STRONGHOLD OF TRUTH
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But though the Church is a "witness and keeper," it is not the author or mailer of Scripture, and the reasoning employed in support of the latter contention is fallacious. It seems to be as follows: "The Apostles were the authors of Holy Scripture." "But all Apostles are members of the Church of Christ." "Therefore, the Church of Christ is the author of Scripture." This has been well compared by the late Dr. Waller, of Highbury, to the following: · "Mr. Balfour wrote a book on The Fou11datio11s of Belief." "Mr. Balfour is a member of the Privy Council." "Therefore, the Privy Council is the author of the book called The Fom1da-tio11s of Belief." The fallacy, of course, lies in attributing to a body in its collective capacity certain acts of individual members of the body. The Church is not, and never was, the author of Scripture. The Scriptures are the law of God for the Church, delivered to it by the Apostles and Pro phets. So we say again that the Lord Jesus Christ is the supreme Authority, and we accept the Bible because it enshrines and embodies that authority. Take away Christ from the Bible, and there is no Bible left worth having. We do not bow down to the Book because it is a book; we do not repudiate reason because it is reason; we do not set aside the Church because it is the Church. We say that what we want is the best available form of Christ's revelation, and we believe we get this in the Bible and not in any other way. The Whole Church The Word of God is therefore that which gives us a fixed and objective embodiment of the revelation of God in.Christ; and as such it is, of course, supreme for every th_mg connected with the Church. Let us not make any mistake. The witness of the whole Church is very im-
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