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LECTURE XII.

THE INSPIRATION OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.

2 TIM. III. 14-17.

But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast_learned them. And that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

man.

WE concluded in the last Lecture the series of arguments for the divine authority of the Christian religion. The Holy Scriptures are proved to contain a revelation from God to We now proceed to consider the aid and guidance of the Holy Spirit afforded to the sacred authors, by which their books are constituted the word of God, the unerring standard of truth, the divinely-inspired writings-or, in the terms of the text, Γραφὴ θεόπνευστη, “ the scripture given by inspiration of God."

We might have conceived, indeed, that no question could have been raised on this topic. As the Christian religion has been proved to be divine, and to have been committed to writing by those who received the revelation and first promulgated it with the attestation of miraculous powers, we might have supposed that no doubt would have existed concerning the character of what they thus wrote. If the Scriptures are the records of the Christian religion, and were written by the apostles, (as we have fully proved,) then, undoubtedly, those records have the same inspiration as the other communications made by the same persons, from the same authority, and on the same great subject. And thus the case was viewed for sixteen or seventeen centuries. The New

Testament was universally considered as the infallible word of God. It is only in modern days that its plenary inspiration has been disputed. Many considerable writers on the evidences of Christianity of late, have satisfied themselves with proving its divine authority generally, but have tacitly, and most inconsistently, given up or denied the infallibility of the books in which it is recorded. They speak of authenticity, veracity, credibility, but not inspiration. Some have limited the assistance of the Spirit to the prophetical parts. Others have extended it to the doctrinal, but excluded the historical. Whilst many have lowered the whole notion of inspiration to a mere aid occasionally afforded to the sacred penmen. Thus the impression left on the minds of their readers has been, that the Bible is authentic indeed, and credible, and contains a revelation from God; but that it was indited by good and pious men only, with little more of accuracy than would belong to them as faithful historians. An intermixture of human infirmity and error is thus by no means excluded; and the Scriptures are considered as the work of fallible writers, doing their best, and entitled in all their main statements to full belief, but not under that immediate and plenary influence of the Holy Spirit, which renders all they write concerning religion the unerring word of God.

The question, therefore, before us is of unspeakable importance.

It is true, that even on the lowest ground that can be taken, the conscience is bound to receive and obey the Scriptures. If they were written only with the same degree of fidelity as ordinary faithful histories, no man could reasonably reject them. The chief facts are so prominent, and the doctrines and duties are so repeatedly and fully detailed, and the whole style and manner are so perspicuous and forcible, that they would guide every sincere inquirer into the way of truth. No man could be misled who came to them honestly for religious instruction.

But still, such is the ignorance and weakness of man, that we must not esteem lightly the declarations of Almighty God as to the infallible inspiration under which the books of Scripture were written. If it be once granted that they are, in the revelation which they communicate, alloyed with error, however small, an opening is made for the admission of every imaginable corruption. For who can guarantee from mistake

even the best and wisest of men, in their conceptions of a religion so new, so mysterious, as that of the Bible, and in the representations they have given of it in their writings? Who is to distinguish their incidental errors, and separate them from the facts and doctrines with which they are interwoven? If the Bible be not divinely inspired throughout, we are still in want of an infallible standard, to which all other books and instructions of every kind may be referred, with which they may be compared, and by which they may be judged.

Here, then, we must make a decided stand.

The question is, In what sense are the Holy Scriptures said to contain a divine revelation? Is it merely because the sacred penmen communicate a revelation received from God, according to their best judgment, and of course with some intermixture of human frailty? Or is it because these penmen communicate a revelation under the superintendence of the Spirit of God, so as to have been preserved from every kind and degree of error relating to the religion, and to have indited books, in the strictest sense of the terms, under the guidance of the Holy Ghost?

Now nothing can be more easy than the determination of this question, because we have arrived at a part of our general argument which admits of an immediate appeal to the sacred writers themselves, and which renders their decisions authoritative and final. A divine revelation they received—a divine authority is at the foundation of all their communications. We have only, therefore, to study the books themselves. We have only to open the pages of the New Testament, and see what is there stated upon the subject. All previous matters have been proved-authenticity, credibility, miraculous works, a prophetical spirit, a propagation of Christianity supported by the immediate interference of God, copious good effects which proclaim the Author from whom they flow. What, then, do the writers of the holy books teach us upon the subject of inspi ration? What can we reasonably infer from the testimony of our Lord and his apostles concerning it?

This is the one simple point which now demands our attention and, in order to settle it,

We appeal to the unquestionable inspiration of the OLD TESTAMENT.

We appeal to the PROMISE which our Lord gave to the apostles, and the GIFTS AND QUALIFICATIONS they received in consequence,

We appeal to THE CLAIMS which the writers themselves made.

We appeal to the testimony of the FIRST CHRISTIANS.

These particulars we shall illustrate in the present Lecture. The consideration of them must draw us into some length, but the whole influence of Christianity, practically speaking, rests on the scriptural adjustment of them, especially in a day like the present.

I. THE INSPIRATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT MAY BE INFERRED FROM THAT OF THE OLD.

1. Need I remind you that our Lord and his apostles most distinctly assert the plenary inspiration of the Old Testament? Need I tell you that they recognize the whole of the canonical writings of the Jews in their threefold division of THE LAW, THE PROPHETS and THE PSALMS, and attest and authorize separately almost every book of each division? Need I remind you that what Moses, for instance, wrote in the Pentateuch is expressly declared by Christ to have been spoken by God himself?" Have ye never read that which was SPOKEN TO YOU BY GOD, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?" Need I remind you that what David wrote in the Psalms is plainly said to have been spoken by the Holy Ghost, to have been written in the Spirit-uttered by the very mouth of God? "The Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake.-How doth David in spirit call him Lord!—Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said," according to the psalmist's own declaration, "the Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue." Need I tell you that the prophet Isaiah is described as speaking under the immediate guidance of the Holy Spirit-"Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet, saying?"

And what does St. Peter teach us universally as to the inspiration of the holy prophets? Does he not distinctly, and in so many words, assert, that what they delivered was by the Spirit of Christ speaking in them; and that they wroteholy men as they were not by their own will or judgment, but as they were guided, borne along, moved by the Holy Ghost? 66 Searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. The prophecy came not in old time by the will of

man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."

And what can be more completely decisive than the language of St. Paul in the text, where, enlarging the terms to the utmost latitude, but undoubtedly having an especial reference to the Old Testament, he declares that "all scripture is given by inspiration of God"-breathed, communicated, inspired in a divine manner into the minds of the sacred writers?

This, then, in fact, determines the whole question. We are inquiring whether the New Testament is divinely inspired. We take it for granted, in this inquiry, that the Old and the New Testament are equally authentic and credible, are of the same divine authority, and equally consist of books written for the instruction and guidance of the church. We next find that the first division is expressly and repeatedly declared to have been written by this divine inspiration. What then follows? Is it not that the second division also was composed under the same guidance? For can it for a moment be imagined that such assistance was given to Moses and the prophets as to make their writings absolutely free from error in every thing that relates to the revelation they contain; and that the evangelists and apostles were left destitute of the same assistance, in their still more important writings?

It is true we have no books of an additional and later dispensation to testify to the inspiration of the New Testament, as the New doth to that of the Old. The case admits not of that particular proof. Nor is it required. The writers of the New Testament brought the same miraculous credentials of their mission, with the penmen of the first Testament. If the credentials, then, of the economy of Moses included that inspired aid by which the Old Testament was written, we may assure ourselves that the case was the same with the credentials of the economy established by the only-begotten Son of the Father.

This consideration acquires greater force, when we recollect that the New Testament dispensation surpasses, in all spiritual privileges and gifts, the Old. "Among them that were born of women, there had not risen a greater than John the Baptist. He was a prophet, yea, and more than a

*The testimony of the first Christians and early fathers will be given hereafter.

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