gate the fact here assumed of the existence of
this unwritten word of God, and to shew that the
authority of Scripture, the testimony of Christian
antiquity, and the teaching of our own Church,
are all opposed to the idea of there being an oral
reoord of divine origin, which supplies the defi-
ciencies of Scripture, explains its difficulties, or
fixes its interpretation.
Our immediate object this morning will be the
scriptural part of the question; but before we
proceed to establish from the Bible its exclusive
claim to be our divine instructor, consider what
is the level of divine dignity, and absolute autho^
rity to which any other record, written or
unwritten, must be raised before it can occupy
the place of a concurrent teacher of divine truth.
We submit to the Bible as the word of God, be^
cause we believe that it was written by holy men
of God, who were filled with the Spirit, and
"spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." f
When we refer to the writings of these holy men
we find them distinctly asserting in many instances
and implying in all, that they had no original
ideas to communicate, that their words were not
of private interpretation, and that they were only
the instruments by means of which God was
speaking to man. For instance, to begin with

' 2 Pet. i.'21.
