dioptric glass, spreading the images of
light from the Infinite upon the tender and living
retina of the conscience." *
Every word of this further quotation should be
carefully noted. It occurs just after the above :
" In the conscience and moral affections we have our
* Prof. James Martineau's "Studies of Christianity," p. 187.
AS ADDRESSED TO MEN. 105
only revealers of God. Let it be understood that I
me.in, our only internal revealers of him ; the only
faculty of our being capable of furnishing us with
the idea and belief of him, with any perception of
his character, and allegiance to his will. AVe mean
to state that without this faculty, the bare intellect,
the mere scientific and reasoning power, could make
no way toward the knowledge of divine realities,
could never, by any system of helps whatsoever, be
trained or guided into this knowledge, any more than
in the absence of the proper sense the ear of the
blind could be taught to see ; and that nature, life,
history, miracle, notwithstanding their most sedulous
discipline, would leave us utterly in the dark about
religion, except as they addressed themselves to our
consciousness of what is holy, just, beautiful, and
great.
" But we do 7iot mean that the moral sense can stand
alone, dispense with all outward instruction, and sup-
ply a man with a natural religion ready made. Nor
do we mean that the every-day experience, and the
ordinary providence of God, are enough, without
special revelation, to lead us to heavenly truth.
" And we are therefore prepared to advance another
step, and to say, that while we regard conscience as
the only imoard revealer, we have faith in Christ,
as his perfect and transcendent outward revelation. '^^
Let these last words be especially remarked. This
so-called rationalist leads us directly to the historic
Christ— the Christ orHie Gospels— as the ultiniate
source of authority in religion. He exalts him as
106 THE REVELATION
supreme Lord over every divinely imparted faculty
in our nature, the moral and spiritual, as well as the
simply intellectual, however perfect their development
and culture. He makes him the illuminator of con-
science, without whose revelation of God its light is
comparatively darkness.
Martineau is the most metaphysical of religionists.
His metaphysics have controlled his modes of thought
and tinctured his theology. This appears in his denial
of the proper Deity of Christ, and at many other
points. This is a great pity, but not personally fatal.
Disordered metaphysics are deplorable, but will not
exclude him from the kingdom of heaven. For in
his heart of hearts he adores Christ Sis^'^the most
perfect and transcendent outward revelation of God^'^
and the voice of Christ, as it addresses him from the
written revelation of the Bible, commands his deepest
homage as the voice of God, the supreme authority
to which every faculty of his nature lovingly and
trustfully submits.
It is evident from the preceding extracts that Pro-
fessor Martineau's psychology corresponds with that
of the Bible. Its facts are of immense importance in
our search. It is enough for the present that this
psychology recognizes in man, not only a rational, in-
tellective principle, called soul^ but a sjpirit nature of
higher function and capacities, able to hold converse
with God.
The presence of these elements in his being is rec-
ognized in the Biblical account of the creation, espe-
cially in his inspiration by the divine breath, which
AS ADDRESSED TO MEN. 107
distinguislied Adam from other living creatm*es upon
tlie earth. Yet it is easy to fall into the error of at-
tributing high perfection to the divine principle that n
exalted him, and consequently a higher intelligence |'sk^ ' *
and culture to his condition, than is anywhere de- i u-U-—-
scribed in the Bible. It is the impression conveyed ' ^>f
by most statements upon the subject in our Confes-
sions and theological systems.
Deistical writers have used this assumption in de-
crying the BibHcal account, ever since Lord Kames
took the lead more than a century ago in his
" Sketches of the History of Man." But especially
since the principle of evolution has gained scientific .
establishment, it is claimed boldly that man's fall from
the highest perfection in Adam, supposed to be taught
in the Scriptures, reverses the true fact.
The " New Theology," sometimes called Progress-
ive Theology, that has recently loomed up, proclaims
the story of Adam a raytli^ to be classed with the
vague and preposterous traditions that are found in
the prehistoric literature of various nations of antiq-
uity. The grounds of this judgment seem to lie
partly in a dislike to the doctrine of the imputation
of Adam's sin to his posterity, especially in the arbi- •
trary nominalistic conception which some eminent
dogmaticians find in the Westminster Catechism, and
partly, or even more, in the apparent iinpossibility of
reconciling the account in Genesis with an evolution
in man, and in everything pertaining to his sphere of
being, of an ascent from lower to higher, from germi- 1
nal to mature, from savagery to civilization, presum-
108 THE REVELATION
ablj to end in perfection, but beginning with the life
of the beast.
As for the former of these reasons for disparaging
Adam, we may retain our belief that he is a veritable
historic personage, yet easily free ourselves from all
metaphysical entanglements connected with the impu- '- '
tation of his sin, by statements that would be out of
place here.
With reference to evolution, while we need Adam
as embodying the race-idea so important in Biblical
Theology, we also need him — the very Adam de-
scribed in Genesis — as the beginning of evolution
in man in his marvellous history under the divine
formative energy, which it is rightly claimed,
I whether by infidel or progressive Christian, began very
flow.
I' The idea of a highly developed perfection in Adam-
I is an assumption not warranted by the record. It has
been singularly misread. We may not like to call
him a savage, but certainly he was not civilized.
His life must have been the most primitive and sim- )
plest imaginable. What distinguished him from the
brutes around was some quality, attribute, or function
called likeness to God, and produced by the divine
breath animating the material structure.
The basis of this divine likeness, like the canvas of
the painter or the marble on which the sculptor exe-
cutes his beautiful conceptions, is the self-conscious
personal intelligence called soxil, — of which we have
already spoken as finding its appropriate sphere in
material things, — in living union with the higher moral
^i . AS ADDRESSED TO MEN. 109 .
A>^»o^-v. : S^/^/ V c^on ^ ^
capacity called spirit, which absorbs and reflects the
beauty of God's moral perfections.
A grand nature truly, if it may ever attain its
growth. No doubt under favorable conditions it
might have been rapidly developed, both in soul and
spirit--or more intelligibly to many persons, and with
sufficient accuracy, both in mind and heart — into a
glorious perfection.
But at first the higher principle was a mere breath,
an impartation of divine life, but in weakness and not
in power. One not aware of its exalted origin and
immortal nature might suppose it would immediately
expire, like a breath of man. Everything indicates
j that it was the feeblest conceivable entity, germinal
and infantile. It was of so delicate quality that any ^
willing contact with sin must blight it, its beauty and
glory must disappear, and man immediately becomes
a savage, probably of lower order than anything that
we know by that name in this advanced stage of the
world's history.
Adam was remarkable, not so much for what he
I was, as for what was possible to his nature ; and he
i transmitted to the race all the rudimentary undevel-
' oped potencies of that nature, embryonic, blighted,
and ineffective, except by a fresh infusion of spiritual
life and vigor from the original source. Nevertheless,
the bestowinent was most precious as distinguishing
him from the beast, and securing to him a grand fu-
ture whenever God's time shall come.
Let us not think of this story as a myth. It is a
heathenish word that classes this invaluable Scripture
110 THE REVELATION
account with " profane and old wives' fables " (Gr.
myths) in the only New Testament passages in which
I myths are mentioned.* We must know this Adam,
I whether inspired parable, or literal historic fact, if we
would know ourselves — where we stand and what we
may hope for — and achieve a glorious future through
the principles that underlie this realistic narrative.
If ever there was a radiant inspiration elsewhere
than in the Lord's Anointed, who in important re-
spects was the counterpart of the Adam of Eden, it is
here. It may be mentioned that in the progressive the-
ology of the writer's maturing life, the account of
the creation and fall of Adam, referred to so slight-
ingly by later progressives, has been an illumination
that sheds its lustre down the whole history of re-
, demption. It shows what man originally was, at least
germinally and potentially, what he became through
the blight of separation from God, and what must be
done for him by divine grace, if he is ever to attain
' his full stature.
Personally we are content to receive the description
as a detail of literal transactions. Yet we do not care
to press it in extreme literalness upon others. Let
" the dust " of which Adam was made, stand for any
crude, inorganic matter, from which, — directly or in-
directly, whether through a long series of animal trans-
formations beginning at the lowest, or by an immedi-
ate creative act, — his body was produced.
^K i. Here, for aught we know to the contrary, may be-
^^ * 1 Tim. i. 4; 1 Tim. iv. 7, 3 Tim. iv. 4; Tit. i. 14; 2 Pet. i. 16.
AS ADDRESSED TO MEN. m
long '* the men of the drift," the " cave-dwellers," and
their like, the slayers of the mammoth and the masto-
don and other monstrosities of the primeval world, the
' missing link ' between the race of Adam and all
lower animal types, men in structure and in modes of
activity and life, but without the divine breath, and
hence without spiritual perception, moral responsibil-
ity, or immortal existence, and swept away by con-
vulsions in the frame of nature. There is wide room
for unrecorded development in the sentence that de-
scribes the creation of our progenitor. Compression
in time, with description of long processes as moment-
ary, is characteristic of the whole narrative.
As for other items in the account, let " the hreath
of life^^ as breathed into him by the Creator, be ad-
mitted an anthropomorphism, the most expressive
exponent and symbol of the highest life as divinely
imparted. It surely can be nothing more, and nothing
less. Let the prohibitive ordinance, " Thou shall not
eat of it^'' represent tropically some very simple and
reasonable restraint upon sensual appetite by which
the nature could be tested and strengthened, and as-
sume for ^Hhe serpenV any supposable seductive
agency from without.
What myth of any nation presents features of
ethical probability to be compared with this \ If one
choose to think of it as idealized fact, of the nature of
parable, allegory, or symbolic statement, as essential
history in a figurative dress, as object-teaching in
which great ethical realities are exhibited in imagina-
tive form, it is all we have occasion for. It is a story
112 THE REVELATION
surcharged and redolent with the highest inspiration.
We have very Httle respect for the sagacity that can
see in it only a myth, in a line with tlie confused,
monstrous, and unmeaning legends of heathenism.
But now, in connection with the revelation of truth
relating to the higher life, especially as embracing a
more perfect knowledge of God, profound problems
are reaching the surface ; what was hidden in darkness
comes up from unfathomable depths. We are learn-
ing why all revelation of the deep things of God was
normally gradual, progressive, shining more and more
to the full-orbed noonday. God here, as everywhere,
works from within in steadfast advance toward an
ideal, not only in the outer world, but in man, his
living image. It all leads to a bright outshining in
the far-away future.
f' We shall claim more distinctly by and by, that the
production of a perfect MiTnanity, at first in an in-
dividual, and afterward through him in the race — the
\ '^<.i development of the latent potencies in Adam, in spite
^Ltu/,*A#|J of all opposition of evil from whatever source, — is the
^^**^^y ruling purpose of the whole revelation, and gives
uMxixiA^^ , character and method to the inspiration that produced
it. Let this be remembered. It is worthy to be
amplified in its place.
Man was made by God of " the dust of the earth,"
however remotely in relation to the crowning act, and
^ ^ ^'' was endowed as we have seen with a nobler life than
"*"* any upon the earth before him, but he was made to
grow. Not only the individual man Adam, as the
type generic of every individual man, but the nature
AS ADDRESSED TO MEN. 113
as the concrete product of an expansive living force
within, was made to grow.
Eveu the higher principle within him was originally lyL/^ ^"^^
evolved — tlirough evolution of superior sort to that of f; ^'^ ' '"■'
things physical and material, and of natural law — a
living person from a living personal God. And the ^■^'■^'^^***^^
inner connection between the originating and the
originated nature, — the link of life, and grow^th, and
power, — has never been severed. It holds \vithin it
the principle of immortality, of moral purity, and of
all high excellence, if by any means in the power of
God its normal condition can be restored.
There was a loss, a fall, a sad deterioration, prob- , ^ao^ y-^"^
ably almost immediate, and it resulted in injury ap- / oj>Xa
parently irreparable. The higher principle, the moral '^^ lu-
faculty, the capacity for fellowship with God, which • '
it seemed must secure to him rapid progress and com-
plete development, was miserably blighted. Progress • >. ~
in the higher direction was arrested, and unless infinite r*-*^^ •
wisdom should exhibit some new method, arrested for
all time. — '
It is in accordance with all analogies in moral reno-
vation by fresh communication of truth, that if man
is thus restored, the renovating truth must first be
grasped, at least in the signification of the language
in which it is conveyed, by his intellectual and ra-
tional faculties, as a medium of communication with
the inner and higher life. Each principal element in
his supra-bestial organism has its own capacity for
growth, and under divine tuition will be cared for in
accordance with its nature and laws. The spiritual,
A/f-
114 THE REVELATION.
or more divine of the two, has not become extinct.
Kew life from the original source may and shall be
infused.
^(J^^ ^ But the growth of soul, the exterior, and of spirit,
J.,y\\ the interior capacity for receiving fresh truth, must
ordinarily be proportional and symmetrical. As it was
said by ancient scientists, " Nature abhors a vacuum,"
we Theists may say more correctly, God abhors the
abnormal and unshapely.
' What we call, speaking humanly, a law of nature,
describes the unfettered and intelligent course of in-
finite wisdom — the soul and spirit of creation, and as
well, of the providential government of the world, in-
cluding its moral transformation. One of the so-
called laws secures the parallel and co-ordinate devel-
opment of the several capacities of the complex hu-
manity, which he will not abandon.
We need these statements here in laying down first
principles on which all progress in knowledge and
goodness must depend, in direct connection with the
creation of the first man. We shall need them more
as we advance, and shall refer to them again.
Q^
XIY.
HOPE LONG DEFEREED.
Are we not approaching in the foregoing statement ""^^^^.r^
the probable explanation of the long delay in the pro- Cvr<«^
duction upon the earth of the ideally perfect man, the <^"i /^^'^^^
see^d^f the woman and the Son of God? "^ rv V*^
There has been much wondering over the y^^ jyZTC-^^i
tracted postponement of God's gracious purpose to- { If^
ward the world in the final and perfect revelation. ^^ /v^ tU
Everything moved so slowly. Generations, centuries, ^^^^ ^2lf
decades of centuries passed away, kingdoms rose and ' *
fell, religions and philosophies appeared, culminated, "^^
and collapsed, yet the promise still waited. ^^^r^
We are told that "the fulness of time" must first i y *
come. Some indispensable but undefined preparation ;
must be completed. Meanwhile, how frequently the
entire population of the earth was changed. Myriads
of millions passed off into eternity without the knowl-
edge of the true God or the hope of immortality.
The thought is painful beyond conception — one
under which nothing but the strongest confidence in
the almighty, alUvise, and all-merciful rule of a di-
vine will can steady our reeling souls — that so many
generations had to perish in darkness. It could not
have been an arbitrary exhibition of sovereignty on
(115)
116 HOPE LONG DEFERRED.
the part of the great Supreme. Why could not the
promised deliverer, the " Hope of Israel," have ap-
peared at the farthest a century or two after man's
ruin, revealing the highest heavenly truth that greets
our hearts in the New Testament, and bringing life
and immortality to light ?
The best work on progressive revelation, especially
in its bearing upon the point now under consideration,
is Canon Mozley's " Ruling Ideas in Early Ages, and
their Relation to Old Testament Faith." We give
the scope of the book with great freedom in the fol-
lowing sentences, leaving it for subsequent considera-
tion to what extent and in what way, if at all, its lead-
ing thought needs to be modified or supplemented in
its relation to New Testament revelation and faith :
A religion from God, embodying the highest concep-
tions, and opening up before men a glorious future of
knowledge, purity, love, and blessedness in divine fel-
lowship, must be revealed progressively^ If it had
been at once proclaimed in its higher and purer form,
men in their moral darkness and degradation could
not have received it. It must come to them through
their own moral atmosphere, and modified by its ob-
structions, misapprehensions, and confusion on all
ethical questions. It could only be apprehended
gradually, as accommodated to the prepossessions
which must for an indefinite time shut out the per-
fected and absolute truth and right. So modified,
it might by degrees effect a moral transformation,
rectify unworthy conceptions of God, elevate the
ethical standard, and lift the race to a higher plane.
HOPE LONG DEFERRED. 117
From this vantage ground a fresh revelation of the
justice, holiness, and love of God as crystallized in a
perfect man, the representative head of redeemed hu-
manity, could be apprehended, appreciated, embraced,
and absorbed, and thus the whole mass should be
changed into the image and likeness of God in all
moral perfections.
The view contemplates the certainty in an earlier
revelation of an admixture of the true and the false,
the divine conception tarnished or discolored by the
imperfect medium through which it must reach the
hearts of men. Canon Mozley exhibits the facts on
which his statements are based at some length, proving
conclusively that he is not dealing in vain specula-
tions, or in fancies that can never be realized.
In successive chapters he takes up some of the
principal examples that occur in the Old Testament
of divine commands that are not in harmony with the
New Testament standard of right and wrong. After
a lecture upon Abraham, as introducing a new and
pure religion, he treats in several lectures of the com-
manded sacrifice of Isaac, — of exterminating wars as
ordered by God, — of the visitation of the sins of the
fathers upon the children, — of the killing of Sisera by
Jael, and the treachery of her act, — of the law of re-
taliation, and under it, of the justice executed by " the
avenger of blood."
He shows that in all these there is a temporary ac-
commodation in matters of justice, love, and truth to
the infirmities of men, and that this has its origin
in the condescension of God in becoming the Guide
118 HOPE LONG DEFERRED.
and Instructor of a people whose moral apprehensions
were imperfect, although thej were not without a
confused sense of religious obligation, righteousness,
and truth.
Canon Mozlej does not distinctly raise the question
whether in the nature of things and absolutely the slow
progress was unavoidable, — whether by a new exercise
of creative power, an omnipotent reconstruction of
man's moral nature, God might not at once have lifted
him to a higher level, from which the most perfect truth
and right could have been clearly and correctly dis-
cerned. It is enough that the great Ruler of all chose
to act in accordance with the established analogies of
creation and providence, in which time is of small mo-
ment, and from which haste is banished as an element of
^ , ■ weakness. He preferred for good and sufficient reasons
Ay^ to accomplish his gracious purpose by moral methods,
t t^exhibiting his infinite wisdom in multitudinous details.
^^ /T^K. - So we might infer that he would have done from
4 I all past records in the kingdom of nature. He would
t^o^ exhibit his grace in righting all wrong and expelling
Xv^ ^ all evil, but there should be no rude shock, throwing
5^A^S ^ the race off its balance by a sudden revolution in all
-/ fw*. . accepted ethical notions. The truth should win its
■xi 1^* , way, and achieve supremacy over the hearts and lives
^^jj^' of men in its purest form, by entering gradually into
'^^^l^'tTie current of human thought and practice. Thus by
^'<' f H^ degrees, but surely, it must eliminate the elements of
' A ^^ weakness and obscurity embedded in the nature of
' -*' ■ those with whom God is now graciously dealing.
- - The following analysis of^ Canon Mozley's Tenth
HOPE LONG DEFERRED. 119
Lecture, "The end, the test of a progressive revela-
tion," as given in the Table of Contents, is most sug-
gestive : " Answers to objectors to the foregoing argu-
ment — A progressive revelation may make use of im-
perfect moral material — It looked forward — An in-
ward mind in the system taught ex cathedra — The
prophets — The end shows the design of the system —
While accommodating itself to defective ideas, it was
eradicating them — No system of philosophy taught the
rights of man — The Bible the charter of man's rights —
Ancient empires flourished on the insignificance of man
— The vast body of philosophy and poetry formed by
the Bible — Pascal — Great body of infidel literature
formed on the same idea — Shelley — The communion
of man with God affected the relation of man with
man — The law thus contained the secret of his elevation
— History shows the law to have been above the* nation
— The nation was terrified into a formal obedience —
The enforcement of law the task of one generation,
its fruits of another — A progressive revelation must
be judged by its end — Higher minds outgrew the law
of their dispensation — Other nations stopped short —
In the Jewish nation alone the law acted as a guide —
The great prophetic order — The objector asks, AVhy
should divine revelation be subject to conditions? —
The human will, its capacity of resistance — The whole
question belongs to the fundamental difticulty of rec-
onciling God's power with man's free will — Miracles
— Temporary morals only a scaffolding."
It cannot be questioned that Canon Mozley has
rendered important service to Biblical Theology in
120 HOPE LONG DEFERRED.
accounting for acts recorded in the Old Testament
which exhibit a low standard of morality, yet seem
to bear the seal of divine approval. In the Ser-
mon on the Mount our Saviour strongly empha-
sizes the contrast between the principles of the
Mosaic legislation, and those that emanate from his
own higher authority : " It was said to you by them
of old time, ' An eye for an eye and a tooth for a
tooth '; but I say unto you. Love your enemies, do
good to them that hate you, and pray for them that
despitefully use you and persecute you." Elsewhere
our Saviour speaks of a law of Moses as not such a
genuine and perfect expression of the will of God as
would have been given to people more susceptible to
right impressions : " For the hardness of your heart
Moses gave you this precept."
With this supreme endorsement in our mind we are
not disturbed if any one should declare that some of
the statutes in this ancient revelation would disgrace any
modern system of laws. So it is set down in the " Mis-
takes of Moses." We may fitly and fearlessly admit
this. There is no better way of depriving such sallies
of rampant and indiscriminate infidelity of their power
to hurt than by candid assent. For one greater than
Moses has confirmed the assertion by finding in that
law as a ruling principle, condescension to human in-
firmity.
Barbaric ideas were too thoroughly rooted in the
thought and practice of those barbaric ages to yield
even to the injunctions of a divine Lawgiver. Cut
they might in his infinite wisdom be tolerated for a
HOPE LONG DEFERRED. 121
time in connection with a revelation whose liigher
elements were illuminative and regenerative. For
thus, with some temporary permission of evil, the
way might be prepared for that highest truth before
which the whole mass of barbarism and heathenism
should be swept from the earth.
The deficiency in Canon Mozley's treatment of the
subject may be sharply illustrated by a personal inci-
dent. Several years ago, while spending a Sabbath
in the forest, the writer of these sentences passed over
the volume to a friend, without remark about its con-
tents, but with a specific purpose. He was a man of
mature, penetrative, and judicial mind, accustomed to
weigh evidence, expose legal sophistries, and pro-
nounce determinatively upon abstruse subjects ; one
not prepossessed by any theological system, and al-
ways ready to deal with commonly received opinions
in an independent way. He returned it in an hour,
with the quiet question, " Is not that view fatal to the jL
scheme of modern Christian missions?" The reply '
was equally quiet, simply expressing a different opin-
ion, and the subject was dropped without discussion.
The question was shrewd, and touched a vital point.
It seemed to have been seized with some avidity, not
as against Canon Mozley's argument, but as against
the hopefulness of taking the advanced truth of the
Gospel to the more benighted regions of heathendom.
There are tribes now upon the earth that are supposed
to be as ignorant and debased as the old Canaanites.
On what ground can we discriminate? Why must
we not go back to the old system, beginning with the
122 HOPE LONG DEFEEBED.
sacrifice of beasts as the mode of worship, and lower-
ing our moral instruction wherever we find it neces-
sary, in accommodation to their savagery and barbar-
ism ? The inference from the ruling principle of the
book as we have stated it, was not illegitimate.
The author concentrated his thought rigidly and
too exclusively upon his principal topic, and does not
seem to have connected it very distinctly in his own
mind with the possibilities or the facts of the far-away
future. He proceeded upon the assumptioi) that in
dealing with deep moral debasement there were, im-
perative and controlling reasons for adopting this pro-
tracted educational process, and that no other could
have been effective. He does not ask whether it suc-
ceeded or failed, whether the remote descendants of
those favored with the earlier revelation advanced so
far in knowledge and subjection to the divine will,
that when fuller illumination visited the world, they
absorbed it joyfully, and became the loving and obe-
dient sons and daughters of the living God. He
seems to take it for granted that such must have been
the issue, or that in some unexplained way it extended
to the whole body of mankind. Nothing can be
clearer than that this was contrary to fact.
Neither does Canon Mozley ask whether the ever-
energetic wisdom and grace of God might not in the
future evolve a more penetrative, potent, and effective
agency, which should supersede the superficial and im-
perfect methods that alone were possible at first, — that
should illumine, regenerate, develop, and transform
the most degraded and morally obtuse, — that by work-
HOPE LONG DEFERRED. 123
iiig subjectively and ah intra^ should attain results by
rapid progress wbicli under tlie previous system had not
been realized after centuries of objective and extrinsic
training. The prophecies of the Old Testament evi-
dently contemplate this most distinctly.
Yet the provisional divine method adopted at the
beginning was not altogether fruitless. Important
purposes were accomplished. The history of the peo-
ple so signally distinguished shows advance in divine
knowledge, some clearer apprehension of truth and
obligation, as generation succeeded generation. The
worship of the true God and the instruction and warn-
ings of his prophets were not all in vain. As for the
rest, the divine originator of the earlier system must
have known full well the obdurate nature of the per-
sonal material he had to deal with, and the inadequacy
of all extrinsic methods of subduing the evil inclina-
tions of men. If nothing more could have been ac- '
complished, it was something to prove beyond con-
troversy for all the future the absolute need of truth
in such form, and instinct with such inherent, pene-
trative, and quickening spirit and life as should over- \
come all resistance and reanimate the dead.
Besides this, during that long interval, an invalua-
ble body of imperishable truth obtained lodgment and
expression in the earth, addressed to whomsoever it
miglit concern, to be appropriated, enjoyed, and util-
ized for human need in all the future. Those who
came first might serve, if they cared for nothing
more, as common carriers to the generations to come.
And through all those ages a highway was being cast
124 HOPE LONG DEFERRED.
up for the coming of the great King. A descent was
provided from a royal and favored stock for the seed
of promise whose word and power should bring joy
to the nations. Human thought, too, was broadened
and deepened by the earlier revelation, and so by nec-
essarily slow process a language was formed, rich and
copious, which, better than all the tongues that had
ever been known among men, could express the liv-
ing truth that should bring the fallen and lost into
fellowship with God.
We are not at a loss for an answer to the sceptical
question so naturally suggested by Canon Mozley's
otherwise admirable work, with regard to the hopeful-
ness of carrying the advanced truth of the Gospel, the
perfected wisdom and grace, to the nethermost pagan
mind. It might be enough for us, who recognize a
divine Commander-in-chief with full confidence and
joyful submission to his will, to say that we do not
t^^ /^ care to speculate and philosophize. We are under
^cL ^ positive orders. We have the command to go into
all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature,
which includes Hottentots and cannibals — all degrees
of moral obtuseness — and he guarantees our success
by his assurance, " I am with you always, even to the
end of the world." Hearing this word, neither
prophet nor apostle, canon nor cardinal, philosopher,
jurist, nor pope shall turn us aside.
We add to this that incontestable facts are bet-
ter than philosophical assumptions. The living
word of Christ, which it is our desire in this little
book above all things to exalt, does penetrate the
HOPE LONG DEFERRED. 125
brutish heart. It is showing its power in the every-
day experience of thousands, who, in faith and love
and deepest sympathy with men in their spiritual
blindness and degradation, are putting it to the test,
and have abundantly proven its effectiveness. It was
only yesterday that one of our most cultured citizens,
a man of keen observation, but not a Christian at all,
who had just returned from Honolulu, told us of hav-
ing visited an old patriarch of great intelligence, thor-
oughly civilized, in all his thoughts and ways like one
of us, who distinctly remembered the debasing human
sacrifices, and the horrid superstitions and cruelties
of a population so recently savage and barbarous, but
who now, transformed by the Gospel within a single
generation, desire to come into closest bonds with our-
selves.
We only need further to ask, — whatever may be
alleged of the earlier divine method, as contradicting
every other hope of elevating the debased, — what en-
couragement have we to go back to a system which
proved so ineffective in laying hold upon the hearts
of men, when we have in our possession the living
words that " millions have found to be the powder of
God unto salvation." If the perfected truth in the
Gospel were an abstruse system of ethics and dogma,
requiring faculties thoroughly trained by science and
philosophy, we might indeed be hopeless of the re-
sults of missionary labor. But the glory of the Gos-
pel is the simplicity of its message. It armounces
a Saviour whose lips give law to the world, and that
law is love. It celebrates in all the earth the simple
126 HOPE LONG DEFERRED.
fact that '' God so loved the world, that he gave his
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him
should not perish, but have eternal life." It is a per-
manently effective revelation, which supplements
or supersedes everything provisional or inadequate
that had preceded it. The power it introduced into
the world is vested in a divine person incarnate, who
gives eyes to the blind and draws men to himself by
a marvellous attraction. The time is come when the
dead hear the voice of the Son of God, and hearing
they live.
With the exception noted, the work of the eminent
Oxford Professor is of rare value as a contribution to
Biblical Theology. It is masterly in its moral dis-
criminations, and in its clearness and force in exhibit-
ing the consummate wisdom which gradually dis-
placed the crude and unworthy conceptions that be-
fore held the ground, by a revelation at first fragment-
ary and imperfect, but step by step tending toward
completeness. The view is illuminative, and we are
prepared to carry the principle of progression as char-
/acteristic of God's dealings with the human race be-
yond the point where the writer has left it. By press-
ing his thought further in the same direction he
might have brought a stronger light to bear upon the
training of a debased humanity by divine methods to
the highest moral excellence.
So, too, he might have solved more completely the
mystery of the long delay before the dawn of Chris-
tianity ; and the no less oppressive mystery of its
slow progress after its introduction. Even yet to hu-
HOPE LONG DEFERRED. 127
man appearance how far in the future is the completed
moral restoration of our race — even yet now, after
added centuries, in the indefinite future.
Infinite wisdom alone is fully adequate to these
problems. If we venture a single step forward it
may be thought that we are entering a region of ab-
stractions and uncertainties. Dogmatic affirmation is
certainly to be avoided.
Our principal relief is in facts already emphasized,
— in the relation between the lower intellective faculty
in man, and the higher spiritual nature, the breath of
God, which alone can apprehend and enjoy him.
Is not truth, the aliment which in its separable
elements must nourish both the lower and the higher,
adapted to a twofold need ? We may also recall from
a previous chapter that in our personal apprehension
of truth as revealed in the Scriptures, there is an evo-
lutionary principle, a law of growth, which through
the grace of the Spirit regulates the whole process of
development in the individual and in the race. The
truth lies before us in inexhaustible supply. But its
reception and assimilation depend upon personal ca-
pacity. We refer now to the higher truth, to that
which pertains to the infinite God in his relations
with man as reaching the higher spiritual nature, the
divine pneuma, through the intellect, the human j^^y- .
che ; for even spiritual truth has its intellective side. Z-*'^****^
Now what if there be here, not only a provision of
appropriate fare for each constituent of our dual na-
ture, as each hungers for truth of its own kind, but
also a law, that the provision, and the consequen
128 HOPE LONG DEFERRED.
growth of the two, shall be equable ; or, at least, that
the higher shall not proceed much faster than the
lower, which is mediately the source of its supply.
Thus would be secured the symmetrical develop-
ment of the superior immortal nature from stage to
stage in an ever ascending scale. Surely its advance
must be relative ; that is, relative to the more or less
advanced intellective faculty, to which the aliment for
both, the knowledge objectively supplied, will ever be
adapted.
No one will question that there are certain correct
statements concerning God, the loftiest subject of our
human intellection, which are not above the reason,
however narrowly defined. Even in its lowest condi-
tion it may be educated to their level by natural
process. These statements are in a great measure
abstract and juiceless, destitute of the spirit and life
which cold and heartless reason cannot appreciate, nor
even discern. Nevertheless they are true, invaluable,
and also indispensable as a vehicle, or solvent — a
chemist would say — through which the more pro-
found, perfect, and spiritual knowledge must be re-
ceived. They may be embodied in confessions and
catechisms, to be recited by rote and accepted as arti-
cles of faith, and not altogether unintelligently. The
learner may think that he knows God — and does he
not in a very important sense ? St. Paul refers to
such knowledge in exhibiting the responsibility of the
Gentiles as commensurate with their intelligence :
" Because that which may be known of God is mani-
fest in them ; for God manifested it unto them. For
HOPE LONG DEFERRED. 129
the invisible things of him, since the creation of the
world, are clearly seen, being perceived through the
things that are made, even his everlasting power and
divinity ; that they may be without excuse " (Rom. i.
19, 20. R. Y.).
Yet all along the line of human progress the truth
presented concerning God, both in substance and
form, must be wisely adjusted to undeveloped ca-
pacity, intellectual and spiritual. By a process of
moral assimilation it enters the organism for which
it was prepared, milk for babes and solid food for
the mature.
The form, through the imperfection of the human
medium of transmission, may exhibit some perversion,
in which its higher and more potent elements are not
manifest. But it may be, for that reason, the best pos-
sible for the organism at the time. By and by it will
have enlarged capacity, and the same revelation may
exhibit the full truth, through the more perfect con-
ception in spiritual maturity.
XY.
HOPE LONG DEFEKEED— CONTmUED.
This is a point of great interest in connection with
the progressive education of the race under divine
tutelage. It needs space, and we arrest for a few pages
our advance in the main Hne.
We shall never penetrate the mystery of the pro-
tracted postponement of the revelation of Jesus Christ
as the power of God unto salvation, and of other post-
ponements that stagger weak faith, without a more
^ 1^, profound study of man's composite nature, — of tbe
^ yU^ two elements in its composition as restated in the last
' " chapter, and of the relation of the superior principle
or organ through which alone he can attain a true
''*^'- conception of God, to the inferior intellective faculty
' which is its basis, or indispensable prerequisite. With-
out the soul, or rational principle, as well as the spirit,
or capacity for higher realities, the divine Spirit could
never have entered into his being, bringing him into
fellowship with God. The rational principle, as first in
existence, may be thought of as the receptacle of the
spiritual, as the latter is the receptacle of the pure and
living truth of God in its higher significance and
power. For here the conscience and all gracious
affections have their seat, and in these God establishes
(130)
Lt^',
HOPE LONG DEFERRED. 131
his benign and loving authority and rules over the
man.
In the nature of things there can be no revelation
of God to a beast. The difficulty is similar in kind to
that of teaching science to one of the stones of the
field. Creative power must first produce mind. If
one of the higher sciences is to be taught, it must
have, as the indispensable preparation, mind in cor-
responding culture and advancement. It would be
very meagre knowledge of astronomy that could be
imparted to a Hottentot fresh from his native kraal
by the most experienced and skillful educator. The
requisite faculty is there, but it must be developed by
methods appropriate to its nature and laws.
In the analysis of manhood in its completeness each
component part rises higher than its precursor in the
order of creation and existence, — body — soul — spirit.
This order cannot be reversed, nor the intermediate
constituent be omitted, so that the third may exist and
perform its functions independently of the second.
Neither can that intermediate be insufficient in culture
and development, if spiritual truth of exalted quality
and grade is to be successfully injected. When theTvio.-*^
intellectuality is feeble and narrow, only the rudi-
ments of divine knowledge can be apprehended, and ^ -^^-^
these very imperfectly. The deficiency may be called ^^^^
phenomenally lack of 'spiritual apprehension.' But the ,\,
trouble is in part lower down in the human organism. ^^^
For spiritual apprehension can never be wholly inde- -vot/n
pendent of the underlying intellectual apprehension, »
but must in some measure keep pace with it. For in *^/-^
1B2 HOPE LONG DEFERRED.
the natural constitution and original scheme and order
of divine efficiency, it was its crowning efflorescence
and glory.
Whenever the intellect has attained sufficient growth
we may expect a corresponding enlargement of the
higher spiritual capacity through the impartation of
new life from the primal source. This in its turn
will create a stimulative reaction. The higher facul-
ties in their development will expand and elevate the
lower, and the whole man will rise to nobler rank in
existence. This is abundantly confirmed by the fre-
^^^^ quent result of the entrance of spiritual life into men
t ii of low intellectuality.
Nevertheless it remains true, and should be held in
iU^' C^ remembrance with reference to our further statements
^ ^/f- } i^po" the subject, that there must be some sufficient
^ ' development of the lower intellectual capacity, in
^^^^C order that the salutary process may begin. Corrobo-
V rs.t>^ rative of this on a large scale, and helpful in the study
' " of human nature in its bearing upon the mystery we
are now contemplating, are the experiences of mis-
' hecyP For
it cannot be held too steadily before us, that this Old
Testament is not self-luminous nor self-assertive. It
shines with no dim lustre, yet with light other than
its own. Alike in law and in history, as well in
psalm as in prophecy, it is always looking forward,
addressing itself even more to hope than to faith,
and proclaiming the glory to come after.
It has its princes, potentates, and warriors, but its
grandest majesty, its King of kings, lives outside its
own limits. Its Christ, the anointed of God, on
whose head are many crowns, is a foreshadowed
Christ. Its golden age, its reahzed desire, its full
fruition of joy and peace, are in the New Testament,
in the historic Christy the Son of God and the
Saviour of the world.
The Kew Testament, in distinction from the Old,
is our own revelatien of God, that which as now
living upon the earth, we may claim as our very own.
The revelations of the far past belong to us only
partially and indirectly; some, as promising what
we now possess; some, as explanatory of the New
Testament, where we might otherwise be at a loss
about its meaning ; some, as embodying general prin-
THE OLD TESTAMENT REVELATION. 153
ciples, which may sometimes be of use. But here
we find the central Ufe and h'ght and truth, having
which we might dispense with all other. While we
have the sunlight we ask not for the starlight, except
when our weak eyes need some relief from the excess-
ive brightness of noonday.
This Christ of the Gospels is the completed revela-
tion of God, the manifestation of divine righteousness
and love, with which none can be compared, and
which never can be surpassed.
XVIII.
THE PEOFHETS— THE CHKIST— THE
APOSTLES.
We pass over from the Old Testament to the New,
from prophets to apostles ; and between these two
distinguished orders of men we behold one greater
' , than them all ; the only perfect and final revelation
|i of God to men.
In the whole treatment of our subject, and in direct
bearing upon the new definition we are seeking, there
is no question so important as that which now con-
fronts us. Our success in reconstruction depends
.upon the answer it shall receive: What is the rela-
' tion of the revelation of God in Christ to all that
preceded and followed it ? What is the precise dif-
ference between this central form as revealing truth,
and the mspiration of prophets on the one side, and
that of apostles on the other ?
As heretofore, we must not be too precipitate, but
very carefully feel our way to a satisfactory result.
He comes at last. The long delay is ended. The
" fulness of time " is reached. What is the sig-
niiicance of his coming? Who and what is he?
t. cT^CcrWhat shall the world have henceforth that it had
-,/»V^; not already? Is it only a further and brighter illu-
THE APOSTLES. 155
mination — a fuller knowledge of God's holiness and
grace ?
If we give heed to prophetic intimations, the new
revelation is in a person, rather than in words ; in
what he was and did, more than in what he said.
What had to be done in the fulfillment of the prom-
ise of his coming? The head of the serpent must
be bruised. The families of the earth must be
blessed. A son of David must sit upon his throne
whose kingdom shall be established forever. " Unto
us a child is born ; unto us a son is given ; and the
government shall be upon his shoulder : and his
name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The
mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of
Peace."
God's ultiinate purpose^ now to be potentially re-
alized, was salvation — the deliverance of the earth
from the curse that blighted it. What does that
mean? Is it only that some signal act of omnipo-
tence is now to be expected, as if mountains were to
be levelled and great gulfs to be filled — or all nature
were to be transformed in ideal beauty and perfec-
tion ? Somewhat so it had been pictured in proph-
ecy, and it must come to that at last. But the
facts we face first are simple and prosaic. Evil had
taken possession of man's heart and ruled in his
life. The Infinite God is set at naught, his law
boldly transgressed, and his power defied. Some-
tliing more than illumination, and other power than
that which transforms nature, are required here.
One may ask with the completed Old Testament
/
156 THE PEOPHETS : THE CHRIST :
in his hands, to what extent had that older revelation
accomplished God's purpose in moral renovation ?
As a divine system of progressive education, it should
have prepared its favored subjects for fuller disclos-
ures of truth. Did it issue in this — so that satisfac-
tory results may be expected from further illumina-
tion, simply and alone ?
It must be replied to this question, that the grace
of the Old Testament was not utterly ineffective.
Some hearts were impressed. There were always in"
Israel devout worshipers and faithful servants of God.
But comparatively very few, — one out of a thousand,
or perhaps even fewer. The people as a whole were
always blind and stubborn. The divine revelation
shone steadily to the end brighter and still brighter.
But as to immediate practical results, it did little for
Israel, and nothing for the world at large.
Since words, whether addressed to the consciences
or to the hearts of men, have all failed, something
now must be done, thorough, emphatic, decisive.
The revelation of God must be of a kind that shall
mean something now which it did not before. Evil
must be attacked at its seat and centre by a power
greater than its own, and enslaved humanity set free.
But the deliverance must come from itself, ab mtra,
and not ab extra, — immanent, and not transcend-
ent. The battle must be fought out on an earthly
arena. The absolute evil and the absolute good must
meet on the same level, foot to foot, face to face.
And yet — figures of speech must not deceive us — the
contest and victory depicted in the Gospel are fruit-
THE APOSTLES. 157
less, except so far as they are personally realized in •_♦
individual need. A leaven must be infused into this ^yyt
human mass, that shall cbano^e its whole nature and '^^^^^-^
substance. What is needed is not more light from ~j 'Ha
without — that shall come too, as an indispensable ^x^^^J^
coincident — but fresh power within, strength from 7^;^^.^
God supplied to hearts morally weak, a new prin-
ciple of life that shall bid defiance to death forever.
The problem is solved for us by the incarnation of
Deity, by the eternal Word becoming flesh and
dwelling among men. He grappled with the evil in
the perfected glory of full-grown manhood in every
faculty and fibre, yet in the power of God ; mighty
to save as God only can save, able nevertheless to
sympathize with his human brotherhood in its moral
imbecility and in all its imperfection — ready to suffer
with it, ready to die for it. And he did die — ''die
unto sin," that men might " live unto God."
We can now answer the question : " Where and
what was this perfect revelation in Christ in distinc-
tion from that of the prophets ? " Radically ditferent
we now see ; otherwise, like theirs, it would have been
fruitless. It was not in words, as words ; nut on the
line-upon-line principle ; not in a more perfect rule
of life; not in a creed, correct to an iota in every
detail, — but in a divine, yet human, personality, love
incarnate, truth incarnate, purity and moral ])erfect-
ness incarnate, "bone of our bone, and flesh of our
flesh," yet he did no evil, neither was guile found in
his mouth. The divine purpose from the beginning
is to be realized through an ideal manhood, the per-
158 THE PROPHETS : THE CHRIST :
fected Adam, from whom and in whom we have
everlasting life.
We emphasize the answer. The revelation in
Christ is not in words as words, but in a divine per-
sonality, and a power residing in that personality ade-
quate to our redemption, and this power transmissi-
ble to us — ^yet even in his words, as the best expres-
sion of that personality to the centuries far forward —
even in his words, higher than prophetic, higher than
apostolic, higher than all possible human words, as the
most perfect exponent of the moral power, imma-
nent and transcendent, that shall stamp out evil
forever.
[\^/«-*uJ^i It is in human accents that he speaks, but his
' words are the words of God, pure and undefiled.
The fountain of wisdom whence they come is the
same that lay behind the inspiration of the prophets.
But their organs at the best were imperfect — their
organs of perception and their organs of expression
alike. They saw dimly. They spake feebly. They
could not adequately translate for us the high thoughts
of God into human speech. But he could, and he
/ has. " The words that I speak unto you, they are
' spirit, and they are life." Yet not the words, as
mere words ; but as they become through the grace
of the Spirit the principle of a new existence, the
children of Adam becoming children of God.
Who and what upon the opposite side of the tow-
ering personality of Christ were the apostles? On
a higher plane than the prophets surely, but subor-
dinate to the chief revelation. Their work was
f)Xy A/#^"^ <-^-^ ^ c^Juw-c^
THE APOSTLES. 159
glorious, but it was secondary. He did work such as
none other man did, and tliej were his witnesses. It
was his words fhat they rehearsed to the world. It was
his life in all its phases that they described. It
was his victory over sin and death by dying himself
that they celebrated in all the world.
The message of the prophets was prospective, of
the glory that should follow ; that of the apostles
retrospective, of the perfected glory of Christ. The
one class pointed forward and the other back, but
both to one higher than themselves. The one said,
*' He Cometh," the other, " He came." " That which
was from the beginning, that which we have heard,
that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we
beheld and our hands have handled of the woid of
life (for life was manifested, and we have seen, and
bear witness, and declare unto you the life, the eter-
nal life which was with the Father and was manifested
unto us), that which we have seen and heard declare
we unto you."
A goodly and blessed work was that of the apos-
tles, an indispensable work, and for its accomplishment
inspiration was indispensable. For the ultimate divine
purpose was not exhausted in the incarnation, nor in
the life, the gracious deeds, the suffering, the resur-
rection, the ascension of our Saviour. All these were
means to an end. The power for salvation was there,
but it must be brought to bear upon the world.
Through them he sent forth his message of salvation
to the remotest age. But they always spoke in his
name, referred to his authority as supreme, and knew
'/
160 THE PROPHETS : THE CHRIST.
nothing but Christ, they his servants, and he their
Master and their Lord.
We have the answer to our question, and shall use
it presently. The revelation of God in Jesus the Mes-
siah differs from all other, not only in degree, but in
quality and kind. Prophets and apostles had noth-
ing but what they received from him. He filled
them with all they could contain, with all and more
than they could impart. But he withheld vast treas-
ures to be bestowed immediately, everywhere and al-
ways, without prophetic or apostolic intervention,
upon those who come humbly to his feet.
XIX.
THE DISCKIMINATIYE DEFINITION IN
PAET.
Here where it is most needed let us have before us
an important conclusion we have reached. The char-
acter and purpose of the rev^elation must ever furnish
the definitTon an^ measurement of the divine energyi
that produced it. The supernatural causation will be'
substituted for the natural only so far as shall be in-
dispensable to the proposed moral, effect.
In supplying niaterial for a creed or confession, ac-
cordmg to the modern idea of the necessary perfect-
ness in all minor details of these boundary lines be-
tween different bodies of Christians, great precision
is necessary. Almost verbal inspiration migM be
rec[uisite in some places of extreme difficulty, espe-
cially in connection with matters abstract and meta-
physical, in order to secure language that could not
be misconceived.
Yet even here there are very few truths, none per-
haps of special importance, which might not be stated
in various language without danger of misconception.
As a notorious fact, in places where definiteness would
seem to be most important for confessional purposes,
as for instance, in connection with points of doctrine
which divide the Christian Church into sects, there is
(161)
162 INSPIRATION.
room for honest difference of opinion as to what the
Scriptures that relate to them mean.
But in impressing a moral lesson by historic inci-
dent, in reaching the conscience, in moving the deeper
religious sensibilities which stimulate and energize
the will — which we have found to be the principal
purpose of the revelation of God in the Scriptures —
verbal inspiration could not be required. As for
moral impression by historic statement, fiction is
nearly as good as fact, or we should have no parables.
For any ordinary use, the honest effort to ascertain
the facts, and their statement with truthful purpose,
is accepted as sufficient, even if some minor details
are thought doubtful.
Our examination of the contents of the Bible in
their diversity, and of the great variety of circum-
stances and characteristics of human existence to
which they relate, has prepared us for a definition
less compact, rigid, and inflexible than those which
Systematic Theology usually requires and produces.
The inflexible definitions that confine the infinite
Spirit of God within our narrow human measure-
ments, — saying to him. Thus far shalt thou go,
and no farther, — are to be studiously avoided. He
is ever transcending the limitations we assign to him,
casting off the trammels, asserting his liberty in the
most practical way, and putting our sagacity to shame.
The following definition is intentionally copious.
It has been made so comprehensive as to include the
whole concrete result of inspiration exhibited in the
Sacred Books, that is, the whole content and sub-
/I r4. ^ '. DISCRIMINATIVE DEFINITION. 16;^
stance of Biblical Theology. Having the material
spread ont before ns in its amplitude, it may be easy
for any one so inclined to reduce its dimensions by
omitting whatever he thinks least important to strict
definition, in accordance with the tendency of the
more scholastic theological systems to philosophical
abstraction. But the practical design of this essay
carries us in the opposite direction.
Inspiration is a special energy of the Spirit of
God upon the mind and heart of selected and pre-
pared humam. agents lohich does not obstruct nor
impair their native and normal activities^ nor mi-
raculously enlarge the boundaries of their knowledge,
except where essential to the inspiring purpose; hut
/ stimulates and assists them to the clear discernment
and faithful totterance of truth and fact, and when
necessary brings loithin their range^ truth or fact
which could not otherioise have been known. By such
direction and aid, through spoken or written words, in
combination, with any divinely ordered circiomstances
with which they may be historically interwoven, the .j ..
result contemplated in the purpose of God is realized
in a progressive revelation of his wisdom, righteous-
ness, and grace for the instruction and moral eleva-
tion of men. The revelation so jprod uced is per-
manent and infallible for all matters of faith and
practice j' except so far as any given revelation
may be manifestly partial, provisional, and limited
in its time and conditions, or may be afterwards
modified or superseded by a higher and fuller revela-
tion, adapted to an advanced period in the redemp-
164 INSPIRATION.
tive process to which all revelation relates as its final
end and glorious consummation.
It is on the a posteriori principle that we have
been working. In the preceding chapters we have
attempted a survey of the whole ground, noting the
characteristic phenomena of the collection of books
called Holy Scripture, referring to the salient points
and most remarkable facts, and at last summed them
up in what we have now given. There is not a point
that had not been provided for in the preceding exhibit.
Yet full as the definition is, it needs supplementing,
and the supplement also has been anticipated. It
lies very near, and we must have it if we would un-
derstand the subject in its breadth, and must use it
for our final relief. Confusion might result from an
endeavor to include it in the same formula. Its
proper place is close alongside, where we can pass
easily from one to the other. We shall find our way
to it presently.
The above definition in its reference to " progress-
ive revelation" and human development, is intended
to provide for disclosures of truth suited to the
stage of moral and spiritual growth that had been
reached when it was made. The inspiring energy
did not confer omniscience, and did not lift its sub-
jects so far above the plane of thought that charac-
terized their age as to be out of touch with it.
Our conception admits that together with the
clearer apprehension and higher moral tone that
resulted from the supernatural quickening of his
faculties, enabling the prophet at times to discover
DISCRIMINATIVE DEFINITION. 165
truth before unrevealed, a coinmiiigling of human
misconception was suffered to remain till the time
should come for further disclosure. The revelation
that could at first be apprehended by human capacity
was of a very low grade. As imperfectly appropri-
ated, it might give rise to deeds of loyalty to the
divine will, expressing savage detestation of heathen-
ism, that seem shocking to us, and impossible to
reconcile with the highest moral excellence. This is
the revelation which the definition refers to as " par-
tial, provisional, and limited to its own time." Of
the test by which this may be determined we shall
speak presently.
It is often asserted most positively in controversy
with those who refer discriminati vely to different parts
of the Bible, assigning a higher value to the later
than to the earlier revelation, that the Old Testa-
ment, as well as the Kew, is perfect and infallible in
its minutest details. The highest inspiration is (Jy'
^laimed equally for every part. But who can say ^ ^i^
intelligently, in this sweeping sense, that the entire rv^u^
Bible, for all time is " the perfect and infallible rule ^^ <^i-*-^
of faith and practice," or any one Book in the Old ^ ^'f^^
Testament? To press this familiar statement from
the Confession against those who find serious imper-
fections in the earlier Scriptures, is mere jugglery of
words. No one who uses it against others as con-
demnatory, believes it himself of the Old Testament
apart from the New. If we would avoid confusion
of thought, nothing is more important than reason-
able discrimination.
XX.
THE DEFINITION COMPLETED AND THE
FINAL TEST.
We shall not have fulfilled our proposed task
until we have reached a satisfactory conclusion for
disturbed minds with regard to the varying degrees^
of certainty in the Bible which the foregoing defini-
tion assumes. This may mean, in the estimation of
many, uncertainty everywhere, interminable per-
plexity whenever they open the Bible.
They may feel obliged to accept our conclusions,
as apparently founded on a correct view of its char-
acter and contents. Nevertheless they are distressed,
and almost wish they had been left in their previous
contentment. They had supposed it was all holy
ground, and they might plant their foot firmly in all
its borders. But now they shall fear quagmires and
quicksands at every step. The thought of this is
almost enough to engulf them in John Banyan's
allegorical Slough of Desjpond, Even a " Thus-
saith-the-Lord " seems to be no guarantee against
principally human derivation, and a consequent
impairment of the divine thought. This is even
worse than impairment by copyists or translators.
" Where are we," they ask, '* and where, if anywhere,
shall we find safety % "
(166)
THE DEFINITION COMPLETED. 167
We should not have commenced this work, if we
could not, anticipating such questions, have furnished
a reply that shall more than renew their former
confidence. While we have appeared to be doing
harm, we shall have done immeasurable good.
Is there anything in the Bible, — it seems a strange
question, but we must ask it, — that is not inspired ?
We do not refer to language attributed to Satan or
to evil-minded men. There is plenty of that. But
look in the opposite direction. Are there statements
or communications sujperior to anything to be
thought of as insj)ired '\ If we hesitate, he that
how speaketh to us from heaven himself shall give
answer, and his words are faithful and true : " Who-
soever drinketh of the water that I shall give him
shall never thirst ; hut the water that I shall give
hhn shall become in him a well of water springing
up unto eternal lifeP
Is it asked again, " How shall I find my way to
the fountain of truth, that drinking I may live for-
ever?" Again the answer — this also is in the first
person singular, and is decisive: "/ am the %vay^
and the truth, and the life / no one cometh to the
Father hut through m^."
We are now ready for an emphatic statement,
supplementary to our definition. It was not long
enough.
No proposed definition of God^s inspiring grace
can he accepted as complete unless it has heen formu-
lated (1) in the light of the grand central truth in
which inspiration and revelation alike culminate^
168 INSPIRATION.
that Jesus Christ as a person, " the Only-hegotten of
the Father, ^'^ is the final, perfect, and the only perfect
revelation of God to men / and (2) with due regard
5i-, '^- ^^ ^^^ radical difference hetween the words of Christ,
who is himself the truth, and those of all inspired
teachers, as hetween the primary and every secondary
source of divine hnowledge and authority.
To this must be added a companion sentence that
leads us one step further in the attempted recon-
struction. Both have been provided for in preceding
chapters.
(1) All historic, prophetic, and didactic revelation
of God hi the inspired BooTis of the Old and New
Testaments, is inferior and subordinate to his revela-
tion of personal truth and grace in the Christ of the
historic Gospels / and (2) whatsoever the former
may contain thai is incongruous ihei^ewith, whatever
he the explanation of the incongruity, is not to he
held as authoritative for us, hut is virtually super-
I seded, as an imperfect and provisional inspiration.
Shall we put one more question growing out of
the uncertainty of merely human sources, even if
inspired, and test his ability to answer? There can
be no jugglery here. We have found one who can
probe the depths of our hearts, while he reveals to
us the heart of God. We may ask confidently :
How may one know beyond doubt that the words
of Christ recorded in the Gospels actually contain the
living truth he is in search of?
The ready answer comes, and indeed it is probing :
" He that will do his will shall Tcnoio the teaching,
I
THE DEFINITION COMPLETED. 169
whether it he of God^ or whether I have spoken of
myself r
It depends, then, upon ourselves, and suggests the
heart-searching question. Do I give myself up abso-
lutely to the control of God, sincerely desiring to do
his will, if I may only know it? Then shall we know
the truth, and sliall be prepared to say, ''' Lord, to
whom shall we go ? thou hast the words of eternal
life, and we believe and know that thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God."
If this surrender is thorough and unreserved, our
trouble is ended. No clouds and darkness henceforth
— no fog- banks intercepting the divine light — no
quicksands and quagmires. We go forward with un-
faltering step. We shall walk in the light as God is
in the light, shall have fellowship one with another,
and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanseth us from all
sin. Verily we have found an highway, a royal road,
on which the sun always shines. It leads up to " the
city whose gates are of pearl, and its streets of pure
gold, an 1 which hath no need of the sun, neither of
the moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God doth
lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof."
The riddles that have embarrassed us shall all be
solved now, or those which we cannot or need not
solve, we shall be able to cast aside as frivolous, or
will class them with " the secret things that belong
unto the Lord our God," and be perfectly content.
It is all in his hands, and some things we can take
upon trust. Enough for us that in all matters of im-
portance our doubts shall be dissipated forever.
170 INSPIRATION.
We have been troubled about Old Testament rev-
elation, its alleged uncertainties, inaccuracies, and con-
tradictions, and even about some things more distress-
ing, enormities that make our blood run cold as we
read of them. And some earnest souls are kept back
from the central truth by the antecedent revelation
with its historic and moral perplexities. May we not
avoid them, at least for the present, until we can re-
turn to them more safely ?
The Old Testament is supposed to be the porch to
the New, its only proper entrance. This is all very
well for those who lived before the coming of Christ.
•They might find their way to him, at least prospect-
^,^A>C lively, through the previous inspiration. They could
^Jrt^t. f (Jo jjQ better.
N ( But we now living did not enter upon our earthly
existence under such limitations, and may approach
him directly. It is vastly better than coming to him
through tortuous passages with uncertain glimmer of
light, and sometimes questionable footing. It is our
privilege, Jew or Gentile, founded upon our historic
position, to go straight to the divine Master's feet, and
to ask all the questions we wish. He has ascended on
high, but not beyond our call. We need not go a pil-
grimage even to Judea in order to find him. For
he said while yet here : ''If any man love me, he
will Tceep mjy words / and my Father will love Mm,
and we will come imto him, and m,ake our abode
with himP And perhaps he has left with us an-
swers to our questions that will give us rest.
A year or two ago we came upon a remarkable
THE DEFINITION COMPLETED. 171
book : " The great discourse of Jesus, the Christ, the
Son of God. A topical arrangement and analysis of
all his words, recorded in the New Testament, sepa-
rated from the Context."* The compiler, a layman
eminent in culture and position, has suppressed his
own name. This may have been desired thus to give
himself more freedom in relating his personal experi-
ence in a prefacing Apolo^/7l
quiet of my own soul, tree from the noise of con- f?'^' ^.
troversy, theological or rational To us who
have not lived in the wondrous aura of the spiritual
life that radiated from his wondrous personality, who
cannot drink from his lips, nor look into the infinite
depths of his eyes, the closest touch must lie in the
words that were spoken for us, and for all time to
come, — the body in which he still lives for us, and
which he knew must satisfy our hunger and thirst
for truth."
And so, finding truth and life in Christ, he came
forth from perplexity and peril into the light of God.
XXI.
THE FINAL TEST— CONTINUED.
In ocean travel a vessel is liable to be driven aside
by counter currents and adverse winds the effects of
v\^hicli the mariner may not observe till he finds him-
self on a lee shore, with the roar of the breakers in
his ears, and sail power and steam are alike nnavail-
ing. It is said that an air-ship, rising above the lower
atmosphere in which it would be driven wildly along,
the sport of tierce and threatening blasts, will ascend
into a serene stratum above the clouds, where the sun
is always shining, and steady, gentle breezes are ever
bearing in one invariable direction, and those who
shape the course may lay it toward the point that
shall best accomplish the object of the voyage and
bring them to their haven in safety. It may be an
unproved theory, but it will serve for illustration.
The suggestion in our quotations in the last chap-
ter is similar, — that in order to reach the ultimate,
satisfying truth, — that is, to reach God, — we may
avoid embarrassment, conflict, and the danger of final
disappointment and despair, by going directly to the
lieai't of Christ, which is the heart of God, for He
said, " 1 and the Father are one.'^''
For the time being we look only Christ-ward, and
(174)
THE FINAL TEST. 17.t
tind relief from the perplexity produced by the
crudities and obscurities of a preparatory and pro-
visional inspiration, — one that took men in ignorance,
sensuality, and barbarism, and did for them what it
could at the time. We leave all that behind, ^o
distortions, exaggerations, or suggestions of improb-
ability, materialistic or metaph^^sical, confront us here.
We are upon higher ground, where those who deal
in such objections to revealed truth are too shrewd to
in:i^^erfere with us. With regard to the truths we
meet here, with affectation of superior wisdom they
call themselves agnostics. They have to decline any
direct and positive opposition. It is an atmosphere
they cannot breathe. They hear a language they do
not understand, w^hich appeals to faculties they con-
sciously do not possess. So with vision undiverted
and undisturbed we behold the truth and the life
issuing from the lips and throbbing in the ]julses of
the Son of God. We drink in the w^ords of w^hich
he who uttered them said, " They are spirit, and
they are life^
Where is Moses, and where are the Levite and the
priest? Where is David with his songs, and where
are Isaiah and Ezekiel with their glowing visions?
Where even are Paul and John ? . They spake con-
cerning the truth, as " they w^ere moved by the Holy
Ghost," and are to be honored as living oracles of
God. But he is the truth, the truth incarnate, per-
sonal. They receive witness of men, that their writ-
ings are not fiction, and the evidence adduced may be
met by plausible contradiction. We may not receive
^^17G INSPIRATION.
their words till they are satisfactonly attested. But
he needs no witness of men, and his words sink into
hearts by their own intrinsic weight. " He that
helieveth hath the witness in himself ^^ '^ I am the
light of the world. He that helieveth in me shall not
ivalk in darkness^ hut shall have the light of life.''''
What prophet or apostle could say that, — feeble
taper that he is even at his brightest shining ?
But what proof have we that the words recorded
ever passed from his lips ? Why, from what source
could they have proceeded, save his unique person-
ality, in which the most exquisite human sympathy
is blended with divine knowledge, compassion, and
power ? Who but he who " knew what was in man "
could so strike the chords that thrill all human hearts
with the deepest, purest, and most controlling emo-
tions? Human reason and invention stand bewil-
dered before tlie majesty, sweetness, and power of
his sentences, — cannot sound their unfathomable
depths, — can only talk in a confused way of the his-
toric antecedents or accompaniments in the same
volume, as being here and there improbable, contra-
dictory, or perhaps morally objectionable.
What care we ? His words ar*e the cream and es-
sence — the quintessence and soul of all truth, — food
for immortal spirits. They exalt, they strengthen,
they enlarge, they purify, they inspire confidence
and hope, they scatter the mists, and peace such as
the world cannot give — the peace that passeth all
understanding — takes permanent possession of our
hearts.
THE FINAL TEST. 177
The historical investiture may have suffered some-
what through the imperfection of human instruments
of record. Material information that mio^ht have
removed all difficulty may have been omitted. Many
of us are ignorant and helpless in argument against
trained and skillful objectors, — as helpless as the
blind man in the hands of Pharisaic tormentors who
could only say, " One thing I know, that whereas I
was blind, now I see." What other thing did he
need to know, or what dfd he care for, in comparison
with this, — he that now for the first time beheld the
light of the sun, — and who could convince him that
he was laboring under a delusion ?
But can we rely, some OTie may persist in asking,
upon these words in the Gospel as really his own ?
He will himself answer: "But the Comforter, which
is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send unto
you, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things
to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto
you." And then we try them intrinsically, as he
invited us, and we find them a specific, a panacea.
There are healing, soundness, and life in them, and
we dwell in peace. Objections on lower ground are
idle and wasted breath. The ground of our convic-
tion they do not even touch. We might afibrd,
although we will not, to give up miracles, to give up
inspiration, to give up historic confirmation, as men
give odds at games of strength and skill, and should
abide in confidence and win the day. " Evidence
of Christianity," said a man of deep thought, " evi-
dence of Christianity ; make a man feel the want of
178 INSPIRATION.
it, rouse him to the self-knowledge of his need of it,
and you may safely trust it to its own evidence."
We have made above, somewhat separately, two
points that are of the first importance and ever to
be remembered. The first is, that he who came
> from heaven to identify himself with men gave his
I personal assurance that his words should be correctly
^ j reported. Through his Holy Spirit, the revealer of
I truth, he w^ould look after this matter himself. The
second is, that he ascribed to his own words a
special potency, a spirit and life, by which they should
be distinguished to the inmost consciousness of him
w^ho receives them in humble faith, from all others.
They should be a revelation of the Son of God
within him.* Their spirit and life should become
elements in his being, enabling him to say, " It is
no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me : and
the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith,
the faith which is of the Son of God, who loved
me, and gave himself for me." f
We reverse, then, the usual order of suggestion,
for those who are painfully anxious to know whether
in this Bible we have the saving word of God. We
do not ask a man to satisfy himself by careful study
with innumerable preliminaries in an older revela-
tion, some of which are adapted to times and cir-
cumstances into which we cannot transport ourselves,
the nature and needs of w^hich we cannot compre-
hend, and which have suffered we know not how
* Gal. i. 16. t Gal. ii. 20.
THE FINAL TEST. 170
much from the ravages of time, and the ignorance or
presumption of men, sometimes pious and well-
meaning. What care we for such a revelation,
although otherwise of immense interest and value,
in comparison with " the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ'' as
we now gaze upon it? We have found him of
whom Moses and the prophets wrote, we hear his
words, and in them we discover the heart of God as
our Almighty Father and everlasting Friend. We
know the truth, and it has made us free indeed, and
free forever.
lu this conviction we are ready now for the Old
Testament. We may be reasonably asked by any
inquirer after truth. If the Bible was given by in-
spiration of the Spirit, and contains great thoughts;
of God, of imperishable value, and yet is full of im-
perfections, how shall I discriminate between the bet-
ter and the worse ? If, besides the divine truth that
it embodies, it also contains partial truths, which are
sometimes as misleading as falsehood, and moral in-
conofruities and monstrosities from which our souls
recoil, how shall I separate the gold from the dross?
By the use of my reason ^? Would you have me be-
come a rationalist?
Yes, rather than be a sophist or a simpleton. Yes,
a thousand times, if one becomes a rationalist by
making use of his reason, iiicluding conscience and
every spiritual faculty w^ith which God has endowed
him, strengthened and enlightened by the word, and
life, and spirit of Christ. Who will fling a gibe
^
u
180 INSPIRATION.
at us for such rationalism — a rationalism that verges
so closely upon Inspiration ?
This is the final and decisive test of all utterances
or writings known among men. Having the princi-
pal, central, all-embracing truth embedded in our
hearts, " we have an unction from the Holy One and
know all things." We go fearlessly, therefore, to
the old inspiration, approving or rejecting, as it may
be. If anything agrees not with these words of )
Christ in the Gospels, and with the life of God in-
carnate, as illustrating his words, — no matter how it
came to be what it is, no niatter to whose ignorance
and hardness of heart it may have been adaptively
lowered, — polygamy, slavery, revenge, and barbarity
of every kind, — we renounce and denounce it as evil.
Our enlifi^htened moral instinct reiectsit unreservedlv
and forever. Any disciple of Christ that does not
speak according to this word knows not what spirit
he is of. Let him come closer to Christ in his perva-
sive, effluent, and communicative moral purity. Let
him take John's position, pillowing his head on the
Master's bosom, where he can hear his faintest whis-
per and feel every throb of his pure, tender, and
loving heart, and he will come to a better mind.
I Yes, this is the final and decisive test, from which
there can be no appeal to a higher court, and we offer
it as a relief from all difficulty, as respects the princi-
pal point we have considered. We reaffirm unfalter-
ingly our proposition, as the most incontestable of
i moral axioms, that whatsoever in the Old Testament
\\revelation, or in any prof essed revelation from God,
THE FINAL TEST. 181
is not in accord with the revelation of his righteous-
ness, or purity, or love, or truth, in the words and
life of Christ, has heen annulled and superseded, and
is practically no revelation for us. '(
There can be no nioditication of this sweeping
judgment. It must stand for all time, challenging
disproof or contradiction. Yet any reasonable relief
that may be possible shall be cheerfully accorded.
We must not be misunderstood for a moment. And
therefore an emphatic restatement of earlier thought
may be suffered together with some additions. v ^
It is not the mutilation of the Bible that we sug-^O'^^V/ <
gest, as if all enormities should be stricken from the /f^^^
record of fact. Even for us they have their moral -^ ^^
uses, if only by repulsion, as we contrast them with iU.
the higher law and the purer morality under which
we are livinc^. ^
... ^2L*
They have also severallj^ their historic accompani- a\ y
ment, which relieves some of their worst features. /..^ >
If we sit J2^ judgment, in any given instances upon '^.^j,^^,
record, upon the men, whose thoughts and practices
were so far below the standard that has been pre-
scribed for our own regulation that we instinctively
reprobate them, our judgment must be mitigated
by important extenuating circumstances, which are
righteously considered in every court of justice be-
fore sentence is pronounced. These circumstances
may impart a different aspect both to their own con-
duct and to the divine rule under which was permitted
the moral evil that shocks us. Every special trans-
action that comes under review is part of an extended
182 INSPIRATION.
narrative. It has its background, and its foreground,
— a lower morality in the past, and a higher in the
future.
This semi-barbarous people had their moral law.
Whatever may have been its imperfections, it was
gradually but surely regenerative. It was educating
their conscience, although on account of their de-
pressed moral status in a very rude way. They were
in a low form in the school of their divine Teacher,
but they were in, and not outside of, his school.
They were being taught that men were so far above
the brutes that they could recognize a personal God.
They enjoyed the dignity of being persons. They
were also learning that they were morally responsi-
ble, — that there were some things that they might
not do without incurring the displeasure of their
Lawgiver.
And further, if a command issued by a divinely
^y appointed leader is intolerably repulsive to us, it was
not so to them. We who have attained higher forms
in the world-wide schoolroom of the great Instructor
of men, may find occasion in these narratives to bless
him for the results of his wise, pure, and faithful
teaching, in the moral sensibilities that stir our hearts
when we read what horrid things were done by those
of our own race only a few centuries ago, without a
thought of their being evil.
The men whose lives we are contemplating with
aversion were on the ascending grade. They were in
the firm grasp of one who was bearing the race they
represented forward and upward. The results of his
THE FINAL TEST. 183
teaching will appear further on, and its wisdom and
efiectiveness will be fully jiistiiied.
Take for example the butcheries in Canaan under
Joshua. A little while before their historic time,
those who committed them, like those they exter-
minated as wild beasts, would have performed such
cruelties for cruelty's sake. But now, conscience was
being exercised. This was quite a new thing in
the earth. There could have been no such lessons
inculcated in the school of Moloch, Baal, or Astarte.
As reasons for the act, they were told of the gross
corruptions to which these people were addicted.
The subsequent extermination was not the wanton
and unmitigated barbarity it must otherwise have
been. They were taught practically to detest as
horrible and hateful the forms of wickedness that
were branded as evil in their own law.
It is true that lessons of the sacredness of human
life, and of tenderness, pity, and brotherly-kindness
with which we are so familiar, were strikingly absent
here. But these were among the advanced lessons
of the future, which should at last purge the earth
from all its wickedness. Give them time. From
the nature of the case everything cannot be done at
once for men in the moral degradation and imper-
viousness to right impressions from which they were
gradually being rescued.
We thus see what deep and far-reaching principles
lie here. Do not mutilate the Book, nor expunge
even a single page. It may not be very pleasant
reading — quite the opposite. But if we study it
184 INSPIRATION.
carefully, the foulest record has ite indirect moral
uses for all the world. It would be a miserably
superficial thought, — no one in his right senses would
entertain it, — that because such things were done
several thousand years ago under apparent divine
sanction, they were morally right. We are not to
call evil good^ nor good evil^ because something on
the surface of the Bible in early times of moral stu-
pidity seems to obliterate moral distinctions.
' ■ y There might be in the divine rule some temporary
Vi/^ \i ' accommodation to hardness of heart, in view of the
O- fact that softening influences were at work. But bad
is bad, all the world over and for all time, and it
never can be good. We must not suffer the moral
sensitiveness that is the greatest glory of our nature,
and which under the teaching of Christ is becoming
exquisitely true and sound in its judgments, to be-
come blunted by such records of far-off facts and
ethical conditions different from our own.
/(^^^^ jA^-. Let it be conceded that a longtime ago God merci-
yji^v £V!^ fully "overlooked " some things that are unspeakably
UA^ evil. Yet he now commands all men everywhere to
repent of and abjure them. Thank God that we have
become so sensitive to such evil that we shrink from
it with wondering horror through the teaching and
example of our blessed Saviour and the grace of his
transforming Spirit.
We take, then, an enlightened view of the divine
government under the mysteries that formerl^'^ en-
wrapped it. We can look with some leniency at
these men of old, — savage, yet human like ourselves.
THE FINAL TEST. 185
Such might we have heen but fur God's grace. But
when we have regard to the evil itself^ apart from
these extenuating considerations, we condemn it un-
sparingly as its moral enormity deserves. The ruling
that permitted it still stands, as part of the record of
irreversible facts. But we now judge of this ruling
by a later and more perfect divine revelation. As
respects the regulation of our own lives, the former
is abolished and superseded. The holy light in which
we live reveals the true character of the deeds here
described, and for our thought and practice sueh
Scriptui*^ has no authority. Moral offences so un-
speakably evil, we repel and detest under the higher
law and illumination of Christ. That they are in
the Bible need not trouble us in the least.
We repeat then with emphasis our axiom, and
without abatement : Whatsoever in the Old Testa-
ment revelatwn^ or in any prof essed revelation from
God^ is not in accord with the righteousness^ or love,
or purity, or truth, in the words and the life of
Christ, has heen annulled and superseded, and is
practically no revelation for us.
The errancy of Scripture disturbs us no more.
Christ himself is our pattern and law, which can
never fail us. The all-perfect revelation of the glory
of God in the person, life, and instructions of our
divine Redeemer, is like the electric search-light so
important in our modern naval warfare. It dissi-
pates all darkness, and exposes to detestation every-
thing contrary to God and his law in thought, or
word, or deed.
186 INSPIRATION.
It sweeps over the vast spaces that separate ns from
man's first existence upon the earth. No subtle
illusions, no ingenious sophistries, no artful disguises
that error or wickedness may assume, no fog-banks
of falsehood and wrong can withstand its penetrative
gleam.
This light of light illumines all history. Before it
centuries and eons are like moments and hours.
It tests all that the busy brain of man has conceived,
his hands have wrought or his fingers have re-
corded in whatever character or on whatever mate-
rial, whether on parchment or on clay, on brass or on
stone. It is 'living and powerful, and sharper than
any two-edged sword, and piercing to the dividing asun-
der of soul and spirit, of both the joints and the mar-
row, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of
the heart."
Nothing that claims to be sacred may decline its
scrutiny, for nothmg can be more sacred than itself.
N"o prophet, no apostle, no Moses, David, or Isaiah
of the Old Testament, or Paul or John of the N'ew,
would shrink back or cower before this holy light ;
" for every one that doeth the truth cometh to the
light, that his deeds may be made manifest that they
are wrought in God." Even in the writings of these
y it separates the purely human from the divine ; and
in whatever is produced conjointly, it separates the
temporary, partial, and pio visional, as accommodated
to immaturity and incapacity, from that which must
abide in unchanging glory like the years of the Most