It is not warranted either by the Bible itself, or
by facts.
Besides, if a book is to guide a man infallibly, it must be made
perfectly plain; it must be infallibly interpreted. And where are the
infallible interpreters? We know of none that even profess to be such
outside the Church of Rome; and none but themselves and their own Church
members believe their professions. _You_ do not believe them. As a rule,
the claim of infallibility is taken as a proof that the man who makes it
is not only fallible, but something worse.
But if we had infallible interpreters, they would not be able to keep us
from error, unless we had infallible hearts and infallible
understandings. And we have no such things. If we had, we should neither
need infallible books nor infallible interpreters.
That the Bible is all that it _needs_ to be, and all that it _ought_ to
be, I am satisfied; but that it is all that some of its zealous
advocates _say_ it is, plain and unquestionable facts make it impossible
for any candid, unbiassed, and well-informed man to believe.
We have all an infallible guide within us, if we be true Christians. For
the Spirit of God dwells in the hearts of all true disciples of Christ.
But the infallible guide does not make us all infallible followers.
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