called on to believe anything as a necessary point of faith, on their word, but only on our own conviction that it is scriptural, then, they place our faith on the basis,, not of human authority, but of divine. But if they call on us, as a point of conscience to receive whatever is proved to their satisfaction from Scripture, even though it may appear to us unscriptural, then, instead of releasing us from the usurped authority of Man taking the place of God, they are placing on us two burdens instead of one. "You require us," we might reply, "to believe, first, that whatever you teach is true; and secondly, besides this, to believe also, that it is a truth contained in Scripture; and we are to take your word for both!"

importance

teaching.

$ 26. I can imagine persons urging, in reply Alleged to what has been said, the importance of giving of human the people religious instruction over and above the mere reading of Scripture,-the utility of explanations, and comments, and the necessity of creeds and catechisms, &c.; and dwelling also on the reverence due to antiquity, and on the arrogance of disregarding the judgment of pious and learned men, especially of such as lived in or near the times of the Apostles.

It is almost superfluous to remark that nothing at variance with all this has been here advanced. The testimony of ancient writers as to the facts,

that such and such doctrines or practices did or did not prevail in their own times, or that such and such a sense was, in their times, conveyed by certain passages of Scripture, may often be very valuable; provided we keep clear of the mistake of inferring, either that whatever is ancient is to be supposed apostolical, or even necessarily, in accordance with apostolical teaching; (as if errors had not crept in, even during the lifetime of the Apostles) or again, that every practice and regulation that really had the sanction of the Apostles, (and which, therefore, must be concluded to have been the best, at that time) was designed by them,-when they abstained [see § 16] from recording it in writing, -to be of universal and eternal obligation ;-in short, that they entrusted to oral Tradition any of the essentials of Christianity. And, again,

k

the opinions of any author, ancient or modern, are entitled to respectful consideration in proportion as he may have been a sensible, pious,

* See Appendix, Note (I.)

And yet one may find persons defending this view by alleging that we have the Scriptures themselves by Tradition. Any one may be believed to be serious in urging such an argument, if it is found that he places as much confidence in the genuineness of some account that has been transmitted from mouth to mouth by popular rumours from one end of the kingdom to another, as in a letter that has been transmitted over the same space.

and learned man: provided we draw the line distinctly between the works of divine messengers inspired from above, and those of fallible

men.

The utility, and indeed necessity, of human instruction, both for young Christians and adults, has never, that I know of, been denied by any Christian Church or denomination. The only important distinction is between those who do, and those who do not, permit, and invite, and encourage, their hearers to "search the Scriptures whether these things be so," which they are taught by their pastors.'

m

The distinction, as I have above remarked, is

m It may be not unnecessary here to remark that I mean a reference to Scripture as the sole basis of the articles of necessary faith, the only decisive authority.

Some persons, while claiming reception for such and such confessions of faith, declare continually and with much earnestness, that they are teaching nothing but what is "conformable to Scripture," "agreeable to Scripture," &c. And the unwary are often misled by not attending to the important distinction between this,-between what is, simply agreeable to Scripture, -and what is derived from Scripture,-founded on it, and claiming no other authority.

When it is said that the Old Testament and the New are not at variance, but conformable to each other, this is quite different from saying that either of them derives all its authority from the other. On the other hand, our Reformers do not maintain merely that the Creeds which they receive are agreeable to Scripture; but that they are to be received because they may be proved from Scripture.

M

apparent only, and not really important, between those who require the acceptance of what they teach, independently of Scripture, and those who do refer to Scripture as the ground of their own conviction, or at least as confirmatory of their teaching, but require their interpretations of Scripture to be implicitly received; denying to individuals the right and the duty" of judging ultimately for themselves. The real distinction is between those who do, and those who do not, recognise this right and duty. For if a certain comment is to be received implicitly and without appeal, it not only is placed, practically, as far as relates to every thing except a mere question of dignity, on a level with Scripture, but has also a strong—and as experience has abundantly proved,—an increasing tendency to supersede it. A regular and compact system of theology,

n See Dr. Hawkins on the Duty of Private Judgment. Among the Parliamentarians at the time of the Civil War, there were many,-at first a great majority,—who professed to obey the King's commands, as notified to them by Parliament, and levied forces in the King's name, against his person. any one admitted Parliament to be the sole and authoritative interpreter and expounder of the regal commands, and this,

If

without any check from any other power, it is plain that he virtually admitted the sovereignty of that Parliament, just as much as if he had recognised their formal deposition of the King. The parallelism of this case with the one before us, is too obvious to need being dwelt on.

66

professedly compiled from Scripture, or from Scripture and Tradition blended together," if it be that which, after all, we must acquiesce in as infallible whether it accord or not with what appears to us to be the sense of Scripture, being more compendious and methodical than the Sacred Books themselves, will naturally be preferred by the learner. And all study, properly so called, of the rest of Scripture,-(for on the above supposition, such a comment would be itself a part of Scripture, infallible and divinely inspired, as much as the rest)—all lively interest in the perusal, would be nearly superseded by such an inspired compendium of doctrine; to which alone, as being far the most convenient for that purpose, habitual reference would be made in any question that might arise. Both would be regarded, indeed, as of divine authority: but the compendium, as the fused and purified metal; the other, as the mine, containing the crude ore.

abuse of

struction.

§ 27. The uses are so important, and the Use and abuses so dangerous, of the instruction which human inmay be afforded by uninspired Christian teachers, that it may be worth while still further to illustrate the subject by an analogy, homely perhaps

P See Essay (Third Series) on "Undue Reliance on Human Authority."