Southern Baptist Missionary Journal, January 1849

#! *1 №i ! - «л ' .4 - /• v . < <-*.>4 ■; -i SOUTHERN BAPTIST MISSIONARY JOURNAL;’ JANUARY, 1849. NO. S. VOL. III. Richmond College, Nov. 11, 1848. TO THE REV. J. LEWIS SIIUCK, MISSIONARY AT SHANGHAI. My dear Brother. — Although your studies since you left our Institution have been far better adapted than mine to qualify you for the decision of such questions as that propounded to me in the Missionaiy Journal of the present month, yet I do not feel authorized to decline giving you the result of such limited reflection as I have devoted to the subject. In matters of religious faith and prac¬ tice, I suppose it is unlawful for any man or association of men in the present age to oiiginatc new ideas. We may not add to, or take from, what God has com¬ municated in his holy woid. Our wis¬ dom and duty will alike prompt us to in¬ quire simply, “ What docs God leach?” If his instructions are explicit, we are bound to receive them and carry them into exact operation in all our private and public devotions. If he is silent on the subject of our researches, it cannot vitally affect our faith or that of the church at large, to remain uninformed in relation to that subject. There may doubtless aiise many collateral questions of a practical nature, which, though not decided by the express teachings of the Bible, it is important to have settled. These we should bring within the gene¬ ral spirit of the Bible and decide as we may think most in accordance with that, spirit. It is admitted by all orthodox theolo- 22 gians that the Bible is an inspired book. Some maintain that the minds of the writers were divinely illuminated, but that they were left to make their own selection of words and phrases in order to impart their divinely received ideas. Others contend not only that their minds were supernaturally instructed, but that the t cords in which their thoughts are clothed were especially suggested to them. If this is a fair statement of the question, let us inquire what aid the Bible will contribute towards its solution. It is said, “ For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man ; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” Observe the ex¬ pression, “ spake as they were moved.” They not only thought as the Spirit im¬ pelled, but gave utterance to their thoughts as He dictated. He guided their minds both in conceiving and ex¬ pressing the truths of revelation. The Saviour taught his disciples thus : “ But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak, for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your father that speaketh in you.” The same in¬ ference is here also to be drawn. The disciples, arraigned before kings for their preaching, were not to study out argu¬ ments to effect their acquittal nor to be solicitous about their modes of defence. They were to be passive recipients of such words as the Spirit of God should communicate. Every such direct com¬ munication of what they were to say in