d
in the succession of pastors and people through all ages. From this
Church, guided in truth, and secured from error in matters of faith by
the promised assistance of the Holy Ghost, every one may learn the right
sense of the Scriptures, and such Christian mysteries and duties as are
necessary to salvation. This Church, thus established, thus spread, thus
continued, thus guided, in one uniform faith and subordination of
government, is that which is called the Roman Catholic Church: the
qualities just mentioned, unity, indeficiency, visibility, succession,
and universality, being evidently applicable to her. From the testimony
and authority of this Church it is that we receive the Scriptures, and
believe them to be the word of God; and as she can assuredly tell us
what particular book is the word of God, so she can, with the like
assurance, tell us also the true sense and meaning of it in controverted
points of faith; the same Spirit that wrote the Scriptures, directing
her to understand both them and all matters necessary to salvation.'

As we believe ourselves included in the universal Church, _i. e._ in the
number of Christian believers, we acknowledge no authority but that
which thus included us,--the authority of Christ himself: to no other
voice but his, as delivered in Scripture, do we listen with submission;
and to none do we commit the office of interpretation; believing that
God has given to every man the inalienable right and sufficient power to
ascertain for himself what doctrines and duties are necessary to
salvation. What the Romish Church may be which, so far from being
'universal' expressly assumes the power of guiding and informing
Christian believers, we profess not to understand, having received no
evidence of its origin and no attestation of its claims; but we know
that in the _Christian Church_ there has never been, since the apostolic
age, 'one uniform faith and subordination of government;' nor do we
believe that such subordination is designed by Providence, or that such
uniformity is compatible with the present nature of man, or essential to
his safety and peace. Believing that the Scriptures contain the word of
God, and that the natural faculties of man are its appropriate
interpreters, we dare not commit to others the task of receiving a
message which we know to be addressed immediately to ourselves;
especially as we are convinced that, since the apostolic age, no
peculiar gifts of wisdom or of