verer for his Church. Samuel was now invested with the full authority of a Ruler and Prophet. He caused the people to put away their idolatry, and to return to the Lord with all their hearts; he restored the worship of God, and established a sound system of discipline and government; and thus effected a thorough reformation of the Church.

But my especial object in selecting the text before us, was not to dwell upon it, with reference to those circumstances of the Jewish Church, which I have just briefly reviewed, but to direct your thoughts to a period in the history of our own Church, to which the words of the text are peculiarly applicable. It will be at once seen, that I refer to the state of our Church, when the supremacy over it was usurped by a foreign power, and the policy of that power was to keep the Bible out of the hands of the people.

Of all the means which the providence of God employed for bringing about the Reformation, none were so effectual as the translation and circulation of the Holy Scriptures.* We cannot but regard it as a signal interposition of Divine Providence, that, about the time when the minds of men began first to be awakened on the subject, the art of printing should have been invented, and by degrees brought into use; thus hastening the event, and prepared, when it arrived, to carry it forward with an irresistible impulse. The gift of tongues, at the day of Pentecost, was not more important, as a miraculous means of propagating the gospel, at its first publication, than the invention of printing, as a means, in the ordinary

* See Note A in the Appendix.

course of Providence, of propagating it again, at its revival from papal corruptions.

Another event also, which was providentially directed to the furtherance of the cause of Protestantism, was the revival of classical literature by those learned Greeks, who fled into Europe for refuge, on the capture of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453. Independent of the sound learning which, by their means, became widely diffused, a generation of scholars was raised up, qualified to give to the world faithful translations of the Scriptures from their original languages.

The Reformation was a revival of the apostolical principle of "the sufficiency* of the Holy Scriptures for salvation; " the right, the duty and solemn responsibility of private judgment, and consequently of the obligation incumbent upon the rulers of the Church to translate the Bible into the language of the Country, and to encourage its unrestricted circulation; so 66 that every man might hear in his own tongue the wonderful works of God."+

The cardinal hinge upon which the whole controversy between Protestantism and the Church of Rome turns, is the sufficiency or non-sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for salvation. On this point we say, "the Bible and the Bible alone is the religion of

* "From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation." II Tim. iii. 15.

+ 6th Article of the Church of England.

Acts ii. 11.

Protestants."* The Church of Rome, on the other hand, asserts, that the Bible is not sufficient as a rule of faith, without tradition and the addition of certain books held by Protestants to be apocryphal and unauthorized. The Protestant insists upon the right of private judgment. The Church of Rome denies this right, and claims to be the sole and infallible interpreter of Scripture. The Protestant regards the exercise of private judgment as inevitable in any profession of religion whatever. The Roman Catholic must exercise it in his adherence to his own Church. How am I to know,' the Romanist may ask, that my Church possesses the authority which she claims?' 'My Son,' she replies, doth not the word of God. recognise my authority?' He must, therefore, either submit without examination to the pretensions of his Church; or, like the Bereans, (who for their conduct are distinguished as noble) exercise his private judgment in searching the Scriptures "whether these things be so." His Church, therefore, appeals to the right of private judgment in support of her pretensions, and only denies it when the result is not in her own favour. A part of the profession of faith, which she, at this day, exacts from her members, is this I most firmly admit and receive the aposto

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+ Dr. Delahogue in his Maynooth lectures denies not only the the sufficiency but even the necessity of Scripture. He says, "According to the principles of Protestants who do not acknowledge the divine and apostolical traditions, these two things must be admitted, viz:-that the Scriptures are both necessary and sufficient as a measure of faith. (ad complendam fidem.) But both these things are most false." (De Ecc. Christi p. 403.

Acts xvii 11.

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"lical and ecclesiastical traditions and all other observances and constitutions of the Church. I admit “ also the sacred Scriptures according to that sense "which Holy Mother Church to whom it pertains to "judge of the true meaning and interpretation of the "sacred Scriptures hath holden and still holds: Nor "will I ever receive and interpret them otherwise than "according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers."*

But

It were superfluous for any member of the Church of Rome, to read and think for himself, if holy mother Church has already read and thought for him. 1t were a hopeless task to wade through whole libraries (the investigation of one point of faith were the labour of a life) in order to learn what is the unanimous consent of the fathers. It were dangerous for any one to use his understanding at all, in matters of religion, because, if it rebelled against the interpretation of the Church, he would incur punishment as a heretic in this life, and damnation in the next. I must forbear on this head, that I may not intrench upon the province of another preacher. Thus far I deem it necessary to invade the argument referred to, in order to shew that the peculiar tenets of the Church of Rome, necessarily threw contempt upon the authority of Scripture. The errors of that Church were of gradual, almost imperceptible growth; so that it has become an undetermined question, what exact date to assign to the first establishment of her usurpation. This much, however, is certain, that at whatever period the way of God became degraded, and the decrees of a body

*Pope Pius' Creed. See Note B in the Appendix.

*

of sinful men exalted into equal and even more authority than the word of God, Antichrist was come; then, "as God, he sat in the temple of God, shewing himself that he was God !+ The principle then being once established that the Church was the infallible interpreter of Scripture and the sole arbiter in all matters of religion: the Scriptures became necessarily laid aside; they were no longer referred to as the standard of faith, since, not their authority but that of the Church was become paramount. An opening was thus made for the introduction of the most monstrous corruptions. The word of God no longer stood in the way. "Thus saith the Lord;" "thus saith the prophet," became superseded by "Thus saith the Church :" error there could be none, since the Church, forsooth, was infallible. The doctrine of such an infallible guide in religion is most congenial to the fallen heart: spiritual indolence became a virtue. The opiate drug took effect, and all religious suspicions were lulled asleep. 'While men slept the enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way." It was no wonder (Latimer observes in one of his sermons) that in the absence of scripture to speak for itself, the Religion of Rome should have passed for it. Instead of the doctrines of the gospel, and useful knowledge, the Pope's decretals and the metaphysics of the schoolmen, engaged the minds of the more learned of the clergy. In the time of Edward III, it was difficult to find a copy of the Bible even in

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*See Note C.

† 2 Thess. ii. 4.