Page:Delineation of Roman Catholicism.djvu/55

 CHLP. II.] scarruRs. 47 1. The Church of Rome, however, tells us, "that the Scriptures are not plain to us; even to the learned many tJings are hard to be under- stood, which, therefore, to the unlearned, must be impossible.*' Indeed, sometimes they tell us that not one sentence of Scripture has a mean- ing which we can be certain of by our own private judgment. anv quotations might be given from Roman Catholic authors to show that the Scriptures are, in their estimation, exceedingly obscure, mysterious, of doubtful or double meaning, and therefore no certain rule for our guidance, unless as they are explained by their clergy'. It would be a sufficient answer to all they say in fayour of the obscurity of Scripture to mention that their expositions, additions, and perversions of Scrip- ture prove that they are neither competent nor qualified to give the interpretations that will remove Scripture obscurity. But though this reply would be sufficient of itself for the satisfaction of our readers, we will give the following proofs in fayour of the clearness or plainness of Scripture. 2. The inspired writers were not worse writers w/tA divine assist- ance than others commonly are without it. What they spoke was plain, else they spoke to no purpose; and why should not the same things be as plain when they were written down ? 3. The Old Testament was delivered to the whole nation of the /ews; Moses was read in the synagogue in the hearing of the women and children; the whole nation was to take their doctrine and rules from it; all appeals were made to the law and the prophets; and though the prophecies of the Old Testament were in their style and contexture hard to be understood, yet the proofs of Christ's Messiahship were urged from the Old Testament. No appeal was made to tradition or to church authority, except by the enemies of Christ. Nevertheless, both he and his disciples urge these passages in their true sense, and in the conse- quences which resulted from them. Thus they appealed to the rational faculties of those to whom they spoke. 4. The Christian religion was at first delivered to all classes of men. The epistles, which are the most difficult parts of the New Testament, were addressed to all the faithful, the saints, or to all Christians. These were afterward read in their assemblies. If these writings were not clear, it is unaccountable how they were addressed to the whole body. It is the end of speech and writing to make things to be understood; and it is strange that men who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost failed to accomplish what other human beings perform without any such aid as inspiration. Besides, the new dispensation is con- trasted with the whole, as light with darkness, an open face with a veiled one, and as substance with shadows. Since, then, the Old Tes- tament was so clear that David in the nineteenth, and much more fully in the one hundred and nineteenth Psalm, represents the light which he laws of God furnished as sufficient for our guidance, we have much more reason to believe that the new dispensation should be brighter. If there was no need of an infallible expounder of Scripture then, ther is no need now. Nor is there any intimation given that such a one exists other than an enlightened and well instructed ministry. From all which we may conclude that the books of the New Testament were clear in those days. 5. Besides, from the acknowledged chacteristics of the Scriptures, 1

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