1044
THE KING’S BUSINESS
of course, is that God is the Source of all authority. He is the Source of truth, of righteousness, and of all guidance; and au thority is expressed by revelation. God’s own revelation must of necessity be our authority; and for our present purpose it will suffice to say that Christ, as repre senting and revealing God, is our ultimate authority. The Source of all authority is the Lord Jesus Christ. So far, I do not suppose there will be any real difficulty. But at once the ques tion arises: God is invisible. Christ is no longer here. Where, then, can this Divine authority be found? Where is it.embodied? How can I be sure of God as the Source of all authority? How can I be sure of Christ as the expression of the mind and will of God? 3. The Seat of Authority .—We have to face this question as to where the revela tion of God is to be found. I suppose there are only three usual, perhaps only three possible, answers. It is in connection with these three answers that controversy to some extent seems inevitable. There are those who say that the seat of authority is in human reason. I am using the word reason to. represent what . is sometimes spoken of as human life, including reason and conscience ; but reason will suffice. Some say that the consent of the mind is the condition and foundation of all certi tude. Let us be very clear on this point. Reason is valuable and necessary. “Thou sha.lt, love the Lord thy God with, all thy mind.” The mind is ,essential as part of human nature, and is required to test the claims of any professed revelation, and then to receive the revelation thus tested. Long ago Butler said that reason is the only faculty for judging anything, even revelation, and there can be no authority that destroys, human reason; there can be no authority that subverts and v-stultifies' .the mind that God has given us. The right of every man to verify is inalienable; it is a prerogative that is essential. “Prove all things,” Said the Apostle, as well as “hold fast that which is good.” Indeed, it is only possible to hold fast that which is good, when we have proved it; and again
and again St. Paul speaks of discernment. We are first to prove, then to apprbve. But this is very different from claiming that reason, is the seat of authority. After all, reason is only one of several faculties; and all these have been affected by sin. Besides, there is such a thing as •reality, independent of reas'on. What is truth ? Truth is not what I trow, though that definition, So etymologically suggestive, has often been given. No, truth is fact. Truth is not dependent upon the changing opin ions of men. Truth is true whether I ac cept it or not. A thing must be true before 1 can accept it as truth1. So that reason is not originative^ not creative, it is only a channel. It is not a source, but a medium. REASON NpT CREATIVE. Our reason never creates anything; it only weighs data, and settles things as the result of weighing them. Authority, there fore, is not- against reason, but in accord ance with reason; and so we conclude that reason is not the seat of authority. Others say the Church is the seat of au thority. Well, of course, we ask: What Church?.. Where is that' Church- to be found? The Church in the fullest Sense of the word is best described as “the blessed company jjf all faithful people;” and as such it is the product of Divine revelation. The Church came into existence on the day of Pentecost by accepting Divine rev- ' elation. If we go further back, the Jew ish Church came into existence as a be liever, as a result of'this revelation. “The word of the Lord came to Abraham” (Gen. 15:1) . Indeed, we can go back, to ’Adam, and find that everything presupposes a. Divine revelation, which is the foundation of all the religion, whether,individual or corporate, that 'the world has ever seen. 1 Divine revelation, it is difficult to see how it can be the seat of authority. The Church cannot embody, certainly: cannot create its Creator. So we come back to this, that the seat of authority is the Bible.^ And if God has spoken pre-eminently through the Bible, then the Bible is pre-eminently our au thority.
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