98 INTRODUCTION. [Ch. IV. — Mysticism.
acter, their effects, and by signs and wonders, and divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost ; that these holy men of old who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, communicated the revehUions wliich they had received not only orally, but in writing, employing not tiie words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holv Ghost teacheth ; so that we have in the sacred Scriptures the things of the Spirit recorded in the words of the Spirit ; which Scriptures, therefore, are the Word of God, — i. e., what God says to man ; what He declares to be true and obligatory, — and consti- tute for his Chin-ch the only infallible rule of faith and practice.
Romanists, while admitting the infallibility of the written Word, still contend that it is not sufficient; and hold that God continues in a supernatural manner to guide the Church by rendering its bish- ops infillible teachers in all matters pertaining to truth and duty.
Mystics, making the same admission as to the infallibility of Scripture, claim that the Spirit is given to every man as an inward teacher and guide, whose instructions and influence are the highest rule of faith, and sufficient, even without the Scriptures, to secure the salvation of the soul.
Mysticism has no Foundation in the Scriptures.
The objections to the Romish and Mystical theory are substan- tially the same.
1. There is no foundation for either in Scriptures. As the Scrip- tures contain no promise of infallible guidance to bishops, so they contain no promise of the Spirit as the immediate revealer of truth to every man. Under the Old Testament dispensation the Spirit did indeed reveal the mind and purposes of God ; but it was to selected persons chosen to be prophets, authenticated as divine messengers, whose instructions the people were bound to receive as coming from God. In like manner, under the new dispensation, our Lord selected twelve men, endowed them with plenary knowl- edge of the Gospel, rendered them infollible as teachers, and re- quired all men to receive their instructions as tlie words of God. It is true that during the apostolic age there were occasional com- munications made to a class of persons called prophets. But this " gift of prophecy," that is, the gift of speaking under the inspira- tion of the Spirit, was analogous to the gift of miracles. The one has as obviously ceased as the other.
It is true, also, that our Lord promised to send the Spirit, Avho was to abide with the Church, to dwell in his people, to be their teacher, and to guide them into the knowledge of all truth. But