in blood, and whose Name is called THE WORD OF GOD." ... "I _have heard of Thee_," (we shall, every one of us, exclaim),--"I _have heard of Thee_, by the hearing of the ear; but _now_,--mine eye _seeth_ Thee[417]!" SUPPLEMENT TO SERMON IV There is yet another view of the nature and office of Inspiration,--another 'Theory' as it would perhaps aspire to be called,--which limits _the extent_ of the Divine help and guidance which the writers, confessedly inspired, may be supposed to have enjoyed. According to this view, it is admitted that Inspiration was, from first to last, a continuous influence; exerted equally throughout: but then, it has been suggested that perhaps _its office_ was not to protect a Writer against a certain class of errors. The office of the Bible, (it is argued,) is to make men wise unto Salvation. It does not follow that Inspiration, because it guided a sacred writer so long as he wrote of Christian Doctrine, so as to make what he wrote unerringly true, should have protected him against slips of memory; preserved him from inaccuracies of statement; from inconclusive reasonings; from incorrect quotations; from mistaken inferences; from scientific errors.--This is what is said: and because this is a view of the question which is observed to recommend itself occasionally to candid, and even to reverential minds, it seems to deserve distinct and careful consideration. But I must preface all I have to reply by remarking that "a Book cannot [properly] be said to be inspired, or to carry with it the authority of being GOD'S Word, if only _portions_ come from Him, and there exists no plain and infallible sign to indicate _which_ those portions are; and if the same Writer may give us in one verse of the Bible a revelation from the MOST HIGH, and in the next verse a blunder of his own. How can we be certain, that the very texts, upon which we rest our doctrines and hopes, are not the _uninspired_ portions? What can be the meaning or nature of an Inspiration to teach Truth, which does not guarantee its recipient from error?"--So far a living sceptical writer.