THE BIBLE ONLY | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jun 9, 1890

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 16, No. 22.

THE BIBLE ONLY.

At a recent meeting of representatives of various religious denominations in New York, Dr. R. S. MacArthur, of the Calvary Baptist Church, in the course of a speech, made a point that is not emphasized nor even believed by professed Protestants as much as it should be. The point is contained in the following paragraph:—

"The famous dictum of Chillingworth is to be emphasized—the Bible and the Bible only, the religion of Protestants. Recently I was asked to give my indorsement to the statement that the Bible is to be regarded as the ultimate authority in all questions of faith and practice; that statement is not satisfactory. The Bible ought to be considered the sole authority in all questions of faith and practice. We must have infallibility somewhere. We utterly disregard the idea of an infallible man; but we are permitted to rejoice in the authority of an infallible book. Many, however, who are Protestants, hesitate to accept the Bible as the sole authority in religious belief. They give tradition and churchianity an authority which the word of God nowhere recognizes,—an authority which, to some degree, displaces the word of God as the only standard of faith. When the Bible speaks, we may not be silent; when the Bible is silent, we may not speak. Here, and here alone, is sufficient authority for our guidance in life, our hope in death, and our joy in eternity. More and more must the word of God be exalted to the supreme place in the church of God, as the only guide alike in faith and practice."