CHAPTER III.

THAT THE DIVINITY AND SANCTITY OF THE WORD OF GOD IS THE CONSEQUENCE OF ITS CONTAINING AN INTERNAL OR SPIRITUAL SENSE.

IN

N what, let us now ask, does the peculiar divinity and sanctity of the Holy Word consist? By what arguments or reasonings is the indubitable certainty of its truth to be established? and how is it to be distinguished from works of human composition?

These are most vital and momentous inquiries, and cannot be answered without thoughtful reflection and laborious research. In this work I can only profess to offer a few brief and general remarks. Happy shall I be, however, if the reader should be sufficiently interested to follow the principles which are advanced, until it is rationally perceived and acknowledged that the Holy Word, throughout all its inspired pages, teems with the divine "spirit," and is filled with the divine "life" (John vi. 63).21

I would begin by observing, then, at once, that the divinity and sanctity of the Word of God consist in its being an inspired revelation of the divine will and wisdom, from the mouth of the Lord himself; and as these are not apparent in the letter, the Word must contain a heavenly, spiritual sense, which is, as it were, its breathing, living soul.

The spirit of the Word is united with the letter, and pervades every sentence and expression, just as the soul is contained in the body; and as the life of the soul, momentarily derived from God, descends and flows into and animates every corporeal organ, so the divine life of the Lord flows into the minds of humble and prepared believers, as in faith and with affection they read the inspired pages. That world

21 The position that the phrase òλóyos roû | 12.-Henderson's Div. Inspir., 2d ed., n. s., p. Beoù, is never used of the written Word, or 488.) the Revelation of the will of God, contained in the Scriptures, must appear unwarranted to those who impartially and carefully examine the following passages: cxix. Ps., xxx. Prov., 5; vii. Mark, 13; x. John, 35; iv. Heb.,

"The phrase Word of God implies that the [plenarily inspired] Scriptures are God's both in matter and expression.”—(Carson's Theor. of Inspira., pp. 25, 42.)

of wonders, the human frame, consists of forms in endless variety, exactly corresponding with principles and faculties of the mind which inhabit it, and as all the parts and portions of the nervous tissues and muscular fibre are harmoniously combined, and the minutest vessel, the smallest artery and vein, the slenderest and most delicate filament, are one and all required to make up the perfection of the whole; and as each receives its vitalized influx for the sake of some specific usefulness, so each part and expression of the Holy Word is the receptacle of an inward spirit, has its peculiar analogy, its appropriate place, and its distinct use; and contributes to the harmony, the completeness, the divine perfection of the whole.

While, therefore, the letter of the Word, especially in the Old Testament, appears to treat much of natural objects and appearances, the inward sense treats only of spiritual, celestial, and divine realities. The very title, "THE WORD OF GOD," implies a revelation of his existence and nature, his boundless love and wisdom, his infinite purposes and thoughts, together with the existence, the capacities, the responsibility, and the destiny of the human soul, and the infallible doctrines and truths, essentially for man in the relation in which he stands to his great Creator; and the knowledge of which, without such supernatural communications, it were impossible to attain (Job xi. 7, 8). And if this be the real character of the Sacred Writings, they must, in consequence, be full of interior truth and goodness as emanations from the divine mind, yet adapted to the comprehension of men on earth. The Apostle Paul, therefore, declares, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God; "" or, as the

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precise nature or degree of the inspiration affirmed. That portion of the Scripture which is justly denominated the Word of God is es

of the eternal truth which forms a constituent part of the Divine nature. While, therefore, we recognize a general theopneusty, or divine breathing, ascribed by Paul to all the books constituting the Old Testament Scriptures, we still regard this as something incomparably lower than that plenary divine afllatus under which the Word, strictly so called, was written."-Prof. Bush's Reply to Dr. Woods, pp. 31, 32.

"The verb 'is,' which constitutes the whole affirmation, is deficient in the original Greek, and is applied by the English translators as an index to their interpreta-sential divinity itself-a verbal embodiment tion of the passage. The sentence undoubtedly requires a verb somewhere, but the place of its insertion depends upon the judgment of the translator. In the received version it stands in the first clause:- All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, etc.' Baxter, Grotius, Schleusner, and others, render the passage thus: 'All Scripture given by inspiration of God, is also profitable, etc.' The original, I think, will admit, without violence, of either rendering, though inclined myself to regard the common version as more concordant to the Greek idiom than the other. But even thus translated, the theopneusty ascribed to the 'all,' or every 'Scripture,' does not in itself define the

"Every writing divinely inspired [is] also profitable for instruction, for conviction [of error], for recovery [to that which is right], for training up in righteousness." "The venerable Syriac version, whose antiquity is almost, if not quite, Apostolic, reads 'For с

Greek term оAVEUSTOS has been aptly and emphatically translated, "God-breathed," or God-inspired, or divinely inspired (2 Tim. iii. 16, 17), that is, full of the Divine Spirit and the Divine life,-"“ All Scripture divinely inspired of God 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." And the Apostle Peter says, "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is [or cometh] of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved [pɛpoμevo, borne away, carried out of themselves] by the Holy Spirit" (2 Pet. i. 21); or, as Dean Alford renders it, "had utterance from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit." Josephus, the Jewish historian, speaking of the plenarily inspired books of the Old Testament, adds, that they were written according to AVEVSTIά, or the inspiration that comes from God; and Philo, a contemporary Jewish philosopher, calls the Scripture PEOSEST oracles, that is to say, oracles given under the immediate agency and dictation of God.

The ideas of men and angels naturally embody themselves in suitable sounds and expressions-the tones express the sensibilities of the will, and the words reveal the thoughts of the intellect. In this we are images of God, whose voice has spoken in audible terms from most ancient times, as an intelligible dictate,--who wrote on stone tablets the Decalogue, or "ten words,"-and commanded and inspired seers and prophets what to speak and what to write. What are words but symbols of ideas, between which there is the closest correspondence and the most intimate dependence; and as without man's words

every writing which has been written by the Spirit is valuable for instruction,' etc. The Vulgate confirms this interpretation:Omnis, scriptura divinitus inspirata, utilis est ad docendum,' etc."-(Dr. P. Smith's "Testim. to the Messiah," vol. i., p. 27.)

Dr. A. Clarke translates this passage as follows, and is supported by the best authorities.

"The particle xai (and)," he says, "is omitted by almost all the versions, and by many of the Fathers, and certainly does not agree well with the text." "All Scripture given by inspiration of God, is profitable for doctrine," etc.-(Comment. in loc.)

Dr. Wardlaw has rendered it thus: "Every divinely inspired writing is profitable for instruction, conviction, reformation, and education in righteousness." And adds,

that "the first thing affirmed in these words is the plenary inspiration of the Old Testament Scriptures.”—(Introd. to Bishop Hall's Contempl., pp. xii., xiii.)

Professor Stuart renders the first clause, "Every Scripture inspired of God,” or “God inspirited."-(Canon, p. 304.)

It has also been translated by others, "All Scripture divinely inspired of God." And, "Every God-breathed writing." "Theopneustos" has been construed by some with an active signification, of which it appears to be susceptible. It is then rendered, “divinely-breathing;" and it is understood to express the fact that the inspired Word is full of God; that through it as a medium, God breathes forth, or communicates, in human language, his will and wisdom to mankind.

we cannot comprehend his human and finite ideas, so without God's words we cannot understand his infinite and divine ideas. The very language, then, of the Word of God, if indeed He be the Author, must be inspired as well as the ideas.

The words of a man contain only his finite thought and intelligence; and by hearing or reading them, and attending to the sense they are designed to convey, we become more or less acquainted with the prevailing sentiments of a finite mind; but the Word of God has an INFINITE BEING for its author, and eternal purposes to serve; for thus saith the Lord, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isa. lv. 8, 9). Yea, He has moreover solemnly declared, that "HIS NAME is called THE WORD OF GOD" (Rev. xix. 13).23

Whatever, then, may be the appearance of the letter, or the surface of the outward covering, the Holy Word must be designed to accommodate and convey to man, as far as possible, in a way pre cisely adapted to the condition and circumstances of his mind, in all ages, the infinite truth, the perfect intelligence, the unbounded love, and the unchangeable goodness, or, in other words, the divine will and wisdom of the Supreme Being, of which it must be the rich depository. Thus, Divine Revelation could never be designed to instruct us in mere human history or physical science, in the laws of astronomy or the facts of geology, in the elementary constitution of the earth or the political events of empires,-for we acquire all this kini of knowledge in an external way, by the exercise of the outward senses, and without the aid of special inspiration: but must have been designed to instruct man in the subjects and objects of genuine religion,-in spiritual and celestial, yea, divine, wisdom,-in the holy operations of repentance and conversion, of charity and faith, of righteousness and truth; thus, in our duty towards God and our duty towards our neighbor, our regeneration and final salvation. These must have been the objects of Divine Revelation,-the only objects worthy of an all-wise and benevolent Deity. Without such an inspired revelation, thus mercifully adapted to his states and necessities, man could never have known anything concerning his soul, or

23" Among the numerous passages of the New Testament in which the phrase, the Word of God occurs, there is not one in which it signifies the Bible, or in which that

word could be substituted for it without a manifest absurdity."-Thirlwall's Charge, 1863, p. 105.

his eternal life, or even of the existence of God, still less could he have known anything of religion, which is the love of God above all things and his neighbor as himself, and on which revealed commands it is declared by the Lord himself, "hang all the law and the prophets" (Matt. xxii. 37-40); or on which depend all the unspeakable blessings of salvation.

That the Word of God, however, contains faithful historical relations, records which are literally true, prophecies which have been permitted to have a general accomplishment even in the world, and relates true miracles, that an external reverence for its contents, apart from superstition, might be thereby possessed among the most sensual of the human race, is freely and fully accorded. But this, great as are the objects attained, is wholly insufficient to prove that it is a series of books dictated by the immediate inspiration of God.

"Who does not see," says the Rev. S. Noble, in an admirably sustained argument on this subject, "that the difference between compositions that are really the Word of God and the compositions of men must be as great as between the works of God and the works of men? And wherein does the latter difference most remarkably consist? Is it not in the interior organization which the works of God possess, beyond what appears in their outward form? When we look at a picture or a statue, which are among the most exquisite productions of human ingenuity, after we have seen the surface, we have seen the whole: and although there are pieces of curious mechanism, which contain a complication of parts within their outside case, this only carries us one step farther: when we look at any of the parts, we see the whole-the interior texture of the material of which they are composed not being the work of the human artist, but of the Divine Creator. Whereas, when we look at any of the works of his omnipotent hand, beautiful and exact as they are in their outward form, still, the most beautiful and wonderful parts of them are within. Some of these hidden wonders are discoverable to the diligent inquirer by means of dissections and by the aid of glasses: but when the most ingenious investigator has extended his researches into the interior construction of any natural production to the utmost limits that human means can conduct him, he must, if he is a wise man, be convinced, that what he has thus discovered, is, after all, but general and superficial, compared with the greater wonders which still lie concealed within. The most expert anatomist never, for instance, reached the seat of the soul,-still less the principle of consciousness and life