classes of actions which the Old Testament ascribes to the Spirit or Ruach of God, viz.-the originating and sustaining orderly material existence and animal life; the quickening human life and intelligence, and skill and holiness; and the inspiring of the prophet.

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There is yet another class of operations attributed in the Old Testament to what we call divine Inspiration. Not only is it said of Othniel (Judges iii. 10) that "the Spirit of the "Lord came upon him," ""and he judged Israel and went out to war;" not only is it written that, in time of war with the Midianites and Amalekites (Judges vi. 34), "the Spirit of the "Lord came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet and" gathered soldiers after him; not only is it said that, when the Ammonites were oppressing Israel, (Judges xi. 29,) "the Spirit "of the Lord came upon Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead," and went to fight against the Ammonites: but we are told with reference to Samson-Samson the mighty in faith and strength, but the turbulent, the licentious, and the unholy-that "the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times in the camp "of Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol." Now, with regard to all these cases, the pious Jew might adopt the language which, in Psalm exliv. 1, is ascribed to David, and might and did, in effect, say of them, It is the Lord "which teacheth my hands to war and my fingers to fight." So, then, the Old Testament writers saw neither difficulty nor impropriety in believing and declaring that even in men, devoid of holiness or sadly deficient in sanctification, whatever was good or brave or strong, was put there by the Spirit of God. They called the courage and generalship of an Othniel, a Gideon and a Jephthah the result of divine Inspiration; and they attributed the gigantic strength of Samson to the same holy source. This, then, namely, the bestowal of physical courage, strategical skill, and even muscular strength, is the fourth class of subjects in which the Hebrew recognised that agency of the Spirit (or Ruach) of God which we call divine Inspiration.

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We have spoken, for the convenience of our verbal analysis, of four classes of subjects which are described in the Old Testament as partaking of Inspiration: but what generic differences are there between the Inspirations of these various classes? The reflective reader will perceive at once that there is no such difference. In every case the Inspirer, being the one Holy Spirit of God, gives to all his several operations

a generic oneness. The differences, in the several cases of Inspiration, are not generic, but specific, as arising from the diversities of the subjects or recipients of the divine influence, not from any inconsistency or imperfection in the action of the one divine person, whose presence and co-operation, in every case, justify the application of the epithet "inspired" to any person or thing. We have spoken throughout of the same "Spirit of God" who energizes over the chaotic waters, in the streams among the hills, in the grass, in the herbs, in the trees, in the animals, in their life and in their instinct; the same "Spirit of God" who energizes in man, in his nostrils, in his heart, and in his brain. In the striking language of the Christian Apostle, It is one Spirit distributing to every man severally as He will (1 Cor. xii. 11): but though there are "diversities of gifts," still "it is the same Spirit." It is, generically, one and the same divine inspiration which imparteth goodness to any and to all objects, however various those objects may be. The inspiration is one, though the inspired be several. Thus our conclusion with reference to the Old Testament is that, as it is not pretended that the Holy Spirit's influence or Inspiration caused the processes of nature to be perfect or infallible, so it is not to be expected that the same Holy Spirit's influence has made, or should have made, the sacred writings perfect or infallible; but we observe that, according to Old Testament custom, whatever was good, orderly, or strong-whether in the adornment of the heavens, in the springing of a blade of grass, in the rolling of the rivers, in the mystery of the womb, in the strength of Samson, in the instinct of the owl, in the common thoughts of ordinary men, or in the cleverness and genius of extraordinary men, in the poetry of the Psalmist, or in the predictions and moral teachings of the prophet-whatever-in any or in all these matters, or in aught else-was good, the Bible writer attributed to the Ruach or Spirit of God, whose action we designate "Inspiration."

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USE OF

CHAPTER III.

PNEUMA" (SPIRIT) IN THE NEW TESTAMENT.

LET us now proceed to consult the New Testament writers, and observe if they teach us to change or modify this idea of Inspiration. The gospel promises of Inspiration we have already had occasion to observe. We have seen that their veracity must be abandoned if they meant that infallibility should be given to Peter or any man. We have also seen that some, and probably all, of those promises were made, in behalf of those who should subsequently believe in Jesus, as well as on behalf of those who were his contemporary disciples. Accordingly we find the New Testament Scriptures entirely carrying out the Old Testament view of Inspiration. Whatever good thing befel, for the furtherance of the gospel, that the New Testament writers do not hesitate to ascribe to the Inspiration of God. It would be strange, indeed, if the Christian Scriptures did not allude with frequency to the agency of the Holy Spirit, for, apart from multitudinous other prophecies to the same effect, Isaiah had sung gloriously of the Messiah " on whom Jehovah had put his Spirit,' "'* and Joel had declared that, in Messiah's days, God would "pour out "his Spirit upon all flesh :" and the sons and the daughters, the old men and the young, the servants and the handmaids should all be inspired.

Throughout the whole periods of both the Old and the New Testament histories, and through all the time which intervened betwixt Malachi and the Messianic epoch, the Jews still held the same idea of all that is good coming by Inspiration. The only difference, in this respect, between Judaism and Christianity is that the inspiration of the latter, being the same in kind with the inspiration of the former, is fuller in degree.

Accordingly we find (Luke ii. 25) that, even prior to the birth of Jesus, the Scripture recognises Simeon as a man upon whom the Holy Ghost was:" and of John the Baptist it was foretold (Luke i. 15) that he should be "filled with the

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* Isaiah xlii. 1.

"Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb;" and accordingly, too, when our Lord was to be miraculously conceived-when the spiritual father of our race was, as a man, to be created— it is recorded (Luke i. 35) in the words, "The Holy Ghost "shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall "overshadow thee; therefore, also, that holy thing which shall 66 be born of thee shall be called the Son of God;" and, in like manner, it is declared of our Saviour that, throughout his visible life in this world, the Spirit was given to him "without measure" (John iii. 34). So, it was by the Spirit that Jesus was led up into the wilderness to be tempted (Matt. iv. 1); by the same Spirit (Matt. xii. 28) he cast out devils; and (1 Pet. iii. 18) by the same Spirit he was "quickened" after he had been "put to death in the flesh."

During our Lord's lifetime, and therefore before the Spirit (cf. John vii. 39) was yet given in that fulness which had been foretold by Joel, and which began to be fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, Jesus said to his Apostles, when he sent them on their temporary and experimental mission apart from him, (Matt. x. 20), In your apologies "it is not ye that speak, but "the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you." Thus completely, throughout the whole history of the Jewish and Christian religion, has the doctrine of the one indwelling and variously co-operative Spirit of God been recognised. Nothing, according to the gospel of Luke (xi. 13), can be of more universal applicability than the assurance given by our Saviour, "Every one that asketh receiveth," "If ye then "being evil know how to give good things to your children, "how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy "Spirit to them that ask him." Nor can anything be clearer than the assertion of John (i. 13: cf. iii. 5) that the change any man's mind, by which he became a believer on the Son of God and a member of the kingdom of heaven, was effected, not by the will of the flesh, nor by the will of mere humanity, but by the agency of the Spirit.

in

*

So far, then, the early part of the Christian dispensation shows an entire agreement with the Old Testament in recognising the Spirit of God as the originator and sustainer of every thing good. And in those extant records of Christian life which have reference to the period subsequent to what is known as the Pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Spirit, we shall find the same idea of Inspiration only accompanied by a belief that

the beneficent Spirit of God was more deeply and more extensively diffused in his energetic and sanctifying influences.

On the day of Pentecost, and subsequently, it cannot have been the miraculous powers imparted by the Holy Ghost which were the novelty; for, if we credit the Old and New Testament history, there had been many miracles in ancient times; and, even in the three years immediately preceding that Pentecostal day, Jesus and his followers had been achieving a wide-spread fame by their countless and astounding deeds of healing, exorcising, and raising the dead. The novelty was, not in the miracle of Pentecost, but in the extent to which the miracleworking agents were multiplied, for, we read, "they" (apparently the 120)" were all filled with the Holy Ghost" (Acts ii. 4); and at a later date again, when the Christians numbered their thousands of converts, we read (Acts iv. 31) "They were all filled with the Holy Ghost:" and again (Acts v. 32) Peter declares, before the hostile authorities, that the Holy Ghost is given to them (evidently meaning to all of them) that obey God and believe on Jesus. So, too, at Samaria, the Holy Ghost was given to all on whom the Apostles laid their hands (Acts viii. 17). The churches throughout all Judæa and Galilee and Samaria were multiplied (Acts ix. 31), "walking in the comfort of the Holy Ghost." At Antioch (Acts xiii. 2) "the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas "and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them." In the council at Jerusalem the form of drawing up an apostolic opinion is, "It seemed good (edoxe) to the Holy Ghost and to "us" (Acts xv. 28). If, by a dream, or by any other circumstances or causes, Paul and his companions were induced to abandon some field of missionary labour (Acts xvi. 6, 10), and to adopt another, the Christian expression was, we were "forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia," and we "assuredly gathered that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel unto the Macedonians." In a word, if there was any thing which seemed good, in their thoughts or actions, the early Christians, like the pious Jews before them, ascribed its excellence to divine inspiration. If a believer had been in tribulation, and had learned patience, experience, and hope, Paul attributed such a glorious state of mind (Rom. v. 5) to the agency of "the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." The same Apostle exhorts men to be fervent in spirit (Rom. xii. 11): he prays (Rom. xv. 13) that the believers at Rome may abound

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