Inspiration of the Prophetic Writers
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of law in the statute book, and take opposite views in their application
and in these laws.
The Scriptures were given to men, not in a continuous chain of un-
broken utterances, but piece by piece through successive generations,
as God in His providence saw a fitting opportunity to impress man at
sundry times and divers places. Men wrote as they were moved upon
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by the Holy Ghost. There is “first the bud, then the blossom, and next
the fruit,” “first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the
ear.” This is exactly what the Bible utterances are to us.
There is not always perfect order or apparent unity in the Scriptures.
The miracles of Christ are not given in exact order, but are given just
as the circumstances occurred, which called for this divine revealing of
the power of Christ. The truths of the Bible are as pearls hidden. They
must be searched, dug out by painstaking effort. Those who take only
a surface view of the Scriptures will, with their superficial knowledge,
which they think is very deep, talk of the contradictions of the Bible,
and question the authority of the Scriptures. But those whose hearts
are in harmony with truth and duty will search the Scriptures with a
heart prepared to receive divine impressions. The illuminated soul
sees a spiritual unity, one grand golden thread running through the
whole, but it requires patience, thought, and prayer to trace out the
precious golden thread. Sharp contentions over the Bible have led to
investigation and revealed the precious jewels of truth. Many tears
have been shed, many prayers offered, that the Lord would open the
understanding to His Word.
The Bible is not given to us in grand superhuman language. Jesus,
in order to reach man where he is, took humanity. The Bible must be
given in the language of men. Everything that is human is imperfect.
Different meanings are expressed by the same word; there is not one
word for each distinct idea. The Bible was given for practical purposes.
The stamps of minds are different. All do not understand expres-
sions and statements alike. Some understand the statements of the
Scriptures to suit their own particular minds and cases. Preposses-
sions, prejudices, and passions have a strong influence to darken the
understanding and confuse the mind even in reading the words of Holy
Writ.
The disciples traveling to Emmaus needed to be disentangled in
their interpretation of the Scriptures. Jesus walked with them disguised,
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