The Portland daily press., 1874-06-02
Protestant Church Authority.

According to the Protestants theory, divine
revelation is permanent only in its effects.
In itself it is past transaction, supernatu-
rally interpolated in the history of mankind,
and completed in the first century of our era.
From that era, the source for him of all di-
vine authority, he is now separated by three
score generations; and whatever is true in
heavenly things, whatever is holy, must cross
that interval ere its tones can reach him. For
his knowledge of it, he is dependent on its
records, created by the first actors or observ-
ers on that sacred stage, and handed down
by successive witnesses of their identity; and
it is only as native to that age, and stereo-
typing its inspired voice, that the Christian
Scriptures speak to him as ''the word of
God" Could he suppose them to have been
born outside that circle of special revelation
in place or time, to be the production only OF
impersonal rumoT, or secondary age, his re-
lance on them would ue gone; and they
would descend from their consecrated height
to mingle with the mass of human literature.
His first essential, therefore, Is to trace them
clearly home to that exceptional period, and
to the body of first disciples within it. If this
be once secured, all else appears to him read
lily to follow. Does the New Testament
which we read to-day really come from the
group of apostolic men who turned the death
of Christ into the birth of Chrstendom
Then is it a faithful record; for its authors
have every title TO be believed, which ample
opportunity and d,snterested sacrifice can
win. But further: if it is faithful in its ac-
count of facts, it is authoritative in its state
ment of doctrines; for among the facts are
various miracles, imparting superhuman
character to the chief figure of the story, and
specially direct descent OF inspiration on
his first missionaries, which made them vehi-
cles of testimony higher than their own,
4 81,
narrative alone, but of their whole course of
religious thought and teaching. And 50 is
forged three-linked argument which joins
divine and human things; if the facts are
real, the doctrines are certain; if the books
are authentic, the facts are real; that the
books are authentic, adequate testimony
proves.
There may, perhaps, be logicals devotees,
whose enthusiasm loves to reach their God
by long and painful pilgrimages of thought;
but it would not be a happy thing for ma
lures of more direct and impatient affection
to be left thus dependent for knowledge OF
divine things on literary antiquarian, philo-
logical evidence judicially balanced, analo-
gous to that which scholars cite in discussi ng
the Homeric poems, or the Letters of Phalar-
is. We are not permitted, it would seem, to
take our sacred literature as it is, to let what
is divine in it find us out, Will, the rest says
nothing to us, and lies dead; all such selec-
tions by internal affinity is denied us as a
self-willed unbelief, subsection, not OF ouI-
selves to Scripture, but OF Scripture to our
selves. We are required to accept the whole
on the external warrant of its divine author
ity, which equally applies to it all; to believe
whatever is affirmed in the New Testament,
and practice whatever is eDjoined., In es-
Gaping by this path from the Catholic Church,
we are merely handed over from an ever liv-
ing dictator ard judge to an ancient legisla-
tion, still with the same idea OF somewhere
dsengaging ourselves from human adnIix-
lures, and finding some reserved seat OF the
purely and absolutely divine.-Rep, j. Mar
tinedu, in Old and Nep for June.