BY THE REV. E. HOARE, VICAR OF TRINITY, TUNBRIDGE WELLS, AND HONORARY CANON OF CANTERBURY. Second Edition . LONDON: HATCHARDS, PICCADILLY. 1877. LONDON: Printed by John Strangeways , Castle St. Leicester Sq....

It is quite impossible to over-estimate the deep importance of this great subject, for on our conclusions respecting it must depend our confidence in all the great mysteries of the Gospel.  There is a sphere within which the human mind is capable of astonishing achievement, and I would be the last to undervalue human intellect.  It has done vast things already, and is doing great things now.  But there is a limit beyond which it has no power to pass; a world in which it has no means of investiga

I need scarcely say that this divine element is the great subject of modern controversy.  But I hope we may meet the points more especially agitated, by considering four questions. I.  Does it extend over the whole book? II.  Is it equal? III.  Is it verbal? IV.  Does it render the word infallible? I.  Does it extend over the whole book? Our first inquiry, then, must relate to the area covered by it; or, in other words, to the question, Is the whole inspired?  Were all the writers of Scripture t

But there is a human element in the book as well as a divine.  ‘Holy men spake as they were moved.’  We shall take, therefore, a very partial view of the whole subject if we neglect to consider the action of the holy men as well as the moving of the Holy Ghost.  What then are the plain, obvious facts of the case?  Are they not that the books contain as much evidence of human mind, and human character as if they were uninspired books?  The human authorship is as prominent and conspicuous as the d

I trust , then, that I have shown clearly the existence of the divine and human elements in Scripture, but it still remains for us to consider the third point, namely, THE COMBINATION OF THE TWO . How is the union between the divine and human to be explained? 1.  Not by supposing that the writers were mere pens, or machines.  This is sometimes termed the mechanical theory, but it is clearly inconsistent with facts.  Pens never think, argue, remember, weep, or rejoice, and all these things were d

But , while we rejoice in the great doctrine of a complete, plenary, and infallible inspiration, we should be wanting in Christian candour if we were to ignore the existence of certain difficulties connected with the subject.  There are difficulties we freely acknowledge, some of which have been felt, not merely by sceptical, but by devout and Christian minds; and these difficulties I now propose to consider. 1.  The first of these has been already met.  It arises from the variety of mind and ch