Page:The Bible- Its True Character and Spiritual Meaning.djvu/25

Rh. Whether couched in the form allegory, history, precept, or prophecy, the Word must have the regeneration of man for its one great object. The variety of its immediate subjects must have been selected as adapted to its single object, the spiritual instruction of mankind; and, therefore, whether its form be allegory or history, must be determined by the adaptability of one or the other to secure the attention and fix the interest of men in time, but whether one or the other, it must contain the secrets of spiritual wisdom in truths which could not be spoken without a parable.

This we believe, that the Word of the Lord is so written, and that the Bible is thus a book of Divine Parables, plenarily inspired by virtue of the informing wisdom through which as a medium, the very spirit of God vivifies even the letter of its myths, its histories, its statutes and its promises. Its inspiration and divineness are not acquired by the miraculous mode of its composition, and have nothing to do with the infallibility of its science, or its history, or the personal purity of its characters; but by the indwelling spirit of God, and Divine spiritual truth from Him. The inspiration of the writers of the Scriptures was temporary, and for a specific purpose; the