The Divine Rule of Faith and Practice: Or, a Defence of the Catholic Doctrine That Holy Scripture Has Been, Since the Times of the Apostles, the Sole Divine Rule of Faith and Practice to the Church : Against the Dangerous Errors of the Authors of the Tracts for the Times and the Romanists . In.: Volume 2

The Divine Rule Of Faith And Practice: Or, A Defence Of The Catholic Doctrine That Holy Scripture Has Been, Since The Times Of The Apostles, The Sole Divine Rule Of Faith And Practice To The Church : Against The Dangerous Errors Of The Authors Of The Tracts For The Times And The Romanists. In is a 19th-century Anglican polemic by William Goode defending Scripture as the sole divine rule of faith and practice and arguing against the claim that Tradition is the primary or exclusive basis for doctrinal belief. The work outlines a Protestant view in which the grounds of belief in Scripture rest on the Spirit’s interior testimony and internal moral and evidential notes within Scripture, rather than human testimony alone. It critiques the sufficiency of Patristic Tradition to establish inspiration or infallible teaching, and it emphasizes the canon and apostolic sanction as the basis for New Testament authority, with Tradition playing a subordinate, corroborative role. The author defends the Holy Spirit’s leading of all believers, including the illiterate, and upholds private judgment as a rightful tool for discerning truth. The Old Testament is treated as precedent, with the New Testament fulfilling and extending its canonical role without requiring unwritten Church doctrine to bind belief. The work situates itself in the broader Tractarian controversy, citing Keble, Newman, Vincent, and other authorities to argue for Scripture-centered hermeneutics within an Anglican framework.