concerning the mind and will of God. The doctrines of the Bible are called /xvo-T-^pia, things concealed^ unknown and unknowable, except as revealed to the holy Apostles and prophets by the Spirit. (Eph. iii. 5.)
4. It is inconsistent with the faith of the Church universal, which has always made the b£oadest distinction between the writings of the inspired men and those of ordinary believers. Even Romanists, with all their reverence for the fathers, never presumed to place their writings on a level with the Scriptures. They do not at- tribute to them any authority but as witnesses of what the Apostles taught. If the Bible has no more authority than is due to the writings of pious men, then our faith is vain and we are yet in our sins. We have no sure foundation for our hopes of salvation.
C. Partial Inspiration. Under this head are included several different doctrines.
1. Many hold that only some parts of Scripture are inspired, i. e., that the writers of some books were supernaturally guided by the Spirit, and the writers of others were not. This, as mentioned above, was the doctrine of Coleridge, who admitted the inspiration of the Law and the Prophets, but denied that of the rest of the Bible. Others admit the New Testament to be inspired to an ex- tent to which the Old was not. Others again hold the discourses of Christ to be infallible, but no other part of the sacred volume.
2. Others limit the inspiration of the sacred writers to their doctrinal teaching. The great object of their commission was to give a faithful record of the revealed will and purpose of God, to be a rule of faith and practice to the Church. In this they were under an influence which rendered them infallible as religious and moral teachers. But beyond these limits they were as liable to error as other men. That there should be scientific, historical, geographical mistakes ; errors in the citation of passages, or in other unessential matters ; or discrepancies as to matters of fnct*between the sacred Avriters, leaves their inspiration as religious teachers antouched.
3. Another form of the doctrine of partial, as opposed to plen- ary inspiration, limits it to the thoughts, as distinguislied from the fiords 01 Scripture. ■ Verbal inspiration is denied. It is assumed mat the sacred writers selected the words they used without any guidance of tne Spirit, to prevent their adopting improper or in- adequate terms in which to express their thoughts.
•4. A fourth form of the doctrine of partial inspiration was early
182 INTRODUCTION. [Ch. VI. — P. R. of Faith.
introduced and has been widely adopted. Maimonides, the greatest of the Jewish doctors since the time of Christ, taught as early as the twelfth century that the sacred writers of the Old Testament enjoyed different degrees of divine guidance. He placed, the in- spiration of the Law much above that of the Prophets ; and that of the Prophets higher than that of the Hagiographa. This idea of different degrees of inspiration was adopted by many theologians, and in England for a long time it was the common mode of repre- sentation. The idea was that the writers of Kings and Chronicles needed less, and that they received less of the divine assistance than Isaiah or St. John.^
In attempting to prove the doctrine of plenary inspiration the arguments which bear against all these forms of partial inspiration were given or suggested. The question is not an open one. It is not what theory is in itself most reasonable or plausible, but simply, What does the Bible teach on the subject ? If our Lord and his Apostles declare the Old Testament to be the Word of God ; that its authors spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost ; that what they said, the Spii'it said ; if they refer to the facts and to the very words of Scripture as of divine authority ; and if the same infallible divine guidance was promised to the writers of the New Testament, and claimed by themselves ; and if their claim was authenticated by God himself ; then there is no room for, as there is no need of, these theories of partial inspiration. The whole Bible was written under such an influence as preserved its human authors from all error, and makes it for the Church the infallible rule of faith and practice.
§ 4. The Completeness of the Scriptures. By the completeness of the Scriptures is meant that they con- tain all the extant revelations of God designed to be a rule of faith and practice to the Church. It is not denied that God reveals him- self, even his eternal power and Godhead, by his works, and has done so from the beginning of the world. But all the truths thus revealed are clearly made known in his written Word. Nor is it denied that there may have been, and probably were, books writ- ten by inspired men, which are no longer in existence. Much less is it denied that Christ and his Apostles delivered many discourses
1 This view of different degrees of inspiration ivas adopted by Lowth : Vindication of the Divine Authority and Inspiration of the Old and New Testaments. Whitby, in the Preface to his Commentary. Doddridge, Dissertation on the Inspiration of the Neio Testament. Hill, Lectures on Divinity. Dick, Essay on the Inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. Wilson, Evidences of Christianity. Henderson, Divine Inspiration.