The unsafe expounder
In proportion precisely as the sense of that general life which has constituted the unity of the Church from the beginning, is found to be wanting in any individual; in proportion precisely as it is possible for him to abjure all respect for the organic whole, in virtue of which only he can have any life as a part; in proportion precisely as he is ruled by the feeling, that the bible is to be interpreted, as a revelation just fallen from heaven, without any regard to the development of its contents, the stream of its living waters, as carried forward in the faith of Christendom, from the beginning down to the present time; in the same proportion I say precisely, must such an individual, be his qualifications and resources in other respects what they may, be counted an unsafe expounder of God’s word, either for himself or for others. (John Williamson Nevin, introduction to Philip Schaff, The Principle of Protestantism)
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