which were not recorded, and which, could they now be known and authenticated, would be of equal authority with the books now regarded as canonical. All that Protestants insist upon is, that the Bible contains all the extant revelations of God, which He designed to be the rule of faith and practice for his Church ; so that nothing can rightfully be imposed on the consciences of men as truth or duty which is not taught directly or by necessary implication in the Holy Scriptures. This excludes all unwritten traditions, not only ; but also all decrees of the visible Church ; all resolutions of con- ventions, or other public bodies, declaring this or that to be right or wrong, true or false. The people of God are bound by nothing but the Word of God. On this subject little need be said. The completeness of Scripture, as a rule of faith, is a corollary of the Protestant doctrine concerning tradition. If that be true, the former must also be true. This Romanists do not deny. They make the Rule of Faith to consist of the written and unwritten word of God, i. e., of Scripture and tradition. If it be proved that tradition is untrustworthy, human, and fallible, then the Scriptures by common consent stand alone in their authority. As the authority of tradition has already been discussed, further dis- cussion of the completeness of the Scriptures becomes unnecessary. It is well, however, to bear in mind the importance of this doc- trine. It is not by Romanists only that it is denied, practically at least, if not theoretically. Nothing is more common among Prot- estants, especially in our day, than the attempt to coerce the con- science of men by public opinion ; to make the opinions of men on questions of morals a rule of duty for the people, and even for the Church. If we would stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, we must adhere to the principle that in matters of religion and morals the Scriptures alone have authority to bind the conscience.
§ 5. Perspicuity of the Scriptures. The Bight of Private Judg- ment.
The Bible is a plain book. It is intelligible by the people. And they have the right, 'and are bound to read and interpret it for themselves ; so that their faith may rest on the testimony of the Scriptures, and not on that of the Church. Such is the doctrine of Protestants on this subject.
It is not denied that the Scriptures contain many things hard to be understood.; that they require diligent study ; that all men need the guidance of the Holy Spirit in order to right knowledge and
184 INTRODUCTION. [Ch. YI. — P. R. of Faith.
true faith. But it is maintained that in all things necessary to sal- vation they are sufficiently plain to be understood even by the un- learned.
It is not denied that the people, learned and unlearned, in order to the proper understanding, of the Scriptures, should not only com- pare Scripture with Scripture, and avail themselves of all the means in their power to aid them in their search after the truth, but they should also pay the greatest deference to the faith of the Church. If the Scriptures be a plain book, and the Spirit performs the functions of a teacher to all the children of God, it follows in- evitably that they must agree in all essential matters in their inter- pretation of the Bible. And from that fact it follows that for an individual Christian to dissent from the faith of the universal Church (i. e., the body of true believers), is tantamount to dissent- ing from the Scriptures themselves.
What Protestants deny on this subject is, that Christ has ap- pointed any officer, or class of officers, in his Church to whose in- terpretation of the Scriptures the people are bound to submit as of final authority. What they affirm is that He has made it obligatory upon every man to search the Scriptures for himself, and determine on his own discretion what they require him to believe and to do.
The arguments in support of the former of these positions have already been presented in the discussion concerning the infallibility of the Church. The most obvious reasons in support of the right of private judgment are, —
1. That the obligations to faith and obedience are personal. Every man is responsible for his religious faith and his moral con- duct. He cannot transfer that responsibility to others ; nor can othei-s assume it in his stead. He must answer for himself ; and if he must answer for himself, he must judge for himself. It will not avail him in the day of judgment to say that his parents or his Church taught him wrong. He should have listened to God, and obeyed Him rather than men.
2. The Scriptures are everywhere addressed to the people, and not to the officers of the Church either exclusively, or specially. Ihe prophets were sent to the people, and constantly said, " Hear, O Israel," " Hearken, O ye people." Thus, also, the discourses of Christ were addressed to the people, and the people heard him gladly. All the Epistles of the New Testament are addx-essed to the congregation, to the " called of Jesus Christ ; " " to the beloved of God ; " to those " called to be saints ; " " to the sanctified in Christ Jesus ; " " to all who call on the name of Jesus Christ our