110 A CHRISTIAN CHURCH. there tie any otliér words necessary to express liis dodlrine by-, than those which himself has chosen ? Thus the torrent Of such popular harangue drowns all distindtions df things, and carries away the assent before due consideration. To all this flourish, I answer first by way of concession ; that, our blessed Lord is all-wise, and has the tenderest care of his church, in providing a sufficiency of helps for everyoccasion. The holy scripture is complete, and sufficient of itself to teach us all things necessary ; and the instructions of it areclear, plain and evident to every humble inquirer : There is no need of any additions of men to this perfect rule, nor any words that men can invent fitter to express those doctrines and duties, more suit- ablyto the occasion and purpose for which each part of scripture was written, I am abundantly persuaded, that from the book of God every plain christian may easily collect his own duty in the necessary affairs of his salvation, and every man may obtain knowledge enough to fit him for the communion of a christian church. SECT. IX. But to give a full and direct answer to the force of the foregoing objection, I would lay down these considerations, which may help to remove those glaring rays of rhetòrin that diffuse themselves round the argument, impose upon, and daz- zle weaker minds, and prevent them from beholding the question in its true light, which, if once seen in its proper sense, would be determined with much ease. Consideration I. It is generally agreed by protestant wri- ters, that not the mere words of scripture, but the sense of it is properly scripture. The words are but the shell in which the divine ideas are conveyed to the mind. It is not the words of the bible, but the sense of it, which has the proper characters of the word of God. If any words or language might pretend to this, surely it must be the Hebrew and Greek originals : Now these have no such power upon an unlearned Dane, or Swede, a French or an English man, as is attributed in scripture to the word of God. These words in Greek would not pierce or di- vide in sunder the soul and spirit of a barbarian : The gospel in mixed Syriac language, in which Christ himself spoke, would never prove the power of God to the salvation of a Roman, or a Turk : Nor could the perfect law of the Lord, in Hebrew, con- vert the soul of a Muscovite. But when these original words are translated into each language, and convey the same divine instruction and sense to different nations ; this sense and instruc- tion, which is properly the word of God, work upon the heart, and make a new creature ; for the sense of scripture is the same in all languages, though the words are very different. Hence it is plain, that we do not in the least derogate from the honour of the bible, while we declare, that it is the sense of scripture, and
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