THE Spirit of God has breathed afresh upon the Churches of the Old World; and the principle of life is manifesting itself in a two-fold antagonism to the ancient superstition and the modern scepticism of Continental Europe. The new theological school in Geneva, founded in 1831, is an effect and an instrument of that renovation, Its existence was indispensable to the awakened churches of Switzerland; for, the city, church, and school of Calvin had abandoned the vital-principles and facts of Calvin’s religion.

Mr. S. R. L. Gaussen, our author, is Professor of Theology in this Evangelical Institution. He is an accomplished scholar, and an able writer; and we hail the productions of his pen, (several of which are appearing at this moment, in an English dress,) and those of: his esteemed colleague, Mr. Merle D’Aubigné, as the promise to France, that she shall yet recover all, and even more than she lost by the Vandalism, that burned her Protestant citizens and her Protestant literature at the same stake.

Of this work, we merely deem it necessary to say, that it possesses a degree of vivacity, simplicity, and richness, which are but imperfectly represented in the translation. Of its contents, we would make some few remarks, by which the reader may be better prepared to approach the subject, and meet the author as he desires to be met. He does not propose to convince the sceptic; and yet there is much here, on which the doubter may profitably reflect. His great object is, to take the Church off from her present, unsafe, indefensible and enfeebling position, of a mixed, varying and indeterminate inspiration.

He has assumed a bold position, which has to us many of the essential signs of truth; simplicity, precision, consistency with itself and with the declarations of the Bible, and power to establish the mind in firm assurance. It is simple; and in this, is contrasted with that strange, confused, inapplicable theory» so prevalent in the church, in which we are told, that some parts of the Bible are formed by one modus operandi of the Spirit, and others by another; and from which we are left to infer, that some parts are more divine, and others more human—and yet we have no sure guide, when we would fly from the parts that are human, and rest on the pure word of God. Our author’s position is precise—for it does not vascillate in a misty indefiniteness between an inspiration of the men and of their writings, as does the opposite theory. It comes directly to the book as an existence, as a thing, and says of it, this is inspired, all inspired, all equally so, all infallible. It is consistent with itself, for it asserts. that the whole Bible is infallible and perfect; and then forbids human reason to pronounce any passage of the Bible unworthy of the Spirit of God. It is consistent with the Bible; for it admits and asserts that all that is written, (all Scripture) is given by inspiration of God. It is confirming; for he who believes this doctrine, takes up his Bible, saying, this is all true, all important, all worthy of God; not one jot or tittle of it can fail.

Again and again, have we asked, in reading this book, what do our learned writers on Inspiration propose to themselves, by adopting the subtile distinctions borrowed from Jewish Rabbins? There is, we admit, an intrinsic difficulty or mystery in the whole subject of Inspiration. But it respects totally the mode of the Spirit’s influencing the minds of the writers. And if this Jewish theory of Inspiration had been adopted, merely in explanation of the psychology of the case—to inform us how the writers were affected in the composition of different parts of the sacred oracles, we should consider it to be as harmless and useless as a thousand other theories. But when it invades the text itself, and undertakes to classify the passages of the Bible, as partaking more or less of human infirmity, ignorance or sinfulness, then we feel ourselves constrained to differ and to remonstrate. It may be replied, no; we simply propose to guard against exaggeration, and to prevent the exposure of the doctrine of Inspiration to contempt; we find passages manifestly above the reach of human faculties, even for their comprehension, much more for their composition; we find others again, mere recitals of trivial incidents, expressions of ordinary feelings, such as may be seen in a school-boy’s letter to his friends; and we cannot believe that the Spirit of God equally dictated all these passages. Still; we reply with the author, if you merely undertake to speculate upon the state of the minds of the writers, confine your speculations there—but suffer us to return, and tell the people to rely on the fact, that every word of the original text is, in its place, an inspired word—that God secured it there, to make part of an infallible revelation.

A great excellence of this work, is the clearness of its distinction between the inspiration of the men, and that of the book. We believe, indeed, and its author believes, that the writers were inspired; that “holy men of God, were moved by the Holy Ghost,” when they spake. But the fact of their inspiration is one thing, that of the book is another. And the perusal of this work has increased our conviction, that a semi infidelity on a vital point, has crept into the Church; that the sense of the imperfection of the writers has imperceptibly diminished her reverence for the Scriptures.

There is a formidable objection to the theory of Inspiration, to which our author has not replied. His reason for not doing so, is, that he writes for believers, and not for sceptics. Yet, we fear, that many a devout student of the Bible, and many a sincere preacher of its. truths, might discover lurking in his heart, this subtle objection; which, like the unobserved “worm iʼ the bud,” is sometimes hindering a vigorous growth, sometimes corroding vital organs. The objection may be thus stated:—God’s works are all perfect in one sense, and all his teachings are infallible. But the instant he employs man to teach his teachings to other men, there is introduced a new element, which at once destroys perfection and infallibility. This arises from two sources, the imperfection of man, and that of his language. If the conceptions or feelings of a man are employed, they must necessarily limit and mar the divine thought communicated to him. And if man speaks to his fellows, in human language, he must use an imperfect medium, always more or less imperfectly comprehended.

This is the most subtile and imposing of all the objections which have attacked our faith in plenary inspiration. Our ground of defence is here; that God calls his word perfect, that a particle of it shall never fail; that no future changes, no progress of science, no unfolding of the complicated drama of human life shall ever change or modify one shade of its statements. This may not satisfy the unbeliever; yet even he may find a relief from his own dark and chilling speculations, in the fact, that God’s instruments are perfect for his purposes, however unadapted to ours. Nature is an infallible teacher, none can deny; or, in other words, all God’s works are perfect instructors. And this remains true, although men are constantly prone to misinterpret their meaning. It remains true, although men’s senses are imperfect instruments for the reception of truth, and material substances are imperfect media for conveying a knowledge of spiritual truth. “The invisible (spiritual) things of him are clearly seen, being understood by the things (material as well as immaterial,) that are made.”,

It is enough then for us to believe, that he who has made nature a perfect teacher, has made his word so, likewise. And all we oppose, is, the confounding one twig, one leaf, one fibre of this wonderful production of divine goodness, with any thing man has made and marred. If a doubt still remains, because we have not produced an analogy on the main point, the essential imperfection of the language; consider, that you would have no such difficulty, if God were to speak to you by audible words in your own language. The words then and thus spoken, although they had separately come down to you from your rude Saxon ancestors, and although: they are now variously and imperfectly used by men, would never be forgotten by you, never confounded with even the holiest words of the holiest uninspired men. This is the precise impression which we desire to see the Bible produce in all our hearts. _When our eye rests on its page, when its words fall on our ear, let us receive it as the very voice of God.

The whole scope of our book is to secure that effect. And both the subject and the view of it here presented will compensate the devout and the inquiring reader for the time and pains of an attentive perusal. Here is the rock of the Christian’s faith; an inspired communication, an infallible revelation, Here is the life and power of the Christian ministry; they have a voice of God to echo, an infallible “thus saith the Lord,” to form the soul of their oratory and the power of their appeals. We could wish that the subject of inspiration might receive a more earnest attention, in the education of our youth; and especially of our candidates for the holy ministry. There is still too much dependence on mere authority, in training the mind. A consequence of which is, that subtile errorists, seeming to appeal to reason, have power to mislead our young men, who have nothing but the ipse diwit of teachers to oppose to argument. ‘To this mode of creating confidence in the Bible is opposed, that of exhibiting the reasons which have convinced us that the Bible is inspired. Let us deal fairly with the youthful mind, by taking it to points of observation, whence it can see the beautiful, unquestionable signs and seals of a divine origin in the Bible. The best and strongest of these are indeed invisible to “the natural man.” But there are others; and they are sufficient to establish the confidence, even of them who “discern not the things of the Spirit.” Let a part of the instruction of the common-school, the Sunday-school, the Bible-class, the college and the pulpit, be—the inspiration of the “living oracles;’’ let it be repeated, until the evidence of it is clear and brilliant to the mental eye. We do not overrate the importance of this point. The effects of a more earnest and a more general inculcation of this great fact, must soon become apparent, in many ways; from such tilling, under the dews of the Spirit, and the breathings of his “south wind,” would spring the most beautiful and fragrant flowers, the richest and most refreshing fruits. There would be many a negative, but blessed result; the nipping of many a poisonous germ of error in its first budding. Some of our most reckless and blasphemous revilers of the word and doctrines of God, were once under christian culture. How comes it that they can now give themselves to the constant contradiction of the plain statements of that word, to the bold and damnable contempt of the theology and the logic of the Bible? Surely their eyes have never seen in that book, even that which: the “reason unbaptized” may see, of the presence and authority of those who spake from the smoking summit of Sinai, amid terrible glories. Much then may be done, to prevent this fatal scepticism, by a more full and faithful exhibition to those under our instruction, of the great and glorious fact of inspiration, and of the evidence of its reality. Much too may be done to press back the sweeping current of scepticism, by a faithful exhibition of this whole subject, including the incompetence of man to prejudge a Revelation, to dispense with a Revelation, or to provide a substitute for the Bible. There has constantly been, on the one hand, an exalting of human reason to a position where it promises to relieve us from the sense of helplessness; and on the other hand, there has been an equally dangerous tendency to exalt merely human writings to a level with the Scriptures. To meet these two extremes, of having no revelation and too much revelation, our doctrine must be clearly, earnestly presented to the public mind. On this point a great battle is yet to be fought. And then, when the battle waxes hot, and the enemy possesses our entrenchments closely, we shall not be surprised to find the whole out-works of a varied inspiration carried away. We see not how Rome is to be attacked in her fortress of traditions, and apocryphal books, if a part of our very Bible is made up of Paul’s and Peter’s uninspired sayings. You call them indeed, superintended sayings. But you mean, in the very adoption of that term, to express that the Holy Spirit did not give these passages to the apostles, any more than he gave the book of ‘Tobit to its author; that he left them to say in their now way, what they knew before, and what it did not become the Holy Spirit to impart to them. If you do not mean this, you then come to our author’s ground; for he believes fully in the free exercise of every faculty of the sacred writers, just where you do, and as far as you do. He merely goes a step farther, and says, God designed that they should say just what they did say; and he secured their saying it in their own way, but exactly as it should be, even to an iota and a tittle. This is a verbal inspiration. And the book so written, is the word of God, and binds the conscience of the world; and nothing else does so bind it, even though it were the writings of Paul or Peter. This ground must be taken firmly with the apostate church.

And with the infidel, whether he be christian in name, or anti-christian, the sharp sword of a perfect inspiration will be found, at last, indispensable. If he can enter the armory, and take away a single weapon, he may take all; nay, if the ground is conceded to him, that there is a single passage in the Bible that is not equally divine with every other, then we are disarmed; for he will be sure to apply his privilege to the very passages which most fully oppose his pride, passion, and error. How is the conscience of a wicked race to be bound down by a chain, one link of which is weak? How are you going to press on human belief, the unwelcome doctrines of Native and Total Depravity, of the Trinity, of Expiation by the Blood of Christ, of Eternal punishment, of Demons, of Election, of gratuitous Justification, by a Bible which admits of human imperfections in its composition? How are you going to check the audacity that accuses Paul of false logic, when you accuse him of writing something which is not as perfect as it would: have been, had God himself written it? You have entered the sacred temple, and commenced the work of desecration, in your reverential and devout. way; but how can you censure him that enters and imitates your example, after his own fashion, and not after yours? You say, when Paul requested Timothy to bring his cloak, he was not speaking as fully under the Spirit, as when he prophesied of future events, or revealed the doctrine of justification by faith. With precisely as good authority, the other says, when Paul wrote the whole Epistle to the Hebrews, he was left to himself.

To this doctrine do we look for new influences to affect even the ministers of the gospel. We may have inferred too much, from the adoption of the popular theory of, inspiration. But we must believe, that the difference is immense, between a faith that knows not precisely what parts of its Bible are given of God, without an imperfection; and that which plants its trusting footstep, every where in the Bible, upon the rock of a divine declaration, which cannot fail. We presume that there is indeed, in the case of many pious ministers of the gospel, an inconsistency between their theory and their general belief in this matter. They accept the entire Bible as a revelation from God, completely expressive of what he desires that man should be taught, with the exception, that he has not made it all equally divine. And as he has given no certain marks by which we may distinguish such passages, these men would, if consistent with themselves, feel a distrust of the whole Bible. They often, however, avoid this paralyzing doubt, by having settled in their own mind, that certain passages are fully inspired, and by venturing to determine which those passages are. But others, who adopt the theory of a fourfold inspiration, must feel a want of implicit resting on any one passage; as would all, if they were consistent with their theory. Much of the power of preaching depends on the degree of confidence felt by the ambassador of Christ in the perfect truth and the divine authority of every thing he has learned from the Bible, and of every thing he quotes from the Bible, in the sense and connection in which the word of God presents it. If a preacher depends for his theological sentiments, more upon human arguments than upon inspired declarations, it will be a leaven affecting all his ministrations. Faith comes by hearing; but whatever faith he imparts, will be a faith in argument, but not in divine testimony. And we apprehend moreover, that some of the strongest, the sweetest, the most momentous truths of the Bible-are but faintly and rarely exhibited by some good men, from the want of a deep impression that every thing in the Bible is inspired.. It both prevents their searching into those deep sayings, whose meaning is never found, without prayer and earnest study, and yet which most powerfully beat down the unbelief of the heart; it likewise prevents the earnest, cordial and frequent utterance of those awful, stern and overwhelming views of the justice of God, and of the evil nature and consequences of sin, which are the sword of the Spirit for the destruction of pride, self-righteousness, and contempt of the cross.

The progress of piety likewise, is intimately connected with the fulness, clearness and firmness of faith in the inspiration of the Scriptures. We believe with devout thankfulness, that the unlearned children of God have never gone so far as to determine, with their teachers, which passages God gave the apostle, and which he had without Divine aid. They believe in verbal inspiration, without knowing that there is any other kind. Such however, as carry to their Bible-readings this confused impression of four kinds of inspiration on the minds of the sacred writers, must have an unobserved and unreproved vein of unbelief affecting all their communion with the living oracles. When the Christian retires to his private oratory, he seeks the presence of God, and of God alone. He does not want even Paul there. There may be seasons, we admit, when holy men can greatly aid our private devotions; but there are others, when their presence would be an intrusion. And unless the Christian has such hours, in which he is strictly alone with God, he will not cultivate the divine life with much success. But in those holiest hours, he may, he must take the Bible; not however as the book of Moses, of Daniel, of Isaiah or of Paul, but as the book of God. In every line, in every word, he must see only his Father, hear only his Savior. And he should desire no more to think of Paul and David, any farther than their various circumstances and feelings. are employed by God for illustrating truth, than of the man who printed, bound and sold the volume:

But we must ask the patient reader’s forgiveness for this long detention from the author, to whom, and to whose work, it is our privilege now to introduce him.

We intrude still, merely to say that the term Theopneusty and its derivatives, are retained by us, because there is more reason for having a word of Greek, than one of Latin origin, to express a doctrine of the New Testament; and because we have supposed that the Latin word, Inspiration, conveys to every classical scholar something of the pagan notion; and we prefer to have a Scriptural term, with which the true, pure doctrine of the completely divine origin of the entire Bible may be associated.

E. N. KIRK.

New York, March 15, 1842.