LETTER VI. ON THE INSPIRATION OF THE HOLY SCRiptures. My Dear Brother, In my last, I endeavoured to show the necessity of a divine revelation. In this, I shall offer evidence of the Bible being written by inspiration of God, so as to answer to this necessity. It is certain, that those who wrote the books which compose the Old and New Testaments profess to have been divinely inspired. The Spirit of God spake by me, and his word was in my tongue: the God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me.-The Lord spake unto Moses saying, &c.—Thus saith the Lord.-All scripture is given by inspiration of God.-Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.-The things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. We must, therefore either admit these writings to be the word of God, or consider them as mere imposture. To pretend to "venerate them as authentic records of the dispensation of God," and yet deny their inspiration is absurd it is believing the writers in what they say of other subjects, and disbelieving them in what they say of themselves. If their writings be not what they profess them to be, they are imposture, and deserve to be rejected. There is no consistent medium between faith and unbelief. : But, though all scripture is given by inspiration of God, it does not follow that it is so in the same sense and degree. It required one degree of inspiration to foretel future events, and another to narrate facts which fell under the writer's knowledge. The one required less exercise of his own judgment, the other more. spiration in the latter case, might be little more than a divine su In perintendence, preserving him from error, and from other defects and faults, to which ordinary historians are subject. Divine inspispiration, of whatever kind or degree, must have carried in it its own evidence to the party, or he could not with propriety have declared, Thus saith the Lord—and The things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. And it appears in some cases, to have been equally evident to those who were present. Thus, when the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel, and he foretold the overthrow of the Moabites and Ammonites, Jehoshaphat and the people appear to have been as certain that it was by inspiration of God, as he himself was; and therefore fell before the Lord and worshipped. 2 Chron. xx. The only question is, whether that which was evident to them can be so to us, at this distance of time and place; if not in the same degree, yet with sufficient certainty to warrant our unreserved dependance upon it. Some of the principal grounds on which the affirmative may be maintained, I conceive to be the following: the truth of the things contained in the sacred writings, their consistency, their perfection, their pungency, and their utility. Let us review these particulars. It 1. The truth of the things contained in the sacred writings. requires that a book professing to be a revelation from God should contain truth, and nothing but truth: such particularly must be its history, its prophecies, its miracles, and its doctrines. Now, as the scriptures abound with these, if they be untrue, it can be no difficult undertaking to prove them so. The facts being stated, with the evidence accompanying them, it lies upon those who disbelieve them to show cause. It certainly has not been for want of adversaries, nor of adversaries of talent, that this work has never been accomplished. How is it that out of all those who have written against the Bible, not an individual has soberly and modestly undertaken to answer the evidence which has been adduced for the veracity of its history, the fulfilment of its prophecies, the reality of its miracles, and the purity and consistency of its doctrines ? Instead of this, many of them have meanly pretended to believe the Bible, while yet they have been deceitfully undermining it; and those who have avowed their hostility, have commonly dealt în ridicule, rather than in reason. Verily, it is to the honour of the Bible to have such men for its adversaries. Paul 2. Their consistency. A book written by more than thirty men, of different talents and stations in life, living in different ages, the greater part of whom, therefore, could have no communication with each other, must, had it not been written under the inspiration of God, have been full of contradictions. Let any other production be named which has preserved a consistency under such circumstances. To suppose a succession of writings, the work of designing impostors, or at least of weak-headed fanatics, capable of maintaining that harmony which is apparent in the sacred scriptures, is no less absurd than the notion of Epicurus, that the world was formed by a fortuitous concourse of atoms, without a designing cause. Great as are the differences between Jews and Christians, there is none between their sacred writings. The Old and New Testaments are dictated by one and the same spirit. was hated by his unbelieving countrymen, and treated as an apostate from the religion of bis ancestors; but he was not an apostate. 1 thank God says he to Timothy, whom I erve FROM MY FOREFATHERS. He speaks also of the same faith which was in Timothy, as having dwelt first in his grandmother Lois, and then in his mother Eunice; the first of whom lived and died under the former dispensation. The same God, who at sundry times and in divers manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, in the last days spoke unto us by his Son. Consistency, it is true, may not in every instance be a test of truth; since error and alsehood may, in some particulars, be made to agree but in a subject whose bearings are multifarious and minute, they cannot escape detection: nothing but truth in such cases will be found consistent throughout. 3. Their perfection. If the Bible be of God, perfection must be one of its properties; for He is a rock, and his worth is perfect, This property, however, belongs to it, not as having been begun and ended at once. This, the work of creation was not each day had its proper work; which, on review, was pronounced very good, and all together, when finished, formed a gloriou whole. Such was the work of inspiration: the sacred scriptures were upwards of fifteen hundred years from their commencement to their completion; but, being completed they form a whole, and every part of them is very good. There is this peculiar property belonging to the sacred scriptures, that if you are in possession of only a single book, you may generally learn from it the leading principles which run through all the rest. The strong language of David concerning the sacred scriptures, such as their being more to be desired than thousands of gold and silver; sweeter than honey and the honey-comb; and the like could have reference to little more than the Pentateuch of Moses. Even a leaf from the sacred oracles, would, in innumerable instances, teach him that should find it, and read it with a humble mind, the way to everlasting life and this, not as possessing any thing like a charm, but as containing principles, which, if understood and followed, will lead the inquirer to God. : 4. Their pungency. There is nothing in the sacred scriptures to gratify an idle curiosity; but much that commends itself to the conscience, and that interests the heart. They are a mirror, into which he that seriously looks must, in a greater or less degree, see his own likeness, and discover what kind of character he is. That which was said of Jesus by the Samaritan woman, might be said of them in thousands of instances: He told me all that ever I did. They are the words of the wise which are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies. They not only prick the sinner in his heart, but stick so fast that he is incapable of extracting them. It has been remarked, that they who heard the preaching of the apostles were generally moved by it; either to repent and be converted, or to oppose the truth with bitter resentment. Their doctrine was a savour of life unto life in them that believed, and of death unto death in them that resisted. Surely, if we preached more in the spirit and power of the apostles, the effects of our ministry would more resemble theirs, and our hearers would not be able to sit year after year easy in their sins. The word of God is quick and powerful, sharper than any two edged sword; piercing even to the dividing assunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow; and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. If our preaching be but little adapted to produce these effects, surely it contains but little of the word of God. 5. Their utility. There is much in the sacred scriptures that is entertaining and pleasing to the ingenious, and more to console the sorrowful: it was not however to please, nor merely to comfort, but to profit us that they were written. That which is given by inspiration of God is PROFITABLE for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Unbelievers may declaim against the Bible; but universal experience proves, that, in respect of the present life only, they who believe it, and form their lives on its principles, are beyond all comparison, the best members of society; while they who disbelieve and traduce it are the worst. And if to this be added the life to come, it is no longer a subject of comparison, but of contrast: for the former ordinarily die in peace and hope; the latter, either blinded by insensibility, or if awakened to reflection, in fearful forebodings of the wrath to come. I shall conclude this letter with a few remarks on the properties and tendencies ascribed to the sacred scriptures in the nineteenth Psalm. Having declared the glory of God as manifested by his works, the writer proceeds to exhibit another medium of the divine glory; less magnificent, but more suited to the cases of sinful men; namely his word. The law, the testimony, the statutes, the commandments, the fear, and the judgments of the Lord are but different names given to the scriptures. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.—The book of nature declares the eternal power and Godhead of the Creator; but that of scripture represents his whole character; not only as the Creator, but as the Moral Governor and Saviour of men. Hence it is able to make us wise unto salvation, through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.-The opinions of the greatest men, formed merely from the works of nature, are full of uncertainty, and but ill adapted to instruct the illiterate part of mankind in their best interests; but the sacred |