LECT. I. Irenæus, &c. employed by Athenagoras, and Theophilus of Antioch-the former of whom asserts respecting the inspiration of the prophets, that the Spirit from God moved their mouths, like instruments, making use of them as a musician does of his flute.* Nor can any language more powerfully express a belief in the doctrine than that employed by the last-mentioned writer: “ The men of God,” he writes, "actuated by the Holy Spirit, and pro"phets being inspired and made wise by God himself, became divinely taught, holy and righteous, on which account they were deemed worthy "of this recompense-to be the organs of God; " and receiving wisdom from him, they spake by " the same wisdom, both of what related to the "creation of the world, and of all other things."+ 66 Irenæus, who flourished about the same time with the preceding writers, Tertullian, Dionysius, and Clement of Alexandria, abound in statements respecting the Holy Scriptures, which show παρασχεῖν ἐνεργείᾳ, ἵν ̓ αὐτὸ τὸ θεῖον ἐξ οὐρανοῦ κατιὸν πλῆκτρον, ὥσπερ ὀργάνῳ κιθάρας τινὸς ἢ λύρας, τοῖς δικαίοις ἀνδράσι χρώμενον, τὴν τῶν θείων ἡμῖν καὶ οὐρανίων ἀποκαλύψῃ γνῶσιν. -Ibid. p. 9. * τῷ παρὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ πνεύματι, ὡς ὄργανα κεκινηκότι τὰ τῶν προφητῶν στόματα. Legatio, Ibid. App. p. 8. † Οἱ δὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἄνθρωποι πνευματόφοροι πνεύματος ἁγίου, καὶ προφῆται γενόμενοι, ὑπ ̓ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐμπνευσθέντες, καὶ σοφισθέντες ἐγένοντο θεοδίδακτοι, καὶ ὅσιοι καὶ δικαίοι. διὸ καὶ κατηξιώθησαν τὴν ἀντιμισθίαν ταύτην λαβεῖν, ὄργανα Θεοῦ γενόμενοι, καὶ χωρίσαντες σοφίαν τὴν παρ' αὐτοῦ, δι' ἧς σοφίας εἶπον καὶ τὰ περὶ τῆς κτίσεως τοῦ κόσμου, καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἁπάν των.-Ibid. pp. 87, 88. that they considered them to have been written LECT. I. by special supernatural influence. And though Tertullian imbibed the fanatical notions of Montanus, and occasionally makes use of unwarrantably strong expressions respecting his own possession of the Spirit, he always maintained the paramount authority of the Bible as the word of God. Origen appears to have been the first of the Origen fathers who took a more minute and definite view of the subject. This extraordinary man, whose application to biblical study has never been equalled in any age, was necessarily called, in the course of his writings, to state without reserve the light in which he regarded it. We accordingly meet with it in many parts of his works, especially in his Books against Celsus, and in the chapter of the Philocalia, which is headed-"The Inspiration of the Divine Scriptures." He not only speaks of Moses and the Jewish prophets having the Spirit of God, and of its being a matter of belief with the Jews that they spoke by his afflatus, but pointedly asserts, that the same Spirit who taught Moses the things which had happened before his time, also taught those who wrote the gospel; and, on this account, scruples not to call both the prophets and apostles "Divine men."* He ascribes the language of Isaiah to the Holy Spirit; † declares * Contra Celsum, lib. i. p. 33. Ed. Spenceri. LECT. I. that it is only necessary to peruse the writings of the prophets to be persuaded that the Spirit of God was in them;* maintains that the apostles taught Christianity in virtue of a divine power; and repeatedly extends inspiration in express terms to the whole volume. No person, he affirms, can read it with diligent attention, without being himself in some degree sensible of the inspiration which is inherent in it, or feeling convinced that its contents are the words of God, and not human compositions. § He contrasts the inspiration which the writers enjoyed with the pretended afflatus of the heathen priests, and shows that they had nothing in common.|| That Origen was a believer in the verbal inspiration of the Scriptures, is evident from two passages in his Commentaries. In that on the first Psalm, he expressly declares that the Holy Spirit subjected the word to the most rigid trial, when communicating it through those who were selected to be its ministers, in order that we might be convinced, by the analogy of the process with that employed by a refiner in purifying metals, that Divine inspiration was extended to the minutest letter; to which he thinks our Lord probably refers, when he says, "One jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all * Contr. Cels. lib. viii. p. 409. + Lib. i. p. 48. be fulfilled." (Matt. v. 18.) He then institutes LECT. I. a comparison with the natural world, in which small as well as great things are the result of the Divine operations; and concludes, that whatever was written under an afflatus of the Spirit, was inserted with a view to the salvation of men, and that every letter contains a trace of wisdom according to the capacity of the recipient.* In his Thirty-ninth Homily on Jeremiah, he argues from our being commanded to suffer no idle word to proceed out of our mouth, and from the use to be made of all kinds of herbs for medicinal purposes, that a wonderful power attaches to every word which proceeded from the mouths of the prophets, and that there is not a jot, or the smallest element of Scripture, which is destitute of meaning. The design of Origen in thus * Εἰ δὲ τὰ λόγια κυρίου λόγια ἁγνὰ, ἀργύριον πεπυρωμένον, δοκίμιον τῇ γῇ, κεκαθαρισμένον ἑπταπλασίως· καὶ μετὰ πάσης ἀκριβείας ἐξητασμένως τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα ὑποβέβληκεν αὐτὰ διὰ τῶν ὑπηρετῶν τοῦ λόγου, μή ποτε καὶ ἡμᾶς διαφεύγε ἡ ἀναλογία, καθ ̓ ἦν ἐπὶ πᾶσαν ἔφθασε γραφὴν ἡ σοφία τοῦ Θεοῦ θεόπνευστον μέχρι τοῦ τυχόντος γράμματος.—Ὃν τρόπον γὰρ ..... οὕτως ἡμεῖς ὑπολαμβανόμεν περὶ πάντων τῶν ἐξ ἐπιπνοίας τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος ἀναγεγραμμένων, ὡς τῆς ἐπιδιδούσης τὴν ὑπὲρ ἄνθρω πον σοφίαν ἱερᾶς προνοίας διὰ τῶν γραμμάτων τῷ γένει τῶν ανθρώπων λόγια σωτήρια, ἐνεσπαρκύιας, ὡς ἔστιν εἰπεῖν, ἑκάστῳ γράμματι κατὰ τὸ ἐνδεχόμενον ἴχνη τῆς σοφίας.-Philocal. cap. ii. p. 23. † - καὶ οὐ θαυμαστὸν εἰ πᾶν ῥῆμα τὸ λαλούμενον ὑπὸ τῶν προφητῶν εἰργάζετο ἔργον τὸ πρέπον ῥήματι· ἀλλὰ γὰρ οἶμαι ὅτι καὶ πᾶν θαυμάσιαν γράμμα τὸ γεγραμμένον ἐν τοῖς λογίοις τοῦ θεοῦ ἐργάζεται, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἰῶτα ἓν, ἢ μία κεραία γεγραμμένη ἐν τῇ γραφῇ, ἥτις τοῖς επισταμένοις χρῆσθαι τῇ LECT. I. Lutheran and Reform a distinct topic of investigation; and such was the neglect into which the Scriptures had fallen, that when it happened to be adverted to, it was only in the most incidental manner, and so as to show that the ideas entertained of it were of the most fluctuating character. Admitted as a general principle, it was called in question by none of the schoolmen.* About the time of the Reformation, when the Scriptures began to be restored to that place to which they are entitled, and Biblical theology became the subject of profound and persevering study, the claims of revelation received a proportionate share of public attention. One of the first who advanced any opinion at variance with those commonly received was Erasmus, who, in his notes on the second of Matthew, and the tenth of the Acts, remarked, that the Divine Spirit, by whom the minds of the apostles were governed, permitted them to remain ignorant of some things, to fall, and even to err for want of memory; but though he endeavoured to defend his positions against Eckius, by whom he was attacked, he afterwards retracted and acknowledged "nunc testor, me abhorrere ab ullâ oblivione tribuendâ Apostolis."+ The sentiments of Luther on the subject of ed Divines. the canon are well known. Those which he entertained respecting inspiration he expressed * Töllner, Einleitung. §. viii. † Apolog. adv. Monachos quosd. Hispan. |