The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1879-09-17

Symposium, even allowing for its faint
of popery, was decidedly preferable in
every way to any one, and indeed to the
whole batch, Of the so-called Protestant
e<pers by which it was accompanied.
Nor is this solitary indication of the
evil that is gnawing at the heart Of bodies
which still wear the name, but are fast
losing the power of chat community which
at Antioch was denominated Christian.
Hell pietasI Heu prisca fdeSI The signs
are visible in every direction. Even that
mighty man of valor, Christlieb, in his ad-
dress before the Evangelical Alliance in
New York, held himself ready to give up
the out-posts to save the citadel. This is
an emergency which will never need to be
contemplated. No such weak suggestion
ever entered the brave and loyal hearts
at Thermopylae or Sebastopol. The place
to be defended is the place in peril of at
tack.
The exegetical literature Of the day in
the Church of England is to painful e1-
tent vitiated by fatally defective, and
utterly untenable, theory of inspiration.
We bring no such charge against Bishop
Lightfoot; Bishop Ellicott certainly has
{" clean hands and, pure heart in this
matter: but Of Dean Afford Canon Far
rar, and host of Others it is surely not
uncharitable to make the averment land
we do it with SORROW that their feet
had well-nigh slipped" The current
theory in the Broad Church land it is
fully avowed by DR.. Washburne in the
Symposium y is that only the spiritual
and religious part of the Bible is strictly
infallible, and that on many points of
mere geography and chronology the Holy
Scriptures, like uninspired synods and
councils, may err and have erred. 1t
is sad to think that such man as the
late Archdeacon Hare should have been
understood to lean in the same direction;
and yet such is the judgment Of the
learned and orthodox William Lee in his
great work on Inspiration. Froude, in
his "Short Studies on Neat Subjects, "
says that skepticism is more rife in this
our time than it has ever been since the
days of Constantine; and adds, with seem
ing justice, that such defences as those of
Afford will not long be proof against its
assaults. Speakias in-a general way, the
great question is not whether the Bible
contains a revelation from God but
whether the Bible is a revelation from
God 1t will not do to say that the only
errors admitted are "trifing" in their di-
mensions Here once more the proverb
is seen to apply" FalSuS IN aSrao, tal8ots
IN omnibus" All that Satan ever cares
for, is to get in the little end of his wedge
The theory is as unphilosophical as it
is disastrous The wit of man has never
been sharp enough to separate the dates
and historical facts from the doctrines
and practical lessons, of Redemption. The
manifold truth of scripture, secular and
religious, is like our Saviour's seamless
robe woven from the top throughout.
Above all, we must start from the posi-
ton that the Bible is the infallible word
of God The inspired writer's are the
heavenly amanuenses. We do not con-
tend for Mechanical, but We do,insist
upon Plenary and Verbal inspiration.
There is the same mystery here as in the
work of grace. Each of the inspired pen
men retains his own character and i'd
osyncrasies, but God infalibly guides and
controls them in every word they utter
and on every subject.
With men, misstatement does not ne
cessarily argue bad faith Man may be
ignorant or misinformed. But God is
omniscient and cannot be mistaken. What
God says is So must be so; whether it be
about geography, geology, or Christianity:
for God is incapable of guile or error on
the one subject or on the other. 1.-THE
Biblical authors were inspired at all, in
the true and accepted sense, they were
inspired as prophets, to speak for Jehovah.
Now this inspiration must extend to all
they say or else only to part. But if
we once concede that the divine mouth
pieces utter an uncertain sound, partly
true and partly false. VIE have onenad the