to speak secretly. It seems to point at the existence of an inner sense which Divine influence occasionally brings into activity. The same phrase is used of human communications which are secret and confidential. Thus, 1 Sam. xx. 2, 12, 13, "Behold, my father will do nothing either great or small, but that he will uncover mine ear." "Behold, if there be good toward David, and I then send not unto thee and uncover thine ear; the LORD do so and much more unto Jonathan: but if it please my father to do thee evil, then I will uncover thine ear." In xxii. 8, Saul complains that none had told him of Jonathan's friendship with David, "There is none that uncovereth mine ear in my son making league with the son of Jesse, and there is none of you that is sorry for me, or uncovereth mine ear that my son hath stirred up my servant against me." In verse 17, Saul complains that the priests had not given him information of David's flight, "They knew when he fled, and did not uncover mine ear." In Ruth iv. 4, it relates to the suggestion of Boaz to Ruth's kinsman respecting the redemption of the land of Elimelech, "And I said I will uncover thine ear." The phrase, however, in many passages refers to communications from God. 2 Sam. vii. 27, "For thou O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, hast opened the ear of thy servant, saying, I will build thee a house." So 1 Chron. xvii. 25. In Job xxxiii. 16, we have the phrase associated with dream, vision, and deep sleep,

"In a dream, in a vision of the night,
When deep sleep falleth upon men,
In slumberings upon the bed;
Then He openeth the ears of men,
And sealeth their instruction."

In Job xxxvi. 10, 15, it refers to the wholesome effect of trouble when accompanied with God's blessing,

"He openeth also their ear to discipline,

And commandeth that they return from iniquity.

He delivereth the poor in his affliction,

And openeth their ears in oppression."

The use of the phrase in passages of both kinds seems to imply that as a man removes a hindrance when he wishes to speak in the ear of another, so God by His power rouses a latent sense to action when it is His will to make a Revelation.

A similar phrase respecting the eye, is used of Balaam's vision of the angel. (Num. xxii. 31.) "Then the LORD uncovered the eyes of Balaam." And again he describes his state of inspiration thus:

"He hath said, which heard the words of God Which saw the vision of the Almighty

Falling [into a trance], but uncovered as to eyes.

Balaam the son of Beor hath said,

And the man with the eye unclosed hath said.” So Elisha's servant was enabled to see the angelic

protectors of his master. 2 Kings vi. 17, "And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his

eyes, that he may see.

eyes of the young man;

And the LORD opened the

and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha."

The Epistle to the Hebrews refers to "divers manners" of Divine speech. The mode made no essential difference. Whether a Revelation was made in a dream, or in an ecstasy (Acts x. 10; xi. 5; xxii. 17), by a vision, or by a voice, was of small importance, since in any case it was known to the subject that he was receiving communications from God.*

Of God's open operations which come to pass in the Revelation of Himself and His will, two sorts are recorded which are analogous to two sorts of secret operations. These are Divine Speech, which corresponds to God's secret operation in our reason, and Divine Work or Miracle, which corresponds to His secret operation in nature. In this chapter on Revelation in general we have been led to treat chiefly of Divine Speech.

CHAPTER III.

INSPIRATION.

WHEN a Revelation is made, it is done by the co-operation of the Word and the Spirit. He who is revealed is the Word, but the agency of the Spirit is necessary on the mind that receives the revelation. We have seen that Abraham and others must have had made known to them who it was that was speaking to them. And this making known is in Scriptural phraseology the uncovering of the ear, the awakening of the inner sense to a perception of the Word. This Divine energy of the Spirit which accompanies as a condition the revelation of the Word, is called in the Septuagint and in the New Testament pμa word, which is to be carefully distinguished from 4óyos the Personal Word Himself. Thus we read in Rom. x. 17, Sè ȧкon διὰ ρήματος Θεοῦ, that which Isaiah heard and reported was the effect of a Divine energy. This operation of the Spirit on the mind of the re

ceiver of a Revelation may be termed Inspiration.

Again, Inspiration is often relative to Revelation by prophetic intervention. The Revelation dealt with hitherto is immediate, that is, God has revealed Himself and His will to some man without the intervention of another. This kind of Revelation has, however, been vouchsafed only to a few. To the majority of those who have received Revelation at all, it has been conveyed by the intervention of a messenger or prophet. When such an officer is employed, one of two things happens, either the officer receives a revealed message which he is commissioned to deliver-in which case he may be termed a messenger-or else he is put forward under a Divine impulse to represent God, to speak or write in God's name to the people-in which case he is in the strict sense a prophet. In the latter case, the influence under which the prophet speaks or writes is termed Inspiration.

When Moses heard the word of God at the bush, he was commissioned to deliver a message to the Israelites, "Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." (Exod. iii. 14-17.) On the other hand, Balaam, who was willing for a bribe, if possible, to curse Israel, was compelled by Inspiration to bless them. (Numb. xxii. -xxiv.) This instance is peculiarly instructive, as it shows that Inspiration may be completely independent of the character and intention of the person