The Bible : Its Meaning and Supremacy

The Bible contains a progressive and gradual revelation. Imper-
fect enlightenment of some of the Old Testament writers.
Defective characters, and partial knowledge. How Christ
corrected the Old Testament. Growth of the allegorising
method. It was borrowed by Philo from heathen sources.
His theory of impassive trance. Philo's manner of treating
the Law. Borrowed from the Stoic method of allegorising
Homer. Frequent childishness and audacity of the allego-
rising method. A disastrous legacy of the Jewish Church
to Christian exegesis. Connected with a false theory of
inspiration. The Talmud; Aqiba; Quenstedt; John Owen;
Burgon. Philo's method continued by Origen. 'The letter
killeth'-what? The Venerable Bede. Sixtus Senensis.

PAGE

Specimens of Philonian allegory. Bishop Wordsworth on

the murder of Sisera. Swedenborg. How Socrates and

Plato dealt with Homeric myths.

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CHAPTER V

THE BIBLE NOT HOMOGENEOUS IN ITS MORALITY

Varying tones of Scripture. 1. The imprecatory Psalms. 2. The

Pentateuch and slavery. 3. Wars of extermination. Israel

and the Midianites. Such deeds may be palliated, but can-

not be in the abstract defended. 4. Narratives of the Pa-

triarchs. 5. Who tempted David? 6. The immolation of

Jephthah's daughter. 7. The man after God's own heart.'

8. The seven sons of Saul. Heterogeneous records. All

incompleteness completed in the revelation of Christ .

CHAPTER VI

ANTITHESES OF SCRIPTURE

Ceremonial-

1. Differences between the Law and the Prophets.

ism and spirituality. 2. Varying points of view, amid sub-

stantial unity. 3. Differing standpoints of Apostles. Luther.

4. Heresies about the Old Testament. Marcion. 5. Ob-

servable differences of standpoint in the Old Testament.

6. Annulment of the Levitic Law. Luther. R. Baxter.

7. Illustrations: (a) Clean and unclean meats. (b) Hand-

washings. (c) Ablutions. (d) Divorce. (e) Sabbatic ob-

servances. (f) The Christ-Spirit, not the Elijah-Spirit. Two

anecdotes: 1. Renée, Duchess of Ferrara, and Calvin. 2. Bal-

four of Burley and the minister. Various misuse and perver-

sions of the Bible. No argument against its supremacy

CHAPTER VII

'VERBAL DICTATION' AN UNTRUE AND UNSPIRITUAL HYPOTHESIS

The theory in opposition to all evidence. Unknown till after
the Reformation. The 'Helvetic Confession' of 1675. Ca-

CONTENTS

lovius. Other post-Reformation dogmatists and their exag-

gerated phrases. 1. Irreverence of the dogma. 2. Its

uselessness. 3. Scriptural proofs of indifference to verbal

reproduction. i. Old Testament variations. ii. Record of

the words of Christ. iii. St. Luke's method of composition.

iv. Quotations of the Apostles. The Septuagint. v. Quota-

tions of uncertain origin. vi. Conclusion

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104

CHAPTER VIII

'PLENARY INSPIRATION'

The word 'inspiration 'is excessively vague and undefined. 1. It

is not limited to the Scriptures. Instances of the use of the

word in English literature. 2. The Church has never de-

fined its character, or laid down its limitations. In our

Prayer Book it is always used of the ordinary influences of

the Holy Spirit on the minds of man. Milton. 3. Scripture

uses it in the same sense. Never confused with supernatu-

ral infallibility. 4. Widely divergent conceptions of inspi-

ration. i. The mechanical theory. ii. The dynamic theory.

iii. The theory of special inspiration in essentials only.

iv. The theory of general inspiration. 5. Supernatural

dictation of Scripture no part of the Christian Faith.

6. Scripture ascribes general or special inspiration to men

whom it depicts as still erring and imperfect. 7. Slavishly

literal exaggeration of isolated general expressions. 8. Evil

done by indeterminate words. 9. Inspiration does not ex-

clude fallibility in non-essentials. Dr. Pope. Archbishop

Temple. Dean Bagot. 10. The word 'inspiration' too

vague for dogmatic purposes. 11. The Bible itself shows

how widely variant must be the conceptions of 'inspiration.'

12. The correction of exaggerated notions lies on the sur-

face of the facts. 13. Faithlessness of the notion that we

have nothing but the letter of a book on which to rely.

What Scripture itself teaches on this subject. 14. Christ is

ever with us, and God has not ceased to speak. A Hag-

Needless panic about the Higher Criticism. 1. What is meant

by it. 2. The plain duty of close examination. 3. Obvious

facts. (a) The Bible, to the vast majority, only accessible

in translations. (b) All translations more or less inadequate.

text not always ascertainable. (e) The Bible retains all

the forms of a human literature. (f) Various interpreta-

tions. (g) The Bible itself necessitates criticism. (h) Its

gradual perfectionment. 4. These facts inevitably admitted

by the most earnest apologists. Mr. Gladstone. 5. Inquiry

therefore an imperative obligation. 6. And the results of

inquiry must not be hushed up. 7. The Bible must be hu-

manly interpreted. 8. No truth of religion in the slightest

degree affected. 9. The authority of Christ and His allu-

sions to Scripture, when rightly interpreted, absolutely

ratify these conclusions. 10. Christ and the Prophets.

THE BIBLE CONTAINS THE WORD OF GOD

The formula of the Church is 'Scriptura continet verbum Dei.'
Cartwright's seven arguments that 'the Bible is the word of
God.' They are only tenable when applied to the essential
revelation of Scripture. Luther never adopted the errone-
ous formula. The Scriptures as a whole never claim to be
'the word of God.' The phrase never once applied to the
Bible as a whole, either in the Old or the New Testament.
The expressions of Scripture itself. The teaching of the
Universal Church on this subject has always been in accord
with that of Scripture itself. John of Damascus. Doctrine
of the Anglican Church. The difference between vague,
rhetorical, general phrases and exact definition. The rigid