Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-09-13
BIBLE INSPIRATION.
Different Theories That Have Been
Entertained About 1t.
1T WAS NOT SIMPLE DICTATI0N,
Nor Is the Other Extreme That They Have
No Divine Side True.
MODERN ACCEPTANCE OF THE TERM
WRITTEN FOR THE DIsPArcH.I

w nat Is INSPIRATION! w nat is Uou
part in it, and what is mans? And wherein
does it differ from any other action of the
Holy Spirit upon the human heart and
mind?
To these questions the historic church
makes no answer whatever. The doctrine
of the inspiration of Holy Scripture is
doctrine without definition. 1t has no
authoritative statement 1t has no place IN
the Christian creed, and no position in the
formularies of official theology. The De-
crees of the Council of Trent, the Articles
of the Church of England, and the West
minister Confession all have somewhat to
say about the Bible, setting it at the fore
front of religion, exalting it in strong
words proclaiming the sufficiency of its
contents for perfect knowledge of the way
of salvation, but deciding nothing about
this matter of inspiration. Amy Christian
may hold whatever belief his reason per-
mits him IN this regard. This is one of the
things which we are left to find out (if we
CAM for our ownselves.
DIFFERENT THEORIES ABOUT IT.
There have always been plenty of theo-
ries of inspiration, some wise and some
unwise These theories have differed,
for the most part, in their emphasis; GER
tain of them emphasizing the human side of
Holy Scripture, and certain others the
divine side.
Thus, in the seventeenth century, 1t was
denied by many Christians that the Bible
has any human side whatever. 1t was
maintained that the writers of the Bible
were no more responsible for the books of
the Bible than a typewriter is responsible
for 1atf Go1 nd
other Moses and jeremiah, and Paul and
Peter, simply wrote, syllable by syllable,
and word by word, as the Holy Spirit die
tated; they held the pen, but God
moved it. And so the Bible was taken to
be the word of God in the most literal
sense. If anybody ventured to affirm that
there is mistake in the Bible, he was
guilty of blasphemy. He was finding fault
with God The Bible was believed to be a
library of religious books, written, indeed,
at different times, and upon different sub
jects, and in different styles of composition,
but having only one author, and that author
the Lord God Almighty.
ALL OF EQUAL IMPORTANCE
And so the words of all these books, be-
ing the utterances of God Himself, were of
equal value The first chapters of the First
Book of Chronicles, and the last chapters of
st. Johns Gospel were alike precious to
the believing soul. These holy writings,
from Genesis to Revelation, in every phrase
and every statement, in every turn of gram
mar, and every mark of punctuation, came
down out of the sky.
That is Biblical idolatry.
On the other hand, the tendency to-day is
to go Just as far in the other direction. 1t
is denied by some enthusiastic critics that
the Bible has any divine side, at
all. The Bible in this theory is 'classed
with other books, and studied like
saw to be in almost all respects like other
books. The Bible is thoroughly and en-
tirely human. Its writer's reveal personal
characteristics, marks of temperament, and
peculiarities of style, as different from one
another as Tennyson is different from Car
lyle, or Phillips Brooks from Robert
Browning They are not even free from
the limitations nor above the prejudices,
nor safe from the mistakes and ignorances
of their times. They are men of like pas
sions as we are. David wrote hymns, and
so did Isaac Watts. Saint Luke wrote
history, and so did Lord Macaulay. Isaiah
and LIddon were both great preachers. This
theory makes the doctrine of inspiration
include all the good books in the world.
That is Biblical iconoclasm.
LITERATURE OF THE BIBLE.
Now, the only way to know anything
about inspiration is to examine its effects.
1t is only on tnat side that definition is
possible, and even here no definition is
likely to be adequate. Inspiration is an
influence, force, a cause; and causes have
in them, always, elements which are indie
Enable Who will bring gravitation into
an adequate definition? Who will set the
meaning of genius into an easy sentence?
''All the Scripture is given by inspiration
of God;" here is the effect of inspiration.
If we cannot tell what it is, we may at least
attempt to discover what it does. Here is
what those holy men of God spoke, who
were "moved by the Holy Ghost" Here
is the inspired book. What sort of book,
or library of books, is it?
The first thing which we notice is that the
Bible is made up of various kinds of litera-
ture. The Old Testament begins with sew
eral chapters Of that kind of writing which,
in other covers. we are accustomed to call
legend That is followed by volumes of
history; in the midst of which is contained
book of ritual, part of it is as old as the
wandering in the wilderness, part of it as
new as the exile in Babylon. Near the end
of these volumes of history occur two series
of narratives covering the sape ground,
telling the same story, but from quite
different point of view-the "Boeks of
the Kings" and the "Books of the Chroni-
cles."
POETRY OF THE SCRIPTURES.
Then follow volumes of poetry. First
Job, a wonderful drama or play, in which
with the help of dialogue and action one of
the deepest problems of the race is studied
the problem of pain. Then the Psalms,
great collection of hymns and songs, some
for use in service, some the meditations of
the poet, one a description of thunder
storm, another q march or a royal wedding,
another curiously arranged to have its lines
begin with the lines of the alphabet in order;
praise, and prayer, and malediction, and
retrospect, and Thanksgiving. Then Prov
erbs, series of shrewd maxims, q book of
quaint sayings for the moral government of
life After that Ecclesiastics, written by
confessed agnostic, questioning and perhaps
denving the immortality of the soul. Then
the songs of Solomon, another play, not
tragedy this time, but story of love.
After the poets come the preachers, the
'prophets," the men who speak for Cod
Isaiah, jeremiah Ezekiel and the others.
And in the midst of the sermons, two other
dramatic compositions, where again the
help of fiction is called in to impress the
truths of religion-the Book of Jonah and
the Book of Daniel. Finally, here is the
New Testament, made up of biography,
history and letters, and closing with the
majestic poem of the Revelation of st. John.
HOW IT WAS WRITTEN
There is nothing in the form of the vol
umes of this book to distinguish them, ex-
cept in excellence, from other literature.
There is nothing to in licate that the his
torian, or the poet, or the dramatist, or the
preacher, whose words we read In the
Bible, wrote these books in any strange or
peculiar way. st. Luke, indeed, speaking