Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/756

* INSPECTION. 608 INSPIRATION. commissioneJ staff officers tlirpo paces in rear, tlic color guard three more paces in rear of the centre. The colonel, lieutenant-colonel, and .staff officers, as soon as inspected, return swords, and accompany the inspector. Each major with his slair ollicers accompanies the inspector tlirouf;h his battalion. The inspection either precedes or follows a review, for which see Review. Less fcrmal but more frequent inspections are held from time to time by commandinj; officers of companies, battalions, rejiiments. and even lar;,'cr commands, in order to insure the proper disci- pline and condition of the equipment, quarters, etc. INSPECTOB-GENERAL. A military offi- cer, oliarp'd with certain duties and responsi- bilities of inspection. In the United States Army he is at the head of the inspector-general'd department, which in 1002 consisted of one inspector-general with the rank of brigadier-gen- eral, three with the rank of colonel, three with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and three with the rank of major. Officers of this department are respon-siblc to the Secretary of War for the proper inspection of troops, including their strength, efficiency, and equipment; stations; ac- counts of disbursing oflicers; irregularities or niisconduet of officers; attempts to defraud the Government; all matters pertaining to the super- vision of the accounts of receipts and expendi- tures in connection with the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers; all depots, armo- ries, arsenals, and public works of every kind under charge of oflicers of the army, except works of engineering conducted under the direction of the Secretary of War. and suiiervision of the chief of engineers. Such inspections only cover the business and military administration and methods, and do not include the scientific or technical character of the work. Inspectors-gen- eral and acting inspectors-general are required, in addition to the above duties, to make such suggestions as may appear to them prattichble for tli5 correction of any defect that may come under their observation in any command to which they may be assigned. They are also ex- pected to desi^'nate, from time to time, the arti- cles which, in their opinion, should be procured and kept for sale by the subsistence department to officers and enlisted men. The annual in- spection of the Soldiers' Home in the District of Columbia is made by the inspector-general of the army in person. In the English Army the title has reference to the special duties of (a) officers on the headquarters staff. Horse Guards (q.v. ), London, inspector-general of auxiliary forces, inspector-general of recruiting, inspector- general of remounts, inspector-general of fortifi- cations, and inspector-general of cavalry: (b) general officers commanding territorial districts, and other commands, who personally or through the officers of their staff inspect the component parts of their commands. In Germany, France, and Continental Europe generally, the duties of the inspector-general's department are carried out by the general staff of the army, or of a terri- torial district. See Army Orgamzatiox. INSPECTORSHIP DEED. In English law, a deed executed between an insolvent person and his creditors, whereby they accept a jiart pay- ment, and allow the insolvent debtor to carry on the business under their supervision, with a view to further payments. It derives its name from the fact that certain of the creditors named in the deed, as inspectors, assume the duly of supervising and controlling the subsequent man- agement of the business by the debtor. The prac- tice is not common in the L'nited States. See l.NSOI.VENCV. INSPIRATION (Lat. tnspiralio, from in- spirurc, to in-pire. from id. in -|- spirarc, to breathe). A theological term used to denote the divine action upon men by which the Itible has been produced. In its most general use, it desig- nates the whole of this jirocess; but often a distinction is made between revelation and in- spiration, according to which revelation deiiotes that divine activity by which the knowledge of the truth is supernaturally and personally con- veyed to the minds of chosen men, and iuspiraliitn that divine assistance by which the same men are qualified to write the existing 15ible. Em- ployed in the latttr sense, the inspiration of the Scriptures signifits a su[)ernatuial qualification or special divine authority in the l)nol<s of Scripture as depositories of truth. When the theologian as.serts any book of the Bible to he j inspired, he means that it possesses an author- | ity different from any other book, that it con- j tains truth not merely as any ordinary book ' may do, but by a special divine impress. All orthodox theologians may be said to agree in ascribing this special divine character to Holy Scripture; but further there is no agreement. The mode of inspiration, the degree and extent of it, are all subjects of dispute. The Koman Catholic Church, whose position in regard to this question is attracting more and more attention as modern criticism deals more radically with theories once firmly held, differ- entiates between the fact and the method of in- spiration. While maintaining the former un- changeably, she has never imposed upon her mem- bers any theory as to the latter. She has never felt obliged to do so, since the Bible has never been considered the exclusive source of her doc- trine. Claiming for herself a perpetual living power which can always concentrate the inspired element, be it never so diffused, she has never declared anything on the .subject of the method that is to be held as of faith, no matter how rigidly one theory or another may have been held by individuals at various times. ( 1 ) The theory of plcnari/ inspiration is that the whole letter of Scripture is inspired, that the words were immediately dictated by the Holy Spirit, and are literally the words of God, and not of man. The several writers of Scripture were nothing more than the penmen of the Divine Spirit. Those who maintain this theory speak, indeed, of the individuality and diverse char- acteristics of the writers of the Scriptures, but ^ the differences are not so much in the moral or I intellectual individuality of the writers them- selves as in the diverse aims and uses with which the Holy Spirit employs them. The words of Scripture are no less the words of God than if He were heard to utter them from heaven. The authority of the Scripture is absolute. The in- spired document is throughout faultless, as the sole work of the Divine Spirit, faultless equally in its form and in its essence, in its spirit and its letter. It admits of no gradatioji; all is equally divine, and therefore equally accurate, whether it relate to some ordinary fact or to some truth