SERMON IX.

1 THESS. iv. 8.

He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.

IF you look back to the beginning of the chapter, you will find the apostle reminding these Christians of Thessalonica of the instructions he had given them before; I suppose when he first converted them to the faith; Ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. In chap. i. 5. he says, Our Gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost; it was attended with the demonstration of the Spirit, and of power; accompanied and confirmed by miracles, and divers gifts of the Holy Ghost, and whatever was requisite to produce a full and perfect assent to its truth. In chap. ii. he appeals to their own knowledge and consciences for the power, and efficacy, and success with which he made known unto them the Gospel of God; for yourselves, brethren, know our first entrance in unto you, that it was not in vain : a modest way of reminding them, that the power of an apostle had been shewn among them, and that it had also been effectual in their conversion. For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the word of God, which effectually

SERM. IX. Complete Inspiration of Scripture. 167 worketh also in you that believe. When St. Paul therefore preached this Gospel, it was not the word of men, but the word of God, and the Gospel of God; and the commandments which he gave them, were not his commandments, but commandments which he gave them by and from the Lord Jesus; delivered by his direction, and supported by his authority.

Surely it is no less the word of God when it is written, than when it is spoken. And if the apostle had a divine assistance and direction when he only preached to a particular church or people, there is more reason to expect it in his writings, which were designed to instruct and teach, not that church only, but the whole church of Christ, to the end of the world. The commandments he delivers may be very plain commandments, such as reason itself might be able to suggest. But it is the word of God which gives them their sanction and authority, and establishes them as a law which shall not be broken; and this was revealed to the apostles by the Spirit. A philosopher might dissuade men from uncleanness (though some of them in fact did not) by many arguments, natural and moral. But the apostle says, This is the will of God, and your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication. However obvious or agreeable to reason the commands may be, yet they are only the commandments of men, if they are not enforced by inspiration. They may be good rules of life, and counsels of human prudence ; but divine laws they are not, unless enacted by that one supreme Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. There is an infinite difference in point of authority and obligation between what is from heaven, and what is only of men; the one is human, the

other is divine. Whoever rejects the one, rejects the advice only of a man like himself; but he that despiseth the other, despiseth not man, but God, who gave to them that delivered it his holy Spirit.

In what I have further to say upon the subject, I shall consider,

First, the nature of inspiration.

Secondly, the use and intent of it.

Thirdly, the impious and immoral consequences of despising it: whoever does so, despises not merely man, the instrument, but God, the giver.

I. In considering the nature of inspiration, I design not to enter into any abstruse speculation about the manner how the Spirit of God can act upon, and influence, and enlighten the mind of man. No sober person certainly can pretend that there is any impossibility in the thing, or absurdity in the notion of such an influence. All the world has always believed that one kind of knowledge was communicated in this supernatural way, viz. the knowledge of future events; for all the world, heathen as well as Jewish and Christian, always had a notion and belief of some sort of prophecies, or predictions of things to come. They were far therefore from thinking it impossible or absurd that God, or at least some being superior to man, should give him information in some things, and convey some knowledge to his mind. Whatever becomes of false prophecies, or pretended predictions, St. Peter has justly observed of the true, that prophecy came not in old time, or at any time, by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghosta. Supposing there ever was such a thing as a true pro

a 2 Peter i. 21.

phecy in the world, the assertion is self-evident. For let men be ever so holy, that does not open to them the knowledge of futurity. No man naturally knows the things that shall be after him, especially if they be at some hundreds, and perhaps thousands of years distance. The eye that can penetrate into such a prospect, and discern any thing at so vast a distance, must be strengthened by Him who made it, and enlightened by the Father of lights. Prophecy therefore is the word of God; and the prophets delivered not their own sense, and the thoughts of their own hearts, but spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

And this, as I understand it, is the general notion of inspiration, so far as it concerns the scriptures; it is such a divine impulse and influence on the minds of those who wrote them, as makes what they write to be not the word of men, but the word of God: inspired men, in writing the scriptures, wrote as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. But there are different degrees of this motion of the Holy Spirit, and some had as it were a double portion of it, according as the nature and subject of their writings required. This is the foundation of the distinction between inspiration of suggestion, and inspiration of direction. In the former case the writer knew nothing naturally of what he was about to deliver, but the very matter was suggested to him, and the words themselves sometimes dictated by the Spirit. I don't mean that the Spirit dictated a new language, or furnished him with the invention of words; but only that he guided him in the choice. This was necessary in points of a sublime and ab

struse nature, where an improper expression would defeat the very design of the revelation, and convey an idea different from what was intended. In the latter case, the case of inspiration of direction, the writer might be a competent master of the subject himself, so far as to use, in some measure, his own understanding and judgment, and his own manner of expression; but still there was a divine conduct and superintendency; the Spirit still guided and enlightened his mind, revealing whatever was necessary to be revealed, and preserving him from every material error and mistake. The scriptures contain very different subjects, and consist of different kinds of writing; of prophecies, of doctrines of pure revelation, of history, and morals. And to these different subjects, the different degrees of inspiration were adapted. In the case of prophecy, as was observed before, the writer naturally knew nothing; for men have not by nature the gift of foreknowledge. The predictions therefore which they delivered were communicated to them by divine suggestion, or some immediate divine revelation at least equivalent to it. In doctrines again of pure revelation, which natural reason knows nothing of, the matter itself must be suggested. The writers themselves had no idea or notion of these doctrines, till God had revealed them unto them by his Spirit. What, for instance, could St. John know, considered as a mere mortal, of the sacred and sublime truths with which he opens his Gospel? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. This doctrine was not his, but his that sent him; was not