Wesley Corpus

Paul's Epistles, and the other Scriptures, “to their own destruction.” But did any of the Apostles, on this account, forbid other Christians to read them? You know they did not: They only cautioned them not to be “led away by the error of the wicked.” And certainly the way to prevent this is, not to keep the Scriptures from them; (for “they were written for our learning;”) but to exhort all to the diligent perusal of them, lest they should “err, not knowing the Scriptures.” 6. “But seeing the Scripture may be misunderstood, how are we to judge of the sense of it? How can we know the sense of any scripture, but from the sense of the Church 7 ° We answer, (1.) The Church of Rome is no more the Church in general, than the Church of England is. It is only one particular branch of the catholic or universal Church of Christ, which is the whole body of believers in Christ, scattered over the whole earth. (2.) We therefore see no reason to refer any matter in dispute to the Church of Rome, more than any other Church; especially as we know, neither the Bishop nor the Church of Rome is any more infallible than ourselves. (3.) In all cases, the Church is to be judged by the Scripture, not the Scripture by the Church. And Scripture is the best expounder of Scripture. The best way, therefore, to understand it, is carefully to compare Scripture with Scripture, and thereby learn the true meaning of it. 1. THE Church of Rome teaches, that “the deepest repentance or contrition avails nothing without confession to a Priest; but that, with this, attrition, or the fear of hell, is sufficient to reconcile us to God.” This is very dangerously wrong, and flatly contrary to Scrip ture; for the Scripture says, “A broken and contrite heart, thou, O God, wilt not despise.” (Psalm li. 17.) And the same texts which make contrition sufficient without confession, show that attrition even with it is insufficient. Now, as the former doctrine, of the insufficiency of contrition without confession, makes that necessary which God has not made necessary; so the latter, of the sufficiency of attrition with confession, makes that unnecessary which God has made necessary. 2.