narrative, until I have reminded you of one striking intimation of it
which you might easily overlook. "O fools and slow of heart," was our
LORD'S reproof to Cleophas and his companion on the evening of the first
Easter: "Ought not CHRIST to have suffered these things, and to enter
into His Glory? And _beginning at Moses_ and all the Prophets, He
expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning
Himself[483]." In like manner, St. Paul at Rome expounded to the
unbelieving Jews, "persuading them concerning JESUS both _out of the Law
of Moses_ and out of the Prophets, from morning till evening[484]." The
same thing is repeated elsewhere[485]: but the most express declaration
is that of our LORD Himself to the Jews:--"Had ye believed Moses, ye
would have believed Me; _for he wrote of Me_[486]," Moses therefore
_wrote concerning_ CHRIST. CHRIST Himself says so. But _where?_ Shew me
the places in the Pentateuch which prove that CHRIST was "to suffer
these things" and then to "enter into glory?" You cannot do it; unless
indeed in Isaac's Sacrifice you are content to find the adumbration of
the scene on Calvary. You cannot do it; unless in Joseph's betrayal for
twenty pieces of silver, (the deed of another Judas!) and his letting
down into the pit without water, you recognize the image of the death of
One by the blood of whose Covenant the prisoners of hope were set
free[487]. You cannot do it; unless in the same Joseph's exaltation to
the supreme power of Egypt, (when they "cried before him, Bow the
knee!") you behold MESSIAH'S session at the Right Hand of GOD. You
cannot do it; unless you notice how "Joseph, who was ordained to save
his Brethren from death, who would have slain _him_, did represent the
SON of GOD, who was slain by us and yet dying saved us[488]." You cannot
do it; unless in the Paschal Lamb, and the wave-sheaf, you discern
things Heavenly, and of eternal moment. You cannot do it; unless you
remember "that as, in order to consecrate the Harvest by offering to GOD
the first-fruits of it, a sheaf was lifted up and waved; as well as a
Lamb offered on that day by the priest to GOD; so MESSIAH, that
immaculate Lamb which was to die, that Priest which dying was to offer
up Himself to GOD, was upon the same day lifted up and raised from the
dead; or rather shook and lifted up, and presented Himself to GOD, and
so was accepted for us all; that so our dust might be sanctified, our
corruption hallowed, our mortality consecrated to eternity." Many who
hear me will perceive that I have been quoting from Bp. Pearson; and
will be constrained to admit that Isaac and Joseph,--the wave-sheaf and
the Paschal Lamb,--may well be types of CHRIST; and that, thus lightly
touched, there can be little objection to tracing in such histories and
provisions of the Law, the main outlines of the Life and Death and
Resurrection of our REDEEMER. But remember, we have handled wondrous
little of the patriarchal History and of the Law; and that little,
wondrous cursorily; more, as it seems to me, in the manner of children
in a Sunday-school, than as Divines in the first University of
Europe!... Now, _St. Paul_ entertained _his_ audience "from morning
until evening." Had he nothing to say about Paradise, think you, and the
mysterious parallel between the first and second Adam? nothing to say
about the Ark of Noah, and the waters of the Flood? What of the history
of the patriarch Jacob, and of Joseph "at the second time made known to
his brethren?" What of Moses, and the miracles of the Exode? What of the
many minute provisions, (all of them, no doubt, significant!) of the
Mosaic Law? What of Esau's posterity and Balaam's prophecies,--the Cloud
and the Flame,--the Manna and the Quails,--the riven Rock and Jordan
driven back?...
I have already said enough to feel at liberty to gather out of it all,
the two chief propositions concerning Holy Scripture, which it is my
business this morning to establish. And first, I assert that it may be
regarded as a fundamental rule, that the Bible _is not to be interpreted
like any other book_. This I gather infallibly from the plain fact, that
_the inspired Writers themselves_ habitually interpret it _as no other
book either is, or can be interpreted_.
Next, I assert without fear of contradiction that inspired
Interpretation, whatever varieties of method it may exhibit, is yet
uniform and unequivocal in this one result; namely, that it proves Holy
Scripture to be of far deeper significancy than at first sight
appears[489]. By no imaginable artifice of Rhetoric or sophistry of
evasion,--by no possible vehemence of denial or plausibility of counter
assertion,--can it be rendered probable that Scripture has invariably
one only meaning; and _that_ meaning, the most obvious and easy to those
who first heard or read it.
I would not be misunderstood by this audience, nor do I fear that I
shall be. I am not denying (GOD forbid!) the literal sense of Scripture.
Rather am I, above all, contending for it. We may _never_ play tricks
with the letter. Those Six Days of Creation, depend upon it, were _six
days_: and the Tree of Life, and the Tree of Knowledge, and the Serpent,
were the very things they are called,--and no other things. So of every
other part of the Bible. The Temptation of our LORD was as matter of
fact a transaction as one of His walks by the sea of Galilee. _In what
form_ the Tempter came to Him, hath not been revealed. _After what
fashion_ the Prince of the power of the air contrived the dazzling
panorama "in a moment of time[490]," I do not pretend to understand. The
literal sense of what has been revealed, is, for all that, to be
depended on. All is sincere History: _nothing_ is ever
allegory,--_nothing_ may ever be evacuated or explained away! We have
our LORD'S own word for it. The speech in Paradise, and what happened at
the time of the Flood; the fate of Lot's wife, and what befel the cities
of the plain; the conduct of David (when he ate the shew-bread), and the
visit to Solomon of the Queen of Sheba; the history of the widow of
Sarepta, and of Naaman the Syrian:--all these stories of the Old
Testament are by our LORD Himself appealed to as veritable History[491].
But I am proving that Scripture itself, literally understood, compels us
to believe that _under_ the letter of Scripture, (which _of course_ is
to be _interpreted_ literally,) there lies a deeper and sometimes a far
less obvious meaning; occasionally a meaning so improbable, (as men
account improbability,) that, but for the finger of GOD pointing it out,
we could never by possibility have discerned it; so extraordinary, that
when it is shewn us, it needs an effort of the heart and of the mind to
embrace it fully.
Cases of literal Interpretation are indeed of constant occurrence in
Scripture; but the principle on which they depend is obvious, and
common to all writings alike. I do not doubt, for a moment, that the
history of Joseph and Potiphar's wife, (which we heard read this
morning,) is a _bonâ fide_ narrative,--_truer_ and _more_ authentic in
details, than is to be found in any other book of History.--Neither do I
doubt that the obvious teaching, (the _moral_ Interpretation as it may
be called,) of that incident, is the proper one: viz. that even for the
most fiery of fleshly trials, GOD'S grace is sufficient:--that Joseph's
safety lay in refusing even to _be_ with her, joined to his holy fear of
sinning _against GOD_:--that lust is ever cruel, and will hunt for the
precious life[492]:--finally, that the way of purity, though it may lead
at first to sorrow, will infallibly conduct to blessedness at the last.
Considerations like these, which are obvious and easy, are also
unquestionably _true_; and especially precious, (_who_ ever doubted it?)
as helps to personal holiness.--But still, there may underlie this
narrative, for aught I see to the contrary, a mystical signification.
Potiphar's wife may, (as the best and wisest of ancient and modern
Divines have thought,) symbolize the Power of Darkness; and Joseph, our
Divine LORD. The garment Joseph left in the woman's hand, may represent
that fleshly garment of which the true Joseph divested
Himself,--(=apekdysamenos= as St. Paul speaks in a very remarkable
place,)--the mortal body which Satan apprehended (his sole triumph!) and
by which he was ensnared, when a greater than Joseph gat Him out from an
adulterous world[493]. Joseph in the prison, and CHRIST in the grave:
Joseph exalted, and CHRIST Ascended: Joseph at last feeding the families
of the World, and CHRIST becoming the Bread of Life to all:--let it not
occasion offence, Brethren, if I confess that, for aught I see to the
contrary, some such hidden teaching as this, may underlie the plain
historical narrative; and in no way interfere with a literal
interpretation.
III. From the two foregoing negative positions, however, (which almost
need an apology, such obvious truisms are they,) I eagerly pass on to
something better and higher.
1. And first, I boldly declare that the clue to all that has been
advanced concerning the marvellous method of Holy Writ is supplied by
the single consideration that the Bible is _the Word of GOD_,--that Holy
Scripture, from the Alpha to the Omega of it, is the language of the
HOLY GHOST. Incomprehensible and unmanageable on any other
hypothesis,--all the disclosures of inspired Interpretation, by the
hearty reception of this one revealed truth, are rendered perfectly
intelligible and clear. The HOLY SPIRIT may surely be assumed competent
to interpret what the HOLY SPIRIT has already delivered! His
disclosures therefore are beyond the reach of censure; however
marvellous they may happen to be. But they are all a hopeless riddle to
those who have blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts.
Thus, to advert for a moment to the prophetic character (as it may be
called) of the historical parts of Scripture,--What is it which moves
secret unbelief, and prompts a reference to the human devices of
Allegory and Accommodation[494]? It is the profound conviction that no
merely human narrative could be handled as St. Paul handles Genesis,
except by indulging in rhetorical license, and giving to Fancy a very
free rein. But disabuse your mind of this lurking suspicion, so
derogatory to the honour of Him by whose Spirit the Bible is
inspired,--cease to suspect that the narrative of Scripture is a merely
human narrative,--and how different becomes the problem! Why should the
HOLY GHOST have spoken less by the mouth of Moses, than by the mouth of
David and Isaiah, Jeremiah and the rest of the prophets? But if _He_
speaks in Genesis, then are the words of Genesis _His_;--and every word
of the narrative "_proceedeth_" (as our LORD phrases it,) "_out of the
mouth of GOD_."
I am constrained to be thus express and emphatic, because it has been
lately "_laid down that Scripture has one meaning_;--the meaning which
it had to the mind of the Prophet or Evangelist who first uttered or
wrote,--to the hearers or readers who first received it[495]." The
original sense of Scripture, (says this writer,) is "the meaning of the
words as they first struck on the ears, or flashed before the eyes, of
those who heard and read them[496]." Now, I will not pause to remark on
the complicated fallacy involved in this. For (1), Why should a hearer's
first impression of a speaker's meaning be assumed _to be_ that
speaker's meaning[497]? And (2), Why may not Prophets and Evangelists
have _intended_ secondary meanings[498]? But I do not dwell on this, for
it does not touch the point. Let us hear the voice of one who adorned
this place many years before the present controversy arose, and who has
exactly anticipated the question now at issue. "Observe how this matter
really is," says Bp. Butler. "If one knew a person to be _the sole
Author_ of a book; and were certainly assured, or satisfied to any
degree, that one knew the whole of what he intended in it; one should be
assured or satisfied to such degree, that one knew the whole meaning of
that book: for _the meaning of a book is nothing but the meaning of the
Author_. But if one knew a person to have compiled a Book out of memoirs
_which he received from Another, of vastly superior knowledge in the
subject of it_; especially if it were a Book full of great intricacies
and difficulties; it would in no wise follow that one knew the whole
meaning of the Book, from knowing the whole meaning of the compilers:
for the original memoirs, (i.e. the Author of them,) might have, (and
there would be no degree of presumption, in many cases, against
supposing Him to have,) some farther meaning than the compiler saw. To
say then, that the Scriptures, and the things contained in them, can
have no other or farther meaning than those persons thought or had, who
first recited or wrote them; is evidently saying, _that those persons
were the original, proper, and sole authors of those books_, i.e. THAT
THEY ARE NOT INSPIRED: which is absurd, whilst the authority of these
books is under examination; i.e. till you have determined they are of no
divine authority at all. Till this be determined, it must in all reason
be supposed,--not indeed that they _have_, (for this is taking for
granted that they are inspired;) but,--that they _may_ have, some
farther meaning than what the compilers saw or understood[499]."--So far
Bp. Butler.
2. Now, if GOD be in effect the Speaker, why need we hesitate to believe
that He has so framed the stories, that they shall be throughout
adumbrations of the things which concern our peace[500]? Let some
garment be shewn me of merely human manufacture, and however costly it
may prove, I look for nothing in it beyond the known properties of any
other earthly fabric. But give me the assurance that, on the contrary,
it was woven by Divine hands, and fashioned in a Heavenly loom, and do I
not straightway expect to find it a mystery and a marvel of Art? It is
even so with the language of Holy Writ. It is all framed and fashioned
after a Diviner model than men are able to imagine. It is instinct with
sublimest meanings. It is penetrated, through and through, with the
Spirit of the Most High GOD. It is of so celestial a texture, that, to
the eye of the soundest Reason, informed by the purest Faith, it
reveals, (when the Spirit of its Divine Author shines upon it,) the
glorious outlines of an imperishable Life!
3. The strong root of bitterness out of which springs unbelief in this
supernatural character of the historical parts of the Bible, is an
unworthy notion of GOD'S Power. Because _human_ histories are perforce
barren and lifeless, it is assumed that the Book of GOD'S Law must be a
dead thing also. And then, the conceit of self-relying Reason glides in,
(like a serpent,) and remonstrates as follows:--"Yea, can GOD have
sanctioned a method of such subtlety and pliability as will make His own
Scriptures mean _anything_[501]? Is it not rather, an exploded fashion,
which the age has outgrown,--_that_ fashion of supposing that there is
sometimes a double sense in Prophecy, and that the Gospel is symbolized
in the Law? Were then the worthies of the Old Testament puppets in GOD'S
Hands, acting parts?--now, typifying remote personages; now, exhibiting
future transactions; now, symbolizing national events? Is it credible?
Not so! Accept one of two alternatives, and never dream of a third.
Believe either that the Evangelists, the Apostles, our SAVIOUR CHRIST
Himself,--partaking of the ignorance of their age, and speaking
according to the modes of thought then prevalent, were mistaken in their
interpretations of Holy Scripture; or else, deny boldly that there are
interpretations at all. Assume that they are mere allegory and
accommodation! Something must be allowed for the backwardness of the
Past;--and 'the time has come when it is no longer possible to ignore
the results of criticism[502].' A change of method 'is not so much a
matter of expediency as of necessity. The original meaning of
Scripture' is at last 'beginning to be understood[503].' Be persuaded,
and make it thy business to persuade others, that the Bible _is but a
common Book!_"
4. To all of which, we make summary answer:--Passing by thy
self-congratulation on the enlightenment of the age,--of which, except
in certain departments of physical Science, _we_ see _no_ evidence;--the
whole of thy argument concerning Holy Scripture amounts to this;--that
it would be very distasteful _to thee_, to find that it contained any
sense beyond that which lies on the surface. Types, intended by the
Author of Scripture _to be_ types: Prophecy with sometimes more than a
single application: historical events foreshadowing remote
transactions:--all these _thou_ deniest, because _thou_ dislikest.
Observe, however, that while _thou_ art urging thine own private
opinion, _we_ are dealing with a revealed fact. _Thou_ talkest about a
probability, but _we_ are establishing a proof. "It is written" that
Scripture _is_ thus significant, _is_ thus mysterious in its historical
outlines. And thou canst not explain away one syllable, though thou
shouldest deny "_every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of GOD_."
5. Let us, however, examine the question merely by the light of unaided
reason.--Consider then! If GOD made this world the particular kind of
world which He is found to have made it, in order that it might in due
time preach to mankind about Himself, and about His providence:--if He
contrived beforehand the germination of seeds, the growth of plants, the
analogies of animal life; all, evidently, in order that they might
furnish illustrations of His teaching; and that so, great Nature's self
might prove one vast Parable in His Hands:--_why_ may not the same GOD,
by His Eternal Spirit, have so overruled the utterance of the human
agents whom He employed to write the Bible, that their historical
narratives, however little their authors meant or suspected it, should
embody the outline of things heavenly; and, while they convey a true
picture of actual events, should _also_ after a most mysterious fashion,
yield, in the Hands of His own informing Spirit, celestial Doctrine
also?
6. For let me remind you,--The very actions of men,--the complicated
transactions of our common lives,--are thus overruled by God's
Providence; and, without restraint, are so controlled that they shall
subserve to the ulterior purposes of His will,--after a fashion which
altogether defies analysis. Beyond this inner circle of comprehensible
causation,--external to the immediate sphere of cause and effect which
courts our daily scrutiny,--there is an outer circle, which rounds our
lives; and (as I said) overrules all we do; fashioning, by virtue of a
supreme fiat which is altogether beyond our comprehension, all our ends.
_Why_ then, I ask, may not the Bible be, what it purports to be,--the
authentic record of transactions which the marvellous skill of Him who
governeth all things in Heaven and Earth did so overrule, that they
should become foreshadowings of chief transactions in the Kingdom of
CHRIST? Shall prophecy, in the ordinary sense of the term, be admitted
by all,--and yet a _prophetic transaction_ be deemed impossible with
GOD? If Isaiah may prophesy of one "red in His apparel," after "treading
the winepress alone[504];" may describe Him as "despised and rejected of
men;" "a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief;" "wounded for our
transgressions and bruised for our iniquities;" "brought as a lamb to
the slaughter," and "making intercession for the transgressors;" and at
last destined to find "His grave with the wicked, yet with the rich in
His death[505]:"--if this may be _in words_ described minutely, and move
no doubt; shall we close our eyes that we may not see,--or seeing shall
we fail to recognize,--in the person of such an one as David, a
divinely-intended type of MESSIAH? What! when he who was born in
Bethlehem, overcomes the Philistine at the end of forty days, and takes
from him the armour wherein he trusted;--when he,--a prophet, priest,
and king,--is persecuted by his enemies, and betrayed by his own
familiar friend; when _he_ at last passes over the brook Kidron and
ascends Olivet, sorrowing as he goes;--yea, when he utters words which
our REDEEMER resyllables with _His_ dying breath[506];--wilt thou refuse
to discern in the person of David, the lineaments of David's Son? and
sneer at _us_, who herein have been better taught than thou; although
thou hast no better reason to give for thy unbelief than that the view
of Holy Scripture which the Church Catholic hath held in all ages, seems
to thee a thing impossible?
7. Take once more, if thou wilt, the analogy of Nature; and thence infer
what is _probable_ concerning things Divine. Is it observed that _the
works_ of GOD are thus single in their office; or are they, on the
contrary, manifold in their virtues and uses? Than the metal Iron, what
substance more serviceable for every ordinary mechanical purpose of
daily life? Yet, ask the physician which of the metals _he_ could least
afford to forego as an instrument of cure: and he will tell thee that
_he_ finds Iron the fullest of healing virtues also. Shall then plants
and animals, yea, and the whole of the Animal Kingdom, be admitted to
subserve to manifold, and at first sight unsuspected uses,--so that the
wisest are ready to confess that the function of most remains to this
hour a secret:--and shall we be reluctant to allow that the _Word of
GOD_--"the Tree of Life," whereof "the leaves are for the healing of the
nations,"--may also be thus various in its purpose; fraught with other
teaching besides that which on its very surface meets the careless eye?
8. To speak without a figure,--It is not of course to be supposed that
the inspired writers knew all the wondrous qualities of the message they
delivered, or of the narrative they were divinely guided to indite.
Altogether a distinct question _this_; although the two have been
sometimes confused together[507]. Nay, Revelation itself comes in to
help us here. St. Peter, in express words, declares that concerning the
mystery of Redemption "the prophets _inquired and searched diligently_;
... searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of CHRIST which
was in them did signify, when it,"--(not _they_, observe, but
_It_)--"testified beforehand the sufferings of CHRIST, and the glory
that should follow." That "not unto, themselves, but unto _us_ they did
minister,"--thus much, indeed, _was_ revealed to them; but no more. The
rest, to this hour, the very "Angels desire to look into!"
9. But between the words which a man delivers _being_ full of Divine
significancy, and _himself knowing_ the full scope and purport of those
words,--there is surely a mighty difference! When Caiaphas foretold the
universal efficacy of CHRIST'S Death, _who_ less than Caiaphas suspected
the far-reaching truth of the words which fell from his unholy lips?
_He_ knew nothing about the triumphs of the Cross; and yet he could
prophesy very accurately concerning them. "This spake he not of
himself," (says the Evangelist,) "but being high-priest that year, he
prophesied that JESUS should die for that nation; and not for that
nation only, but that also He should gather together in one the children
of GOD that were scattered abroad[508]." ... It may safely be assumed
that the sacred writers no more knew the force and power of their own
words, than those Priests who lived and moved amid the shadows of the
Mosaic Ritual were able to discern therein, the substance of things
eternal in the Heavens. And yet we believe concerning those ritual types
that "they were a concealed prophetic evidence, the force of which was
made apparent by the presence of the Gospel[509]." I am prone to suspect
that the burning vehemence of their own language must many a time have
moved the Prophets of old to deepest astonishment; and that when there
broke from them words of more than mortal power,--or images of unearthly
grandeur,--or the outlines of a grief more than human; when they spake
of a betrayal for thirty pieces of silver[510], of blows and
spitting[511], and of pierced hands and feet[512]; of parted garments
and lots cast upon a vesture[513];--they must have felt, they must have
felt the awfulness of the message they were commissioned to deliver; and
longed, yea yearned unutterably to see and to hear the things which were
reserved to be witnessed in the days of the Son of Man!