An inquiry into the proofs, nature and extent of inspiration

Part I. Proofs Of Inspiration

Page

§. 1. Proofs requisite for establishing an inspiration of

§. 2. Proofs requisite for establishing an inspiration of Scripture ......... 26

§. 3. External proofs of Scriptural inspiration . . . 30

§. 4. Internal proofs of Scriptural inspiration . . .47

§. 5. Internal proofs that the authors of Scripture performed

testimonial miracles ...... 49

§. 6. Prophecy fulfilled, a proof of inspiration . . .54

§. /• The moral instruction contained in Scripture, a proof

of inspiration ........ 66

§. 8. The omissions of Scripture, a proof of inspiration . . J5 §. 9. Proof of inspiration derived from certain peculiarities in

the Scripture narratives ... . . 81 vi Contents.

Page

§.10. Phraseology of the New Testament, a proof of inspiration ......... 8/

§.11. General remarks on the character of the internal proofs

contrasted with the external . . . . .91

Part II The Nature And Extent Of Inspiration

§. 1. General Remarks ....... 9/

§. 2. The different modes of revelation for receiving which men

have been inspired ....... 99

§. 3. The nature and extent of supernatural qualifications for

receiving a revelation . . . . . .102

§. 4. The different purposes for accomplishing which men

have been inspired . . . . . . .116

§. 5. The nature and extent of supernatural qualifications for

each different purpose . . . . . .124

§. 6. Miraculous improvement of the natural powers . 127

Part III. The Authority Of Scripture

§. 1 . General principles for deciding the authority of any

§. 2. Historical and other statements of facts . . .152

Contents. vii

Page

§.4. The reasoning of Scriptural writers . . . .160

§. 5. Modifications arising from the character of the Mosaic

§. 6. Cautions respecting the application of the foregoing

views 170

§. 7- Uninspired authority 173

Introduction

INSPIRATION is confessedly a difficult subject ; but, much of the difficulty that perplexes it is often of our own making. Never, perhaps, did a sincere, humble-minded Christian, studying the inspired character of Scripture and of the divine agents with no further design than to ascertain whether he has a safe rule of faith and of conduct, fail of comprehending at least enough of the subject for his purpose. Many however enter on the inquiry, not so much with a view to determine the standard of their belief and practice, as to elicit abstract principles of inspiration. Many come, in short, to the oracles of the Most High, not to consult them, but to pry into them — to discover the process and machinery, as it were, by means of which those oracles have been obtained and issued ; and such a speculative

B research affords ample room, we all know, for doubt, contrariety of opinion, and even scepticism about the very existence of inspiration.

It is thus that some refuse to recognise any inspiration of the New-Testament-Scriptures, excepting for the single assertion that Jesus is the Christ. Others again, excluding all the historical portions of the Bible, would limit the sacred character to its doctrinal assertions. It is maintained by some, and denied by others, that inspiration extends to physical facts — to notices respecting profane history — to the style and composition. According to some, the whole of Scripture, matter and language, must be alike of divine authorship ; whilst others find no difficulty in supposing, that God might have committed his extraordinary agency altogether to the uncontrolled and unassisted registry of fallible men.

Nor are the views entertained commonly about the Holy Spirit's influence on the lives and conduct of Christians less various and conflicting. On the one hand, we meet with the most confident assertions of a sensible perception of the workings of that Divine Person on the heart of Christians now ; as if there existed no mark of distinction between this his abiding presence, and the inspiration of apostles and prophets — in other words, as if the temporary provisions of the Almighty for attesting his intercourse with men, had no characteristic whereby they might be known from the permanent provision for our sanctijication and spiritual help. On the other hand many go into an opposite extreme of denying, or (what amounts to the same) of excluding from their calculations about conduct, all view whatever of any immediate and actual interference of the Holy Spirit.

When we reflect on the immense importance of the question at issue — on the place which the doctrine of inspiration occupies in the Christian Religion, and the extent to which our whole view of Revelation must be affected by the notions we form on this subject — such a chaos of opinion, under any circumstances, and at any time, would be a matter of serious consideration. But the aspect of the present times renders it peculiarly so ; and forces the consequences irresistibly on the attention of every reflecting Christian. It is amidst this discordance of doctrine about the foundation principle of all revealed Religion, that a vast and

b2 momentous moral crisis is rapidly approaching — the rise of Education throughout the mass of the People. Amidst pretensions to sensible spiritual communion on the one hand, and a careful avoidance of recognising any divine interposition on the other — amidst theories invented or imported, that would subject the sacred volume to the rules of mere ordinary criticism, opposed only in partial and personal controversy — a large portion of the community, which has been hitherto uneducated, is suddenly roused into free inquiry, and furnished with ability to perceive all that darkens and deforms the subject; but — it must be owned and lamented — not furnished with that spiritual training, which alone enables the inquirer to see his way through it.

It is not tbat the people at large are without any religious and moral instruction — it is not that they have absolutely less now than heretofore — they have probably more. But the progress of spiritual and worldly knowledge is unequal ; and it is this inequality of progress that constitutes the danger. It is a truth which cannot be too strongly insisted on, that if the powers of the intellect be strengthened by the acquisition of science, professional learning, or general literature — in short, secular knowledge, of whatever kind, without being proportionately exercised on spiritual subjects, its susceptibility of the objections which may be urged against Revelation will be increased, without a corresponding increase in the ability to remove them. Conscious of having mastered certain difficulties that attach

to subjects w T hich he has studied, one so educated finds it impossible to satisfy himself about difficulties in Revelation ; Revelation not having received from him the same degree of attention ; and, forgetful of the unequal distribution of his studies, charges the fault on the subject. Doubt, discontent, and contemptuous infidelity, (more frequently secret than avow T ed,) are no unusual results. It seems indeed to have been required of us by the Author of Revelation, that his Word should have a due share of our intellect, as w r ell as of our heart ; and that the disproportionate direction of our talents, no less than of our affections, to the things of this world, should disqualify us for faith. What is sufficient sacred knowledge for an uneducated person, becomes inadequate for him w T hen educated j even as he would be crippled and deformed, if the limb which was strong and well-proportioned when he was a child, should have undergone no progressive change as his bodily stature increased, and he grew into manhood. We must not think to satisfy the divine law, by setting apart the same absolute amount as the tithe of our enlarged understanding, which was due from a narrower and more barren field of intellectual culture.

Nor let it be imagined that this is true only of minds highly gifted, and accomplished in science, elegant literature, or professional pursuits. It is not the absolute amount of worldly acquirements, but the proportion that they bear to our religious attainments, be these what they may, that is to be dreaded. If the balance of intellectual exercise be not preserved, the almost certain result will be, either an utter indifference to religion ; or else, that slow-corroding scepticism, which is fostered by the consciousness, that difficulties corresponding to those that continue to perplex our view of Revelation have, in our other pursuits, been long surmounted and removed.

Inspiration is one of the topics peculiarly exposed to this unfair treatment. The whole question is one concerning facts and views altogether out of the ordinary course of nature and of human affairs ; and the conclusions we arrive at must of course present some few revolting difficulties to a mind that has been thus partially and irregularly trained ; a mind that has been accustomed to dwell, either exclusively or immoderately, on natural causes and effects. " The natural man" (as Paul declares) " receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God ; for they are foolishness unto him : neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned*." And this remark of the apostle does not rest merely on his authority : even one who should deny him any, nay one who should deny Revelation, must admit, that if there were things of the Spirit of God, the natural man was not qualified to receive and know them. To provide such arguments, therefore, or to place the subject in such a point of view, as should secure it a fair examination from all, notwithstanding such impediments, is perhaps impracticable ; and has certainly not been contemplated in the present undertaking. At the same time, there are many persons, on whom the reasoning commonly employed in treating of inspiration, and the display of its claims, would make their due impression ; but for the want of certain links to connect these theological disquisitions with their ordinary habits of thinking and of satisfying their minds on other subjects. To obviate this difficulty has been my aim ; and I have accordingly endeavoured rather to give a survey of the mode in which the subject may be investigated, and of the light in which it should be considered, than a detail of all the arguments and views which it involves.

The leading questions respecting Inspiration are those which relate, first, to the proofs by which it is. in any case, to be established ; secondly, to the nature and extent of its operation ; and thirdly, to the authority which is claimed for it. In this order these several points will be examined.

Part I. Proofs Of Inspiration

§. 1. Proofs requisite for establishing an inspiration of persons.

IN the case of a person claiming to be commissioned with a message from God, the onlyproof which ought to be admitted, is miraculous attestation of some sort. It should be required that either the person himself should work a miracle, or that a miracle should be so wrought in connection with his ministry, as to remove all doubt of its reference to him and his message.

The miracle, in these cases, is, in fact, a specimen of that violation of the ordinary course of nature, which the person inspired is asserting to have taken place in his appointment and ministry ; and corresponds to the exhibition of specimens and experiments, which we should require of a geologist, mineralogist, or chemist, if he asserted his discovery of any natural phenomena — especially of any at variance with received theories. In this latter case it would be not only reasonable to require such sensible proof, but it would be unreasonable to admit the assertion without it — without seeing the experiment or specimen ourselves, or, satisfying ourselves, on the testimony of credible witnesses, that it had been seen by others. Equally unreasonable would it be to admit any person's claim to inspiration, or extraordinary communion with God, without the appropriate test — the " earnest of the Spirit 3 ."

Accordingly, a careful inspection of the records of Revelation will satisfy the inquirer, that God has never, in any age, required credence for his messengers, without first investing them with miraculous credentials — providing them with specimens, as it were, of that extraordinary divine agency, concerning which they were commissioned to make report to mankind. Moses, the a 2 Cor. i. 22. The expression, which signifies part of a sum of money paid down as a pledge that the rest is forthcoming ; is repeated in chap. v. 5. and in the Epistle to the Ephesians, i. 14.

Prophets, our Saviour and his Apostles, all rested their claim to a heavenly commission on the miracles which they performed. " I have greater witness," said our Lord to the Jews, " than that of John ; for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent rae b ;" and again, on another occasion, " the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me c ;" ''if I do not the works of my Father, believe me not : but if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works : that ye may know and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him d :" and lastly, when speaking of their guilt in rejecting his claim, " if I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin e ." St. Paul accordingly represents him as " declared to be the Son of God with power V and always appeals for the reality of his own apostleship to the ' ' demonstration of the Spirit and of powers" The same remark applies to Moses, and to those whom God raised

b John v. 36. c John x. 25. d John x. 37, 38, c John xv. 24. f Rom. i. 4. g 1 Cor. ii. 4.

up after him for the guidance and instruction of the Israelites ; in short, to all his inspired ministers.

There is indeed one passage in Scripture apparently inconsistent with this view ; but so far from being really so, it furnishes, when examined, the strongest confirmation of it. ' ' If there arise among you (declares the law of Moses) a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them ; thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams : for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul h ." It might seem then from these words, that the prophet's doctrine was to be the test of the sign coming from God, not the sign the test of the doctrine being from God. But a very little reflection enables us to explain this. That Israel was to worship Jehovah, and Him alone, was the main principle of the Mosaic Law ; and the divine authority of

h Dent. xiii. 1—3.

this great commandment had been proved, and impressed on the whole people, by a series of public miracles and national interpositions. It was to keep up the habitual impression of this evidence, and the eminent importance of the point attested by it, that the warning was given. The Israelites were reminded that it could not be God's miracle, if it were wrought for the purpose of contradicting that which God had established by so many awful signs and wonders ; and that if supernatural agency ever were exhibited for this purpose, it could only be permitted by God as a trial of their faith in that evidence on which the Law rested 1 . On the same principle, it would seem, our Saviour warned his disciples against certain pretenders who were to arise, and work signs and wonders indeed; but as these signs were to be given in confirmation of assertions opposed

' This will account for the fact, that the Jews admitted the reality of Christ's miracles, and vet disbelieved his assertions. They regarded his case as coming under this provision of their Law, and rested their decision against him, on the charge that his doctrine was opposed to that of Moses. " We are Moses disciples, we know that God spake unto Moses." John ix. 28, 29.

to his, they could not come from the same source as his own miracles 1 '. Hence too he gives them the general rule respecting all pretenders, " by their fruits ye shall know them 1 ." St. Paul, in like manner, tells the Galatians" 1 , that if he himself — if an angel from heaven, were to preach to them a different doctrine from that which he had already preached, they were to hold him accursed. It could not be God's message, it could not be God's miracle, if it contradicted assertions which God had already confirmed by miracle.

This careful inculcation then of a principle, which throughout God's extraordinary dealings with mankind enabled all to distinguish between

k Matt. xxiv. 23, 24. Mark xiii. 21, 22.

1 Matt. vii. 15, 16. To this rule St. John seems to be referring in the fourth chapter of his first Epistle, " Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God : because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God ; every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God : and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of Antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come."

the testimonial miracles of his messengers, and those of impostors, is of itself the strongest argument that the claim to inspiration and the performance of miracles always went together. Belief indeed built on any other foundation would have been credulity ; and to suppose such belief required and commended, would be to suppose that the weakest minds and the most ready to yield to every new impression, were the most eminent for faith.

Miracle, it is to be further observed, must have been requisite, not only to obtain credence from others to the assertion of one inspired, that he was under the extraordinary guidance of God's Spirit ; but also to assure the person himself, that this was so. How else indeed could Moses or Isaiah or Paul have been sure that they were authorized to speak as the oracles of the Most High? How else could they have satisfied themselves that the revealing voice was not some imposition practised on them ? that the holy dream or vision was not the natural results of a disordered mind or body ? that the impression of a divine call to perform miracles and to do God's errand, was more than high wrought enthusiasm and zeal for his honour ?

In truth, so far was the call from always finding the chosen servant ready to anticipate and welcome it, that history represents many, slow to believe themselves called, demanding of the Lord the fullest miraculous asurance of his appointment, and having their request granted. Thus, in the account of Gideon's extraordinary commission to deliver the Israelites from the army of the Midianites, the Spirit of the Lord is said to have come upon him; " And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by my hand, as thou hast said, behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor ; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said. And it was so : for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl-full of water. And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once : Let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece ; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew. And God did so that night : for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground"." The reluctance of Moses again to believe that he would be inspired with eloquence, even after his power to work signs and wonders had been proved to him by the conversion of his rod into a serpent and the infliction and removal of leprosy, is an instance in which it was even carried to an unreasonable extent, inasmuch as it called forth the expression of divine displeasure °.

"Judges vi. 36—40.

° Exod. iv. Whether Zacharias's requisition of a sign from the angel who announced to him the future birth of the Baptist, was of this character also, may be doubted. It was evidently not considered so unreasonable as to be refused ; and yet the angel's words seem to imply that he ought not to have needed the proof, although it was granted. All that he was commissioned to do in consequence of his vision was to call the child's name John ; and the birth of the child, under the existing circumstances, would have been sufficient assurance that the prediction was miraculous, and his commission therefore from God. It was probably then for desiring an earlier sign than was necessary — for being unwilling to wait in humble suspense for the appropriate sign — that an apparent reproof accompanied the miraculous suspension of his speech. See Luke, chap. i.

C

At the same time, it must not be expected, that in all the recorded instances of extraordinary commissions, we should find mention made of the inspired person receiving the miraculous sign of his appointment. It was doubtless only recorded when there was something remarkable about it ; and for the very reason that it was an established and understood feature of the divine agency, it was otherwise omitted in the narrative. The tenor of Scripture however implies it ; and the reasonableness and necessity of the provision is such, as would have entitled us, even on less warrant from Scripture than we have, to assert, that no inspired messenger was ever left to infer his inspiration from the doubtful suggestion of his own feelings.

Both in the case of the person inspired, and of him who is called upon to believe in his inspiration, miraculous evidence will not indeed be superseded by any antecedent probability there may be of divine interposition, but will by that be naturally and fairly the more entitled to examination. On the supposition, for instance, that it was bv God's directions that the Israelites were led into a desert and barren wilderness, which of itself could not support them • the miracles of manna and quails which then attested the divine legation of Moses, are such as we should antecedently expect ; and we therefore listen to the testimony on which they rest with less previous suspicion, than we should, if we were told that the Israelites had been supported miraculously after they were in possession of the promised land. The claims again of Jesus to be the Messiah, ought not, indeed, under any circumstances, to have been admitted, unless he had performed testimonial miracles ; but the claim which his miracles had to attention and candid examination, nay, to an anticipation of their reality, depended on his coming at the time, and under the circumstances, foreshewn by the prophets. The same miracles wrought by the same person (the case of course is a supposed one) either a hundred years earlier, or a hundred years later, would, if known indeed, have forced assent to his assertions; but men would have been justified in refusing to examine the evidence for them. It is well known that the Jews did find a plea that satisfied many who rejected those miracles, in

c 2

20 Proofs of Inspriation.

the supposed inconsistency between their own anticipations of the fulfilment of prophecy, and our Lord's disavowal of a kingly character: and it is evident that they were wrong in so interpreting the prophecy; but not in suspecting the divine character of his miracles, supposing those prophecies to have been rightly interpreted.

The true value of this a priori proof, as it is sometimes called, should be always accurately estimated. It does not supersede the test of miracles, but it makes the difference of miraculous pretensions being examined with suspicion or with favour — of their deserving or not a careful examination. If we contrast, accordingly, the real testimonial miracles wrought by our Lord and his apostles, with the pretended miracles of the Popish saints which are appealed to in attestation of their extraordinary communion with God, we come to the inquiry, fairly and properly, with a presumption against the latter, and in favour of the former — we have more objections to be removed before we could be satisfied of the latter, than stand in the way in the former case.

When therefore in the present day, under circumstances that at least do not warrant us to anticipate manifestations of the Spirit, we find persons regulating their lives and resting their hopes of eternal life on sensations and experiences as- they are termed — making these the index of the presence or the abandonment of the Holy Spirit ; — they should be reminded, that one thing is yet wanting to make their trust accord with the faith of apostles and prophets — the perception of a sensible miracle. To persuade another to act from their suggestions, on the ground that one result of such experiences is a more than ordinary knowledge of God's will, a sensible miracle ought to be wrought for that person's satisfaction; but for the assurance of those themselves who experience these sensations, a testimonial miracle is no less requisite. What was necessary, when Moses, the prophets, and the apostles enjoyed extraordinary communion with God, cannot have been rendered less necessary by any change that has since taken place. I waive, for the present, the question, whether it is accordant with the character of Christianity, considered as the final dispensation, that any extraordinary interposition should now be displayed ; but clearly, if this be ever the case, it cannot be left questionable — it must be in every instance either miraculously proved, or else it must be false.

Is there then, I may be asked, no interposition of God's Holy Spirit, suggesting good and repelling evil ; rescuing men from the influence of sin, and guiding them to repentance and holiness of life ? Are there no longer any miracles of grace ? I do not say this : but, that no sensible evidence accompanies such divine agency, so that we can distinguish it from the workings of our own minds. It should be observed too, (although it is a mere verbal question,) that the spiritual interposition itself, being now the result of an established law of Providence, is no longer properly a miracle ; but if we choose to consider it as such, on the ground that it is an alteration of man's original condition ; it is, at all events, no perceptible miracle. It never was, as far as we know, a perceptible miracle. Sensible proof was granted, in the first establishment of Christianity, to assure the Church of this spiritual assistance ; and the reality of this being once so proved, and impressed generally on the Church, there was no need that the proof shall be continued and perpetually renewed. We are still however compelled to believe, on that same evidence, in the interposition of the Holy Ghost, and to act on the ground of really receiving the benefit of it.

It is much to be feared, however, that many, disgusted at the claims which are made to sensible interposition, do practically discard all view of a real divine interference ; that is, allow it little or no consideration in their plan of conduct. Now to acknowledge the Holy Spirit's assistance in general terms, and yet to allow this belief no influence on any particular actions, is virtually to renounce it, as far as it is a practical principle 11 . If it be the sensible evidence and perception of spiritual assistance that are withdrawn and not the agency itself, are we not failing to exercise that lively faith, that habitual confidence in divine power, which is declared in Scripture to be requisite, for the ordinary no less than for the extraordinary divine agency to be accomplished in us? This is no abstract question of

p See Whately's Ninth Essay on the Difficulties of St. Paul, where many of the topics belonging to this section will be found more fully discussed.

curious and refined theology. It is a question about our daily and hourly wants — our ability to do good and to abstain from evil — our being present with or absent from the Lord — our discipleship to him. Do we regard our discipleship to him now as a mere figure of language ? Are we content to think that he is no Immanuel to us — that he has risen from the grave, and gone w T hither we cannot follow him ? Must disciple after disciple still be heard to say, " Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe?'^ O no! Hear the answ T er which he makes us, " Be not faithless, but believing" — " blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." Never let us wait to have the rebuke of Thomas repeated to each one of us separately — and it may be when it is too late for us to profit by it; let us at once exclaim, " My Lord and my God!"