Nor are we to underrate the high importance of the sacred ministry. It was the gift of our blessed Lord after his ascension. [10a] It is carried on under the appointment and arrangement of the Holy Ghost. [10b] When Israel was without “a teaching priest,” they were “without the true God,” and “without the law.” [10c] When men labour for Christ, “rightly dividing the word of truth,” they are the great instruments in the hand of God for the ingathering of his elect, and the preservation of his children for eternal glory. We admit then freely and fully, 1st, the existence of difficulties in Scripture, and 2ndly, the importance and extreme value of a living and expounding ministry. At the same time, we are no less prepared to assert with the utmost earnestness, that the people of God are bound by, or dependent on, no interpretation of any man whatever. God has spoken in his word, and God has spoken plainly. Let us examine two or three of the many proofs.
1. See the use made of Scripture in the time of inspiration. Look at the well known case of the Bereans, Acts xvii. 11: they brought Paul himself to the test of Scripture; a set of laymen went daily to their Bibles to see if the man of God himself were true, and for this, which would be mortal sin in the Church of Rome, they were actually commended by the Holy Ghost, for a “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” The Berean laymen, therefore, were right, when they studied their Bible as the rule of faith. Take again the case of Timothy. Timothy, we know, was a remarkable man. St. Paul loved him as his own child, and always spoke of him as his son. He was to Paul what John was to Christ. The grace in his heart was of early growth; he was one of those chosen few, who were believers from their youth. But mark his early history. He lived at Lystra, a heathen city: his father was a heathen, yet Timothy knew his Bible well: he had learned it of his mother, as she too from hers. Here then we have a little band of Bible students in the midst of a heathen city: it consisted of two women and one little boy. And yet we are to be told that the bible does not speak plainly to common people, that it cannot be understood until the church interpret. Who interpreted to Timothy? Who to Eunice? Who to Lois?
2. Or refer to the purpose for which the book was written. The Lord said to Habakkuk, [12a] “Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.” It was his intention, therefore, that the prophecy should be understood. Of the whole Old Testament, St. Paul says, “Whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning, that we” (i.e. believers generally) “might have hope.” Rom. xv. 4. They were intended therefore for the learning and comfort of the church. St. John’s gospel was written “that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through his name.” John xx. 31. And his epistle was addressed to those that believe on the Son of God; “that ye might know that ye have eternal life, and that ye might believe on the name of the Son of God,” John v. 13. What can be plainer than that God designed the Bible for the church at large, for the comfort and instruction of the whole body of his believing people?
And now add to this the declared purpose for which the Holy Ghost dwells amongst men. He is “the Spirit of truth,” [12b] “to guide us into all truth,” “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ.” [12c] And of Him St. John writes: “The anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.” [13a] Can any one read such passages and doubt for a moment that it is the purpose of the Holy Ghost to teach God’s people by throwing light upon the pages of his inspired word? and would not that man set himself up above the God of heaven, who would dare to pronounce it inexpedient to give the Bible to every living soul within the church?
And now observe the following pastoral letter from the Romish bishops and archbishops in Ireland. Having received a letter from Pope Leo the 12th, dated May 1824, addressed to all Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, and Bishops, and they conveyed the substance of it to the Irish priests in the following words. “Our holy Father recommends to the observance of the faithful, a rule of the congregation of the Index, which prohibits the perusal of the Sacred scriptures in the vulgar tongue, without the sanction of the competent authorities. His holiness wisely remarks that more evil than good is found to result from the indiscriminate perusal of them on account of the malice or infirmity of men. [13b] In this sentiment of our head and chief we fully concur.” So they do not hesitate boldly to declare, that the very words which the Holy Ghost inspired for our learning are productive of more harm than good. It is true that they ascribe the failure to the malice or infirmity of men: but did not God know what men were when he gave the Scriptures? Did he suppose men better than they are? or has the Pope a greater insight into human nature than God himself? The use of such language implies either that God was ignorant of man’s nature, or knowing it, was unsuccessful in addressing it; in other words it amounts to the bold blasphemy of ascribing either ignorance or impotence to God.
3. But again, look at the practical experience of daily life. We appeal to every Bible reading Christian, does not the word of God speak plainly? 1 know there are some to whom it may appear a sealed book, but God always opens it as they advance in their study. There are many flowers, which in the early morn, seem to possess little interest or beauty, for their bloom is closed; but when the sun gets up, and they feel its genial heat, the leaf expands, and the blossom opens, sweet in its fragrance, and lovely in its colouring and form. So it is with the Scriptures. The unopened Bible may seem dull and powerless to the beginner, but let the Holy Ghost beam his light upon its sacred pages, and it becomes more beautiful than the lily, more fragrant than the rose of Sharon. Did ever hungry soul go to the word, and not find in it the clear description of the bread of life? Is there any confusion in its language, when it addresses the broken-hearted penitent, and assures him, saying, “The blood of Jesus Christ the son cleanseth us from all sin?” Is there any indistinctness in that gentle whisper with which God, as a tender husband, sooths the sorrowing widow, and leading her into a solitary place, there speaks to her heart, saying, “Comfort, comfort ye my people?” Is there any want of lucid clearness in the lovely portraiture of our blessed Lord? Is it possible to mistake his holy character? Is there any lack of shrill distinctness in the sound of the warning trumpet, in the prophecies of coming judgment, in the curse passed on sin, in the promises of glory? Nay, beloved! man may tell us that the traveller cannot see to track his path, when the summer sun shines in its strength: man may tell us that there is no refreshment in the cool stream that gurgles up clear as crystal from beneath the shady rock: and we would believe them, even then, sooner than we would believe the Church of Rome, when she tells us, that the way of life is not pointed out plainly, in the word which God has written, to guide and cheer his people heavenwards.
We have found, then, that the Bible is of supreme authority, complete sufficiency, and clear intelligibility. And now, dear brethren, what a deep sympathy should we feel for the laity of the Church of Rome! One fact may illustrate their position. When two members of the deputation of the Church of Scotland to the Jews arrived at Brody, on the borders of Austrian Poland, every book was taken from them, even their Hebrew and English Bibles. Being sealed up they were sent on to Cracow, and delivered to them when they quitted the Austrian dominions. On pleading for their English Bible, the only answer was, “It is not allowed in Austria.” Thus are the bulk of the people kept at a distance from that clear and lucid stream. The church, like the painted window, stands between them and the pure light of heaven. Who can wonder, then, that there are errors and superstitions? Who can be surprised to see them bend before the Virgin, when they are thus kept back from Christ? We should not despise them, but pity them: we should weep for them, as our lord wept over Jerusalem: we should pray for them, as he prayed upon the cross, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” None can doubt that multitudes are truly desiring to walk with God; truly in earnest in their rounds of prayers and penance. You may oftentimes see them on the Continent sobbing and pleading in unremitting and earnest prayer, but alas! it is too often before the Virgin’s picture. They know no better, they are kept from the word of life, and in many cases they sink to their grave, ignorant of the very existence of the Bible.
And there is a lesson here for ourselves too, dear brethren. We must remember that it is not enough to belong to a church which puts the Bible into our hands, or to listen to a ministry which appeals to it as the rule of faith. We must make it our own; we must take it to ourselves as our birth-right. It is not enough that we possess the printed book, it must be also written on the understanding by careful, diligent, persevering study; and on the heart by the pen of the Holy Ghost himself. He is but a poor Protestant that neglects his Bible. Nay, more, he is but a poor Christian, for he that knows little of his Bible can scarcely fail to know still less of God. Let us, then, be stedfast Bible Christians, devoted Bible students. Let us determine that, God giving us grace, we will know Christ as our God reveals him, know him as our own Redeemer, as our own Advocate, as our own Lord and King, and let us never rest content till we can say with the prophet “Thy word was found and I did eat it: and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart.”
SERMON II.
JUSTIFICATION.
Acts xiii. 39.
And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.