the Bible is, in no special sense, the Word of God, there
is absolutely no satisfactory explanation of its unique position and
career in history. It is a great fact which remains unaccounted for.
Moreover, no evidence exists which suggests that the writers who call
it the Word of God were either frauds or dupes, or that they were
deceived when they proclaimed "_God_ spake these words, and said"; or,
"Thus saith _the Lord_"; or, "The Revelation of _Jesus Christ_ by His
servant John". There must, upon the lowest ground, be a sense in which
it may be truly said that the Bible is the Word of God as no other book
is. This we may consider under the fourth name, Inspiration.

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(IV) INSPIRATION.

What do we mean by the word? The Church has nowhere defined it, and we
are not tied to any one interpretation; but the Bible itself suggests a
possible meaning.

It is the Word of God heard through the voice of man.

Think of some such expression as: "_The Revelation of Jesus Christ
which God gave by His angel unto His servant John_" (Rev. i. 1). Here
two facts are stated: (1) The revelation is from Jesus Christ; (2) It
was given through a human agent--John. God gave it; man conveyed it.
Again: "_Holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost_"
(2 Pet. i. 21). The Holy Ghost moved them; they spake: the speakers,
not the writings, were inspired. Again: "_As He spake by the mouth of
His holy Prophets_"[10] (St. Luke i. 70). He spake; but He spake
through the mouthpiece of the human agent. And once again, as the
Collect for the second Sunday in Advent tells us, it is the "_blessed
Lord Who (hast) caused all Holy Scriptures to be written_". God was
the initiating {35} cause of writings: man was the inspired writer.
Each messenger received the message, but each passed it on in his own
way. It was with each as it was with Haggai: "Then spake Haggai, the
_Lord's messenger_ in the _Lord's message_" (Haggai i. 13). The
message was Divine, though the messenger was human; the message was
infallible, though the messenger was fallible; the vessel was earthen,
though the contents were golden. In this unique sense, the Bible is
indeed "the Word of God". It is the "Word of God," delivered in the
words of man.

Thus, as Dr. Sanday puts it, the Bible is, at once, both human and
Divine; not less Divine because thoroughly human, and not less human
because essentially Divine. We need not necessarily parcel it ou