Page:A Beacon to the Society of Friends.djvu/58

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AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE.
SER. II.

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou

shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children." Hosea, iv. 6.

Christ and the Spirit testify to the same efficacious word of God, as it was preached by the apostles, and it is now, by the Scriptures, communicated to us.

"Preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." Mark, xvi. 15, 16.

"Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the Gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures; and that he was buried; and that he rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures." 1 Cor. xv. 1-4.

"When ye received the word of God, which ye heard of us, ye received

it not as the word of men; but (as it is in truth) the word of God; which effectually worketh also in you that believe." 1 Thes. ii. 13.

"In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation." Eph. i. 13.

"These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so, therefore many of them believed." Acts, xvii. 11, 12.

"God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of