INSPIRATION.

Strauss says in his Preface to the Life of Jesus, "What we especially want to know is this: — is the Gospel history true and reliable as a whole, and in its details, or is it not?" This is indeed precisely what we want to know, and what it greatly concerns us to know, for if the Gospel history is true and reliable, not only as a whole, but in its details, it is obvious that the destiny of the soul turns upon our acceptance or rejection of its testimony. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him;" "Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye can not come. Then said the Jews, will he kill himself! because he saith. Whither I go, ye can not come. And he said unto them. Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins," (John iii. 36; viii. 21-24).

Let us, then, with all the interest which the momentous importance of the subject demands, and with all the fairness of a calm and dispassionate examination, take up the question presented by Strauss. If it can be shown that the Gospel history has a divine and imperative claim upon our belief, no honest man will reject that claim, however humbling to his pride of intellect, however sharp the conviction it brings that he needs a mighty Saviour to deliver him from ruin, however complete the revolution it demands of his opinions, habits, and associations. If, on the other hand, an impartial and thorough investigation of the subject proves that the New Testament narrative is not worthy of credit, as a whole, or in its details, we must dismiss all thought of a revelation from God other than the displays of His greatness and glory in the works of creation, and be guided by the dim glimmerings of the human mind through the labyrinth of life, or resign ourselves to our dark and inexplicable fate. Nothing more is asked now than a response to the reasonable request of Joshua and of Elijah: "If it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve:" "How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him," (Josh. xxiv. 15; 1 Kings xviii. 21).

None will deny that it is proper to begin our research with the inquiry, what does the Bible say of itself, or what do its writers affirm of its authority? Of course no attempt will be made to prove to a skeptic its inspiration by its own testimony; but even the skeptic will wish to know with what pretensions it comes to us, and whether it asserts that it is only of human origin, or insists that it contains the very word of God. We find that it embraces sixty-six separate books, written at various intervals during a period of about sixteen hundred years, or, as some modern infidels think, a still longer period. It professes to treat of the entire term of man's existence upon the earth, from his creation to the judgment of the great white throne at the close of a thousand years of millennial peace and righteousness. Its authors were of various occupations, as lawgivers, generals, judges, kings, priests, governors, farmers, shepherds, herdmen, fishermen, soldiers, physicians, and tax-gatherers; including every variety of intellectual endowment, and literary attainment, and social position.

Opening this remarkable volume, so unlike any other, we read the equally remarkable statement, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and 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," (2 Tim. iii. 16, 17). The scripture to which reference is here made, as shown in the preceding verse, is contained in the Old Testament, known by Timothy from his childhood, and able, it is added, to make him wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. The scripture is literally writing, and a writing consists of letters and words, not merely of thoughts. What is WRITTEN, therefore, is declared to be inspired of God, and that which is inspired of God is "all SCRIPTURE," embracing all that is written. Or if the sentence should be rendered, as some prefer, "every scripture inspired of God is profitable," this only imparts stronger force to the declaration; for it then links itself to the sacred writings mentioned just before, and affirms of every one of these that it is given by inspiration of God.

"For the prophecy came not in old time [or at any time, as it is in the margin] by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost," (2 Pet. i. 21). A careful examination of the terms prophecy and prophet as employed in the Bible will show that they are not to be limited to the prediction of future events, but prophecy is the revelation of the mind of God in human language, and a prophet is one who utters the words of God, whether they refer to that which is past or yet to come, to doctrine or to duty. Here then it is distinctly asserted that the revelation of God's pleasure and purpose concerning Himself, or concerning His people, or concerning the world at large, came not of old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake, not thought simply, as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

Turning to these men of old time we find David, for example, testifying on his dying bed, "The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word [not His thought only] was in my tongue," (2 Sam. xxiii. 2). Isaiah opens his prophecy by saying, "Hear the word of the Lord," (Isa. i. 10), and twenty times does he declare that his writing was the WORD, not the thought simply, of the Lord. Jeremiah begins by saying, "The word of the Lord came unto me," (Jer. i. 4), and nearly one hundred times does he use this form of expression, or declare that he was uttering the word of the Lord, and the word of the living God. Ezekiel begins by saying, "The word of the Lord came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest," (Ezek. i. 3); "Son of man all my words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart — and tell them, Thus saith the Lord God," (Ezek. iii. 10, 11); and about sixty times in his prophecy he repeats the assertion or its equivalent, announcing that his statements, both as a whole, and in all their details, were to be accepted as the very words of God.

Daniel says, "I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem," (Dan. ix. 2); "and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my face, and my face to the ground," (Dan. x. 9). Hosea says, "The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea," (Hosea i. 1); Joel says, "The word of the Lord that came to Joel," (Joel i. 1); Amos says, "Hear this word that the Lord hath spoken against you," (Amos iii. p; Obadiah says, "Thus saith the Lord God," (Oba. i. 1); Jonah says, "The word of the Lord came unto Jonah," (Jon. i. 1); Micah says, "The word of the Lord that came to Micah," (Mic. i. 1); Nahum says, "Thus saith the Lord," (Na. i. 12); Habakkuk says, "The Lord answered me, and said," (Hab. ii. 2); Zephaniah says, "The word of the Lord which came unto Zephaniah," (Zep. i. 1); Haggai says, "In the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet," (Hag. i. 1); Zechariah says, "In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah," (Zee. i. 1); Malachi says, "The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi," (Mai. i. 1).

Thus do all the writers of old time, who are specially classed as prophets, solemnly affirm without a single exception that the very words contained in their writings are the words of Jehovah. Several hundred years elapsed between the first and the last of these prophets; but in hundreds of instances, and with unvarying testimony, do they declare that they were uttering the words of God, not their own words, in their manifold communications to men. In no instance do they intimate that some of the words they used were suggested by themselves, or learned from human authority, or mingled with the words which God put into their mouths; but they uniformly insist that they were repeating the words of the Lord. One of the latest of them says of his unbelieving countrymen, "They made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts sent in his Spirit by the former prophets," (Zee. vii. 12); and the very latest of them twenty-four times in four brief chapters uses the expression, "Thus saith the Lord."

Nor is the expression by any means confined to the writers particularly distinguished as prophets. It is of constant occurrence in the five books of Moses, in the books known as historical, and in the books included under the general title of the Psalms. In hundreds upon hundreds of verses as any one can easily see by glancing at a good Concordance, we read, "Thus saith the Lord," "The Lord said," "The Lord spake," "The Lord hath spoken," "The Lord promised," "The saying of the Lord," "The word of the Lord;" and thus all the writers of the Old Testament at least claim that the language they used was not their own, but the very language which God commanded them to utter. They do not give the slightest recognition to a doctrine unknown to the Christian Church for a thousand years, an invention of modern times to please infidelity, by which it is supposed that only their thoughts were inspired, or that they were only partially inspired, or that their inspiration was not in equal degree to all, or that they had at one time an inspiration of supervision, at another an inspiration of elevation, at another an inspiration of direction; but they stand or fall upon the bold statement that the words they spoke and wrote were precisely the words God told them to write and speak.

Not only so, but they assure us that men were sometimes forced to utter the words the Lord put into their mouths, when they were unwilling to do His bidding, or unconscious of the scope and significance of their deliverances, or even opposed to the very testimony they were compelled to bear. Thus Moses recoiled from the divine command to stand before the king of Egypt in behalf of the oppressed Hebrews, and exclaimed in his distress, "O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. And the Lord said onto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord"? How therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say," (Ex. iv. 10-12).

"Baalam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; but was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass, speaking with man's voice, forbad the madness of the prophet," (2 Pet. ii. 15,16), said to Balak, "Lo, I am come unto thee: have I now any power at all to say anything? the word that God putteth in my mouth, that shall I speak." Again and again he sought to curse the Israelites, but each time a blessing fell from his lips; and when at length Balak said, "Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all," Balaam answered, "Told not I thee, saying, All that the Lord speak eth, that I must do?" (Num. xxii. 38; xxiii. 26).

"Saul sent messengers to take David: and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as appointed over them, the Spirit of God was upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied. And when it was told Saul, lie sent other messengers, and they prophesied, likewise. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they prophesied also." Then Saul himself determined to go, '^ and the Spirit of God was upon him also, and he went on, and prophesied until he came to Naioth in Eamah. And he stripped oft' his clothes also, and prophesied before Samuel in like manner, and lay down naked all that day, and all that night. Wherefore they say, Is Saul also among the prophets?" (1 Sam. xix. 20-24).

A prophet of Israel invited to his house a prophet of Judah, and while his guest was seated at his table the word of the Lord came unto him and he suddenly cried out, "Thus saith the Lord, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the Lord, and hast not kept the commandment which the Lord thy God commanded thee, but camest back, and hast eaten bread and drunk water in the place of the which the Lord did say to thee, Eat no bread, and drink no water; thy carcase shall not come unto the sepulchre of thy fathers, (1 Kings xiii. 21, 22).

Jeremiah, when informed by the word of the Lord that he was sanctified from his birth and ordained to be a prophet unto the nations, timidly answered, "Ah! Lord God! behold, I can not speak; for I am a child. But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee; and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth," (Jer. i. 6-9).

Caiaphas, who is introduced to us in the gospel of John as high priest of the Jews at the time of Christ's crucifixion, said to the Council, "Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; And not for that nation only, but also that he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad," (John xi. 49-52).

These illustrations, which could be readily increased, are sufficient to show that the writers of the Bible affirm the existence of an inspiration not merely complete and verbal, but an inspiration that soared entirely above the human mind, that often thwarted the human will, and that frequently put into the human mouth words, the meaning of which was wholly unknown to the person who uttered them. Such is the inspiration brought to view from the first of Genesis to the last of Malachi; nor is there a hint that only part of these ancient writings is inspired, or that they are inspired in different degrees. The theory now too commonly held among those professing to be Christians, that we are to look for a partial and variable inspiration in the Scriptures, is a device of man's intellect in these "latter times;" and is never mentioned by the inspired penmen themselves, who in numberless instances represent their relation to the book as that of Amanuenses writing at the dictation of a master.

Let us now turn to the Kew Testament for a moment to see what it says of the holy men of God who "spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." Scarcely have we opened it before we read, "Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet," literally, "by the Lord through the prophet," (Matt. i. 22). The same form of expression frequently occurs, as in Matt. ii. 5, 15, 23; iv. 14; viii. 17; xii. 17; xiii. 35; xxi. 4; xxii. 31; and it always points to God as the source of the declaration that is quoted, and to the prophet as the mere instrument through which it is communicated. When Jesus referred to the Old Testament scriptures He described them as the "Word of God," and declared that "David himself said by the Holy Ghost," (Mark vii. 13; xii. 36). The phrase, "the Scriptures "occurs fifty times in the New Testament and fifty times it is applied exclusively to the books of the two Testaments, showing that the canon was already announced by the sacred writers. They are also called "the oracles of God," and the "lively [or living] oracles of God," (Rom. iii. 2; Acts. vii. 38). As the derivation of the word oracle implies, it is something spoken; and to those who are familiar with the history of the ancient oracles, no term could be employed to set forth more distinctly and positively the plenary inspiration of the Bible, extending to all its language. Over and over through the four Gospels and the Epistles do we find the phrase "God said," or the "Lord said by such a prophet," or the "Holy Ghost said."

As we advance to notice more clearly how the Apostles regarded the ancient scriptures, we have scarcely opened the book containing their Acts when we find Peter saying, "Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake concerning Judas," (Acts i. 16). Here it is said that it was the Holy Ghost who spake, but by or through the mouth of David. In the next chapter we are told the Apostles "were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance," (Acts ii. 4), speaking indeed languages with which they had no previous acquaintance, and showing conclusively the nature of inspiration, as extending to the words that were uttered. Afterward, "they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said. Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is; who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said. Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?" (Acts iv. 24, 25).

But it is needless to multiply quotations of this kind, when the most cursory reading of the New Testament will show that its writers invariably refer to the Old Testament as containing the very word of God. The former is quoted in the latter three hundred times, besides numerous allusions to various passages, and it is always mentioned with the reverence due to the immediate communications of Jehovah's mind and will. The men who were employed to write it are regarded as mere instruments engaged by the sovereign pleasure of a higher power, and not only its thoughts, but its words, and all of its words, or all that was written, Jesus Christ and the Apostles directly ascribe to God, without once intimating a partial, varying, or incomplete inspiration. Hence with them the Old Testament was armed with supreme authority, and its testimony was received as if the voice of the Almighty had just spoken in audible accents. The very doctrines at which infidelity has always cavilled, as a personal devil, the depravity of the human heart, everlasting punishment, the need of cleansing blood, the necessity of faith, and the very narratives at which it has sneered, as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the history of Jonah, are precisely those upon which Jesus placed the sanction of His own endorsement, willing to link His word and veracity to the word and veracity of the Old Testament, whatever the result.

It will not detain us long to determine the character of the inspiration claimed by the writers of the New Testament. As the Master sent forth His disciples for the first time to preach the kingdom of God to the Jews, He said to them, "When they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak; for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you," (Matt. x. 19, 20). Still later, standing in the presence of assembled thousands, He said to His followers, "When they bring you into the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say: for the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say," (Luke xii. 11, 12). Later still in uttering His last woe against Jerusalem He said to them, "When they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate; but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost," (Mark xiii. 11); "Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer: for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist," (Luke xxi. 14, 15). Here then is the distinct promise, not only that they should speak with resistless wisdom, but that He would give them a mouth, or put words into their mouth; for it was not they who should speak, but the Holy Ghost.

Accordingly, Luke the beloved Physician, who was not an Apostle, but the travelling companion of Paul, is careful to inform us at the beginning of the gospel which is called by his name, that his knowledge of the events he is about to relate he received from above. "It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilue, that thou mightest know the certainty of those things wherein thou hast been instructed," (Luke i. 3, 4). Here the words from the very first ought to have been translated from above as it is the same word found in the passage, "the veil of the temple was rent in twain, from the top [or from above] to the bottom," (Matt, xxvii. 51); the same word found in the passage, "He that Cometh from above is above all," (John iii. 31); the same word found in the passage, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above," (James i. 17); "This wisdom descendeth not from above," (James iii. 15); "the wisdom that is from above is fist pure," (James iii. 17). He had a perfect understauding, then, of all things from above, or He wrote as he was moved by the Holy Ghost, that we might know the certainty of those things in which we have been instructed as Christians.

But even if the reading of the English Bible is retained, none will deny the claim of inspiration by Paul with whom he journeyed, and with whose assent and sanction, in connection with the other Apostles, his gospel was sent forth, and the whole canon of the New Testament scriptures was formed. Luke declares it was God who "spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began," (Luke i. 70); and Paul does not hesitate to place himself in the rank of these holy prophets through whose mouth God spake. Nay, he occupies a higher position, in so far as he is made the channel for the communication of an advanced truth, that was not revealed to the earlier prophets. Writing to the Ephesians he tells "of the grace of God, which is given me to you-ward: how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery 5 (as I wrote afore in few words, whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ;) which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel; whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power," (Eph. iii. 2-7).

Yet in this very passage, in which he quietly declares that he is standing beyond the prophets of old time who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, he also says, "Unto me who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ," (Eph. iii. 8). In another place he says, "I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God," (1 Cor. xv. 9); and in still another, he exclaims with emotions of mingled sorrow and joy, of grief in the recollection of the past and of gladness in the knowledge of divine and victorious love, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief," (1 Tim. i. 15). He no longer affirms, as he once asserted that, touching the righteousness which is of the law, he was blameless, (Phil. iii. 6); but he describes himself as the chief of sinners; and still this most contrite and humble of men assigns to his written word all the authority and power that belong to the acknowledged word of God.

Addressing the Corinthians he says, "My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. . . . Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; . . . for who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ," (1 Cor. ii. 4-16); "If I come again, I will not spare; since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, which to you-ward is not weak, but is mighty in you," (2 Cor. xiii. 2, 3). So to the Thessalonians he says, "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 worketh also in you that believe," (1 Thess. ii. 13); "he therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit," (1 Thess. iv. 8).

Thus did this meek and lowly man ever exalt his official word to an equality with the word of God, nor did he shriuk from standing on a level of authority with Him of whom he wrote, "The love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again," (2 Cor. v. 14, 15). This is the man of unswerving devotion to Jesus, who wrote, "Unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband." The Lord Himself had given such a command, when He was upon the earth, (Matt. xix. 6-9). "But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away." The Lord had said nothing about the question here raised; but Paul gave the command, to which unquestioning obedience was due, just as much as if it had proceeded from the mouth of Christ Himself. "As God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk. And so I ordain in all the churches," (1 Cor. vii. 10-17). Is it possible that one who spoke of himself as "less than the least of all saints," as "the least of the apostles," as "the chief of sinners," could establish ordinances for the observance of all the churches, and rise to the height of authority which he ascribed to his divine Redeemer, unless he believed at least that he was infallibly inspired to teach and to command? But the testimony of the apostle Peter leaves no room for doubt concerning the exact place to which his writings are to be assigned. "Account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you; as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things J in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, to their own destruction," (2 Pet. iii. 15, 16). This valuable testimony is conclusive upon two points: first, that all of Paul's epistles were at the time it was given well known to the churches scattered throughout the Roman empire; and, second, that they were to be exalted to the same rank held by the other scriptures, of which Peter says, "the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." In like manner Peter speaks of himself, saying, "This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: that ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of our Lord and Saviour," (2 Pet. iii. 1, 2); thus raising his own written word, and the word of the other apostles, to a level with the authority of the holy prophets, through whose mouth God proclaimed His commands to men.

It only remains to notice the manner in which Jesus Christ, and those who claimed to be the inspired teachers of His gospel and founders of His religion, treated the very letter of the scriptures, that were then regarded as the sacred writings of the Jews. The former, it is said, at the commencement of His public ministry, was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted of the devil. Each temptation He met with the simple but sublime answer, "It is written;" and it is a remarkable fact that the scriptures He cites against the suggestions of Satan are all taken from the book of Deuteronomy, so generally neglected now even by Christians. In His public discourses and private conversations with His disciples, He constantly quoted the scriptures, so that "the Jews marvelled, saying. How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?" and the officers who were sent to arrest Him returned to the chief priests and Pharisees with the exclamation, "Never man spake like this man," (John vii. 15, 46). Frequently His teachings turned upon a single word of the Scriptures; and even amid the agonies of the crucifixion, we find Him calmly surveying the wide and variegated field of ancient prophecy, and, '• that the scripture might be fulfilled," crying out, "I thirst," (John xix. 28). After His resurrection also His mind seemed to be full of the scripture, for He joined the two disciples on their way to Emmaus, "and beginning at Moses, and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself," and on the evening of the same day, appearing to the assembled disciples, "He said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me," (Luke xxiv. 27, 44).

So Paul, who wrote most of the Epistles, often makes a single word from the Old Testament the starting point of a masterly and weighty argument, showing clearly that he regarded the sacred writings as not inspired merely in general, nor in the thoughts of the ancient prophets, nor in different degrees; but in the minutest particulars of all their language. When to this it is added that he and the other apostles exalted their testimony to a position of authority side by side with the holy men of God, who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, some conception may be formed of the claims of the entire Bible to -verbal and complete inspiration, and of the perfect unity that pervades all its parts.

This unity is one of the most marvellous things about the marvellous book. Whatever maybe the alleged discrepancies and inaccuracies with regard to dates, numbers, and the minor details of narratives given by its different writers, the most careless reader can not fail to see that all have one general aim and object, and that there is a wonderful harmony in their doctrinal statements. When we consider that there are about fifty human authors of every time of life from early manhood to old age; of every degree of mental cultivation from illiteracy to all the learning of that period; of every rank from the hut of a fisherman to the palace of a king; of every condition, from the depth of mortal sorrow to the height of earthly felicity — when we consider that the first and the last of these were separated from each other by the interval of at least fifteen hundred years — when we consider that they treated every conceivable subject, visible and invisible, in heaven, in earth, and in hell, the creation of the world, the personality and character of God, providence, history, biography, customs, manners, opinions, travels, all the relations men hold to each other and the duties that spring out of these various relations — the remarkable unity that binds their testimony into one magnificent and overwhelming demonstration of divine truth may well excite the gratitude of the Christian mind, and the astonishment of the skeptical mind.

The same mighty Creator, "infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth," is found everywhere. The same story is told throughout of man's sinfulness, and wretchedness, and need; and from Genesis to Revelation the same central doctrine is taught that "without shedding of blood is no remission." It is a book that subordinates every thing to the idea of God, of whose attributes it speaks with a grandeur of conception and beauty of imagery, which renders cold and tame all the allusions to the Deity made by heathen poets and philosophers. It is a book that utters from first to last a stern and persistent and indignant protest against idolatry and polytheism; and that too in the face of man's inveterate proneness to both, as shown by its own records. It is a book that teaches a code of morals which the natural man scouts as altogether unnatural, or denounces as mean and servile, when it attaches to unexpressed lust and unuttered hatred the crimes of adultery and murder, and enjoins meek submission to insults and injuries. It is a book written by Jews, and preserved and venerated by Jews; and yet that portion of it which they recognize is but the monument of Jewish infamy and shame, in the tremendous charges it brings against them of disobedience, ingratitude, unbelief, and worse than beastly insensibility to the claims of Jehovah, and to their own temporal and eternal interests. It is a book that presents to us the portrait of Jesus of Nazareth, which was surely not the product of Greek, or Roman, or Jewish culture, since no such thought ever entered the mind of any ancient writer known to the world, and no such character could have been conceived, because it was contrary to human experience and observation.

While in all these and many other respects, the Bible is so unique that it fully substantiates the proposition, "it is not such a book as man would have made, if he could; or could have made, if he would," it is still more unique, as already stated, in the perfect agreement of its testimony upon every point of doctrine or duty which it presents. Strauss begins his Life of Jesus by reviewing and setting aside as practically worthless those who had preceded him in their attacks upon the credibility of the Gospel history; but where among the fifty writers of the Bible, do you find one who is in conflict with the others touching any leading truth? It can be easily shown that there is not the slightest inaccuracy of statement, or smallest discrepancy of fact, in their entire productions; yet if it be admitted that they are not always harmonious in the trifling incidents of their narratives, how obvious it is that in their great and important thoughts and It is true that each writer has his own peculiar modes of expression, as we can readily distinguish the style of Isaiah from that of Jeremiah, or the style of Paul from that of John; and that this has been urged as an objection to a verbal or plenary inspiration. But the objection may be met by the simple question, who knows the style of God in the plenitude of His power and wisdom? Not only is it asserted by the writers of the Old Testament that He spoke in innumerable instances to the patriarchs and prophets; but the writers of the New Testament mention at least three occasions when He burst heaven open to speak in articulate utterance concerning His well beloved Son. God therefore can speak, and why can He not speak in the manifold style of those whose tongues and pens He employed to proclaim His words? Sometimes a master hand, by the skillful use of the keys and stops of an organ, can make us hear the moan of the storm, the roar of thunder, the murmur of the surf, the singing of birds; and yet one mind suggests and controls and emits these different sounds. Who will say that the Supreme Mind of the universe may not play and act upon the minds and the mouths of His creatures, without the least disturbance of their individual peculiarities!

How else shall we explain the singular preservation from egregious error of these writers who claim, as has been abundantly proved, a verbal inspiration! If the very words of their writings, and of all their writings, were not given by inspiration of God, it is clear that they uttered a falsehood deliberately and repeatedly. But if this latter supposition is correct, how can we account for the fact that they denounce falsehood and deception in all its forms, and that their writings, if cordially received, at once lift the soul into a higher and nobler life than it has ever known before? If their very words were not inspired, it is obvious that they can be of no practical value to those who are longing and struggling to reach this higher and nobler life; for not only are we accustomed to think in words, and find it impossible to separate words from thoughts, but in the convictions of conscience and yearnings of heart experienced by every awakened sinner, it is of necessity that the mind stay itself upon something more definite and tangible, and stable, than vague and unattainable thoughts. If the thoughts only, and not the words, are inspired, if the thoughts soar to heaven on the wings of omniscience, but the words are dragged down to earth by human frailty, every one must perceive at a glance that we are drifting in an uncertain voyage upon a dark sea; for in the nature of the case nothing but words can form the guide and rule of our conduct; and if only part of the words are inspired, there is evidently no criterion to distinguish the true from the false, except the decisions of our own fallible judgment. One man rejects one part of the Scriptures because it does not commend itself to his acceptance, and another man rejects another portion, until we shall soon have no Bible at all. Hence Strauss properly characterizes Neander's feeble reply to his Life of Jesus as "an irresolute resistance, like that of a garrison half inclined to capitulate, and already under partial promise to surrender." With a single sentence the infidel assailant forever silences the Christian defender when he says, "He treats the Evangelists generally as writing under inspiration, but an inspiration apart from their educational development as men, and regulating, not the historical, but only the religious part of their accounts: as if the historical and the religious were not indissolubly connected," (p. 37).

But, admitting for a moment the correctness of the theory that the four Gospels were not written by their reputed authors, no one will deny that they were written at an age of the world, when the most familiar facts brought to light by modern science were wholly unknown. Errors and mistakes confessedly abound in the works of the greatest authors of antiquity, and in the sacred books of the heathen religions, as those cherished by the Hindoos and Chinese, because they were ignorant of many scientific discoveries with which a school child in Christian lands is acquainted. Such errors and mistakes abound also in the productions of Christian authors who immediately followed the Apostles. Strauss, in his argument against the authenticity of John's Gospel, attaches very little importance to the testimony of Irenaeus, because he says, "The men of old, who saw John the disciple of the Lord, remember to have heard from him how in those times the Lord taught, and said, Days will come when vines shall grow each with 10,000 shoots, and to every shoot 10,000 branches, and to every branch 10,000 tendrils, and to every tendril 10,000 bunches, and to every bunch 10,000 berries, and every berry shall yield when pressed twenty-five measures (about six puncheons) of wine," (p. 89). But the question is, why is nothing of this kind recorded in the writings of John himself?

Again, Clement, mentioned by Paul as his fellow laborer in the Epistle to the Philippians, has left an authentic letter in which he illustrates, or endeavors to prove from analogy, the doctrine of the resurrection. He declares that there is in Spain a bird called the phoenix, which attains the age of six hundred years, and when it finds death approaching, it sets fire to its own nest, leaving only the ashes out of which another bird emerges, and thus it is perpetuated. The same illustration or argument is used by several of the early Christian writers, and similar absurdities and blunders exist in the works of all of them, even of the eloquent Lactantius and the profound and devout Augustine. Why did not Paul say something like this in his sublime discussion of the doctrine of the resurrection?

For the most part the sacred writers were uneducated men of the lowest social rank, totally unacquainted with the schools of learning and the works of philosophers, poets, and orators. They touch upon all topics that affect man's interests in this world or the world to come. Their statements have been subject for nearly eighteen centuries to the severest scrutiny and fiercest criticism j and yet the Christian may calmly and confidently challenge modern science to point to one line or word that is in conflict with known facts. If they speak of the form of the earth, even as far back as the days of Isaiah, 700 years before Christ, or of Job, 1500 years before Christ, they describe it as a globe, (Isa. xl. 22; Job xxvi. 10). If they refer to its position in space, they inform us that it hangs upon nothing, (Job xxvi. 7); and never once do they fall into the error of the Koran, which regards the mountains as created "to prevent the earth from moving, as if with anchors and cables;" never once do they indulge in the folly and puerility of the Shaster. If Jesus alludes to His second coming in the air when His saints shall be caught up in clouds to meet Him, He anticipates the discoveries of modern astronomy, and describes His advent as occurring when it will be night at one part of the earth, early morning at another, and a more advanced hour of the day at another, (Luke xvii. 34-36); and these are but illustrations of the singular accuracy that distinguishes the writings of the Bible from the books of all other religions. Can we fairly and reasonably account for it on any ground except that of divine and plenary inspiration?

Lastly, let us think for a moment of the power and immortality of these writings. Carlyle commences his essay upon Diderot with the remark, "The Acts of the Christian Apostles, on which, as we may say, the world has now for eighteen centuries had its foundation, are written in so small a compass, that they can be read in one little hour. The Acts of the French philosophes, the importance of which is already exhausting itself, he recorded in whole acres of typography, and would furnish reading for a life time." Yet, he might have added, who reads them? Only a few years ago the world was ringing with the noise made by the appearance of Renan's Life of Jesus, and the printing presses were pushed to meet the popular demand for a book, which, its admirers claimed, would overthrow the fabric of Christianity. Who prints the book now, who calls for it, who cares for it! It has passed away like a forgotten romance, while the British and Foreign Bible Society alone has circulated nearly seventy-five million copies of the Scriptures in more than two hundred languages and dialects of our race, and the American Bible Society has sent forth nearly thirty-four million copies, besides the countless copies issued by various publishing houses of Christendom.

The precious book still lives, and the more it is read and studied, the more profound becomes the conviction of those who gaze into its wondrous depths that God is its real author. To such you might as well say that man made the earth, as to say that man made the Bible, for the latter not less distinctly than the former proclaims its divine origin,

"Forever singing as they shine,
The hand that made us is divine."

If you read Strauss carefully, you will receive the impression that he possesses a remarkably clear, logical, and acute mind, and a singular power of critical analysis; but how often will you wish to read his book before you have thoroughly mastered its contents? Once, twice, three times, and then you are done with him, because he can teach you nothing more, and to read it again would be like spending your time in going over the alphabet. Yet you may read the Bible a hundred times, and find something you never discovered before, something new, something fresh, something unutterably sweet at each successive reading. To-night a great multitude which no man can number, of the best, the purest, the most gifted, the most useful of mankind, are hanging over its words with tears of contrition, or with smiles of gladness and of hope. They are walking in the light it throws upon their path that without its radiance would be so dark, they are cheered in their sorrows by its tender assurances, they are guided in their perplexities by its matchless wisdom, and they know that, despite all the attacks of infidelity, they will be sustained on a dying bed by its sweet promises.

Last summer, while tarrying for a few days on the sea coast, my attention was directed to a great rock at some distance from the shore. As the tide came in, or the waves rolled high, it was lost to view; but it was still there, and by and by it lifted its rugged head above the waters, unmoved and unchanged. Again and again have the arguments and objections of infidel science and criticism seemed to rush like angry billows over this blessed book; but after a little while it stood forth as of old in its omnipotent and eternal stability. Men may cavil, or men may rage; "nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure," (2 Tim. ii. 19). "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever: for in the Lord Jehovah is the Rock of ages," (Isa. xxvi. 3, 4).