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determine the sense of Scripture , which in controversies of faith is claimed by every church . " He affords , " adds Bishop Marsh , " no support to the Romish doctrine of tradition , as au authority independent of Scripture . And even were it true that a doctrina tradita existed , the discrepancies which prevailed among the fathers of the four first centuries , would shew the uncertainty of the vehicle by which it is supposed to have been conveyed / ' *
This concluding remark is just , weighty , and comprehensive . But we cannot approve of his Lordship ' s criticism on Augustine ' s direction , that where any man doubts the sense of Scripture , consulat regulam fidei , quam de scripturarum planioribus locis et ecclesiae authoritate suscepit . Whence are we to derive this rule of faith ? Bishop Marsh replies , " from two sources—a comparison of difficult with plain passages of Scriptureand ecclesiastical authority . ' If we further ask , in what ecclesiastial
authority consists , we shall be told that it means " only an authority to determine the sense of Scripture , which in controversies of faith is claimed by every church . '' Claimed indeed it , unhappily , is : and should we proceed to inquire , by whom it has been conferred , how it has been exercised , what have been its decisions , and what its fruits , we fear that the answers would be any thing but satisfactory . It is not possible that church authority can
be a just and safe rule for determining the sense of Scripture . So far , all churches making pretensions to it stand on the same ground ; nor is it very material whether nominally they possess a doctrina tradita or not , the discrepancies of the regula fidei being nearly as great , and quite sufficient to shew the uncertainty of the principle . Indeed , the regula fidei , the analogy of faith , or by whatever name it is called , can be no principle of exposition , since it merely informs us what are the expositions of other
men . To those Protestant writers who , not very consistently with the spirit of Protestantism , are strenuous advocates of church authority , the indefinite and somewhat ambiguous language of certain of the early fathers , of Irenseus , for example , in respect of the traditions of the church , has been sufficiently embarrassing . At a future time we may have a more favourable opportunity of entering into the discussion .
As we have now reached the conclusion of the former of Bishop Marsh ' s Supplementary Lectures , it is natural to look back on the wretched methods of interpreting Scripture , which prevailed even daring the first , second , third , and fourth centuries of the Christian sera . Allegory and the regula fidei were the rules in vogue . The false philosophy of the schools , and attachment to church authority , introduced wild and visionary expositions of the sacred volume . An historical review of such causes and such effects
will have answered no important purpose , if it do not warn the present age and succeeding generations against the danger of falling into the same or similar errors of speculation and of practice ; if it do not illustrate the necessity and value of a sound judgment , of correct learning , and of personal and impartial examination , to the public teachers of religion . In the remaining lecture , the Bishop of Peterborough continues his historical sketch . He begins with the fifth century , and proceeds down to our own times . But the narrative is conducted , avowedly , on a limited scale
* Pp . 23—30 . See Paley ' s Evid . of Christ , fed . 8 , ] Vol . I , pp . 206 , &c , and Bishop Kaye ' s Ecc . Hist . &c , p . 290 .
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Bishop Marsh s Lectures . 249
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1829, page 249, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2571/page/25/
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