APPENDIX.

No. I.

[Referred to, in p. 231. of this Volume.]

ON THE INSPIRATION OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.

I. Observations on the Inspiration of the Old Testament. II. And of the New Testament. III. Conclusions derived from these con

siderations.

THE necessity of the divine inspiration of the sacred Scriptures having been stated, and the proofs of that inspiration having been exhibited at considerable length, in the preceding pages, it is proposed in this place to offer to the biblical student a few additional observations on the nature and extent of such inspiration, the introduction of which would have interrupted the chain of argument in the former part of this volume.

I. Inspiration, in the highest sense, is the immediate communication of knowledge to the human mind by the Spirit of God: but, as we have already observed, it is commonly used by divines, in a less strict and proper sense, to denote such a degree of divine influence, assistance, or guidance, as enabled the authors of the Scriptures to communicate religious knowledge to others, without error or mistake, whether the subjects of such communication were things then immediately revealed to those who declared them, or things with which they were before acquainted.

“When it is said, that Scripture is divinely inspired, we are not to understand that God suggested every word, or dictated every expression. From the different styles in which the books are written, and from the different manner in which the same events are related and predicted by different authors, it appears that the sacred penmen were permitted to write as their several tempers, understandings, and habits of life, directed: and that the knowledge communicated to them by inspiration on the subject of their writings, was applied in the same manner as any knowledge acquired by ordinary means. Nor is it to be supposed that they were even thus inspired in every fact which they related, or in every precept which they delivered. They were left to the common use of their faculties, and did not, upon every occasion, stand in need of supernatural communication; but whenever, and as far as divine assistance was necessary, it was always afforded. In different parts of Scripture we perceive, that there were different sorts and degrees of inspiration. God enabled Moses to give an account of the creation of the world; Joshua to record with exactness the settlement of the Israelites in the land of Canaan; David to mingle prophetic information with the varied effusions of gratitude, contrition, and piety; Solomon to deliver wise instructions for the regulation of human life; Isaiah to deliver predictions concerning the future Saviour of mankind; and Ezra to collect the sacred Scriptures into one authentic volume: but all these

worketh that one and the self-same spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. (1 Cor. xii. 11.) In some cases, inspiration only produced correctness and accuracy in relating past occurrences, or in reciting the words of others; in other cases, it communicated ideas not only new and unknown before, but infinitely beyond the reach of unassisted human intellect; and, sometimes, inspired prophets delivered, for the use of future ages, predictions which they did not themselves comprehend, and which could not be fully understood till they were accomplished. But whatever distinctions are made with respect to the sorts, degrees, or modes of inspiration, we may rest assured that one property belongs to every inspired writing, namely, that it is free from error, that is, any material error. This property must be considered as extending to the whole of each of those writings, of which a part only is inspired; for it is not to be supposed that God would suffer any such errors, as might tend to mislead our faith or pervert our practice, to be mixed with those truths, which he himself has mercifully revealed to his rational creatures as the means of their eternal salvation. In this restricted sense it may be asserted, that the sacred writers always wrote under the influence, or guidance, or care, of the Holy Spirit, which sufficiently establishes the truth and divine authority of all Scripture."

That the authors of the historical books of the Old Testament were occasionally inspired, is certain, since they frequently display an acquaintance with the counsels and designs of God, and often reveal his future dispensations in the clearest predictions. But though it is evident that the sacred historians sometimes wrote under the immediate operation of the Holy Spirit, it does not follow that they derived from Revelation the knowledge of those things, which might be collected from the common sources of human intelligence. It is sufficient to believe, that by the general superintendance of the Holy Spirit, they were directed in the choice of their materials, enlightened to judge of the truth and importance of those accounts from which they borrowed their information, and prevented from recording any material error. Indeed, the historical books (as we have already shown at considerable length 1) were, and could not but be, written by persons, who were for the most part contemporary with the periods to which they relate, and had a perfect knowledge of the events recorded by them; and who in their descriptions of characters and events (of many of which they were witnesses) uniformly exhibit a strict sincerity of intention, and an unexampled impartiality. Some of these books, however, were compiled in subsequent times from the sacred annals mentioned in Scripture as written by prophets or seers, and from those public records, and other authentic documents, which, though written by uninspired men, were held in high estimation, and preserved with great care by persons specially appointed as keepers of the genealogies and public archives of the Jewish nation. It is not necessary to be able to distinguish the inspired from the uninspired parts of the historical books of the Old Testament. It is enough for us to know, that every writer of the Old Testament was inspired, and that the whole of the history it contains, without any exception or reserve, is true. These points being ascertained and

1 See pp. 138-156. supra.

allowed, it is of very little consequence, whether the knowledge of a particular fact was obtained by any of the ordinary modes of information, or whether it was communicated by immediate revelation from God; whether any particular passage was written by the natural powers of the historian, or by the positive suggestion of the Holy Spirit. Whatever uncertainty may exist concerning the direct inspiration of any historical narrative, or of any moral precept, contained in the Old Testament, we must be fully convinced that all its prophetical parts proceeded from God. This is continually affirmed by the prophets themselves, and is demonstrated by the indubitable testimony which history bears to the accurate fulfilment of many of these predictions; others are gradually receiving their accomplishment in the times in which we live, and afford the surest pledge and most positive security for the completion of those which remain to be fulfilled.

II. If the books of the Old Testament, which relate to the partial and temporary religion of the Jews, were written under the direction and superintendance of God himself, surely we cannot but conclude the same of the books of the New Testament, which contain the religion of all mankind. The apostles were constant attendants upon our Saviour during his ministry: and they were not only present at his public preaching, but after addressing himself to the multitudes in parables and similitudes, when they were alone he expounded all things to his disciples. (Mark iv. 34.) He also showed himself alive to the apostles, after his passion, by many infallible proofs, being seen by them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. (Acts i. 3.) Yet our Saviour foresaw that these instructions, delivered to the apostles as men, and impressed on the mind in the ordinary manner, would not qualify them for the great work of propagating his religion. It was, therefore, promised, that the Holy Ghost should not only bring all things to their remembrance, which the apostles had heard from their divine Master: but he was also to guide them into ALL TRUTH, to teach them ALL THINGS, and to abide with them for ever. (John xiv. 16, 17. 26. xvi. 13, 14.)

The truth into which the Holy Spirit was to lead them, means undoubtedly, all that truth which, as the apostles of Jesus Christ, they were to declare unto the world. It does not mean natural, mathematical, or philosophical truth, and it would be absurd to refer the language of our Lord to either of these. But it means Christian truth, the truth which they were to teach mankind, to make them wise and holy, and direct them in the way to heaven through our Lord Jesus Christ. The apostles knew something of this truth already, but they did not know it perfectly. They were ignorant of some things, and mistaken as to others. But the Spirit was to guide them into all truth. No branch of it was to be kept from them. They were to be led into an acquaintance with religious truth in general; with the whole of that religious truth which it was necessary for them to teach, or for men to know. Must they not then have been preserved from error in what they taught and declared? The Spirit was to teach them all things. Not the things of the natural or civil world, but those things of the Gospel which they were as yet unacquainted with. And if the Holy Spirit taught them all things respecting Christianity, which they did not already know, then there

was nothing in what they declared of the Christian system, but what they had received, either from his teachings, or from the instructions of Christ which were of equal validity, or from the evidence of their senses which could not deceive them; so that they must be preserved from error or mistake concerning it.

The Spirit was also to bring all things to their remembrance, that Christ had said unto them. Their memories were naturally like those of other men, imperfect and fallible; and amidst the numerous things, which their Lord had said and done amongst them, some would be forgotten. But the Spirit was to assist their memories, in such a manner, that they should have a perfect recollection of whatsoever Christ had said to them. This assistance of the Spirit implied, not merely recalling to the view of their minds the things which Christ had spoken, but also the enabling them to understand those things rightly, without that confusion and misapprehension, which Jewish prejudices had occasioned in their ideas when they first heard them. Unless they were led into such a perfect understanding of the things they were enabled to remember, the bare recollection of them would be of little use, nor would the Spirit act according to his office of leading them into all truth, unless they were enabled by his influences, properly to understand the truths which Christ himself had taught them.

The Holy Spirit, under whose teaching they were to be thus instructed, was to abide with them for ever, as the Spirit of truth, guiding them into all truth, teaching them all things respecting the doctrine of Christ, which they were to communicate to the world. These important promises of the effusion, assistance, direction, and perpetual guidance of the Spirit with the apostles, were most certainly fulfilled, in all their extent and meaning. They were promises given by Christ himself the great and chief prophet of the church; and to entertain a doubt of their most complete accomplishment, would be to impeach the veracity and mission of the Son of God, and to admit a supposition, that would strike at the truth of Christianity in general. From this examination therefore, of the nature, extent, and fulfilment of our Lord's promises, concerning the gift of the spirit to the apostles, does it not necessarily follow, that, in addition to what they previously knew of Christianity, they were led under the teachings of the Spirit, into a perfect acquaintance with it; and that through his constant inhabitation and guidance, they were infallibly preserved in the truth, and kept from error in declaring it to mankind? The Spirit of truth guided them into all truth, and abode with them for ever.

It is material to remark that these promises of supernatural instruction and assistance plainly show the insufficiency of common instruction, and the necessity of inspiration in the first teachers of the gospel, and we are positively assured that these promises were accurately fulfilled. Of the eight writers of the New Testament, Matthew, John, James, Peter, and Jude, were among these inspired preachers of the word of God: and therefore, if we admit the genuineness and authenticity of the books ascribed to them, no reasonable doubt can be entertained of their inspiration. Indeed, if we believe that God sent Christ into the world to found an universal religion, and that by the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost he empow

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