This evidence, when fully brought out and applied, has availed in time past to repel the just force of every infidel objection, and to render invincible the faith of many of the most powerful and learnedly informed intellects among men. It is adapted to reach and influence the minds of all classes of men ; it addresses itself to every department of human nature, to the reason, the emotions, the conscience, and it justifies itself by experience ; in its full- ness it renders all unbelief sin, and sets intelligent faith within impregnable bulwarks. It is not, however, of the nature of mathematical demonstration. The evidence being that of testi- mony, of the moral power of truth, and of the practical verifica- tion of experience, of course prejudice, moral obliquity, refusal to apply the test of experience, must all prevent the evidence from producing conviction. Faith must be free, not mechanically co- erced. Besides, many difficulties and absolutely insolvable enig- mas attend this subject, because of the natural insurmountable limits of human thought. The evidences of Christianity thus constitute a considerable element in man's present probation, and a very adequate test of moral character.
22. What, in fact, is the principal class of evidence to which the Scriptures appeal, and upon ivhich the faith of the majority of believers rests ?
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66 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY.
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I. The moral evidence inherent in the truth and in the person of Jesus. — See questions 15 and 16.
II. The sanctifying effect of Christianity, as exhibited in the persons of Christian acquaintances.
III. The personal experience of the spiritual power of Chris- tianity.— See question 17.
This kind of evidence stands first in practical importance, be- cause,
1st. The Scriptures command faith (1.), as soon as the Bible is opened upon intrinsic evidence, (2.) of all men, without excep- tion, even the most ignorant.
2d. The Scriptures make belief a moral duty and unbelief a sin, Mark xvi., 14.
3d. They declare that unbelief does not arise from excusable weakness of the reason, but from an " evil heart," Hebrews iii., 12.
4th. A faith resting upon such grounds is more certain and stable than any other, as the noble army of martyrs witness.
5th. A faith founded upon moral and spiritual evidence sur- passes all others in its power to purify the heart and transform the character.
CHAPTER IV.
INSPIRATION.
The Christian religion having been proved to be from God, it remains to inquire what is the infallible source through which we may derive the knowledge of what Christianity really is. The Protestant answer to this question is, that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, having been given by inspiration of God, are the only and all-sufficient rule of faith and judge of controversies. "We will now establish the first of these propo- sitions.
The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are inspired, and therefore infallible.
1. What, in general terms, is the nature of inspiration ?
Inspiration is that divine influence which, accompanying the sacred writers equally in all they wrote, secured the infallible truth of their writings in every part, both in idea and expression, and determined the selection and distribution of their material according to the divine purpose. The nature of this influence, just as the nature of the divine operation upon the human soul in providence, in regeneration, or in sanctification, is of course entirely inscrutable. The result of this influence, however, is both plain and certain, viz., to render their writings an infallible rule of faith and practice. — See Dr. Hodge's article on Inspiration, Bib. Rep., October 1857.
2. In what respects do inspiration and revelation differ ?
Revelation properly signifies the supernatural communication of any truth not before known. This revelation may be made either immediately to the mind of the recipient, or mediately through words, signs, or vision, or through the intervention of an
68 INSPIRATION.
inspired prophet. Inspiration, on the other hand, signifies sim- ply that divine influence which renders a writer or speaker infal- lible in communicating truth, whether previously known or not. Some men have received revelations who were not inspired to communicate them, e. g.y Abraham. Nearly all the sacred writers were inspired to communicate with infallible accuracy much that they knew by natural means, such as historical facts; much that they reached by the natural use of their faculties, such as logical deduction, and much that was suggested by their own natural affections.