H2 WHAT is INSPIRATION? [vn. 



In ancient times, however, the case was entirely 

 different. In one of the most enlightened and scepti- 

 cal communities of antiquity we find one of the most 

 enlightened and sceptical minds habitually explaining 

 the suggestions of its own supreme common-sense by 

 ascribing them to the dictation of an indescribable 

 external agency. The daimonion, or familiar warning 

 spirit, of Sokrates shows how consonant with the 

 general theories of the ancients was the conception of 

 inspiration in its full and literal sense. In the stage of 

 culture thus exemplified every bright stroke of genius 

 was interpreted as the result of inspiration, though it 

 was naturally in cases of supreme practical importance 

 that the interpretation was most forcibly felt and 

 most thoroughly believed. The poet's invocation to 

 the Muse was at first no doubt much more than a 

 faded metaphor ; but it is beyond question that 

 men like Isaiah and Mohammed believed themselves 

 to be mere mouth-pieces of the living word of God. 



The belief in inspiration, as thus generally cherished 

 in ancient times, seems to have grown out of a more 

 primitive belief in possession, which is found every- 

 where current among savage and barbarous tribes, 

 and which, until within a few generations, has main- 

 tained itself even in the Christian world. The subject 

 has been treated in an elaborate and masterly manner 



