“Yet
we must say before going any farther: we almost blush to defend the
word of God under this form; and we feel for this species of apology,
a kind of conscientious disgust. Is it entirely proper; and can we
give ourselves to it without irreverence? Care must be take at all
times, as to the manner of defending the things of God; lest we
imitate the imprudence of Uzzah, who reached out his hand to hold up
the ark of God, because the oxen had slipped. The wrath of God, we
are told, burned against his indiscretion (2 Samuel 6:6-7). if it is
well understood on both sides, that a word is in the canon of the
oracles of God, why defend it as worthy of Him, by human reasons? You
might; without doubt, defend it against unbelievers; but with men who
recognize the divinity of the Scriptures, is it not to wrong the
word; is it not to take a false position, and touch the ark as Uzzah
did? If this word should present itself to our eyes as a root out of
dry ground; were it without any charm; were there neither form nor
comeliness, nor anything in it to make it desirable, still ought you
to venerate it and expect everything for it, from Him who has given
it. Is it not then to fail of your duty to Him; to attempt when He
speaks, to prove by argument, the respect which is His due? Should I
not be ashamed, when my Savior and my God has been showed me, rising
from supper, taking a basin, girding Himself with a napkin, and
coming to wash the feet of His disciples; should I not be ashamed to
set myself to proving, that, in spite of all that, His is still the
Christ! Ah; I would rather adore Him more than ever! But it is so;
the majesty of the Scriptures will stoop even to us. Do you see it
there rising from the table, laying aside its robe, putting on the
dress of a servant, and kneeling before sinners to wash their feet?
'If I do not wash thee, thou hast no part with me.' Is it not then,
in this very humiliation that it reveals itself with the greatest
charm, as the voice of the humiliated Word? Could we mistake it and
could we rank ourselves for an instant by the side of those who do
not know it?
“It
seems to us, that there is no arrogance comparable to that of a man,
who, recognizing the Bible as a book of God, pretends after all, to
assay it with his hand; to separate the pure from its impure, the
inspired from the uninspired, God from ma. It is to overthrow all the
foundations of faith; it is to make it no more a belief in God, but a
belief in man. It ought then to be enough for us that a chapter or
word makes part of the Scriptures, to induce us to believe it
divinely good; for God has pronounced upon it, as upon the creation:
'I have seen everything that I have made, and behold, all is good.'
We will never then say, I find this word admirable, therefore it is
of God; and still less, I do not see its utility, therefore it is of
man. God preserve us from it! But we will say, it is in the
Scriptures; then it is from God. It is from God; then it is useful,
it is wise, it is admirable; if I do not see it such yet, the fault
is in me alone.”
Loiuis
Gaussen, Theopneusty, or the Plenary Inspiration of the Holy
Scriptures, pp 243-245
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