Inspiration

In the following article, John Ryle write about the divine inspiration of 
all 66 books of the Bible.

May God bless,
Carl
my website -- http://www.nettally.com/saints/
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Inspiration
by J.C. Ryle

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God." [2 Tim 3:16]

How was the Bible written?-"Whence is it? From heaven, or of men?"-Had the

writers of the Bible any special or peculiar help in doing their work?-Is 
there anything in the Bible which makes it unlike all other books, and 
therefore demands our respectful attention? These are questions of vast 
im****tance. They are questions to which I wish to offer an answer in this 
paper. To speak plainly, the subject I propose to examine is that deep
one, 
the inspiration of Scripture. I believe the Bible to have been written by 
inspiration of God, and I want others to be of the same belief.

The subject is always im****tant. I place it purposely in the very
forefront 
of the papers which compose this volume. I ask a hearing for the doctrines

which I am about to handle, because they are drawn from a book which is
the 
"Word of God." Inspiration, in short, is the very keel and foundation of 
Christianity. If Christians have no Divine book to turn to as the warrant
of 
their doctrine and practice, they have no solid ground for present peace
or 
hope, and no right to claim the attention of mankind. They are building on
a 
quicksand, and their faith is vain. We ought to be able to say boldly, "We

are what we are, and we do what we do, because we have here a book which
we 
believe to be the "Word of God."

The subject is one of peculiar im****tance in the present day. Infidelity
and 
scepticism abound everywhere. In one form or another they are to be found
in 
every rank and class of society. Thousands of Englishmen are not ashamed
to 
say that they regard the Bible as an old obsolete Jewish book, which has
no 
special claim on our faith and obedience, and that it contains many 
inaccuracies and defects. Myriads who will not go so far as this are 
wavering and shaken in their belief, and show plainly by their lives that 
they are not quite sure the Bible is true. In a day like this the true 
Christian should be able to set his foot down firmly, and to render a
reason 
of his confidence in God's Word. He should be able by sound arguments to 
meet and silence the gainsayer, if he cannot convince him. He should be
able 
to show good cause why he thinks the Bible is "from heaven, and not of
men."

The subject without doubt is a very difficult one. It cannot be followed
up 
without entering on ground which is dark and mysterious to mortal man. It 
involves the discussion of things which are miraculous, and supernatural, 
and above reason, and cannot be fully explained. But difficulties must not

turn us away from any subject in religion. There is not a science in the 
world about which questions may not be asked which no one can answer. It
is 
poor philosophy to say we will believe nothing unless we can understand 
everything! We must not give up the subject of inspiration in despair 
because it contains things "hard to be understood." There still remains a 
vast amount of ground which is plain to every common understanding. I
invite 
my readers to occupy this ground with me today, and to hear what I have
got 
to say on the Divine authority of God's Word.

In considering the subject before us, there are two things which I propose

to do:-

I. In the first place, I shall try to show the general truth, that the
Bible 
is given by inspiration of God.

II. In the second place, I shall try to show the extent to which the Bible

is inspired.

I trust that all who read this paper will take up the subject in a serious

and reverent spirit. This question of inspiration is no light one. It 
involves tremendously grave consequences. If the Bible is not the Word of 
God and inspired, the whole of Christendom for 1800 years has been under
an 
immense delusion; half the human race has been cheated and deceived, and 
churches are monuments of folly.-If the Bible is the Word of God and 
inspired, all who refuse to believe it are in fearful danger;-they are 
living on the brink of eternal misery. No man, in his sober senses, can
fail 
to see that the whole subject demands most serious attention.

I. In the first place, I propose to show the general truth,-that the Bible

is given by inspiration of God.

In saying this, I mean to assert that the Bible is utterly unlike all
other 
books that were ever written, because its writers were specially inspired,

or enabled by God, for the work which they did. I say that the Book comes
to 
us with a claim which no other book possesses. It is stamped with Divine 
authority. In this respect it stands entirely alone. Sermons, and tracts, 
and theological writings of all kinds, may be sound and edifying, but they

are only the handiwork of uninspired man. The Bible alone is the Book of 
God.

Now I shall not waste time in proving that the Scriptures are genuine and 
authentic, that they were really written by the very men who profess to
have 
written them, and that they contain the very things which they wrote. I 
shall not touch what are commonly called external evidences. I shall bring

forward the book itself, and put it in the witness box. I shall try to
show 
that nothing can possibly account for the Bible being what it is, and
doing 
what it has done, except the theory that it is the Word of God. I lay it 
down broadly, as a position which cannot be turned, that the Bible itself,

fairly examined, is the best witness of its own inspiration. I shall
content 
myself with stating some plain facts about the Bible, which can neither be

denied nor explained away. And the ground I shall take up is this,-that 
these facts ought to satisfy every reasonable inquirer that the Bible is
of 
God, and not of man. They are simple facts, which require no knowledge of 
Hebrew, or Greek, or Latin, in order to be understood; yet they are facts 
which prove to my own mind conclusively that the Bible is superhuman, or
not 
of man.

(a) It is a fact, that there is an extraordinary fullness and richness in 
the contents of the Bible. It throws more light on a vast number of most 
im****tant subjects than all the other books in the world put together. It 
boldly handles matters which are beyond the reach of man, when left to 
himself. It treats of things which are mysterious and invisible,-the soul,

the world to come, and eternity, depths which man has no line to fathom.
All 
who have tried to write of these things, without Bible light, have done 
little but show their own ignorance. They grope like the blind; they 
speculate; they guess; they generally make the darkness more visible, and 
land us in a region of uncertainty and doubt. How dim were the views of 
Socrates, Plato, Cicero, and Seneca! A well-taught Sunday scholar, in this

day, knows more spiritual truth than all these sages put together.

The Bible alone gives a reasonable account of the beginning and end of the

globe on which we live. It starts from the birthday of sun, moon, stars,
and 
earth in their present order, and shows us creation in its cradle. It 
foretells the dissolution of all things, when the earth and all its works 
shall be burned up, and shows us creation in its grave. It tells us the 
story of the world's youth; and it tells us the story of its old age. It 
gives us a picture of its first days; and it gives us a picture of its
last. 
How vast and im****tant is this knowledge! Can this be the handiwork of 
uninspired man? Let us try to answer that question.

The Bible alone gives a true and faithful account of man. It does not 
flatter him as novels and romances do; it does not conceal his faults and 
exaggerate his goodness; it paints him just as he is. It describes him as
a 
fallen creature, of his own nature inclined to evil,-a creature needing
not 
only a pardon, but a new heart, to make him fit for heaven. It shows him
to 
be a corrupt being under every cir***stance, when left to himself,-corrupt

after the loss of paradise,-corrupt after the flood,-corrupt when fenced
in 
by divine laws and commandments, corrupt when the Son of God came down and

visited him in the flesh,-corrupt in the face of warnings, promises, 
miracles, judgments, mercies. In one word, it shows man to be by nature 
always a sinner. How im****tant is this knowledge! Can this be the work of 
uninspired minds? Let us try to answer that question.

The Bible alone gives us true views of God. By nature man knows nothing 
clearly or fully about Him. All his conceptions of Him are low,
grovelling, 
and debased. What could be more degraded than the gods of the Canaanites
and 
Egyptians,-of Babylon, of Greece, and of Rome? What can be more vile than 
the gods of the Hindus and other heathen in our own time?-By the Bible we 
know that God hates sin. The destruction of the old world by the flood;
the 
burning of Sodom and Gomorrah; the drowning of Pharaoh and the Egyptians
in 
the Red Sea; the cutting off the nations of Canaan; the overthrow of 
Jerusalem and the Temple; the scattering of the Jews; all these are 
unmistakable witnesses.-By the Bible we know that God loves sinners. His 
gracious promise in the day of Adam's fall; His longsuffering in the time
of 
Noah; His deliverance of Israel out of the land of Egypt; His gift of the 
law at Mount Sinai; His bringing the tribes into the promised land; His 
forbearance in the days of the Judges and Kings; His repeated warnings by 
the mouth of His prophets; His restoration of Israel after the Babylonian 
captivity; His sending His Son into the world, in due time, to be
crucified; 
His commanding the Gospel to be preached to the Gentiles, all these are 
speaking facts.-By the Bible we learn that God knows all things. We see
Him 
foretelling things hundreds and thousands of years before they take place,

and as He foretells so it comes to pass. He foretold that the family of
Ham 
should be a servant of servants,-that Tyre should become a rock for drying

nets,-that Nineveh should become a desolation,-that Babylon should be made
a 
desert-that Egypt should be the basest of kingdoms, that Edom should be 
forsaken and uninhabited,-and that the Jews should not be reckoned among
the 
nations. All these things were utterly unlikely and improbable. Yet all
have 
been fulfilled. Once more I say, how vast and im****tant all this knowledge

is! Can this Book be the work of uninspired man? Let us try to answer that

question.

The Bible alone teaches us that God has made a full, per feet, and
complete 
provision for the salvation of fallen man. It tells of an atonement made
for 
the sin of the world, by the sacrifice and death of God's own Son upon the

cross. It tells us that by His death for sinners, as their Substitute, He 
obtained eternal redemption for all that believe on Him. The claims of
God's 
broken law have now been satisfied. Christ has suffered for sin, the just 
for the unjust. God can now be just and yet the justifier of the ungodly.
It 
tells us that there is now a complete remedy for the guilt of sin,-even
the 
precious blood of Christ; and peace, and rest of conscience for all who 
believe on Christ. "Whosoever believeth on Him shall not perish, but have 
eternal life." It tells us that there is a complete remedy for the power
of 
sin,-even the almighty grace of the Spirit of Christ. It shows us the Holy

Ghost quickening believers, and making them new creatures. It promises a
new 
heart and a new nature to all who will hear Christ's voice, and follow
Him. 
Once more I say, how im****tant this knowledge is! What should we know of
all 
this comfortable truth without the Bible? Can this Book be the composition

of uninspired men? Let us try to answer that question.

The Bible alone explains the state of things that we see in the world
around 
us. There are many things on earth which a natural man cannot explain. The

amazing inequality of conditions,-the poverty and distress; the oppression

and persecution,-the shakings and tumults,-the failures of statesmen and 
legislators,-the constant existence of uncured evils and abuses,-all these

things are often puzzling to him. He sees, but does not understand. But
the 
Bible makes it all clear. The Bible can tell him that the whole world
lieth 
in wickedness; that the prince of the world, the devil, is everywhere,-and

that it is vain to look for perfection in the present order of things. The

Bible will tell him that neither laws nor education can ever change men's 
hearts,-and that just as no man will ever make a machine work well, unless

he allows for friction,-so also no man will do much good in the world, 
unless he always remembers that human nature is fallen, and that the world

he works in is full of sin. The Bible will tell him that there is "a good 
time" certainly coming,-and coming perhaps sooner than people expect it,-a

time of perfect knowledge, perfect justice, perfect happiness, and perfect

peace. But the Bible will tell him this time shall not be brought in by
any 
power but that of Christ coming to earth again. And for that second coming

of Christ, the Bible will tell him to prepare. Once more, I say, how 
im****tant is all this knowledge!

All these are things which men could find nowhere except in the
Scriptures. 
We have probably not the least idea how little we should know about these 
things if we had not the Bible. We hardly know the value of the air we 
breathe, and the sun which ****nes on us, because we have never known what
it 
is to be without them. We do not value the truths on which I have been
just 
now dwelling, because we do not realize the darkness of men to whom these 
truths have not been revealed. Surely no tongue can fully tell the value
of 
the treasures this one volume contains. Set down that fact in your mind,
and 
do not forget it. The extraordinary contents of the Bible are a great fact

which can only be explained by admitting its inspiration. Mark well what I

say. It is a simple broad fact that, in the matter of contents, the Bible 
stands entirely alone, and no other book is fit to be named in the same
day 
with it. He that dares to say the Bible is not inspired, let him give a 
reasonable account of this fact, if he can.

(b) It is another fact that there is an extraordinary unity and harmony in

the contents of the Bible, which is entirely above man. We all know how 
difficult it is to get a story told by any three persons, not living 
together, in which there are not some contradictions and discrepancies. If

the story is a long one, and involves a large quantity of particulars,
unity 
seems almost impossible among the common run of men. But it is not so with

the Bible. Here is a long book written by not less than thirty different 
persons. The writers were men of every rank and class in society. One was
a 
lawgiver. One was a warlike king. One was a peaceful king. One was a 
herdsman. One had been brought up as a publican, another as a physician, 
another as a learned Pharisee, two as fishermen,-several as priests. They 
lived at different intervals over a space of 1500 years; and the greater 
part of them never saw each other face to face. And yet there is a perfect

harmony among all these writers? They all write as if they were under one 
dictation. The style and hand-writing may vary, but the mind that runs 
through their work is always one and the same. They all tell the same
story. 
They all give one account of man,-one account of God,-one account of the
way 
of salvation,-one account of the human heart. You see truth unfolding
under 
their hands as you go through the volume of their writings,-but you never 
detect any real contradiction, or contrariety of view.

Let us set down this fact in our minds, and ponder it well. Tell us not
that 
this unity might be the result of chance. No one can ever believe that but
a 
very credulous person. There is only one satisfactory account to be given
of 
the fact before us.-The Bible is not of man, but of God.

(c) It is another fact that there is an extraordinary wisdom, sublimity
and 
majesty in the style of the Bible, which is above man. Strange and
unlikely 
as it was, the writers of Scripture have produced a book which even at
this 
day is utterly unrivalled. With all our boasted attainments in science and

art and learning, we can produce nothing that can be compared with the 
Bible. Even at this very hour, in 1877, the book stands entirely alone. 
There is a strain and a style and a tone of thought about it, which
separate 
it from all other writings. There are no weak points, and motes, and
flaws, 
and blemishes. There is no mixture of infirmity and feebleness, such as
you 
will find in the works of even the best Christians. "Holy, holy, holy," 
seems written on every page. To talk of comparing the Bible with other 
"sacred books" so called, such as the Koran, the Shasters, or the book of 
Mormon, is positively absurd. You might as well compare the sun with a 
rushlight,-or Skiddaw with a molehill,-or St. Paul's with an Irish
hovel,-or 
the ****tland vase with a garden pot,-or the Kohinoor diamond with a bit of

glass.1 God seems to have allowed the existence of these pretended 
revelations, in order to prove the immeasurable superiority of His own
Word. 
To talk of the inspiration of the Bible, as only differing in degree from 
that of such writings as the works of Homer, Plato, Shakespeare, Dante,
and 
Milton, is simply a piece of blasphemous folly. Every honest and 
unprejudiced reader must see that there is a gulf between the Bible and
any 
other book, which no man can fathom. You feel, on turning from the 
Scriptures to other works, that you have got into a new atmosphere. You
feel 
like one who has exchanged gold for base metal, and heaven for earth. And 
how can this mighty difference be accounted for? The men who wrote the
Bible 
had no special advantages. They lived in a remote corner of the civilized 
earth. They had, most of them, little leisure, few books, and no 
learning,-such as learning is reckoned in this world. Yet the book they 
compose is one which is unrivalled! There is but one way of accounting for

this fact. They wrote under the direct inspiration of God.

(d) It is another fact that there is an extraordinary accuracy in the
facts 
and statements of the Bible, which is above man. Here is a book which has 
been finished and before the world for nearly 1800 years. These 1800 years

have been the busiest and most changeful period the world has ever seen. 
During this period the greatest discoveries have been made in science, the

greatest alterations in the ways and customs of society, the greatest 
improvements in the habits and usages of life. Hundreds of things might be

named which satisfied and pleased our forefathers, which we have laid
aside 
long ago as obsolete, useless, and old-fa****oned. The laws, the books, the

houses, the furniture, the clothes, the arms, the machinery, the carriages

of each succeeding century, have been a continual improvement on those of 
the century that went before. There is hardly a thing in which faults and 
weak points have not been discovered. There is scarcely an institution
which 
has not gone through a process of sifting, purifying, refining,
simplifying, 
reforming, amending, and changing. But all this time men have never 
discovered a weak point or a defect in the Bible. Infidels have assailed
it 
in vain. There it stands,-perfect, and fresh, and complete, as it did 
eighteen centuries ago. The march of intellect never overtakes it. The 
wisdom of wise men never gets beyond it. The science of philosophers never

proves it wrong. The discoveries of travellers never convict it of 
mistakes.-Are the distant islands of the Pacific laid open? Nothing is
found 
that in the slightest degree contradicts the Bible account of man's 
heart.-Are the ruins of Nineveh and Egypt ransacked and explored? Nothing
is 
found that overturns one jot or tittle of the Bible's historical 
statements.-How shall we account for this fact? Who could have thought it 
possible that so large a book, handling such a vast variety of subjects, 
should at the end of 1800 years, be found so free from erroneous
statements? 
There is only one account to be given of the fact.-The Bible was written
by 
inspiration of God.

(e) It is another fact that there is in the Bible an extraordinary 
suitableness to the spiritual wants of all mankind. It exactly meets the 
heart of man in every rank or class, in every country and climate, in
every 
age and period of life. It is the only book in existence which is never
out 
of place and out of date. Other books after a time become obsolete and 
old-fa****oned: the Bible never does. Other books suit one country or
people, 
and not another: the Bible suits all. It is the book of the poor and 
unlearned no less than of the rich and the philosopher. It feeds the mind
of 
the labourer in his cottage, and it satisfies the gigantic intellects of 
Newton, Chalmers, Brewster, and Faraday. Lord Macaulay, and John Bright,
and 
the writers of brilliant articles in the Times, are all under obligations
to 
the same volume. It is equally valued by the converted New Zealander in
the 
southern hemisphere, and the Red River Indian in the cold north of
America, 
and the Hindu under the tropical sun.

It is the only book, moreover, which seems always fresh and evergreen and 
new. For eighteen centuries it has been studied and prayed over by
millions 
of private Christians, and expounded and explained and preached to us by 
thousands of ministers. Fathers, and Schoolmen, and Reformers, and
Puritans, 
and modern divines, have incessantly dug down into the mine of Scripture, 
and yet have never exhausted it. It is a well never dry, and a field which

is never barren. It meets the hearts and minds and consciences of
Christians 
in the nineteenth century as fully as it did those of Greeks and Romans
when 
it was first completed. It suits the "Dairyman's daughter" as well as 
Persis, or Tryphena, or Tryphosa,-and the English Peer as well as the 
converted African at Sierra Leone. It is still the first book which fits
the 
child's mind when he begins to learn religion, and the last to which the
old 
man clings as he leaves the world.2 In short, it suits all ages, ranks, 
climates, minds, conditions. It is the one book which suits the world.

Now how shall we account for this singular fact? What satisfactory 
explanation can we give? There is only one account and explanation.-The 
Bible was written by Divine inspiration. It is the book of the world, 
because He inspired it who formed the world,-who made all nations of one 
blood,-and knows man's common nature. It is the book for every heart, 
because He dictated it who alone knows all hearts, and what all hearts 
require. It is the book of God.

(f) Last, but not least, it is a great fact that the Bible has had a most 
extraordinary effect on the condition of those nations in which it has
been 
known, taught, and read.

I invite any honest-minded reader to look at a map of the world, and see 
what a story that map tells. Which are the countries on the face of the 
globe at this moment where there is the greatest amount of idolatry, or 
cruelty, or tyranny, or impurity, or misgovernment, or disregard of life
and 
liberty and truth? Precisely those countries where the Bible is not 
known.-Which are the Christian countries, so-called, where the greatest 
quantity of ignorance, superstition, and corruption, is to be found at
this 
very moment? The countries in which the Bible is a forbidden or neglected 
book, such countries as Spain and the South American States.-Which are the

countries where liberty, and public and private morality have attained the

highest pitch? The countries where the Bible is free to all, like England,

Scotland, Germany, and the United States. Yes! when you know how a nation 
deals with the Bible, you may generally know what a nation is.

But this is not all. Let us look nearer home. Which are the cities on
earth 
where the fewest soldiers and police are required to keep order? London, 
Manchester, Liverpool, New York, Philadelphia,-cities where Bibles 
abound. -Which are the countries in Europe where there are the fewest 
murders and illegitimate births? The Protestant countries, where the Bible

is freely read.-Which are the Churches and religious bodies on earth which

are producing the greatest results by spreading light and dispelling 
darkness? Those which make much of the Bible, and teach and preach it as
God's 
Word. The Romanist, the Neologian, the Socinian, the deist, the sceptic,
or 
the friends of mere secular teaching, have never yet shown us one Sierra 
Leone, one New Zealand, one Tinnevelly, as the fruit of their principles.
We 
only can do that who honour the Bible and reverence it as God's Word. Let 
this fact also be remembered. He that denies the Divine inspiration of the

Bible, let him explain this fact if he can.3

I place these six facts about the Bible before my readers, and I ask them
to 
consider them well. Take them all six together, treat them fairly, and
look 
at them honestly. Upon any other principle than that of divine
inspiration, 
those six facts appear to me inexplicable and unaccountable. Here is a
book 
written by a succession of Jews, in a little corner of the world, which 
positively stands alone. Not only were its writers isolated and cut off in
a 
peculiar manner from other nations, but they belonged to a people who have

never produced any other hook of note except the Bible! There is not the 
slightest proof that, unassisted and left to themselves, they were capable

of writing anything remarkable, like the Greeks and Romans. Yet these men 
have given the world a volume which for depth, unity, sublimity, accuracy,

suitableness to the wants of man, and power of influencing its readers, is

perfectly unrivalled. How can this be explained? How can it be accounted 
for? To my mind there is only one answer. The writers of the Bible were 
divinely helped and qualified for the work which they did. The book which 
they have given to us was written by inspiration of God.4

For my own part, I believe that in dealing with sceptics, and unbelievers,

and enemies of the Bible, Christians are too apt to stand only on the 
defensive. They are too often content with answering this or that little 
objection, or discussing this or that little difficulty, which is picked
out 
of Scripture and thrown in their teeth. I believe we ought to act on the 
aggressive far more than we do, and to press home on the adversaries of 
inspiration the enormous difficulties of their own position. We have a
right 
to ask them, how can they possibly explain the origin and nature of the 
Bible, if they will not allow that it is of Divine authority? We have a 
right to say,-"Here is a book which not only courts inquiry but demands 
investigation. We challenge you to tell us how that Book was written."-How

can they account for this Book standing so entirely alone, and for nothing

having ever been written equal to it, like it, near it, or fit to be 
compared with it for a minute? I defy them to give any rational reply on 
their own principles. On our principles we can. To tell us that man's 
unassisted mind could have written the Bible is simply ridiculous. It is 
worse than ridiculous it is the height of credulity. In short, the 
difficulties of unbelief are far greater than the difficulties of faith.
No 
doubt there are things "hard to be understood" if we accept the Scriptures

as God's Word. But, after all, they are nothing compared to the hard
things 
which rise up in our way, and demand solution if we once deny inspiration.

There is no alternative. Men must either believe things which are grossly 
improbable, or else they must accept the great general truth that the
Bible 
is the inspired Word of God.

II. The second thing which I propose to consider is the extent to which
the 
Bible is inspired. Assuming, as a general truth, that the Bible is given
by 
Divine inspiration, I wish to examine how far and to what degree its
writers 
received Divine help. In short, what is it exactly that we mean when we
talk 
of the Scriptures as "the Word of God"?

This is, no doubt, a difficult question, and one about which the best 
Christians are not entirely of one mind. The plain truth is that
inspiration 
is a miracle; and, like all miracles, there is much about it which we
cannot 
fully understand.-We must not confound it with intellectual power, such as

great poets and authors possess. To talk of Shakespeare and Milton and
Byron 
being inspired, like Moses and St. Paul, is to my mind almost profane.-Nor

must we confound it with the gifts and graces bestowed on the early 
Christians in the primitive Church. All the Apostles were enabled to
preach 
and work miracles, but not all were inspired to write.-We must rather
regard 
it as a special supernatural gift, bestowed on about thirty people out of 
mankind, in order to qualify them for the special business of writing the 
Scriptures; and we must be content to allow that, like everything 
miraculous, we cannot entirely explain it, though we can believe it. A 
miracle would not be a miracle, if it could be explained. That miracles
are 
possible, I do not stop to prove here. I never trouble myself on that 
subject until those who deny miracles have fairly grappled with the great 
fact that Christ rose again from the dead. I firmly believe that miracles 
are possible, and have been wrought; and among great miracles I place the 
fact that men were inspired by God to write the Bible. Inspiration, 
therefore, being a miracle, I frankly allow that there are difficulties 
about it which at present I cannot fully solve.

The exact manner in which the minds of the inspired writers of Scripture 
worked when they wrote, I do not pretend to explain. Very likely they
could 
not have explained it themselves. I do not admit for a moment that they
were 
mere machines holding pens, and, like type-setters in a printing-office,
did 
not understand what they were doing. I abhor the "mechanical" theory of 
inspiration. I dislike the idea that men like Moses and St. Paul were no 
better than organ pipes, employed by the Holy Ghost, or ignorant
secretaries 
or amanuenses who wrote by dictation what they did not understand. I admit

nothing of the kind. I believe that in some marvellous manner the Holy
Ghost 
made use of the reason, the memory, the intellect, the style of thought,
and 
the peculiar mental temperament of each writer of the Scriptures. But how 
and in what manner this was done I can no more explain than I can the
union 
of two natures, God and man, in the person of our blessed Lord Jesus
Christ. 
I only know that there is both a Divine and a human element in the Bible, 
and that while the men who wrote it were really and truly men, the book
that 
they wrote and handed down to us is really and truly the Word of God. I
know 
the result, but I do not understand the process. The result is, that the 
Bible is the written Word of God; but I can no more explain the process
than 
I can explain how the water became wine at Cana, or how five loaves fed
five 
thousand men, or how a word raised Lazarus from the dead. I do not pretend

to explain miracles, and I do not pretend to explain fully the miraculous 
gift of inspiration. The position I take up is that, while the
Bible-writers 
were not "machines," as some sneeringly say, they only wrote what God
taught 
them to write. The Holy Ghost put into their minds thoughts and ideas, and

then guided their pens in writing them. When you read the Bible you are
not 
reading the unaided, self-taught composition of erring men like ourselves,

but thoughts and words which were suggested by the eternal God. The men
who 
were employed to indite the Scripture spake not of themselves. They "spake

as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." (2 Peter i. 21.) He that holds a 
Bible in his hand should know that he holds "not the word of man but of 
 God." (1 Thess. ii. 13.) Concerning the precise extent to which the Bible

is inspired, I freely admit that Christians differ widely. Some of the
views 
put forth on the subject appear to me erroneous in the extreme. I shall
not 
shrink from giving my own opinion and stating my reasons for maintaining
it. 
In matters like these I dare not call any man master. Painful as it is to 
disagree with able and gifted men on religious questions, I dare not take
up 
views of inspiration which my head and heart tell me are unsound, however 
high and honoured the names of those who maintain them. I believe in my 
conscience that low and defective views of the subject are doing immense 
damage to the cause of Christ in these last days.

Some hold that some of the books of Scripture are not inspired at all, and

have no more authority or claim to our reverence than the writings of any 
ordinary man. Others who do not go so far as this, and allow that all the 
books in the Bible are inspired, maintain that inspiration was only
partial, 
and that there are ****tions in almost every book which are 
uninspired.-Others hold that inspiration means nothing more than general 
superintendence and direction, and that, while the Bible writers were 
miraculously preserved from making mistakes in great things and matters 
necessary to salvation, in things indifferent they were left to their own 
unassisted faculties, like any other writers.-Some hold that all the ideas

in the Bible were given by inspiration, but not the words and language in 
which they are clothed,-though how to separate ideas from words it is
rather 
hard to understand!-Some, finally, allow the thorough inspiration of all
the 
Bible, and yet maintain that it was possible for the writers to make 
occasional mistakes in their statements, and that such mistakes do exist
at 
this day.

From all these views I totally and entirely dissent. They all appear to me

more or less defective, below the truth, dangerous in their tendency, and 
open to grave and insuperable objections. The view which I maintain is
that 
every book, and chapter, and verse, and syllable of the Bible was
originally 
given by inspiration of God. I hold that not only the substance of the 
Bible, but its language,-not only the ideas of the Bible, but its words;
not 
only certain parts of the Bible, but every chapter of the book,-that all
and 
each are of Divine authority. I hold that the Scripture not only contains 
the Word of God, but is the Word of God. I believe the narratives and 
statements of Genesis, and the catalogues in Chronicles, were just as
truly 
written by inspiration as the Acts of the Apostles. I believe Ezra's
account 
of the nine-and-twenty knives, and St. Paul's message about the cloak and 
parchments, were as much written under Divine direction as the 20th of 
Exodus, the 17th of John, or the 8th of Romans. I do not say, be it 
remembered, that all these parts of the Bible are of equal im****tance to
our 
souls. Nothing of the kind! But I do say they were all equally given by 
inspiration.5

In making this statement I ask the reader not to misunderstand my meaning.
I 
do not forget that the Old Testament was written in Hebrew and the New 
Testament in Greek. The inspiration of every word, for which I contend, is

the inspiration of every original Hebrew and Greek word, as the Bible 
writers first wrote it down. I stand up for nothing more and nothing less 
than this. I lay no claim to the inspiration of every word in the various 
versions and translations of God's Word. So far as those translations and 
versions are faithfully and correctly done, so far they are of equal 
authority with the original Hebrew and Greek. We have reason to thank God 
that many of the translations are, in the main, faithful and accurate. At 
any rate our own English Bible, if not perfect, is so far correct, that in

reading it we have a right to believe that we are reading in our own
tongue 
not the word of man; but of God.

Now the view for which I contend,-that every word of the Bible is 
inspired,-is not accepted by many good Christians, and is bitterly opposed

in many quarters. I shall therefore mention a few reasons why it appears
to 
me the only safe and tenable view which can be adopted, and the only one 
which is free from innumerable objections. If I err in maintaining it I
have 
the comfort, at any rate, of erring in good company. I only take up the
same 
ground which almost all the Fathers occupied; which Bishop Jewell, and 
Hooker, and Owen, took up long ago; and which Chalmers, Robert Haldane, 
Gaussen, Bishop Wordsworth, M'Caul, Burgon, and Archdeacon Lee of the
Irish 
Church, have ably defended in modern days. I know, however, that men's
minds 
are variously constituted. Arguments and reasons which appear weighty to 
some are of no weight with others. I shall content myself with setting
down 
in order the reasons which satisfy me.

(a) For one thing, I cannot see how the Bible can be a perfect rule of
faith 
and practice if it is not fully inspired, and if it contains any flaws and

imperfections. If the Bible is anything at all it is the statute-book of
God's 
kingdom, the code of laws and regulations by which the subjects of that 
kingdom are to live,-the register-deed of the terms on which they have
peace 
now and shall have glory hereafter. Now, why are we to suppose that such a

book will be loosely and imperfectly drawn up, any more than legal deeds
are 
drawn up on earth? Every lawyer can tell us that in legal deeds and
statutes 
every word is of im****tance, and that property, life, or death may often 
turn on a single word. Think of the confusion that would ensue if wills,
and 
settlements, and conveyances, and partner****p-deeds, and leases, and 
agreements, and acts of parliament were not carefully drawn up and
carefully 
interpreted, and every word allowed its due weight. Where would be the use

of such do***ents if particular words went for nothing, and every one had
a 
right to add, or take away, or alter, or deny the validity of words, or 
erase words at his own discretion? At this rate we might as well lay aside

our legal do***ents altogether. Surely we have a right to expect that in
the 
book which contains our title-deeds for eternity every word will be 
inspired, and nothing imperfect admitted. If God's statute-book is not 
inspired, and every word is not of Divine authority, God's subjects are
left 
in a pitiable state. I see much in this.

(b) For another thing, if the Bible is not fully inspired and contains 
imperfections, I cannot understand the language which is frequently used 
about it in its own pages. Such expressions as "The oracles of God;"-"He 
saith;"-"God saith"-"the Holy Ghost spake by Esaias the prophet;" "the
Holy 
Ghost saith, "Today if ye will hear His voice,"-would appear to me 
inexplicable and extravagant if applied to a book containing occasional 
blemishes, defects, and mistakes. (Acts vii. 38; Rom. iii. 2; Heb. v. 12;
1 
Peter iv. 11; Ephes. iv. 8; Heb. i. 8; Acts xxviii. 25; Heb. iii. 7; x.
15; 
Rom. ix. 25.) Once grant that every word of Scripture is inspired, and I
see 
an admirable propriety in the language. I cannot understand "the Holy
Ghost" 
making a mistake, or an "oracle" containing anything defective! If any man

replies that the Holy Ghost did not always speak by Isaiah, I will ask him

who is to decide when He did and when He did not? I see much in this.

(c) For another thing, the theory that the Bible was not given by 
inspiration of God, appears to me utterly at variance with several 
quotations from the Old Testament which I find in the New. I allude to
those 
quotations in which the whole force of the passage turns on one single
word, 
and once even on the use of the singular instead of the plural number.
Take, 
for instance, such quotations as "The Lord said unto my Lord." (Matt.
xxii. 
44). "I said, Ye are gods." (John x. 34.) "To Abraham and his seed were
the 
promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And
to 
thy seed, which is Christ." (Gal. iii. 16.)-"He is not ashamed to call
them 
brethren, saying, I will declare Thy name unto my brethren." (Heb. ii. 11,

12.)-In every one these cases the whole point of the quotation lies in a 
single word.6 But if this is so, it is hard to see on what principle we
can 
deny the inspiration of all the words of Scripture. At any rate, those who

deny verbal inspiration will find it difficult to show us which words are 
inspired and which are not. Who is to draw the line, and where is it to be

drawn? I see much in this.

(d) For another thing, if the words of Scripture are not all inspired, the

value of the Bible as a weapon in controversy is greatly damaged, if not 
entirely taken away. Who does not know that in arguing with Jews, Arians,
or 
Socinians, the whole point of the texts we quote against them often lies
in 
a single word? What are we to reply if an adversary asserts that the
special 
word of some text, on which we ground an argument, is a mistake of the 
writer, and therefore of no authority? To my mind it appears that the 
objection would be fatal. It is useless to quote texts if we once admit
that 
not all the words of which they are composed were given by inspiration. 
Unless there is some certain standard to appeal to we may as well hold our

tongues. Argument is labour in vain if our mouths are to be stopped by the

retort, "That text is not inspired." I see much in this.

(e) For another thing, to give up verbal inspiration appears to me to 
destroy the usefulness of the Bible as an instrument of public preaching
and 
instruction. Where is the use of choosing a text and making it the subject

of a pulpit address, if we do not believe that every word of the text is 
inspired? Once let our hearers get hold of the idea that the writers of
the 
Bible could make mistakes in the particular words they used, and they will

care little for any reproofs, or exhortations, or remarks which are based
on 
words.-"How do you know," they might ask us, "that this word, about which 
you made such ado yesterday, was given by the Holy Ghost? How do you know 
that St. Paul, or St. Peter, or St. John did not make a mistake, and use
the 
wrong word? That they could make mistakes about words you yourself
allow."-I 
know not what others may think. For myself, I could give no answer. I see 
much in this.

(f) Last, but not least, the denial of verbal inspiration appears to me to

destroy a great part of the usefulness of the Bible as a source of comfort

and instruction in private reading. Where is the true Christian student of

the Bible who does not know that words, particular words, afford a large 
****tion of the benefit which he derives from his daily reading? How much
the 
value of many a cherished text depends on some single phrase, or the
number 
of a substantive, or the tense of a verb? Alas! there would be an end of
all 
this if we once concede that each word is not inspired; and that, for 
anything we know, some much loved favourite substantive, or verb, or 
pronoun, or adverb, or adjective, was an Apostle's mistake, and the word
of 
man, not of God! What others might think I know not. For myself, I should
be 
tempted to lay aside my Bible in despair, and become of all men most 
miserable. I see much in this.

Now, I freely grant that many excellent Christians think that the view I 
maintain is open to serious objections. That the Bible, generally
speaking, 
is given by inspiration, they firmly maintain. But they shrink from 
maintaining that inspiration extends to every word of Scripture. I am
sorry 
to differ from these worthy people. But I cannot see the weight and force
of 
their objections. Fairly and honestly examined, they fail to carry 
conviction to my mind.

(a) Some object that there are occasional statements in the Bible which 
contradict the facts of history. Are these all verbally inspired?-My
answer 
is that it is far more easy to assert this than to prove it. There is 
nothing of which we have so few trustworthy remains as very ancient
history, 
and if ancient uninspired history and Bible history seem to disagree, it
is 
generally safer and wiser to believe that Bible history is right and other

history wrong. At any rate, it is a singular fact that all recent
researches 
in Assyria, Babylon, Palestine, and Egypt, show an extraordinary tendency
to 
confirm the perfect accuracy of the Word of God. The lamented Mr. Smith's 
discoveries at Babylon are a remarkable example of what I mean. There are 
buried evidences which God seems to keep in reserve for these last days.
If 
Bible history and other histories cannot be made to agree at present, it
is 
safest to wait.

(b) Some object that there are occasional statements in the Bible which 
contradict the facts of natural science. Are these all inspired?-My answer

is again, that it is far more easy to assert this than to prove it. The 
Bible was not written to teach a system of geology, botany, or astronomy,
or 
a history of birds, insects, and animals, and on matters touching these 
subjects it wisely uses popular language, such as common people can 
understand. No one thinks of saying that the Astronomer Royal contradicts 
science because he speaks of the sun's "rising and setting." If the Bible 
said anywhere that the earth was a flat surface,-or that it was a fixed 
globe round which the sun revolved,-or that it never existed in any state 
before Adam and Eve,-there might be something in the objection. But it
never 
does so. It speaks of scientific subjects as they appear. But it never 
flatly contradicts science.7

(c) Some object that there are occasional statements in the Bible which
are 
monstrous, absurd, and incredible. Are they really obliged to believe that

Eve was tempted by the devil in the form of a serpent,-that Noah was saved

in an ark,-that the Israelites crossed the Red Sea between two walls of 
water,-that Balaam's ass spoke, and that Jonah actually went into the
whale's 
belly? Are all these statements inspired?-My answer is that Christ's 
apostles speak of these things as historical facts, and were more likely
to 
know the truth about them than we are. After all, do we believe in
miracles 
or not? Do we believe that Christ Himself rose from the dead? Let us stick

to that one grand miracle first, and disprove it if we can. If we do
believe 
it, it is foolish to object to things because they are miraculous.

(d) Some object that there are things mentioned occasionally in the Bible 
which are so trifling that they are unworthy to be called inspired. They 
point to St. Paul's writing about his cloak, and books, and parchments,
and 
ask if we really think that the Apostle wrote about such little matters by

inspiration of God?-I answer that the least things affecting any of God's 
children are not too small for the notice of Him who "numbers the hairs of

our heads." There are excellent and edifying lessons to be learned from
the 
cloak and the parchments, as Robert Haldane has shown most convincingly,
in 
his work on the Evidences of Divine Revelation. After all, man knows very 
little what is great and what is small in God's sight. The history of
Nimrod 
"the mighty hunter" is dispatched in three verses of Genesis, and the 
history of a Syrian dwelling in tents, called Abraham, fills up no less
than 
fourteen chapters. The microscope applied to the book of nature, can show
us 
God's hand in the least lichen that grows on the top of Scawfell as well
as 
in the cedar of Lebanon. The veriest trifles, as they seem to us in the
Book 
of Scripture, may turn out to be most striking confirmations of its truth.

Paley has shown this admirably in his "Horae Paulinae," and Professor
Blunt 
in his "Undesigned Coincidences."

(e) Some object that there are grave discrepancies in some of the Bible 
histories, especially in the four Gospels, which cannot be made to
harmonize 
and agree. Are the words, they ask, all inspired in these cases? Have the 
writers made no mistakes?-I answer that the number of these discrepancies
is 
grossly exaggerated, and that in many cases they are only apparent, and 
disappear under the touch of common sense. Even in the hardest of them we 
should remember, in common fairness, that cir***stances are very likely
kept 
back from us which entirely reconcile everything, if we only knew them.
Very 
often in these days when two honest, veracious men give a separate account

of some long story, their accounts do not quite tally, because one dwells
on 
one part and the other on another. All well-informed students of history 
know that the precise day when Charles I erected his standard at
Nottingham, 
in the Parliamentary war, has not been settled to this hour.

(f) Some object that Job's friends, in their long speeches, said many weak

and foolish things. Were all their words inspired?-An objection like this 
arises from an illogical and confused idea of what inspiration means. The 
book of Job contains an historical account of a wonderful part of the old 
patriarch's history, and a re****t both of his speeches and of those of his

friends. But we are nowhere told that either Job or Eliphaz and his 
companions spoke all that they spoke by the Holy Ghost. The writer of the 
book of Job was thoroughly inspired to record all they said. But whether 
they spoke rightly or wrongly is to be decided by the general teaching of 
Scripture. No one would say that St. Peter was inspired when he said, "I 
know not the Man," in the High Priest's palace. But the writer of the
Gospel 
was inspired when he wrote it down for our learning. In the Acts of the 
Apostles the letter of Claudius Lysias was certainly not written by 
inspiration, and Gamaliel, and the town clerk of Ephesus and Tertullus
were 
not inspired when they made their speeches. But it is equally certain that

St. Luke was inspired to write them down and record them in his book.

(g) Some object that St. Paul, in the 7th chapter of the 1st epistle to
the 
Corinthians, when giving certain advice to the Corinthian Church, says at 
one time, "Not I, but the Lord," and at another, "I, not the Lord." And
they 
ask, Does not this show that in part of his advice he was not inspired?-I 
answer, Not at all. A careful study of the chapter will show that when the

Apostle says "Not I, but the Lord," he lays down some principles on which 
the Lord had spoken already; and when he says "I, not the Lord," he gives 
advice on some point about which there had been no revelation hitherto.
But 
there is not the slightest proof that he is not writing all the way
through 
under direct inspiration of God.

(h) Some object that there are many various readings of the words of 
Scripture, and that we cannot, therefore, feel sure that we have the 
original inspired Word of God. I answer that the various readings, when 
fairly examined, will prove to be absurdly exaggerated in number and 
im****tance. Dr. Kennicott, Bengel, and others have proved this long ago.
No 
doubt we may have lost a few of the original words. We have no right to 
expect infallibility in transcribers and copyists, before the invention of

printing. But there is not a single doctrine in Scripture which would be 
affected or altered if all the various readings were allowed, and all the 
disputed or doubtful words were omitted. Considering how many hands the 
Bible passed through before printing was invented, and who the
transcribers 
were, it is marvellous that the various readings are so few! The fact that

about the immense majority of all the words in the old Hebrew and Greek 
Scriptures there is no doubt at all, is little short of a miracle, and 
demands much thanksgiving to God. One thing is very certain. There is no 
ancient book which has been handed down to us with so good a text and so
few 
various readings as the Bible.

(i) Finally, some object that occasional parts of the Bible are taken out,

copied, and extracted from the writings of uninspired men, such as 
historical chronicles, and pedigrees, and lists of names. Are all these to

be regarded as inspired?-I reply that there seems no reason why the Holy 
Ghost should not direct the Bible writers to use materials made ready to 
their hands, as well as facts which they had seen themselves, and by so 
directing them, invested such words as they used with Divine authority.
When 
St. Paul quoted lines from heathen poets he did not mean us to regard them

as inspired. But he was taught by God to clothe his ideas in the words
which 
they had used, and by so doing he very likely obtained a favourable
reading 
from many. And when we read such quotations, or read lists of names taken 
from Jewish chronicles and registers, we need not doubt that Bible writers

were taught to use such materials by inspiration of God.

I leave the objections to verbal inspiration at this point, and will
detain 
my readers no longer with them. I will not pretend to deny that the
subject 
has its difficulties, which will probably never be completely solved. I 
cannot perhaps clear up such difficulties as the mention of "Jeremy the 
prophet" in Matthew xxvii., or reconcile the third and sixth hour in St. 
John's and St. Mark's account of the crucifixion, or explain Stephen's 
account of Jacob's burial in the seventh chapter of Acts, to my own entire

satisfaction. But I have no doubt these difficulties can be explained, and

perhaps will be some day. These things do not move me. I expect
difficulties 
in such a deep and miraculous matter as inspiration, which I have not eyes

to see through. I am content to wait. It was a wise saying of Faraday,
that 
"there are many questions about which it is the highest philosophy to keep

our minds in a state of judicious suspense." It should be a settled rule 
with us never to give up a great principle, when we have got hold of it,
on 
account of difficulties. Time often makes things clear which at first look

dark. The view of inspiration which presents to my own mind the fewest 
difficulties, is that in which all the words of Scripture, as well as the 
thoughts, are regarded as inspired. Here I take my stand.

Remember what I have just said. Never give up a great principle in
theology 
on account of difficulties. Wait patiently, and the difficulties may all 
melt away. Let that be an axiom in your mind. Suffer me to mention an 
illustration of what I mean. Persons who are conversant with astronomy
know 
that before the discovery of the planet Neptune there were difficulties 
which greatly troubled the most scientific astronomers, respecting certain

aberrations of the planet Uranus. These aberrations puzzled the minds of 
astronomers; and some of them suggested that they might possibly prove the

whole Newtonian system to be untrue. But just at that time a well-known 
French astronomer, named Leverrier, read before the Academy of Science at 
Paris a paper, in which he laid down this great axiom, that it did not 
become a scientific man to give up a principle because of difficulties
which 
apparently could not be explained. He said in effect, "We cannot explain
the 
aberrations of Uranus now; but we may be sure that the Newtonian system
will 
be proved to be right, sooner or later. Something may be discovered one
day 
which will prove that these aberrations may be accounted for, and yet the 
Newtonian system remain true and unshaken." A few years after, the anxious

eyes of astronomers discovered the last great planet, Neptune. This planet

was shown to be the true cause of all the aberrations of Uranus; and what 
the French astronomer had laid down as a principle in science was proved
to 
be wise and true. The application of the anecdote is obvious. Let us
beware 
of giving up any first principle in theology. Let us not give up the great

principle of plenary verbal inspiration because of apparent difficulties. 
The day may come when they will all be solved. In the meantime we may rest

assured that the difficulties which beset any other theory of inspiration 
are tenfold greater than any which beset our own.

Let me now conclude this paper with a few words of plain application. Let
us 
lay aside all deep discussion of hard things about the manner of 
inspiration. Let us take it for granted that, in some way or other,
whether 
we can explain it or not, we hold the Bible to be the Word of God. Let us 
start from this point. Let my readers give me a hearing, while I say a few

things which appear to me to deserve their attention.

1. Is the Bible the Word of God? Then mind that you do not neglect it.
Read 
it! read it! Begin to read it this very day. What greater insult to God
can 
a man be guilty of than to refuse to read the letter God sends him from 
heaven? Oh, be sure, if you will not read your Bible, you are in fearful 
danger of losing your soul!

You are in danger, because God will reckon with you for your neglect of
the 
Bible in the day of judgment. You will have to give account of your use of

time, strength, and money; and you will also have to give account of your 
use of the Word. You will not stand at that bar on the same level, in
point 
of responsibility, with the dweller in central Africa, who never heard of 
the Bible. Oh, no! To whom much is given, of them much will be required.
Of 
all men's buried talents, none will weigh them down so heavily as a 
neglected Bible. As you deal with the Bible, so God will deal with your 
soul. Will you not repent and turn over a new leaf in life, and read your 
Bible?

You are in danger, because there is no degree of error in religion into 
which you may not fall. You are at the mercy of the first clever Jesuit, 
Mormonite, Socinian, Turk, or Jew, who may happen to meet you. A land of 
unwalled villages is not more defenceless against an enemy than a man who 
neglects his Bible. You may go on tumbling from one step of delusion to 
another, till at length you are landed in the pit of hell. I say once
more, 
Will you not repent and read your Bible?

You are in danger, because there is not a single reasonable excuse you can

allege for neglecting the Bible. You have no time to read it forsooth! But

you can make time for eating, drinking, sleeping, getting money and
spending 
money, and perhaps for newspaper reading and smoking. You might easily
make 
time to read the Word. Alas, it is not want of time, but waste of time
that 
ruins souls!-You find it too troublesome to read, forsooth! You had better

say at once it is too much trouble to go to heaven, and you are content to

go to hell. Truly these excuses are like the rubbish round the walls of 
Jerusalem in Nehemiah's days. They would all soon disappear if, like the 
Jews, you had "a mind to work." I say for the last time, Will you not
repent 
and read your Bible?

Believe me, believe me, the Bible itself is the best witness of its own 
inspiration. The men who quibble and make difficulties about inspiration
are 
too often the very men who never read the Scriptures at all. The darkness 
and hardness and obscurity they profess to complain of are far more often
in 
their own hearts than in the book. Oh, be persuaded! Take it up and begin
to 
read.

2. Is the Bible the Word of God? Then be sure you always read it with deep

reverence. Say to your soul, whenever you open the Bible, "O my soul, thou

art going to read a message from God." The sentences of judges, and the 
speeches of kings, are received with awe and respect. How much more 
reverence is due to the words of the Judge of judges and King of kings! 
Avoid, as you would cursing and swearing, that irreverent habit of mind
into 
which some modern divines have unhappily fallen, in speaking about the 
Bible. They handle the contents of the holy book as carelessly and 
disrespectfully as if the writers were such men as themselves. They make
one 
think of a child composing a book to expose the fancied ignorance of his
own 
father,-or of a pardoned murderer criticising the handwriting and style of

his own reprieve. Enter rather into the spirit of Moses on Mount Horeb:
"Put 
thy shoes from off thy feet; the place whereon thou standest is holy 
 ground."

3. Is the Bible the Word of God? Then be sure you never read it without 
fervent prayer for the help and teaching of the Holy Spirit. Here is the 
rock on which many make ****pwreck. They do not ask for wisdom and 
instruction, and so they find the Bible dark, and carry nothing away from 
it. You should pray for the Spirit to guide you into all truth. You should

beg the Lord Jesus Christ to "open your understanding," as He did that of 
His disciples. The Lord God, by whose inspiration the book was written, 
keeps the keys of the book, and alone can enable you to understand it 
profitably. Nine times over in one Psalm does David cry, "Teach me." Five 
times over, in the same Psalm, does he say, "Give me understanding." Well 
says John Owen, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, "There is a sacred light in

the Word: but there is a covering and veil on the eyes of men, so that
they 
cannot behold it aright. Now, the removal of this veil is the peculiar
work 
of the Holy Spirit." Humble prayer will throw more light on your Bible
than 
Poole, or Henry, or Scott, or Burkitt, or Bengel, or Alford, or
Wordsworth, 
or Barnes, or Ellicott, or Lightfoot, or any commentary that ever was 
written.

The Bible is a large book or a small one, a dark or a bright one,
according 
to the spirit in which men read it. Intellect alone will do nothing with
it. 
Wranglers and first-class men will not understand it unless their hearts
are 
right as well as their heads. The highest critical and grammatical
knowledge 
will find it a sealed book without the teaching of the Holy Ghost. Its 
contents are often "hid to the wise and prudent and revealed to babes." 
Remember this, and say always, when you open your Bible, "O God, for
Christ's 
sake, give me the teaching of the Spirit."

4. Finally, is the Bible the Word of God? Then let us all resolve from
this 
day forward to prize the Bible more. Let us not fear being idolaters of
this 
blessed book. Men may easily make an idol of the Church, of ministers, of 
sacraments, or of intellect. Men cannot make an idol of the Word. Let us 
regard all who would damage the authority of the Bible, or impugn its 
credit, as spiritual robbers. We are travelling through a wilderness: they

rob us of our only guide. We are voyaging over a stormy sea: they rob us
of 
our only compass. We are toiling over a weary road: they pluck our staff
out 
of our hands. And what do these spiritual robbers give us in place of the 
Bible? What do they offer as a safer guide and better provision for our 
souls? Nothing! absolutely nothing! Big swelling words! Empty promises of 
new light! High sounding jargon; but nothing substantial and real! They 
would fain take from us the bread of life, and they do not give us in its 
place so much as a stone. Let us turn a deaf ear to them. Let us firmly 
grasp and prize the Bible more and more, the more it is assaulted.

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter; God has given us the Bible

to be a light to guide us to everlasting life. Let us not neglect this 
precious gift. Let us read it diligently, walk in its light, and we shall
be 
saved.

The following quotations about inspiration, from the works of four eminent

British theologians, I venture to think deserve attentive perusal. They
are 
valuable in themselves on account of the arguments which they contain.
They 
also supply abundant proof that the high view of verbal inspiration, which
I 
advocate in this paper, is no modern invention, but an "old path," in
which 
many of God's ablest children have walked, and found it a good way.

1. Bishop Jewell, author of the "Apology," was unquestionably one of the 
most learned of the English Reformers. Let us hear what he says:-

"St. Paul, speaking of the Word of God, saith, 'the whole Scripture is
given 
by inspiration of God, and is profitable.' Many think the Apostle's speech

is hardly true of the whole Scripture,-that all and every part of the 
Scripture is profitable. Much is spoken of genealogies and pedigrees, of 
lepers, of sacrificing goats and oxen, etc. These seem to have little
profit 
in them: to be idle and vain. If they show vain in thine eyes, yet hath
not 
the Lord set them down in vain? The words of the Lord are pure words, as
the 
silver tried in a furnace of earth refined seven times. There is no 
sentence, no clause, no word, no syllable, no letter, but it is written
for 
thy instruction: there is not one jot but it is sealed and signed with the

blood of the Lamb. Our imaginations are idle, our thoughts are vain: there

is no idleness, no vanity, in the Word of God. Those oxen and goats which 
were sacrificed teach thee to kill the uncleanness and filthiness of thine

heart: they teach thee that thou art guilty of death, when thy life must
be 
redeemed by the death of some beast: they lead thee to believe the 
forgiveness of sins by a more perfect sacrifice, since it was not possible

that the blood of bulls or of goats should take away sins. That leprosy 
teacheth thee the uncleanness and leprosy of thy soul. These genealogies
and 
pedigrees lead us to the birth of our Saviour Christ, so that the whole
Word 
of God is pure and holy. No word, no letter, no syllable, nor point or 
tittle thereof, but is written and preserved for thy sake."-Jewell on the 
Holy Scriptures.

2. Richard Hooker, author of the "Ecclesiastical Polity," is justly 
respected by all schools of thought in the Church of England as the 
judicious Hooker." Let us hear what he says:-

"Touching the manner how men, by the Spirit of Prophecy in Holy Scripture,

have spoken and written of things to come, we must understand that as the 
knowledge of that they spake, so likewise the utterance of that they knew,

came not by those usual and ordinary means whereby we are brought to 
understand the mysteries of our salvation, and are wont to instruct others

in the same. For whatsoever we know, we have it by the hands and ministry
of 
men, who led us along like children from a letter to a syllable, from a 
syllable to a word, from a word to a line, from a line to a sentence, from
a 
sentence to a side, and so turn over. But God Himself was their
instructor. 
He Himself taught them, partly by dreams and visions in the night, partly
by 
revelations in the day, taking them aside from amongst their brethren, and

talking with them as a man would talk with his neighbours in the way. Thus

they became acquainted even with the secret and hidden counsels of God;
they 
saw things which themselves were not able to utter, they beheld that
whereat 
men and angels are astonished, they understood in the beginning what
should 
come to pass in the last days. God, who lightened thus the eyes of their 
understanding, giving them knowledge by unusual and extraordinary means,
did 
also miraculously Himself frame and fa****on their words and writings, 
insomuch that a greater difference there seemeth not to be between the 
manner of their knowledge, than there is between the manner of their
speech 
and ours. 'We have received,' saith the Apostle, `not the spirit of the 
world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that 
are given to us of God: which things also we speak, not in words which
man's 
wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost doth teach.' This is that which 
the Prophets mean by those books written full within and without; which 
books were so often delivered them to eat, not because God fed them with
ink 
and paper, but to teach us that so often as He employed them in this 
heavenly work, they neither spake nor wrote any word of their own, but 
uttered syllable by syllable as the Spirit put it in their mouths, no 
otherwise than the harp or the lute doth give a sound according to the 
direction of his hands that holdeth it and striketh it with
skill."-Hooker's 
Works. Vol. iii. pp. 537, 540.

3. John Owen, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, was the most learned and 
argumentative of the Puritans. Let us hear what he says:-

"Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. When the word

was thus brought to them it was not left to their own understandings, 
wisdom, minds, memories, to order, dispose, and give it out; but they were

borne, actuated, carried out by the Holy Ghost, to speak, deliver, and
write 
all that, and nothing but that,-to very tittles,-that was so brought unto 
them. They invented not words themselves, suited to the things they had 
learned, but only expressed the word that they received. Though their mind

and understanding were used in the choice of words (whence arise all the 
differences in their manner of expression), yet they were so guided that 
their words were not their own, but immediately supplied unto them. Not
only 
the doctrine they taught was the word of truth,-truth itself,-but the
words 
whereby they taught it were words of truth from God Himself. Thus,
allowing 
the contribution of proper instruments for the reception and
representation 
of words which answer to the mind and tongue of the Prophets in the coming

of the voice of God to them,-every apex of the written Word is equally 
divine, and as immediately from God as the voice wherewith, or whereby, He

spake to us in the Prophets; and is therefore accompanied with the same 
authority in itself and to us." -Owen on the Divine Original of the 
Scripture. Vol xvi. p. 305.

4. Dr. Chalmers was probably the most intellectual and deep-thinking 
theologian that intellectual Scotland has ever produced. Let us hear what
he 
says:

(a) "The subject-matter of the Bible had to pass through the minds of the 
selected Prophets and Apostles, and to issue thence in language ere it
comes 
forth in the shape of Scripture upon the world. Now it is here that we
meet 
the advocates of a partial or mitigated inspiration, and would make common

cause against one and all of them. There is not one theory short, by
however 
so little, of a thorough and perfect inspiration,-there is not one of them

but is chargeable with the consequence, that the subject-matter of 
revelation suffers and is deteriorated in the closing footsteps of its 
progress; and just before it settles into that ultimate position, where it

stands forth to guide and illuminate the world. It existed purely in
heaven. 
It descended purely from heaven to earth. It was deposited purely by the 
great Agent of revelation in the minds of the Apostles. But then we are
told 
that when but a little way from the final landing place, then, instead of 
being carried forward purely to the situation where alone the great
purpose 
of the whole movement was to be fulfilled, then was it abandoned to
itself, 
and then were human infirmities permitted to mingle with it, and to mar
its 
lustre. Strange, that just when entering on the functions of an 
authoritative guide and leader to mankind, that then, and not till then,
the 
soil and the feebleness of humanity should be suffered to gather around
it. 
Strange, that, with the inspiration of thoughts, it should make pure
ingress 
into the minds of the Apostles; but wanting the inspiration of words
should 
not make pure egress to that world in whose behalf alone, and for whose 
admonition alone, this great movement originated in heaven, and terminated

in earth. Strange, more especially strange, in the face of the declaration

that not unto themselves but unto us they ministered these
things,-strange, 
nevertheless, that this revelation should come in purely to themselves,
but 
to us should come forth impurely, with somewhat, it would appear, with 
somewhat the taint and the obscuration of human frailty attached to it.-It

matters not at what point in the progress of this celestial truth to our 
world the obscuration has been cast upon it. It comes to us a dim and 
desecrated thing at last; and man instead of holding converse with God's 
unspotted testimony, has an imperfect, a mutilated Bible put into his 
 hands."

(b) "Such being our views, it is the unavoidable consequence of them that
we 
should hold the Bible, for all the purposes of a revelation, to be perfect

in its language, as well as perfect in its doctrine. And for this
conclusion 
it is not necessary that we should arbitrate between the theories of 
superintendence and suggestion. The superintendence that would barely 
intercept the progress of error, we altogether discard, conceiving, that,
if 
this term be applicable to the process of inspiration at all, it must be 
that efficient superintendence which not only secures that, negatively, 
there shall be nothing wrong,-but which also secures that, affirmatively, 
there should at all times have emanated from the sacred penmen, the
fittest 
topics, and these couched in the fittest and most appropriate expression. 
Whether this has been affected partly by superintendence and partly by 
suggestion, or wholly by suggestion, we care not. We have no inclination
and 
no taste for these distinctions. Our cause is independent of them; nor can

we fully participate in the fears of those alarmists who think that our 
cause is materially injured by them. The im****tant question with us is not

the process of the manufacture, but the qualities of the resulting 
commodity. The former we bold not to be a relevant, and we are not sure
that 
it is a legitimate inquiry. It is on the latter we take our stand; and the

superabundant testimonies of Scripture on the worth and the perfection and

the absolute authority of the Word-these form the strongholds of an
argument 
that goes to establish all which the most rigid advocates for a total and 
infallible inspiration ought to desire. Our concern is with the work, and 
not with the workman****p; nor need we intrude into the mysteries of the 
hidden operation, if only assured by the explicit testimonies of Scripture

that the product of that operation, is, both in substance and expression,
a 
perfect directory of faith and practice. We believe that, in the
composition 
of that record, men not only thought as they were inspired, but spake as 
they were moved by the Holy Ghost. But our argument for the absolute 
perfection of Holy Writ is invulnerably beyond the reach even of those who

have attempted to trace with geographical precision the line which
separates 
the miraculous from the natural; and tell us when it was that Apostles
wrote 
the words which the Spirit prompted them, and when it was that they wrote 
the words which the Spirit permitted them. To the result, in our humble 
apprehension, it positively matters not. Did they speak the words that the

Spirit prompted,-these words were therefore the best. Did they speak the 
words which the Spirit permitted,-it was because these words were the
best. 
The optimism of the Bible is alike secured in both these ways; and the 
sanction of the Spirit extended, both in respect of sentiments nod of 
sayings, to every clause of it. In either way, they effectively are the 
words of the Spirit; and God through the Bible is not presenting truths 
through the medium of others' language. He in effect has made it His own 
language; and God, through the Bible, is speaking to us."

(c) "It is the part of Christians to rise like a wall of fire around the 
integrity and inspiration of Scripture; and to hold them as intact and 
inviolable as if a rampart were thrown around them whose foundations are
on 
earth and whose battlements are in heaven. It is this tampering with
limits 
that destroys and defaces everything; and therefore it is precisely when
the 
limit is broken that the alarm should be sounded. If the battle-cry is to
be 
lifted at all, it should be lifted at the outset; and so on the first 
mingling, by however so slight an infusion, of things human with things 
divine, all the friends of the Bible should join heart and hand against so

foul and fearful a desecration."-Chalmers' Christian Evidences, Vol. ii.
pp. 
371, 372, 375, 376, 396.

FOOTNOTES

1 Carlyle's estimate of the Koran is given, in "Hero-wor****p," in the 
following words. "It is a wearisome, confused jumble, crude, recondite, 
abounding in endless iterations, long-windedness, entanglement, 
insup****table stupidity. In short nothing but a sense of duty could carry 
any European through the Koran, with its unreadable m***** of lumber."

John Owen says, "There are no other writings in the world, beside the
Bible, 
that ever pretended unto a divine original, but they are not only from
their 
matter, but from the manner of their writing, and the plain footsteps of 
human artifice and weakness therein, sufficient for their own conviction, 
and do openly discover their own vain pretensions." (The Reason of Faith. 
Works, vol iv., p. 34, Johnston's Edition.)


2 "I have always been strongly in favour of secular education in the sense

of education without theology. But I must confess I have been no less 
seriously perplexed to know by what practical measures the religious 
feeling, which is the essential basis of conduct, could be kept up in the 
present chaotic state of opinion on these matters without the use of the 
Bible."

"Consider the great historical fact that for three centuries this Book has

been woven into the life of all that is best and noblest in English 
history;-that it has become the national epic of Britain, and is as
familiar 
to noble and simple from John o' Groat's Home to the Land's End, as Dante 
and Tasso once were to the Italians;-that it is written in the best and 
purest English, and abounds in exquisite beauties of mere literary
form,-and 
finally, that it forbids the veriest hind who never left his village to be

ignorant of other countries and other civilizations, and of a great past, 
stretching back to the furthest limits of the oldest nations in the world.

By the study of what other book could children be so much humanized and
made 
to feel that each figure in that vast historical procession fills, like 
themselves, but a momentary space in the interval between two eternities, 
and earns the blessings or the curses of all time, according to its effort

to do good and hate evil, even as they also are earning their payment for 
their work?"-Professor Huxley on School Boards (Huxley's Critiques and 
Essays, p 51.)

3 "The Bible is the fountain of all true patriotism and loyalty in 
States,-it is the source of all true wisdom, sound policy, and equity in 
Senates, Council-chambers, and Courts of Justice -it is the spring of all 
true discipline and obedience, and of all valour and chivalry, in armies
and 
fleets, in the battlefield and on the wide sea;-it is the origin of all 
probity and integrity in commerce and in trade, in marts and in shops, in 
banks and exchanges, in the public resorts of men and the secret silence
of 
the heart; it is the pure, unsullied fountain of all love and peace, 
happiness, quietness and joy, in families and households.-Wherever it is 
duly obeyed it makes the desert of the world to rejoice and blossom as the

rose."-Wordsworth on Inspiration, p. 113.

4 "The little ark of Jewish literature still floats above the surges of 
time, while mere fragments of the wrecked archives of the huge oriental 
empires, as well as of the lesser kingdoms that surrounded Judea, are now 
and then cast on our distant shores. "-Rogers on the Superhuman Origin of 
the Bible, p. 311,

5 "We affirm that the Bible is the Worn of God, and that it is not marred 
with human infirmities. We do not imagine, with some, that the Bible is
like 
a thre****ng-floor, on which wheat and chaff lie mingled together, and that

it is left for the reader to winnow and sift the wheat from the chaff by
the 
fan and sieve of his own mind."-Wordsworth on "Inspiration." (P. 11.)

6 It would be easy to multiply texts in proof of this point. I will only 
name the following: Heb. ii. 8; iii. 7-19; iv. 2-11; xii. 27.

7 "The language of Scripture is necessarily adapted to the common state of

man's  intellectual development, in which he is not supposed to be
possessed 
of science. Hence the phrases used by Scripture are precisely those which 
science soon teaches man to consider inaccurate. Yet they are not on that 
account the less fitted for their purpose, for if any terms had been used 
adapted to a more advanced state of knowledge, they must have been 
unintelligible to those to whom the Scripture was first
addressed."-Whewell's 
Philosophy of Inductive Science. Vol. i., p. 636.