Isaiah 8:20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. This passage embodies the truth that in the difficulties and questions that arise in the Christian Church, and which are frequently presented to the mind of Christian persons, the Holy Scriptures are the last appeal to which the Christian shall have recourse. This subject branches out into a vast variety of inquiries; but we shall consider it in connection with the sixth article of our Church of England. I. THE AFFIRMATIVE PROPOSITION which asserts the sufficiency of Holy Scripture in all things requisite or necessary to salvation To men who have read the Holy Scriptures, it will seem strange that there ever should have arisen a question, as to their sufficiency in things requisite to salvation. They see that the Holy Scriptures are large and full, that they develop innumerable truths of mighty magnitude — that they unfold mysteries beyond the grasp of the human intellect — that they propound a series of the most pure and hallowing precepts — that they narrate the history of God's dealings with His people, so far as they are known to human knowledge — and that they enter upon an ample detail of all those things which God hath revealed of His future purposes for mankind. They see that the Scriptures unfold the fall of man, God's purpose to save a people to Himself, God's love in the gift of His Son Jesus Christ in order to save them, the incarnation of the Word, the atonement of the Cross, the resurrection and triumph over death, the ascension into heaven, the descent of the Holy Ghost, the judgment of the last day, and the everlasting glories that shall follow. They see that the Holy Scriptures contain all this; and still further, that they contain all those rules and principles that should govern man in his duty to God and in his duty to his fellow man, and entering rote such detail of relative duties, of husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and servants, princes and subjects, that every honest man, from the monarch to the peasant, shall find in the Holy Scriptures a sufficient guide and enlightener in the duties of a Christian life. But in the spirit of the words of our text, let us "to the law and to the testimony." Let us take counsel of our God, and ask of Him in the record of His own Word, whether the Holy Scriptures be sufficient unto salvation (Deuteronomy 11:16-21; Deuteronomy 31:11, 12; Psalm 119:9-11; Isaiah 8:20; Luke 1:1-4; John 5:39; John 20:30, 31 Acts 17:10-12; 2 Timothy 3:14-17). The Romanists reply to these Scriptures in a body by stating that they prove too much, inasmuch as they prove either that the Old Testament Scriptures are sufficient, or that one or more Gospels are sufficient for our salvation. We reply, that, if this be true, then, a fortiori, if a part of the Scriptures contain sufficient unto salvation, the whole of the Scriptures as a matter of course must be admitted to contain all things necessary to salvation. II. THE NEGATIVE PROPOSITION in the article, namely, that "whatsoever is not read in Holy Scripture, nor may he proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the faith, or thought requisite or necessary to salvation." The position upon which the Romanists have erected their whole system has been, that besides the written Word them is also an unwritten word — that besides the Holy Scriptures them is another vehicle for conveying religious truth, and that other vehicle they have named tradition. The nature of tradition is this. They state that our Lord Jesus Christ taught many things to His apostles and disciples, which they did not commit to writing in the sacred Scriptures, but, instead of committing them to writing, they committed them by oral communication to those men whom they appointed as bishops throughout the Church universal; they add that those bishops have in a similar manner communicated these doctrines and practices to the bishops and priests that wore to come after them, and that thus there is a mass of floating doctrine and practice pervading the Church universal, partly written in the books of Romish priests and partly deposited in the breasts of Romish bishops. There are certain difficulties and objections to this system. 1. A historical objection derived from the history of God's dealings with His people. The original revelation made to our first parents, being dependent upon tradition, soon became corrupted and lost. And this inefficacy of tradition is the more remarkable, when we consider that the life of man in the ante-diluvian world was extended far beyond the life of man in the post-diluvian world. Nor is this the whole of the historical argument or objection against tradition, because after the waters of the deluge had rolled away, the first fact that is narrated is that man had so lost the knowledge of the true God again, that he built the tower of Babel; and the next fact we read is that the world was so sunk in ignorance that it was necessary that God should choose Abraham and elect one family to Himself, in order that in that family He might take certain steps, by which to secure forever the remembrance of His name in the earth. 2. A Scriptural objection. This is founded upon a conversation narrated in the Gospel history (Mark 7:1-9). Our Lord states that His disciples were justified in rejecting the traditions of the elders because they made the law of God of none effect. 3. An objection arising out of the nature of tradition. With the most anxious desire only to speak the truth, the best men will sometimes vary in their narrative of facts — there is a defect in human memory; there is in the colouring of the minds of men, and there is in the degree of knowledge or ignorance of various men, that which leads to their varying more or less in their statements of fact. Now, if this be the ease in reference to fact, how much more is it the case in reference to abstract doctrines! In order to show that this difficulty still more exists in reference to doctrine, we have but to reflect how few there are in the world, who agree in all things precisely in the same views of doctrine. We regard, therefore, everything that is purely traditionary as necessarily unsound. (M. H. Seymour, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. |
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