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then that the book saves by its Spirit, and as we are to "worship God in spirit and in truth," so we are to read the Bible in spirit and in truth, or else it is valueless.
You, my brethren, must either tell me what the Bible means, or I must tell you. One must teach the other. I do not think you would say you had authority or commission to teach me, but I can say that I have authority and commission to teach you. Whence? From the Church. And as long as, with God's Holy Spirit for my guide, I shall preach to you truly out of its pages, and live among you faithfully according to its precepts, I shall do well, but my mere possession of the Book as such, or your possession of it,—my mere holding it in my hand when I go to church, or your mere holding it in yours,—my mere quoting texts out of it, without interpretation, or your mere quoting it without understanding, is useless.
It is indeed quite true that the Sixth Article of the Church of England asserts that "Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation, so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man that it should be believed as an Article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation." Very well. Observe the words "containeth all things necessary to salvation." But no one would mean to say that the Holy Scriptures, the very printed book, the pages, ink and letterpress engraven contained all things necessary to salvation! For instance, they do not contain Baptism, which the Catechism says is generally necessary to salvation, nor do they contain the Sacrament of the Supper of the Lord, which the Catechism also says is generally necessary to salvation. So that there are some things, you see, necessary to salvation which are not in the Holy Scriptures, that is to say not in the book itself as a book, but only gathered out of it as acts, not readings. So that although a man possessed a copy of the Holy Scriptures, and should read it ever so diligently, and even know it by heart—that would
