from narrow-minded, bigoted Jews, into enlightened, large-minded, catholic Christians, to mere natural causes. Their Jewish prejudices had resisted all the instructions and influence of Clu'ist for three years, but gave way in a moment when the Spirit came upon them from on high. (3.) After the day of Pentecost the Apostles claimed to be the infallible organs of God in all their teachings. They required men to receive what they taught not as the word of man but as the woi'd of God (1 Thess. ii. 13) ; they declared, as Paul does (1 Cor. xiv. 37), that the things which they wrote were the commandments of the Lord. They made the salvation of men to depend on faith in the doctrines which they taught. Paul pronounces anathema even an angel from heaven who should preach any other gospel than that which he had taught. (Gal. i. 8.) John says that whoever did not receive the testimony which he bore concerning Ciirist, made God a liar, because John's testi- mony was God's testimony. (1 John v. 10.) " He that knoweth God, heareth us; he that is not of God, heareth not us." (iv. 6.) This assertion of infallibility, this claim for the divine authority of their teaching, is characteristic of the whole Bible. The sacred writers all, and everywhere, disclaim personal authority ; they never rest the obligation to faith in their teachings, on their own knowledge or wisdom ; they never rest it on the truth of what tliey taught as manifest to reason or as capable of being proved by argu- ment. They speak as messengers, as witnesses, as organs. They declare that what they said God said, and, therefore, on his author- ity it was to be received and obeyed.
The Testimony of Paul. The Corinthians objected to Paul's preaching that he did not attempt any rational or philosophical proof of the doctrines which he propounded ; that his language and whole manner of discourse were not in accordance with rhetorical rules. He answers these objections, — first, by saying that the doctrines which he taught were not the truths of reason, were not derived from the wisdom of men, but were matters of divme revelation ; that he simjjlji taught what God declared to be true ; and secondly, that as to the manner of presenting these truths, he was the mere organ of the Spirit of God. In 1 Cor. ii. 7-13, he sets forth this whole subject in the clearest and most concise manner. The things which he taught, which he calls "the wisdom of God," " the things of the Spirit," i. e,, the gospel, the system of doctrine taught in the Bible, he says, had never entered into the mind of man. God had re-
162 INTRODUCTION. [Ch. VI. — P. R. of 1'aitu
vealed those truths by his Spirit ; for the Spirit is the only com- petent source of such knowledge. " For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him ? even so, the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God." S<? much for the source of knowledge, and the ground on which the doctrines he taught were to be received. As to the second objec- tion, which concerned his language and mode of presentation, he says, These things of the Spirit, thus revealed, we teach "not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth ; but wliich the Holy Ghost teacheth," Tn-eu/xaTiKots TrievixaTLKo. <jvyKpivovTe<;, combining spir- itual with spiritual, i. e., clothing the truths of the Spirit in the words of the Spirit. There is neither in the Bible nor in the writ- ings of men, a simpler or clearer statement of the doctrines of revelation and inspiration. Revelation is the act of communicat- ing divine knowledge by the Spirit to the mind. Inspiration is the act of the same Spirit, controlHng those who make the truth kiiown to others. The thoughts, the truths made known, and the words in which they ai-e recorded, are declared to be equally from the Spirit. This, from first to last, has been the doctrine of the Church, not- withstanding the endless diversity of speculations in wdiich theo- logians have indulged on the subject. This then is the ground on which the sacred writers rested their claims. They were the mere organs of God. They were his messengers. Those who heard them, heard God ; and those who refused to hear them, refused to hear God. (Matt. x. 40 ; John xiii. 20.)
4. This claim to infallibility on the part of tlie Apostles was duly authenticated, not only by the nature of the truths which they com- municated, and by the power which those truths have ever exerted over the minds and hearts of men, but also by the inward witness of the Spirit of wiiich St. John speaks, when he says, " He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself" (1 John V. 10) ; "an unction from the Holy One." (1 John ii. 20.) It was confirmed also by miraculous gifts. As soon as the Apostles were endued with power from on high, they spake in " other tongues ; " they healed the sick, restored the lame and the blind- ** God also," as the Apostle says (Heb. ii. 4), " bearing them wit- ness, both with signs, and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will." And Paul tells the Corinthians that the signs of an Apostle had been wrought among them " in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds." (2 Cor. xii. 12.) The mere working of miracles was not an evidence of a divine commission as a teacher. But when a