8th. If this Komish system be true then genuine spiritual re- ligion ought to flourish in her communion, and all the rest of the world ought to be a moral desert. The facts are notoriously the reverse. If, therefore, we admit that the Komish system is true, we subvert one of the principal evidences of Christianity itself, viz., the self-evidencing light and practical power of true religion, and the witness of the Holy Ghost.
19. By what direct arguments may the doctrine that the Scrip- tures are the final judge of controversies be established ?
That all Christians are to study the Scriptures for themselves, and that in all questions as to God's revealed will the appeal is to the Scriptures alone, is proved by the following facts : —
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1st. Scripture is perspicuous, see above, questions 11-13.
2d. Scripture is addressed to all Christians as such, see above, question 13.
3d. All Christians are commanded to search the Scriptures, and by them to judge all doctrines and all professed teachers. — John v., 39 ; Acts xvii., 11 ; Gal. i., 8 ; 2 Cor. iv., 2 ; 1 These, v., 21 ; 1 John iv., 1, 2.
4th. The promise of the Holy Spirit, the author and inter- preter of Scripture, is to all Christians as such. Compare John xx., 23 with Luke xxiv., 47-49 ; 1 John ii., 20, 27 ; Kom. viii., 9 ; 1 Cor. iii., 16, 17.
5th. Eeligion is essentially a personal matter. Each Chris- tian must know and believe the truth explicitly for himself, on the direct ground of its own moral and spiritual evidence, and not on the mere ground of blind authority. Otherwise faith could not be a moral act, nor could it " purify the heart." Faith derives its sanctifying power from the truth which it immediately appre- hends on its own experimental evidence. — John xvii., 17, 19 ; James i., 18 ; 1 Pet. i., 22.
20. What is the objection which the Bomanists make to this doctrine, on the ground that the church is our only authority for believing that the Scriptures are the word of God ?
Their objection is, that as we receive the Scriptures as the word of God only on the authoritative testimony of the church, our faith in the Scriptures is only another form of our faith in the church, and the authority of the church, being the foundation of that of Scripture, must of course be held paramount.
This is absurd, for two reasons —
1st. The assumed fact is false. The evidence upon which we receive Scripture as the word of God is not the authority of the church, but (1.) God did speak by the apostles and prophets, as is evident a from the nature of their doctrine, b from their mira- cles, c their prophecies, d our personal experience and observation of the power of the truth. (2.) These very writings which we possess were written by the apostles, etc., as is evident, a from internal evidence, b from historical testimony rendered by all competent cotemporaneous witnesses in the church or out of it.
2d. Even if the fact assumed was true, viz., that we know the
00 JUDGE OF CONTROVERSIES.
Scriptures to be from God, od the authority of the church's tes- timony alone, the conclusion they seek to deduce from it would be absurd. The witness who proves the identity or primogeni- ture of a prince does not thereby acquire a right to govern the kingdom, or even to interpret the will of the prince.
21. How is the argument for the necessity of a visible judge, derived from the diversities of sects and doctrines among Pro- testants, to be answered ?
1st. We do not pretend that the private judgment of Pro- testants is infallible, but only that when exercised in an humble, believing spirit, it always leads to a competent knowledge of essential truth.
2d. The term Protestant is simply negative, and is assumed by many infidels who protest as much against the Scriptures as they do against Kome. But Bible Protestants, among all their circumstantial differences, are, to a wonderful degree, agreed upon the essentials of faith and practice. Witness their hymns and devotional literature.
3d. The diversity that does actually exist arises from failure in applying faithfully the Protes-tant principles for which we contend. Men do not simply and without prejudice take their creed from the Bible.
4th. The Catholic church, in her last and most authoritative utterance through the Council of Trent, has proved herself a most indefinite judge. Her doctrinal decisions need an infallible inter- preter infinitely more than the Scriptures.
22. How may it be shown that the Romanist theory, as well as the Protestant, necessarily throivs upon the people the obliga- tion of private judgment ?