CHAPTER III. OF INSPIRATION. "That perfect silence where the lips and heart Our own imperfect thoughts and vain opinions, "There does not appear the least intimation in history or tradition that religion was first reasoned out: but the whole of history and tra dition makes for the other side, that it came into the world by revelation. Indeed the state of religion in the first ages of which we have any account, seems to suppose and intimate that this was the original of it among mankind."-BUTLER.* THE subject of Inspiration, like that of the signs and wonders of the Gospels and of the spiritual gifts commended by Paul, has usually fallen into very injudicious hands. Its would-be friends have done it far more harm than its opponents. The rationalistic spirit of the age is disposed to reject it; and the chief reason for this is the extravagance, and the exclusive character, of the claims put forward in its behalf by theologians. Protestant Orthodoxy claims that it is an exceptional and miraculous gift of God, granted to man during one century only of the last eighteen; and then granted only to the Author of * Analogy of Religion, part ii. chap. 2; pp. 195-6 (of London Ed. of 1809). See, in corroboration, pp. 139, 140. See also, on the same subject, preceding page of this volume, 169. 242 WHAT INSPIRATION IS. our religion and to eight others; namely, to the four Evangel ists and to St. Paul, St. James, St. Peter, and St. Jude.* Roman Catholic Orthodoxy claims that this miraculous gift of God has been granted throughout the whole of the last eighteen centuries; but, during the last seventeen of these, only to one ecclesiastical jurisdiction; namely, to the Holy Catholic Church. Both Orthodoxies, though differing on so many other points, agree in claiming for Inspiration that it is a direct gift of God and the source of unmixed, unerring truth. Loaded down by claims so unphilosophical as these, we need not wonder that Inspiration is rejected as a fallacy by many of the most earnest and thoughtful minds of the day. When Science fully awakes to the fact that there may, as part of the cosmical plan, be intermundane as well as mundane phenomena, much of this growing scepticism will be dissipated. Before this can happen, however, we must discard the orthodox definition of Inspiration, and adopt one more in accordance with the enlightened spirit of the age; somewhat, perhaps, in this wise: It is a mental or psychical phenomenon, strictly law-governed; occasional, but not exceptional or exclusive; sometimes of a spiritual and ultramundane character, indeed, but never miraculous; often imparting invaluable knowledge to man, but never infallible teachings; one of the most precious of all God's gifts to His creatures, but, in no case, involving a direct message from Him--a message to be accepted, unquestioned by reason or conscience, as Divine truth unmixed with human error. To this it may be added, in accordance with Bishop Butler's * It may, however, properly be added that Protestantism claims that the majority of a certain Ecumenical Council was inspired by God in one of its acts; namely, the Council of Carthage when, at the close of the fourth century, it established the Canon of Scripture. For, unless this be admitted, there is no sure proof that the Bible, as now canon. ically constructed, is a miraculously inspired volume. INSPIRATION THE SOURCE OF ALL RELIGIONS. 243 views, that Inspiration is the source not of one religion alone, but, in phase more or less pure, of all religions, ancient or modern, that have held persistent sway over any considerable portion of mankind. And just in proportion to the relative purity of this source, welling up in each system of faith respectively, is the larger or smaller admixture of the Good and the True which-modern candor is learning to admit—is to be found, in certain measure, even in the rudest creed; as Lowell has it: 'Each form of worship that hath swayed The master-key of knowledge, reverence, Enfolds some germs of goodness and of right.” * Among those who adopt this broad view of Inspiration as a universal agency, there are two different opinions touching its origin: one class of reasoners (including many students of vital magnetism) tracing it to a peculiar condition of the mind, while others seek its source in some occult intelligence outside of the individual, and operating upon him. My own conviction is, that there is truth in both theories. Inspiration is a phenomenon sometimes purely psychical, correlative with clearsight (clairvoyance), and appertaining to the department of Mental Science; † sometimes produced by influences from the next world, and to be referred to Spiritualism. * It is a cheering sign of the times when a clergyman of one persuasion issues a series of sermons, in which he recognizes and sets forth the excellence of Churches other than his own, prefaced with the remark that "" a good man's home is the more delightful as he calls to mind that the world is full of good homes; and that millions are as happy as he." The Rev. THOMAS K. BEECHER (of Elmira, New York), has done this, in a small volume entitled Our Seven Churches (New York, 1870): including, among the seven, the Church of Rome. † Andrew Jackson Davis, the well-known author of Nature's Divine Revelation, is often quoted as having written that work under dictation of spirits. But he himself declares-correctly, no doubt that it was 244 SOCRATES REGARDS AN ATHENIAN Among the ancient philosophers there were those who, more or less distinctly, detected its existence; some in one of its forms, some in the other. I have space but for a single speci men of each. The most illustrious example comes to us from One who has not inaptly been called the Father of Moral Philosophy, and who was the Spiritualist of the age in which he lived. In regard to Inspiration, Socrates, unless Plato has belied him, adopted the spiritual theory. Among the celebrated Dialogues of Plato is one in which the interlocutors are Socrates and Ion, an Athenian declaimer or rhapsodist who had been in the habit, in his public harangues, of introducing copious and beautiful illustrations of Homer. Alluding to the great success these had obtained, and to the fact that, when he attempted to illustrate other poets, all his efforts failed, Ion asks of Socrates an explanation of this distinction. Socrates replies: "I will tell you, O Ion, what appears to me to be the cause of this inequality of power. It is that you are not master of any art for the illustration of Homer; but it is a Divine influence which moves you, like that which resides in the stone called magnet by Euripides." * Socrates, then, in further explanation, adds: "The authors of these great poems which we admire do not attain to excellence through the rules of art, but they utter their beautiful melodies of verse in a state of inspiration and, as it were, possessed by a Spirit not their own." Then he inquires of Ion: "Tell me, and do not conceal written in a state of clairvoyance, or as he phrases it, in "the superior condition." The distinction between clearsight and mediumship is important. * It is noteworthy that, twenty-two centuries since, a philosopher detected the connection between magnetism (though only in its terrestrial phase) and that state of mind which frequently gives birth to inspiration. How much Reichenbach's experiments would have interested Socrates ! DECLAIMER TO BE INSPIRED BY HOMER. 245 what I ask. When you declaim well and strike your audience with admiration; whether you sing of Ulysses rushing upon the threshold of his palace, discovering himself to the suitors and pouring his shafts out at his feet; or of Achilles assailing Hector; or those affecting passages concerning Andromache, or Hecuba, or Priam- -are you then self-possessed? or, rather, are you not rapt and filled with such enthusiasm by the deeds you recite, that you fancy yourself in Ithaca or Troy, or whereover else the poem transports you? ION. "You speak most truly, Socrates." The sage then gives his explanation. "You, O Ion, are influenced by Homer. If you recite the works of any other poet, you get drowsy and are at a loss what to say; but when you hear any of the compositions of that poet, your thoughts are excited and you grow eloquent. This explains the question you asked wherefore Homer and no other poet inspires you with eloquence: it is that you are thus excellent not by science but through Divine inspiration." * The expression (ascribed, as above, by Plato to Socrates), "you are influenced by Homer," is very remarkable: it embodies the cardinal doctrine of Spiritualism. The philosopher had the best of all reasons for adopting this view of the case; namely, his own personal experience. This leads me to speak of *“Ion," or of Inspiration. I have here followed the translation adopted by G. H. Lewis in his "History of Philosophy," series i. The above extracts and many others in corroboration, may there be found. The authenticity of this dialogue, as written by Plato, is admitted on all hands. It contains, of course, only a narration of Socrates' opinions, not an indorsement of them by the narrator. Yet they seem to have been substantially shared by Socrates' illustrious pupil. An enlightened church historian says: "Plato's speculations rested on a basis altogether historical. He connected himself with the actual phenomena of religious life and with the traditions lying before him. still continued to be the aim of original Platonism to trace throughout history the vestiges of a connection between the visible and invisible worlds."-NEANDER: Church History (Bohn's Ed.), vol. i. p. 26. It |