Inspiration as a Fact

So far we have looked at Inspiration as a doctrine, if we are to estimate its value as a fact, we must get at least a general notion of the principal characteristics of the particular book on behalf of which inspiration is claimed. In this and the succeeding chapter we shall move within what may be called extra-theological limits; for a purpose which will be disclosed as we proceed. At the outset, we must strongly deny that any man could a priori haye told the proper scope and tone of a book divinely inspired. It is one thing to have the book, and to reason backwards; it is another to be called upon, in its absence, to say exactly what an inspired revelation should be. We have to found an opinion upon a particular book; and it will be entirely for the book itself to prove its own inspiration. The Bible must do, what every other book must do, that is to say, it must make its own place m the world; let it prove its inspiration by inspiring its readers; let it show its heavenhness by the amount of heaven which it sets up on earth; if it fail by these tests, any attempt to uphokl it by organised authority is absurd and hopeless. The object of this chapter is to Grather into one view three or four marked characteristics of the book, simply regarded as a literary composition, and to ask the reader to assign them some value in “the argument. At first, we open the Bible for critical, and not for theological purposes, and at once we encounter the difficulty arising from a profusion of peculiar and startling characteristics, —

I. The Bible is undoubtedly marked by a wonderful reserve of pozucr. Its writers nowhere betray any sign of exhaustion, nor do they display the slightest wish to make the most of their materials in a literary point of view. There are single chapters which any writer could easily have elaborated into a volume. The rule seems to have been to say everything in the fewest possible words. The Bible abounds in indications, brief, vivid, and multitudinous, and is, hence, pre-eminently a text-book. We wonder that the writers do not say more, yet we feel that even in their brevity they have said more than any other men have ever said. They have marvellous skill in perspective. They excite the greatest expectations, and then teach the readers whom they have thus almost frenzied, that such expectations are to be held as a discipline, and not to be pushed to a premature fulfilment. The great ambition of other sacred bo6ks seems to be to do everything: they put a key into every lock; under every enigma they write at least a conjectural answer; they determine the attitudes and services proper to every hour of the day; and whatever intellectual energy they have is apparently expres-Iiispiration as a Fad. 33

sible in letter and symbol. They resemble the finite in an ambitious determination to represent the infinite; whereas the Bible represents the infinite in a condescending endeavour to find expression in the finite. The Bible is a perpetual beginning, rich in its immediate satisfactions, but richer still in its promises. Through every revelation there is a hint of another revelation yet to come. The Bible has a wonderful firmament, out of which the light comes, and the rain, and from which the key of heaven may at any moment drop. Its earth is very legible: its firmament is an eternal mystery. Is this, then, the kind of book which is presumably worthy of a high origin? In this reserve of power has it any resemblance to the book of physical nature? In Bashan are there not more acorns than oaks? Under quiet exteriors are there any fierce energies? Is there anywhere a sign of exhaustion, as if the creation were almost equal to the Creator y Completeness may be a sign of weakness. Omnipotence has no final line. When the artist says that he can add nothing further to his picture, he confesses the limitation of his power: the attainment of his ideal is the signature of his weakness. The Bible is full of gaps,, of unfinished pictures, of jagged and broken outlines; in the artistic sense of the word there is no perfection, — the question is whether there is sufficient astronomic force to overcome all surface inequalities, and to secure the velocity which is rest, and the friction which is licrht. The theolocfian must determine this, rather than the critic.

2. The Bible grapples with the highest subjects which can engage the attention of mankind. A professedly inspired book treating of mere trifles, or of points which are but of secondary interest, would have been the very cruelty of irony. The Bible advances instantly to the highest lines of spiritual inquiry: God, creation, invisible worlds, sin, death, immortality, are its familiar themes. But more important than the fact of Its grappling with such subjects, is its peculiar method of treating them. Its approach (so to speak) is invariably from the higher side: the Bible reveals, it does not suggest; it declares, it does not investigate; all the surprise is on the side of the reader, never on the side of the writer. Looked at in the light of presumptive inspiration, this is precisely the proper result. If God has spoken at all. He must have spoken positively and authoritatively. The tone of the Bible is emphatically immodest and exaggerated, if it is the tone of mere inquirers or speculators; on the other hand it is the only tone (so far as we can judge) that befits the supremacy and condescension of God. The imperative mood which is seemly in a king, is brusque in an equal and impertinent in an inferior. This is the mood of the Bible. Thougrh its subjects are innumerable there is no incertitude in Its statement of any one of them; more, indeed, might have been stated as it appears to our impatience, but more may mean less, as excess of light is equivalent to darkness. The Bible tone is such as befits inspiration; but it is an obvious and fatal

Inspnaiion as a Fact. 35

mistake If it is vox d preterea nihil. Even ordinary men may secure respect when they speak subjunctively; but when they speak imperatively they become ridiculous and contemptible. It is not difficult to distinguish between a bray and a roar.

The precision and weight of the tone will be seen to be the more remarkable .when the peculiarity of the revelation is considered. The Bible seems to have a line without a limit. In nature, we seem to be bounded by the horizon; yet who has measured its diameter, or laid his hand upon the sky-line? We move towards it, yet we never get away from the centre. It is the same with the divine revelation. Its sky-line recedes as we advance. The limit is visible yet unapproachable. We can get to the end of the chapters, yet we never get to the end of the book. The Bible combines a wide liberty with a conspicuous and sacred law of trespass. Its words of promise are rich in incentive and solace; thus: — “I have many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now;” “We know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away;” “It doth not yet appear what we shall be,” “Hereafter ye shall see;” “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.” By such words (were there no other) the Bible separates itself from all other books which claim to convey such sacred communications.

3. Not only does the Bible grapple with the greatest subjects, and pronounce upon them with dogmatic precision and emphasis, it so discloses its subjects as to demand the interest of all nations through all time. The Bible insists upon being the book of the whole world. It does this, too, in a very wonderful manner. At first it makes no claim as to circulation. By-and-by it becomes a book of much importance to a particular people. Farther on, its language increases in copiousness and boldness. Finally, it declares its leaves to be for the healing of the nations. The change of tone as between the Old Testament and the New is one of the most remarkable phenomena in all literature. There is a steady, though often imperceptible, movement from the local to the universal: in the Old Testament there is an antiquity which makes one solemn; so gigantic, so silent, so irreparable, are the ruins of empire, ritual, and fortune; there we find the thick moss, the biting canker, the seal of death; and all this strangely interspersed with beauty which must live for ever: in the New Testament there is all the stir of modern life, — enterprise, revolution, progress; — men are moving from land to land, speaking all languages, publishing one name, and bearing one grim symbol. Is such a movement in keeping with the presumptive inspiration of the book? The Old Testament havinof reached the hci<iht of sublimity, what eminence remained for the New? After thunder and pomp, resounding trumpets and tramp of mailed men, there came gentleness and beauty, purity and nobleness, pardon and love. Is such a line of development in keeping with the presumptive inspiration of the book? What could be more daring than to displace a soldier by a missionary? This is an anti-climax in history, unless, indeed, it be “the foolishness of God.”

Looking at great breadths of history it is evident that the believers in the Abesta, the Veda, and even the Koran, have not been careful to create a system of world-wide propagation of their respective faiths. Little beyond a military spasm in the case of the last of them has been attempted in this direction. But the believers in the Bible have been impelled to translate it into all languages and to send it into all regions. The Bible has, as a mere matter of fact, forced its way where no other book has ever gone; and as for the variety of intellect which it has interested in its fortunes, no other writing can bear comparison with it. The coldest and the most ardent temperaments have alike sought to extend its influence: the richest learning and the most splendid eloquence have felt honoured in its service; and the most valorous men have hazarded their lives to publish its contents in hostile lands. They have done this because of the effect of Bible teaching upon their hearts; necessity was laid upon them; and out of this necessity came their highest joy. Such facts, which can be verified without trouble, show how true it is that the Bible so discloses its subjects as to claim the homage of all nations through all time. This consideration is evidently of some value as a practical test of the presumptive inspiration of the book. If nature be recalled as a witness, we shall be told that

8 The Paj’aclete.

universality characterises all the great gifts of God. and therefore will probably mark any revelation which professes to have been indited by His Spirit

4. The Bible contains the most startling proposition as to the destruction of sin. In some respects this is its supreme peculiarity. The action which the Bible proposes is infinitely more remarkable on the divine side than on the human. How to takei”/;^ out of the world, is the problem. Let the mind dwell upon the terms for a moment that their import may be felt. Hoiu is sin to be met, overcome, ultimately and for ever destroyed? By a poor human struggle? By self-ablution? By self-mutilation? Is sin to be taken away only by taking away the sinner? What ‘’originality would there be in so obvious and coarse a method? The question is, How to save the man and destroy the sin? and the answer to an inquiry so vital cannot but be waited for with anxious impatience! In the midst of speculative debate upon the point, the Bible comes forward with this startling answer — God Himself will die, tJiejiist Jor the unjust I If this be not the supreme blasphemy, it is the very gospel of God! One or other it certainly is. It is not an answer that can be spoken of with indifference. As a human suggestion it is utter madness. It is salvation that is contemplated, in the terms of the inquiry; but how can salvation come by death? Observe, this immediate argument does not touch the theology of the proposition; it is wholly concerned with the mere facts which lie upon the very surface of the inquiry, the most tragical of which is the proposition that the Just should die for the unjust, and that by the shedding of blood should come the remission of sins. It is enough, in this connection, that we merely point it out, with the humble confession, indeed, that if it be not the most awful of all irony, and therefore the most sinful of all sins, it is the most affecting doctrine that ever appealed to the human heart! There it is, however, and the student must deal with it. If he gives it the go-by, he instantly disqualifies himself for this high investigation; he flees from difficulty, and becomes a mere trifler in controversy. If he takes it up seriously, he may possibly find that it gives articulateness to emotions that have long troubled his own heart with a kind of pleasurable ,pain, — the pain of suffering and death, that he might make a way for the pardon and restoration of his own sinning child. The child may never have measured his own sin until he has seen the agony of his father’s wounded love. But here we are touching points beyond our argument. This, suffice it now to say, is a mystery not to be illuminated by words, — any heart that has suffered much throusfh the sinfulness of others will catch some far-off hint of its meaning: for the rest, there is no interpretation possible to us.

5. The Bible is marked by a marvellous comdinatio7i of sublimity and condescension alike as to subject and to 77ietJiod of treatment. There are heights from which descent would seem to be impossible, and there are familiarities which are apparently too minute and common to permit of return to the highest dicrnity. Yet the return, in both directions, is made with an ease which even in a literary point of view is undoubtedly wonderful, as if the heights and the depths were in reality but one plane to the Invisible and Ruling Spirit, If astronomic motion smootlis the mountainous and rugged surface of earth, what if spiritual velocity make one line of things which to us are high and low, sublime and approachable? What a book is the Bible in the mere matter of variety of contents! Everything seems to be in it; poem, narrative, music, friendship, personal news, national intelligence, judgment, battle, prayer, song, anathema, and benediction. The bush is common enough, but what of the fire which makes the shepherd turn aside? The. bread is such as has been used at supper, yet presently it will become the body of Christ! Paul is almost in heaven, yet in the very height of his anticipations he asks for his parchments and his cloak, and he knows exactly where both were left. Whole pages are taken up with obscure names, and more is told of a genealogy than of the day of judgment. Stories are half-told, and the nicjht falls before we can tell where the victory lay. Where is there anything to correspond with this? Not in any book certainly, — but in actual life there is the self-same thing over again without the loss of one line. If the sun could print for us what he sees on any day in the year, he would print a second edition of the Bible. We should have it ill over again, including perhaps something even of creation itself, — with its light, its ascendincj and descending waters, its trees bringing forth each after its kind, its sunny day, its starry night; but the humanity would be the same, still more vividly; — family life, love, fear, envy, covetousness, magnanimity; chosen people and alien lands; temples warm with the fire of the Lord, and houses of vain and corrupt idolatry; the noise of war and the song of peace; shepherds keeping their flocks, and soldiers listening for the foe; David in the wilderness and Jonah on the sea; weird dreams, spectral hands on the wall, baffled magicians, and truth-telling prophets; psalms for which no music is good enough, and proverbs that glisten with wit — all these, and more, we should have on every or any day in the year, if the sun could but print as well as shine! This is just the Bible. It is a page torn out of the great volume of human life; only, torn by the hand of God, and annotated by His Spirit. What is the daily newspaper but a revised translation of the Bible, often, indeed, with God left out in the spelling, though He cannot be left out in reality. Take to-morrow’s paper in one hand and the Bible in the other, and see if the paper be not full of repetitions, and if there be not something like an echo in all its utterances.

Other indications might be made, but these will do in the meantime, as indicating at least a basis of judgment. Here is a book which is marked by a wonderful reserve of power; which grapples with the greatest subjects which can engage the attention of mankin I; which so grapples with them as to demand (under sanctions too) the attention of all men through all time; which offers the most startling proposition for the removal of sin; and which is marked by a marvellous combination of sublimity and condescension, alike as to subject and to method of treatment. Is such a book, judging by these characteristics, likely to sustain any claim to be an inspired and authoritative revelation of the will of God? We only ask for 2. prima facie case. If such a case be granted, probably a careful and honest perusal of the Bible will follow, and this will be something gained.