The Church: Her Books and Her Sacraments Part 3

Then there are those who, perhaps from a natural reaction, deny that any word in the Bible is in any special sense "the Word of G.o.d". But this, too, creates hopeless difficulties, and satisfies no serious student. If the Bible is, in no special sense, the Word of G.o.d, there is absolutely no satisfactory explanation of its unique position and career in history. It is a great fact which remains unaccounted for.

Moreover, no evidence exists which suggests that the writers who call it the Word of G.o.d were either frauds or dupes, or that they were deceived when they proclaimed "_G.o.d_ spake these words, and said"; or, "Thus saith _the Lord_"; or, "The Revelation of _Jesus Christ_ by His servant John". There must, upon the lowest ground, be a sense in which it may be truly said that the Bible is the Word of G.o.d as no other book is. This we may consider under the fourth name, Inspiration.

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(IV) INSPIRATION.

What do we mean by the word? The Church has nowhere defined it, and we are not tied to any one interpretation; but the Bible itself suggests a possible meaning.

It is the Word of G.o.d heard through the voice of man.

Think of some such expression as: "_The Revelation of Jesus Christ which G.o.d gave by His angel unto His servant John_" (Rev. i. 1). Here two facts are stated: (1) The revelation is from Jesus Christ; (2) It was given through a human agent--John. G.o.d gave it; man conveyed it.

Again: "_Holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost_"

(2 Pet. i. 21). The Holy Ghost moved them; they spake: the speakers, not the writings, were inspired. Again: "_As He spake by the mouth of His holy Prophets_"[10] (St. Luke i. 70). He spake; but He spake through the mouthpiece of the human agent. And once again, as the Collect for the second Sunday in Advent tells us, it is the "_blessed Lord Who (hast) caused all Holy Scriptures to be written_". G.o.d was the initiating {35} cause of writings: man was the inspired writer.

Each messenger received the message, but each pa.s.sed it on in his own way. It was with each as it was with Haggai: "Then spake Haggai, the _Lord's messenger_ in the _Lord's message_" (Haggai i. 13). The message was Divine, though the messenger was human; the message was infallible, though the messenger was fallible; the vessel was earthen, though the contents were golden. In this unique sense, the Bible is indeed "the Word of G.o.d". It is the "Word of G.o.d," delivered in the words of man.

Thus, as Dr. Sanday puts it, the Bible is, at once, both human and Divine; not less Divine because thoroughly human, and not less human because essentially Divine. We need not necessarily parcel it out and say such and such things are human and such and such things are Divine, though there are instances in which we may do this, and the Scriptures would justify us in so doing. There will be much in Holy Scripture which is at once very human and very Divine. The two aspects are not incompatible with each other; rather, they are intimately united. Look at them in one light, and you will see the one; look at them in another light, and you will see {36} the other. But the substance of that which gives these different impressions is one and the same.

It is from no irreverence, but because of the over-towering importance of the book, that the best scholars (devout, prayerful scholars, as well as the reverse) have given the best of their lives to the study of its text, its history, its writers, its contents.

Their criticism has, as we know, been cla.s.sified under three heads:--

(1) Lower, or _textual_ criticism.

(2) Higher, or _doc.u.mentary_ criticism.

(3) Historical, or _contemporary_ criticism.

_Lower criticism_ seeks for, and studies, the best and purest text obtainable--the text nearest to the original, from which fresh translations can be made.

_Higher criticism_ seeks for, and studies, doc.u.ments: it deals with the authenticity of different books, the date at which they were written, the names of their authors.

_Historical criticism_ seeks for, and studies, _data_ relating to the history of the times when each book was written, and the light thrown upon that history by recent discoveries (e.g. in archaeology, and excavations in Palestine).

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No very definite results have yet been reached on many points of criticism, and, on many of them, scholars have had again and again to reverse their conclusions. We are still only _en route_, and are learning more and more to possess our souls in patience, and to wait awhile for anything in the nature of finality. Meanwhile, the living substance is unshaken and untouched.

This living substance, entrusted to living men, is the revelation of G.o.d to man, and leads us to our last selected name--Revelation.

(V) REVELATION.

The Bible is the revelation of the Blessed Trinity to man--of G.o.d the Son, by G.o.d the Father, through G.o.d the Holy Ghost. It is the revelation of G.o.d to man, and in man. First, it reveals G.o.d _to_ man--"pleased as Man with man to dwell". In it, G.o.d stands in front of man, and, through the G.o.d-Man, shows him what G.o.d is like. It reveals G.o.d as the "pattern on the mount," for man to copy on the plain. But it does more than this: it reveals G.o.d _in_ man. So St. Paul writes: "It pleased G.o.d to reveal His Son _in_ me";[11] and again, "G.o.d hath {38} shined _in_ our hearts".[12] The Bible reveals to me that Jesus, the revelation of the Father, through the Eternal Spirit, dwells in me, as well as outside me. He is a power within, as well as a pattern without.

Yet again. The Bible reveals G.o.d's purpose _for_ man. There is no such other revelation of that purpose. You cannot deduce G.o.d's purpose either in man's life, or in his twentieth century environment. It can only be fully deduced from Revelation. Man may seem temporarily to defeat G.o.d's purpose, to postpone its accomplishment; but Revelation (and nothing but Revelation) proclaims that "the Word of the Lord standeth sure," and that G.o.d's primal purpose is G.o.d's final purpose.

Lastly, the Bible is the revelation of a future state. Things begun here will be completed there. As such, it gives man a hope on which to build a belief, and a belief on which to found a hope.

We must believe, For still we hope That, in a world of larger scope, What here is faithfully begun Will be completed, not undone.

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Thus, we may, perhaps, find in these five familiar names, brief headings for leisure thoughts. In them, we see the _Scriptures_, or many books, gathered together into one book called _The Book_. In this book, we see the _Word of G.o.d_ delivered to men by men, and these men _inspired_ by G.o.d to be the living _media_ of the _Revelation_ of G.o.d to man.

Our next selected book will be the Church of England Prayer Book.

[1] Art. XX.

[2] The Council of Toulouse, 1229, and the Council of Trent, 1545-63.

[3] St. Luke x. 26,

[4] The first division of the Bible into _chapters_ is attributed either to Cardinal Hugo, for convenience in compiling his Concordance of the Vulgate (about 1240), or to Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury (about 1228), to facilitate quotation. _Verses_ were introduced into the New Testament by Robert Stephens, 1551. It is said that he did the work on a journey from Paris to Lyons.

[5] Heb. i. 1, 2.

[6] St. John v. 39.

[7] St. John i. 14.

[8] Acts VII.

[9] The University Presses offer 1 1s. for every such hitherto undiscovered inaccuracy brought to their notice.

[10] This is the Church's description of Inspiration in the Nicene Creed: "Who spake by the Prophets".

[11] Gal. i. 15, 16.

[12] 2 Cor. iv. 6.

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CHAPTER III.

THE CHURCH'S BOOKS.

(2) THE PRAYER BOOK.

We now come to the second of the Church's books selected for discussion--the Prayer Book.

The English Prayer Book is the local presentment of the Church's Liturgies for the English people.