world, and were clothed with extraordinary powers that required an extraordinary operation
of the Holy Spirit.
But we do not deny that these men were born again and partakers of the heavenly illu-
mination; so that the man of sin was driven back, and the new man was powerfully revealed
in them. But their personal state and condition was the cause of their continued sinfulness
until the hour of their death; hence their infallible authority could never spring from the
fallible condition of their hearts. Even tho they had been less sinful, such power could not
be thus accounted for. And if they had fallen more deeply into sin, it would not have hindered
the Holy Spirit's operation with reference to the exercise of this authority. It is remarkable
that Peter, who was clothed with the highest power, fell again and again into great sin. They
were saintsbecause they were hid in Christ like other Christians; but they were holy apostles
not on the ground of their spiritual state and condition, but only by virtue of their holy
calling and the working of the Holy Spirit that was promised and given unto them.
Finally, the question arises, whether there was a difference between the operation of the
Holy Spirit in the prophets and in the apostles. We answer in the affirmative. Ezekiel's oracles
are different from St. John's Gospel. The Epistle to the Romans bears witness to a different
inspiration from that of the prophecies of Zacharias. Undoubtedly the book of Revelation
proves that the apostles were also susceptible to inspiration by visions; the book of the Acts
is evidence that in those days there were also wonderful signs; and St. Paul speaks of visions
and ecstasies. And yet the collective treasure that came down to us under the apostles' name
bears evidence that the inspiration of the New Testament has another character than that
of the Old. And the principal difference consists in the mighty fact of the outpouring of the
Holy Spirit.
The prophets were inspired before Pentecost, and the apostles after it. This fact is so
strongly marked in the history of their mission that before it the apostles sit still, while im-
157mediately after it they appear in their apostolic character before the world. And since in
the outpouring the Holy Spirit came to dwell in the body of Christ, which before He had
been preparing, it is obvious that the difference of inspiration in the Old and the New
Testament consists in the fact that the former was wrought upon the prophets from without,
while the latter wrought upon the apostles from within, proceeding from the body of Christ.
And this is the reason that the prophets give us more or less the impression of an inspir-
ation independent of their personal, spiritual life, while the inspiration of the apostles acts
almost always through the life of the soul. It is this very fact that offers to the error of the
Ethical view its starting-point. Surely the person and his condition appear in the apostles
much more in the foreground than in the prophets. And yet in both prophet and apostle
inspiration is that wholly extraordinary operation of the Holy Spirit whereby, in a manner
for us incomprehensible and to them not always conscious, they were kept from the possib-
ility of error.
XXXI. Apostolic Inspiration