THE KING’S BUSINESS
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Holy Ghost.” God spake in the prophets, says St. Paul, when he wished to do so, at sundry times, as well as in divers manners. On such a day; and at such -a time, it is often written, “the word o f Jehovah was upon such a man.” “In the tenth year, on the twelfth day o f the tenth month, the wotd o f Jehovah ,came to me,” said the prophet (Ezek. 29:1). In the fifteenth year o f the reign o f Tiberius, the word of the Lord came unto John, the son o f Zach- arias (Luke 3:1, 2) : and on the eighth day, Zacharias, his father, was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, . . .” . (Luke 1:59, 67, 41, 42). FALLIB ILITY OF FRO f’HETS So when we ought not to imagine that the divine infallibility o f the language o f the prophets (and even o f the Apostles) lasted longer than the times in which they were engaged in their miraculous task, and in which the Spirit caused them to speak. Without divine inspiration, they were in most instances enlightened, sanctified, and preserved by God, as holy and faithful men in our own days may^still be, but then they -no more spoke as moved by the Holy Ghost; “their language might still be- worthy o f the most respectful attention ; but it was a holy man that spoke ; it was no longer God : they again became fallible.” X III. Can any examples be adduced of this fallibility being attached to their lang uage, when unaccompanied with Divine in spiration? - . ' A multitude o f instances occur. Men are often, after having been for a time the mouth o f the Lord, seen to become false prophets, and mendaciously to pretend to utter the words o f Jehovah, after the Spirit had feeased to speak in them; “although the Lord sent them not, neither commanded them, neither spake unto them.” “ They speak a vision o f their own heart, not out o f the mouth o f the Lord” (Jef. 14:14; 23:11, 16; Ezek. 13:2, 3). But without referring to those wicked men, or to the profane Saul, or to Balaam, who were for some time numbered among the prophets, shall it be thought that all
the words o f king David were infallible during the course o f that long year which he passed in adultery? Yet “ these,” saith the Scripture, “ be the last words o f David, the sweet psalmist o f Israel: 'Lhc Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and His Word was in my tongue’’ (2 Sam. 23:1, 2). Shall it be thought that all the words o f the prophet Solomon still continued infallible, when he fell into idolatry in his old age, and the sal vation o f his soul became a problem for the Church o f God ? And to come down to Christ’s holy Apostles and prophets' (Eph. 3 :5 ),'shah it be thought that all the words o f Paul himself were infallible, and that he still could say that' “ Christ spoke by him” (2 Cor. 13:3) when there was a sharp contention betwixt him and Barnabas (Acts 15:39) ; or when, in the midst o f the council, under a' mistaken impression with regard to the person o f the High Priest, he “ spoke evil o f the Ruler o f his people,” and cried, “ God shall strike thee,, thou whited wall;” or further (since there may remain some doubt as to the character o f this rep rimand), shall it be thought that all the words o f the Apostle St. Peter were infal lible, when,v at Antioch, he showed him self “so much to be blamed;” when he feared those that came from St. James; when he dissembled; and when he forced the Apostle St. Paul “to withstand him to his face before them all, because he walked not uprightly according to the truth o f the Gospel?” (Gal. 2:11, 14). D IFFER IN ESSENCE X IV . What, then, are we to conclude from this first difference which we have recognized as existing between illumination and inspiration, with respect to the dura tion o f those gifts? W e must conclude from it, 1. That these two operations o f the Holy Ghost differ in their essence, and not in their degree only. 2, That the infallibility o f the sacred writers depended not on their illumination (which, although raised to an extraordinary measfire in the case o f some o f them, they nevertheless enjoyed in common with all
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