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LETTER X.

On the Inspiration of Scripture.

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The various trains of argument and observation laid open to you in my former letters have, I hope, fully convinced you that the several books of Scripture deserve credence as genuine and authentic; but, in order that the truths and doctrines which they contain may press upon your mind with their full weight, it is necessary you should have a conviction of their Divine authority. A firm and cordial belief of the INSPIRATION of the Bible is, indeed, of the highest moment; for unless you are persuaded that those who were employed in the composition of the respective books were entirely preserved from error, a conviction of their honesty and integrity will be but of little avail. Honest men may err, may point out the wrong track, however unwilling they may be to deceive; and if those who have penned what we receive as revelation are thus open to mistakes, we are still left to make the voyage of life in the midst of rocks and shelves, and quick-sands, with a compass vacillating and useless, and our pole-star enveloped in mists and obscurity.

But some of these writers assure us that “all Scrip“ ture is given by inspiration of God;"(z) meaning, at least, the Jewish Scriptures; a declaration which de

(2) 2 Tim. iii. 16.

serves attention on the score of the general veracity by which we have already shewn their assertions are always marked. Still, as a like claim is made by writers who, it has been ascertained, were wicked and designing, let us inquire on what grounds and to what extent the divine inspiration of the Bible ought to be admitted.

Theologians have enumerated several kinds of Inspiration ; such as an inspiration of superintendency, in which God so influences and directs the mind of any person as to keep him more secure from error in some complex discourse, then he would have been merely by the use of his natural faculties: plenary superintendent inspiration, which excludes any mixture of error whatever from the performance so superintended : inspiration of elevation, where the faculties act in a regular, and, as it should seem, in a common manner, yet are raised to an extraordinary degree, so that the composition shall, upon the whole, have more of the true sublime, or pathetic, than natural genius could have given :—and inspiration of suggestion, in which the use of the faculties is superseded, and God does, as it were, speak directly to the mind, making such discoveries to it as it could not otherwise have obtained, and dictating the very words in which such discoveries are to be communicated, if they are designed as a message to others.

It is not my purpose to attempt to ascertain how far different portions of Scripture were composed under one or other of these kinds of inspiration. I have enumerated them merely to show you that those, who contend that Scripture is inspired, have not arrived at their decision by a gross and careless process, but by sedulous, critical, and discriminating investigation. I mean, however, to affirm, and I trust the references I have thrown at the foot of the page, together with a few particular arguments which I shall advance, will

to you the reasonableness of admitting, that, while the authors employed in the composition of the Bible exercised generally their own reason and judgment, (a) the Spirit of God effectually stirred them up to write ; (6) appointed to each his proper portion and topic, corresponding with his natural talents, and the necessities of the church in his time; (c) enlightened their minds and gave them a distinct view of the truths they were to deliver; (d) strengthened and refreshed their memories to recollect whatever they had seen or heard, the insertion of which in their writings would be beneficial; (e) directed them to select from a multitude of facts what was proper for the edification of the church, jd neither more nor less; (f) excited afresh in their minds such images and ideas as had been laid up in their memories, and directed them to other ends and purposes than themselves would ever have done of their own accord; (g) suggested and imprinted upon their minds such matters as could not have been discovered or known by reason, observation or information, but were subjects of pure revelation; (h) superintended every particular writer, so as to render him infallible in his matter, words, and order, especially whenever they related to facts, discourses, or doctrines, the communication of which is the great object of Scripture ; thus rendering the whole canon at any given period, an infallible guide to true holiness and everlasting happiness. (i)

Now, that the Scriptures were actually dictated by an inspiration of this kind may, I think, be inferred both from the reasonableness and from the necessity of the thing. It is reasonable that the sentiments and doctrines, developed in the Scriptures, should be suggested to the minds of the writers by the Supreme Being himself. They relate principally to matters concerning which the communicating information to men is worthy of God: and the more important the information communicated, the more it is calculated to impress mankind, to preserve from moral obliquity, to stimulate to holiness, to guide to happiness, the more reasonable is it to expect that God should make the communication in a manner free from every admixture of risk or error. Indeed, the notion of inspiration enters essentially into our ideas of a Revelation from God; so that to deny

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(h) Gen. i. ii. iii. Lev. xxvi. Is. xli. 22, 23. xlv. 21. xlvi. 9, 10. I Tim. iii. 16.

(i) Deut. viii. 1—4. Ps. xix. 7–11. cxix. Matt. xxii. 29. Luke, xiv. 25-31. John, v. 39. Rom. xv. 4. 2 Tim. ïïi. 15–17. 2 Pet. j. 19.

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inspiration is tantamount to affirming there is no Revelation. And why should it be denied ? Is man out of the reach of him who created him? Has he, who gave man his intellect, no means of enlarging or illuminating that intellect? And is it beyond his power to illuminate and inform in an especial manner the intellects of some chosen individuals—or contrary to his wisdom, to preserve them froin error when they communicate to others, either orally or by writing, the knowledge he imparted to them, not merely for their own benefit, but for that of the world at large, in all generations ?

But farther, Inspiration is necessary. The necessity of Revelation has been evinced in a former letter; and the same reasoning, in connexion with what I have just remarked, establishes the necessity of inspiration. Besides this, the subjects of Scripture render inspiration necessary. Some past facts recorded in the Bible could not possibly have been known had not God revealed them. Many things are recorded there as future, that is, are predicted, which God alone could foreknow and foretell, which notwithstanding came to pass, and which, therefore, were foretold under divine inspiration. Others, again, are far above human capacity, and never could have been discovered by men : these, therefore, must have been delivered by divine inspiration. The authoritative language of Scripture, too, argues the necessity of inspiration, admitting the veracity of the writers. They propose things, not as matters for consideration, but for adoption; they do not leave us the alternative of receiving or rejecting; do not present us with their own thoughts; but ex