Inspiration in any sense. Theology ought certainly to be dependent upon Divine Inspiration; but Divine Inspiration has been made dependent upon Theology. How this has been effected, it will not be difficult to perceive. A Theology has prevailed of which the Epistles are the foundation; the Gospels next in importance; and the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms almost superfluous additions. Let us illustrate the case. The Law, it is said, was a shadow of good things to come; the Gospel is the substance. You can speak of the inspiration of a substance, not of the inspiration of a shadow. The shadow, the covenant of shadows has passed away; "In that he hath said a new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away."*"We are false to our position, if for a single moment we make the Gospel depend upon the Law. We not unfrequently meet with the expression that the Gospel is founded upon the Law. But such language is neither according to the letter nor the spirit of Holy Scripture."-Certainly not, if to build upon the Law, were to build upon a shadow:-"Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.'"-True! but Jesus Christ is within the Law. The Law was the outer shadow, which concealed the substance within. The substance was there, but the Jews could not see it. They could see * This and other extracts in the sequel in inverted commas, but without reference, are taken from Sermons which have been preached before the University; the truly Christian spirit of which must be acknowledged, even while the Theology is rejected. nothing but shadows which they mistook for the sub stance. When the Apostle was Shall we say that, to us who are Christians, the whole Five Books of Moses are but a shadow? Nay, not even this; a shadow that was, but that now is not, since it has passed away with the Dispensation. Surely until we come to regard the Law as something more than a shadow, it will be impossible for us to maintain that it is part of the Word of God. A mere shadow that appears for a time and then passes away, has never been an emblem of stability but always of vanity; and can never be the same with the Word of God, or with any part of it. speaking of the Law as a shadow of good things to come, he was speaking of its externalities, types, and figures; not of the substance, or of the truths they inwardly contain. The old Dispensation has passed away, but the Law has not passed away; and yet because the Old Covenant is sometimes used to signify the Old Testament and sometimes the Old Dispensation, the Testament is identified with the Dispensation, and both are equally said to have decayed and vanished away. It is from this school of Theology principally, that has emanated the uncompromising opposition to all spiritual interpretation of the Law, the Psalms, and other parts of Scripture. God has now permitted this opposition to come to a crisis! The Church is driven to the alternative, either to admit. the spiritual sense of the Old Testament, or to reject its Divine Inspiration. Any one acquainted with the state of Theology will know, that this has been always tacitly the question at issue; so that when the spiritual sense of the Old Testament has been openly denied, and its Divine Inspiration at the same time nominally acknowledged, such an account has been necessarily given of its Divine Inspiration as to make it simply worthless; for how can Truth which is everlasting, and which alone is the Word of God, pass away with the Dispensation? Yet this has long been the Theology of the greater part of the Christian community; and the Sceptic now intervenes to put an end to the rest of the Bible on the same principle as the theologian puts an end to the Law-both are said to be out of date. Let us illustrate the case. "The glory of the Old Testament has waxed faint before the later formation and greater illumination of the New."... "The volume of the Law which they (the Jews) held in their hands, was luminous while in the darkness; in the light it has itself become dark—a shadow cast backward into the ages, by the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world."" Another writer, Lord Arthur Hervey,* observes that we might perhaps illustrate the relation of the whole dispensation of the Spirit under the Old Testament to the dispensation of the Spirit under the New Testament, by the familiar comparison of a chandelier which is to illuminate some spacious hall. Hence he remarks, that— "At first when the gas is lit, it is supplied in small quantities, and emits but a feeble light. Only the nearest objects are distinguished by it, though it is sufficient for the preparatory * The Inspiration of Holy Scripture. Five Sermons preached before the University of Cambridge. By the Rev. Lord Arthur Hervey, M.A., Rector of Ickworth with Horinger. p. 75. different from the darkness But when the time is come work to be done, and is very which would prevail without it. for preparation to cease, and the real business to commence, then the chandelier is made to emit its full splendor, lighting up every corner of the apartment. So when God would enlighten this dark world with the light of His Holy Spirit, He first gave the dim, and partial, and preparatory light of the Old Testament, but has now given us the full light of the knowledge of His glory, in the face of Jesus Christ." Is it then the Law, which, after giving a dim and partial twilight, bursts out into the full light of the Gospel, when Christ comes into the world? Decidedly not the light of the Law, it is said, when viewed in the light of the Gospel, becomes dark. Seen in the dark, it was luminous; but seen in the light, it is only a shadow cast back into the ages. The use of the Old Testament was to emit this twilight; but the twilight being no longer wanted, the twilight and the Testament have both passed away; accordingly the Cambridge Preacher does not hesitate to point out "the manner of the passing away of the Old Testament."* Now if the Old Testament has really passed away, is it not merely a waste of time to concern ourselves about its Inspiration? Indeed, says the Oxford Preacher : "The Law has EXPIRED after giving birth to the Gospel." Then there is no longer life in the Law. The Law is dead, and its dead body lies embalmed in the Church. And who now will venture to say that the Law is part of the Word of God? Has the Word * Ibid., p. 45. of God expired, or any part of it? How can the dead Law be any part of the living Word? How can that give life which itself is dead? But does not the Apostle say, "If there had been a law given which could have given life, then verily righteousness should have come by the Law?" True: but does the Apostle here mean to say, that the Law could not give life, because there is no life in the Law? If so, “where the carcase is, there shall the eagles be gathered together." They have gathered together, and are devouring the carcase. We may strive to scare away the eagles, but that will not revive the Law. And if the Law be really dead, what is the use of scaring away the eagles? Theologians should never have deprived the Law of its life, the life of its spiritual truth; and a living Law would then of itself have sufficed to keep the eagles at bay. But if the Law be dead, what becomes of the Psalms and the Prophets? for these all derived their life from the Law. Deprive them of the Law, and there is no temple, no worship, no sacrifice, few types or symbols of any kind; for the language of the Psalms and the prophets was founded upon the Law. When a man is employed in bringing a spiritual sense out of any particular passage, he is said to be spiritualizing away the Scripture, and turning the literal facts into nothing. Even were this the case, it would be only a partial nullification of Scripture: the other is wholesale. The Old Testament belongs to the Old Dispensation, it is said, and as a shadow has passed away with the Dispensation. Historical characters may still be serviceable in contributing to |