to exercise his mind, but the result of that mental exercise which is here characterized. Hence, it has received all the impress, not merely of man in general, but even of the individual author in particular, at the time when it is so designated. It is that piece of composition which the human author has put into a written form which is described as inspired. 2. To be inspired of God, is to be communicated from God, who is a Spirit, to the mind of man. The mode of communication we do not pretend to explain, but the possibility of such communication we cannot for a moment doubt. The immediate author of a human book may not be the ultimate author of a single sentiment it con Illustration tains. He may have received every fact from trustworthy witnesses, who are, after all, the real vouchers for all it records; and the very merit of the immediate author may consist in judiciously selecting the facts, faithfully adhering to his authorities, and properly arranging his materials for the desired effect. Analogous to this is the divine authorship of the sacred volume. By the inspiration of the Almighty the human author is made to perceive certain things divine and human, to select such as are to be revealed, and to record these with fidelity in the natural order, and to the proper end. The result is a writing given by inspiration of God, with all the peculiarities of man and all the authority of God. 3. Such a written revelation is 'holy.' The primary holiness of a writing is its truth. God's part in it secures its veracity and credibility. Even man often tells the truth where he is a disinterested witness; and we believe not only his sincerity The holiness of the Bible. Office of the but his competence. God, who cannot lie, is able to secure his scribes from error, intentional or unintentional. The secondary holiness of a writing appears in the two following particulars: 4. It is also able to make wise unto salvation.' This refers to the kind of truth contained in the book of God. It is a revelation of mercy, of peace on earth, and good-will to man. This, at the same time, imparts an unspeakable interest to the book, and points out the occasion warranting the divine interference for its composition. 5. It is also 'profitable for doctrine.' It tends to holiness. It is moral as well as merciful in its revelations. It contains truth, mercy, and righteousness. It reflects, therefore, the holiness of God. It is in all respects worthy of its high original." ' 7 The discussion upon this vital topic may be closed by saying that this completed book of holy writ Summary of discussion. ings has, from its beginning to its end, been prepared under the immediate direction and inspiration of the divine Spirit, and through all its various pages God does disclose his nature and perfections to our sace, and so ex hibits his purposes of mercy to mankind that whoever earnestly, prayerfully, and with a penitent heart, searches them will be made by them "wise unto salvation." Commentary on Genesis, by J. G. Murphy, LL.D., p. 12. How CHAPTER III. THE CANON: ITS GENUINENESS. Is our English Bible the word of God as revealed? OW natural the question, as we open our English Bibles: "If the first portions of this volume were written more than twenty-three hundred years ago, and the last book nearly eighteen hundred years since, how strong a confidence may I place in our version, that in it we have, with great exactness, the revelations of the Holy Spirit as they were inspired and recorded by the holy men who received them?" The Old Testament was nearly all of it written in Hebrew. Original language of Old Testament. The portions composed during and after the captivity of the Jews in Babylon were written in a dialect very similar, and called after the nations from whom they learned it, the Chaldee. The canon of the Old Testament-so called from the Greek word κavúv, a cane, a measure, a perfect rule-as The canon. containing the full and divine measure of inspiration and perfect rule of faith and life, was completed about four hundred years before Christ. Ezra is supposed carefully to have gathered together the sacred books written before his day after the return from the captivity. His own record, and that of Nehemiah, were afterward added, and no further addition was made. . Certain interesting historical books, recounting the wars of Apocrypha. Value of these books. These the Jews under the Maccabean princes between the closing of the canon and the times of Christ, stretching over a period B. C. 325 to B. C. 160, together with certain other books of poetry, proverbs, personal incidents, and improbable fables, under the title of Apocrypha, were formerly bound up in the volume with the sacred canon. books are only of value for the light they throw upon this period of Jewish history, and the evidence, by striking contrast, in almost every respect, which they give of the inspiration of the other Scriptures. The Jews never accounted them to be a part of the holy writings, and it was left to the Roman Church, at the council held in 1546 in Trent in Austria, composed chiefly of Italian cardinals and bishops, called together by the pope, to put "for the first time the apocryphal books in the rank of the Scriptures of God.”1 How they found a place in the Bible. tures. There is evidence in the Hebrew Scriptures themselves, in Care taken of their constant reference to the law of God as Jewish Scripcontained in preceding holy writings, the public reading of them, and general regard for them, of the extraordinary care taken for their preservation, and for the purity of their transcription. The books of the law were placed in the tabernacle with the ark of the covenant, and were kept there during the journeys in the wilderness, and afterward in the Land of Promise." To the same sanctuary were the various historical, poetical, and prophetical books consigned. On the erection of the 1 The Canon of Scripture, by Gaussen, p. 454. Deut. xxxi, 9, 26; 1 Sam. x, 25; 2 Kings xxii, 8; Isa. xxxiv, 16 Bible in Baby. temple Solomon deposited in it these sacred treasures, and enriched them by inspired productions from his own pen. What became of the sacred books when the temple was destroyed we are not informed, but in Babylon Daniel speaks of the book of the law as familiar to him, and also of the prophets." lon. Jewish writers, like Philo, the Alexandrine Jew, born thirty years before Christ, and Josephus, in Christ's time, unite in declaring the general cor Philo and Josephus. rectness of the text in their day; and we may readily believe, after admitting the inspiration of the volume, that the Providence of the same Divine Spirit Reason to ex pect its pres ervation. that supervised its records and gave its revelations would secure its preservation. Samaritan Additional grounds of confidence are found in the fact that about the time of the close of the canon (B. C. 400) a copy of the five books of Moses was made in the Samaritan dialect, for that singular people, a mixture of Hebrews and Chaldeans, gathered in that portion of the land of Israel called Samaria in Christ's times, during the captivity. These sacred writings this people (who kept up their separate life and their enmity for the Jewish people, an enmity which was as earnestly returned by them) as carefully preserved as their Hebrew neighbors did their copies. In A. D. 1623 a full copy of the Samaritan Pentateuch was obtained from a body of this nation in Damascus by De Saucy, the French embassador at Constantinople. Other copies have since been obtained from the East, and the text Daniel ix, 2, 11. |