*

"Quod colimus, Deus unus est, qui totam molem istam cum omni instrumento ele. mentorum, corporum, spirituum, verbo quo jussit, ratione qua disposuit, virtute qua potuit, de nihilo expressit in ornamentum majestatis suæ, unde et Græci nomen mundo KOZMON accommodaverunt. * * Sed quo plenius et impressius tam Ipsum, quam dispositiones ejus et voluntates adiremus, instrumentum adjecit literaturæ, si qui velit de Deo inquirere, et inquisito invenire, et invento credere, et credito deservire." TERTULL. Apolog. c. xvii. xviii.

"Scripturæ quidem perfectæ sunt, quippe a Verbo Dei et Spiritu ejus dictæ."
S. IRENEUS, Cont. Hær. lib. ii. xxviii. 2.

Όσα ἡ θεία γραφὴ λέγει, του Πνεύματος εἰσι τοῦ Ἁγίου φωνάι.

S. GREGOR. Nyssen. Cont. Eunom. Orat. vi,

LECTURE I.

THE QUESTION STATED.

WE ARE LABORERS TOGETHER WITH GOD.-1 Cor. iii. 9.

IN tracing the foundation of the Christian doctrine of Inspi ration, all researches must arrive at one ultimate fact. Man, by his natural powers, can not attain to the knowledge of his Maker. "No man hath seen God at any time." "Dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, Him no man hath seen, nor can see."2 Whence, then, is derived that knowledge on the degree of which depends the perfection of man's nature, and the ground of his hopes?

A philosopher of modern times, who makes no profession of any Christian sympathies, thus aptly states the question :-"It is a phenomenon which merits the attention, at least, of an observer, that among all nations, so far as they have raised themselves from the perfectly savage state to that of a community, there are to be found opinions of a communication between higher beings and men; traditions of supernatural inspirations and influences of the Deity upon mortals; in a word, although presented here more rudely, there under an aspect more refined, still, as a universal fact, the observer finds the notion of Revelation. This notion seems, of itself, were it only on account of its universality, to deserve some respect; and it appears more worthy of a fundamental philosophy to trace out its origin, to seek for its claims and its authority, and to pass sentence upon it according to the measure of these discoveries, rather than at once, and without a hearing, to class it among the inventions of deceivers, or to banish it to the land of dreams."3 It is unnecessary here to state how far such

1 John i. 18.

21 Tim. vi. 16.

3 "Versuch einer Kritik aller Offenbarung," von Johann Gottlieb Fichte.---s. 1 2te Auflage. Königsberg, 1793. See Appendix A.

a criticism has resulted in adding a further confirmation to the universal belief of mankind-a belief which has been expressed in every age and in every land. The fact, however, of such communications from the Supreme Being is one which may fairly be assumed; and with an examination of what is implied by a Divine Revelation, our inquiry must commence.

According to the usage of language, the word expressing this idea is employed in two different senses. It either denotes the Divine act of unveiling, or disclosing, or manifesting information to man—that is, the manner or form of the Revelation; or it signifies the very information thus imparted,—that is, the matter or contents. During the course of our inquiry we shall have occasion to consider each of these two significations, although the latter relates chiefly to the province of Bibilical exposition. Ast all knowledge of God is essentially connected with the idea of Religion, it may be well, in order to avoid ambiguity, to commence with the ordinary and real distinction conveyed by the phrases Natural and Revealed Religion; the former being founded upon such manifestations of the Divine Being, His will and acts, as are made by, or may be inferred from,-firstly, external nature, and, secondly, the inward constitution of man ;' the latter having as its basis the revelation, strictly so-called, which rests upon facts, and of which the record is the Bible, to which sense also it may be well to restrict the term "Revelation," (aπоkáλviç). The former class of Divine manifestations is im(ἀποκάλυψις). plied and assumed in the Bible itself, which, as I have said, is the record of the latter; the term "manifestation" (pavépwors), too, being appropriated by St. Paul to this very idea."

2

1 "So ist die natürliche Religion die Erkennbarkeit Gottes, das yvworòv Tov →ɛov (Röm. i. 19) aus den Werken, wofern diese nur mit Einschluss des Menschen als seines höchsten Werks gefasst werden * * * so ist auch die natürliche Religion ihrem Wesen nach Offenbarung."-Sack's Christliche Apologetik, s. 63. 2 I mean facts, as opposed to phenomena.

In the New Testament dialect dлокúviç has the fixed signification, "divine communication," "revelation." S. Jerome observes:

"Verbum quoque ipsum úπокаhúyɛws, id est, revelationis, proprie Scripturarum est, et a nullo sapientum sæculi apud Græcos usurpatum. Unde mihi videntur quemadmodum in aliis verbis, quæ de Hebræo in Græcum Septuaginta Interpretes transtulerunt, ita et in hoc magnopere esse conatos, ut proprietatem peregrini sermonis exprimerent, nova novis rebus verba fingentes."-Comment. in Ep. ad Gal., lib. i. cap. 1. tom. vii. p. 387.

1

In the LXX. the word dπoкáλviç is found but seldom; viz., 1 Sam. xx. 30; Ecclus. xi. 27; xxii. 22; xli. 23: but in none of these cases has it the sense of "divine communication."

4 Rom. i. 19, 20: "That which may be known or God is manifest (pavɛpóv) in

In the first place, in the world of sense, Nature' is represented. in Scripture as disclosing the Being and the Agency of God. From it, as the organ of the Divine power, the super-natural shines forth: "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handywork." The creation itself is an instance of God's coming forth from the mysterious and silent depths of his invisible Being; its pages present, as it were, a marvellous language in cipher, from which the Author permits some of His thoughts to be more or less distinctly inferred; "The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead." Again, in the intimations afforded by the inward constitution of man, God manifests himself no less plainly in the world of thought; partly by the higher powers of knowledge, partly by the voice of conscience and the moral sense. In the depths of our souls we are conscious of feelings more sublime than can spring from our own finite and limited individuality.* "The Gentiles," writes the Apostle, "having not the Law, are a Law unto themselves, which show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness. These two sources of Divine knowledge imply each other, and belong to the province of philosophy. They are as universal as the human race; "there is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard." God has never left Himself without a witness"in that He did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our heart with food and gladness. For, such "manifestations" of God's Being it is the duty of all to seek: "He hath made of one blood all nations of men, that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and

them; for God hath showed it (¿pavépwoɛv) unto them." Cf. Acts, xiv. 17. Bretschneider was, I believe, the first thus to employ the term "manifestation" as expressive of the peculiar sense in which the Apostle here applies the idea.--Cf. “Handbuch der Dogmatik," ler Band. s. 155, 4te Auflage.

1 Cf. Bockshammer's "Offenbarung und Theologie," s. 5.

2 Ps. xix. 1.

3 Rom. i. 20.

4 Twesten, referring to the arguments which reason supplies for the existence of God, justly appeals to the results of modern investigations in proof of the proposition that reflecting upon the finite can never lead man beyond the finite, if he does not already bear within himself the consciousness of the Infinite.-Cf. "Vorlesungen über die Dogmatik," ler Band. s. 345.

5 Rom. ii. 14, 15.

6 Ps. xix. 3.

7 Acts, xiv. 17

find him, though He be not far from every one of us, for in Him we live, and move, and have our being."

3

The particulars just considered form the groundwork of what is termed Natural Religion; the conveyance of God's will by means of facts" is the foundation of what we term Revealed Religion. Natural and Revealed Religion can never be contrasted; but there is a real, although it is but relative contrast between the channels through which they are conveyed, i. e., between Nature and Revelation. How, then, are they related; and where in nature can we recognise a Divine activity other than that exhibited in the order of the universe ? Nature and Revelation alike proceed from God, and, consequently, if their relation to each other be correctly expressed, all semblance of absolute opposition must, of itself, disappear. We have, therefore, to seek for some point in which they both unite; in which Nature assumes a religious aspect, as plainly as Revelation presents itself as a matter of fact.

We have assumed that the Divine influence over Nature did not cease at the act by which the world was called into being: the perfection of creation, surely, does not suspend the vital impulse which it received from God, nor is the Creator's power to be restricted to the original imposition of purely mechanical laws. Now, if God speak by means of the phenomena of the universe to the spirit of man, such a result can never be ascribed to the purely natural element which pervades the world. This only points to some other element of the same kind, equally finite with itself; and by virtue of the chain of causes reveals to us

Alluding to the passage here cited (Acts, xvii. 26-28) Bretschneider (loc. cit.) observes: "Bei der Manifestation ist der Mensch activ, und muss Gott suchen und ergreifen." This writer goes on to confound the ideas of Revelation and Inspiration. Inspiration he defines to be that species of Revelation in which God acts without the intervention of any intermediate cause ("sine causarum externarum interventu and as man is active in the case of "Manifestation," so in "Inspiration" he is passive ("Bei der Inspiration verhält sich der Mensch leidend"); in proof of which he quotes 2 Pet. i. 21. But see infra, p. 40.

To the class of Divine "Manifestations" some writers (e. g. C. F. Fritzsche, "De Revelationis notione Biblica, p. 13) add that effected by the course of history: "Our fathers understood not Thy wonders in Egypt. * Nevertheless He saved

them for His name's sake, that He might make his mighty power to be known."-Ps. cvi. 7, 8, cf. Ps. cxxxvi.

2 E. g. the giving of the Law from Sinai-the Incarnation, &c.

3 "Differunt certe informationes oraculi et sensus et re et modo insinuandi: sed spiritus humanus unus est, ejusque arculæ et cellæ eædem. Fit itaque, ac si diversi liquores, atque per diversa infundibula, in unum atque idem vas recipiantur.”—Bacon, De Augment. Scient. lib. ii. cap. i.

4 This subject is discussed by Sack in his remarks, "Vom Begriffe der Off-nbarung," Apologetik, ss. 114-147