Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone, grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their doctrine, that we may be made a holy temple acceptable unto Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord."

The passage of Scripture, which I have taken out of St. Paul's Epistle to the ancient Church of Rome, forms a suitable heading to the Sixth Article, which I will now read to you. It is on "The sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation," and is as follows:-" Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation. In the name of the Holy Scripture we do understand those Canonical Books of the Old and New Testament, of whose authority was never any doubt in the Church." Then, after giving the names and numbers of the Canonical Books, it speaks of those called Apocryphal, states why the Church uses them, and distinguishes between them and the Canonical Books of the Old and New Testaments. Concerning these, the Article thus plainly and guardedly expresses itself:-" And the other Books (as Hierome saith) the Church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine." It quotes them, and then adds, "All the Books of the New Testament, as they are commonly received (i. e. received

by the Church Universal) we do receive and account them Canonical.

Now here, Brethren, the Church of England takes up a position the most important. There is a vital principle involved in this Article, one that divides, and must ever divide (while the See of Rome remains what it is) the two Churches. The Bible is brought forward by our pious Reformers before they proceed to a declaration of the main points of the faith of the Protestant Church, in order that that may decide in the face of the world, the controversy between us. They say, "That is the standard by which truth and falsehood must be tried. We appeal to God's Word in vindication of our tenets by that we have no doubt of proving our doctrines to be right, and those of our opponents to Human authority cannot decide in these What saith the Scripture?' must be the inquiry. By that alone we stand or fall." They state what they mean by the Scripture" those Canonical Books of the Old and New Testaments, of whose authority was never any doubt in the Church." On this point I need not, I think, detain you with many observations. It would carry me much beyond the fair limits of my discourse on the present occasion, to enter on the proof of the Divine origin and authority of that Sacred Volume, whose books our Church calls "Canonical," i. e. books which, being the Revelation of God to man, constitute the canon or rule of his faith and practice. History has placed that matter beyond all doubt and our difference is not now with Infidels

be wrong. matters.

who deny the Divine Inspiration of the Bible, but with those who, admitting the genuineness and authenticity of all the books of the Old and New Testament, as fully as we do, maintain, contrary to us, that the Bible is not the only rule, but that something else is necessary for eternal salvation. I need say as little about the Books called "Apocryphal"—that is, books not admitted into the Sacred Canon, being either spurious, or, at least, not acknowledged to be Divine. They are not received by our Church as establishing any doctrine, because they were not so received by the Jewish or Christian Churches; because they bear no marks of Divine Inspiration, but, on the contrary, contain much that is against Scripture, fabulous, absurd, and highly incredible. There is much, however, in them that may afford instruction, and in that light, the Reformers were not unwilling to allow them, as had been the case in the early Christian times, to be read in the Churches.

I now come to the chief point, the great principle laid down in this Article, that God's written Word is in itself a full Revelation, and the only rule by which the truth or falsehood of any doctrine is to be determined. The Article begins with saying

66

Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation;" and then it adds, "so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man that it should be believed as an article of the faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation." It first declares that the written Word of God, contained in

the Books of the Old and New Testaments, has in it every thing necessary to be known for man's eternal happiness-that all the information that God would give man is given in that sacred volume, and that there is nothing wanting that any man or any number of men can supply :-and its second position, drawn by way of inference from the first, is this, that if any new doctrine is attempted to be imposed on the faith of mankind, it is to be subjected to a scriptural test, and that if there is no sanction or support found for it in the written Revelation, it is to be discarded as an innovation on the doctrine of God. The plain statement here put forth by the pious heads of our Protestant Church, and agreed to by the whole ecclesiastical body assembled in convocation, as an article of faith, is intended to oppose the fundamental principle of the Romish Church, that scripture without tradition, is imperfect. For the sake of clearness, I will here state the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church on that head. It is so plainly defined in their Articles of Religion, so fully stated in the present day by all their great writers, and forms so completely the principle of education in their schools, that it is impossible to misrepresent it. They admit the inspiration of the Books of the Old and New Testament; but they maintain that besides these, there is other instruction given in another form, equally important, and that without this other instruction, that given in the Bible would be useless. They call it " oral tradition"-and this oral tradition, according to their own definition of it, is some

certain doctrine which the apostles gave by word of mouth, in addition to what they committed to writing in the New Testament :-this they left with the Church as a faithful guardian of God's truth, to preserve for the benefit of mankind; and that there might be a competent tribunal always existing to judge of the correctness of these orally delivered doctrines and precepts, Christ vested in the Church an infallible authority, which was to continue through all ages. The Decree of the Council of Trent, establishing this position, is as follows:-"All saving truth is not contained in the Holy Scripture, but partly in the Scripture, and partly in unwritten traditions, which whosoever doth not receive with like piety and reverence as he doth the Scriptures, is accursed." The creed of Pope Pius IV. embodies the articles of the Council of Trent;-and in that, which is their acknowledged formulary of faith, we have this declaration. "I most firmly admit and embrace the Apostolical and Ecclesiastical Traditions, and the rest of the observances and constitutions of the same Church: I also admit Holy Scripture according to that sense which Holy Mother Church has held and does hold, to whom it belongs to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the Holy Scriptures: neither will I ever receive and interpret them otherwise than according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers." Here, you see, that Tradition is to be fully and firmly embraced; but not so the Scriptures. The Church is to be listened to, without one doubt of the correctness of its state