THERE is a certain amount of difficulty in defining the word
Inspiration: it is used in so many different senses by the various
schools of religious thought, that it is almost necessary to know the
theological opinions of the speaker before being quite sure of his
meaning when he talks of a book as being inspired. In the halcyon days
of the Church, when faith was strong and reason weak, when priests had
but to proclaim and laymen but to assent, Inspiration had a distinct and
a very definite meaning. An inspired man spoke the very words of God:
the Bible was perfect from the "In the beginning" of Genesis to the
"Amen" of Revelation: it was perfect in science, perfect in history,
perfect in doctrine, perfect in morals. In that diamond no flaw was
to be seen; it sparkled with a spotless purity, reflecting back in
many-coloured radiance the pure white light of God. But when the
chemistry of modern science came forward to test this diamond, a
murmuring arose, low at first, but irrepressible. It was scrutinised
through the microscope of criticism, and cracks and flaws were
discovered in every direction; then, instead of being enshrined on
the altar, encircled by candles, it was brought out into the searching
sunlight, and the naked eye could see its imperfections. Then it was
tested anew, and some bold men were heard to whisper, "It is no diamond
at all, God formed in ages past; it is nothing but paste, manufactured
by man;" and the news passed from mouth to mouth, until the whisper
swelled into a cry, and many voices echoed, "This is no diamond at all."
And so things are to-day; the battle rages still; some maintain their
jewel is perfect as ever, and that the flaws are in the eyes that look
at it; some reluctantly allow that it is imperfect, but still consider
it a diamond; others resolutely assert that, though valuable for its
antiquity and its beauty, it is really nothing but paste.
To take first the really orthodox theory of inspiration, generally
styled the "plenary" or "verbal" inspiration of the Bible. It was well
defined centuries since by Athenagoras; according to him the inspired
writers "uttered the things that were wrought in them when the Divine
Spirit moved them, the Spirit using them as a flute-player would blow
into the flute." The same idea has been uttered in powerful poetry by a
writer of our own day:--
"Then thro' the mid complaint of my confession,
Then thro' the pang and passion of my prayer,
Leaps with a start the shock of His possession,
Thrills me and touches, and the Lord is there.
Scarcely I catch the words of His revealing, Hardly I hear Him, dimly
understand; Only the power that is within me pealing, Lives on my lips
and beckons to my hand."
The idea is exactly the same as that of the Pagan prophetesses: they
became literally possessed by a spirit, who used their lips to declare
his own thoughts; so orthodox Christians believe that it is no longer
Moses or Isaiah or Paul that speaks, but the Spirit of the Father that
speaks in them. This theory is held by all strictly orthodox believers;
this and this only is from their lips, inspiration; hard pressed on the
subject they will allow that the Spirit inspires all good thoughts "in
a sense," but they will be very careful in declaring that this is only
inspiration in a secondary sense, an inspiration which diners in kind as
well as in degree from the inspiration of the writers of the Bible. By
this mechanical theory, so to speak, it is manifest that all possibility
of error is excluded; thus, when Matthew quotes from the Old Testament
an utterly irrelevant historical reference--"when Israel was a child,
then I loved him and _called my son out of Egypt_", as a prophecy of the
alleged flight of Jesus into Egypt, and his subsequent return from that
country into Palestine--we find Dr. Wordsworth, Right Reverend Father
in God, and Bishop of Lincoln, gravely telling us that "the Holy Spirit
here declares what had been in His own mind when He uttered these words
by Hosea. And who shall venture to say that he knows the mind of the
Spirit better than the Spirit Himself?" Dr. Pusey again, standing
valiantly, after the manner of the man, to every Church dogma, however
it may be against logic, against common sense, against reason, or
against charity, makes a very reasonable inquiry of those who believe
in an outward and supernatural inspiration, and yet object to the term
verbal. "How," he asks, "can thought be conveyed to a man's mind except
through words?" The learned doctor's remark is indeed a very pertinent
one, as addressed to all those who believe in an exterior revelation.
Thoughts which are communicated from without can only become known
to man through the medium of words: even his own thoughts only become
appreciable to him when they are sufficiently distinct to be clothed
in words (of course not necessarily _spoken_ words); and we can only
exclude from this rule such thoughts as may be presented to the mind
through mental sight or hearing: e.g., music might probably be composed
mentally by imagining the _sounds_, or mechanical contrivances invented
by imagining the _objects_; but any argument, any story, which is,
capable of reproduction in writing, must be thought out in words.
A moment's thought renders this obvious; if a man is arguing with a
Frenchman in his own language, he must, to render his arguments clear
and powerful, _think_ in French. Now, if the Bible be inspired so as to
insure accuracy, how can this be done except through words; for many
of the facts recorded must, from the necessity of the case, have been
unknown to the writers. Suppose for a moment that the Biblical account
of the creation of the world were true, no man in that case could
possibly have thought it out for himself. Only two theories can
reasonably be held regarding this record: one, that it is true, which
implies necessarily that it is literally true and verbally inspired,
since the knowledge could only have come from the Creator, and, being
communicated must have come in the form of words, which words being
God's, must be literally true; the other, that it ranks with other
ancient cosmogonies, and is simply the thought of some old writer,
giving his idea as to the origin of the world around him. I select
the account of the Creation as a crucial test of the verbal theory of
inspiration, because any other account in the Bible that I can think of
has a human actor in it, and it might be maintained--however unlikely
the hypothesis--that a report was related or written down by one who had
been present at the incident reported, and the inspiration of the final
writer may be said to consist in re-writing the previous record which he
may be directed to incorporate in his own work. But no one witnessed
the creation of the world, save the Creator, or, at the most, He and
His angels, and the account given of it must, if true, be word for word
divine; or, if false--as it is--must be nothing more than human
fancy. We must push this argument one step further. If the account was
communicated only to the man's _mind_, in words rising internally to
the inward ear alone, how could the man distinguish between these
divine thoughts rising in his mind, and his own human thoughts rising in
exactly the same manner? Thoughts rise in our minds, we know not how; we
only become conscious of them when they are there, and, as far as we can
judge, they are produced quite naturally according to certain laws. But
how is it possible for us to distinguish whence these thoughts come?
There they are, ours, not another's--ours as the child is the father's
and mother's, the product of their own beings. If my thought is not
mine, but God's, how am I to know this? it is produced within me as my
own, and the source of one thought is not distinguishable from that of
another. Thus, those who believe in the accuracy of the Bible are step
by step driven to allow that not only are words necessary, but spoken
words; if the Bible be supernaturally inspired at all, then must God
have spoken not only in human words but also in human voice; if the
Bible be supernaturally inspired at all, it must be verbally inspired,
and be literally accurate about every subject on which it treats.
Unfortunately for the maintainers of verbal inspiration, their theory is
splendidly adapted for being brought before the bar of inexorable fact.
It is worth while to remark, in passing, that the infallibility of
the Bible has only remained unchallenged where ignorance has reigned
supreme; as soon as men began to read history and to study nature,
they also began to question scriptural accuracy, and to defy scriptural
authority. Infallibility can only live in twilight: so far, every
infallibility has fallen before advancing knowledge, save only the
infallibility of Nature, which is the infallibility of God Himself.
Protestants consider Roman Catholics fools, in that they are not able to
see that the Pope cannot be infallible, because one Pope has cursed
what another Pope has blessed. They can see in the case of others that
contradiction destroys infallibility, but they cannot see the force of
the same argument when applied to their own pope, the Bible. Strong in
their "invincible ignorance," they bring us a divinely-inspired book;
"good," we answer; "then is your book absolutely true, and it will
square with all known truth in science and history, and will, of course,
never be self-contradictory." The first important question which arises
in our minds as we open so instructive a book as a revelation from on
high, refers naturally to the Great Inspirer. The Bible contains, as
might indeed be reasonably expected, many statements as to the nature
of God, and we inquire of it, in the first place, the character of its
Author. May we hope to see Him in this world? "Yes," answers Exodus.
"Moses in days gone by spoke to God face to face, and seventy-four
Israelites saw Him, and eat and drank in His presence." We have scarcely
taken in this answer when we hear the same voice proceed: "No; for God
said thou canst not see my face, for there shall no man see me and live;
while John declares that no man hath seen Him, and Paul, that no man
neither hath nor can see Him." Is He Almighty? "Yes," says Jesus. "With
God all things are possible." "No," retorts Judges; "for He could not
drive out the inhabitants of the valley, _because_ they had chariots of
iron." Is He just? "Yes," answers Ezekiel. "The son shall not bear the
iniquity of the father; the soul that sinneth _it_ shall die." "No,"
says Exodus. "The Lord declares that He visits the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children." Is He impartial? "Yes," answers Peter. "God
is no respecter of persons." "No;" says Romans, "for God loved Jacob and
hated Esau before they were born, that His purpose of _election_ might
stand." Is He truthful? "Yes; it is impossible for God to lie," says
Hebrews. "No," says God of Himself, in Ezekiel. "I, the Lord, have
deceived that prophet." Is He loving? "Yes," sings the Psalmist. "He
is loving unto every man, and His tender mercy is over all His works."
"No," growls Jeremiah. "He will not pity, nor spare, nor have mercy on
them." Is he easily pacified when offended? "Yes," says the Psalmist.
"His wrath endureth but the twinkling of an eye." "No," says Jeremiah.
"Ye have kindled a fire in His anger that shall burn for ever." Unable
to discover anything reliable about God, doubtful whether he be just or
unjust, partial or impartial, true or false, loving or fierce, placable
or implacable, we come to the conclusion that at all events we had
better be friends with Him, and surely the book which reveals His will
to us will at least tell us in what way He desires us to approach Him.
Does He accept sacrifice? "Yes," says Genesis: "Noah sacrificed and God
smelled a sweet savour;" and Samuel tells us how God was prevailed on to
take away a famine by the sacrifice of seven men, hanged up before the
Lord. In our fear we long to escape from Him altogether and ask if this
be possible? "Yes," says Genesis. "Adam and his wife hid from Him in the
trees, and He had to go-down from His heaven to see if some evil deeds
were rightly reported to Him." "No," says Solomon. "You cannot hide from
Him, for His eyes are in every place." So we throw up in despair all
hope of finding out anything reliable about Him, and proceed to search
for some trustworthy history. We try to find out how man was made. One
account tells us that he was made male and female, even in the image of
God Himself; another that God made man alone, and subsequently formed
a woman for him out of one of his own ribs. Then we find in one
chapter that the beasts were all made, and, lastly, that God made "His
masterpiece, man." In another chapter we are told that God having made
man thought it not good to leave him by himself, and proceeded to make
every beast and fowl, saying that he would make Adam a help-meet for
him; on bringing them to Adam, however, none was found worthy to mate
with him, so woman was tried as a last experiment. As we read on we find
evident marks of confusion; double, or even treble, accounts of the same
incident, as, for instance, the denying a wife and its consequences.
Then we see Moses fearing Pharaoh's wrath, and flying out of Egypt to
avoid the king's wrath, and not venturing to return until after his
death, and are therefore surprised to learn from Hebrews that he forsook
Egypt by faith, _not fearing_ the wrath of the king. Then we come across
numberless contradictions in Kings and Chronicles, in prophecy and
history. Ezekiel prophecies that Nebuchadnezzar shall conquer Tyrus, and
destroy it and _take all its riches_; and a few chapters afterwards it
is recorded that he did accordingly attack Tyrus but failed, and that as
he got _no wages_ for this attack he should have Egypt for his failure.
In the New Testament the contradictions are endless; Joseph, the
husband of Mary, had two fathers, Jacob and Heli; Salah is in the same
predicament, for although the son of Canaan, Arphaxad begat him. When
John was cast into prison, Jesus _began_ to preach, although He had been
preaching and gaining disciples while John was still at large. Jesus
sent the Twelve to preach, telling them to take a staff, and yet bidding
them to take none. He eat the Passover with His disciples, although He
was crucified before that feast. He had one title on his cross, but
it is verbally inspired in four different ways. He rose with many
variations of date and time, and ascended the same evening, although He
subsequently went into Galilee and remained on earth for forty days.
He sent word to His disciples to meet Him in Galilee, and yet suddenly
appeared among them as they sat quietly together the same evening at
Jerusalem. Stephen's history contradicts our Old Testament. When Paul
is converted, his companions hear a voice, although another account says
that they heard none at all. After his conversion he goes in and out at
Jerusalem with the Apostles, although, strangely enough, he sees none of
them, except Peter and James. But one might spend pages in noting these
inconsistencies, while even one of them destroys the verbal inspiration
theory. From these contradictions I maintain that one of two things must
follow, either the Bible is not an inspired book, or else inspiration is
consistent with much error, as I shall presently show.
I am quite ready to allow that the Bible _is_ inspired, and I therefore
lay down as my first canon of inspiration, that: "Inspiration does
not prevent inaccuracy." I turn to the second class of orthodox
inspirationists, who, while allowing that verbal inspiration is proved
impossible by many trivial inconsistencies, yet affirm that God's
overruling power ensures substantial accuracy, and that its history
and science are perfectly true and are to be relied on. To test this
assertion, we--after noting that Bible history is, as has been remarked
above, continually self-contradictory--turn to other histories and
compare the Bible with them. We notice first that many important
Biblical occurrences are quite ignored by "profane" historians. We
are surprised to see that while the Babylonish captivity left marks on
Israel which are plainly seen, Egypt left no trace on Israel's names
or customs, and Israel no trace on Egypt's monuments. The doctrine of
angels comes not from heaven, but slips into Jewish theology from the
Persian; while immortality is brought to light neither by Hebrew prophet
nor by the Gospel of Jesus, but by the people among whom the Jews
resided during the Babylonish captivity. The Jewish Scriptures which
precede the captivity know of nothing beyond the grave; the Jewish
Scriptures after the captivity are radiant with the light of a life
to come; to these Jesus adds nothing of joy or hope. The very central
doctrine of Christianity--the Godhead of Jesus--is nothing but a
repetition of an idea of Greek philosophy borrowed by early Christian
writers, and is to be found in Plato and Philo as clearly as in the
fourth Gospel. Science contradicts the Bible as much as does history;
geology laughs at its puny periods of creation; astronomy destroys its
heavens, and asks why this little world took a week in making, while the
sun and moon and the countless stars were rapidly turned out in twelve
hours; natural history wonders why the kangaroos did not stay in Asia
after the Deluge, instead of undertaking the long sea voyage to far
Australia, and enquires how the Mexicans, and Peruvians, and others,
crossed the wide ocean to settle in America; archaeology presents its
human bones from ancient caves, and asks how they got there, if only
six thousand years have passed since Adam and Eve stood alone in Eden,
gazing out on the unpeopled earth; the Pyramids point at the negro
type distinct and clear, and ask how it comes that it was so rapidly
developed at first, and yet has remained stationary ever since. At last,
science gets weary of slaying a foe so puny, and goes on its way with a
smile on its grand, still face, leaving the Bible to teach its science
to whom it lists. Evidence so weighty crushes all life out of this
second theory of inspiration, and gives us a second rule to guide us in
our search: "Inspiration does not prevent ignorance and error." We may
pass on to the third class of inspirationists, those who believe that
the Bible is not given to man to teach him either history or science,
but only to reveal to him what he could not discover by the use of his
natural faculties--_e g._ the duties of morality and the nature of God.
I must note here the subtilty of this retreat. Driven by inexorable fact
to allow the Bible to be fallible in everything in which we can test its
assertions, they, by a clever strategic movement, remove their defence
to a post more difficult to attack. They maintain that the Bible is
infallible in points where no cannonade of facts can be brought to bear
on it. What is this but to say, that although we can prove the Bible
to be fallible on every point capable of proof, we are still blindly to
believe it to be infallible where demonstrated error is, from the nature
of the case, impossible? As regards the nature of God, we have already
seen that the Bible ascribes to him virtue and vice indifferently. We
turn to morality, and here our first great difficulty meets us, for when
we point to a thing and say, "that is profoundly immoral," our opponents
retort, "it is perfectly moral." Only the progress of humanity can prove
which of us is in the right, though here, too, we have one great fact on
our side, and that is, the conscience in man; already men would rather
die than imitate the actions of Old Testament saints who did that which
was "right in the eyes of Jehovah;" and presently they will be bold
enough to reject in words that which they already reject in deeds. Few
would put the Bible freely into the hands of a child, any more than
they would give freely to the young the unpurged editions of Swift and
Sterne; and I imagine that the most pious parents would scarcely see
with un-mingled pleasure their son and daughter of fifteen and sixteen
studying together the histories and laws of the Pentateuch. But taking
the Bible as a rule of life, are we to copy its saints and its laws?
For instance, is it right for a man to marry his half-sister, as did the
great ancestor of the Jews, Abraham, the friend of God?--a union, by the
way, which is forbidden by Jewish law, although said to be the source of
their race. Is the lie of the Egyptian midwives right, because Jehovah
blessed them for it, even as Jael is pronounced blessed by Deborah, the
prophetess, for her accursed treachery and murder? Is the robbery of the
Egyptians right, because commanded by Jehovah? Are the old cruel laws
of witchcraft right, because Jehovah doomed the witch to death? Are
the ordeals of the Middle Ages right, because derived from the laws
of Jehovah? Is human sacrifice right, because attempted by Abraham,
enjoined by Moses, practised by Jephthah, efficacious in turning away
God's wrath when Saul's seven sons were offered up? Is murder right
because Phineas wrought atonement by it, and Moses sent his murderers
throughout the camp to stay God's anger by slaying their brethren? Is
it right that the persons of women captives should be the prey of the
conquerors, because the Jews were commanded by Jehovah to save alive the
virgins and keep them for themselves, except the sixty-four reserved for
himself? Is the man after God's own heart a worthy model for imitation?
Are Jehu's lying and slaughter right, because right in the eyes of
Jehovah? Is Hosea's marriage commendable, because commanded by Jehovah?
or are the signs of Jeremiah and Ezekiel the less childish and indecent
because they are prefaced with, "thus saith Jehovah?" Far be it from me
to detract from the glorious morality of portions of the Bible; but if
the whole book be inspired and infallible in its moral teaching, then,
of course, one moral lesson is as important as another, and we have no
right to pick and choose where the whole is divine. The harsher part of
the Old Testament morality has burnt its mark into the world, and may
be traced through history by the groans of suffering men and women, by
burning witches and tortured enemies of the Lord, by flaming cities and
blood-stained fields. If murder and rapine, treachery and lies, robbery
and violence, were commanded long ago by Almighty God; if things are
right and wrong only by virtue of His command, then who can say that
they may not be right once more, when used in the cause of the Church,
and how are we to know that Moses speaks in God's name when he commands
them, and Torquemada only in his own? But even Christians are beginning
to feel ashamed of some of the exploits of the "Old Testament Saints,"
and to try and explain away some of the harsher features; we even hear
sometimes a wicked whisper about "imperfect light," &c. Good heavens!
what blasphemy! Imperfect light can mean nothing less than imperfect
God, if He is responsible for the morality of these writings.
So, from our study of the Bible we deduce another canon by which we may
judge of inspiration:
"Inspiration does not prevent moral error." There is a fourth class of
inspirationists, the last which clings to the skirts of orthodoxy, which
is always endeavouring to plant one foot on the rocks of science, while
it balances the other over the quicksands of orthodox super-naturalism.
The Broad Church school here takes one wide step away from orthodoxy,
by allowing that the inspiration of the Bible differs only in degree and
not in kind from the inspiration common to all mankind. They recognise
the great fact that the inspiring Spirit of God is the source whence
flow all good and noble deeds, and they point out that the Bible itself
refers all good and all knowledge to that one Spirit, and that He
breathes mechanical skill into Bezaleel and Aholiab, strength into
Samson's arms, wisdom into Solomon, as much as He breathes the ecstacy
of the prophet into Isaiah, faith into Paul, and love into John. They
recognise the old legends as authentic, but would maintain as stoutly
that He spoke to Newton through the falling of an apple, as that He
spoke of old to Elijah by fire, or to the wise men by a star. This
school try and remove the moral difficulties of the Old Testament by
regarding the history recorded in it as a history which is specially
intended to unveil the working of God through all history, and so to
gradually reveal God as He makes Himself known to the world; thus the
grosser parts are regarded as wholly attributable to the ignorance of
men, and they delight to see the divine light breaking slowly through
the thick clouds of human error and prejudice, and to trace in the
Bible the gradual evolution of a nobler faith and a purer morality.
They regard the miracles of Jesus as a manifestation that God underlies
Nature and works ever therein: they believe God to be specially
manifested in Jewish history, in order that men may understand that He
presides over all nations and rules over all peoples. To Maurice the
Bible is the explainer of all earth's problems, the unveiler of God, the
Bread of Life. There is, on the whole, little to object to in the Broad
Church view of inspiration, although liberal thinkers regret that, as a
party, they stop half way, and are still trammelled by the half-broken
chains of orthodoxy. For instance, they usually regard the direct
revelation of morality as closed by Jesus and His immediate followers,
although they allow that God has not deserted His world, nor confined
His inspiration within the covers of a book. To them, however, the Bible
is still _the_ inspired book, standing apart by itself, differing from
all other sacred books. From their views of inspiration, which contains
so much that is true, we deduce a fourth rule:
"Inspiration is not confined to written words about God." From a
criticism of the book, which is held by orthodox Christians, to be
specially inspired, we have then gained some idea of what inspiration
does _not_ do. It does not prevent inaccuracy, ignorance, error, nor
is it confined to any written book. Inspiration, then, cannot be an
overwhelming influence, crushing the human faculties and bearing along
the subject of it on a flood which he can neither direct nor resist. It
is a breathing--gentle and gradual--of pure thoughts into impure hearts,
tender thoughts into fierce hearts, forgiving thoughts into revengeful
hearts. David calls home his banished son, and he learns that, "even as
a father pitieth his children, so is the Lord merciful unto them that
fear Him." Paul wishes himself accursed if it may save his brethren,
and from his own self-sacrificing love he learns that "God will have
all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth." Thus
inspiration is breathed into the man's heart. "I love and forgive, weak
as I am; what must be the depth of the love and forgiveness of God?"
David's fierce revenge finds an echo in his writings; for man writes,
and not God: he defaces God by ascribing to Him the passions surging
only in his own burning Eastern heart: then, as the Spirit moves him to
forgiveness, his song is of mercy; for he feels that his Maker must be
better than himself. That part of the Bible is inspired, I do not deny,
in the sense that all good thoughts are the result of inspiration, but
only as we share the inspiration of the Bible can we distinguish between
the noble and the base in it, between the eternal and that which is
fast passing away. But as we do not expect to find that inspiration,
now-a-days, guards men from much error, both of word and deed, so we
should not expect to find it otherwise in days gone by; nor should we
wonder that the man who spoke of God as showing His tender fatherhood by
punishing and correcting, could so sink down into hard thoughts of that
loving Father as to say that it was a fearful thing to fall into His
hands. These contradictions meet us in every man; they are the highest
and the lowest moments of the human soul. Only as we are inspired to
love and patience in our conduct towards men will our words be inspired
when we speak of God.
Having thus seen what inspiration does not do, we must glance at what
it really is. It is, perhaps, natural that we, rejecting, as we do,
with somewhat of vehemence, the idea of supernatural revelation, should
oftentimes be accused of denying all revelation and disbelieving all
inspiration. But even as we are not atheists, although we deny the
Godhead of Jesus, so are we not unbelievers in inspiration because we
refuse to bend our necks beneath the yoke of an inspired Bible. For we
believe in a God too mighty and too universal to be wrapped in swaddling
clothes or buried in a cave, and we believe in an inspiration too mighty
and too universal to belong only to one nation and to one age. As the
air is as free and as refreshing to us as it was to Isaiah, to Jesus, or
to Paul, so does the spiritual air of God's Spirit breathe so softly and
as refreshingly on our brows as on theirs. We have eyes to see and
ears to hear quite as much as they had in Judea long ago. "If God
be omnipresent and omniactive, this inspiration is no miracle, but a
regular mode of God's action on conscious Spirit, as gravitation
on unconscious matter. It is not a rare condescension of God, but a
universal uplifting of man. To obtain a knowledge of duty, a man is not
sent away outside of himself to ancient documents for the only rule of
faith and practice; the Word is very nigh him, even in his heart, and
by this word he is to try all documents whatever.... Wisdom,
Righteous-ness, and Love are the Spirit of God in the soul of man;
wherever these are, and just in proportion to their power, there is
inspiration from God.... Inspiration is the in-come of God to the
soul, in the form of Truth through the Reason, of Right through the
Conscience, of Love and Faith through the Affections and Religious
Element.... A man would be looked on as mad who should claim miraculous
inspiration for Newton, as they have been who denied it in the case of
Moses. But no candid man will doubt that, humanly speaking, it was a
more difficult thing to write the Principia than to write the Decalogue.
Man must have a nature most sadly anomalous if, unassisted, he is
able to accomplish all the triumphs of modern science, and yet cannot
discover the plainest and most important principles of Religion and
Morality without a miraculous inspiration; and still more so if, being
able to discover by God's natural aid these chief and most important
principles, he needs a miraculous inspiration to disclose minor
details."* Thus we believe that inspiration from God is the birthright
of humanity, and to be an heir of God it needs only to be a son of man.
Earth's treasures are highly priced and hard to win, but God's blessings
are, like the rain and the sunshine, showered on all-comers.
"'Tis only heaven is given away;
'Tis only God may be had for the asking;
No price is set on the lavish summer;
June may be had by the poorest comer."
* Theodore Parker.
If inspiration were indeed that which it is thought to be by the
orthodox Christians, surely we ought to be able to distinguish its
sayings from those of the uninspired. If inspiration be confined to the
Christian Bible, how is it that the inspired thoughts were in many cases
spoken out to the world hundreds of years before they fell from the
lips of an inspired Jew? It seems a somewhat uncalled for miraculous
interference for a man to be supernaturally inspired to inform the world
of some moral truth which had been well known for hundreds of years to
a large portion of the race. Or is it that a great moral truth bears
within itself so little evidence of its royal birth, that it cannot be
accepted as ruler by divine right over men until its proclamation is
signed by some duly accredited messenger of the Most High? Then, indeed,
must God be "more cognizable by the senses than by the soul;" and then
"the eye or the ear is a truer and quicker percipient of Deity than the
Spirit which came forth from Him."* Was Paul inspired when he wished
himself accursed for his brethren's sake, but Kwan-yin uninspired, when
she said, "Never will I seek nor receive private individual salvation;
never enter into final peace alone?" If Jesus and the prophets were
inspired when they placed mercy above sacrifice, was Manu uninspired
in saying that a man "will fall very low if he performs ceremonial acts
only, and fails to discharge his moral duties"? Was Jesus inspired when
he taught that the whole law was comprehended in one saying, namely,
"Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself?" and yet was Confucius
uninspired when, in answer to the question, "What one word would serve
as a rule to one's whole life?" he said, "Reciprocity; what you do not
wish done to yourself, do not to others." Or take the Talmud and study
it, and then judge from what uninspired source Jesus drew much of His
highest teaching. "Whoso looketh on the wife of another with a lustful
eye, is considered as if he had committed adultery."--(Kalah.) "With
what measure we mete, we shall be measured again."--(Johanan.) "What
thou wouldst not like to be done to thyself, do not to others; this
is the fundamental law."--(Hillel.) "If he be admonished to take the
splinter out of his eye, he would answer, Take the beam out of
thine own."--(Tarphon.) "Imitate God in His goodness. Be towards thy
fellow-creatures as He is towards the whole creation. Clothe the naked;
heal the sick; comfort the afflicted; be a brother to the children of
thy Father." The whole parable of the houses built on the rock and on
the sand is taken out of the Talmud, and such instances of quotation
might be indefinitely multiplied. What do they all prove? That there is
no inspiration in the Bible? by no means. But surely that inspiration
is not confined to the Bible, but is spread over the world; that much
in all "sacred books" is the outcome of inspired minds at their highest,
although we find the same books containing gross and low thoughts.
We should always remember that although the Bible is more specially
a revelation to us of the Western nations than are the Vedas and the
Zend-Avesta, that it is only so because it is better suited to our modes
of thought, and because it has-been one of the agents in our education.
* W. R. Greg.
The reverence with which we may regard the Bible as bound up with
many-sacred memories, and as the chosen teacher of many of our greatest
minds and purest characters, is rightly directed in other nations to
their own sacred books. The books are really all on a level, with
much good and much bad in them all; but as the Hebrew was inspired to
proclaim that "the Lord thy God is one Lord" to the Hebrews, so was the
Hindoo inspired to proclaim to Hindoos, "There is only one Deity, the
great Soul." Either all are inspired, or none are. They stand on the
same footing. And we rejoice to-believe that one Spirit breathes in all,
and that His inspiration is ours to-day. "The Father worketh hitherto,"
although men fancy He is resting in an eternal Sabbath. The orthodox
tells us that, in rejecting the rule of morality laid down for us in the
Bible, and in trusting ourselves to this inspiration of the free Spirit
of God, our faith and our morality will alike be shifting and unstable.
But we reck not of their warnings; our faith and our morality are only
shifting in this sense, that, as we grow holier, and purer, and wiser,
our conception of God and of righteousness will rise and expand with our
growth. It was a golden saying of one of God's noblest sons that "no man
knoweth the Father save the Son:" to know God we must resemble Him,
as we see in the child the likeness of the parent. But in trusting
ourselves to the guidance of the Spirit of God, we are not building the
house of our faith on the shifting sand; rather are we "dwelling in a
city that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." Wisely was
it sung of old, "Except the Lord build the house, their labour is but
lost that build it." Vain are all efforts of priestly coercion; vain
all toils of inspired books; vain the utter sacrifice of reason and
conscience; their labour is but lost when they strive to build a temple
of human faith, strong enough to bear the long strain of time, or the
earthquake-shock of grief. God only, by the patient guiding of His love,
by the direct inspiration of His Spirit, can lay, stone by stone, and
timber by timber, that priceless fabric of trust and love, which shall
outlive all attacks and all changes, and shall stand in the human soul
as long as His own Eternity endures.