tl
TXXIX.-N0. .8
w
For the Advocate.
INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE.
BY PROF. WILBUR F. TILLETT.
Our Church holds to the plenary in
anition of the Holy Scriptures. This
both an old and a new doctrine in
Christian theology. It is old in that
t has always been believed, in sub-
tance in the Christian Church; it is
new in that it is only in modern times
hat the doctrine has been denned,
formulated and developed. Our
Standards" make no mention of it.
ur Watson and other theologians of
his dav silently assume it, but neither
define nor discuss it. but it cannot
now be ignored. It has come to be
one of the most vital and important of
the doctrines of Christianity. It is the
battle ground between rationalistic
liberalism and evangelical Christiani
ty between New England Unitarian
ism and Bible orthodoxy. Indeed
much of modern heresy seems now to
herin with a denial of this doctrine.Let
a man only deny the plenary, verbal
inspiration of Scripture, and it is not
only true that the denial of any doc
trine of Christianity, however impor
oortant, may logically follow, but it
becomes in me mgucsi ucgicc piuua
ble that such denial will follow. In
deed, this vital doctrine being denied,
it becomes then only a matter of choice
as to what and how much of the Chris
tian system shall be retained and how
much discarded. The recent heresies
of Mr. Shaw of our own Church, Prof.
Toy of the Baptist Church, and Mr.
Heber Newton of the Episcopal
Church, all began with a denial of the
plenary inspiration of Scripture. It is
a doctrine, therefore, which cannot be
too strongly emphasized at this time,
especially as many erroneous ideas
prevail among Christian people as to
what is meant by the inspiration of
the Scriptures.
"All Scripture is given by inspira
tion of God," writes Paul to Timothy.
Whatever inspiration may be,it is thus
something which the Bible claims for
itself. It is the inspiration of Scrip
ture no less than the tact that it con
tains a divine revelation that gives to
it its divine authority.
INSPIRATION DEFINED.
Etymologically, inspiration means 1
a breathing into. By the term we
mean that special, supernatural in
fluence of the Holy Spirit upon the
minds of certain chosen men such as
kept them from error in communica
ting truth officially to others. As to
the mode of this communication of
truth, it was either orally or by writ
ing. We are concerned only with the
latter, the written record, and hence
the question, for us, concerns only the
authors of the books of the Bible. As
to the truth communicated, it consists
in revealed facts and, also, in such un
revealed facts as God designed to
have permanently recorded for the
instruction of his Church in all time to
come. With the above definition
Dr. Pope agrees : "Inspiration is that
special influence of the Holy Ghost
on the minds of holy men, selected
for the purpose, which qualified them
to communicate from ace to age an
infallible record of divine truth con
cerning the redeeming will of God."
And so Charles Hodze : "It is that
influence of the Holy Spirit on the
minds of certain select men which
rendered them the organs of God for
the infallible communication of his
mind and will."
From these, definitions it will be
seen that inspiration is a special and
supernatural influence. It ceased to
be exerted when the sacred canon was
completed. It is not to be confound
ed either with regeneration or with
spiritual illumination which are ordi
nary influences of the Spirit granted
to every believer. Not only is inspi
ration distinct from regeneration,but it
does not necessarily presuppose it.
Inspired men were not always and
necessarily "holy men," as might be
inferred from Dr. Pone's language.
thour
was
an inspired man and Saul was
among the prophets. And so too
all true believers enjoy spiritual il
lumination, but this differs both in its
designs and effects from inspiration.
The Spirit's influence in regeneration
and spiritual illumination has refer
ence to the individual himself, while
in inspiration it is exerted for the sake
of others rather than for the sake of
the inspired man himsell.
INSPIRATION NOT REVELATION.
Inspiration must be carefully dis
tinguished from revelation. Revela
tion is the supernatural communica
tion of new truth to the mind and is
designed to make the recipient wiser;
inspiration is a supernatural influence
of the Holy Spirit upon the mind and
is designed to keep from error in
communicating truth to others. It is
the inspiration of the inspired man
that iives him divine authority in
THE ORGAN OF THE
speaking and writing to others, and
makes his words to be God's words.
Nothing is more common than to con
fuse inspiration with revelation. A
man may be inspired and receive no
revelation; he may receive a revela
tion and not be inspired. God made
revelations to Abraham, Hagar, Sam
son, Gideon and others who were not)
inspired; while on the other hand the
authors of the books of Kings and
Chronicles were inspired, but, so far
as we know, they received no revela
tion. Matthew, Mark, Luke and
John received no supernatural revela
tion different from others who sat
under Christ's mi utsry, but they were
all inspired to write down and put on
permanent record what they had "seen
and heard." Paul was 'inspired to
write down both those things revealed
to him and also many other things
unrevealed, such facts of his own
knoweledge and experience as God
designed to have transmitted to the
Church. In both cases, however, he
was equally inspired; when he wrote
about leaving his cloak at Troas as
well as when he wrote that we are
justified by faith only. Is it asked
what need he had of supernatural in
fluence to guard him from error in
writing about the cloak at Troas, it
may be replied by asking what need
he had of inspiration to keep him from
erring in stating orally to others or in
writing for us that we are justified by
faith, or any other truth that had been
already revealed to him ? If Paul
needed this influence of the Spirit to
keep him from erring in writing his
Epistles as a whole, he needed it in
writing each different part that helps
to make up that whole. Inspiration
has nothing to do with the source
from which the knowledge of the facts
to be recorded, has been derived,
whet-.er from revelation or from his
own experience. God leads the chosen
man to select out of those things re
vealed and those unrevealed certain
facts to be put on record. That re
cord must be infallible, true, free from
all errors, authoritative. Then inspi
ration is needed quite as much in re
cording things unrevealed as those
revealed. Surely the Spirit's influence
was not exerted while the sacred pen
man was writing: down what had been
revealed and then withdrawn as soon
as he began to record a fact,the knowl-
ge of which came from his own ex-
. . r . 1
penence, or the testimony 01 otners,
and then renewed again as soon as
he began to write down another re
vealed truth. The real point is not
so much whether Paul needed inspira
tion in writing about so insignificant a
detail of his life as leaving the cloak
at Troas, but why was so insignifi
cant a detail thought worthy to be put
on record in the Bible. Everything
that was worthy of being recorded was
worthy of being recorded correctly,
and to secure this infallible record was
the design of inspiration. It does not
follow that if the sacred penman had
received no inspiration that he would
have recorded nothing correctly. We
only mean to teach that inspiration
was necessary in order to secure the
Bible, as a whole and in all its parts,
from error, and give it infallible au
thonty. JNot all tne isibie is a reve
lation, but all of it is inspired; and the
unrevealed parts are as much inspir
ed as the revealed facts and doctrines.
Paul goes so far in one instance as to
distinguish between what had been re
vealed to him and what he was writing
down by his own apostolic authority
that had not been revealed, but both
are eauallv inspired and authoritative
to us.
INSPIRATION A NECESSITY.
Inspiration is absolutely necessary
fo the divine authority of the Bible
and to our faith in it as an infallible
record. The writers of the Bible may
have received divine revelations and
may have been perfectly honest and
made all possible effortsto have their
writings free from error, yet so liable
to error are even the strongest and
best of minds that, unless they were
also supernaturally inspired, we have
no absolute guarantee that they did
not, in spite of their desires and en
deavors to the contrary, make impoi
tant mistakes. So that, not the divine
revelation contained in the Bible, but
the supernatural influence exerted on
the minds of itsinspiredauthors keeping
themfrom error,is the real ground four
faith in the Holy Scriptures, as an in
fallible book. Moses was in the
mount for many days receiving divine
revelation. These revelations cover
many pages in the Pentateuch and ex
tend to the minutest details of religious
duties. The ten commandments alone
were written on stone by the finger of
God. The rest was committed to the
memory of Moses to be transmitted
to the people. What security had the
people to whom Moses repeated these
multitudenous revelations, which must
have occupied several days in the de
livery, and some of which were mat
NORTH CAROLINA CONFERENCE
RALEIGH, N. C., WEDNESDAY, MAY 7,
ters of life and death, that he was re
peating exactly and accurately what
was communicated to him in the
mount ? And what guarantee have
we that his written record is absolute
ly accurate and free from all error?
He did not take down then and there,
as a short hand reporter would, the
very words of Jehovah. It would be
absolutely impossible for the wisest and
best of men to listen to the words of
any one for several days and then,
trusting only to his memory, go off
and repeat to others what he heard
without making any mistake. Most
of the revelations of the Bible were
made in dreams and visions of the
night. What secured the written re
cords of these revelations from error?
Honesty of purpose and even the best
of memories could not. Something
additional is absolutely necessary be
fore we are justified in putting absolute
and implicit faith in the record as be
ing infallibly true and having divine
authority. That additional something
is inspiration, a special and superna
tural inflence of the Holy Spirit upon
the minds of certain men chosen by
God, such as kept them from error in
communicating to others what had
been supernaturally communicated to
hem. So that unless a divine revela-
m m
tion 01 trutn to a prophet or apostle
were followed up by inspiration, se
curing its oral, or written communica
tion to others from all errors of mem
ory, there would be no satisfactory
ground for absolute faith in the writ
ten record as being infallibly true and
of divine authority.
Moses in thePentateuch has given us
the history of many events and ofGod's
dealings with men through a period of
wo thousand, five hundied years.What
is the ground of our faith in the abso-
ute truthfulness of this history? Be
cause it contains a divine revelation i
Not so; because only a portion of it
was revealed, and revelation, more
over, has regard only to the source
from which Moses derived his knowl
edge of certain facts recorded and not
to the record itself. Moses doubtless
derived his information of the facts
and events recorded in the Pentateuch
from five different sources : from reve
lation, from personal observation,from
previously written documents, from
the testimony of reliable witnesses,
and from oral tradition. But, as these
sources were varied and more or less
conflicting, it was necessary that he
should be inspired to prevent him
from incorporating anything errone
ous into his narrative and to secure its
infallible truthfulness. Otherwise there
is no reason why we should put any
more faith in the Pentateuch than in
the writings of any honest, uninspired
historian, which of course would be
to rob theBible of all divine authority.
It is simply a question then as to
whether the Bible is the word of God
or whether the Bible contains the
word of God. Orthodoxy affirms the
former Unitarianism, and some few
who claim to be evangelical, maintain
the latter. To affirm the latter and
deny the former is practically to admit
revelation, but to deny inspiration.
These latter, the "liberal school" of
theologians, are willing to admit that
God has from time to time revealed his
will to man and theBible contains that
revelation, in whole or in part; but it
is left to human reason to determine
just what is revelation and what is not;
just what comes from God and what
simply and entirely from man. The
Bible with them is a human book con
taining some things of divine origin.
Each man must determine for himself
what is divine, and hence just how
much and what of the Bible he will
believe. It is not surprising that to
such believers the divine element in
the Bible grows gradually less until
they soon stand in doubt as to wheth
er anything in it is really divine. It
is therefore not sufficient that we be
lieve that the Bible contains the word
of God; we must believe that it is the
word of God; otherwise it lacks divine
authority and cannot be an infallible
rule of faith and practice. "All Scrip
ture is given by inspiration of God."
All parts of Scripture are equally in
spired, though it does not follow from
this that all parts are equally impor
tant. The gospel of Matthew may be
far more important to us than the
Book of Malachi; but they are never
theless both equally inspired.
VERBAL INSPIRATION.
We believe also in verbal inspira
tion that inspiration extends to the
very words of Scripture. There can
be no plenary inspiration without ver
bal inspiration. Nor by this term is
it meant to teach mechanical inspira
tion that the inspired men were mere
machines in the hands of God. It is
not necessary to h ld even that God
dictated the words in order to hold to
verbal inspiration. By verbal inspira
tion is meant that freedom from error
in making the record extended even
to the words, so that no wrong word
0" THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL
wa$ used; nor does this necessitate
ourbelievingthat God dictated to the
inspired man "evdry word that he used.
Suppose several " individuals were to
listfcn one hour to a lecturer and then
spettd the next two hours writing out
what they had heard during the first
hour. Would they not be liable to
mae mistakes?. Could their docu
ments be relied on as absolutely accur
ateBSuppose then the lecturer, in order
that they might state tnrhfully what
he had said, should move about among
them while they were thus writing
dovvri what he had said, passing rapid
ly tfom one to another, looking now
over this one s shoulder, now over
that one's, to secure them all from
making errors in their accounts of
what he had said. His influence up
on Ihem would be such as would keep
them from error. This freedom from
error would extend even to the words,
though the lecturer would not dictate
the words to the writers, except per
haps in rare instances. Now these
metj would not be machines controll
ed by the mind and will of the lectur
er. All these reports would be pro
nounced correct by the lecturer,though
eacE .would differ in style and phrase
o!ofrom all the others. The indi
viduality of each writer appears in his
account of what has been said. By
virtue of the aid and influence of the
lecturer upon the writers they were
guarded from all errors and their doc
uments become authoritative. With
out such aid from the speaker they
could not be relied upon - with confi
dence by others as being absolutely
accurate and truthful; for such is the
weakness of human memory that even
the1
strongest
mind cannot transmit
witli absolute accuracy to others what
has? been previously communicated
orally to it, except it be something
both brief and simple. It is the lec
turer's controlling influence upon the
writers that gives to their documents
authority. Now the work of the lec
turer during the first hour was the
communication of new truth this
corresponds with revelation. His
work thereafter was one of influence,
securing the writers from error this
corresponds with inspiration, with this
difference that the lecturer's" influence
must needs be exerted ab extra, while
the Holy Spirit's influence in inspira
tion is exerted ab intra. The four
gospels record many events in com
morv They differ not only in style,
each bearing the individuality of its
author, but also in words; yet they are
all absolutely truthful and are ver
bally inspired.
DISCREPANCIES.
But is the Bible, as we now have it,
absolutely "'free from all errors and
discrepancies ? Our faith in the doc
trine of inspiration need not be weak-
7 r t 1J 1 11 J .
enea 11 we snouiu oe cumpeiieu 10
answer in the negative. For by the
dodtrine of inspiration we only mean
to tfeach that the original autograph
documents that came from the hands
of Jheir authors were inspired and
infallibly accurate. Inspiration did
nof extend to the translator or the
cogyist or the printer. In no case do
werpossess these autograph copies of
th$inspired books. .Between us and
thefn come multitudinous copyings,
versions and editions, all of which
wdffcyvas executed by fallible, unin
spired men. From hese fruitful sour
ces of error come all discrepancies
(w&ich relate chiefly to variations in
numbers as given in parallel passages
an$ are hence comparatively unimpor
tant) and the thousands of "various
readings." The original Hebrew and
an Greek as it came from the hands
of the inspired penmen is what was
inspired and infallibly accurate. Ver
sions are inspired only in so far as
thy are absolutely accurate transla
tions from the original Hebrew and
Greek. Our King JamesVersions is no
more inspired than the recent Revised
Version. As there are differences be
tween them neither of course can be ab
solutely arid infallibly accurate. Can we
then have no faith in curEnglish Bible
as the inspired word of God? For ail
practical purposes, yes, we answer;
and just as implicit faith as we can
have in a translation of any document
from a foreign language into our own,
made with care by competent and re
liable scholars, which faith is well
nigh absolute. Still, what is really
inspired, is the original and not the
version. Under the circumstances,
however, the only wonder is that the
discrepancies and variations are so
fW nnrl unimDortant : for taken alto-
fr thPv Hn not affect in the least a
Single doctrine of revealed religion,
simrle doctrine of revealed religion
What less than inspiration could
! have guarded the original authors of
the Bible from error and from coming J
; into c inflict with each other, seeing
ithat they were scattered through a
period of nearly two thousand years,
and were so different among them
selves and wrote under such different
conditions and such varied circum-
CHURCH, SOUTH.
1884.
stances. Viewed in this light the
Bible is a standing miracle in the lit
erature of the world. Where else can
thirty men be found, so widely sepa
rated in time and place and manners
and style, writing upon the same sub
ject, and yet nowhere contradicting
each other in the least ? The stone
and cedars of Lebanon, fashioned un
der the guidance of Jehovah, did not
fit more perfectly into one grand and
beautiful temple for Solomon than do
the various books of the Bible, written
under inspiration of God, unite to
make one grand, harmonious temple
of divine light and truth for the gui
dance of God's true worshippers in all
ages of the world. Surely then "all
Scripture is given by inspiration of
God and is profitable for doctrine for
reproot, tor correction, tor instruction
in righteousness; that the man of God
may be perfect, thoroughly furnished
unto all good works."
VanderbiltUniversity,Apr. 23rd, 1884.
For the Advocate.
OUR WESTERN LETTER.
LAST OF THE SERIES.
Prom our special correspondent.
Leaving Pueblo, the next place of
interest we came to was Colorado
Springs one of the most tidy and
pleasant towns to be found in Colora
do. The mammoth "Antlers hotel,"
standing just on the rise of the plateau
a few hundred yards from the depot,
is one of the first buildings that at
tracts atttention. A shaded avenue
leads to the hotel. Beyond com
mences the town with its broad shady
streets. Several fine colleges and
state buildings loom up as a promi
nent feature of the place. Like Gree
ley, the town was commenced on a
government of strictly temperance
principles and has always opposed the
saloon business, however designing
men have now and then broken the
rules, but at the last election a strictly
anti-license town board was elected.
Looking west, Pikes Peak stands
1U1 HI in in txj giaiiutui viiiy tx icw i
miles distant. At the base of the old
rnrlt.'rihhpri and time rifted . seftttneLikjM- JFO-HAKE A HAPPY HOME.
in a cosy cove,
with tne snow-capped
T .1 t I
mountains for a back ground, is nest
led the romatic little village of Mani
tou, the "Saratoga of the west." A
number of mineral springs strongly
impregnated with soda and iron, bub
ble up here and there. The hotel ac
commodatious are excellent, the great
swimming bath pool is a marvelous
arrangement for the purpose it was
built. During the summer season
visitors from all parts of the Union, as
well as from foreign countries, may be
found here. Many are the scenes of
interest in the vicinity; there is the
Cave of the winds, Rainbow Falls,
Pulpit Rock, Cameron Cone, Bridal
Falls, and the wonders of the Garden
of the Gods. The gateway to the
Garden is between perpendicular walls
of solid sandstone 150 feet high. Just
within is a cave of some note, also the
Cathedral Spires, which are colums of
sandstone detached one from the oth
er running up from 100 to 200 feet in
height. The Ballehcing Rock is a
curious freak' of nature and looks as if
one might easily push it over. Those
many peculiar rocks and natural tow
ers are among the greatest geological
wonders of the Continent, and belong
to ther cretaceous group of rocks.
Being composed mainly of soft white
chalk conglomerate, capped with a
hard ferugeous mixture of sand and
gravel, the softer parts, by erosion,
have scaled off leaving the columns
capped with the harder portion, and
thus nature has left here many monu
ments of her peculiarites.
A rail road is now in course of con
struction to the top of Pikes peak,
when completed it will be one of the
chief wonders of the world. At pre
sent a journey to the top of the peak
is rather a hard feat to accomplish.
There is, half way up the mountain, a
house where one may stop and rest in
order to gain "a new stock of breath.
On the top theGovernment has a build
ing erected tor a signal station. Surely
it must be a weary place to live, not
withstanding it is nearer heaven than
most of the human race live, rrom!
the top of the peak one h.is a n
magnificant view of the sunounding
country. The plains seem to lay at :
one's feet and stretch away lor an
hundred miles visible to the eye and
then seem to be lost where the smooth
surface kisses the horizon. Westward
surface
mountains
upon mountains loom up
! like the heavy swells of the mad ocean,
j onlv the scene is more varied and the
towering peaks and snow-capped
backbone of the continent stand forth
in more majestic greatness, in view
ing the grand panorama, immensity
has a new meaning and grandeur a
significance beyond expression. Sure
ly, only the fool can for a moment
.' ' . J . 1 tt tt:
' handiwork stands forth in bold relief
ESTABLISHED 1855
T'Knns. Per Annum, H'-i.OO
TEBMS:1 Mx Months. Sl.OO
and puts to shame the boasted great
ness of man who is but an atom in the
great universe of God's creation.
One of the most phenominal wond
ers of those Rocky Mountains is what
is c.lled the "Mount of the Holy
Cross" near the head of the Arkansas
river. The figure of the cross is made
by a deep rift running in a perpendic
ular course up a large rocky peak, the
rift is about 1500 feet in length; some
distance down from the top of this
perpendicular rift is a cross seam
forming huge arms 600 to 800 feet in
length, those soams or rifts drift full of
snow and thus form a white cross all
through the summer season and may
be seen for many miles away. In the
great and mighty convulsions tht in a
far remote period agitated our globe
diose rifts were thus formed, and
yearly the white filling that forms the
cross is renewed, evidencing the fact
that nature is the greatest architect.
A few years ago Grace Greenwood,
the eminent authoress, visited Mani
tou and so well pleased was she with
the place she made purchase of a
beautiful cottage standing just back
from the highway; it is quite a cosy
home with picturesque surroundings.
A branch rail road runs from Manitou
to Colorado Springs six miles distance,
from whence we pursue our journey
northward and in due time once more
roll into the magnificient Union Depot
at Denver. A short stay in the Queen
city of the plains gives us time to
glance around and see that great im
provements have been made in the
few months that we have been away.
Thus we arrive at the point from
whence we commenced our ramblings,
starting out north we made a circuit of
over six thousand miles and came in
from the south. Onward the train
takes us to Longmont and thence we
wended our way to this place, our
home, a few miles out from town,
where I shall take leave of the readers
of the Advocate by modestly subscrib
ing my name in full.
J S. Flory, V. D. M.
Hygiene, Colo., April 18th, 1884.
n Q i
1. .Learn to govern yourselves, ana
to .be gentle and patient.
2. Guard your tempers, especially
in the season of ill-health, irritation
and trouble, and soften them by pray
ers, and a sense of your own short
comings and errors.
Never speak or act in anger un
til you have prayed over your words
or acts, and concluded that Christ
would have done so in your place.
4. Remember that, valuable as is
the gift of speech, silence is often
much more valuable.
5. Do not expect too much from
others, but remember that all have an
evil nature, whose development we
must expect, and which we should for
bear and forgive, as we often desire
forbearance and forgiveness ourselves.
6. Never retort a sharp or angry
word. It is the second word that
makes the quarrel.
7. Beware of the first disagreement.
8. Learn to speak in a gentle tone
of voice. ft ..
9. Learn to say kind and pleasant
things wherever an opportunity offers.
10. Study the character of each.and
sympathize with all in their troubles,
however small.
11. Do not neglect little things, if
they can affect the comfort of others,
in the smallest degree.
12. Avoid moods and pets,&tid fits
and sulkiness.
13. Learn to deny yourself, and to
prefer others.
14. Beware of meddlers and tale
bearers. 15. Never charge a bad motive if a
good one is conceivable.
16. Be gentle but firm with chil
dren. 17. Do not allow your children to
be away from home at night without
knowing where they are.
18. Do not allow them to go where
they please on the Sabbath.
19. Do not furnish them with much
spending money.
20. Remember the grave, the judgment-seat,
and the scenes 01 eternity,
and so o'-derycr.r hrr.ic on earth that
vou shall have a home in heaven.
l$'e ib:flcrinn C!i iniU;U.i '.
I do not revere any love of God
that has never known any fear ofGod.
' Show me that king of love A Coc
od
wnicn nas noi icu wiwi mc ica.i ui
1 1 t a. f K .1 I - IT
God is, and I will show you not
1 principle, but sentiment not re.igion.
but religiosity. iwr. JK't)t
j
Cook.
O that Christ would break down the
old, na; row vessels f these narrow
and ebb souls and make lair, deep
wide arrd broad souls
to hoid x sea
and a full tid
Ho wing
over ail its
banks, of Christ's love.
v.-
- (:
;f!