blished them to the world as a revelation from
heaven. If the Bible be inspired _at all_, it is _fully_ inspired.
Otherwise, you cannot tell where to make the distinction between what is
divine and what is human. You must either maintain the truth of the
_whole_ book, or abandon your conviction of its supreme authority. We
adopt the statement that the prophets "composed their works under so
plenary and immediate an influence of the Holy Spirit that God may be
said to speak by them to man, and not merely that they spoke to men in
the name of God, and by his authority." Mark the wide distinction which
is here suggested. Take the case of an earnest and trustworthy minister.
He tells his congregation that he is anxious to give them the truth; and
has been to God in his closet asking for light. In answer to prayer he
believes that the Holy Spirit has given him light; and, confident that it
is the truth, he announces it to the people. But you would not say that
that man is inspired. There may be much of what is fallible and human
with what is truthful and divine. Suppose, however, that on some Sabbath
morning, he could with authority stand up and say that what is now about
to be declared is not his, but God's--that he is in ignorance of what the
utterance will really be, and that in simple fact, God is to speak
through him, using his lips only as the medium of communication; you have
here an instance of what is meant by plenary inspiration. And this we
say is the case with the prophets. These "holy men of God spake _as_
they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Not in the _words_ which man's wisdom
teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth."

2. _Their Conduct_. They "enquired and searched diligently."

(i.) What is implied in the _search_ they made? It would seem as if for
the moment the thought of their inspiration was dropped; and like other
earnest students of the Bible, they now search to ascertain the meaning
of their own, and each other's prophecies. There is here, however, an
incidental, though strong proof of the justice of their claims. The
predictions they uttered were not their own conceptions; not the product
of their own reasoning; and perhaps not even engraven on their own
memory. They gave expression to statements beyond themselves, and the
meaning of which at the time, they did not understand. And when (if we
may so say) the breath of inspiration had passed from them, they sat down
to discover