writers should be thought capable of making mistakes; but it does not
trouble _me_,--Very likely not. It does not trouble _you_, perhaps, to
see stone after stone, buttress after buttress, foundation after
foundation, removed from the walls of Zion, until the whole structure
trembles and totters, and is pronounced insecure. Your boasted unconcern
is very little to the purpose, unless we may also know how dear to you
the safety of Zion is. But if you make indignant answer,--(as would to
Heaven you may!)--that your care for GOD'S honour, your jealousy for
God's oracles, is every whit as great as our own,--_then_ we tell you
that, on _your_ wretched premises, men more logical than yourself will
make shipwreck of their peace, and endanger their very souls. There is
no stopping,--no knowing where to stop,--in this downward course. Once
admit the principle of fallibility into the inspired Word, and the whole
becomes a bruised and rotten reed. If St. Paul a little, why not St.
Paul much? If Moses in some places, why not in many? You will doubt our
LORD'S infallibility next!... It might not trouble _you_, to find your
own familiar friend telling you a lie, every now and then: but I trust
this whole congregation will share the preacher's infirmity, while he
confesses that it would trouble _him_ so exceedingly that after one
established falsehood, he would feel unable ever to trust that friend
implicitly again.
Do you mean to say then, (I shall be asked,) that you maintain the
theory of Verbal Inspiration?--I answer, I refuse to accept any _theory_
whatsoever[376]. But I believe that the Bible is the Word of GOD--and I
believe that GOD'S Word must be absolutely infallible. I shall therefore
believe the Bible to be absolutely infallible,--until I am convinced of
the contrary. "_Theories of Inspiration_," (as they are called,) are the
growth of an unbelieving age: and it is enough to disgust any one with
the term, to find how it has been understood in some quarters. A
well-known living editor of the Gospel[377], says,--"According to the
Verbal-Inspiration Theory, each Evangelist has recorded the exact words
of the Inscription on the Cross;--not _the general sense_, but _the
Inscription itself_;--not a letter less nor more. This is absolutely
necessary to the theory." The advocates of the theory (he proceeds) "may
here find an _undoubted_ example of the absurdity of their view.... Let
us bear this in mind when the narrative of words spoken, or of events,
differs in a similar manner."--It is certainly very kind of the learned
writer thus to apprize us of the danger of accepting a theory, which, so
explained, we certainly never heard of before,--and trust we may never
hear of again.
But if, instead of the "Theory of Verbal Inspiration," I am asked
whether I believe _the words_ of the Bible to be inspired,--I answer, To
be sure I do,--every one of them: and every syllable likewise. Do not
_you?_--_Where_,--(if it be a fair question,)--Where do you, in your
wisdom, stop? The _book_, you allow _is_ inspired. How about the
chapters? How about the verses? Do you stop at the verses, and not go on
to the words? Or perhaps you enjoy a special tradition on this subject,
and hold that Inspiration is a general, vague kind of thing,--here more,
there less: strong, (to speak plainly,) where you make no objection to
what is stated,--weak, when it runs counter to some fancy of your
own.--O Sir, but this "general vague kind of thing" will not suffice to
anchor the fainting soul upon, in the day of trouble, and in the hour of
death! "Here _more_, there _less_," will not satisfy a parched and weary
spirit, athirst for the water of Life, and craving the shadow of the
great Rock. What security can _you_ offer _me_, that the promise which
has sustained me so long occurs in the "more," and not in the "less?"
How am I to know that your Bible is _my_ Bible: in other words, what
proof is there that either of us possesses the Word of GOD,--the
authentic utterance of GOD'S HOLY SPIRIT,--_at all_?
And do you not feel, that this "will o' the wisp" phantom of your brain,
can prove no guide to either of us in the pilgrimage of life? Perceive
you not that the unworthy spirit in which you approach the Book of GOD'S
Law must effectually prevent you from getting any wisdom from it? Why,
the pages which you look so coldly and carnally at, are written within
and without, and burn from end to end with unutterable meaning! While
you are quarrelling about the title on the Cross, you are missing the
common salvation! You keep us, Sunday after Sunday, disputing outside
the gates of Paradise, instead of bidding us enter in, and eat of the
delicious fruit! While _you_ are persisting that there is no beauty in
the garden, (because you choose to be deaf as well as blind,)--the
shadows are lengthening out, and the glory is departing, and the angels
are getting weary of harping upon their harps!
No, Sirs! The Bible (be persuaded) is the very utterance of the
Eternal;--as much GOD'S Word, as if high Heaven were open, and we heard
GOD speaking to us with human voice. Every book of it, is inspired
alike; and is inspired entirely. Inspiration is not a difference of
degree, but of kind. The Apocryphal books are not one atom more inspired
than Bacon's Essays. But the Bible, from the Alpha to the Omega of it,
is filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit of GOD: the Books of it,
and the sentences of it, and the words of it, and the syllables of
it,--aye, and the very letters of it. "Nihil in Scripturis est otiosum,"
(said the great Casaubon): "non dictio, non dictionis forma, non
syllaba, non littera." ... The difficulty which attends quotations, I
must explain another day. It is _not_ a difficulty.--The seeming paradox
of calling a pedigree inspired, is only seeming.--The _text_ of Holy
Scripture has nothing at all to do with the question. Is a dead poet
responsible for the clumsiness of him who transcribes his copy, or for
the carelessness of the apprentice in the printer's attic?--Least of all
do we overlook the personality of the human writers, when we so speak.
The styles of Daniel,--of St. John,--of St. Paul,--of St. James,--differ
as much as the sounds emitted by organ pipes of wholly diverse
construction. But those human instruments were fabricated, one and all,
by the Hands of the same Divine Artist: and I have yet to learn that
when the same man builds an organ, fills it with breath, and performs
upon it a piece of his own composition with matchless skill,--I have yet
to learn that any part of the honour, any part of the praise, any part
of the glory of the performance is to be withheld from _him!_ ... The
illustration is at least as old as Christianity itself. Pray take it in
the noble words of Hooker.--"They neither spoke nor wrote one word of
their own: but uttered syllable by syllable as the Spirit put it into
their mouths; no otherwise than the harp or the lute doth give a sound
according to the discretion of his hands that holdeth and striketh it
with skill. The difference is only this: an instrument, whether it be
pipe or harp, maketh a distinction in the times and sounds, which
distinction is well perceived of the hearer, the instrument itself
understanding not what is piped or harped. The prophets and holy men of
GOD not so. 'I opened my mouth,' saith Ezekiel, 'and GOD reached me a
scroll, saying, Son of Man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels
with this I give thee. I ate it, and it was sweet in my mouth as
honey,' saith the prophet[378]. Yea, sweeter, I am persuaded, than
either honey or the honeycomb. For herein, they were not like harps or
lutes, but they felt, they felt the power and strength of their own
words. When they spake of our peace, every corner of their hearts was
filled with joy. When they prophesied of mourning, lamentations, and
woes, to fall upon us, they wept in the bitterness and indignation of
spirit, the Arm of the LORD being mighty and strong upon them[379]."
To conclude. The first time I enjoyed this privilege, I urged the
younger men to a diligent and painful daily study of the Bible. On the
next occasion, opening the Bible at the first page, I attempted to
define the provinces of Theological and of Physical Science. All that
was then offered may be summed up in one brief formula:--_GOD'S works
CANNOT contradict GOD'S Word_. I adverted to the method of would-be
geologists, (a class all apart from the grave and learned few who give
their days and nights to a truly noble branch of study,)--because from
_them_ the most malignant attacks have proceeded: and I took my stand on
the first chapter of Genesis, because the enemies of GOD'S Truth have
made that chapter their favourite point of attack. But my argument was
not directed more against Geology than against any other of the physical
Sciences. They are all alike the handmaids of _Theological_ Science.
Geology, however, singularly honoured by the Creator in that He hath
bequeathed for her inspection so many marvels of primæval
Time,--evidences of how He was working in this remote planet before the
Creation of Man;--Geology, I say, it especially behoves to be humble:
partly, because she is the youngest of all the sciences; and partly,
because the weak guesses of her childhood are yet in the memory of us
all. If indeed she would _inherit the Earth_, let her remember that she
asks for the blessing which CHRIST hath promised to none but _the
meek_[380].
We altogether repudiated, then, the contrast which is often implied
between Theology and Science; as if Theology were _not_ a Science, but
some other thing. Theological Science we declared to be the noblest of
the Sciences,--the very Queen and Mistress of them all. And yet, supreme
as she is, she not only admits, but desires, and thankfully accepts the
ministerial offices of the other Sciences; all of which, like dutiful
servants in a household, have it in their power to render her most
important acts of homage. Language, for example, carries the keys of the
casket wherein she keeps her treasures; and for that reason Theology
hath promoted Language to great honour. History, and Geography, and
Chronology, have each had their respective tasks assigned them. It is
for Astronomy to make answer if question be raised of the date of
Paschal full Moon, or of Eclipse. Let the physiologist explain, if he
can, Scriptural allusions to the vegetable and animal kingdoms. How
precious are the guesses of Geology, as she tries to fathom the Ocean of
unrecorded Time!--_Who_ would desire the silence of the Professor of
_any_ department of physical Science? Morals also have their place and
their function assigned them; and a thrice blessed place,--a most holy
function is theirs! Why should not Moral Science have an office even in
the Court of Theology? Was not Morality the Schoolmaster of the sons of
Japheth, what time there was dew on the fleece only, but it was dry upon
all the earth beside? What are Morals else but the echoes of the voice
of GOD yet lingering in the Hall of Conscience, or rather in the
Chambers of Memory?.... Her function therefore is to bear willing
witness to the Goodness, the Wisdom, the Justice of the Eternal: and her
place,--the loftiest which can be imagined for a creature,--is somewhere
beneath the footstool of Almighty GOD.
But when, instead of the submissive manners of a well-ordered Court,
symptoms of insolence and insubordination are witnessed on every
side,--then, the least and humblest takes leave, (time, and place, and
occasion serving,) to speak out fearlessly on behalf of that which he
loves with an unworthy, but a most undivided heart.--When Language
impugns those Oracles which she was hired to decypher,--and pretends to
doubt the Inspiration of that Book of which, confessedly, she barely
understands the Grammar:--when History and Chronology cry out that the
annals of Theology are false, and her record of Time a fable; that the
Deluge, for instance, is an old wives' story, and the economy of times
and seasons a human fabrication:--when Astronomical and Mechanical
Science strut up to the Throne whereon sits the Ancient of Days,--prate
to _Him_, (the first Author of Law,) about the "supremacy of Law,"--and
tell Him to His face that His miracles are things impossible:--when
Physiology insinuates that Mankind cannot be descended from one primæval
pair; and that the lives of the Patriarchs cannot be such as they are
recorded to have been:--when the pretender to Natural Philosophy
gravely assures us that we ought not to pray for fair weather, because
the weather depends _not_ upon "arbitrary changes in the will of GOD,"
_but_ upon laws as fixed and certain "as the laws of
gravitation[381],"--which, mark you, Sirs, is no longer a dry verbal
speculation, but is nothing less than an invasion of that inner chamber
where you or I have retired to pour out the fulness of an aching heart,
in prayer that GOD would prolong, if it may be, the life of the dearest
thing we have on earth; and rudely to bid us rise from our knees and be
silent, for that the health of Man depends not on the will of GOD, but
on fixed physiological laws:--lastly, when the pretender to Geological
skill denies the authenticity of the First Chapter of Genesis; which is
to deny the Inspiration of all the rest; and therefore of the whole
Bible;--and thus to rob Life's weary pilgrim of that rod and staff
concerning which he has many a time exclaimed,--"they _comfort_
me!":--whenever, as now, such things are spoken and printed,--not in a
corner, and by insignificant persons, and in ambiguous language,--but in
plain English, by clergymen and scholars in authority, openly in the
face of GOD'S sun;--then it is high time, even for the humblest and
least among you,--if no man of mark will speak up, and speak out, for
GOD'S Truth,--to deliver a plain message with that freedom which
Englishmen hold to be a part of their birthright. It should breed no
offence, I say, if the most unworthy of GOD'S servants, here, before you
all,--before these younger men especially, who have been drawn hither by
the fame of your piety and your learning,--and who have been entrusted
to your guardianship through the precious years of early manhood, with a
well-grounded confidence that you would give them to eat not only of the
Tree of Knowledge, but also largely of the fruit of the Tree of
Life:--in this Holy House too where he received his commission[382], and
vowed before GOD and Man, that he would "be ready," (the LORD being his
helper,) "with all faithful diligence to drive away all erroneous and
strange doctrines contrary to GOD's Word:"--before _such_ an audience,
and in such a place, it must and _shall_ be lawful for me solemnly to
denounce as false and deadly,--full of nothing but pernicious
consequence,--that system of practical Infidelity which enjoys such
unhappy popularity at this hour; which, under the mask of Science, and
under the specious name of Progress, is spreading like a fatal contagion
through the length and breadth of the land; and which, if suffered to go
unchastised and unchecked, will end by shaking both the Altar and the
Throne!.... Look well to it, Sirs, if you care for the safety of the Ark
of GOD. For my part,--like one of old time whose words I am not worthy
to take upon my lips,--"I cannot hold my peace: because thou hast heard,
O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war[383]!"
The case is not altered,--rather is it made worse,--if this hostility to
GOD's Truth proceeds from persons bearing Orders in the English Church.
("O my soul, come not thou into their secret!") The case is not altered:
for the requirements of Physical Science are still the plea; and
_Divines_, in _no_ sense, these men are, however unsuccessful they may
prove in establishing their claim to the title of _philosophers_ either.
Nay, Sirs,--suffer one of yourselves to ask you, whether these
disgraceful developments are not the lawful result of your own
incredible system, of sending forth, year by year, men to be teachers
and professors of Divinity,--to whom you have yet never imparted _any
Theological training whatever_[384].
You are requested to observe, that not only cannot GOD's Works
contradict GOD's Word,--simply because they are twin utterances of one
and the same Divine Intelligence;--but also the deductions of Physical
Science cannot possibly run counter to the decrees of
Theology[385],--simply because they are respectively in a wholly diverse
subject-matter. Had Theology even _once_ delivered a Geological decree,
or pretended even _once_ to pronounce upon any Astronomical problem;
then, indeed, there would be reason why her disciples should watch with
alarm the rapid advance of Physical Science,--instead of hailing it, as
they do, with wonder and delight. Then, indeed, we should be constrained
to admit that the day might be coming when Theology would have to
reconsider the platform whereon she stands; and possibly to "give way."
But it is an undeniable fact that there exist _no_ Theological dogmas on
matters Geological,--no, _not one!_ Theology cannot retreat from ground
on which she has never set foot. She cannot retract, what she has never
advanced, or recal the words which she has never spoken. The decrees of
Theology are all confined to the Science of Theology,--and with _that_
subject-matter, the other Sciences have simply _no concern_. Their
office _there_, as I have again and again explained, is simply
ministerial; and when they enter the presence chamber of the great King,
they are bid not to draw too nigh. "Put off thy shoes from off thy feet;
for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground!"
And how about Moral Science,--whom we beheld, a moment since, shrouded
in her mantle, beneath the footstool of the ALMIGHTY;--afraid to look up
into His awful Face,--and not presuming to speak, unless called upon to
bear her solemn witness to what she learned of Him "in the
beginning?"--Must we imagine _her_ too rising from her lowly seat, and
presuming to sit in judgment upon the Author of her Being? Are we to
picture her arraigning the Goodness of Him who commanded Abraham to slay
his son;--or the Justice of Him who sent Saul to destroy the
Amalekites;--or the Mercy of Him who inspired certain of David's
Psalms;--or the Wisdom of Him who made the everlasting Gospel the
mysterious four-fold thing it is?--Then, were she to do so, we should
perforce exclaim,--This judgment of thine cannot possibly be just! For
the echo _must_ resemble the voice which woke it! Other spirits must
have been intruding here; and the unholy din of their voices must have
drowned the clear, yet still and small utterance of ALMIGHTY GOD within
thy breast!.... In other words, if there _be_ antagonism, Ethics,--not
Theology, _but_ (_that which calls itself_) _Moral Science_,--must
instantly and hopelessly give way.
For doubtless, that inference of ours as to what had happened, would be
a true inference.--It _will_ be the fact, I fear, before the end of all
things; for it seems to be implied,--(a more heart-sickening sentence in
all Scripture, I know not!),--that when the Son of Man cometh, He will
not find the Faith on the Earth[386]. And if not _the Faith_ (=tên
pistin=),--what then? _The Moral Sense?_ Hardly! for where was the Moral
Sense when she _let go_ the Faith?--It was the fact, (if I read the
record rightly,) eighteen centuries ago: for children had then forgotten
their duty to their Parents; and the sanctity of Marriage was unknown;
and (O prime note of a darkened conscience!) men not only _did_ things
worthy of Death, but "_had pleasure in them that did them_." Read the
first chapter of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, and say what was
_then_ the condition of the Moral Sense in man. Tell me, while your
cheek is yet burning, whether you think Moral Science was _then_
competent to sit in judgment on a Revelation sent from the GOD of
Purity, until GOD's own SON had republished the sanctions of the Moral
Law, and informed Man's conscience afresh!... No Sirs. We are told
expressly, that "as they did not like to retain GOD in their knowledge,
GOD gave them over to a reprobate mind,"--"gave them up unto vile
affections." And why? Hear the Apostle! It was because "when they knew
GOD, they glorified Him not as GOD; neither were thankful:"--hence, they
were suffered to become vain in their imaginations, and, "_their foolish
heart was darkened!_"--In other words, the candle of the LORD, the light
of conscience within them, was well nigh _put out_.
This will explain the reason why, when "THE WORD was made flesh and
dwelt among us," He so frequently delivered precepts,--yea, preached
whole Sermons,--on what would now-a-days be called mere "Morality." He
was _republishing the Moral Law_. He was graving afresh those letters
which had been wellnigh worn out through tract of Time, and the wear and
tear of Man's ungoverned lusts.--Hence, to this hour, when question is
raised of Right and Wrong,--the appeal is made, by the common consent of
Christian men, _not_ to the inner consciousness of the creature, but to
the Creator's external Revelation of His mind and will. Let abler men
explain to us what we mean when we talk about Immutable Morality. I am
by no means sure that I understand myself. Sure only am I that it will
carry us a very little way. Aristotle would never have made the average
moral sense of mankind his standard, had _he_ known of a =logos
theopneustos=. The principles of Morality do indeed seem to be fixed and
eternal;--=aei pote zê tauta=:--but it is no longer true, =oudeis oiden
ex hotou 'phanê=. Ever since the Gospel came into the world, _general
opinion_ has ceased to be the standard of Truth: for the Bible has
simply superseded it; and put forth a standard to which "general
opinion" itself must bow. "_I_ am the Way, _the Truth_, and the Life."
So spake the Eternal SON while yet on Earth. And He foresaw that there
would come a day when the world would still ask, with Pilate, "What is
Truth?" Accordingly, we heard his solemn reply in this Morning's Second
Lesson--"THY WORD,"--"THY WORD is Truth." ... "GOD made two great
lights," I grant you: but what I maintain is, that He made "_the greater
Light_ to rule _the Day_."
And therefore are we very bold to assert that it is all too late for
men _now_ to vaunt the authority of the Moral Sense, as a thing to be
set up against the fixed and immutable Revelation of GOD'S mind and
will. "The sufficiency of Natural Religion is a paradox of modern
invention, and the boast of it comes with an ill grace, and under great
suspicions, so late in the day of trial[387]." Aye, it comes all too
late. Here in England, (GOD be praised!) the moral sense is indeed
strong. Is it _as_ strong, think you, among those continental nations
which are under the spiritual yoke of Rome? Is it as strong among the
Hindoos? Is it as strong among the savage inhabitants of central
Australia?... Perceive you not that if Moral Science speaks with a loud
and clear voice in Christian lands, it is because there the Moral Sense
has been in those lands informed afresh by Revelation? "That the
principles of Natural Religion have come to be so far understood and
admitted, may fairly be taken for one of the effects of the
Gospel[388]." The echoes of the voice of GOD are now so distinct, only
because GOD hath suffered His awful voice to be heard on earth again:
and if among ourselves those echoes are the loudest and the clearest, is
it not because among ourselves the Bible is read the most?
"The fact" (says the thoughtful writer already quoted,)--"the fact is
not to be denied; the Religion of Nature _has_ had the opportunity of
rekindling her faded taper by the Gospel light,--whether furtively or
unconsciously availed of. Let her not dissemble the obligation, and make
a boast of the splendour, as though it were originally her own; or had
always, in her hands, been sufficient for the illumination of the
World."--"It is not to be imagined that men fail to profit by the light
that has been shed upon them, though they have not always the integrity
to own the source from which it comes; or though they may turn their
back upon it, whilst it fills the very atmosphere in which they move,
with glory[389]."
I say, therefore, that it is _all too late_ to vaunt the supremacy of
Conscience as opposed to Revelation,--Moral as opposed to Theological
Science. Moral Science owes all its renewed strength and vigour to
Theology. And so, were Moral Science to dare call in question, (as she
sometimes _has_ done, and may dare to do again!), the Morality of the
Bible,--we should find her monstrous image nowhere so fitly as in that
of the man whose withered hand CHRIST healed in the Synagogue,--if the
same man had proved such a wretch, as straightway to lift up his arm
with intention to smite his Benefactor and his GOD.