The word of God opened: Its inspiration, canon, and interpretation considered and illustrated

Front matter

fl i LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.#

|,opj)rigIit fo. .

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. J

Preface

rjlHE writer of this volume has sought to place in the hands of young students, and interpreters of the Bible who are not familiar with the original tongues in which the Holy Scriptures were written, or favored with an easy access to the treasures of sacred criticism which are constantly accumulating, such evidences of the authenticity, genuineness, and general purity of the English version of the Old and New Testaments, arising out of its history and the searching examinations to which it has been submitted, that they may open it with confidence to discover in its revelations the mind of the Spirit. He has sought, also, to set forth and illustrate the nature of its inspiration, the most obvious preliminary studies and preparations for a safe interpretation of its contents, and the most important rules for the guidance of the interpreter in his work. The writer has not proposed fully to enter upon the argument on which rests the confirmed judgment of evangelical Christians upon

PREFACE.

these topics, but to indicate and illustrate the various steps in it, so that the Bible student will be enabled to have a clear comprehension of its nature and force ; and, at his leisure, to turn to the abundant authorities crowding our Christian literature for an exhaustive examination of these questions.

The author has sought constantly to keep in view the great class of teachers just now awakened to earnest inquiry as to the means of meeting the serious requisitions made upon them as interpreters of the word of God to the children of our land, and to prepare his volume in such a way as best to aid them in their work.

He has availed himself of such sources of information as he could secure in the various branches of biblical criticism involved in his work, and has rendered credit to them in the body of the volume. Special aid has been derived from the Hermeneutical Manual of Dr. Fairbairn, and from the admirable works of the same author upon Prophecy and Typology. Valuable suggestions have been gleaned from Alford’s Prolegomena to his Greek Testament, and his interesting work under the title of How to Study the New Testament; from Nast’s General Introduction to the Gospels ; from Prof. Murphy’s Introduction to his Commentary upon Genesis ; from Schaff’s History of the Christian Church; from Westcott’s

PEEFACE.

invaluable Introduction to the Study of the New Testament, and his History of the Canon ; from Horne ; from Davidson ; from Cowper’s Apocryphal Gospels; and from the Boyle Lectures for 1866 on Christ and Christendom by Plumptre. Rev. David Dobie has written a strong, original, and sprightly work upon interpretation, entitled “A Key to the Bible but its rules of interpretation are unnecessarily multiplied, and nearly all of them singularly tend to elaborate from Scripture one modern system of theology. Its illustrations have been of great service to the writer. Prof. M’Lelland’s work upon the Canon and Interpretation of the Scriptures has been laid under contribution for the same purpose ; as also Gaussen upon the Canon. A scientific and comprehensive work upon the Hermeneutics of the New Testament by a Dutch clergyman, Dr. Doedes, has been consulted with profit ; and a late English work by J. Radford Thomson upon Symbols. We owe, and are happy to express, special obligation to Dr. Goulburn for his rich little treatise upon the Devotional Study of the Bible. Much assistance has been rendered by the Hand-Book of the Bible of Angus. The works of Stanley and Milman, and the various Biblical Encyclopaedias and Dictionaries, have been examined, as their valuable contents have offered aid in the work.

PREFACE.

We trust that our labor, which has from first to last been a labor of love, will not be in vain, but that our little volume may become a guide to many young explorers among the hidden mines and treasures of Holy Scripture.

B. K. Peirce.

Riverside Parsonage,

Randall’s Island, March , 1868.

C ONTENTS

CHAPTER L

THE BIBLE.

God revealed by Inspired Men, and by an Inspired Book — In Harmony with the Creation of the World — Light first, and then the Sun — Written Scriptures commence with Moses — Like the Sun and Stars, they become permanent Sources of Bevelation — The same Truth is illustrated in the New Testament Scriptures — Inspired Men first, and then Inspired Books — The Holy Spirit closed the Canon — Error of Edward Irving — Eolly of Spiritualists — The “Inner Light” never superior to the Bible — Bible only Eule of Faith — Necessity for an infallible Eule Page 13

CHAPTER n.

INSPIRATION.

God the Author, Men the Writers, of the Bible — Oldest Volume in the World — Various Authors and Styles — Teachings of all Harmonize — Writers were not acquainted with the Sciences — Used a simple, figurative, and poetic Form of Expression adapted to all Ages — They claim to be Inspired — Established by their Veracity — Human Authorship impossible from nature of Eevelations — Words not necessarily Inspired — Dr. Schaff’s view — Vei-bal Inspiration would require a constant Miracle — Varied forms of Inspiration illustrated — Alford’s view of Inspiration — The Scripture view of Inspiration by Prof. Murphy 19

CHAPTER HI.

THE CANON: ITS GENUINENESS.

Is our English Bible the word of God Eevealed? — Original Language of the Old Testament — Apocrypha — Care taken by the Jews to preserve the Purity of the Scriptures — Philo and Josephus —

Contents

Samaritan Pentateuch — Spread of the Greek Language over Bible Lands — Jews in Egypt — The Septuagint — This Version was used by Christ — The Syriac or Peshito Version — Italic — Origen and his- Version — Jerome — The Vulgate — Its gradual introduction into the Eoman Church — The first book printed — Declared infallible by the Council of Trent — Different Editions of it — Various Versions of the Scriptures — New Testament Canon — First Oral Communications from Inspired Men — Many Eecords were made, all but the Four Gospels have disappeared — Matthew — Characteristics of his Gospel — Mark — His Epistle written under the Sanction of Peter — Evidently the Gospel of an Eye-witness — Luke writes under the direction of Paul — Eesident of Antioch — Sources of his Gospel — Whence account of the Nativity -derived — John wrote last — Call for his Gospel in the false views of Christ prevalent in the Churches

— A marvelous Book, when it is recollected its Human Author was a Fisherman — Paul’s Epistles — Peter affirms them to be Inspired — Testimony of Papias to the Gospels — Iren® us — Tertullian — Justin Martyr — The Sjriac Version — Origen — Pamphilius — Eusebius — Constantine the Great orders fifty Copies of the Septuagint to be prepared by Eusebius and circulated among the Churches — Some Books of the New Testament for awhile held in suspense — Apocryphal Books of the New Testament — Use of them — Character of them

— First English Version by Wiclif — First printed Version by Tyn-

Chapter I, The Bible

OD revealed Himself and his will, at first, to man by inspired men ; “ holy men of God spake as they God revealed by inspired men and by an inspired book.

were moved by the Holy Ghost.” 1 Afterward he caused these revelations to be gathered into an in- book - spired book : “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God.” 2 This course is in wonderful harmony with the di- in harmony vine economy in the creation of the world. Light ^id. of the was formed upon the first day ; “ in the beginning . . . God said, Let there be light.” 3 This light was diffused through chaotic nature, emanating from no local or material fountains : “ and God saw the light that it was good.” It was not until the fourth day that these floods of light were collected into suns and fixed stars, and became ever after the divinelyappointed sources of illumination. “ And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night . . . and the evening and the morning were the fourth day.” 4

THE WORD OF GOD OPENED.

For twenty-five hundred years, until the time of Moses, Written Scrip- religious light was diffused and faint, kindled by Moses. Wlth direct communications of God to favored individuals ; but in his day God began to cause permanent lights, in the form of written Scriptures, to take their lasting places in the moral firmament, to shed their divine beams upon human hearts, and to “ divide the light from the darkness.” Like the sun and stars, they have held their places unmoved,

These lights constantly shedding forth their light over the are permanent. origin, decay, and destruction of human govern-

ments and the proudest works of man : “ Heaven and earth shall pass away,” but these “words” of divine revelation “ shall not pass away.” 5

After the same analogy, the Scriptures of the New Testa- The same ment were given. God spake first by inspired

truth _ illus-

New d Testa- men an 4 by direct communications. The prominent Scup ^ former covenant was, “In the last

days (the times of the Messiah) I will pour out of my Spirit

upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall

prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your

Prophecy of old men dream dreams ; and on my servants and the Messiah's

times. on my handmaidens I will pour out in those

days of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy ;” 6 that is, they shall declare the revelations of God — the Gospel — under the immediate inspiration of the Holy Ghost. 7 This promise was literally fulfilled. At first, upon all that believed,

6 Matt, xxiv, 35. « Acts ii, 17, IS.

7 See Introduction to Study of Holy Scriptures, by Dr. Goulburn, Article B, in Appendix.

THE WORD OF GOD OPENED.

miraculous powers of speaking or specific revelations of truth from the Holy Ghost were bestowed in-

^ This proph-

discriminately, as upon the company of believers ecy fu] lled ' at Pentecost, and afterward 8 upon the Roman centurion and the company collected in his house ; 9 upon the disciples scattered by persecution from Jerusalem, 10 and apparently wherever the apostles first introduced the preaching of the Gospel. The virgin daughters of Philip the evangelist were endowed with this divine gift, 11 and Priscilla united with her husband Aquila, then in Athens, driven by persecution from Rome, in expounding “ the way of God more perfectly ” to the eloquent Apollos, a Jew of Alexandria, himself mighty in the Hebrew Scriptures. 12

But by divine inspiration this diffused light was collected into permanent orbs. God no longer made per- collected in a

. . permanent

sonal revelations of truth to individuals’ minds, form, but directed his chosen instruments to embody, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, 13 such an expression of his truth as he desired to have made to the w r orld. He closed himself the work of inspired revelation with the solemn words,

“If any man shall add unto these things, God The Holy Spirit closed the

shall add unto him the plagues that are written canon, in this book ; and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” 14

In overlooking this truth, so in harmony with the divine i 2 Acts xviii, 24-26. 1 3 John xlv, 26. 1 4 Rev. xxii, IS, 19.

THE WORD OF GOD OPENED.

Error of Ed ward Irving.

processes in the natural world, taught in the Scriptures themselves, and confirmed by the history of the Church, the eloquent and devoted Edward Irving, and his sincere but misguided followers, in England, turned the worship of the sanctuary into a babel of unmeaning sounds, and blasphemously attributed to that Spirit who brought order out of chaos, the awful and insane jargon of tongues which drove every rational worshiper from the house of God.

The same condemnation must be declared against those in • modern times, of a coarser mold, less scholarly, and far less pious, (however sincere some may be, and however bewildered by strange physical phenomena, the laws of which are not clearly understood,) who suppose that they have, or pretend that they have, communication with the world of spirits. They are self-deceived, or their minds are perverted by the devil. God does not reveal his truth in this way, “for God is not the author of confusion, but of peace .” 16

This view of divine truth is opposed to the doctrine of The “inner those who hold that any “inner light ” with Bible? the which they are favored can take the place of the Bible as a rule of life. The Holy Spirit cannot deny himself; and having spoken harmoniously through a long line of chosen men, and having himself closed the canon of inspiration, he will not contradict this revelation in the hearts of believers. “ Thy word,” said the Psalmist more than twenty-eight hundred years ago, before even the Old Testa- 15 1 Corinthians xiv, 33.

THE WORD OF GOD OPENED.

IT ment Scriptures had been closed, “is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path .” 18

The Bible, not as explained by commentators, or held by

any particular branch of the Church, or illus- The Bible the

alone rule

trated by tradition, or confirmed by human jj a $ke. and

reason, but as given by God through the holy men that

wrote its pages, and truthfully interpreted from their lips, is

our infallible rule of faith and practice.

Of the necessity of this great superhuman orb of light,

Dr. Goulburn remarks that it arises from man’s “utter

mental darkness as to his destiny, as to his duties, and

as to his dangers; above all, as to the meth- Necessity for

. this infallible

od in which he must be saved. A revelation ™ie.

upon these points must be made to him by God if his

feet are to be set upon the way that leadeth unto life. That

need is represented by imagining men in a state of natural

darkness, unrelieved save by a few twinkling stars. Let the

faint and feeble ray of these stars represent all the aid which

man can get from what is proudly called the moral sense ;

that is, his innate notions of right and wrong. Can you see

objects by starlight in their true colors? Can you avoid

pitfalls and marshes and stumbling-blocks by starlight ?

Can you do any work effectually by starlight ? or is it not

rather true that we must work while we have sunlight ; and

that when the night cometh no man can work ? In a similar

manner we see not good and evil in their true colors ; we are

ignorant of the tremendous danger of sinful courses, ignorant

of the traps which Satan sets in our way, ignorant of how to

16 Psalm cxix, 105.

THE WORD OF GOD OPENED.

serve God properly, and as he would be served, without instruction from above on these and similar points. We must have light, and this light is called revelation, the revelation under which we live (or Christian revelation) being the clearest and best ever yet vouchsafed to the world.” 17

17 Devotional Study of the Scriptures, p. 184.

THE WORD OF GOD OPENED.

Chapter II Inspiration

IIE Bible claims God as its author, but all its pages were written by human hands, and bear the sig- God the nu-

J 7 ° thnr mpn 1 1 a thor, men tl e nificant marks of the different writers. Its Bible? 3 ° f tLe various books were written at different periods, often with long lapses of time between them. Its first records, the five books attributed to Moses, and called from their number in Greek the Pentateuch, were written more than thirty-three hundred years ago — fifteen hundred years before Christ ; its last book is supposed to have been completed in the year of our Lord one hundred. It was, therefore, during the long period of sixteen hundred years that the work of revelation was going on.

The Bible contains the oldest writings in the world. The most ancient human histories now in existence, B i ble the old _

est volume in

those of Herodotus and Thucydides, were writ- the world, ten a thousand years after the times of Moses. It is composed of sixty-six different books, and was written by, at least, forty different authors. It is generally written in the language of common life, but always in a style various authors and difof commanding simplicity and dignity. Its hu- ferent styles, man authors filled almost every position in life from the humblest to the most exalted. The peculiarities of the writers, their cultivation or lack of it, the times in which

THE WORD OF GOD OPENED.

they lived, the dialect they used, the station they filled, their

gradual advance in divine illumination, are all disclosed hi

the various books forming the completed revelation of the

will of God to man. Some of the books are historical, some

Character of of them summaries of religious rites, some gentbe different

books. ealogical, others dramatical and poetical, and

others still in highly-wrought and sublime figures embody

prophecies stretching through all ages. The wonderful truth

in reference to them all is, that, when thus brought together

Ail harmoni- from so many sources, from so many ages, in so ous in their

teachings. many styles, and composed separately without reference to their final collection in one volume, there should be found throughout them all an absolute harmony in their revelations of the character and purposes of God, of the nature and necessities of man, and of the one great, divine plan of human redemption. Each portion seems to be naturally related to the others, and has an important office to perform in completing the perfect and harmonious scheme.

In every respect, excepting their remarkable knowledge of MMenot Sf- divine truths, the Scripture writers were like science. their neighbors. They had no special knowledge above their fellows as to general science and history. They did not pronounce their revelations in a scientific form. If this had not been the case, Dean Milman 1 remarks, how utterly unintelligible would their words have been to their fellow-men! Conceive of a prophet, or psalmist, or an apostle, endowed with premature knowledge, and talking of the various geological periods in the history of the earth, or 1 History of Jews. Preface to revised edition. Vol. i, pp. 17-19.

THE WORD OF GOD OPENED.

of the planetary system according to the Newtonian laws, instead of simply declaring “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” and speaking of the “ snn going forth as a bridegroom to run his course !” They disclosed the mighty truths of God in the common and ordinarily picturesque and poetic language of the days in which they lived. This form, requiring now careful study and re- Clothed in figflection to apprehend its exact meaning, was guage. lan inseparable from their daily life, and the only common medium for the conveyance of revelation to all ages. In no other form, humanly speaking, would they have struck so deep into the mind and heart of man, or clung to it with such inseverable tenacity. It is as speaking frequently in the noblest poetry, and constantly addressing the imaginative as well as the reasoning faculty of man, that these Scriptures have survived through ages, and have been and are still imperishable when considered only as the work of human minds. As the teachers were men of their age in all but religious advancement, so their books were the books of their age. They were the oracles of God in their divine instructions, while the language in which they were spoken was human, and uttered in a style to be understood by the

half-enlightened people for whose benefit they Revelation ia

thus adapted

were first declared ; and, what is still more sig- t0 a11 a s es - nificant of their divine origin, revealing clearly the same truths in an impressive manner to races of different customs and tongues far advanced in civilization, and familiar with the amazing disclosures of modem science.

Although speaking in their own natural style, and giving

THE WORD OF GOD OPENED.

utterance often to their own personal emotions, or simply

The writers recording events passing under their eyes, the claim to be

inspired. writers claim for themselves and affirm of each other that their records contain the words of God, and are uttered under his inspiration.

In no other way can their unity and harmony be accounted for. “ If the Scriptures are not the word of God,” says Professor Murphy in the introduction to his comments upon Claim to in Genesis, “then the writers of these Scriptures, tabiished by who directly and indirectly affirm their divine

veracity of

the writers. origin are false witnesses ; and if they have

proved mrworthy of credit in this fundamental point, they

can be of no authority on other equally important matters.

But neither before examination, nor after an examination of

eighteen centuries, have we the slightest reason for doubting

the veracity of these men, and their unanimous evidence is

in favor of the divine authorship of the Bible. All that we

have learned of the contents of these books accords with

their claim to be the word of God. The constant harmony

of their statements when fairly interpreted with one another,

Jevektkm ° f with g eneral history, and with physical and

laws. ndtuial metaphysical truth, affords an incontestable

proof of their divine origin. The statements of other early

writers have invariably come into conflict with historical or

scientific truth. But still further, these books communicate

to us matters concerning God, the origin and the future

Human au- destiny of man, which are of vital importance thorship impossible. in themselves, and yet are absolutely beyond the

reach of human intuition, observation, or deduction. It is

THE WORD OF GOD OPENED.

impossible, therefore, for mere human beings, apart from divine instruction and authority, to attest these things to us at all. Hence these books, if they were not traceable ultimately to a divine author, would absolutely fail us in the very points that are essential to be known, namely, the origin of our being, the relation in which we stand to God, and the way to eternal happiness, on which neither science nor history afford us any light. But they yield a clear, definite, and

consistent light and help, meeting the very ask- They meet the . great- wants

mgs and longings ot our souls on these moment- of our nature.

ous topics. The wonderful way in which they convince the

reason, probe the conscience, and apply a healing balm to

the wounded spirit, is in itself an independent attestation to

their divine origin .” 2

The Bible is not a specimen of the style of the Holy Spirit as a writer ; but the different authors expressed The Bible not,

a specimen of

in their own language and by their own illustra- God’s style, tions the ideas poured into their minds from on high. The revelation is perfect and plenary, for it is divine; but the medium is imperfect and exposes its human limitations and weaknesses, and so much the more confirms the divine origin of the truths that are taught. If each word, as words not

necessarily

some teach, was inspired, then the writers were inspired, simply amanuenses, and every book of Scripture, like the Ten Commandments, is a specimen of divine and not human composition. The Son of man was no less a perfect man, hungering, thirsting, sleeping, weeping, because he was the Son of God ; and the Bible, with all its marks of human 2 Commentary on Genesis. By James 8. Murphy, LL.D.

THE WORD OF GOD OPENED.

hands and human weaknesses, is none the less a revelation of

the word and will of God. Says Dr. Schaff, in his “ Ancient

Christianity “ The New Testament presents in its way the

same union of the divine and human natures as the person of

Christ. In this sense also the ‘ word is made flesh and dwells

Dr schaff on amon g us -’ The Bible is thoroughly human

Scripture to (though without error) in contents and form, in Christ’s per-

son - the mode of its rise, its compilation, its preser-

vation, and transmission ; yet at the same time thoroughly divine both in its thoughts and words, in its origin, vitality, energy, and effect, and beneath the human servant-form of the letter the eye of faith discerns the glory of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” 3

Westcott says, in his “Introduction to the Study of the westcott on New Testament:” “The human powers of the inspn ation. divine messenger act according to their natural

laws, even when these laws are supernaturally strengthened. Man is not converted into a mere machine even in the hand of God. . . . The nature of man is not neutralized by the divine agency, and the truth of God is not impaired, but exactly expressed in one of its several aspects to the individual mind.”

If the inspiration were verbal, then a constant miracle would have been required from the beginning to

Verbal inspi-

preserve the purity of the text, and every tran-

stant miracle.

scnber and translator into a new language must necessarily enjoy the same inspiration from the Holy Spirit . 4 8 History of the Christian Church, vol. i, p. 93.

4 Dean Milman presents this objection to what is sometimes called mechanical or verbal inspiration. “ Is it the Hebrew or the Greek Septuagint of which

THE WORD OF GOD OPENED.

But the Holy Spirit has simply acted through men, with divine wisdom revealing its own truths, while they have expressed it in accordance with their natural constitution and abilities. Through all Scripture Christ, the word of God, speaks from first to last, and all Scripture is permanently fitted for our instruction ; “ a true spiritual meaning, eternal and absolute, lies beneath historical, ceremonial, and moral details .” 4

The manner in which inspiration is bestow r ecl, like every other gift of God, is determined by the neces- illustration sities of the case. “ At one time we may picture spiratiom m ’ to ourselves the lawgiver recording the letter of the divine law which he had received directly from God ‘inscribed every sentence, phrase, word, syllable is thus inspired. Every one knows, or ought to know, how much they differ, not only in the sense, hut in omissions and additional passages found in one, not in the other. It will be said, of course, the Hebrew. But the writers of the New Testament, when their citations are verbally accurate, usually quote the Septuagint. For three or four centuries till the time of Jerome, the Septuagint was the Old Testament of the Church. Till Jerome no one of the Christian fathers, except perhaps Origen, knew Hebrew. All this time, then, the Christian world was without the true, genuine, only-inspired Scripture. For above ten centuries more the Church was dependent on the fidelity and Hebrew knowledge of Jerome for the inspired word of God. Luther must have been, in this view, a greater benefactor to mankind than his fondest admirers suppose by his appeal to the Hebrew original, and was Luther an infallible authority for every word and syllable ?” — Preface to History of the Jews, p. 43.

“ What matters it,” says St. Augustine in commenting upon the passage, “ Save, Lord, we perish,” the words and the time of their utterance being variously reported by the evangelists ; “What matters it whether the disciples, in calling on the Lord, really used one or another of these expressions, or some other differing from them all, but still giving the sense that they were perishing, and called on him to save them ?” — How to Study the Neio Testament , Dean Alford,

4 Westcott, p. 444.

THE WORD OF GOD OPENED.

upon tables of stone • or spoken ‘ face to face.’ At another we may watch the sacred historian, unconsciously it may be, and yet freely, seizing on those facts in the history of the past which were the turning-points of a nation’s spiritual progress, gathering the details which combine to give the truest picture of each crisis, and grouping all according to the laws of a marvelous symmetry, which in after-times might symbolize their hidden meaning. Or we may see the prophet gazing intently on the great struggle going on around him, discerning the spirits of men and the springs of national life, till the relations of time no longer exist in his vision — till all strife is referred to the final conflict of good and evil foreshadowed in the great judgments of the world, and all hope is centered in the coming of the Saviour and in the certainty of his future triumph. Another, perhaps, looks within his own heart, and as a new light is poured over its inmost depths, his devotion finds expression in songs of personal penitence and thanksgiving, in confession of sin and declarations of righteousness, which go far to reconcile the mysterious contradictions of our nature. To another is given the task of building up the Church. By divine instinct he sees in scattered congregations types of the great forms of society in coming ages, and addresses to them, not systems of doctrine, but doctrine embodied in deed, which applies to all time, because it expresses eternal truths, and yet specially to each time, because it is connected with the realities of daily life.” 6