SUNDAY READING. SERMON BY THE LATE REV. THOS. JONES.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 4180, 13 December 1884, Page 6 (Supplement)

SUNDAY READING. SERMON BY THE LATE REV. THOS. JONES.

2 Tim. 3 eh. 16 and 17 vers. " All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness ; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."

Wo can form no more distinct conception of what inspiration is in itself than that implied in the word—the breathing of God upon, or into, the minds of His servants. Ho imparled to them an extraordinary degree of influence, whereby they were instructed what and how to speak and write. This special divine influence distinguishes them from all other teachers, and their writings from all other books. The.nanner of inspiration is beyond our knowledge; indeed, tho working and influence of the Dmnc Being anywhere arc to us a profound nivstery. Motion, life, and growth, the fruitfulncss of the earth, and the order and harmony of all things must be traced to Him ; but how they are produced we know not. In Him we live and

move and have our being ; He besets us behind and before, and lays His hand upon us; but IBs manner of doing tin's is too wonderful for us to understand. Wo are bound to recognise His influence in the mental power, wisdom, and goodness of men ; but how Ho eornes into contact with' tho mind it. is impossible to explain. So also of the prophets and apostles. They were inspired of God j breathed into their minds, and endued them with a supernatural power of seeing and teaching spiritual truth—this we know; but beyond this point we cannot pass. Tho boundaries of our knowledge aro not far to seek in any direction. Some have thought that the divine influence which the sacred writers experience extended to all they wrote, even to the very words, syllables, and letters—that they were mere scribes, writing at tho dictation of another, inßtruments upon which the Holy 1 Spirit played, passive mediumo for the transmission of truth to the world. But we are not justified in receiving this theory by the evidence which the Bible affords. The prophets, psalmi.'ts, and apostles aro men of individual character. In thought, feeling, method of Coaching, and style of writing they differ from one another. Life throughout'the vegetable world is one; in forest, field, and garden it \* tho same animating and energising principle- but its manifestations are manifold, for ail barbs, flowers, and trees have their own distinct forms. I The inspired writers were moved by the same divine influence ;it cleared and strei-K'the. Ed their mental perception, quickened their hearts, and vivified their imagination * it raised them to a spiritual elevation upP n which none others havo ever stood, whence they beheld " the visions of God," His character; the nature of His government, llis thought?, will, and purpose ; and thus it gave to their writings a divine authority and power, but it did no* produce uniformity by destroying the individuality of their character. A prophet or an apostle was not an automaton, but a free man uttering the truth which the Holy Ghost had revealed lo him. "The hand of tho Lord " was upon his servants ; they quivered under the awful touch, but all the tremulous motions were according to the laws of their own being. The light received the color of the medium through which it passed; the river of truth took its form from tho channel through which it flowed.

We should consider this subject little more closely. Observe a threefold effect of inspiration—the revelation of truth, intensity of feeling, and abiding power in the words. First, the inspired man was a " seer ;" the veil was turned aside, and he was permitted to look into the sanctuary of truth. Think of the Hebrew prophets to whose writings <,ho text refers. The unity, personality, and spirituality of God were revealed to them They beheld Hie glory . s others did not'-

and thcreforo spoie of it in sublime and in comparable language. "He is the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity." "All nations are before him as nothing." " The heavens are not clean in his sight." Ho is

" glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders." They are conscious also of ".His loving kindness and tender mercies," so that while they feared his great and awful name, they " put their trust under the shadow of his wings." They recognised His active presence in the world, saw His hand in the rise and full of nations, and history wa3 to them the unfolding of His purpose. The future was opened to some of them, and they foresaw the coming of Him who is the Saviour of men, to set up a kingdom that shall never bo destroyed." The result of inspiration was the same in the minds of tho apostles. There were things in the teaching of Christ which they could not comprehend, others

they misunderstood, and others were in the course of time entirely forgotten. But when the Spirit was given Ho brought all things to their remembrance; they were able to recall the past, and to enter into the meaning of the wonderful words. A man standing in a large room in the faint twilight of evening can distinguish the objects nearest to him ; those farther removed are indistinct and confused, and the mo=t distant are completely lost to Li 3 view ; but fill the place with light and all things arc made manifest. This illustrates the influence of inspiration upon the minds of prophets and apostles ; old truths become more important when seen in the new and brighter light; truths imperfectly understood appeared clear and well defined, and things which the unaided reason could not discover were revealed.

The teaching of the Bible should be judged thus : Do the prophets and apostles reveal spiritual truths in a cleaver light than the ancient philosophers did ? To this a thoughtful man can only return one answer —they do. Read, forinstance, the meditations of Marcus Aurelius, and then turn to the Epistles of St. Paul, and I think you will be obliged to acknowledge that moral and spiritual truth shines in the verses of the apostle with a brilliancy and strength not to be found in the words, wise and beautiful though they are, of the imperial Stoic. Seeing, then, that the prophets and apostles speak with such deep spiritual insight, the question is, ho«- this camo to pass ? They were not philosophers, scholars,

and orators, as the great and learned men of Greece and Rome were. The true explanation is " holj- men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." Secondly, their mental illumination was

accompanied by deep and intense feeling. Their spirits were ' moved ' —they felt the burden of the word of the Lord—tho truth was in their heart ' as a burning fire.' Therefore speech became a necessity, for by speaking they lightened the burden that oppressed them and gave out tho fire that burned on their bosoms. When they had messages of peace and good tilings to deliver, their ' doctrine dropped as the rain, their speech distilled as the dew, and as the small rain upon tho tender herb.' Hut when the sins of the nation and the judgments of heaven were their themes, they cried aloud, and their language was as terrible as a midnight alarm. Sometimes there is a wail of sorrow in the words they utter; at others they endeavored in vain to express the workings in their spirit, and their broken sentences resemblo the mutterings of a storm that fails to open into loud resounding thunder.

Before a man is justified in using the same language and style of speaking and writing as the prophets, he must possess their insight into the truth and the agonising feeling which they experienced. To use their terrible language without their inspiration is false. Our words and the manner of using them should correspond with tho clearness of our mental vision and the depth of our spiritual emotion. If the word of the Lord weighs heavily upon your heart, if the sacred fire burns within you, if your spirit is in anguish because of the sins of your people, then speak as the Hebrew seer spoke. Blow the trumpet in Israel, sound the lamentation, walk through the length and breadth of tho land, and cry aloud " Woe, woe unto thee saith the Lord God ;" but if not, then you had better speak calmly and reason with men, and suggest the truth, and persuade and attract as a friend —nothing more. No good can come of unreality ; mimic thunder causes no alarm, and painted fire gives forth no heat. Loud stormy words, which are out of all harmony with tho convictions and feelings of the mind from which they proceed, are worthless as sounding brass and tinkling cymbals. Falling upon the speaker's own ears, they sound hollow, and in his deepest heart he knows they have no meaning. The hearers also in due time will instinctively discover the truth of the matter, and see plainly enough that what he says is said because speaking is his profession ; and then will follow this most natural consequence —the alionation of the people from the institutions of religion. The first thing for us all is to be true and honest. To speak as the prophets spoke we also must bo enlightened and "moved" by the Holy Ghost.

'Thirdly, observe the abiding power in the words. Tbescriptureshave been regarded as records of inspiration. This is true as far as it goes. The wavemarks on the sand make known how high the tido rose. And we have evidence in the words of inspired men how profoundly they were moved by the divino afllatus that came upon them ; but here the comparison ends. We are not to think of the word of God as a dry seabeach from which the waters have receded, or a forsaken channel through which a river once flowed. A man who has tho power of true genius writes a book, it may be a "Paradise Lost," a "Pilgrim's Progress,'' a "Purgatory," oran "Inferno." Ho has seen visions, his whole nature has been moved by their power, and he speaks in a kind of inspired language. The truth he beheld is in the book j but this is not all, for much of himself is in it also—his thoughts concerning what he saw, his feelings, his passion, and the real energy of his mind. His anger frowns upon the page, his love trembles in tho words, his sorrow sighs and

sobs in the sentences, and his power fills the book ; and in reading it you not only come

into contact with the truth it teaches, bu

voi- have also communion with the spirit and mind of tho author. It is this abiding human spirit in great books which makes them immortal, and gives them power to command the admiration, the love, tho smiles, and the tears of many generations. So also of the utterances of holy men under the inspiration of God. "The Lord God, merciful and gracious." "How excellent is thy Joyingkindrcss, O God! therefore the children of m. p put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. '-* "He will lead His flock, like a shepherd, and gather the lambs with His arms, and carry them in His bosom." " Thy maker is thine husband, the Lord of Hosts is His name." " For God so

loved the world, that lie gave His only be

gotten Son," "And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish." These words and the like of them contain the highest truths, bub that is not all ; they are instinct with the love, tl)e pity, the sympathy, and the power of the Divine mind. "They are spirit, and they are life." Tho ancient sacred fire that descended from heaven continues to burn on the altar of the Bible.