previous chapter—derived all his great thoughts from the same God,—yet indirectly and through his own human faculties. But the other was the direct dictation of God—Moses was but the penman. Hence that Writing is called the "Word of God." Had it passed through the mind of Moses, as well as through his hand, it would not have been the Word of God, but the word of man. For, indeed, all ideas, that are in any degree good or true, flow in the first place from God; but being modified and limited or finited, by passing through man's finite faculties,—therefore, when spoken or written, having lost their infinite, perfect, and Divine character, they are no longer God's words but man's: they are human writing, not Divine. This constitutes the distinction between Plenary Inspiration or Inspiration proper, on the one hand,—and, on the other, what may be termed semi-inspiration, which is a special enlightenment of man's own faculties,—and, again, non-inspiration or common writing. Inspiration proper is, in fact, simple dictation; as declared in the words of "the sweet Psalmist of Israel,"—"The spirit of the Lord spake by me, and His word was in my tongue:"[1]—not in his mind, but in his tongue. Thence the very words are Divine, and it is truly the Word of God. In such case, it is not the man—properly speaking—that is inspired, but the Writing. Such was the character of what Moses wrote; for we find it declared that "Moses wrote all the Words of the Lord."[2] Thus, then, this writing is truly the Word of the Lord, or God Speaking. The Sacred Word is as truly God speaking to us, as if we had heard Him with our own ears under the shadow of Mount Sinai.
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