WORCESTER, SAMUEL: Trinitarian Congregationalist; b. in Hollis, N. H., Nov. 1, 1770; d. at
Brainerd, Tenn., June 7, 1821. He was graduated
from Dartmouth College, 1795; licensed to preach,
1796; was pastor of the Congregational church at
Fitchburg, Mass., 1797-1802; and was pastor of the
Tabernacle church in Salem, Mass., 1803-21. He
was a man of clear mind, firm will, and steadfast
Christian principles. In 1821, for the sake of his
health, he made a visit to the South, to the missionary stations among the Cherokee and Choctaw Indians, where he died.
Dr. Worcester was distinguished by the vast
amount of labor which he performed in connection
with the foreign missionary enterprise. Either he
or Dr. Samuel Spring, or both together, originated
the
idea of forming the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and were intimately
associated with it. The detailed plan of the board
was doubtless formed mainly by Dr. Worcester. He
wrote the first ten, which are in some respects the
most important, annual reports of this society.
As an author he was noted for his logical
acumen, and vigorous, pointed, style. Besides his
sermons, reviews, and essays, he published three
controversial
Letters to Rev. Dr. William E.
Channing (Boston, 1815).
Bibliography:
S. M. Worcester (his son), Life and Labors of Rev. Samuel Worcester, 2
vols., Boston, 1852; W. B. Sprague,
Annals of the
American Pulpit, ii. 398-407,
New York, 1859; W. Walker, in
American Church History Series, vol. iii.
passim, ib. 1894; idem, Ten New England
Leaders, pp. 388-389, ib. 1901.
- WORD OF GOD. Use of the Term (§ 1).
- Inspiration (§ 4).
- The Gospel (§ 2).
Word and Spirit( 5).
- Preaching (§ 3).
- Law and Gospel (§ 6).
The term word of God refers, in the immediate
sense, not to the Bible, but to the word in general,
in so far as it is a means of grace or of religious influence. The Christian religion is the
spiritual communion of man and God or the personal intercourse
of God and man. Words are the sole
i. Use of means for transmitting ideas or im-
the Term. pulses of will from person to person.
Inasmuch as sensuous beings can communicate only through a sense medium, the audible,
articulate word may lend itself also to the soul life
in communication with other spirits. The soul may
also
employ the medium of visions, and transmit its
effects by symbols and illustrations; but these
rather represent moods and feelings and require
words for their definite formulation, like the sacraments. Likewise an intercourse between God and
man presupposes a word of God employed in some
way by him. In the Old Testament the lawgiver
reports the word of God and the prophet imparts
what the word of Yahweh has revealed. Christ
commissions his disciples to preach the word,
guided by the
Holy Spirit
(Matt. x. 7, 20, xxviii. 20;
John vi. 63);
the increase of Christianity is a growth
of the word
(Acts vi. 7, xii. 24, xix. 20).
Christ's word must dwell
richly among Christians
(Col. iii. 16);
"faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the
word of God"
(Rom. x. 17;
cf.
Gal. iii. 2
sqq.). In the ancient Church salvation is offered and preserved
through the word; but gradually the sacraments,
as independent factors of salvation, take their place
alongside; and ultimately they
become the real
means of grace in the Roman Catholic Church for
which the word was efficacious only in a preparatory
and concomitant sense. The scholastics indulged
in elaborate developments of the sacraments as instruments of grace with only incidental references
to the significance of the word of God. The Reformation from the first laid its emphasis on the word
as the essential medium of the divine operation in
man. Hence the chief function of the Church was
the preaching of the Gospel, followed by the Scriptural use of the sacraments. By word of God was
meant primarily not the language of the Bible, but
the orally proclaimed Biblical truth.
The word of God as a means of grace is, therefore, the published Gospel of Christ, through which
the divine revelation enters the human heart. This
word begets faith, and
reciprocally faith
s. The works the word of God, so that the
Gospel. Church is essentially edified and sus
tained, and the word, as means of
grace, becomes the expression of its life. This argues
that in every period the word has a particular form
and a common
content; which applies equally to
the periods of historical development and the con
temporary life of the Christian community. This
assertion is true, however, only of the essence of the
Gospel. The traditional generally prevails, yet
every successive age impresses its own peculiar in
terest; for the Gospel must adapt itself in every
case to the interpretation of the individual period
or person. This extreme adaptability and plas
ticity, even while involving the danger of misinter
pretation, yet renders the teachings of the Gospel
available and permanent through all ages and to
all men under all conditions. It is indeed possible
that misinterpretation may be carried to such
a degree that, as among the Gnostics, the word can
no longer produce Christian faith, so that it ceases
to be the word of God; and it is equally possible
that an unbeliever or a hypocrite may preach the
word (cf.
Phil. i. 18).
In the latter case attention and faith may be aroused, so that the preaching of
such individuals (who may even momentarily be
moved by a certain impulse or
excitement in their
preaching) is really thinkable as the divine word, un
less their true character be perceived, and the effi
cacy of their preaching be thus impaired. The word
of God must not be considered as restricted to for
mal preaching; it includes all discussion in private
intercourse, attesting the divine truth among teach
ers, pupils, and friends, such as
is essential to the Christian life.
That the preaching of the Gospel is the word of
God may either be proved empirically and then historically, or its self-attestation by the inherent
power of God may be
accepted. Christ had taught
his disciples that their preaching was
3. preach- to be of the Spirit of God
(Matt. x. 20),
ing. and Paul attributed to the Gospel the
divine efficacy which had been lacking
in the Law
(Rom. i. 16);
the word of God is " the sword of the Spirit
"(Eph. vi. 17).
Paul's preaching was" in demonstration of the Spirit and of
power," so that the faith wrought thereby depended
not on the wisdom of men, but the power of God
(I Cor. ii. 4-5).
The Christian accordingly speaks
"as the oracles of God"
(I Pet. iv. 11),
and the word penetrates into man's inmost depths
(Heb. iv. 12),
being the seed whereby God
forms man into
a new creature
(Jas. i. 18;
I Pet. i. 23-25).
It is evident, therefore, that the Holy Spirit is active
with his almighty power in the human word. This
was the position assumed by the Reformation. God
speaks
through preaching and works upon the human heart. The medium of preaching is a complex of ideas, appealing to the practical human
reason, which this may either reject or disregard
as contrary to the natural sense, but nevertheless
they obtain their control not by a perception of
their correctness and utility, but by the experience
of their overmastering power. The complex of
ideas proves to be the expression of the single, personal will of God for the redemption of man. This
personal presence is described in Scripture as the
Spirit of God. Christ is the Spirit of God
(II Cor. iii. 17)
in the sense of substituting the single personal
will as the object of the joint activity of the Church
for the pervading spiritual energy. Spoken to
arouse attention and understanding, the word, subject to the personal impression and adaptability of
the hearer, is the organ of the activities of the Holy
Spirit.
The Spirit, then, issues from the word to man;
but the word, though constant in essence, in form,
and substance, is subject to historical limitations.
Particular persons delivered it in specially
Hebraic types of thought. These words pro4. Inspira- duce spiritual results; hence, they
tion. must have originated from the Spirit
through their early proclaimers. The
same holds true of the human words of Jesus
as well as of his earlier witnesses, and those of the relevant
witnesses of Israel. This responsive operation of
divine revelation upon the human soul may well be
termed Inspiration (q.v.). Whatever be the basis
of this inspiration, whether an actual fact, an event
in history, a vision, or some experience of the soul, it
is always some incitation from without, which man
must understand and render intelligible by means
of words. In the case of the apostles each gave expression to his experience from his own personal
point of view. Consequently, the real subject of
inspiration is the understanding issuing from the
experience of the revelation together with the competence and the interest to express it intelligibly
(I Cor. ii. 12);
and, likewise, not the natural science of the historical facts or even of the laws of
the natural process is inspired, but only the real-
izations and judgments. This rules out all verbal
inspiration. Inspiration transpired in the gifts of
knowledge, wisdom, prophecy, and the "discernment of spirits"
(I Cor. xii. 8-10).
The coherent complex of ideas and judgments in which inspiration
has obtained expression constitutes revelation in the
objective sense; while the sum of the
divine acts introduced as real facts and events into history
constitutes the same as revealing activity. Revelation (q.v.) is disclosed in accordance with the gradual historical development of the human spirit;
not that revelation and such historical development are identical, but that the spirit appropriates
revelation after its order in progressive development. This revelation is preserved historically in
the sources of the revelation period. The Bible is
the historical report of this period and contains
essentially the inspired complex of ideas with an interpretation of its given history and related facts.
The Holy Spirit has brought to pass a revelation
and led to its interpretation, which is the word of
God attested to faith by its internal power. The
word of God is primarily so called because by this
form of human speech the divine Spirit is perceived
as operative upon the human heart. Religious experience accordingly forms the test of the true word.
On the other hand, the word of God is such by virtue
of divine revelation and inspiration. The process
whereby the spirit becomes word is " immediate
revelation "; that whereby word becomes spirit is
"mediate revelation." In both cases the actual
content of revelation is the same, for what the
prophets and apostles experienced and put in words
is experienced and received by man to-day in so far
as
their words communicate the same to him with
divine power. Subjectively, the word is adjudged
to be the word of God because the Spirit is operative in it; objectively the word is seen to bring the
Spirit because it is of the Spirit. Both aspects find
their confirmation in the New Testament. Christ
spoke the words of God because he had received the
Spirit in immeasurable degree
(John iii. 34);
and his revelation follows from his relation to the Father
(Matt. xi. 27).
The words of Paul were taught by
the Spirit
(I Cor. ii. 10, 13);
the Gospel which he preached, however, came from Christ himself (cf.
I Tim. vi. 3).
The " words of faith " and " commands of doctrine " (Barnabas xvi. 9; cf.
I Tim. iv. 6, v. 17),
"the faith which was once delivered
unto the saints"
(Jude 3)
and "sound doctrine"
(I Tim. i. 10;
II Tim. iv. 3)
were the chief themes of Gospel preaching, which, however, was held to be
derived, in all essentials,
from the risen Christ
(Matt. xxviii. 18
sqq.;
Luke xxiv. 44
sqq.). The recognized relation between the preached word and
the word of primitive Christianity necessarily im-.
plies that the latter was the source of the former,
but the word as preached can never
be a mere reproduction of the word as contained in the Bible,
being the interpretation given by each period to the
Bible. Wherefore the Church properly requires
that the Scripture must always remain as the norm
of preaching. This does not imply, however, an excessive literalness, but only a general conformity of
spirit with spirit. While the Bible also serves the
individual for edification, he understands it in the
light of the preached word which is itself made more
vivid. The employment of the Bible as the critical
norm of prevailing views in the Church is a matter
only for
the joint effort of the Church and free theological science.
The problem of the connection of word and spirit
next arises. The distinction between word and spirit
appears first in Augustine, who taught, in
contrast with the audible word, the inner word, which is the
Spirit, working itt, the hearts of the
g. Word elect, producing faith. Medieval theand Spirit. ology, preoccupied by a similar distinc-
tion in the sacraments, lost sight of the
problem. Luther, in reference to
Ps. xxxviii. 2,
recalled the position of Augustine; so that, according
to him, the Spirit works only in and through the
word, though his view was never worked out theoretically.
The Reformed theologians, after the
manner of Augustine, tended more toward a separation of the two. Martin Butzer antagonized
Luther's position as Thomism; and Calvin, who
gave the normative view to Reformed theology,
held that God converts by the Spirit, without omitting the instrument of his word. The word incites
toward regeneration, but the Spirit illumines, moves,
and renews the heart. " God works in a twofold
way upon his elect, by the Spirit within, and by the
word without." The universal calling is by the
latter; the special calling of the elect is by the illumination of the former. A third form of the relation of word and Spirit is the "inner word" of the
mystics in its twofold form: (1) the Spirit operates
without any relation to the outer word; and (2) in
the depths of the soul the Spirit dwells as the light
of reason or conscience. The Rahtmann controversy
(see
Rahtmann, Hermann) led to a clearer outline.
Rahtmann taught that the Scriptures constituted a
testimony of God's will and acts, which God inspired
in the
apostles and prophets. They, containing the
image of God's being and will, were a guide toward
the attainment of an aim, without, however, affording
the power to reach it, which was to be furnished by
the Spirit. The orthodox reply was to the effect that
the Spirit was immanent in Scripture; potentially
the Spirit was always in the word, actually only
when rightly employed. Upon closer inspection
both views contain genuine elements; for though
the Spirit must be understood as ever potentially
present, this is not to be taken in an abstract sense
but as the will of redemption. The word is God's
word not only as to its objective content but also
in the impact of man on man within the Christian
body. The Spirit is objectively present in the complex of ideas of revelation as well as in its particular interpretation and application, and neither excludes the other.
Thus far the word of God has been considered as
identical with the Gospel. From an early period,
however, it has been customary to divide the word
into the Law, which commands, and the Gospel,
which
promises and fulfils. The two may be easily
confounded with the division of the, Old and New
Testaments; but the former also contains Gospel,
while the latter holds commandments likewise; in
fact the Gospel has been termed the " new
law" from the time of the Fathers. Following the Re-
formers the law as offering the commandments to
sinful man and inducing him to repentance, and the
Gospel inspiring faith and affording, as
6. Law and its content, pardon and the works of
Gospel. the Spirit, have been sharply distin
guished. The Law and the Gospel stand in the relation of two
stages of religious de velopment, apparently making every individual
experience the counterpart of the religious develop
ment as a whole. However, the same word may
work on the same individual both as Law and Gos
pel; the cross of Christ may judge as well as forgive.
A correct distinction within the limits of the Chris
tian faith can be drawn only from the individual ex
perience produced by the preaching of the word.
Unable to be conscious of the word as a vital
power, the natural or unbelieving man receives it as a new
outlook on the universe or a new morality, assuming
it as addressed to the practical reason for ethical
realization. What he infers from the word is the
obligation of a faith of assent and obedience to the
new law, but he is unable to exercise the faith and
love required. Thus the word may be said to con
front him with his sin, the word of God proclaimed
being assumed as authority. Hence the conjunc
tion of the law with certain natural moral tendencies
may subject man to a double bondage. More im
portant is it that the nascent Christian should gain
a sense of the presence of the Spirit through the
word; and as the power of the Spirit gains greater and
greater ascendency, the word ceases to be a merely
external authority and becomes a living, inwardly
experienced, and truly believed authority. The
loving Father is actually realized in the word, and
its whole content is found to be but a component
of the single will of God. Man receives a new life
in the fellowship into which God inducts him. In
this double boon of the inner gift and the forgive
ness of God man experiences the divine grace,
brought to the soul by the word as Gospel. Such ex
perience is the fulfilment of the moral and religious
needs of the soul. The word redeems and there
by approves itself as the word of God. It is wholly
correct that the regenerate Christian requires also
the discipline of the law; for the Christian good
experienced in its power becomes a norm for all his
conduct. In this sense the word remains moral law,
though only as inward authority spiritually recog
nized. Not according to an outward order but a
necessity determining the inner psychological mo
tives, the Christian experiences in the Gospel not
only the vivifying motive power of the divine Spirit,
but obtains also the norm of his moral activity.
The personal efficient divine presence in man is
capable of stimulating a large scope of thoughts, res
olutions, and volutions, but whether in the learned
intellectual processes or the moral law of Christian
ity, this internal possession will fall short of accom
plishment except as it becomes the fixed efficient
norm against opposing thoughts and tendencies.
See also
Revelation. .
R. Seeberg.
Bibliography:
The literature of this subject is comprised
in that in and under the articles on
Bible,
Biblical Criticism,
Biblical Introduction,
Biblical Theology,
Inspiration, and
Revelation. The subject is discussed
in all the principal systems of systematic divinity (see
Dogma, Dogmatics). Reference may be made here to
J. Maller,Dogmatische AbhanNungen, pp. 127-277, Bremen.
1870; R. Grützmacher, Wort and Geist, Leipsic, 1902; and
R. Seeberg, O$enbarung and Inspiration, Gross Lichterfelde, 1908.
