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"Upon tWs rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall prevail against it."— Matt, xvi, 18. fe ^■' "» "cii .snail not LONDON: PARTRIDGE AND OAKEY, PATERNOSTER-ROW, AND 70, EDGWARE-ROAD. 1852. 56-;: (Tn tjir (Cjjnrtjirs nf Clirist, THE FOLLOWING ATTEMi'T TO AI'I'lllX'IATE AND POUUTRAY TUE.M, ACtonOINfi TO THEIR BIBLICAL STANDARD, UESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, BY O.ST. WHO KNOWS AND COVETS NO HIOUEK OFFICE ANU HOSCJUK "■Il.'.N TO BE THEIR FAITHFUL SERVANT. ^naopsis. PRELIMIXAUY. 1 M.I Trri.K i Ukdic.vtio.v iii SvNorsis V Introduction j.iii FART 1. IMl'OHT OF THE CHURCH, Oil ECCLESIASTICAL NATURE (Jutline CuAi'Tiiii I.— Gknils or the Cir'ucii : — 1. 2. 3. 4. r. Man private anil social ih. Elements of society, the first lb. Second element 4 Third element 5 Combinations ih. ih. i). 6. Actual combiuatious 7. Privacy and society generalised tf 8. Science of society ;/). y. Science of political society 7 10. Science of domestic society ;/,. 11. Science of ecclesiastical society a 12. Name of ecclesiastical society ib. 1 3. Visibility of ecclesiastical society {> 14. Tcrreneness of ecclesiaatical society lo 15. Deduction respecting ecclesiastical society. ... lb. Chapter II.— Species op the Church ; — 1. Import of the term " Christian " 11 2. Distinction in Theocracy 12 3. The church Christian 10. 4. The church spiritual 13 5. Spirituality of its laws 15 ^ SYNOPSIS. Chapteh II. -Species of the Church (continued) .— ^^°^ 6. Spirituality of its members 15 7. Spirituality of its benefits and penalties 16 8. Voluntary because spiritual [ 17 9. Totality of the chui'ch 18 Chapter III.— Ihtdividuality of the Church :— 1. Locality of church society 20 Locally denominated 21 •2. Convivialism of church society 22 Convocational edifices 23 Convocational times 25 3. Co-operation of church society 27" Females and minors 28 Equality 29 4. Curatorship of church society 3^ Church and congregation distinguished 3t Registration of numbers and names ,38 5. Conditionality of church society 41 Chaptki! IV.— Definition of the Church :— 1. Of church totality 43 2. Of church individuality 49 PART II. KISE OF THE CHURCH, OR ECCLESIASTICAL ORIGIN 53 Prelhiiinarv ' ,, ^ g5 Ch.m'ieh L— The Church Divine;— Preliminary r- Skc. I.— Messianic Preparation : — General View gj New Testament coincidently assorted 66 Public preparation (57 Private preparation /^_ Sec. IL — Messianic Performance 73 (1.) Pneumatical aspects ; — Conviction 74 Tuition 73 Power 77 Purity ;6. Resultant life 78 (2.) Pneumatical acts : — Promulgationof the Gospel... 80 Authentication of the Gospel. 81 Effectuation of the Gospel 82 Completion of the Gospel 84 .... 15 .... 16 .... 17 .... 18 .... 20 .... 21 .... 22 .... 23 .... 25 .... 27 .... 28 ... 29 ... 36 ... 37 ... 38 41 48 49 [GIN 53 55 67 61 assorted 66 67 ib. 73 74 76 77 ib. 78 rospel... 80 Gospel.. 81 ipel 82 pel 84 SYNOPSIS. vii Chapter II.— Thk Church Apostolical :— ^^^^ Preliminaiy gg Sec. I. — The apostolic office formational 87 Apostles selected by Christ 88 Apostles endowed by Christ ib. Apostles empowered by Christ 89 As witnesses 90 As messengers 91 As vice-agents 92 Apostles defined 99 Sec. II. — The apcstles co-equal 102 Sec, III.— The apostles diverse 104 Peter instituted the church 105 Paul operated in the church 108 Nine apostles co-operated in the church UQ John matured the church lb. Sec. I v.— The s "^^les specially aided II3 Bj .. ..itthias as twelfth witness ... 114 By Prophets 115 By Mark and Luke ne By Evangelists nS By Timothy 119 By PhiUp 121 By Titus 122 By Barnabas jj,. By Apollos 123 By Others ;j, Chaptku III.— The Church Pentecostal 125 Suitably and auspiciously so 126 Chapter IV.— The Church Palestinian 129 Jerusalem ^^^ Cesarea 1^^ Patmos j'j_ Chapter V.— The Church appropriately formed : Sec. I.— Commenced with Jews 145 1. Pentecostal church-germ 146 2. Pentecostal symbols H, 3. Pentecostal preacher 143 4. Pentecostal prayer 149 5. Pentecostal success ib. 6. Post-Pentecostal expansion 150 Vlll SYNOPSIS. PAOE Chapter V.— The Chuhch appropriately formed (continued) : — Sec. II.— Amplified witli Gentiles 152 Sec. III.— Widely propagated 153 Sec. IV.— Fully furnished 156 Sec. V. — Formational Summary 159 PART III. POSITION OF THE CHURCH, OR ECCLESIASTICAL RE- LATIONS 165 Preliminary ; i67 Chapter L— Circumspective Church Relations : — Preliminary 168 Sec. I. — Collateral circumspectiveness, or In- ternal relations 169 Mediatorial instruments assorted ... 170 The church vehicular 171 The church elicitive 175 Internal relations illustrated 177 Sec. II. — Declinato circumspectiveness, or Ex- ternal relations : — Preliminary 180 Use of the secular 181 The question stated 182 Correlations of church and state : — 1. Sociological aspect 183 2. Biblical aspect 190 3. Political aspect 195 4. Combined aspects 198 Separation of church and state 210 Logical result 212 Correlations of church and family. .213 Chapter II.— Retrospective Church Relations 215 Eras a. New Testament church first and sole 216 Dispensations appreciated 220 Clmstianity original 223 Temple or synagogue no model of the church. . 225 Chapter III. — Prospective Church Relations : — The church final 227 Distinctions of Divine government 228 The church consummatory 229 SYNOPSIS. IX PART IV. PAGE WORK OF THE CHURCH, OR ECCLESIASTICAL OPERA- TION 231 Preliminary 233 Chapter L — GtovERNMENT .— Preliminary 236 Sec. I. — Nature of government ib. Sec. II. — Right of government 238 Sec. III. — Mode of government 240 Sec. IV. — Origin of government 244 Sec. v. — Summary of govemmeuc 24 6 Chapter II.— Ecclesiarchal Operation :— Preliminary 250 Sec. I. — Ecclesiarchal legislation : — Preliminary 251 1. Law of subordinate subjection... 252 2. Law of co-ordinate subjection ... 253 3. Law of Christian usefulness 255 4. Law of proper order 257 Summary 259 Sec. II. — Ecclesiarchal Administration : — Preliminary 259 1. Ecclesiarchal residence 260 2. Ecclesiarchal cognition 262 3. Ecclesiarchal preservation ib, 4. Ecclesiarchal provision 264 5. Ecclesiarchal rectification 268 6. Ecclesiarchal effectuation 270 7. Ecclesiarchal glorification 271 Chapter III.— Ecclesiastical Operation :— Preliminary 273 Sec. I. — Material operation 274 1. Towards Christ, Executive ib. Law defined 275 Christ the only lawgiver in the church 276 2. Towards other churches, Fra- ternal 278 1. Fraternal freedom 279 2. Fraternal friendship 289 3. Towards the world, Evangelistic 293 SYNOPSIS. Chapteh III.-Ecclesiastical Operation (continuedj .— "^"^ SecIL— Modal Operation 295 4. Originally, Collective operation., ib. General view j-j_ Conveying truth 303 Eliciting iK)\ver 304 Admitting members 305 Overseeing members 306 Excluding members /j. Baptizing and communing .... 311 Controlling socularities {(,. 5, Organically, Representative opera- tion 312 (1.) Necessity of officers .... ib. What and whence they 'ii'e 313 (2.) Distinction of officers... 317 (3.) Co-ordination of officers 321 (4.) Institution of officers... 323 (5.) Work of officers 332 (6.) Honours of officers 341 (7.) Respousibilityof officere 344 6. Locally, Congi-egatioual opera- tion : — Chm-ch operation not terri- to™l 346 Territorial operation either co- organic or national 347 Scriptural operation local .... ib. Territorial episcopacy un- Scriptural 351 Sec, III.— Resultant Operation 352 7. Comprehensively, Expansive operation : — General view 352 Circumscriptive operation ... ib. Absorptive operation 353 Expansive opei ation ib. Expansion by both stationary and itinerant agency 354 Evils of mere and misapplied itiuei-ancy 357 Advantages of proper itine- rancy 359 PAGE led) : — 295 '^o operation., ib. ib. 303 304 'era 305 Jers .... 306 ers lb. nmuniug .... 311 irities iJ. itativo opcra- 312 f officers .... ib. whence they 313 of officers... 317 3u of officers 321 of officers... 323 icers 332 officers 341 tyof officers 344 3ual opera- not terri- 346 m either 00- ional 347 n local .... ib, ipacy un- 351 352 Expansive 352 sration . . . ib. m 353 a ib. stationary eucy 354 Qiisapplied 357 per itine- 359 SYNOPSIS. XI PART V. ONENESS OF THE CHURCH, OR ECCLESIASTICAL UNITY.. '36I Preliminary ogg Chapter L— Unity op the Whole Church :— Not the formal unity of all churches 364 Not the co-organic unity of all co-exi.stent churches ,jj^ Genetic unity 355 Archaic unity if,^ Sameness and similarity distinguished 368 Developinent of fraternal unity {b. Chapter II.— Unity of a Single Church ;— Neither reservation nor form 370 Scripture statements {b. Consequent estimate 372 Chapter IIL— Summary and Result 374 PART VI. SEQUEL OF THE CHURCH, OR ECCLESUSTICAL DESTINY. Destiny indicated g-o Destined freedom and universality 330 Puritans and Pilgrim Fathers 382 Progress in England, Ireland, and Scotland 383 Achievements and prospects of the United States ......" 384 Cheering prognostics ggg In the territory ., In the churches ogy Glorious prospects 388 i i [I ' ii I ERRATA. Z ni.rt:z"t?s™:;ri'' ^""--■' "' •■ - ■■•■■■ i-age 2/ ,, hne 11, for " elective," read " eUcitivo." IntroMiction. In the same chiliad appeared the two races and agencies, Je^nsh and Grecian, that have most remarkably, power- fully and beneficially influenced mankind. The Jews have been the depot and vehicle of religious truth and culture ; the Greeks of civilisation or secular improve- ment. God selected the first people to be his great national receptacle and instrument of spiritual benefit; he has employed the second to be his great national receptacle and instrument of secular benefit. " Salva- tion is of the Jews ;" civilization is of the Greeks. The actual development and issue attest this view, while the vocation of the Jews is matter of revelation. Abraham, the believer and the friend of God, became the head of a remarkable fomily and an illustrious race. Of this race, Egj-pt, the primary seat of postdiluvian civilization, became alternately the nurse and the oppressor but still the sphere, until the strength and expansion requisite for nationality in Canaan were attained, and then Moses was chosen to be the national leader and head. Under A later revelation, in the Hellenistic New Testament. Greece poured its waters of civilization into the Roman empke ; Judea emptied her river of life into the church of Christ ; !uid beneath the permeating purifying power of Chris- tianity, the (spiritual and the secular have become effec- tively confluent in Christendom, and are destined to ferti- lize every portion of our globe. Judea was not uncivil- ized, but pre-eminently religious, for true religion invari- ably ensures civilization ; Greece was not wholly irreligi- ous, but pre-eminently civilized, for Paul recognized the Athenians as " very religious j"i yet it is Jewish religion, not Jewish civilization, and Grecian civilization, not Gre- cian religion, that are influencing mankind. Wherever scriptural Christianity prevails, we find the spiritual life ' Acts xvii. 22. " The best critics, for the last two centuries (and ofthoautient ones Chrysostom), Lavo been pretty much agreed that SticnSatf^'op must here have the good sense."— Bloomfield's Recensio Synopticfi, in loc. ith side, the One is the the secular, us influence ; on ; and, in rate for the je embodies he lanffuaffo uristotle, but ion, in the svelation, in poured its )ire ; Judea of Christ; er of Chris- ecome effec- ned to ferti- not uncivil- igion invari- olly irreligi- !ognized the ish religion, )n, not Gre- Wherever iiritual life centuries (and li agreed that sld's Recensio •A INTROnUfTION. XVU of the consummated Jewish religion and the secular refinement of Greece ; the first in the church, th.- second in the nation, both together in society at largt' The church is the primary organism. Under thf stimulus and control of Christianity, human society has excelled "all Greek, all Roman fame;" nations have attained a combination of freedom and security which erst the world never knew ; secular science and art have become wonderfully progressive and productive ; and as till' church conveys more widely and faithfully the means of religious liberation and life, the prospects of our race brighten into visions of universal purity and peace. In accordance with these views is the apostolical distinction of "Jew and Greek." Both are equally fallen.^ To the former first, with obvious propriety, the gospel was sent.- The latter seeks after "wisdom," and, in the pride of his refinement, deems the gospel " foolishness."'' But to both alike and without distinc- tion, on believing, the gospel is appropriate and effectual.* Both are distinguished from the church of God.-^ Retribution will be dealt to botli, without respect oi person.s.*^ The contemplation of mankind, past, present and ^ Rom. iii. 9. » Rom. i. 16. » 1 Cor. i. 22, 23. * Rom. X. 12 ; 1 Cor. i. 24, and xii. 13 ; G.il. iii. 28 ; Col. iii. 11. ^1 Cor. X. 32. 8 Rom. ii. 9— 11. The distinction or contrast, in .some of these pa.ssngc.a, in, conccalod I'v tlie tran.slation of "Gentile" instead of "Orfiok." A3 V" ll I *^'" INTRODUCTION. piospcHi.t., fornes into view that mightiont and most magnificent of all w>cietioH, the church of Christ. It is characterized by lofty aims, large resources, i.ag dura- tioi., wide exteuaion, .simple mechanism, gr.nvuig power and glorious .i^^iny The world has never known a spiritual equal or a secular parallel. No kingdom, state ur association has lasted so long, struck s<. deeply, and spread so widely, especially with such a small beginning and sucli simple means. The nations of antiquity present no secular parallel. In modern times, Great Britain's ix)wer and progre>.s make the closest approach, yet fall fur below, and besides have partly sprung from Christianity,-from its recreating, animating, con- .s<.Iidating, fostering inrtuence. For a spiritual equal sve shall Icok in vahi. Mohammedanism contains no .su(jh religious as.sociation ; it incorporates the spirit- ual with the secular, and promotes the latter by means of the former; and it has neither attained such an age nor acquired such extension and influ- ence as the Church. Paganism has never produced such machinery for embodying and extending its influ- ence and, as a spiritual power, is but the deepenincr and development of man's moral deterioration. Pagrnism has endured and spread by concurring with the evils of liumanity and by ceaselessly minister . , f],em : the • Church has denounced and attack.' ^ ,i\^ ,vitb relentless hostility, and proclaimed an humblinc^ cure for them ; and y.t, without secular helps and I) f\TIU»DI CTION. jjjjj appliances, with the smallest origin, against the best- devi.so.i and best-defenaeJ systems, ,t h,as grown up into a majestic fabric, an immense an.l universal powtT. The church may have been and maN now bo obscured retarded and perverted ; but always in opposition t-' her purpose and principles and by the misconduct oi troarhory of her profeased friends and members, and always "to emerge and rise again" with renovated strength and splendour. It always has been and still is, and by its scriptural constitution always will be, the friend and companion of human improvement. Wher- ever the church has no existence or has acquired as yet no adequate influence, we find either savage debasement or secular inferiority, in combination with spiritual dark- ness and death. Following in its wake or treadinc. by Its side, we find literature and science, the progress of art and the achievements of civilization. The clnu'ch is the symliol, associate, help and pledge of the highest hopes, the dearest interests, and the noblest exertions of the human race. If from the utmost obscurity und feebleness, it has risen and expanded into its present stature and strength, what must be it. potency and progress, m reaUzing its divine destiny, throughout future ages ! The church is in every division of the ^lobe almost in every island of the sea ; her messengers and servants traverse every ocean and explore every conti- nent ; her principles are spreading and prevailing ; and her obvious aim and destiny are the conquest of the !!'i( XX INTRODUCTION. world. Who can avert his eye from such an institute, or gaze on it unmoved? Who can contemplate with indifference a form of such size and symmetry, such divine sanction and success, radiant with celestial light, possessing and distributing the choicest gifts of Heaven, seeking and approximating universal empire ? It is open to our inspection and challenges at once our scrutiny and regard. ^ The science of the church is always important and attractive but peculiarly so now. It is the science of the times, because it involves all the great questions that are now occupying and agitating human society. The primary errors of the day are Egoism and Societarianism, According to the first, which obtains in both philosophy and religion, the highest kinds of knowledge and excel- lence are but the development of the subjective, the operation and aspect of self According to the second, the individual must be lost in the society and all the elements and fruits of religion be comprehended and controlled by a spiritual hierarchy. Egoism obscures and depreciates the objective to exalt self : Societarianism obscui'es and depreciates self to exalt society The religious development and form of the latter is sectarian- ism, which exaggerates and distorts the church, and, 1 Months after tlic above was written, tlic author, for the first time, saw ill oue of Dr. AruoKl's letters to Arcliliishop Whately, a recoguitiou of "the course of Provitlern-e " in " communicating all religious know- ledge to mankind tlirough the Jewish people and all intellectual civilization through the Greeks." — Ai Hold's, Life, ciixlli ed., p. G2S. our scrutiny INTRODUCTION. xxi practically metamorphoses the church into the disease and deformity of bigotry, caste, and confederated clericism. The proper remedy for error is the exact and tho- rough appreciation and exposition of the theme that is misapprehended or distorted. Egoistical philosophy is best corrected by sound and thorough self-science; and the depreciation or undue exaltation of the church is best counteracted and cured by exact and compre- hensive church-science. The latter will serve to expose and resist sectarianism and sacerdotaUsm— the religion of externahsm, the form of godliness without or above or against the power. What is needed always, but now particularly, is the science of the church,— not conjectural estimates, tran- scriptive teaching, or desultory description, but analy- tical and logical appreciation; the biblical science of the church, not patristic or post-patristic theo- logy—either individual or collective, not estimate and measurement by uninspired creeds, catechisms and canons ; and the eomprehensive science of the church, not partial aspects or sectional researches. " The Bible only is the religion of protestants," and each portion of the bible is of loersonal though not i^eculiar interpretation. ^ No involved or previous question in this science should be left unsettled ; no portion should be examined in niassa, no conclusion r eached per saltum, and no co-existent 1 " No prophecy of the scripture is of any peculiw iuterpretation ; " tfitay, separate, detached, peculiar.— 2 Peter i. 20. ^^^^ INTRODUCTION, element overlooked ; from no sectarian stand-point and through no sectarian vails and lenses should the church be surveyed ; but in the spirit and attitude of devout and diligent inquiry, of severe and searching scrutiny, and in the light and atmosphere of inspiration, should this mightiest and most magnificent of all institutes be contemplated and studied. We want to know the church of Christ, not the church of the Fathers, of the Councils, of the Schoolmen or of the Reformers, by law established or by dissent determined; and to find this cliurch we must simply search the scriptures. The Author of this volume was so little identified with anytliing sectional or sectarian, in committing his thoughts to press, as to be in the most favourable circum- stances for dispassionate and impartial inquiry; and his mode of inquiry harmonized with his position, because he sought for the science of the church in the scriptures alone, and studiously and entirely abstained from the perusal of any denominational work, that probably con- curs with the current of his own thoughts and with the conclusions he has reached. For some years past he has felt and occasionally intimated the desirableness of a thorougli analysis and assortment of scriptural ecclesi- astical teaching; and in the month of May, 18.50, in the mountains of Jamaica, his convictions became so strong as to impel him to search and write with persevering earnestness, but without any purpose of pubUcation. Cherishing an.l applying the results, as great practical INTKODUCTION. xxiii principles and guides, according to the nature and use of all truth, he sundered the ecclesiastical ties of twenty years, indeed of his whole religious life ; sacrificed his ecclesiasti- cal status, with all its involved and resultant advantages, spiritual and financial and conventional ; and left a be- loved land, and also endeared acquaintances and friends, to avow and practise, in a strange country, his religious and ecclesiastical principles. In the land he has left" and in the ancestral land of his present and purposed resi- dance and labours, there are several friends who can corroborate this avowal of the rise and progress of his inquiries and the circumstances of their maturation and development. The opinion of judicious and intelligent friends has coincided with his own inclination, in the preparation and publication of this volume. The views it embodies of the correlations of Church and State are the result of abstract and independent study, at St. Jago de la Vega, in "the isle of springs;" they are the reverse of long-cherished preferences and conjectures, and different, he thinks, from the usual methods of discussion and description. Upon the great question of Education, too, they will be found to have a direct and determinate bearing. Partial elements and aspects of the church have been" diligently studied and ably exhibited, as the Polity of the church, its Pastorate, its Relations to the State, and its Unity; but the author knows no extant attempt at comprehensive and consecutive and analytical scrintural ^^^^ INTRODUCTION, delineation. The various constituents of the church are so interhnked and interdependent that one of them cannot be comprehended without another, and that the study of all is necessary to the due appreciation of each. The great cUsidemtum among Christians now is a systematic analysis and exposition of New Testament teaching concerning the church. We should seek to know what the church is, whence it has come, in what position or relation it stands, what it does or should do, and what futurity awaits it or what destiny it must accomplish. ' Unity, though involved in these aspects, will be distinctly and duly considered in this delineation. The Author writes under the auspices of no sect or association whatever, but merely from the felt necessity for some scriptural and systematic analysis of spiritual society, and mth the single aim to seek and tell the truth. He sees and feels and therefore speaks, rather courting than deprecating the severity of just criticism Whatever is true and just and good will live for ever while the chaff and stubble of error and evil must utterly disappear before the wind, and vanish in the flame. Egham, Surrey; May 29, 1852. •'W. le church are so )f them cannot at the study of of each. The is a systematic nent teaching to know what lat position or do, and what It accomplish. 1 be distinctly )f no sect or felt necessity s of spiritual and tell the peaks, rather ust criticism, live for ever, must utterly i flame. PART I. ^t iat«« 0f t|( C|«rffj, B Th res (liv vid spe Lo( 1. ] onl;; adh for J com in £ ver} leasi (exc grea as w imh socic coun 2. thel THE MTURE OF THE CHURCH. The Church may be described, generically, in its resemblauce to other institutions; specifically, in its divergence or difference ; and particularly, in its indi- vidual elements and aspects. Generically, it is Society • specifically, it is Christian Society ; particularly, it is Local Christian Society. CHAPTER I. , THE CHURCH IS HUMAN SOCIETY. 1. Mature man is individually complete. He is not only organicaUy undetached, in contrast with plants and adhesive animals, but is endowed with ample capabilities tor his sustenance and security. But though individually complete, he is not naturally and contentedly alone or m solitude thoroughly improved and developed. His very existence is derived and, for its primary period at least, dependent ; and is never continuously seclusive Cexcept m rare and morbid instances, if any,) without great reluctance and suffering. Hence man is a social a^ well as an individually complete being; and, accord- mgly the science of humanity consists of idiology and socio ogy or privacy and pubHcity, sy^ematically ac- counted for and estimated. 2 Gregariousness, pari^nership, and care-taking are the three elements of human society. The first denotes b2 4 I 1 1 THE CHUBCH 18 HUMAN SOC'CrV. together.' SucI t^ ISn^lT f '? °^ "«"»« and the joint occumLv „f il ' ^"'"^'- ™'' *'»'». tiou or pre, o/thet^l tj rd^ftet'l*"; T*" motherandwl'!S,'" «"'*™'-'. -a that of a member of a fa^rwt """/ "' J'"*™"""'*. ^ the refreshment reorSn t„ > ^^t" ''""'"« «»« "f »aturaIJiUetl^tofaft~rl:™rf ■" T "^ period cal concourso • r.r. ■^ ' .. ™"''^™''> '""- TOluntary and occa,ionair^i';^J"';"«''"'' '*«*'' '^"«''l ^ n^T.. • '"^^'^i^g and intercourse of friends be denominated C-Z'ation i(Tl l""""'' '"<* ""y not onl, joi„t labourTuI'^S proCf^r t1 "T ners may be coequaJ or otherwise -^1'^^ *• P^"*' one, a volunta^^ot ^7'^^^^^ oraconcerted 3nd, mutual ■rivate and ating man related to 1 produces ' imitation cial being, -operation ed to God, 3 pron*ote duer him ? ; giiides incorpo- Ohurch, Jcial and jI of his without ? in the I privacy his sub- Taking, element human al, both i science -torship, ? them- presup- mental / THE CHURCH IS HUMAN SOCIETY, and mora bemg; comprehends many of the facts and truths of this previous science ; and, hence, it occupies a very advanced stage in the scale of human knowledge and improvement. Sexual distinction and affection originate Domestic society, or the Family. Territorial attachment, ownership and distinctiveness generate Civil society, or the Nation. And the local operation of Chris- tian prmciples and preceptH-love of Christians and love of Chnst-creates Ecclesiastical society, or the Church, bexual and procreative relations chiefly characterise the hrst form of society ; secular and territorial the second • and spiritual and Christian the third. And to each and all belong moral distinctions and aspects. 9. There cannot be the relations of secular and ten-i- torial co-operation and care without rights and obligations or, in one word, without justice, whose synonyme i.s iighteousness ; because territorial ownerships and dis- tmctions and the government that conserves them involve rights ; and justice is simply voluntary and intelligent conformity to rights. Hence political science (Chorio- logy ) IS tne science of territorial and secular justice, the justice that springs from secular and territorial relations and which IS practised and promoted by the men who sustain these relations, and who, accordingly, co-operate. J J^;;%^"!^,«* ^e the sexual and procreative rela- tions of the family, both or one, without moral distinc- ^ons, the distinctions of both benevolence and justice Benevolence is voluntary and intelligent adaptation to he happiness of others. The science of domesticity Oikiology^) IS the science of the goodness and justice of the house, or of sexual and procreative and cognate elations. Politics include only justice, the justice of territorial relations, which are purely secular. Domestic "f'^«o>, Huusc, and Aoyoy. 8 THE CHURCH IS HUMAN SOCIETY. life comprehen.l« both goodness and justice, but only in household affairs, only in the relations of husband and ^[^' ^^^^^^^ relations thence arising or naturally there- 11. There cannot be the operation of Christian prin- ciples and precepts, on two or more in a locality, without convivia ism copartnership, and caretaking, according to the New Testament ; and there cannot be these with- out both morals and religion. Morals are the voluntary and intelligent actions that spring from the relations of men to each other's happiness and rights : Religion is the vohmtary and intelligent action that springs from the relations of men to God, either direct as individuals or indirect as socials : both considered in their causes com- position, cntenon and consequencea Christian morals are morals conformed to Revelation, and, therefore comprehended in religion. Christian religion is reli- gion onginated and regulated by Revelation. There can be no human society without morals ; and there can be no Chnstian society, triUy and distinctively considered without Christian religion and its essential element' Christian morals. 12. The term church itself denotes sodaUty. " Church" or "kirk" is derived by some from "circle," by others h-om ky^iakos (.vpu,Ko.^), « belonging to the Lord " A Christian circle denotes concourse, and those who belong to the Lord are subjects of his gracious care. The Greek name, which alone is of real consequence, is ecdesia i'f^w^), formed from ek («), "out of," " away from " from, and kcdeo (koX,^), - I caU ;" and, accordingly the members of the Church are often denominated, in the New Testament, "the called/' that is, ecclesiasts, church- men, because they are at once called out of the world and into the fellowship of Christians and of Chri st. In ^ 1 Cor. xi. 20. Rev. i. 10. " THE CHIHCH 18 HUMAN SOCIETY. 9 it only in band and lly there- an prin- , without according ^se with- oluntary ations of ligion is gs from ividuals, 3es, com- morals lerefore, is reli- There lere can sidered, ilement, !hurch" ' others d." A belong i Greek iccleaia from," jly, the in the ihurch- world St. In the New Testament, the tenn excleala (almost always rendered " church,") denotes either a society or an aggre- gation of societies, and always, at least, the element of society denoted by the term assembly or concourse. 13. The Churcli, then, is human society. This is its generic character. It is human, not angelical, not celes- tial or ultramundane ; and it is society, not an enumera- tion of unassociated individuals. As human, it is neces- sarily visible. The phrases, "mystical Church" and " mvisible Church," should be banished from theological language, as wholly unsuitable and misleading. The Head of the Church is invisible, but not the Church Itself To individual Christie is belong mystical or invisible qualities or characteristics, but these must not be confounded with ecclesiastical constitution and opera- tion. Nor should we confound the Church with figurative illustrations of real believers. The body of Christ may signify either all true believers or all pro- fessed and associated believers. The spiritual house or temple of Christ is not identical with the Church of Christ. All members of the Church ought to be saints, and may be addressed as such, but, in reality, they are not such; and the true distinction is not between a visible Church and an invisible, but between nominal and real saints, between professed and actual believers or Christians. The Church is society ; and an invisible human society is either a secret society or an absurdity, a verbal contradiction. There may be mystical or invisible beings and invisible human states and regu- lations, but not mystical or invisible human societies, except as secret or concealed. The Church is not secret or concealed, according to Scripture and to fact Human society is a sensible, visible institution, whatever be its purpose and process or the character and obligations of its members ; and the moment we beg^-n to distinguish 10 THE CHURCH IS HUMAN SOCIETY. the and divide it by invisible qualities, we wander frc right apprehension of it, into the region of cloud and mist 14. Because the Church is human society, it is ter- re^i^j. well a. visible. The distinction of "church mJit^t and "church triumphant," is un-scriptural and -proper. To any ultramundane, non -terrestrial, or celestial society, the term church {ecclma) is never ap- and church of the first-born, whose rmmes are written in heaven, should not be misunderstood, as if itself were m heaven --supposing "heaven" here to be literal and d stmct and different from the Christian society ;f earth. It differs m its composition, character, operation, and circumstances. Only below does the Church exist and operate; above there is a nobler and more durable society, consisting of men and angels, exempt from all pX:SS ''^' -' -"^^- ^^ '^^- -^ 15. It appe-rs, therefore, that he who has no visible or formal, or practical comiection with the Chm-ch, has no com^ection at all. He may be connected with Christ, by the invisible bonds of faith and hope and love; Ld because connected with the basis and bond of the spiritual temple, he is connected with the temple itself,--4h the believers m Christ Jesus ; but he is not, on that account connected with the Church; his connection is not wUh Christ, as the head of the Church, or with Christ's ser- vants as the Church itself Just as sympathy with the members of a political or literary association, ^or private friendship with its president, or intercourse with them in the common walks of life, does not constitute member- ship, so faith m Christ, as the Saviour of the worid or sympathy or occasional converse with his servants, does not constitute or involve inclusion in his Church rfrom the d and mist. , it is ter~ f "church ptural and estrial, or never ap- assembly written in tself were iteral and n, is quite ' of earth, btion, and exist and ■ durable from all ■rfect and visible, h, has no 'hrist, by *^e; ami, spiritual with the account, not with st's ser- ^th the private them in lember- orld, or ts, does CHAPTER II THE CHURCH IS CHRISTIAN SOCIETY. Human society is Of various sorts and names, and may be specifically distinguished according to its orimn its objects, or its operation. The Church is Chriiian society as wel as human. What this specific name im- ports we should carefully ascertain. 1. The term Christian denotes Biblical spiritual- ity. Humanity, the world, and the universe consist of two elements or subsistences, spirit and matter. Waiving the question respecting spirituality in inferior creatures" It IS sufficient for our present theme and purpose to observe, that by a spiritual being we mean a being exclusively spmtual, as God is and as angels are often supposed to be, or a being predominantly spiritual, as every man ought to be and as every good man reali; is buch was the spirituality of the Apostle Paul, who said- 1 keep under my body, and bring it into subjection "' bcnptural spiiituality is also the predominance of the Dmne Spint in the human : "Ye are not in the flesh but in the fepirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you '"' fepmtuality among men generally is the subjection of the body to the soul ; and Scriptural spirituality is also the subjection of the soul to God, and is tantamount to Christian religiousness. Christian religion is voluntary * 1 Cor. ix. 27. » Romans viii. fl I. ( 12 THE CHURCH IS CHRISTIAN SOCIETY. i !■ and intelligent conformity to God's revealed rights or to God's revealed will, which is the index or expression of his rights. Scientific spirituaUty is the distinction of the substance spirit from the substance matter. Moral spirituality is the predominance of the spirit over the body. Religious spirituality, which may also be called Christian or Scriptural, is the predominance of the Divine Spirit over the human, or man's conformity to the revealed will of God. , 2. Theocracy, or Divine government, is adapted to its basis and subject, creation; and is, therefore, both secular and spiritual As secular creation is subservient to spiritual, so is secular theocracy to spiritual. Both these are conjoined in the governm.ent of man, because his nature is both secular and spiritual and because he is related to both secular and spiritual beings. Christ rules the world both secularly and spu-itually, for "all power in heaven and earth" is given to him, and he is not only king of saints but king of sinnera The great social index and instrument of his spiritual sovereignty is the Church; of his secular, the nation; and hence he is "head over all things to the Church" and "King of kings and Lord of lords," king of men in both their spiritual and secular combinations. His spiritual sway may be denominated Christocracy, or Christianity ; its record and rule is the Bible, which also refers and alludes to God's secular government of man and inferior creatures, without fully developing it or formally and extendedly revealing its processes and laws. Secular and spiritual theocracy are usually distinguished as "Providence" and "Grace." 3. The Church, then, is Christian, that is, spiritual and Scriptural, not secular and not merely providential. A society may be spiritual or religious, and yet not be Christian, because not Biblical, not Christ's; and a ghts or to >ression of ion of the Moral over the be called e of the ormity to ted to its )re, both bservient I Both because ,use he is rist rules II power not only- it social ;y is the ce he is King of th their lal sway uty; its i alludes •eatures, leudedly spiritual ce" and spiritual idential. I not be and a THE CHURCH IS CHRISTIAN SOCIETY. 13 society may be Christ's, as domestic or civU society, and yet not be ecx^lesiastical, because not purely and dis- tmctively spiritual. But to be a spiritual or religious society, to be such Scripturally and comprehensively by Christ and for him, are the specific difference between the Christian Church and every other sort of human associatioa The Church is spiritual, not secular ; Scrip- tural, not rationalistic or traditional ; Christ's creation and mstrument, not man's. 4. The Church is spiritual, because it is a constituent ot spiritual theocracy. It is an element of Christ's kingdom of grace, an instrument of his redeeming power Christ s personal ministry among men was in- tended to prepare for the final era of his kingdom, which he proclaimed to be "at hand," and in which his Church was intended to perform a most conspicuous and important part. On three separate occasions, he de- clared the spirituality of his kingdom, and, therefore, of his Church. First, when he was solicited to interfere lor the partition of an inheritance, he said, "Man who made me a judge or a divider over you?"i— thus dis claiming, m his human and adventual capacity and in relation to the government for which he came to pre- pare, all secular jurisdiction, or interference with the civil authorities. Secondly, when a seat at his right hand and left, that IS exalted office and honour in his kingdom was sought for two of his disciples, by their anxious and ambitious mother, he said, " Ye know that the princes ot the Gentiles exercise dominion over them; and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it Shall not be so among you; but whosoever will be ^reat among you let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: even ^ 1 Luke xiL 14, mm ic 14 THE CHURCH IS CHRISTIAN SOCIETY. as the Son of Man "1 came not to be ministered unto I to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. Participation in his kingdom m a ministration, a service, modelled after his own, which was purely spiritual; and such participation as was sought is conferred by Christ upon those alone who are prepared of hia Father. Thirdly, on the solemn occasion of his arraignment be- fore Pilate, our Lord avowed himself a king, and inti- mated the nature of his kingdom: "My kingdom is not of this world [either in origin or nature] ; if my kingdom were of this world, [secular, coercive,] then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now is my kingdom [in its origin and nature] not from hence. Pilate, therefore, said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered. Thou sayest [i.e. idiomatically, thou sayest correctly] that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that [as a king] I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice," 2 as one of my subjecta Language could not more explicitly indicate and distinguish the spirituality of Christ's kingdom, and, therefore, the spuituality of his rectoral corporation and instrument, the Church. Christ came into the world to seek and to save that which was lost, to save sinners, to destroy the works of the devil; in other words, he came to restore mankind to the knowledge and love of God, and he constitutes, commissions, and employs his Church accordingly' "Christ also loved the Church and gave himself for it; [not that he might secularly aggrandise or secularly employ it, but] that he might sanctify and cleanse it, with the washing of water by the Word, that he might present it to himself a glorious Church, [not on account 1 Matt. XX. 25—28. "John xviii. 36, 37. THE CHURCH IS CHRISTIAN SOCIETY. ]5 Of the possession Of secular wealth, dignity and power but by] not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing- but that It should be holy and without blemish/' ^ The Church with its mystery of Jewish and Gentile inclu- sion and equality, was not intended to subserve seculaj purposes or to be distinguished by worldly wealth, policy or conformity, but to illustrate the Divine character:' io the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known, by the L^hurch, the manifold wisdom of God." 2 Nothing be- comes the Church, nothing should be found in the Church, or be conjoined to it, but what consists >vith and subserves man's spiritual interests and the Saviour's gloiy. Everything else, everything repugnant, should be discountenanced and discarded. Christ in heaven reigns spmtually and with subservient secular but imper- ceptible sway; but Christ on earth, and by his Spirit and Word and m his Church, operates only spiritually, world" ' declares~"My kingdom is not of this * 1" ^mf ^,^"'*''^ '' ^VmtUBl because its laws are spiri- taaL The law of the Church is the law of God in his Word; and "we know that the law is spiritual," 3 "the good. "This IS the law of the house; upon the top of the mountam the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house."' b. The Church is spiritual because its proper members are spmtuaL They are requiredtobe "of the truth," and to hearChrist s voice. The firstChurches consisted of baptised communicants ; and both baptism and the eucharist are ordmances of spmtual import." The three thousand, added to_th^Apostle^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^ ^ Eph. V. 25-27. .. J-EpLiiLlo: ^^^y'^i'. *Boin. vii. 12. 6 Ezek. xliii. 12. c2 iHi^'H 16 THE CHURCH IS CHRISTIAN SOCIETY. "they that gladly received Peter's word and were bap- tised/'i It was " the saved " who were afterwards added to the Church daily. The first GentUe members, or the first baptised Gentiles, were those that received the Holy Ghost, in the house of Corneliua Paul addresses the Church of God at Corinth, as " sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to bo saints ;'"' and couples "the Church of God which is at Corinth with all the saints which are in all Achaia."^ Writing "imto the churches of Galatia," he ,says, « Ye that are spuitual ; "* and he commences a discourse on ecclesiastical matters with this exordium— "Now concerning spirituals, [not 'spiritual gifts' but r 1 Cor. xu. 1. 6 1 Cor. ii. 15. 7 1 peter ii. 5. I THE CHURCH IS CHRISTIAN SOCIETY. ]7 alone which all who belong to her, or join her, should require and expect. It is not the office and design of the Church to minister to men's secular wants, to found and endow hospitals and asylums, to furnish physicians, and to promote secular education or secular prosperity, directly and formally. Her noble sphere and function is to minister to the soul's health and welfare here, and to its preparation for heaven here- after. Christians, in their extra-ecclesiastical capacity, are to do good of every kind, but in their corporate spiritual capacity they ought to walk by the same rule and mmd the same thing. So, also, the only penalties which the Church can inflict are spiritual, as "admonition " "reproof," "rebuke," "cutting off," or excision from the society. To claim, exercise, invoke, or allow secular power and penalty, on behalf of the Church, or even to con- nn^e at secular penalties for spiritual or ecclesiastical offences, is to imitate the blindness and error of the disciples who possessed to call down fire from heaven on those who rejected them, because then they knew not of what manner of spirit, distinctively and emphaticallv they should be. ■^' 8. Because the Church of Christ is spuitual it is volun- tary. Spiritual and moral action is voluntary conformity to the rights or voluntary adaptation to the happiness of others. Birth, or baptism in infancy, can confer ecclesias- tical membership only for the years of childhood, if at all. Membership in manhood is purely voluntary, whether it be the consecution of juvenile membership or original eccle- sia^ical entrance. All spiritual excellence is voluntary action or its result ; and as the Church is a purely moral and spiritual institute, all connection or co-operation with it, in ye^js of mauliood, m\ist be voluntary. To make citizenship and Church-membership coincident and inseparable is to confound the Church and the nation, c3 18 THE CHURCH IS CHRISTIAN SOCIETY. li the secular and the spiritual, and to corrupt and destroy the Church of Christ. The religious society that employs physical force, invokes it. or connives at its exercise, for religious ends, to maintain or increase ecclewastioalmem- bersmp, dishonours itself and offends against its Head No man or number of men ha« either the right to force persons into the Church, to keep them there perf-orce or to punish them for alienation or d'^sent G-^d has conferred no such power in his Word ; it is no man's birthright •, It belongs not to the State, whose province IS wholly secular ; it is altogether discordant with the nature of Christianity and the Church ; and it is wholly inappropriate to man, because no one is competent to pronounce unerringly or autho/itatively on points of re- ligious controversy Biblical interpretation, by which all religious tnith is obtniued and tested, is a personal process; no official or ecclesiastical interpretation is entitled to reception but by the voluntary scrutiny and rational conviction of the person addressed, or can rightly be promoted in the Church bub by purely spiritui means ; and no extra-ecclesiastical person is entitled to take judicial cognisance of any purely religious opinion or action. 9. The term .KK\rjam, (ecdeaia,) church, is used, in the New Testament, to denote the spiritual society of Christ in Its completeness or totality. "I will build my church;" " head overall things to the church ;" "might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God;" «' excel- ^e been is some f Paul's )lace in I where )rought 2. 20. THE CHURCH IS LOCAL CHRLSTIAN SOCIETY 2 5 of the Church, bap&mal and oucharistio celeSon be desired and preferred but +V./f , \ greatly to instruction. ThT *'"'^' P^^'^' ^^ "^^nner of an opportunity of doing good occurred And ■' thp di. -^e_» not above his Master, or the sertnt above h k '°tiU midair '?"? " " " "P""^ ^''™''-." i" Troa^^ childrpiis t;.^ +-U j , ,^JP^e» and their wives and or tht c^ h rH:^T:fth":he*^ ^™'*''' '''"^^'' and^neuioL^t^^^^^^^ ^ Acts xvi. 23-34. » Acts xx ? ft 3.x ACM XX. 7, 8. 3 ^gjg ^^. g_g D 2e THE CHUECH IS LOCAL CHRISTIAN SOCIETY. Christian Church, the fiftieth day from the Passover, must have fallen either on the Jewish or the Christian babbath ; but to determine which is not material, as either was sacred and suitable, to consummate the old dispensation and commence the new. "DaUy" after wards, with one ax^cord, the Christians continued in the temp e.^^ "Daily" the Lord added to the Church.^ Daily the mmistration of the Church to the widows took place.3 "Daily," after the settlement of the con- troversy concerning circumcision, "the churches increased m number. ^ " Daily " the noble Bereans searched the Scriptures respecting what they heard.^ "Daily" and "by the space of two years," Paul disputed in the school of one Tyrannus."« " Daily in the temple, and in every house, the Apostles ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. ^ "DaUy-Paul directs Christians to exhort one another.8 And " daily " Christ " sat teaching in the temple, m conformity with his own avowal— " I must be about my Father's busines&" Surely all these pas- sages teach us that the assemblies and services of the Church should be more than weekly The welfare of the Church and the wants of the world stUl demand daily biblical study, prayer, praise, preaching, and exhor- tatioa Nor need these, as certainly they should not be so conducted or continued as to interfere with private and domestic duty and devotioa Nor should they be allowed to depreciate the great Sabbatic services • "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's-day.-^o .. ^pon the first day ot the week, let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. ^^ Instead of making an Apostolic visit the occasion of " a great collection," Paul wished the (.hurch^to accumulate the necessary contributions 'Actsii. 46., '47; ^ vi 1 • *tvi n. s-^^: it « • „ I «H.b. iii. 13. «MaS: «Vi. sT ' RevTlJ.' '"Vjon Ul^''- THE CHURCH IS LOCAL CHEISTIAH SOCIBTY. 27 quietly regularly, and beforehand ; probably to prevent financial matters from diminishing the spiritual effi 2 and p We of hi. virit The Sabbath if a propeSe Ma«t.cal solemmties, as it was " made for man " and is reSfed H "' """ P»° Ws people isi I am with you always.". Paul cherished fnd evinced a correspondmg spirit: « Kemember." said ho T he ^of Ephesus, "that by the space of tl.ee yl" ^^not to warn every one, night and day, with 3. A Church is a CCK)pebative society Its members kbour together and for each other, /he faith :f P^i "mmtd '""?„''"^""^'™^:"'"'"^" Christians J to De kindly affectioned one to another, with brotherlv love, m honour preferring one another, and Z be oTlt TnelmX t^ir, "■"*"' »« another, to admonish one another, to salute one another, to serve one another to bear each others burdens, to forbear each Xr in We, to submit to each other, to comfort one anothe" Z consider one another, to confess faults one to anXr' to pn.y one for another, to be hospitable one Tatther and they axe prohibited from judging each other frl' and from grudging one against another. And thev are commanded to strive together for the faith „7tte a b^il 'd d"™?'",";"' P'-P'^ -these con«itl a broad and deep foundation for ecclesiastical coK>pera- ^ Matt, xxviii. 20. 'Acta TV. 31, ;P ■I I! d2 28 THE CHURCH IS LOCAL CHRLSTIAN SOCIETY. tion. A church is more than a casual crowd, an lui- orgamsed a^emblage, or a periodic convocation ; it, is a copartnership an agreement for joint spiritual laboui- and jomt spmtual benefit and usefulnei It contal the second element of society, as well a^ the first A churcn IS a,nequalitarian society, or an equipartnership. Its spintuahty makes it such, for it is to the same Diving rights, mdicated by the .same Revelation, that every man in Christendom owes conformity. In domestic society stmenW ?' Tl. P^'^Tr^' ^^^ Foprietors, axe naturally supenor to their children. In civil society, there is variety of wealth and territorial poa^ssion But in ecclesiastical society, all the members are required and Head, and therefore, to each other. Hence they are coeq-1. AU men are equally fallen, "for there ^"o ' GrdTni."' f 'f^^"^ "^ equally accepted, for God IS no respecter of persons" and makes -no difter- ence, purifymg their hearts by faith." The Church has but one Head, one record and rule, one function one gorious destiny^ God ha. made of one blood all nakon! of men; and Christ impaxts to all behevers one life the Life ; and for aJJ that love him he has prepared one glorious home, to which he conducte them byonVand the same pathway. Spirituality is the common char^teristic of Church members, and of its varieties and mutations God IS the only perfect and authoritative discemer and ludffe The conditions of ecclesiastical commmiion can never be anything but external acts, for short-sighted man can dis- cern notbng more ; and so long a. these are fulfilled, there IS, towards man or in human society, no imperfection of mernbership and no reason whatever for inequahty. The fact that Christianity recognises the distinctions ot sex and nonage is quite consistent with these views THE CHURCH IS LOCAL CHRISTIAN SOCIETY. 2i) o^^a^o^^^rr r"^ ^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^th Dinne ?emlT' ' ^"'f''' '^' ecclesia^ical province uf temales is appropriately distinctive. Womanhon-ir. . utionally unadapted to man's distincTivrworrl^d^^^^^^^ hood :s incapable of it. " The head of thZoCn J " He' ,T'f ^ '' '^" ^™ announcement to E J-! He shall rule over thee."^ Teachincr nnl m the Church are not allowed tot If b,^^^^^^^ a lowance creates merely a functional !1 ■"" d-tinction; an operative,^ot a^^lS ZZT'Z your women keep silence in the churches for i^' i . permitted unto them to speak • but to i,/, ' \ •l^ence, as also saith the kw. And if t h ""^"\^^^- anythmg, [respecting what they see and L'VT church,! let thpm -.^h +v, • , ^®^^ ^" the women lea^alXeTrh ',? *'k "'""''■" " ^'' "'« not a woman t7 ,? . '^' si-bjection. But I sufler the man Zrtn 1 ' ^^ '° """P """'"ity over Z!!:'!ij:!^^^fean™g^ eJoquence, or ' 1 Cor. xi. 8. ITiui. siv. D3 m so THE CHURCH IS LOCAL CHRISTIAN SOCIETY. any kindred peculiarity, can be no ground or reason of ecclesiastical diversity; because they are LX „ot oCrind^'^'T ^"' ^-"^'"'y subordintte t^ th objects and operations of the Christian Church. The htCthTt^ ''''•^'' '' ^^^^ ^' *^^ Head Ind the iiody The only organic superiority is Christ's- and eceTesiai.^e.eaLTdtk, "SttSh^ST tr.TrMri'^ f^"^ superiority whatevlta aw an. right Any such actuaj superiority is a sinful "nposmon. on the part of those who daim il, and a C ^bm.ss,on. on the part of those who allow it cS di^Ulows ...speet of p^onT't^nj i^tth'-r ^ Cn^'" "^'^ ^''"^ ■' " -^ «y. ^ Chris tians be not many masters; " and especially censures pecuhar respect, in Christian assembhesf to the weSv and well.att.red. All secular distinction^ are forer^^d distmctions are not organic, but functional ; not oririna] but created; not of caste, or cla.,s, or order but JS not of constrtution, but of operatioa In the Church' there can be no lordship, no maMerhood, uo fa'herho^' n<,p„needom, no aristocracy, either in name or "?;' w. hout vo atmg the plainest commands of Christ ^^h: out tramphng on the constitution of the ChuTchTnd Chtt r T ^' **»-™gthe membeZf hf Church Emulation, pride, and ambition should seek of Christ'TT "'""'"' ^"^ *^P'^^ "-" *« Chuth of Chnst, which IS not intended or permitted to be a theatre or arena for the rivahy, ostenWlon, and pLsiont of mankind, but a fold for the flock and a ^ehicleTthe truth of our Saviour and Lord. THE CHUBCH IS LOCAL CHKISTUN SOCIETY. 31 rials' or" rf""'' r""^^' ""^'"^'"'^ equality of eccle- ^^rj^^f"''"' ,«»,^«'y be inculcated and enlorced with too much labour, frequency and emr,h» »; be^uBe it is primary and pernltiv^' 'a^j c^!; o the Church; and because the neglect of it has ineffa- cLSiit'r ''■' ''''^''' -' '"""'<'''' ^'e hoo^d ^"T"" '*^'' f u"* '''^' * «•""* i' -^ •'■•Other, hood, a commonwealth, a feUowship, whose members consequently are coequal Brethren are of onTrreM age and one blo«,l. Members of a commonweXhavl feUow^disriples,. felwltus'^hTtnra^d'ff bo.Jy,3 fellow-servants,' f«:iow-soldie,3,= fellow-worZ' ever shaU do the wHl of my Father, which is in heaven the >same 18 my brother, and sister, aid mother "ch2' Sons tlr ^- '^' P"^'"^ ^"^ ^^^* <^««« of the natons,thatis,lnce civil rulers; and directs that who- evei aspires to be great should minister, or to be Thief ^^Zt^'1^ 1 ^^^ -^ ministratit:^o J^ greatest, m his kingdom, is illustrated by the KM *Col. iv. 11. 20—28. P o. tph, jii. 6. 9 Matt. xii. 50. i« Matt. xz. 82 THE CHURCH IS LOCAL CHRISTIAN SOCIETY. character and conduct Of childhood, not by the assume tion or acceptance of titles and honours and not bvTp" usurpation or exercise of Inr-iok- T ^ ^"® Churnh f^ ""'/.^^^f se ot lordship and author ty.^ The prtit I f ™"""™"'' '^'"^ ">«»» ">"' "i .he pnmmve eccles,a.t,. or ChrWana, were collected and COEQUAL, or were a collected commonwealth •■ aS tiling common" do not mean, a. is .eueraUv .tr^ pnvate »ecu arities in the vTrse following < r„d„,d «»^z«^ «.«"-the'fl;t chiisti^rtd t precedinem that aught of the tlT wMe t TTT """ ^T """'• >"■' *•>«> h-'l "" thin°» elmmon ■ Nether w=. there any among them that koked fori many as were possessors of lands or hoi„e« «„Ll *i and brought the prices of the Tl, T' *""'' -dl^id^henidZ^tlif^S^trZlt' ^^_neea^n the second chapter of the Acts, we ' Matt, xviii. 1--4. 2 Acts ii. 44. ^ Acta iv. 32, 34, 35. THE CHURCH IS LOCAL CHRISTIAN SOCIOTY; 33 are informed of the liberality of believers, individu- aUy and directly; xn this chapter we are infonned of the munificent contributioas of believers to the fmids of the Church and the ample supply thence afforded to al the needy, so that no believer lacked The nghts and the reality of private property are ex- S^th^rr' '^ ^^^"' "^ ^"^ addrerto Ananias: whist the land remamed unsold, "Waa it not thine ONvn ? and after it wa^ sold, Wa. it not in thine own power ?"» At hrst, each believer ministered to his brethren's need ; afterwards the Church acted a. almoner, a.id each ct7Z' T ""^ '^ ^' ""^^^y' contributed to the thurchs treasury. These contributions were most ofZ / ^"t^^^^^>^ ^^'^ largely given, without diking ofov^ k"^ ,°' ''^^'^^y adverting to consideration^ of ownership and economy. The first Churchmen were IrSt. Tr^""?'"' ^"' '^'^''''' ecclesiastical com- mumsta Their real estate was "their own," and their personal esUte was " in their own power ; " ^et they mo^t generously and adequately contributed t'o the finances" the Church ; and, m the Church itself, there was perfect equality as respects both the spiritual and teCra COMMON. Accordingly, to Christians and Churches belong a "common faith"and a "common sai;;^'^ The distmctions of secular policy, peculiarity, prejudice and class, are altogether alien to the Church f " Where there IS neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor unci! cumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond, free; but cS ^s aJl and m all- « Ye ai-e all one [all equal] in ChSt blood so ol r'"" '^"^^'^ ^ ^^^^*^^ ^y ^«^^^«-^ of blood so Chnstian or ecclesiastical equality is denoted by oneness or samenesa To ecclesiasts belong oneness 'Act8v.4. 3 Titus i. 4. JudeS. sCol.ulH. ''Gal. iii. 28. It! 8* THE CHURCH 18 LOCAL CHMSTUN SOCIBTV. Of body and bread ;■ oneness of husband, head and master H oneness of Lord, faith, hope, and baptism^ oneness of labour, accord, spirit, aS mind.< They are not „„ly members together but members of each other members interpenetratingly, thoroughly Z,h t "'f ■'^'V""'' ^^-7 -""^ ™enTbe« one of Temt; I Z ''r™'"' "« "'°' "f e«le»iastical andof tT "' \"'^ •'"' °' ^""•^ «*'^ "'J endowment,, and of ecclesiastical appointment and operation " 411 members have not the same #«," and all have "gift, differing according t» the grace that is given "them' The diversities of the Church are not .Smposite but .rfrv'Trf ""• '"' "®™"' ■»' "'*• "-"t Facti«^ no essen lal but circumstantial. Variety of persona gifts resuUs from variety of 'Divine endowment wisdom, knowkdge, faith, gifts of healing, working „ miracles, prophecy, discerning of spiriH dLs kind! „ us that al these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will "'I personal variety is the gift and operation of God Z ctltr A ;r'r" *■"' ^ -"^ °i--«» °f the ,>, wt . ^t"""^ " " """"^ °f "l-^H admitting to It. fellowship the same beings, men ; on the sameterSi by the same methods; and to the same position and prm ege^ Its mambe.^ are coequal priests and dL^, forming "a royal priesthood, a holy natioa''« AlS were not priests, but all Christians are, in the sole ITJ ^condary sense in which priesthood is ^t all prrdTcaWe of mere man. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the only proZ pnestrnthe^inive^^nd under Wm all Christ^rSe THE CHURCH IS LOCAL CHRISTIAN SOCIinT. 35 dotal office and Bemce, are the peculiarities of Christian mmisters ; and these peculiarities, as will be proved, are not aboriginal but acquired, not orders but offices not seU'-perpetuatmg but ecclesiastically created and 'con- lerred. In few words, the members of a church are essentially equal and circumstantially diverse ; a church 18 equal in its composition and unequal in its creations Xe" r'^^r^'^ Y' ^--«e in the representative office and authority which itself confers Signfficant Scripture facts illustrate ecclesiastical equal- wL.fVv. ^'*'' ^^^ '^"^^ "P ^ Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him, saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised and didst eat with them "^ Nothing like condemnation of this style of opposition to the foreman of the Apostles is intimated ; the fact is re- corded as a matter of course ; and Peter defended him- selt, not by an assertion of prerogative and power but bv a statement of fa.ts and of their kindred prLple's The opponents of Pet^r were wrong in their theology, but right m the exercise of their freedom and fraternity The contrast of modem ecclesiastical dictation and despotism is most, apparent and striking Inequality in the Church is, in one instance, recorded a^ the claim of a mahcwas prater, and is predicted, in others, a. a foul apostacy. " Diotrephes, who loveth to have the pre-emmence among them, receiveth us not Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he dueth, prating again^ us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and cast- eth them out of the Church.- The love of pre-eminence and the practice of expelling are thus naturally conjoined. *ActsxL 2, 3. '3 John 9, 10. ;i [l 99 THE CHURCH IS LOCAL CHRISTIAN SOCIETV. The claim of pre-ominence, in a society of eq.ials, occasions m opposition that nothing can conquer but the practical pre-eminence of the claimants or the expulsion of the dis- sidents " The Jews had agreed already that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue."! The carnal Jews expelled from the syna- gogue ; theambiticuH and intolerant Diotrephes expelled from the Church ; and of both, whose spirit is one, there have been, and still ar. , too many imitators. " The man of am, ' ''the son of perdition," is prophetically de.scribed as one "that exalteth himself."^ The mystic whore sits proudly enthroned, on many waters.^ The mystic Baby- ion sits as a queen, and glorifies herself.* There is one passage in the New Testament ^hich alone is sufficient to prove, and ought to be auffi. .ent to secure, Christian co-ordination, and which may well be styled the canon of ecclesiiistical ec^uality : "One is your Master, Christ ; and all ye are brethren." 4. A Church is a curatorial Society. It implies kind caretaking as well as concourse and co-operation, because It IS not founded and formed by selfishness or mere jus- tice, but by benevolence and brotherly love. The mem- bers are commanded to love one another, to be kindly affectioned one toward another, with brotherly love in aouour preferring one another, and to be of the sime mmd one toward another ; and, in these precepts, much more than co-operative justice or equitable partnership i:. meant. " Let no man seek his own, but every man another"a"« "Look not every man on his own thino-s but every man also on the things of othera"" "The members should have the same care one for another "7 A Inshop should know how to " take care of the church . Eccles ia stical c are is both common and ' John ix. 22. « 2 Tliess. ii 4 3 Pp., „,.:: , Tn ^^HT" •' 1 r..r V 94 6I>1 r • i ,, ^^"- ^- * Rev. xvm. 7. 1 Oor. X. 24. Philipp. u. 4. 7 1 (Jo,, xii. 25. 8 1 xim. iii. 6. THE CHURCH IS LOCiL CHRISTIAV SOC-ICTY. 37 special, because it is exerciHed between «1I f. berj^and between the official n.enXrs 1] i 'k""'"^" . The distinction between a c I ," h an f. ^^^''' 's plain and palpable. A church t 2 '""^^«^*'"» gation of professed believersto whr .? ""''' '••"^"- ia preached and "their "" *^^ '^^'••' ^^ «'>'l -^Vemi.:!!^^^^ but a aasemblage periodically orotaTLX for^^t^r ^ ^ or spiritual purposes, to receivo insTn^;tro„ o '''"^^ «ome policy, or to realise some ple^we ^ K ^ ""'f there may be public congregl ion wW o\ t th^^^^^^ ' or existence of a society. A ZIT^^^^' ^T^''"" or crowd, under no enLemep V?; '\'*, ^^*h«"^g enumeration, without z-^cf^te" c /eh T ''' "^'''^"^ policy; a co-open^tive soSlt; i; a tt: • ^ Ef ^ ' J persons, pledged to conjoint purpr and ;^ P^"'^^'*^' . «* "oi^ly existing, with fixed coZcatiol 1 ? T.f " «h^P of sentiment, salutation, ZTZr \ ^^ ^'f not mere gregariousness. There mavh. ''^ '' of Christians, for Cl.ri^i.T^:Z.^^, '^^^^^^^^ ha;, been formed, or in some other canadtv L^^ T^ o. a church. If a congregation in fcW^S and during the ti^ne of^J^fristi^; wor^hS^^^^^^^ the most sceptical and immoral of/ 7 ^'^"''^^' worship may^be memLrrtt cWht ^k ^"'^'^ fact of their attendance ; and ^en th? . ^ '^" ""''' dissolved, the church ceases sLh is 1 1 tTf^'" w " T account of a church. It wa. not a Xtlon of mT"''' gregations that Christ determined tn^n ''^ "^^^'^ ««»- but well-or-mnised nnW T^ ^""^"^ "P^" ^ ^ock, «ii organised and continuous association Tu ^ Acts xix. 39 — IL ~ " " "^ I E 38 THE CHURCH IS LOCAL CHRISTIAN SOCIETY. tion in the nomenclature of Christianity, must be obtained by a collection and induction of its Scriptural uses. It is not agaiast mere congregations that the gates of hell are vainly arrayed. It is not to the cognisance and con- trol of a mere congregation that Christians are to submit their undeterminable disputes. It was not to a mere gathering in .the upper room, the synagogue, or the tem- ple, that the daily additions of the saved were made. It is not among mere congregational attendants that mutual salutation, labour, love, honour, sympathy, and care are to be observed, but among definite and known associates. Hence the church is named, in several places, a k&ino- nia} (Koivavia) which signifies society, fellowship, com- munion, participation. Such a society as we have proved a church to be, evidently and necessarily implies registration. The rights, duties, and interests of a large number of co- partners cannot be secured, without the most exact and careful registration of each and all. Those who esteem, love, and honour each other, and who truly care for each other, must be able to distinguish and recognise one another ; and they cannot do this without an accurate catalogue of the society which they constitute. The enumeration and enrolment of the primitive churches are noted in the New Testament. The Apostles were twelve ; several disciples awaited the day of Pentecost, "the number of whose names together was about an hundred and twenty ;" the Pentecostal additions were " about three thousand souls." Afler the healing of the lame man, "many of them which heard the word believed ; and the number of the men was about five thousand." Subsequently, " multitudes, both of men and women, wore added to the Lord." The number of the 1 Act';. iL 42 ; 1 Cor. L 9 ; Gal. ii. 9 ; PhiUpp. L 5. FY. ) obtained uses. It es of hell and con- ;o submit a mere the tem- lade. It it mutual care are ssociates. a koino- ip, com- h to be, 1. The T of CO- xact and ' esteem, for each lise one accuratie «. The ;hurches les were jntecost, bout an •ns were ? of the e word •out five nenand r of the THE CHUBCH IS LOCAL CHRISTIAN SOCIETY 39 te deacons, in the first church of Jerusalem, was seven Afterwards, "the number of the disciples llti^lLd hi Jerusalem greatly, and a great company of the pries" ^mL: t^r '; *'? 'f •: ^^- - - toil z many thousands of the Jews" believed. "Two or three can constitute a church; for, in connection with he comma^d--«tell it unto the church"-and with the ecclesiastical power of binding and loosing, Christ has promised that "where two or three are gathered together m my name, there am I in the midst of them ' The wisdom and goodness of the Head of the churcii ire apparent, m thus conferring on the smallest plurality of ^Zt ^. T ?. '^^"^ "^^^^^^«' *h« ^«^ount of its membei^hip should be influenced by convenient dis- T^JT' V f'^lf assemblage, the capa.ty of the ecclesiastical edifice and the practicability of interests of Christianity, considered in thdr various aspect. A place of worship should be of such a sSe only as comports with the general audibleness of the r.??^ 1 ^'^T^' ^"^ P"^^^^^^- The extremes of melei f' ^^?"^«^*^-? ^^^s, by the admission of members from inconvenient distances, or beyond the CndT^'''^^'"^ oversight and care, on'the one hand and of weakemng an original church by creatine sTouLb 'T. '^^'^^* ^^"^^'^^«' - the other h5 should be avoided with enlightened and religious prudence! Ecclesiastical registration impHes names as well as bretr- t?' '^"\^' "^'^ '^^^^"^ ^--^ -4 for it Ls' «1h '""'^" ^'''^' '' P""^"^y ^^^ pre-eminent, tor It IS 'above every name." Next to him, in the ZZ "pf ^'Tt' "^ *'^ ^^-« ^^ *h^ *-5v p£] n? . TK ' ^"^^ ^^'^''' ^^^ J^^^' a^d Andrew, Plnhp and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James! e2 40 THE CHUECH IS LOCAL CHRLSTIAN SOCIETY. brother of James/' and la^t of all, as "of one bom out ofduetxme/' " Saul, of Tarsus, who is also called^Pa^* Followmg these ,s " Maiy, the mother of Jesua"^ Those itllTT'^ '^^ ^'™ ''' ""^^^"^ ^^ *^^ ^l^"r-h were appeUatavely as well a^ numerically registered, for "the number of the names together wa.s about an hundred and twenty/' "Joseph, called Barsaba«, who was sur- or fillmg up the vacancy m the duodecimal testimony to mIi. V. resun-ection; and "the lot fell upon Mathia^ and he wa^ numbered with the eleven apos- tles. ^^ Joses, who, by the apostles, was surnamed Bar- nabas, u. recorded for his liberality to the church, and tor his zealous labours. Ananias and Sapphira are the tZhru'^Tj "^" '^'''^''^y ^''^ consequent sudden S ^ - "f* "^^^"^ ^^'^ "Stephen, a man fuU of fajth, and ot the Holy Ghost," the first martyr, "and Philip and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and i'armena^, and Nicolas, a proselyte of Antioch." The name of Simon has become the opprobrious and perma- nent indication of his sin, by whomsoever imitated. Anamas is associated with Paul's convei-sion. Eneas was miracdous y cured of an eight-years' palsy. Dorcas miraculously restored to Hfe, has become L standi^^ designation of charitable associations for clothina the poor^ The gospel was first preached and the church was first opened, to the Gentiles, in the house of Come- hua There are other honourable names in the church's mspu-ed records, that must appear at subsequent stages ot our ecclesiastical research. Next to the honour of registration above is the honour of registration in the church below It is the fault of 'Acts 1. IX. THE CHUBCH 13 LOCAL CHRISTIAN SraBTY. 41 eccle^ts themselves if the two regislrations are not Church of the first-bom are written in heaven. It is n' i? r f'^f "' ^^'y ^'''^^ *» !-« ^"olled every church to keep accurate catalogues of its members' names, and a careful record of eviy admisaon,"xdu- sion, transfer, or withdrawal 5. A church is a CONDITIONAl Society. .Evervvolun- taiy society .mpUes conditions of com.ection. if it mZ »ythmg more than a congregation or crowd.' A sodlty ^not admit persons mdiscrimmately and informally, H tt T"?""? ■'* '^'*^'^'™ i"**'^^ »<1 existence If the church admit the world, aa such, within its pale ^e church and the world must soon become one.'^.nd the fonner, consequently, entirely cease. Those who were added to the one hundred and twenty, on the day of Pentecost are described as fi.^ inquiriniL.. Men and brethren, what shall we do!"^d,'secondly, as gMy receiving apostolic truth; for, "then," iW P^i an^rer to the inquirers and withou; further dX ether m exammation, prayer, or preaching, "they that gadly received his word were baptized, ^d the sTe day there were added tliree thousand soula- iTZ Svta"; .""\=^'"«"" f the one hundred an^d twenty that is, entrance or admission into the church ook pace by baptism, and that the condition or pre! requisite of baptism was professed beUef of the tr^th. Ihey that were baptized are described simply as thev that asked and accepted Peter's teaching" L? their l^ptism constituted their addition, for the I'atement of the latter follows immediately the statement of the forme. Professed faith, therefore, is the conditiJl^ 'Acta ii. 37 41. e3 42 THE CHURCH IS LOCAL CHRISTIAN SOCIETY. ecclesiastical admisHion, and baptism is the mode So also, the first ultra -Jerusalemite church was formed among the Samaritans, consisting of professed believers ecclesiastically incorporated by baptism. " When they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Then Simon' himself, believed also; and, when he was baptized, he continued with Philip.»x This passage, too, is precedent and authority for the baptism of females. The Ethio- pian eunuch was baptized after insti-uction, which he sought and, probably, professed to receive ;2 we say probably, because the 37th verse is doubtful, if not de- cidedly spurioua Saul of Tarsus was baptized after conviction, a message of mercy to him from Christ, and the ^ft of the Holy Ghost, implying faith on Saul^s part.^ Ihe first Gentile members of the church Avere received by baptism, after apostoHc teaching and the gift of the Holy Ghost.'' Lydia was baptized after her heart was opened, "that she attended to the thmgs that were spoken of Paul.»5 The Philippian jailor was baptized alter earnest mquiry and apostolic direction.* About twelve of John's disciples were united to the church by baptism, after Pauline instruction.^ In Corinth, baptism was administered to believers : "And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord %vith all his hou£e; and many of the Corinthians hearing, believed ana were baptized.''^ tj^„, ^j^ ^^^ Apostles, mth their fellow-labourers, fulfil the commission of Christ to teach and baptize.^ The continuance, as well as the commencement, of ecclesiastical mem bership, implies conditions. The con- Mctsyiii. 12, 13. "Acts viii. 26-38. ^Acta ix 1 IS ^ ^o,. , THE CHURCH IS LOCAL CHRISTIAN SOClBTy. 13 tinuan<» «- aa voluntary a» the oommenoement, and should be m smtably spiritual. an,i for the ».me relso J It L, as inconsistent with the character and interests of a religious society to tolerate evil, originating wilhb, as evil inttoduced from without. The ^■o/esJ^ eccfesiastical communion, the eu^>u,,-ist iTIe ordmance for co««„«i^ it The members of the church are obliged, by their veiy position, to be split ^ual ^..ons, and their spirituality cVnsiste In conformU; to the laws, which, as we have seen, are implied in a ^TfT*^- ^^^f- to receive the Jlaws L a iMrt of Christian truth, and the church accepts the profession m baptism. They profess to practise thes^ aws by receiving the euchar^ and the cL^h ac epS the profession by sharing the eucharist. The euchark t >r'J ''™"'""'«'«<' " 'h^ commmiion,"' because it mdiKites communion with both the church and its .?r^'.-. fT'^"''"'^ *"*'■ *' P'^-tecostal baptism, it is said— And they continued stedfastly in the Apostles' prayers. The ongmal, rr, KXaan rov aprov, should be ren- dered, "the breaking of the bread;" tha^ is, the eucha- r^ic or communion bread. Ordinary social eating is referred to m the following verse: "And breaking bread m the house, did eat their meat with gladnesfanu' snip ot the apostles, .o..«.t«, is connected mth their doctnne or teaching; and both these are comiected with the eucharist and with prayers. Just as the three thousand commenced to be members of the church m ' 1 Cor. X. 16. ^Actsii. 42. ^ Acts ii. 46. 44 THE CHUKCH IS LOCAL CHRISTIAN SOCIETY. by :..r^tL;m, so they "continued" to be members, or fonr- iJy contmued in the apostolic communion and truth, by continuing in the eucharistic and devotionaJ services of ine church. Regarding the eucharist n. th.^ expression or formal avowal of Christian feUowshif, tL. apostle say8-«Yo cannot drink the cup of the Lor'i .i>d the cup of devils; yo cftnnot be partakers ..t the Lord's table and of tiie table of devila''^ He prohibits eaik-g and drmking to satisfy the appetite, in Haeir ecclesiastical a^embhes; explains the mk,xe of the eucharist, whi(rh, they came " together into one place" tc cel^hrat^: and says « if any man hunger let b i a eat at homf ; "^ Baptism, then, is the rite of ecclesia^ical adh-ion- the aoor of the chmvh,-*he badge, mark, sign or token ot admiss.0.. The euchari.t is the rite of ecclesiastical continuance and ::orAniumoii,-.the badge, mark, sign, or token ot eccien ..^l.«i fellowship. Baptism ecck.Ltic- ^ly imtxitea ; tne euc'harist ecclesiastically reco-misea Baptism distinguishes those that enter the churcirfrom those that reniain without ; the eucharist distingci^hes those that rem.^in within from those that return without Baptidin IS the formal expression of ecclesiastical incor- poration ; the eucharist is the formal expression of eccle- siastical efficiency. To appreciate them, in their ecclesi- astical import and use, it is unnecessary to digress bv examinmg their symbolical sense, which belongs to another stage of systematic theology ; and to advert to the agents or methods of baptismal and eucharistic cele- bration were needlessly and inconveniently to anticipate It 18 important to note and remember that nothing can be either rendered or received, between man and man, as a term or condition of fellowship, but acts Acts are indicative, as the orally or writtenly professed belief '1 Cor. X. 21. ' 1 Cor. xi. 20-34. hi|(, lh»» THE CHURCH IS LOCAL CHRLSTUN SOCIETY. 45 fL^l ^'T ' "^^ ^'^ ^cutvve, the fulfilment of inten- tion, a. the vanous actions that achmve and develope Whether oral, pedal, or manual, is both indicative and executzve, because it Ib the development and fufilment o some mtentxon; but oral acts, pre-eminently, Tulfi ^e office of mdication. Words are indicative actk We and ^n, therefore, reasonably require or receive no term of co-operation but some act or acts. Hence the danl^ of rootmg up the wheat, in attempting, to gather und? ^e ^es ; and the very great importance ttt Zch^ H^Z «f .commumoa To require more than Mich acts IS usurpation and arrogance ; to require less is atitudmanamsm and unfaithfulness. Eve^ caldTdlte for church-membership must judge for h7m^ wht terms he can Scnptm-ally accept ; and everv church must and bound to mamtain. By all parties it should never S forgotten that the only permissible and proper terms ar^ such acts a. Christ, in his word, requires NOTHi^^L^ ^ " '"'™' ^ "" ^^"^^^^' ^hat NOTHING CAN BE SCRIPTORALLY ESSENTIAL TO FEI LOWSHIP THAT IS NOT ESSENTL^ TO SALVATION Or^ hat NOTHING CAN BE SCRIPTUBALLY ESSENTIAL TO 'pEL LOWSHIP WITH MAN THAT IS NOT ESSENTL.L TO^w' SHIP WITH Gob. The end of Christianity irmr; ^Ivation, and to this end the church can be nothingTut a meana Means are necessarily subordinate toTnds and, therefore, though the conditions of fellowship ma^ Sf A iT "T *"""^'' *^^ conditionsTfri! vation. A le^ end cannot demand or imply greater means; and hence, admission to the chufch ^nnot ™ply more or greater conditions than adnl"n t 46 THE CHURCH IS LOCAL CHRISTIAN SOCIETY. heaven, or acceptance with the church be more difficult than acceptance with God. These views are as Scrip- tural as they are rational, for the apostle teaches us that churches should receive those whom they have reason to beheve God himself ha^ received ; and receive them too, in a correspondent mamier : " Him that is weak iii bt 'M « T'""-^ ye • . . for God hath received mm Keceive ye one another, as Chnst also received us, to the glory of God."^ Scarcely anything can be more presumptuous and impious than the reverse of these precepta How dare any church reject those whom It believes God ha. accepted, by either refusing ^• mthdrawing its fellowship ? ShaU the servants thus uSult then- Master, and oppress each other ? If so, let them remember the reckoning and the retribution. It IS time that such substitutes for Scripture, such practical rivals and obscurers of Scripture, a. human articles, creeds, and confessions, should, as standards be dismissed by the churches of Christ Let ever^ cnurch mterpret for itself, and a. occasion requires, the Scriptural terms of communion; and let every individual do the same. It is high time, too, that term, of commmnon should be not only substan- tially but simply Scriptural. The broad charity of the gospel should characterise every church and embrace every truly Christicm candidate for communion I ^\»ot dogmatic or circumstantial uniformity that churches should study and seek, but Christian vitality and fidehty. Strength of faith is not the test of eccle- siastical membership ; for " him that is weak in the faith receive ye." Luminosity of faith is not the test • tor the pnmitive churches comprehended Jews who clung to their antiquated forms, and could not clearly see ^ Romans xiv. 1—3. « Romans xv. 7. THE CHtmCH IS LOCAL CHRISTIAN SOCICTY. 47 the sijaple and superior beauty of the latter covenant. No church has a nght to demand perfection or umformity of fcth as a eondmon of communion; or either to withhold or to withdraw its fellowship on account of mere feeWe- er^r tftle? T,T^'f' -"^-'y. <" oircumstltW error of belief. Let us, therefore, as many as bo Der- fect, bo thus mmded ; and if in anything ye te otter- uTo r'r" (':•-*--;-) «od shiJ refell even thL unto you • If m anythmg ye be heterodoxical savs the a,K>stle If in anything ye differ from the peTekTe^ ^ i. f "". ^"'^ "'™ ins'n-etioa. Happy is ™L !, ." """""l*" """^ -dgodJike spirit'^r^ X'rJur'f cS."'*' "^^ ""- " permeates" au'the rodMrr*"'-" f^'^"'' ^''^'' perfection and hete- rodoxy 18 eqnivaJent to the distinction of essential and circumstantial The distinctive line camiorte d^T™ for all, as It IS moral and individual What is esiS m one case, or iu one set of circumstances, mayTotte must judge for themselves, m each particular case It « scarcely possible to condemn, in toVstrong te^' th' audacity ha draws the distinction for aU, as it U were mathematical and not moral . »» u it were * Philippiacs iii. 15, S.e R«y. R. Hall "On T.m. „! Communion.- CHAPTER TV. ECCT.ESIASTICAL DEFINITION. Definition always presupposes inquiry, whether it pre- cedes or follows delineation. It is always last in the thmk. : s mind, though often first in the author's method. J^mality, m both respects, befits the present undertaking We have seen what the church is, ^^enerically, specificallv and particularly ; let us endeavour to distil into definition our researches and results. Ecclesiastical definition depends :pon the two distinct senses of the term " church," a. aggregate and a^ indi- vidual, or as comprehensive and as locaL The genus society, belon.; to another department of human knou- edge, though introduced into this inquiry, to develope the ecclesiastical basis and to illustrate the hiildinV The Bibhcal sense of tlie term "church" is twofold and IS coincident with the Lgicai or scientifi distinction ot species and individual. !• '^^.^^f'^ ^ "brisl. from if rise to ! s consum- mation and throughout its whole extent, maybe defined according to its origin, relations, and compositior) as the spmtual societ, -reatea by Christ, tK ugh his Apostles, m the city of Jerusalem, on the day of PentecoS^ and afterwards amplified m the house of a. .eiiu., to serve as the great social and final instrur, nt ar ' development of his redeeming sway. Or, it ma.- d .ed more brietiy ECCLESIASTICAL DEPIi.ITION. 49 ^Christ's spiritual and final social institute; or, as Olmst 8 new-covenant spiritual society. 2. The totality is more easily described and less dis- puted than the particular. But it is important to d^cri^ both to know both the church and a church. A Turch IS not merely a spiritual or religious society, for it is eZ conceive of a religious society which Cl^Jist J^l n "^ recognise as his own. A church is not merely a Chris IrnoTT' : *'"t "^^ "^^'^^ ^^"^^^-^ ---ties whfch Soci'v "«', -*^- -tensibly or really, as the Bible tjociety, the Religious Tract and Missionary Societies the spiritual or Chnstuvu society called a church? Is It the offices or official mini rations of bishops and deacons? Certainly not these, for it has been iTn that ecclesiastical society is equalitarian, and camiot consist in an V internal superiority or peculiarity ; and it will be shown, m the sequel, more formally and fully, that such T^o^l T"? "u^^""' "°* '^' oUituents, of a church, and imply the church's prior existence- r^ n^n '' ^* ^ ?^^^^« *>* th°"gh a church may lose' iVPastor or its deacons, by resignation or decease, its own xxstence as a church does not cease, and is not 8u.spenaed n the interval of two pastorates or two dia- ^natea • Biblical teaching that constitutes a church? There « thi« .n . '^ible-class, which yet is not a church. Such teaching is the operation of a church, not the ZTk '\^l ''^'^^"*^^" ^^ ^^P^^"^ ^^ *he eucha! rist ? If so, all the societies of the Friends or Quake are out of the pale of the caurch. Besides, baptizing and comnjumng, like teaching, are not ecclesLicat elements but fimctions; they are not what th. church ^ but what the church does. Is it succession, eifc ecclesia^ical or clerical, either prelancal or presb .ria'' If so, histoncal reading, research, and skill, on 'a most F . iXW 50 ECCLKSIA«T1CAL DI FLNITION. extended and operose scale, are essential to the discri- niiuation and identification of a Christian church ; and the great mass of Christians, who cannot be accoui- plished genealogists and historians, nuist live and die without any assurance of their inclusion in a true church. Christianity ia not so ponderous, so unadapted and impracticable as thi ; and it is not deficient and d< pen- dent, as the successional hypothesis makes it, not reliant on history or tradition for its ecclesiastical evidence and efficiency, but complete and self-sufticient in its biblical record and rule. Besides, on the successional supposi- tion, a few unofficial Christians, cast upon a remote and desert islaad, coidd not form a church, and could not, as a church, claim the obviously ecclesiastical and gra- cious promise of Christ's presence with two or three of his assembled disciples. The true distinction of a church is not that it is consecutive to the primitive churches but CONFORMED to them, in constitution an.i operation. A church is a society, constructed and con(hicted in accordance vnth the whole New Testutnent. It is not a society that merely seeks to circulate the Bible, like the Bible Society; or to embody Bii)lical teaching and triumphs in circulated tracts, like the Religious Tract Society ; or that merely sends forth and sustains Christian messengers, like a Missionary Society ; or that seeks to promote the communion and combined action of various churches, like the Evangelical Alliance ; but it is a local society, aiming and endeavouring to be and to do all that Christ requires. Its distinctiveness, its peculiarity, its stamp and mark, consist in the completeness of its actual or attempted conformity to the word of God. We may call it a New Testament local so- ciety, or an apostolical local society; though these expressions are not wholly unambiguous, since they are used in various senses. In the course of this inquiry, / y FX'CLESIASTICAL DEFINITION. 51 we have seen that a church ia a Christian society, local, convocational, co-operative, curatorial, and conditional \ but the bare raentioii of these characters is not satisfac- tory, since it does nut specify what is of prime- importance —the conditions of communion. The description which, we think, best combines brevity and perspicuity is to say that a church is a local society constitutfj) and CONDUCTRD IN CONFORMITY TO THE WHOLE NEW TESTA- MENT. This conformity is probably only approximative in all churches ; greater in some than others ; and sul)- stantially and truly obtaining in every society that r(;ally desires and endeavours to know and do the whole will of Christ. Of this conformity, every church must judge for itself; and every individual also must judge of it for himself, in accordance with the fact that religion is a personal possession and process, if ho desires to select his own home among the variety of churches. How far a society can deviate from the New Testament, without unchurching itself, or how far it nmst approximate the New Testament rule and model, in order to be a church, it IT not competent to any man absolutely to say! Conformity to the New Testament, on the part of both societies and individuals, is a moral process, that eom- prehends perceptions, feeling.s, and intentions, as \vA\ as actions, and that admits of variety of circumstances, either helping or hindering; the only competent and' rightful judge of all these, in relation to all churches and individuals, is God ; but each man must judge of them, in relation to himself, in order to be personally con- formed to the revealed will of God. Jnst as idioiogical science is presupposed in sociological, so individual con- formity to the Scriptures is presupposed in ecclesiastical. No local aggregation of spiritually dead men can make a church. There must be per onal piety, the life of God in individual souls, or else the he t-concerted theological F 2 5i ECCLESIASTICAL DEHNITION. scheme and the best-constructed ecclesiasm will but resemble the valley of bones, in which the osseous matenaJs were probably bleached, as well as numerous, but very dry." A Scriptuml chun^h is not a machine but an organism, vital, spiritual, divine ; a residence of the reignmg Redeemer ; a local, convocational, co-opem- tive, cm'atonal society, seeking full conformity to its revealed record and rule, in its communion and its con- h^r^hii ^' f««f osseous umerous, machine idence of co-opera- y to its its con- glorious 3 in the 5 praise ; ds forth PART II. ^t ®iish of tl^t Cjiiirtl. f3 '\ I ORIGIN OF THE CHURCH. The proper course of inquiry is from nature to origin, from genus to genesis. The study of composition pre- cedes the study of cause. We first ascertain and assort phenomena, and then account for them. This order is both customary and philosophical, and quadrates with the instinctive impulse of every man to ask, first of all, what is this ? and then, whence is it ? It is not idle curiosity that prompts us, in this order, to the study of causas ; but the love of truth, and natural deah's for the value of causational knowledge. To avoid or obtab tiie repetition of a change, we must know the cause ; md, in many instances, to appreciate t. change or a structure, we must know the origin. To be able to account satisfactorily for phenomena is one of our highest gratifications, and one of our greatest mental helpa To know tie origin of an institution, as human or divine, as good or bad, a^. noble or ignoble, materially aids in the right apprehension and use of it. The inquiry respecting the origin of the Church of Christ is peculiarly moment- ous and interesting, on account of the Church's nature, age, operations, and claims. The origin of any institution comprehends author and instrument, time, place, and manner of fonnation. The 56 OEIOIN OF THE CHURCH. church IS of Divine or Mt^ssianic authorship, by apos- tohcal instrumentality, of Pentecostal and Palestinian rise, and of corresponding method of formation. Tlie .subject of investigation is not the origin of an ecclesiasti- cal section, part, or party, but of tlie ecclesiastical insti- tute generally ; not of « church, but oUhe Church ; not of an individual specimen, but of the whole species % I ' apos- stinian The 3siasti- l insti- i ; not CHAPTER I EFFICIENT OEIGIN. THE CHURCH IS DIVINE, BECAUSE OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST CREATED IT. God alone is able to devise and construct such an insti- tute as the Church. It has neither rival nor parallel among human institutions, because it is not human but divine. Its permanence, progress and prospects are evidences of its celestial origin. In its combined simpli- city and sufficiency, its obscure rise and glorious develop- ment, its secular unattractiveness and spiritual success, it bespeaks the wisdom, power, and goodness that intro^ duced it among men, to be the choicest social instrument of light and life, of benefit and blessing, to our lapsed and ruined race. The Church is divine because it is an element or constituent of divine government, of God's restorative spiritual kingdom. God's book, the Bible, which is its only record and rule, denommates it "the church of God,"i because God created it Nothing is ever said to be " of God" but on the groimd that God is the imiver- sal creator and proprietary ruler. Men may acquiie property by exchaixge, and dominion by force and fraud ; but Divine propriety and dominion arise solely from' origination. Paul describes Christian society as "the " n n iii'sflR"'^^* l<^'»-'-2> '•?'2;3d.22jxv.9. Gal.i.l8. 1 Tim. 58 EFFICIENT ORIGIN. house of God, which is the church of the livin. God •" that, both particularly and .rcner, ,v Z "^^ a divinelv formal „ j g«"erally. this association is bnUd™ of ZlTu f ^^■'''d insf-ute. Christ is the spifituiltSty Irhe"t ^rfald"' T" -"^ P"'^'^ ^ and relations, i^ is cle^ Mos: S' ' T:tZ:lTTt «i.htinUic";Hrjttrt;:^,j::rc:^i^:r he had given thanks, he brake Ind said TaWu ,. i" br:n^„':^;;!^f-Lt^^-r\"'''^^^^^^^^^^^^^ . Ji m . Its record and rule are hi.s for " f]^ "pnitof Jesus is^he spiraofp^ophecy " and Tile X igGod;" ited, that tiot some So, also, intimate 3iation is ist is the because 3 himself is rock I 'ock, the ? creator iian that lims the ! apoca- st;" by rrasping and by me and purely nature m such to the m"all f initi- sciples, 3 insti- same when ; this niem- " tln^ e pru- AGENCY AND OFFICES OF CIIRLsT. 59 mised inspiration of the new covenant writers. The churca xtself IS Christ's, for "ye are CWs;" and what IS Christ 8 is divine, for "Christ is God's "^ f.J^'v!^^"'''^' '^ ?"'*' ^' '''''^'' ^^ *1^^ church, is two- fold ; his personal and preparative agency, while on earth, and his invisible and accomplishing agency, from his mediatorial throne in heaven. Indicating this dis- tmction accordmg to the residence of the agent, we may call the first species of agency terrestrial, and the second celestial; or, according to the nature of the agency, the first prepamtwe, and the second perforative or according to the method of the agency, 'the first adven^ tive, because developed during the time of Our Lord's advent, and the .second pneurmtical, because developed m the operations of the Fnemia, the Holy Ghost Rightly to appreciate the terrestrial agency of Christ we must accurately distinguish his offices. They are twofold, not threefold, not prophetic and sacerdotaJ and regal, as is generally supposed, but sacerdotal and regal only and these together mediatorial. Messianic pro- phecy is but a branch, operation, or species of mediato- nal ruk Christ is not prophet and king, but, as a king he prophesies or teaches; he is a prophetic king. Tlfe ' mere biblical titles of Christ will not determine th! prop r classification of his offices, because somethnes one of them IS comprehensive of all, or they indicate variety of official aspects only, or they are substantially synonymous ; and hence we find him called mediator, prophet! counsellor angel apostle shepherd, bishop, witness"^ prince, priest and king. We must justly distinguish the erlds^ and' means of his mediation, considering the passages of Scripture that mdicate such distinction. Christ h«s become a mediator to legalise and to realize human * 1 Cor. iii. 23. 60 m k 'I OFFICES OF CHRIST. oacerdotaily, he makes salvation possible • reoallv hi makes It actual No othprnr^ra*- * ^^S^^^Y, he c^+Ur. • . ^' operation, agency or offirp ia either requisite or conceivahlp ^,.„u\ • ., ' ^ lls"^^^^"' "^''/f^?'^ "S-oy. Christ hS or tj-uth-oommunieation, or S.. J'" "^i ^ ' pnetic, IS, in these words, assismed tn Pt,,,-.! 1 • and is elsewhere bibliealy Mfcatdl " 1 ^'"^' regaUy-warlike. Truth ia dScn^^ afthe^ ""^ 1 sword of Christ in his m JHte, ^rt o^ '^^^h grasped in his hand, issuing from his mT.r T^ .1. * ™ord of the Spirii, the lord ofoTd-'li^u:; t h.m and by every Christian. Christ wis bZlu^ ^ a pnest, self-sacrificing; and ia exalted la p"Scfr than the angels, for the suffering of death • T! he receives glo-y and honour, lacerdt^y' Z IZ^u oified ; regally, he is crowned. He himself intLT [•" Ur f thf '"' : ''"T "' «^' "^ «- Ms fisTt tt lite of the world, or, that, as the world's hiah r.r,-. . u m.|ht make human resuscitation poShlLnf te bt: It K as pnnce, by his Spirit and Word tb«t I,! • ', dead souls, for "it is the'^Spirit tha^tlckeneth ^7 ae.ive^edforourolresfasoufp,^nl.rr:^^ I ^ John xviii. 37. •John vL 63. nces to our 3 practical, egally, he r oflSce, is 5 teaching iut a spe- it himself >u sayest )om, and a king] ry truth, vhich is ihe pro- as king, and as 'o-edged s thigh, is " the ded by bled as ce, glo- 3 lower prince, as cru- tes his 'or the St, he 1; but ickens 3 flesh , they i was "aised PREPARATIVE AGENCY OF CHRIST. fi] again for our justification. ^ Because, as priest he hnm ble bmself. and became obedient u;to Ct even the" death of the cross, God h.^ Mghly exalted him/as prince name of Jesus every knee should bow, and every tonmie coniess that he is lord or sovereign.^ " When he had ^himself [by the priestly sacrifice of himst ?] purt our sms he sat down [a. our redeeming sovereirn^on the right hand of the Majesty on high."? " Though he were a son, yet learned he [as a pries^t] obedience by the things which he suffered, and being m^de perfect [sacer totally, when he said, 'It is finished/ and died! he them that [a^ his subjects] obey him."^ " U when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death ?f his son [making reconciliation legal], much more tn. reconcded, we shall be saved by his [ro,^] T- tTaf IS, by Christ's sacerdotal death the wav of" salvltion Is opened, and by h^ regnant hfe we ai. actually aU thr n - ri'.^^^^^^™^ ^J-J-ed, ^'a priest ^t throne, a ^igmng pnest, a mediator who sacerdotallv legalizes, and rectorally reali.es, human salvatiorHe came "with the water" or purifying power of his prinfe! bbod of his priesthood, symbolised by the eucharistic Section L^Preparative Agency of Christ as Ecclesi- astical Creator. The object of Our Lord's advent was twofold ; that as the world's restorative ruler, he might prepar; for the ^ Roui. hr. 25, "Rom. V. 10. •Phil. ii. 6—11. ^Heb L «« 4X1 X. „ 62 PREPAnATIVE AGENCY OF CHRIST. world 8 high priest, ho might suffer and die. His king- dom, in Its fulness and finality, is distinguished by his Church as the vehicle of hi. truth. Christ here his rectoral testimony to the truth in person, and by trainiujr and preparing others to bear it, as liis servants and mes sengers, on his behalf. His whole public life belo^^■ or ministry on earth, was spiritually r.gal, though slrouded to all and especially to the unbelieving; it was a prepa- i ation i^>r the full development and final era of his king- dom. The day of Pentecost is the initial date of the Chi ^t tian era or the latter days, of the full, formal, and final development of Christ's mediatorial reign ; and, therefore It IS the initial date of the Christian Church. This final era is diaracteristically ecclesiastical ; and the right view ot our Lord's personal terrestrial ministry is that it was ecdesmstically preparative. He lived and laboured that he might prepare for the formation of his Church the great social development and instrument, the charac^ teristic institute, of the final era of his gracious reio-n • and he lived, also, that he might die. He lived as a king to prep-re for his full and final 1 ; iumphs ; he died as a pnest ;o .cisummate the legalization, the juridical basis of ,i« rnvjugn kingdom. Personally and by his apostles, .m at once consummated the national or Jewish era, prepared lor and began the ecclesiastical. Judaism wound up and dismissed by him, went out in a blaze of glory. " The glory of this latter house shall be greater than that of the former," i on account of Christ's per sonal appearance and ministration. Judaism ceased as an extant divine institute, on the day of Pentecost, and then became, m the divine government, a mere subject of recollection and record ; but rejecting and resisting this tmth^and claiming divine continuity, it became an ^ Haggai ii. 9. His king- ad by his bore Ills y training and mes- below, or slirouded I a prepa- his kinor- heChr^s- and final iherefore, rhis final ght viow at it was laboured Church, 5 charac- 3 reign ; ved as a he died juridical by his ' Jewish udaism, blaze of greater it's per- ased, as ost, and ibject of ing this me an PBEPARATIVE AGENCY OP CHRIST. «3 onemy, 'ich the Roman eagh . jpt obstacle and an away for ever. The view thu^ taken of Christ's personal ministry is amply intimated and verified in the New Testament. Christ came ;.',a Uved, not ostentatiously or formally but practically and spiritually, as a king, terrainating one era of his reign, and preparing for the higher and ultimate : "a Governor that shall nile my people Israel." ^ He was " set for the fall and rising again of many in Isr^iel,"^ because Judaism and its blind adherents fell him, and the coming era and its recipients rose by Even at the age of twelve he was about his Fath .business, by hearing the doctors and asking them qu( aons ; and,' by his understanding and answers, furnishing a pattern of truth-seeking and truth-telling. » He " came unto his own [ho e or people, to prepare them for a nobler economy, to promote them from the dispensation that had waxed old and was ready to vanish away], but his own [generally] received him not."^ His per- sonal ministry was characterised by the " grace and truth " that distinguish his whole restorative reign, from man's Edenic fall to his resurrectional recovery' that prepared for his perfectly developed kingdom, and are contrasted with the inferior antecedent, the law given by Moses.5 Because Judaism was about to terminate John the Baptist declared that the axe was laid to the root of the trees, so as that all who rejected the coming economy should, with the old one, be utterly exterminated,—" hewn down and cast into the fire ;" that God's purposes were not to be frustrated by the'Abra- hamic origin and covenants of the Jews, for God of the stones could raise up children unto Abraham, to replenish the kin gdom that permanently consists of Abra-ham's ^ Matt. ii. 6. » Luke ii. 34. ^l^^ikTiT^e^^O * John 1. 11. « John i. 17. g2 MICROCOPY RESOLUTION TFST CHART (ANSI and ISO TEST CHART No. 2) 1.0 L^ 1^ 111119 9 I.I |63 li. u ^ tul-u 2.0 1.8 1.6 1.25 1.4 A APPLIED IM^GE Inc ^^- 1653 East Main Slreel r.S: Rochester. New York U609 USA ■SS (716) 482 - 0300 - Phone =^ (716) 288 - M89 -Fox 64 PREPARATIVE AUENtT Or CHRIST. Suffer now said atrit' , *"""' "P ""^ '''««' mating tl,e'„U eio.,™:;'^ ^'^ f J,^; -' ?"• ""'-"- of the new -^ L.ln. i. •;' , P?^^"^™^' ^*^^ !"» creat ou fomal LtiatiouaL to "mo r ' """' ?'" P""'"' «rt « tlie prq^,^t,on for the church w^ to seLCd t J ,t» ge„,„„„t „^„,^ .^ ^and c i,t «T r, °f^-'««« of di-iues JrtTh Intent witues.., a.d S.t^:^S;i«"SMC:S l-er-" new uaiue wa« given in intentional and M LJ t," tion to the coniiii,, church ■ " Tl,., 7 ""'""^ la- this rocic I will build my"wh '^ P "i ' "^"'^ "'"' "" wiU soon be sho^vi, Zj^^'to ,^7.'-''7»''»<^'io", as — __ '^ ^ ^ *'» disciples, especially i to fan h'm ' ecclesias- iis Roman baptism, ilmeut of ^Iment of ttiou and . cwnsum- * creation »n as the im as th« liost, and uuicision ant and «ness of udaisnj, public, ivine, of iinistry, en \-an- ^:^ He ming a e great 9ct and uiders; e with i com- Peters I rela- ^nd on ion, as icially PREPARVTIVE AGE.VCY OF CHRIST. (Jo to the twelve, who were intended to be the chief witnesses and ecclesiastical officer.. The initiatory miracle of Cana was an appropriate exhibition and evidence of our Lords authority and office, to attract attention a. id mdnce faith, and was not in vain : "This beginnin<. of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifesf.,! t.^rth his glory; and his disciples believed on him"' Nothing, too, could be more appropriate and sio-nificant than to purge the temple before he dismissed it that Judaism miglit expire as it was born, a holy dispensa- tion of the Holy One of Israel, and that the purposes of all the dispensations might be understood and regar.le.i Christ did not personally introduce the final era of his reign but prepare for it; anl, therefore, he preach.^d Its proximity : "Thetim^ is fulfilled [the time to wind up Judaism and to prep ire for Christianity], and the kingdom of heaven ^.s at hand."^ He tells the woman ot Samana tnat - the hour cometh [not is come for Judaism was still extant and authoritative], when ye shall neither m this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father."3 Shortly after, he told his disciples that the Jewish fields were " white already to harvest," ripe or the proximate transfer of wheat to the ecclesiastical barn, and of chaff to tlie Roman fire. - He that soweth " under Judaism in its wane, "and he that reapeth " in tlie approaching ecclesiastical harvest, "shall rejoice together."^ " The word .orrla., prop.rly used of manual severe and exhausting labour, is very appropriate to all Biich arjnciiltHral labours as precede the harvest namely, ploughing, sowing, harrowing, &c. So 2 Tim ii' 6. . . Here it is appropriately used to denote the pains bestowed by Jesus in sowing the seeds of salutary doc- tnne, thus laying a foundation for the churches which ' John ii. 11. 2 ji,^j.k i. 15 3 jo],„ i,. 21. ^.r^ii :io- g3 6C PREPAIIATIVE AGENCY OF CHRIST. 11 mi a I W were hereafter to be instituted. Those who reaped are the Ajwstles, and their [chronaP] successors, and, chrougli their means, the whole bpdy of faithful followers "of Christ."- Availing himself of a message Croni John, oui- Lord intimates to the people the combina.1 secular lowli- nes.s and spiritual dignity of the Raptist, whom he pronounces uiiexcelled by any of liis predecessor!?^ yet surpassed by the last in his proximate kingilom.^^ "Now, I say," says Paul, " that Jesus Christ wa.s a minister of tiie circumcision for the tnith of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fothers."^ The personal ministry of Christ belonged to the old era, not to the new ; it was consummatoiy of the fornier, not creative of tlie latter, because it was a muiistry of the circmncLsion. The difference between the gospels and the other books of the New Testament is fully accounted for by the contents and chronology of the two portio: ■>. The contents of the first, the gospels, were ecdasiasti- cally preparative, and they Avere admirably and adec^uately such. They comprehend all that wa.s proper and necessary to be known by th.e sulyects of an expiring economy and the expectants of another, by the valedic"^ tors of a departing era and the normal candidates and originators of a nobler. The contents of the second por- tion of the New Testament are ecdesmstkallv -»-metic and matiiratlve, recording the origin and nation of the church, the full development and the destiny of Christ's kingdom, in its extant, perlect, anu final form. The second portion extends from the Acts to the Apocalypse, both Inclusive, and bears throughout the impress and evidence of its relation to the full forma- tion and efficiency of the Christuan Church. The gos- pels neither contradict nor supersede the epistles, apoca- 1 Cla-onal, relating to time. " Bloomfiold's " Recensio Synoptica," vol. 3, p. 137. » Mutt. xi. 7—30. * Romaua xv. 8. PREPARATIVE AGEXCY OF CHRIST, 67 lyp.se, and acts, but prepare for them. Tlie fir.st auJ second ponioas of the New Testament, as we have dis- tinguished them, are to each other as the seed sown to the develo]}ed plant and the rij^ning fruit, as gestation to birth and life, as the auroral kindling to the risen iun, as the final lessons for the pupil to the matured under- stiindlng and actions of the jjerfect man, Christ trained antl prepared hia ecclesiastical servants by means both public and priva.te, both common and special. The piiblle and cooiwwa training consisted of our lord's pubUc example, communications, and miracles, which were mtended and adapted for th*^ good of the multitude, as ivell as of his disciples. He oxemplitied to all, with whom he had intercourse, his ov-.i pure and perfect nature, and the spirit of his religion at^d his disciples, and thus taught them the way of life . he wrought miracles of might and mercy before all, to attest his claims, and to increase the number of his disciples and servants; and he instructed the Jews, in general, respecting his spiritual and heaveidy khigdom, by public discourses, parables, and conversiitions, and by incidental illustrations and allusion.s. In all this tlie disciples, as well as the multitudes, pr' rticipatcd ; and by all tliis they were taught and prepared to apjjreciate the coming era, and to promote its operations. A full estimate or even a copious analysis of our Lord's general ecclesiastical preparation, though pre-eminently interesting and edify- ing, would mconveniently and clisproportionately enlarge the consideration of the church's oriorin. The pnvate ami special preparation of the disciples appears in the events which they alone were allowe, appr„;riatei;ne:- nam,ng bnnou, an p ,;„„. to ma^e' them all l^e , ot men. He called Matthew from the receint nf r:i ienf r ""^ "^•""^-•^ ^^ -' ^^-^^^^\^ sumcicnt as a speomien ; and the selection and appomtn,c.„t of twelve, out of the whole n mber „ mgs of tin, kmd, are distmctly stated by two evan gehsts, and their names are gi«n by three CI S prepared for the apostolic ordinSion, by ™nt >uin. < " nghm prayer to God; and, when it ^s day, he°calle h.s dtscples; and of them he chose twelvef whom he also named apostles."^ No mention is mkde Tthe .2»-t>on of hands. The word Mark user s 1!, w nch sigmfie, made or constituted. Lukes word is «A,f„^„„ which signifies election or choice. Matthew merely gives the names, and John make, no me" tion of the transaction. Mark states the object ofUie selection, "that they .should be with him, and thatte might send them forth to preach, and to have powe to heal sickness, and to cast out devik"» Soon aftrtbis election, he delivered a sermon to his dixies whTch s Pnnc|p_ally a .selection from his sermon on tL AW »M«rk„i. 14, 15. . and obedience, a., the X^ttt? ' ""'^"'''"-i"?. and soul and obtaininR iudfciS "!.„ "''^'"'"S 'ke precious Pete, James, a,fd'joh '^^11:1^ T"''': ^° monstrated his dorv hii ,L i "™''s'"-"'>on, he de- ^epresented b/no^'s 'L'e t^L^h' '"""T "^ authority, as proclaimed in a v^L ? v" °™ *""« is my beloved Son, in whom r! 'T^''™°-"Tbfe Wm;" but enjoined^ecre "' n T *'" P'"'"^''' '>^'"- ye death; and informed Tem Th . rT"T' ™ »''«' ^is the expected Eli?ai:3 t" Sf f*",*'^^ ^"P"* "- e.,^ained that tL inabUityl S tie . "T'^'^ deaf spirt arose from ih^- .*Jf"^' '"e dumb and that the remedy fouus 2 ™'''""^'' ""^ »«">a'ed another time, jth:; w "drdS:;: 1 ""^- ^' he enjoined careful remembrl! ?' ™" '«*'»'«. betrayal and death.= T^voM^ff ' "1 '"•'^*'='<"1 ^^ enabled Peter to pay tribu « f""'' ^t '^^"^ ""xi fairly be demanded' WhenTh.r'''^ *"** ""'<' ""t superiority, he reproved them .T*'f '""^"'^''■^ f"' the nature of his^irdom the """^^"""^ '" ""^™ pretension, and disp^C The '^171*"°' f *^'^ method of avoiding nnd ,. j; !■ , offences, the right forgiveness/ He ?etid ^ « *'"' "<> 'he duty'of fire from heaveTorfc nhot^.lT "^""^'"^ '» »™ko 'Matt. xvi. 13—20 ^^777 ~ — — — ___^ ' 43-46 ejjatt. xvii. 24-27 "'nf'i • ' J^"^^ ix.30~32; Luke i^' 1 ST. inciMe church rohibited the he rebuked Q death, and hearing, and the precious eward.2 To ition, he de- Judaism, as own divine ven~-*« This ed ; hear ye till after his Baptist was e privately dumb and intimated sting.4 At nd actions, dieted his ■ ected and could not tended for 1 to them ' of their the right e duty of to invoke village.^ ^ed him- ■ refused another, vii. 1—13. Luke ix. ■iii. 1—35. PREPARATIVE AGENCY OF CHRIST. 71 w: . proposed to follow him. after a domestic valediction he declared the unfitness for his kingdom of a relutant and recoihng labourer.^ He appointed and depu ed to by wo seventy other disciples to precede him in hh visits; to preach with celerity, the piximity of his kin " dom; and to brmg peace to every 'peaceful We ^ with whom they should sojourn ^Tn }.,. ,. ."^j '^''f' «>c,al devofon; a„,J he illustrated the effi^oy oVrvor by fnendshjp and parental affection^ At another fme T^t^J «• , ''"« '*°"""' •■""! the forgivin,, „fa p3r;dtrn^S;r^-£ti::^ «ttat;^:;;ir'h!re"an:u^'er";t ■"■; "'■'^''"- ine vmeyard. He also foretold them, the third tiniP ot his Ignominious chath o t^ *i, \ ^""®' wa. not a doming™ bu aXnfhl ■ " '" ''"S^"™ mUated to his own "' 1, " ' """'^''ti™. ^i- house of Sim™ the lene^ h '''*'' ■ '" ^"""^y- "' *" preparato^-^ e JSntt T'T'' *'*'^'^ ^P»™' 'Lukeix, 61. "Lukex 1 q-r stT '■ " — ' »Matt xix. 9-12 eMark~x is \f%'^i Ir^?' '^uke xvii. ]_io 1-16. 'Matt. XX. 17-19." ^'Ml?i.;^^fo-"^^^^ ^M^"- « 72 PREPARATIVE AOE.NXT OF CHRIST. ministration to the poor.' On his way from Bethany he miraculously destroyed a %-tree. and employed the event to enforce faith on his disciplea^^ Departing from the temple and seated on the Mount of Olives he fore- told the destniction of Jerusalem and the temple- de- livered the parables of the virgins and talents; and fore- showed the procedure of the last great day." He cele- brated the Pa.ssover, v^ith his disciples, shortly before his death; washed their feet; indicated the traitor; insti- tuted the eucharist; instructed and comforted his disci- ples at length; offered his great intercessory praver- and, in presence of Peter and James and John, suffered and prayed in the garden." Betrayed by Judas he commanded Peter to put up his sword, as the instru- ment of death, which ought not and could not prevent hi.s self-sacnfice, though he, by other means, if he chose could easily defeat his enemies.* When Peter thrice denied him in the palace, he rebuked and reclaimed the off-ender, with a significant look, which reminded him of previous warning.« On the cross, he filially recognised his mother, and provided for her in his own absence bv entrusting her to his. beloved disciple, as to an aff-ection- ate aiid dutiful son.^ After his resurrection, he appeared to his disciples on several occasions; for forty days in- structed them in the things pertaining to his proximate kmgarting from ves, he fore- temple; de- s; and fore- .' Hecele- y before his liter ; insti- ed his disci- )ry prayer; hn, suffered Judas, lie the instru- lot prevent f he chose, ?ter thrice laimed the ded him of recognised bsence, by : affection- i appeared :y days in- proximate d baptize ; a spiritual ed Olivet, luence, to )ng, with- XV. * Matt, xiii.—xviii. -62; Matt. Luke xxiv. ; out the deep conviction of their admirable adai)tation to the end in viqw and of their preparatory r.-lation to thr origm and formation of the church. Infinite wi.sdon) always adjusts means to ends, and, by either ordinary or mu-aculous methods, or by both intermixed, trains and prepares its human instrument.s. It is only igni.rance and presumption that despise prejiaration ; and if tlu' result be the best evidence and illustration of means and methods, we shall find abun.lant proof, in the con.luct of the apostles and iheir assistants, of the excellence of the school in which they had been taught, and of the ample qualifications with which their Master had endowed them. Our Lord, during his personal ministry, commissioned and employed his disciples, both tlu- twelve and the seventy, to aid him in his great work of ecclesiastical preparation. We must not confound the office and work of the twelve, before the day of Pentecost, with their office and work then and afterwards. Before that day they assisted in making ready for the church; on that day and afterwards, they acted as the instrumental found- ers and framers of the church. In both periods they were the chosen instruments of Christ ; though actin- with vanous authority and in variou^circumstauces. " Section U.—Perfoi^mative Agency of Christ as Ecclesiastical Creator. The restorative or mediatorial reign of Christ extends from the fall to the resurrection, and is a constant theme of revelation; but th^ r eation or formation of the church forms an era which began on the day of Pentecost, and is the theme of part of revelation com- mencing with "the Acts of the Apostles," wliich might be fitly denominated "Ecclesiastical Genesis." The operation of Christ in this era, as throughout his whole •m 74 PEBFORMATIVE AGENCY OF CIlKLST. innliat..ri.al ivigii, with tlie exception of his terrestrial MU.l perHoiml ministry, is celestial an.l pnenmatical, exer- cise. 1 from his throne on high and hy tho agency of his hpirit He promised this agency repeatedly to his disci- ples before his ascension, and indicated its primary aspects. b irst, as the aj^ency of cmividhn : " It is expedient for you that I go away ; for if I go not away, the Comforter {na,mK\r,ro,) will not come unto you ; but if I depart I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousneas, and of judgment."! The Spirit's name, Pamcldos, is singularly suitable and significant. It is formed of napa, by, and John xvi. 7. 8. a John xiv. 16, 26 ; xv. 26 ; xvi. 7. !8T. bis terrestrial inatical, exer- agency of his y to Ilia disci- niary aspects, sixpedient for be Comforter f I depart, I 2ome, he will mess, and of , is singularly ■npa, by, and ich men are The Greek n, the called, nt by which accomplish- 3aller. The 3 most strik- church is a one called vine creator '^ho calls out instruments )ostles ; and d of Christ. Paraclete,^ e Christian r preparing riiice, "the lot be insti- ou," as the ion, and as ; xvi. 7. I PE',FORMATIVE AGENCY OF CHUIST. 7.5 deeply-interested subjects of my kingdom, whose liighost social instrument and development the church will be,~ "it is expedient for you that I go away." Alone you could never succeed ; but the Culler, the calling agency will acconi])any you (the calling instruments), and render you successful, by reproving the world, through yoiir word, of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, and thus mducmg anohn if 1 2 h2 i !! 76 PERFORMATIVE AGENCY OF CHRIST. US in the received translation. In connection with his ap- proaching departure, Christ says_"I will pray the Father and he will send you another Caller [in^d of niyseTf' he caller of yourselves and others], that he may abide VI h you for ever ; even the Spirit of truth/' to instruct .md assist you, who are my iastrumental callera^ " These things, says Christ, in the same discourse, "have I Caller, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in v?u Xh-^'' »f 't^'''^ *^^°"^^ ^^"J' ^^ ^^-^ teach you all thmga ^ " But when the Caller is come, whom ofTlr Tk ^'" ^T '^' ^"*^^^' ^^^^ *^e Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father, he shaU testify of me [m illuminating and succeeding you] • and ye also shall be.r witness.'- "And when he^Rll"] IS come, he will reprove [or convince] the world of sin and of righteousness, and of judgment." In these two last passages, the Spirit's testimony and the Spirit's convictions are peri^ectly correspondent with the Spirit's name and work, as Caller, but not as Comforter. No- thing can be more consistent and luminous than all these passages, provided we apprehend the Paraclete, not as comforting men but a. calling them, from error ti truth from sm to holi less, and from Satan to God /.,V ' ^"^.^wf "* r' ^^'^ P'""^^'^^ ^ the agency of tmt^on. " When they deliver you up, take no bought how or what ye shall speak; for it shall be given you m that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh m you.'- "The Holy Ghost shall teach you m the same hour, what ye ought to say.'"^ "ind PaT^lT^ ;/''^"'f"' '^^^^" ^-« y- -other Paraclete, thaU iemayjji^^ ever, even the ^ John xiv. 16, 17. a j„i,„ • nr qa J, ."; " ~ PERFORMATIVE AGENCY OF CHRIST. 77 Spirit Of truth/'^ "The Paraclete, whicli is the Holy Crhost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you aU things, and bring all things to your remem- brance, whatsover I :.ave said unto you." 2 " When the Paraclete is come, whom I will send unto you from the ^ ather, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me : and ye also [as his mstruments, my messengers] shaU bear witness, because ye have been with me [to see and know] from the begmnmg."^ The Holy Spirit was also promised, as the agency 01 power. " Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you : but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, untU ye be endued with power from on high."* " Being assembled together with [the apostles], he commanded them that they should not depart from Jei lem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which ye have heard of me For John truly baptized with water ; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence. • . . Ye shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost conimg upon you : and ye shall be witnesses unto me both m Jerusalem, and in aU Judea, and in all Samaria,' and unto the uttermost part of the earth." ^ The Holy Spirit was likewise promised as the aoency of purity. " He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and fire."*' "Except a man be bom of water and tne Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom. of God."7 In the Greek it is "with the Holy Ghost and fare, not with fire, " of water and the Spirit," not of the Spirit ; the non-repetition of the prepositions " with " and " of" plainly implying the oneness of fire and Spirit and of water and Spirit. Fire and water are the appro- priate emblems of the Spiri t's influence, that cleanses, > John ^v. 16 17. "John xiv 26 3 John xv. 26, 27. * Luke «i77^ Acts 1. 4. 5, 8. « Luke iii. 18. ' Joha III. 0. h3 78 PERFORMATIVE AGENCY OP CHRIST. purges or purifies the hearts of men ; and so it is .said that Chnst cleanses the church with the washing of water by the word, that is, with the Holy Spirit whom the washing of water symbolises, and whose instrument of purification is the word or truth of God. The Holy Spirit was promised as the agency of life "In the last day, that great day of the fea-st, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let hhn come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me as the Scriptures hath said, out of his body shall flow nvers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spmt, which they that believe on him should receive • for the Holy Ghost wa,s not yet given ; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) »i Here, without doubt, living water, or water of life, is the selected symbol of the Spint's agency. -Jesus answered and said unto her. Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst ao-ain : but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall eive him, shaU never thirst ; but the water that I shall mv^ him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everkstmg life."^ " It is the Spirit that qukeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing : the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."" Spiritual life arises from the co-operative agencies of the Spirit quickening and of man believing, and by the instru- mentality of the word or truth of God, which the Spii-it uses and man receives ; and it is nourished and main- tained by the refreshing well or river of the Spirit's inttuences, plenteously poured through the conduit of faith. Such is the adequate and glorious agency which Clu-ist promised and bestowed, as the substitute and successor of his personal ministrations. " I will send you," he ' John vii. 37-39. * John jv. 13, 14. » John vi. 63. PERFORM/ TIVE AGENCY OF CHRIST. 79 said, " another an<: . abiding Caller/' In preparing for my church, I have culled men ; I have called you to be Its primary and formative officers ; and I will send you another Caller, who, when my personal calling is accom- plished, will create the church by your instrumentality and call men into it. He will convince them of their degra- dation and danger, in their worldly state ; as the Spirit of light, he will relume them, to perceive the way of salvation; as the Spirit of holiness and life, he will revivify and renew them ; and as the Spirit of power he will reinvigorate them. To you, my apostles, as my pnmary ecclesiastical instruments, and to the persons and churches rightly receiving you, my Spirit will be the Spirit of light and life, of purity and power. The performance answers to the promise, the event realizes the prediction. Partly and preparatively, before his ascension, Christ inspired his apostles with this agency. " He breathed on them, and saith unto them. Receive ye the Holy Ghost : whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them ; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained." ^ The breathing was doubtless sym- bolical of the whole process of inspiration, and was not only presently impartive but promissory and pro- phetical. Remission and retention of sins denote final and infallible teaching respecting the salvation and loss of the soul. The symbolic promise and prophecy were fully realized on and after the day of Pentecost, and the book of apostolic acts is primarily the instructive and important record. It tells us that the gospel, which had been preached preparatively by Christ, was preached fully and generally by his apostles ; that the kingdom developed in and by the church, which Christ had proclaimed as proximate, was by the apostles really instituted ; and ' John XX. 22. 23. 80 PERFORMATIVE AGENCY OP CHHIST. that the apostohc preaching and ecclesiastical institution became tnily curative and effective, for glory to Sin the h,ghert and for peace and goodwUl among „en mankmd, the nstrument of man's salvation and of the church s creation and continuance, the message wh^h the church >s to deliver, the kw which the church t to observe and enforce. The ecclesiaMically-crrtive agency of the Holy Spirit should be consideredTiS C" »d the *'' '■"*■'/"" *^ S-i«'' """ ">- tt! K T . "^^^^ ^ "''^"f"' consideration of the New Testament will convince us that the Holy Ghos created the church, as the Spirit of light, life, love Zd power, by promulgating, authenticafing, ef^feruatW h T? f "^ *'"" ^"'I^'- He ta„|ht the tS' whose behef ,s reqaisite to ecclesiasticalinco^rron and he succeeded the truth, in the inward bap&m W .s essent^.1 to mdividuaJ and ecclesiastical vitalfe iJl Tp '" "' *" '^"'"^ '^ ■"" '<- be restricted to the day of Pentecost and to the church in Jeru^m but compr hends the whole period and process ofT^i preparation and ecclesiastical institution, by the twdve tSrd Vll T'\™ *" ''^P"*» Po^ession oTth: truth and of the church, and the task was^hieved by the agency of the Holy Ghost Every element and l^t of this gracious agency are related to the church and^ niustrafve of Christ, a. ecclesiastical creator l7w^ the office and operation of the Spirit to m-omulaate the gospel, and this was done by various pro S tL Spmt qualified the promulgators, by inspired know! edge, chanty, zeaJ, and courage, and by the ^tot tongues^ He taught them, brought all things to the^ remembrance, and guided them mto all tnith^He »ve them "the spint not of fear but of power and of We and of a sound mind," and a mouth and wisdom vWdt I RIST. ical institution lory to God in among men. and truth to on and of the lessage which ;he church is ically-creative sidered in its pel, the mes- isideration of e Holy Ghost ife, love, and eft'ectuating, t the truth, icorporation ; baptism that tality. restricted to Jerusalem, iss of gospel ' the twelve ?ssion of the ieved by the and aspect rch and are )r. It was lulgate the 5sses. The red know- the gift of ?s to their He gave nd of love om which PERFORMATIVE AGENCY OF CHRLST. 81 all their adversaries could not gainsay or r-sist. On the ody is one, and hath many mem- bers, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body ; so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free ; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit." 2 It was the office and operation of the Holy Spirit to authenticate the gospel by miracles. The miracles of Christ were the evidence and authentication of his claims, as the Son of God ; and the miracles wrought at the in- vocation or word of primitive Christians, especially of the apostles, were the ample attestation of their relation to Christ, as liis witnesses, messengers, and ecclesiasts : " No man can do these miracles which thou doest, unless God be with him." He who avows himself a messenger of God should either demonstrate himself such, by suitable signs, or be rejected as an impostor and a liar. It is not enough for a man, in such a claimed capacity, to be him- self assured of his commission. To insure his recep- tion and authenticate his me&sage, he must prove his 1 Acta is. 4. * 1 Cor. xii. 7— 13. !* i 82 PERFORMATIVE AOENCY OF CHRIST. commission by the testimony of God himself; by the cre- dentuOs of God's voice, a, on Sinai and th; W ^f Transfiguration ; or by the credentials of Godl ^nd ingly, we find this promise-" These signs shall follow a.s auialianes and vouchers] them that believe : In my nam. shall they cast out devils; they shall speak wS new tongues; they shall take up ser^nts ; a^*f thev Jrink any deadly thing it shall not hurt the^ rthev shI lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.". '^Ile are for a sign [an evidence or demonstration] TS them that believe, but to them that believe not''= In^ tongues, together with the word of wisdom and know- ascribed to the Holy Ghost: "AH these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every ml s^ve raUy s. he will.- And all these aftesting 7iZl7m. pamed and characterised the formation of the cZct Sr:??L:ir""-^-™^-«-^='^»"^tiie ^one will not ,eali^ ^he end of the Gospel, whlSe salvation of the soul. Salvation is a moml ch^ge frl om^LordJesu^hris^^ — ' '^iark xvi. 17, 13. » 1 Cor. xiv. 22. 3 1 Cor xii 11 T77^~ 1 i^or. xii. 11. * Acts 11. 4, 43. I i 1ST. '<*; by the cre- ihe Mount of God's hand, les. Accord- 1 shall follow ieve : In my 1 speak with and if they i ; they shall ^ "Tongues ion] not to iot"2 And and know- 3cy, discern- Jes, are all orketh that Y man seve- igns accom- ^he church, ns" of the y Spirit to hentication hich is the ange, from r of Satan change is them that authenti- nd others, eciate and 1 towards 1 anew in cts ii. 4, 43. PERFORMATIVE AGENCY OF CHRIST. 83 Christ Jesus, endowing them with the tempers and ten- dencies requisite for their appropriate and useful inclu- sion in the church :" For our gospel came not unto you ui word only, bat also in power, and in the Holy Ghost and m much assurance. ... And ye became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost." ^ "And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but m demonstration of the Spirit and of power • hat your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men' but m the power of God.- Much more than miraculous evidence is meant by such language as this : " Ye are mamfestly declared to be the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the Z^ 1 ^^'.r* ^^ "^^^'^ ^^ «^^^^' ^^' i^ fleshy table! att t. r/ /""^" ^^^"^ ^^y -^-« belief^Tthe atte ted facts and propositions, but cannot induce implicit trust m Christ, love to God, and practical godliness and without these there cannot be a scripturtl chTrch It was not the mere external and visible wonders of the day of Pentecost that caused the anxious inquirv and conversion of three thou^nd souls, and their consequent fellowship, affection, and joy, but the force of tmh divinely revealed and effectuated. Physically, Met tually and morally, the Spirit operated to pLote the Gospel; physically, in palpable miracles; in'tel'l^ f/ m the mspured knowledge of the Christian preachers and theu^ consequent arguments and appeals; and momllv m ti^mng man from Satan and idols to the living God' The Spu-it poured out upon the GentUes, in the house of Cornelius, produced not only the physical and intellecUial change of various tongues, but also the moral chanee of magmfying God, evincing that " God also to the cSel had granted re pentance unto life.""' ^entiles ' 1 Thess. i. 5, 6. aCor. ii. 4,5. ''2~C^ iii. R. ..ct."? 5, 45 ,' xi. ii 84 PERFORMATIVE AGENCY OF CHRIST. It was the office and operation of the Holy Spirit to coTiiplete the gospel, by reminding the New Testament wnters of what they had seen and heard in the ministry of Christ, and by revealhig to them the whole will of God for their own specific service, and for the benefit of all men,' through appropriate and permanent record. Hence the gospels, the apostolical acts and epistles, and the apo- calypse have been written. These are the record and rule of Christ's spiritual kingdom ; these are the law by which the church is to be regulated, and the message which the church is to deliver. And all these are theo- piieustic, the fruits and results of the Holy Spirit's ope- ration. " The Caller, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."i " The things which God hath prepared for them that love him, he hath revealed unto us by his Spirit." "Now we have received not the spirit of the worid, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God." 2 " i certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ."^ " Jesus Christ made known to me the mystery which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and proijhets by the Spirit."* "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith."= "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. " Unto us the prophets did minister the things which are now reported unto you, by them that have preached the gospel unto you, with the Holy Ghost sent d own from heaven."^ "The Kevel ation of Jesus Christ, 1 Tan. IV. 1. « 2 Tim. iii. 16. - 1 Peter i. 12. HIST. Holy Spirit to ew Testament n the ministry )le will of God, lefit of all men, I Hence the and the apo- 16 record and ire the law by the message liese are theo- ' Spirit's ope- tn the Father H things, and ioever I have ath prepared ito us by liis spirit of the at we might fGod."2 «i i^as preached id it of man, ion of Jesus the mystery, > the sons of tpostles and ■it speaketh depart from spiration of ' the things I that have Ghost sent Bsus Christ, ilph. ill. 1 — 5. .12. PERPORMATIVE AGENCY OF CHRIST. 85 which God gave unto him, to show unto his servant things which must shortly come to pass ; and he sent and signi- hed It by his angel unto his servant John."i " He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churchea The apocalypse completes the communications of God to maa " If any man shaU add unto these things, God shdl add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy citv and/wm the things which are written in this book "3 Rev.i.l. afiev.iiL22. » Bev. xxii. 18, 19. "r^^ CHAPTER II. INSTRUMENTAL ORIGIN. THE CHURCH IS APOSTOLICAL, BECAUSE IT WAS FORMFn BV^THE IXSTHUME.TALITV OP TH^ AP^St" The Divine government of mankind is conducted throuo-h matenal .sy..l,oLs and machinery. "No man haS God at any time." Celestial messengers have aml^r!^ m material vehicle, for they could Sot othen^rh Tve ZTr^uV ?^ ^-*y sealed himseHn^I by fire blackness, darkness, and tempest, the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words. In the fJJTpf he W.S "manifest in the ilesL" And st tfsa Ws advent, the communications of God consist of the Zbol ism of nature and the signs of the Bible TTnrn T^ now empoys to accomplish hi, design! dTw our Saviour s terrestrial stay and ministry! he preS Z human mstrumeuts, the apostles, to found fX™ fc church, after his own ascensioa It was to theT marly, the Holy Spirit wo. promLdT o^ h "' ^"" mardy, the Spirit descended ; and through them prima r.ly he operated as ecclesiastical Creator^ Sight w^ emb„d,e,, m their appreciations and utterancS Ti^ Hf and love, h,s punty and power were concentratedaid FOR ATIVE OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH. N? developeu in their spiritual existence, office, and opera- tions. Through them lie promulgated, authenticated, ettectuated, and perfected the gosjiel. Section l.—Thc Apostles were the ForvuUive 0(fice,'.s of the Church. The apostolical office was ecdesiast'icalhj-fonaative It belonged to the apostles to commence and com- plete the church's construction. This is the distinc- tion and peculiar glory of the apostolate, which was therefore personal, not transferable, not communica- ble beyond the definite number ; temporaij, not here- ditary, not consecutive and permanent ; special or extra- ordmary, as related to the special design and work of ^ foundmg m the world a new and peculiar social instru- ment, for the accomplishment of Jehovah's spiritual designs To speak of the apostle's successors is to betrav iffno- rance of the apostoUcal office. We might as well speal of succession in the founding or erection of a fobric already built ; in the nursing of a child that has become a man ; in the marriage of a couple already wedded ; or, in the construction of a machine, already made and applied. The church could be formed only once ; it was formed appropriately and perfectly by the apostles; and whatever officers there have been or may be now, in the church, they are not^ they cannot in the nature of things be, successors ot the apostles; they are promotive of the church not fo^jxitive. An analytical appreciation of the collected testimony of the Scriptures must result in the conviction that the apostles were the generative, and, therefore, special officers of the church, essentially equal and cir- cumstantially diverse. They displaced and succeeded the foohsh and wicked builders that had disallowed I 2 m I li FORMATIVE OFFICERS OF THE CHURCtt r I «.repared to ' '^fjirit , 111 >u^ it was a fin tkias vUl bo FOILMATIVE OFnCERS .,t THE CHURCH. 89 light that nev.r left them, that never failed them, that steadily mcreased, that shone out with r.ew and appro priate lustre in every time u\ ^n'Tphxity and difficultv and that culminated in John's apoculyptic visions. For this baptism of the Holy Ghost and' hre. predicted by the Harbinger and promised by the Head, they were commanded to wait ; and they waited ; and on the day ot lentecost they received it. "They were all filhd with the Holy Ghost." So Paul also w^is endowe.l- "Ananias, putting his hands on him, said, Brother Saul tUM Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost "' To such endowments as those of the apostles, no post- apostohc ministers can lay claim. As Christ was formally installed at his baptism, by the anointing of the Holy Ghost, so the apostles were installed and endowed by a similar anointing on the day of Pentecost. Before they had preached and baptized as " disciples," 2 as ecc'lesias- tical preparers; now, they begin to preach and baptize as apostles, as ecclesiastical founders and framers. Christ empowered the apostles, as his witnesses, mes- sengers, and vice-agenta The office and work for which he called and qualified them, were not ordinary or inde- finite. He himself, as the Creator and King of the church, expressly authorised and instructed them to act tor him. Significantly asserting his ample power before his ascension to heaven, he gave them a formal warrant to bear witness of himself; to caU men to himself and to his clmrch, by teaching and persuading them; and to incorporate them with his church, by baptizing them • And Jesus came and spake unto them [' the eleven disciples '] saying, All power is given unto me in heaven 11 ^1 ' Acts ix. 17. » John iv. 2. i3 if* s 1 1 1 ,. I iii i do FORMATIVE OFFTCERS OF THE CHUllCH. baptmng them in the name of the Father, and of the fen and oi the Holy Gho^ ; teaching them to obsen^^ all things whatsoever I have commanded yon : and, lo I am mth you alway, even unto the end of the world>^ i-aul thus recites bs apostolic commission ; " I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness, both of the things which thou unto Thi'1 f '^'" 'u""^ '" '^^ ^^^^^^ I ^^' -PP^-r unto thee; delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thVe, to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they mTy receive for^ giveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified, by faith that is in me.- ^" Wh" rito I am ordamed a preacher and an apostle (I speak the truth in ^.hrist, and he not), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and venty.- . The gospel, whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gen^lea"* 'Z l?7L' ^r^'^' ^°«^"^i««io» to all his apostles: As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you"^ And this IS their peculiar language to mankind : "Now hT: T ^'\^^^^««^^«rs for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us : we pray you, in Christ's Lad, be ye "1:^X101^^^^^^^^^ ne^Tr^'^'T"^ '^' ^^'''^'^ '' ^' ^^' «Pe«^ ^t- nm.. Personal acquaintance with himself, and know- ledge of his words and deeds, throughout his public lif^ were prerequisite to the duodecimal testimony. He ordamed twelve that they should be with him,^ and thus ther tVn *"'^'^ '' '™ ■ " ^^ ^'<' he said to them^_sha]^^ because ye have been with 'Matt.x.\viii. 18— 20. "Actsxxvi K? Ta si m- TZ ' FORMATIVE OFnCERS OF THE CHURCH, 91 me from the beginning." ^ Not in the mouth of two or three witnesses only, but of twelve, are every word and deed of Christ estabHshed. Matthias was competent, as the twelfth witness : " Of these men which have com- panied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out amongst us, beginning from the baptism of John Lour Lords formal and pubjic inauguration] unto the same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection. And they appointed two, Joseph, called Barsabas [after- wards Barnabas], who was surnamed Justus, and Mat- thias. The resurrection was the primary event to be witnessed, because it demonstrated Christ to be the Son of God with power, a<3cording to the spirit of holiness • and thus vmdicated his character and ratified his claims.' haul of Tarsus was a qualified apostle, because he had had a vision of Christ. Hence, he says-" Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Chnst our Lord ? "^ The apostolate is incommunicable and unconsecutive, because no post-apostolic persons could be witnesses of Christ. Ananias said to Saul Thou Shalt be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard;"" and Christ said, " I have apfjeared unto thee to make thee a minister and a witness "^ Referring to his death and resurrection, Christ said to the eleven, " Ye are witnesses of these things."" « Ye &_hall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalein and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." 7 Christ empowered the apostles to be his special mesaengers. Their very name, apostles, denotes this. Chnst is'the apostle of God ; the twelve are the apostles of Chnst ; other apostles are the apostles of churches. Uohnxv 27. » Acta i. 21, 22, 23. « 1 Cor. ix. 1. ■• Acts zxii 15 " ' Acta xxvi. 16. « Luko xsiv. 48. ? Act%tT K^ if 92 FORMATIVE OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH. As Christ conununicated the wHl of the Father to twelve, so they communicated it to mankind: All thmgs that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you/'^ " I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it."^ They were what none since can be, ambassadors of Clirist Post- apostohc officers of the church are not such and not warranted to avow themselves such, or to act a^ such, but as biblical teachers and care-takera Ihe apostles were commissioned and instructed by Christ himself, to be his infaUible messengers and recorders Hence, Peter classes Paul's epistles with the other scriptures ;"3 and "all scripture is theo- pneustic. Ihe message of Christ, by his apostles, was to be delivered both orally and in writing ; orally, to their iiearers ; m writing, to be studied in the apostles' absence and transmitted to all future generations. Moses and the prophets were God's special messengers under the national economy ; apostles, prophets, and evangelists are the special messengers of the ecclesiastical era. The com- bination of their messages constitutes the Bible the per- fect and appropriate revelation of God to man. Inspired nien alone are God's direct ambassadors and messencrers • all other religious teachers are ecclesiastical officers and agents. Christ empowered the apostles as his vice-agents. The mere deliverance of a testimony and a message could not institute and arrange the church ; the apostles must act, as vvell as speak and write, with authority, in order to combine men m a new and powerful association. Christ gave them power over nature, to heal diseases and raise the dead ; power to speak with various tongues, as the appropriate agents of Him to whom all tongues are ^ John XV. 15. ^ John xvii. 20. 3 g Peter iii. 15, 16. JRCH. the Father ;o mankind : Y Father, I leclared unto They were, /hrist. Post- r such, and .or to act care-takers, astructed by sengers and ?pistles with ire is theo- )stles, was to lily, to their ties' absence Moses and I under the angelists are . u Thecom- le, the per- . Inspired nessengers ; officers and ^ents. The e could not s must act, n order to •n. Christ 3 and raise lies, as the •ngues are 15, 16. FORMATIVE OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH. 93 known, and the competent teachers of men among whom' various tongues obtain ; power to bestow the gift of the Holy Ghost; and power to form and propagate the church. To Peter, in the presence of the disciples, he said : " I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." ^ The power thus conferred is ecclesiastical, because it is given in connec- tion with the predicted erection and security of the church, and in its terms and tenor is special. A key- keeper controls all ingress and egress ; and a binder and looser controls all interior movements. The power of the keys is peculiarly Messianic and apostolic, and cannot be otherwise claimed without gross usurpation and im- posture ; any such claim can never be permitted to rest on conjecture and elaborate argument ; nothing can sus- tain it but direct and express Divine delegation. On another occasion, Christ instructed his disciples, not the twelve only, how to seek redress for fraternal injuries, the church being the last resort, and immediately sub- joined, " Verily I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven ; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." ^ The power of binding and loosing here evidently denotes ecclesiastical discipline, which is disjoined from the power of the keys ; and it therefore appears that key-keeping was apostolic and Petrine, while ecclesiastical discipline is committed to the combined and collected disciples. On another occasion, Christ promised to make his apostles enthroned judges: "Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his gloryi 1 Matt. xvi. 19. » Matt. xviiL 18. 94 FOBMATIVE OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH. U J ^ Ji:ibt^t WrrT^ '^ *'^°"^^' j^^^^ *^^ twelve tribes of Israel. ^ There are three things in these words to be ascertained; the enthroni^ation ' o C^fsT the enthromzatjon of his apostles, and the regeneration The second, which will seire as a clue to the others' evidently denotes eccl^^^^^^^ ^t relates to the twelve tribes of Israel, whose di^inctive! ness 1 purely terrestrial, and who, in these words autnonty. The twelve apostles, as the founders and ramers of the church and a. the Lspirational chanLkof the church s creed aad code, may be most justly and emphatically said to be throned in the church, directing aiul regulating it by their recorded words and deedf The thrones are apostolical, as their number indicates- ctrcr Th"' r" ^^' '^^^" ^^^ -^-^ "^he church The enthronization of Christ must be his Mes- siamc bs redemptive enthronization, as creator and king of the church, bec;ause it is coeval with the enthronizatiof of the twelve : "When the Son of Man shall sit in his throne, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones." Accord- ing y, it is written of Christ, before his death, that " the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.- After his resurrection he L- Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory."3 .^e see Jesus crowtd with glory and honour."* To be crowTied with glory is the same as to be throned in glory. J' ^"'"e The term palhigenesui, rendered "regeneration" is susceptible of two meanings, as we connect it with the precedmg or succeeding words. If we take it to be related to the previous words and to the "following" of 'Matt.xix.28. Vohnvu.89. 3 l^, ^,_ 20. ^Heb.ii.9. % FORMATIVE OFFICEBS OF THE CHURCH. 95 Christ, and accordingly read and punctuate thus—" Ye which have followed me in the regeneration • "—the term denotes the preparation. But if we take it to be related to the succeeding words and to denote what is coeval with the enthronization, it indicates the perfor- mance, or the ecclesiastical era The latter interpreta- tion gives an air of great abruptness to our Lore's words- Ye^which have followed me; in the regeneration, when the bon of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory " And this interpretation, too, makes the term regeneration indicative of the era of enthronization, whereas this era seems sufficiently indicated in other and following words. The period of Christ's personal ministry was a rec^enera- tive period because every preparation was then made for the birth of the church on the day of Pentecost. Peter said to Christ-- Behold, we have forsaken all andfol- lowed thee ; what shall we have therefore ? " And then our Lord tells him that the twelve, who followed him ni the ecclesiastical parturience or preparation, shall be enthroned as judges in the church whose birth was at hand ; and that " every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife or children or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold [that is, 'now in this time,'i or 'in this present time,' ^] and shall inherit everlasting hfe"=* "in the world to come."^ The twelve, particularly, are described as following Christ in the preparation; all other disciples are described as forsaking all for Christ • the twelve are to receive apostolical honour and power m the church, that is, in this world ; all other disciples are to receive in this world an hundredfold; and both apostles and Christians generally shall have, in the world to come, everlasting Ufe. Thus distinctively does our ' ilark X. 29> 30. ^ r^i-g xviii. 30. - Matt. xix. 29. ^Mark X. 30. 96 FORMATIVE OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH. Lord indicate the character and appropriate rewards of aU his servants. The apostles, as inspired messengers or ambassadors, and as the in.strumental ecclesiastical crea- tors, or vice-agents of Christ to form his church, are enthroned ecclesiastical judges. And by their written word they will continue tobe enthroned judges, while the church endures. When Christ empowered the apostles to baptise,! he empowered them to effect the ecclesiasti- cal mcorporation of mankind, for baptism is the door of the church, the rite of ecclesiastical initiation ; and at the same time he empowered them to communicate the truth, which is the instrument of salvation and the rule of actioa If any doubt remain, as to the meaning of the apos- tolic thrones, it must, we think, be removed by our Lord's parallel language, after his last supper : " Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptationa And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me ; that ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel" 2 The period of temptations coincides with the period of preparation ; Christ's king- dom is his mediatorial rule, which shall cease on the accomplishment of the resurrection; as the Father appointed Christ to create and rule that kingdom, so Christ appointed the apostles to create and rule it, as his ambassadors and vice-agents— « As the Father hath sent me, even so send I you ; " and the apostolic possession of this kingdom is spiritually festal as well as potential, font includes eating and drinking at Christ's regal table, in fulfilment of the symbolic supper, and enthron- edly judging, by the revelation and record of the final and perfect ecclesiastical laws. ' Matt. xxviiL 19. ' Luke xxii. 28—30. RCH. e rewards of lessengers or iastical crea- church, are ;heir written Bs, while the the apostles ! ecciesiasti- the door of ; and at the e the truth, the rule of ' the apos- r^ed by our : "Ye are emptationa father hath ink at my udging the emptationa rist's king- ise on the le Father ngdom, so le it, as his ' hath sent possession 1 potential, ist's regal d enthron- the final FORMATIVE OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH. 97 Our Lord's meaning will be substantially the same, as respects the church, if we connect the regeneration with the enthronization : " Ye which have followed me in my temptations, shall be enthroned as judges, in my church, in the great era of regeneration, while I am enthroned in glory." No language could more expressly convey the ample and peculiar powers and prerogatives of the apostles, as the great ecclesiogenesists. As the Father " hath committed all [mediatorial] judgment unto the Son,"* so the Son has committed judgment unto his apostles, in their personal acts anil official compositiona Hence the Saviour's declaration, not to all his disciples, but to the apostles, " He that receiveth you, receiveth me, and he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me."2 The primary subjects of Christ's intercessory prayer, described as " the men which thou gavest me," are not his disciples generally at that time, but the apos- tles." None of these was lost but the son of perdition, that is, none of the apostles, for of his disciples generally it is said that "many went back and walked no more with him."^ And of the -apostles only could he say, as he said in his prayer, " As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world."* But having prayed for his vice-agents, the instruments of founding and forming his church, his special ecclesiastical officers, he prays also " for them which shall believe on him through their word," that they all, all his disciples, " may be one," and that " the world may believe that thou hast sent me."^ Thus in our Lord's great interces- sory prayer, shortly before his self-sacrifice, he observes t .d distinction between his apostles and all other disci- ples, and the relation of the former to the latter. 1 John V. 22. ^ Matt. x. 40. ^ John vi 66. * John xviL 18. * John xvii. 20, 21. '■I t- 1 H-i f S 98 FORMATIVE OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH. In his triple charge to Peter, Christ tells him to feed an.Uhepherd his flock. On all the apostles he breathed inspiring t hem with his Spirit, and empowering them to remit and retam sins,^ legislatively by publishing and recording the principles and laws of his kingdom, and admistratively by binding and loosing. By all these commumcations, the apostles were constituted the vice- agents of Christ. Yet the apostolic vice-agency m-st not be construed mto either the precedent or the peculiarity of an eccle- siastical dictatorship. The apostles had authority and ability to found and form the church, esoeciaUy as the channels of revelation, but they never attempted to com- mand and control the church, a^ governors and masters. Ihey instructed the churches how to govern tu.mselves and they duly respected the rights and liberties of every member and officer. Paul's language, respecting Apollos is a remarkable instance of this: "As touching our brother Apollos, I greatly desired him to come unto you with the brethren ; but his wiU was not at aU to come at this time ; but he wiU come when he shall have conve- nient time." '^ So that even Pauls great desire was not gmtihed, because Apollos, who was not one of the twelve willed differently; and Paul never dared or desired to overru e or control him. The apostles themselves felt and acknowledged their dependence on the churches of bhrist. Paul longed to see the saints in Rome, that he might impart unto them some spiritual gift, but, as has been weU remarked, immediately subjoins the explan- ation : "that IS, that I may be comforted together ydth you, by the mutml faith both of you and me"3 He most solemnly and pathetically entreats them to strive together with him, in their prayers to God for him ♦ To * John XX. 22, 23. * 1 Cor. xvi. 12. * Rom. XV. 30—32. ' Rom. i. 11, 12. FORMATIVE OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH. «)9, the church at Corinth and to the saints in all Achaia, he most expressly disavows all dictation and dominion : " Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy."^ So, also, he says — "All things are for your oakes;"^ and "we do all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying ;"3 and again, most remark- ably and significantly, " Let no man glory in men : for all things are yours ; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas,"* &c. Paul's rebuke of Peter's dissimulation, and the uucen- sured contention of the brethren with Peter, resp«cting his intercourse with the Gentiles, ought to check the tendency to priestism, clericiam, and spiritual despotism, and convince Christians that any ecclesiastical officer is to be resisted and reproved, whenever he departs from the church's only record and rule, the word of God. To " the church of the Thessalonians," Paul says — " We were gentle among yo^r, even as a nurse cherisheth her children."* No language could more clearly and beautifully indicate the apostolic spirit of pastoral care and gentle oversight, or more impressively remind us of the contrasted spirit of modern clerical dictation and domination : gentle as nurses, not judges in the church. The apostles were defined by Christ, or numerically determined, and precluded from sharing or transmitting their power. The number of the apostles was twelve, answering to the twelve tribes of Israel Christ " chose twelve, whom he also named apostles ;" and they are called "twelve," or "the twelve," or "the twelve. ,v>s- tles," in ten places. After Judas's fall, the apostles are called "the eleven," "the eleven disciples," or "the eleven apostles," in five placea Even after Judas's fall, we find the phrase, "the twelve," occurring, because 1 2 Cor. i. 24. « 2 Cor, iv. 15. » 2 Cor. xii. 19 ■» 1 Cor. m. 21, 22. ' 1 Thesa. ii. 7—12. K 2 fl ll i 100 FORMATIVE OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH. twelve was the proper an.l complete, m well as retrospec- tive number of the apostle-s : " Thomas, one of Vhe twelve, was not with thera"' The numerical definitiveness of the apostles appears aiso m our Lord's promise of twelve tliroues, and from the inscription of the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, on the twelve foundations of the New Jerusalem. 2 Paul was the twelfth apostle. He is called an apostle in sixteen places, and an apostle of Christ in seveilHe classes himself with the apostle^s, in saying, " I am the least [yet one] of the apostles."* And he indicates the peculiarity of his apostolate, in saying, " As of one bom out of due time." No such evidence as that for ,he eleven and for Paul can be adduced to prove the all-oed or imagined, apostolate of any one else. If others'are called apostles, it is not in the specific sense of the twelve but as messengers of a church or churches, m; messen- gers ot the Phihppians, or messengers generally Enough, we think, has been said to .sliow both the nature and the peculiarity of the apostolate. The apostles were speciaUy constituted, empowered, ,':.id definol by i^hrist, to be ecclesia^cal founders and fiumers. Suc- cession to them is impossible and absurd. Let no man envy them their crowns, or madly asj^re to their thrones Let no man arrogate, and no church concede, such powers and prerogatives as the apostolic. It was the apostles- work to buUd the chui-ch ; it is ours to inhabit it and work m it, to preserve it and enlarge it, for the pleasure of its proprietary Lord and the profit of a ransomed worid The true succession is not of apostles, bishops or presbyters, but of Christians and churchea What some call the succession of the truth is really the continuance ot the truth. Succession denotes displacement and ^ John XX. 24. * Rev. xxi. 14. » 1 Cor. XV. 9. RCH. as retrospeo- one of the itles appears is, ajid from ostles of the Jerusalem. * 1 an apostle i sevea He " I am the itlicates the af one bom hat for i.he the alleofcd, others ore the twelve, ac messen- ly- V both the "he apostles defined by lers. Suc- ishop8 or i^hat some ►ntinuance nent and ;v. 9. FORMATIVE OFFICERS OF THE CHURCH. lOl replacement, or consecutive addition ; whereas revealeil truth, since the apocalyptic visions, is unaugmented as well aa unchanged. Succession to the apostles is absurd and impossible. Succession of pastors or presbyters may often have been broken, as in the case of destroy.-d Asiatic churches ; but since the day of Pentecost, the world has never been without a Christian church or wthout Clu-istian men. The candlesticks of Christ have often been rer loved, and their light has varied in intensity and breadth, but they have never been extinguislied and destroyed. Somewhere or other, in few places or many, in urban publicity or rural obscurity, in crowded ilistricts or in solitary mountain glades and glens, there have always been both single and associated witnesses of the truth. The reality and validity of a Christian church, as already shown, is not dependent on lineal succession ; and the privileges and duties of Christian churchmen' are not dependent, as has been shown, on "endless genealogies " and historic research and skill. The con- nection of a church now with the primitive churches, with apostles and prophets, and with the Creator and King of the churches, does not consist in lineal consecu- tion to Pentecostal men, but in living conformity tt) Pentecostal principles. The character and claims of a church are to be tested by the word of God, not by uninspired records and tables. How else could the bible be to all the only rule and the sufficient rule of faith and practice ? Once admit that an extant church is bound to establish a historic basis, a lineal relation to the men of Palestine and Asia Minor, eighteen hundred years ago, and it necessarily follows that a man cannot be an assured and consistent member of a Christian church, unless he is a geographer and an eminent his- torian, for short of this he cannot know and prove that he belongs to the Christian church at all! Histoiic k3 102 THE APOSTLES WERE CO-EQUAL. if, \ 1 I r 'I 1 i i ore ,8 usofiil in elucidating the eridences of Chris- tmmty, but it ,h not eH«ential to the apprehonsiou and ulfilment of Christianity, and in not emi ensential to the a^niranco of the .livine origin of the bible. A church does not lean upon tradition or testimony for the sound- ness of her constitution and the validity of her operations but upon her divine creed and code, after which she is modeUed and to wliich she is adjusted as an appro- priate vehicle. ^^ Section ll-ne Apostles we,-e officially, onul there- Jwe essentially, co-equal They are numbered together a« the twelve, and named alike aa the apostles; and by the Head of the church they were aU selected, commissioned, endowed and empowered, as witnesses, messengers, and vice-agenta All the eleven were trained and prepared in the same school, and the twelfth was not a whit behind the very chief Christ describes his apostles as destined to be co-equallv enthroned ; John describes them as co-equally founda- tional in the New Jerusalem ; and when niention is made of the foimdation of the apostles and prophets, the foundation which they proclaimed, which their office and teaching indicate.], and on which tli^y built, no dittereuce whatever is intimated. The religion of Christ precludes, by its nature, and prohibits, by Its precepts, ecclesiastical primacy nre- emmence, or absolutism. The true Christian superiority IS moral, child-like, and consists particularly in humility And the highest office in the Christian church is not a lordship or a dictatorship, but a ministration, modelled after that of our Lord, who came not to be ministered unto but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for THE APOHTLES WERE < i74VAS^ 108 « of Chris- benaiou and essential to A church the sound- : operations, k'hich slie is I an appro- u/tul there- md named the church owed and nce-ugenta. the sanie J very chief, co-equally ly founda- nention is )phet8, the leir office built, no iture, and lacy, pre- uperiority humility. I is not a modelled linistered insom for many. Clirist most carefully represbed, among hi« dis- ciples, all emulation and ambition ; telling them that the greatest among them should be tlujir servant and the least : " If any miii . desire to Ije first, the same shall be least of all and servant of all."* Tliis was said to the twelve, was elicited by their own dispute respecting primacy or pre-eminence, and proves conclusively that there was no official, and therefore no essential, differ- ence among the apostles : " Ourselves your servants, for Jesus' sake " is the language of the apostles, and of all right-minded ministers of the church. Titles of pre-eminence and absolute newer are prohibited, such as master, lord, and father. The constitution and design of the Christian church are utterly incom- patible with a mastership, a lordship, or a fatherhood ; and the attempt to establish them, or the use of such styles and titles, is disobedience to Christ and usurpa- tion in his church. It may be worldly policy to render the church analogous to the state, to assimilate ecclesias- tical functions and laws and fonns to civil, but it is not conformable to the revealed will of Christ, or con- cordant with the nature and office of his church. A " pope," papa or father, a " patriarch " or chief father, an " archdeacon " or chief deacon, an " archbishop " or chief bishop, and " lord bishop," with everything synony- mous and cognate, are as repugnant to the spirit as to the letter of the Christian religion : " So it shall not be among you." How long can a copartnership, a mutual service, a child-like humility, a Clirist-like character, coexist with such titles and investitures ? Let each, for himself, answer and act 1 Mark ix. 35. 104 i h :>■■ f THE APOSTLES WEKE DIVERSE, Section Ul-The Apostles tvere practically, and there- fwe circumstantially, diverse. Essential equality and circumstantial diversity are the comparative characteristics of all mankind. One blood one parentage or, in other words, one species, one plane^ tary sphere of labour and enjoyment, one government of grace, one expected heaven or dreaded hell, belong to all repect. While the essential equality is the basis and I ule of society, the circumstantial diversity is the mark and means of privacy. The apostles had one office and one work ; but they varied so much in natural character actual operation, and Providential allotment or circum- stances, that each performed his part with individual and dLStinctive energy; each sought his appropriate reward ; and each bears a corresponding name in ecclesiastical record and estimation. The same acts could not be performed by all ; the same spheres of labour could not be occupied by all. Some one must make the first proclamation of the new-born church and incorporate the first converts • and some one must first instruct and admit the Gentiles' Thus It IS evident that, notwithstanding official and essen- dfverX Of ^r T' ^' ^"'^''""^ ""^ circumstantial d versity. Of this diversity we have many records ind Wm the New Testament. Wefind traces oJutth penod of apostolic pupUage. Judas was the treasurer, for he had the bag and bare what was put therein,^' ^ but is always last in the list, and fell in his pupilage by betray ing his Master^ Peter, James, and Johf only we^ surnamed by Christ- they alone, of all the disciples witnessed the recovery of the ruler's daughter,^ and * John xii. 6. ' Mark iii. 16, 17, ' Mark v. 37. 1 '•I THE APOSTLES WEKE DIVERSK 106 the transfiguration^ and agony of Christ.^ The nume- rical nucleus and minimum of ecclesiastical association and testimony are two or three ; and accordingly Peter, James, and John were Christ's chosen witnesses of special events. Peter is always indicated as prac- tical foreman or spokesman,^ and placed accordingly at the head of the apostolic catalogue. He denied his Master, whose prayer and power, however, preserved him from apostacy and total unbelief. For James and John, their mother sought pre-eminence in Christ's kingdom. John is described, in his pupilage, as the disciple whom Jesus loved, that leaned on his breast at supper and asked him to indicate the traitor. But the most interesting and important diversities are those which obtained on and after the day of Pentecost, the date of apostolic baptism, installation, and initial operation. Peter was the apostolical and ecclesllstical COMMENCER. Christ constituted him key-warden of the church, which, consequently, he opened to the Jews on the day of Pentecost, and to the Gentiles, in the house of Cornelius. His surname is of both Messianic origin and Messianic import, corresponding to the practical peculiarity of his apostleship. Andrew brought his brother, Simon, to Jesua "And when Jesus beheld him, he said. Thou art Simon the son of Jona ; thou shalt be called Cephas, which is, by interpretation, Uerpos, Peter, a stone." * Christ subsequently referred to the significance of this name, when Peter recognised him as " the Christ, the Son of tlie living God :" " And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in » Matt. xvii. 1—9. * Matt. xxvi. 37. * John vi. 66— 68 j Matt. xvi. 16. * Johr. i. 42, 'li 106 ! Mil ' J THE APOSTLES WERE DIVERSE. heaven. And I say also unto thee, that thou axt Peter • and upon this rock I will build my church • and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. aJi v^l give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heav^- and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound LnTr; . "^^''r "'' *^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^^ -^ earth shall be loosed m heaven."^ Christ himself is the so tnat other foundation can no man lay than that winch IS laid, which is Jesus Christ." " ThJfoundatron of the apostles and prophets," therefore, is not the founda- tion which they constitute, but which they proclaim and build on; and among them Peter is conspicuous as appeUatively symbohcal and suggestive of the true 'and edL st^^^^ r' "T ^^^^^ ^^ *^^ ^-^--tical ediface. So Jacob gave the commemorative and sug- gestive name of " Mahanain," or two hosts, to one pllcf • and ^ ElbetheV; or the God of Bethel, to Inothe .Ho' also, the Israelites drank of the rock, that is of the water from the rock, that followed them ; and " thai r^k was Christ," that is, typically and prophetically denoted and suggested Christ. It was fit that when Peter recognised Christ, the rock, his own appellltive symbolism of the rock should be reciprocally recogni^d by repeating his name and by revealing its significanc; of ecclesiastical key-wardenship. - Thou art Peter " i nominal and symbolical stone, by my own choice 'and appointment "and on this rock," which thou hast con- fessed and which thy name symbolizes and suggests " I will build my church." « And," in consonanff with al tins and with thy own natural character, thy character istic boldness and courage, " I will give unfo theefhe ' ^''^'- *^- 1«-1»- » Oen. xzxu. 2, and s«v. 7. THE APOSTLES WERE DIVERSE. 107 art Peter ; ; and the nd I will f heaven : be bound on earth ilf is the is called Q stone," ihan that )undation e founda- 'laim and iuous, as true and esiastical and sug- ae place; er.2 So, , of the i " that betically at when pellative ognised, lificance eter," a ice and ist con- sts, " I vith all iracter- lee the keys of the kingdom of heaven," the keys of the church which I will build, and which is the full and final social development of my heavenly kingdom, that thou mayest open its portals to Jew and Gentile. The power of the keys relates simply to original ecclesiastical ingress, and is peculiarly and exclusively Petrine. The power of binding and loosing relates to the ecclesiastical interior, and was commonly apostolical and ecclesiastical, as has been already shown. Christ himself is the basis, bond and warden of'his church ; the keys are truly and pri- marily on his shoulder,— the keys of the church and of hell and of death. The apostles were his instru- ments or vice-agents. When he, in heaven, applied the key to open his church, he inspired his servant and symbol, Peter, to do it formally on earth ; aiyi when he bound and loosed in heaven, he inspired his apostles to bind and loose, formally and visibly, in his church on earth. The binding and loosing did not originate with them, to be sanctioned by him in heaven ; but originated with himself, in heaven, to be ecclesiastically developed and executed by them on earth. " Whatsoever my apostles shall bind or loose, on earth, shall be the development and execution of what I previously or originally bound and loosed in heaven, as ecclesiastical creator and king. And their legislative or administrative remission or retention of sins shall be vaUd, because it will be the inspired development and execution of my sovereign will." Peter was the ecclesi- astical pioneer, opening the church ; first preaching the kingdom of heaven come, and working the first apostolical and ecclesiastical miracles ; first vindicating the church's head and lord, against the Jewish authorities ; and first excluding evildoers from the church, by the death of the mendacious pair, Ananias and Sapphira.^ When Paul I . { 108 THE APOSTLES WERE DIVERSE. I- |i first went up to Jerusalem, it was to see Peter, with whom he abode fifteen days ; yet afterwards, instead of recognizing Peter as superior to the other apostles, he tells us that " he withstood him to the face because he was to be blamed,"! thus also teaching us that no office or eleva- tion is to shield an offender or deprive Christians of the right to rebuke and repel evil Paul also teUs us that the gospel of the circumcision was committed unto Peter, and that God "wrought effectually in Peter to the' apostleship of the circumcision," 2 meaning, probably, that Peter was the apostolic pioneer among the Jews, in replenisliing as well as opening the Christian church. Peter was not the prince of the apostles, for there was none such, but he was the foreman of the apostles, and a^ such ecclesiastical commencer, or opener, and Jewish pioneer, addressing two epistles chiefly to Jewish Chris- tians, in the first instance, and, through them, to all believers or professed Christians. It was necessary that, in the election of the twelfth witness before the day of Pentecost, in the origination of the church on that day, and in the enlargement of the church in the house of Cornelius, some one of the twelve should be appomted and recognized, as the apostolical foreman, so as to preclude all unseemly competition and collision, and so as to preclude the evils of hesitation and delay. Hence the propriety and utility of Peter's pecu- liar position. Paul was emphatically the Operative of eccle- siastical FRAMERS, OR, THE APOSTOLIC LABOURER. If Peter apostolically laid the foundation, Paul was the chief builder ; if Peter opened the church, Paul especially operated to regulate and replenish it. He was "in labours more abundant ; " ^ and his labours consisted in j THE APOSTLRS WERE DIVERSE. 109 oral and written communication, discourses and epistles, — in journeyings oft and far,— and in the care of all the churchea The recorded apostolical acts are chiefly Pauline acts, contributing immensely and directly to the founding, maturing and regulating of various churchea Abstract Paul's epistles from the New Testament, and how great the chasm and how irreparable the loss! Who, like him, has elucidated the Jewish or national economy, in his epistle to the Hebrews, and the Chris- tian or ecclesiastical economy, in his epistle to the Ro- mans; and who has furnished so ample a Christian directory as his, in all his epistles? It became him to say, in comparison with the other apostles, " I laboured more abundantly than they all : yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." ^ He was the chief apos- tolical labourer among the Gentiles, for he says, " The gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter ; for he that wrought effectually in Peter, to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me, toward the Gentiles." ^ He is the chief writer of the New Testa- ment and the most able and systematic expounder of Christianity; and may be described as the most emi- nently and extensively laborious and useful of all the apostles. On account of the lateness of his call to the apostleship and inclusion among the twelve, he describes himself as " one born out of due time," ^ a sort of posthumous apostle, apostolically born to aid in the formation of the church after its commencement ; and on account of his persecution of the church, he calls himself " the least of the apostles " and " not fit to be called an apostle,"* a sort of morally miraculous 1 Cor. XV. 10. • Gal. il 7, 8. * 1 Cor. XV. 9. » ) Cor. XT. 8. I 110 THE APOSTLES WERE DIVERSE. apostle ; yet not a whit behind the chief, and mpst labonous of all Andrew, James the son of Zebedee, Phiup Bar- tholomew Thomas, Matthew, James the s^n op Alph^us Simon Zelotes, and Jude, or Judas, bro- ther OF James, were apostolic co-operators. They all laboured, and doubtless laboured faithfully and effec- tually, m the formation of the church ; but none of them could claim the Petrine honom- of commencer, or the Pauhne honour of master-builder or greatest worker, or the Johaimme honour of maturer. Yet even as col- lectively-considered co-operators, they exhibit diversities. James, the son of Alphseus, wrote an invaluable epistle on practical wisdom, proposed, by inspiration, the judgment m the apostohcal council of Jerusalem ' and a-ppears to have taken a prominent part in the affkirs of the primary or Jerusalemite church ;2 but there is no scriptural and, therefore, no sufficient warrant whatever for the assertion that he, an apostle, an ecclesiastical tramer, became bishop of Jerusalem or pastor of a church He and Peter and John seemed to Paul to be pillars.' Matthew wrote one of the gospels, which is the most copious account of ecclesiastical preparation. Judaa wrote a short epistle. John was the ecclesiastical maturer. Asso- ciated with Peter in preparing the passover, before our Lord s decease,* we find him in the same asso- ciation when the lame man was healed, when the truth was first preached before the Jewish authorities and m the mission to Samaria to endow and edify the church.5 He and his brethren were surnamed by Christ Boanerges, or sons of thunder." He wrote one of the *Acts XV, 13—21 4 » xy. 13—21. »Act8 xii 17, and xii. 18 ; Gal ii 9 3 Oal 5i o Luke xxu. 8. • Acts iii. 1, 11 ; iv. 13 ; vlii iT ""Mark Sit THE APOSTLES WERE DIVERSE. Ill and rapst lUP, Bar- E SON OP DAS, BRO- Ra They and effec- ; none of nencer, or sst worker, en as col- iiversities. >le epistle tion, the lem,^ and affairs of ere is no whatever lesiastical a church, e pillars.* the most Judas Asso- r, before me asso- hen the thorities, idify the Y Christ, > of the Gal. ii. 9. ii. 17. gospels, in which are preserved some of our Lord's most precious discourses; and he wrote three epistles on Christian love and its fruits. But it is the authorship of the apocalypse that chiefly distinguishes him. The formation of the church, which Peter commenced and Paul continued, John completed. Peter laid the foundation, Paul served as a wise master-builder, and John brought forth the topstone. Peter opened the portals, Paul and his co-apostles operated to replenish it with Christian occupants, and John completed its means and munimenta The church could not be fully formed till its rescripts and records, its rule of operation and chronicle of progress, were complet id ; and this honour was reserved for John. The kingdom comes, and Peter proclaims it; the kingdom is matured, and John announces it The completion of the canon was the completion of the church's formation, for it was the com- pletion of the laws by which the church is to be governed, and of the truths which the church is to be occupied in receiving and teaching ; and in the completion of these, the church was fully developed and furnished. It was Peter's peculiar honour to commence and open the church to the two great divisions of mankind ; it was John's to complete and seal it, in the inspired Sabbatic visions of his prison-isla Nor is this conjecture, but recorded fact and accomplished prophecy. It is the ful- filment of our Lord's remarkable but scarcely appreci- ated words to Peter, respecting John : " If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee ?" Peter, the appellative symbol of Christ and the key-keeper of his church, destined to throw wide to the world the eccles i asticAl portals, cannot repress his curiosity to learn the fate of John. He had just heard from Christ by what death he himself should glorify God, and seeing John following, he said — " Lord, and wh.at shall this tncili T'.u * l2 112 THE APOSTLES WERE DIVERSE. L [What shall become of this man? or, what shall be his , , .'" *" n"^ judicial advent, at the end of tho world, 1. to make hi,„ ^^k in a rno^ extrava^t lab I wnHw f T '''■*!,'l""« "neourtecs and harsh : " If o™L ,^ I "' "" ""^ '^^ of judgment, what is that pJZ^ \ 1 ■"" '"^Sie that Christs advent m Patmos, to this very diseiple, shonid have beerover looked, a« solriug every Jifficulty and LT2>. the Pamge with a peculiarly inieresting and y^ZS^i'^ whtv rp^i^-T' "'" *"" -"''«- otl'X^, Which m Patmos he experiei.ced, and which in the apocaypee he describes John tarried on^ eUh m Christ came to him, in the apocalyptic vis^ottW mato^d and sealed the church. Anf the ^"Xc^ this advent was naturally elicited by the open^f „7 the church, recorded by the maturer, t4 waatoexperient an^King of ..e church cam? to J^Z v^'-oL^-^ Spmt, arrayed m sacerdotal and regal vestments, al a pnncely pnest, grasping his astral mSe„ger7™Sin^ king-hke among his golden and radiant churcL dSariuf h^ last ecclesiastical epistles, aad revealing finaUyZ ';^^V^^-iyi^^!<^j..Uior^ Till tlus L^nK * John xxi. Ifr— 22. TrE APOSTLES' SPECIAL ASSISTANT 1]3 tarried ; beyond it, we have no inspired record of apostle or church. "The Acts" comme:^ >e with the ascrip- tion of Chnsts last commandments to the agency of the Holy Spunf, with Christ's promise of the Spirit, with the apostolic ordination by the Spirit, and with the opening of the church by the Spirit ; '< the Apocalypse" embodies the consammatory communications of the Spirit to the beloved disciple, and therefore crowns the Spirit's crea- tion, by apostolic vice-agency, of the Church of Christ. Section lY.-^The Apostles were specially assisted by subordinate temporary ojfficers. The twelve apostles were divinely-charged with tlie universal publication of the gospel and the correspon- dent formation and propagation of the church. In the fulfilment of such a ta^k, they required and obtained help. Upon others as well a« themselves peculiar gifts were conferred, to authenticate and promot • the ministra- tion ot mercy ; and from among these the apostles cho.se such extraordinary officers and auxiUaries as they found requisite to accomplish their great work. Hence we find, in the primitive churches, miraculous discerners of the future, or prophets ; miraculous discerners of spirits • miraculous Unguists, or divers kinds of tongues ; miracu- lous interpreters and teachers, as the word of wisdom the word of knowledge, the interpretation of tongues' and mterpreters generally ; miraculous workers, calle- thronof Zn fft""' '" <••"■»""""«"« to the bre- thren of the Oentile. the result of the council reroectinir Hood of prophet, and of 8ain^ and of all that were «lam upon the earth."' B^nt;^ ?'*"':""""'""'•"" "■"New Testament Both partiapate m the exalted honour and usefuln»8» of INSPIKED PENMANSHIP. "SeiuJueSS ot Luke, apparently the most learned of the writere of the gospels, applies several particular, respecting the ^T.l ^""^"^ '"•^'^™«°»' "'■ich are not fold m the other histonana To him, also, belongs the honou of inspired historian of the chureh's forTation, TZ wrote the Act, of the apostles. "The New Te^ament mfoms us of very few p,rtic„lars concerning him He .» no named m any of the gospels. I„ the lets of the apostles, he uses the fi«t person plural, when he i, eta! IplTe rt fill r ''""1 '■^ ^" himself with tha r f th^teircterttfrr ^t^ p.uimthishi,r:^a:^t:Ltdi%rc^ thra^a, they went to Neapolis, and thence to PhiHppi At this last place we conclude that St Paul and St Luke separated,J»oause, in continuing the history of St Paul, 'Actaiili. 1. 'Rev. ,viiL 24. THE APOSTLFIS' SPECIAL ASHISTAKTra. 117 wparate udas and sent with 8 and the 1 the bre- •especting bund the hat Were t co-ope- evange- Jstament ■Illness of Titei-s of ting the >t foimterval ; it only appears that he was not with St Paul. When St Paul was about to go to Jerusalem from Greece, after his second visit into that country, St Luke, nientioning certain IKjraons, says, 'These going before, tarried for ua at Troa.s, and we sailed away from Philippi,' Acts xx. 5, 6. Thus again we learn that St Luke accompanied St Paul out of Greece, through Macedonia to Troas; and the sequel of St Paul's history in the Acts, and some pas- sages in his epistles, 2 Tim. iv. 11, Col. iv. 14, PhUem. 24, written while he wa."^ a prisoner at Rome, inform ua that St Luke continued from that time with Paul, till he was released from his confinement at Rome ; which was a space of about five years, and included a very interesting part of St Paul's life. Acts xx.— xxviii." ^ Mark, the writer of one of the gospels, " wf the nephew of Barnabas, being his sister's son ; and he . . sup- posed to have been converted to the gospel by St Peter, who caUs him his son, 1 Peter v, 13 ; but no circumstance.s of his conversion are re( l. The first historical fact mentioned of him in th.' New Testament is that he went from Jerusalem to Antiooh, with Paul and Barnabas. Not long after, he set out from Antioch witli them upoi' a journey, which they undertook by the direction ol tho Holy Spirit, for the purpose of preaching the gospel in different countries: but he soon left them, probably without sufficient reason, at Perga, in Pamphyiia, and went to Jerusalem, Ac'.s xiii. Afterwards, when Paul and Barnabas had determined to visit the several I M f hm 118 THE APOSTLES' SPECIAL ASSISTANTO. Churches which they had established, Barnabaa proposed objected, be<^use Mark had left them 'in thei^^foier Paul and Barnabas which ended in their separation. Mark accompanied his uncle Barnabas to Cyprus. butTt « not mentioned whither they went when th^y left that island We may conclude that St Paul was afterwards reconciled to St. Mark, from the manner in which he menuons him, in his epistles written subsequenUy Z this dispute ; and particularly from the direction which he gxves to Timothy: 'Take Mark and bring him wth thee ; for he is profitable to me for the miniftiy,' 2 S Perhaps no apostolical auxiliary function has been so little understood as that of the evangelists. The name itself simply signifies the good-newsbearer. or preacher of the gospel. It occurs in only three passages ^ aad IS specifically appUed to none but Philip a^T^o- !vL J^ T*^' ^ *^" Ephesians, Paul mentions evangelists as distinct from apostles and prophets, and from pastors and teachera They are not ordinar; and permanent officers of the church, but distinct from the pastors and teachers, who are such indisputably t^' T ]^" ''''"'*'^ application of the name, and from the^duties and labours ascribed to them, tha they were, hke the prophets, special assistants of the apostles, subordinately contributing to " the planting and trammg" of the church, and ceasing, hke thf hf^t' ^K *^ •' "^''^ ™ ^"^^^^^- Thty seem to a^ll^T'V ''""""^''' "^^^^ "^ *^« itinerating apostles. Itinerancy is, unquestionably, the best method » Wat.on'8 Biblical and Theological DictiW^T "Acts XXI. 8. Eph. iv. 11. 2Tim. iv.6. 3 proposed hich Paul eir former between eparation. •us, but it ' left that fterwards which he iiently to >n which lim with ^' 2 Tim. been so 3. The sarer, or assages,^ dTimo- aentions ets, and ary and 2t from )utably; liey are name, m, that of the •lanting ke the &em to erating tiethod THE apostles' SPECIAL ASSISTANTS. 119 of diffusing the gospel, and of planting and propagating the church ; it is the method of ecclesiastical formation, rather than of ecclesiastical consecution and edification • It was the method of the apostles, aa the founders and framers of the church, and elicited the consentaneous aid of the evangelists' office. The apostles first mtroduced the gospc) and originated churches ; and then employed evangelists to organize, edify, and furnish those churches more adequately. Prophets linguists, interpreters, workers of miracles, &c., were probably all local apostoHcal auxUi- anes, confining their labours to the adjacent churches and districts, whUe the evangelists itinerated according to apostolical warrant and instruction. As Christ trained the twelve and their fellow-disciples, so the apostles, both with and without local and itinerary helps, trained the first churches and church officers. And it appears, too that to teach and train the first pastors and teachers of the churches was one principal business of the evangelists. Hence the detailed and full enumerations of the quali- ties and characteristics of bishops and deacons, in Paul's epistles to the evangelist Timothy. Timothy was a sort of theological tutor and trainer; and, though not formally at the head of a "normal" clerical school, or college, was empowered to instruct and instal appropriate candidates for the work of the Chnstian min- istry. The preparation of the apostles was not left to contingencies by Christ ; and neither, we should suppose was the preparation of the first pastors and teachers so left by the apostles. They, doubtless, did what they could in the work of ministerial training ; and t hat they could not do themselves, on account of their abbreviated stay and extensive journeys, they committed to evangelists, whom they had themselves suitably instructed and prepared Paul expressly directs Timothy to instruct and prepare competent teachers : " The things that thou hast heard of 41 120 THE APOSTI.ES' SPECIAL ASSISTANTS. me, among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also." ^ It was not office or authority that Timothy was to com- mit, but " the things that he had heard of Paul." What Paul spoke and Timothy heard, were " the things per- taining to the kingdom of God ;" not secrets in the church, like the Eleusinian mysteries, but spoken openly, " among many witnessea" " The things which we have heard " are indicated by Paul as what we ought to give earnest heed to,'^ and cannot, by any process of sane interpretation, be confoundfed with ecclesiastical functions. They were to be committed by Timothy to men faithful and able to teach, as Paul committed his charge to Timo- thy.^ Timothy's commitment of truth was not merely for personal improvement, but to qualify for teaching others also ; and, therefore, it was commitment from a teacher and trainer of ecclesiastical teachers. Respecting the preparation of candidates for the ministry, Paul says, commit what thou hast heard of me to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others. Respecting the installation of teachers, he says, " Lay hands suddenly on no man ;" and, respecting the instruction of teachers, he says, " I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine."* To Timothy, as a trainer and installer of teachers, Paul describes the character and qualifications of both bishops and deacons, that Timothy might know how he ought to behave himself in the house of God.« The good thing com- mitted to Timothy was not office or authority but truth, which Paul denominates a charge : " The end of the charge is charity :" " Charge some that they teach no other doctrine :" " This charge I commit to thee :" » 2 Tim. u. 2, « Heb. ii. 1. » 1 Tim. i. 18. » 1 Tim. liL * 1 Tim. i. 3. THE apostles' SPECIAL ASSISTANTS. 121 it thou to lers also."^ IS to com- il." What hings per- ets in the en openly, h we have ht to give 3S of sane functions. m faithful } to Timo- ot merely teaching It from a respecting Paul says, men, who istallation "I [10 man says, (U I went ame that ;hy, as a ribes the . deacons, ) behave ing com- ut truth, d of the teach no thee :" 'im. i. 3. " The glorious gospel of the blessed God, which wa.<» committed to my trust :" " The things which thou hast heard of me commit :" " That good thing which was committed unto thee keep :" " But continue thou in the things which thou hast heard and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them ; and that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures :" " I charge thee, therefore, preach the word :" " Do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry." This collation and induction of passages plainly evince that what was committed to Timothy was biblical truth ; and that he was not only so to keep and teach this truth as to save himself and them that heard him, but also to train and prepare suitable and efficient teachers for the church of God. aU this was emphatically a work ; and it was not only assigned but done, for Paul says of Timo- thy, " He worketh the work of the Lord, as I also do."» That T- .(,hy was not stationary but itinerary is easily proved. .' found him at Lystra or Derbe and chose him " to go forth with him," that is, to travel with him. Writing to the Romans, Paul calls Timothy his " work- fellow ;" he writes to the Corinthians of Timothy coming to them, and having preached Christ among them ; he hoped to send Timothy shortly to the Philippians, and from Athens sent him to the Thessalonians ; and he informs the Hebrews of Timothy's liberation. The churches generally had an interest in Timothy, because he was a general auxiliary of the apostles. Philip, first a deacon and then an evangelist, itiner- ated. He went down to Samaria and preached Christ. The Spirit sent him to the eunuch, and after the baptism " caught him away ;" and he was " found at Azotus, and, passing through, he preached in all the cities, till he » 1 Cor. Kwl 10. 122 THE apostles' SPECIAL ASSISTANTS. lim came to CaBsarea." Here he seems to have chiefly dwelt, as we are told that Paul's company came to Caesarea, and entered into the house of Philip the evan- gelist, which was one of the seven, and abode with him. He was married, for "the same man had daughters, virgir.s which did prophesy" Probably from Caesarea, as a centre, he made excursions to preach and to do the work of an evangelist Titus, too, was probably an evangelist, though not named as such. When a door was opened to Paul at Troas, he had no rest in his spirit because he found not Titus, whom, it would appear, he wished to employ there. In Macedonia, he was comforted by the coming of Titus ; he tells the Corinthians of Titus's affection and earnest care for them, and of their own reception of him ; recognizes him as his partner and fellow-helper, and says — " We desired Titus that as he had begun so he would also finish in you the same grace also." When Paul went up to Jerusalem with Barnabas, he took Titus also with him. And he informs Timothy that Titus had departed unto Dalmatia. He writes to Titus in the same spirit and strain as to Timothy, telling him that he had left him in Crete to set in order the things that are wanting and to ordain elders in every city ; and then delineates the character of an elder or bishop. And he directs Titus to mset him at Nicopolis. Hence it appears that the evangelists were not settled diocesan or parochial bishops, but itinerary assistants of the itinerary apostles ; and, like the apostles, peculiar and temporary officers, or formative functionaries, in the church of Christ. Barnabas was a prominent and useful apostolical assistant. He was the first in Jerusalem to acknowledge the converted Saul of Tarsus ; and was sent thence to visit the converted Gentiles in Antioch, whom he gladly ve chiefly r came to the evan- with him. daughters, I Csesarea, to do the ough not 3 Paul at found not 3 employ le coming affection reception •w-helper, begun so " When look Titus Titus had IS in the him that lings that and then And he 3t settled stants of peculiar ?s, in the jostolical lowledge tience to le gladly THE apostles' SPECIAL ASSISTANTS 123 recogrxized and exhorted, being himself " a good man and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith." He went t.) Tarsus to seek Saul, and brought him to Antioch • whence they were deputed with " reUef," for thJ approaching famine, to the brethren in Judea. Return- ing to Antioch, they were divinely commissioned to preach the gospel among the Gentiles; and accord- ingly they travelled and laboured together, and are therefore called apostles or messengers from Antioch On finishing their work, they returned to Antioch reported their labours to the church, and abode long tmtie with the disciplea After this they were sent to Jerusalem respecting the debated question of Gentile circumcision; and returned, with Judas and Silas, to communicate the decision of the question. Subsequently Barnabas continued with Paul in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also. Differing respecting a companion, in the visitation of che scenes of their former labours, they separated from each other ; and while Paul departed with Silas, Barnabas took Mark and sailed into Cyprus. Paul, in his epistle to the Galatians, mentions Barnabas as having accom- panied himself and Titus, in a visit to Jerusalem, and as naving been carried away with the Jewish dissimu- lation. On the whole, it appears that Barnabas did the work of an evangelist, though not bearing the name. Apollos was noted for his eloquence and skUl in the Scripturea Paul couples him with himself, in having been perversely made a party name in Corinth, and in the honourable relation of ministers, with the distinc- tion that he himself planted and Apollos watered. Other names, chiefly of smaller note and lower ofiice as subservi. nt to the apoatolate, are on record. Paul specifies, as his helpers or fellow-labourers, (aw^pyoA Priscilla and Aquila, Urbane, Epaphroditus, Tychious, M 2 124. THE APOSTLES' SPECIAL ASSISTANTS. (a fellow-servant, lic elec- mediate tation. CHAPTER IV. SPACIAL ORIGIN. THE CHURCH IS PALESTINIAN, BECAUSE IT WAS INSTI- TUTED IN THE CITY OF JERUSALEM AND AMPLIFIED IN C^SAREA. The «'one place," where the " hundred and twonty" dis- ciples were assembled " with one accord," " when the day of Pentecost was fully come," wa.s in Jent^alem. Christ had selected that city as the birth-place of his church and commanded his disciples tu tarry there tUl divinely empowered. " He said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus It behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day : and that repentance and remission of ama should be preached in his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these thmgs. And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you : but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands and blessed them. And it came to pa.ss, while he ' .lessee! them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem mth great joy : and were continually in the temple, praising and bles.sing God."i The same iviiter elsewhere informs us, that Jesus , being assembled with ' Acts xxiv. 48—63. Ifl 130 SPACIAL ORIGIN. It! the apostles, "commande.l them that they should not depaxt from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me." "Ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jenisalem, and in all Judea, and m Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." And " they returned unto Jerusalem, from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sab- bath day's journey. And when they were come in, they went up mto an upper room, where abode" the eleven.^ Ihus Christ commanded the proclamation of his salvation to begin at Jerusalem, and it began there on the day of Pentecost ; thus Christ promised the baptism of his hpmt, first in Jerusalem, and it was given accordingly on the day of Pentecost; thus Christ commanded his apos- ties to tarry in Jerusalem, not to depart from Jei usalem, and they immediately returned to it and remained in it so that when the day of Pentecost'was fuUy come they were all m it with one accord. At Jerusalem began the formation of the church, the operation and develop- ment of the kingdom of heaven, which, small m a stone and superhumanly hewn, is to expand into a world-fillmg mountain. The place of ecclesiastical genesis is as appropriate and sigmficant as the time. Its name denotes peace. Mel- dmedek, one of the most apt and illustrious types of Christ, was " King of Salem, that is, king of peace."' It was the seat and centre of Jewish religion and Jewish power, whence went out the blessing of God, and the rod of his strength : " In Salem is his taberna<3le, and his dweUing-place in Zion. There brake he the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle "» There the curtains of Jehovah's tabernacle had been spread, and the walls of his successive temples reared. » Acta L 4 . 8, 12, 13. « Heb. vii 2. » Psalm IxxvL 2, 3. hould not ise of the e." "Ye and in all it part of lem, from ixn a sab- e in, they e eleven.^ salvation 16 day of n of his Jingly on hiij apos- jrusalem, led in it, me, they m began develop- ill as a 1 into a iate and e. Mel- types of peace." ' I Jewish 1 the rod and his rrows of battle/'8 id been reared. 2,3. SPACIAL ORIGIN. jg, There victims bled and altars smoked, with incnse and a pure offenng. There priest^s in rich attire, v^ sub oX'ptr' r^T"^^^^^ ^"^ typical Atonement hi nrie7 Th P^^P'^^^^«^"y adumbrated the world's ifZT , I'""- •^'P''"' '"''''^ ^"'^ '^'^^' prefigured a Pnnce and a Saviour. To that compa..tly-l.uildercitv tttimtToTr T: *'^ 'f'' "' ''' ^-^' ""^ the Lorrl For there were set thrones of iudmnent th. thrones of the house of David." > It wi Td.nA. f tmth, the locality of Divine organii Z sc L C eular response. The beacon-l-,.t c. the earth blazed there and a lunar lu.stre shone around v lZ wt T the place where men ought t . s. ..Wo, and where the Jews assembled accordingly thn. 9 v,' ' . fil ^^^ through the valley of bIL, ZJ^^r^: ^^^JZ;:^ receiving rain in the wells they dug ov ' fJ u other, from company to company, and a" ..^"^itrout diminution before God in Zion. It wa« the p^el," beautyand the sourceof light. Pious Jews affect Illy ^.d gladly recognised and remembered it, a. the dty of the,r God the c ty of the great king, in whose pa Ls God wa. known for a refuge, and whose Mount iTon he sides of the north, was beautiful for situation ami 'the joyof thewholeearth. Oh! howeagerly and lovingly he v circumambulated it, telling its towers, marking ite buT warks and considering its palaces, that from each retiring to each nsmg generation the blissful appreciation nu^hf be pa^ed and perpetuated ! The SavioJ^'s present h his mfantilo presentation, his temple-purging I^'ll ^mple-teaching. transcendently glor^el itf laL" Uver It he wept, foreseeing its destruction. In one of its upper rooms he celebrated ine hst legal passover, and ^ Psalm cxxii. 3—5. 132 SPACIAL ORIGIN. instituted its eucharistic successor. Within its walls he washed his disciples' feet, delivered to them his precious post-communion discourses, offered his great intercessory prayer, and endured the mockery of repeated trial and multiplied insults. Without, he endured the agony of the garden and the crucifixion of Calvary, reposed in the sepulchre, and rose again in triumph. It was meet that such a city should be the birth-place of a nobler organism, the recipient of a better covenant, the witness of a brighter day. the point of departure and basis of operations for God's world-wide message and chosen messengers. Besides, it was as ethnically central and suitable, as historically interesting and institutionally preparatory. Jerusalem stands near the shores of earth's central sea ; by the hive of mankind ; on the great highway from Egypt, the cradle of science, to the seats of the great cities and peoples of antiquity ; within easy sail of intellectually-sovereign Greece, and manageably distant from physically-sovereign Rome. During the^ whole period of the church's formation, no one place could have been selected so suitable, as a centre of opera- tion and as a resort for council, as Jerusalem ; and it was selected and occupied accordingly. Zechariah prophesied tha,t living waters should go out from Jerusalem, half of them eastward, toward the former or Dead Sea, and half of them westward, towards the hinder or Mediterranean Sea, so as to refresh and fructify the two great divisions of the world, as known to the ancients;^ and Paul declares his fulfilment of the prophecy, when he tells us " that from Jerusalem, and round about unto lUyricum, I have fully preached tho gospel of Christ"^ His first labours, after his conver- sion, were eastward in / rabia f subsequently he preached » Zech. xW. 8. » Rom. xv. 19. » Oal. i. 15—17. ts walls he is precious atercessory I trial and ) agony of reposed in ; was meet f a nobler he witness id basis of id chosen antral and itutionally 1 of earth's the great the seats ithin easy anageably uring the^ one place of opera- fi ; and it Id go out ward the I, towards fresh and known to it of tha ilein, and Lched tho 5 conver- preached SPACIAL ORIGIN. 133 westerly in Greece and Rome. By the labours of all the apostles, the gospel " was preached to every creature which IS under heaven ;" and the living water, which flovvs m rivers from the body of every believer, has since contmued to flow hi the world, for the spiritual suste- nance, health, and happiness of mankind. Biblical references to Jerusalem, besides the historical the appreciatory and the prophetical, are various The' city IS mentioned indkativdy, as when God is called the God of Jerusalem ;"i illastmtively, when i^, is said- As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord IS round about his people from henceforth even tor ever; and typically or representatively of the church both in the Old and New Testament. In the SLKty-fifth chapter of Isaiah, which, according , Paul (Koia X 20), commences with a prophecy of the conver- sion of the Gentiles, Jerusalem is mentioned as a creation m connection with the new heavens and the new earth • Beho d I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy Such expressions as these-" Speak ye com- fortably to Jerusalem "-"he hath comforted his people he hath redeemed Jerusalem "_" till he make Jeru- sae^n a praise in the earth "-"put on thy beauti- ful garments, Jerusalem "-" a fountain opened to the inhabitants of Jerusalem "-with many other similar passages, are all evidently prophetical and representa- tive indications of great spiritual and general changes and blessings, not Jewish but Christian. It is no wonder therefore, that in the New Testament, which so exactly corresponds and correlates to the Ol.i, similar repre- sentative language is used. Paul compares «' the two covenants ' (8.a^v««0 to the two children of Abraham Ish maeland Isaac ; and the two organisms, Jewish-national If ' 1 2 Chrou. xxxii. 19. « Psalm gxxv. 2. 'Isa. Isv. 13. N 134 SPACIAL ORIGIN. and Christian-ecclesiastical, to Jerusalem, literally and spiritually considered. The one covenant, he says, is from the Mount Sinai ; and its cognate organism is " Jerusalem, that now is/' that is similar to, or that corresponds with, Hagar. The other covenant is from Mount Sion, as he supplementally intimates in his epistle to the Hebrews ; and its cognate organism is the church, " free Jerusalem which is above, which is the mother of us aU." i Thus the Jewish revelation and m.achmery are contrasted with the Christian ; and to the same effect, but varied in manner, is the contrastive description in Paul's epistle to the Hebrews. The Mount Sinai, the scene of Jewish revelation and national organization, tangible, burning with fire, dark, black and tempestuous, reverberating the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, and occasioning, by its terrible- ness, fear and quaking, represents the old economy and polity. Mount Sion is the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and comprehends the innumer- able company of messengers— the general assembly and church of the first-born, of celestial registration— God, the judge of all— righteous and perfected minds— Jesus', the mediator of the new covenant— and the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than Abel. These are the constituents and characteristics of the final dispensation and organism of divine truth and grace.=^ They do not indicate a state hereafter but a state to which we "are come ; " the contrast is not between earth and heaven, literally considered, but between an inferior and preparatory system, on the one hand, and a superior and perfect system, on the other. The church of Christ is the New Jerusalem; and the gospel or New Testa- ment is the second covenant, illustrated by Isaac. The ii ^ Oal. iv. 22—31. ' Heb. xii. 18—29. SPACIAL ORIGIN. jrally and e says, is ^nism is >, or that t is from 3 in his 5m is the 3h is the -tion and ad to the •ntrastive 's. The national k, black trumpet terrible- omy and Grod, the nnumer- Qbly and n— God, 1 — Jesus, blood of ti Abel, the final grace. ^ state to en earth inferior superior •f Christ V Testa- c. The 135 Jewish nation was the old Jerusalem, illustrated by Hagar, the mother of Ishmael, who was in bondage with her children ; and the Jewish law, or economy, is the old covenant, illustrated by Ishmael. As the old cove- nant emanated from Mount Sinai, so the new cove- nant emanates from Mount Sioi Sinai is the lite- ral mountam whence God dispensed his law • Sion i. the spiritual mountain, the church, whence' its en- throned Creator and Lord sends forth his light an.i truth. The enumerated attributes of Sinai are all sen- sible and hteral ; the arrayed glories of Mount Sion are all spiritual To the church belongs an innumer- able company of messengers, apostles, evangehsts, and preachers; It is a " general " assembly, because it em- barbarian, Scythian, bond and free, unlike the par- ticular congregation or assembly of circumcised and isolated Jews; the church of the first-born is the primitive church ; the superior composition of the new association is denoted by the expression "righteous [or just] and perfected minds," .«. ...;.«.. a.a.«.LeXe.a,- M-- ; and registration in heaven is ecclosiarchal regis- tration, registration in the heavenly dispensation, agree- ably to Peters sermon on the day of Pentecost, which describes the Christian era as a great change in the heavenly bodiea The apostle, in the remaining part of the chapter, follows up this contrast of the old and the new economies, by describing the Jewish state and sys- tem, as denoted by an earth-voice and an earth-quake and as now, a<3cording to the prophecy, shaken " yet once more so as to signify "the removing of those things [of Judaism] that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things [of Christianity] which can- not be shaken [because final and perfective] may remain." And the just and natural inference from the whole k N 2 136 SPACIAL ORIGIN, that we, who hve under the gospel, receive a kingdom that cannot be removed. With so many instances of the apostle's contrast of the two covenants and their cognate organisms, it seems strange that so many critics should have supposed the apostle to contrast the pre- sent state and the future, the terrestrial and the celes- tial, or the Jewish and the celestial. The only or the chief reasons that can be assigned for this misappre- hension are the terms of the translation and the strength of the figurea " Myriads of angels,^' or messengers, may comprehend the pure celestial spirits that minister to the heirs of salvation, but cannot c(msist of them, can- not exclude the ecclesiastical messengers, whose' very names denote their office, as apostles or messengers, evangelists or good messengers, "the messengers (an-ooroXo.) of the churches,"! and the mystic stars, "the angels (ayyfXot) of the churches." The plirase " spirits of just men made perfect" seems certainly to savour of a dis- embodieJ condition; but the tenn Trvev^a (pneuma) simply signifies mind ; it occurs in hundreds of pas- sages in the New Testament, and denotes both the Divine Spirit and created spirits, good sph-its and bad spirits, embodied and uulHjdied minds ; and it is much more difficult to find a passage in which it denotes a disembodied spirit than one in which it denotes embodied intelligence : all difficulty vanishes by render- ing the original literally— " and to perfected righteous mmds." The verb, n-fX«oa,, signifies to fulfil, to com- plete, to accomplish, and generally occurs, in the New Testament, in relation to character and work on earth. Rightly understood, the passage we have been con- sidering, in Heb. xiii., is an exceedingly luminous, beau- tiful and graphic account of the preceding and present > 2 Cor. viii. 23. SPACIAL ORIGIN. 137 dispensation of Mediatorial government. And concur- rent with both it and the passage previously considered, IL^al. IV. -J.--31) is the apocalyptic description of the New Jerusalem, i The apocal.yptic Jerusalem is media- torial, christian and terrestrial, not retributive and celestial ; because its light and lord is the Lamb, or priestly mediator, who is described as enthroned and making all things new, but whose mediation and king- dom, we know, will close with the Resurrection ; because into It are brought the glory and honour of the nations and kings of the earth, which are purely terrestrial di..- tmctions and designations.; becau.se the names of the twelve apostles, who are purely ecclesiastical and chri.s- tian, are inscribed on its foundations; because its mea- sure is "the measure of a man;" because it has terres- trial aspects, northerly, .southerly, easterly, and westeriy • because it is the bride, the Limb's wife, which, acconl- ing to other scriptures, is the church of Christ, whose existence and operation are solely probationary and ter- restrial ; and because, in several features and circum- stances It strikingly coincides with the spiritual Jerusalem of Isaiah, of Ezekiel, of Zechariah, and of I'aul, in his epistles to the Galatians and Hebrews and with other Scripture references. Isaiah ushers in his account of Jerusalem with the new heavens and earth created to displace the old : " Behold I create new heavens and a new earth : and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ve glad and rejoice for ever, in that which I create: for behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem and joy in mv people. '2 So, also, John: "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth : for the first heaven and the first earth ^ Rev. xxi. "Isaiah Ixv. 17—19 n3 :&,»-..,-«..: 138 SP-ACIAL ORIGIN. were m-sed away ; and ihere was no more sea. And I, John^ NvW the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God, out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." ^ Paul says to the church—" Ye niv the temple of the livin- God ; as God hath said, I mi? dwell in them and wa^Vv in them; and I will be theii God and they shail be my people."^ John says, quot^n-r the same scriptures— "Behold, the tabernaci.3 of God i with men, and he will dAvell with them, and they shall be his people, and God him^ If shall be- with them, and be their God." Isaiah exliorts to joy and rejoicing m Jerusalem, and says—" The voice of wee r)ing .hall be no more heard in Jier, nor the voice of crying" Jo}in says -""God .vhrvll wipe .iway all tears from then eyes; and there ahdi he no moie [spiritual] death, neither sorrow, nor crying, i.« :5tb« r ^hall be. there any more pain [a strong descriptiouof i nmstian bJessednesa] : for the former things [of Judaism I ?rc pass.d away." Isaiah describes the nmoef>ncf,- cr holiness of the new Jerusalem tluis— "The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and ii.- Hon shall eat straw Hke the bullock : and dust [prostration and defeat] shall be the serpent's [or Satan's] meat. They shall not hurt' nor destroy in all my holy moim- tain, saith the Lord." John, with no less descriptive vigour, says of the church, as it ought to be, and as, in its proper composition, it really is—" There shall in no wise enter it anything that defileth, neither worketh abomina- tion, or a lie ; but they which are written in the Lamb's book of hfe." Paul describes Christianity as a kingdom that cannot be moved ; so does John when he says— "There shall be no more sea," no more disturbance and fluctuation. Isaiah describes the church as a holy mountain ; Paul calls it the Mount Sion ; and John was *Rev. xxi. 1, 2. « 2 Cor. vi. 16. SPACIAL ORIGIN. 139 earned to a great and high mountain, to see the holy Jerusalem. Isaiah calls the mountahi holy, and so does John the city, m accordance with Ezekiel's symbolical description of the house of God, whose law, he says, is hohness. Paul calls the church « Jerusalem which is above, 'i^povtraX^^x a.a,, and "the heavenly Jerusalem-" John calls It "new Jerusalem, coming down from God " "the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from txod ; both Avriters in striking accordance with our Lord who says-" Ye must be born from above, „..^,," which IS formed from «.«, the very word that Paul applies to Jerusalem. Isaiah describes the church as a city and calls It Jerusalem ; Paul calls it the city of the living God, and names it Jerusalem; John describes it as a city, and names it the new Jerusalem, in accordance with the symbolism of the new heavens and earth, in both his own and Isaiah's description, and with the apocalyptic announcement—" Behold, I make all things new " Paul says of marriage— "I speak concerning Christ and his church ; " John describes new Jt>rusalem as " the bride the Lamb's wife," and "prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." The bride prepared coincides with Christ's elaborate personal preparation for the church and with his glonous pneumatical formation of it. Zechariah de- scribes living water as going out from Jerusalem, for all mankind. Ezekiel saw waters issuing from under the threshold of the mystic house, in Jemsalem, so that a very great multitude of fish should be " heah^d " and a river formed, gradually deepening and widening, with very many trees on the one side and on the other, where the fishers should stand and spread forth neta John says—" He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of hfe, which bare 140 SPACTAL ORIGIN. twelve manner of fruits [corresponding to the formative or apostolical instrumentality], and yielded her fruit every month [affording a constant supply] : and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations ; " and Christ says that out of the body of every believer shall flow rivers of living water. Ezekiel describes the river-bank as occupied with fishers and nets ; and Christ said to the twelve—" I will make you fishers of men," for " the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net." Christ proclaimed, on the great day of the feast — " If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink;" John, in the vision of Jerusalem, describes the enthroned and recreating Alpha and Omega as saying — " I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely." Christ to the seven Asiatic repre- sentative churches says — "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne ; " Christ en- throned says to the New Jerusalem—" He that over- cometh [by further continuance and conquest, and, there- fore, in a prolonged trial] shall inherit all things." Paul tells churchmen that they are the temple of God, super- seding the literal temple of Jerusalem; and John describes New Jerusalem as a tabernacle or temple and, therefore, as " having no [literal] temple therein." Christ is called the Sun of Kighteousness, that creates the world's day ; and John says there shall be no night in the New Jerusalem. Paul describes the general and firstborn assembly as " written in heaven ; " and John describes the inhabitants of the New Jerusalem as " written in the Lamb's book of life," or characteristically described in the Scriptures, which are the record of the Prince of life. Paul says—" Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law ; " John says of the New Jerusalem — " There shall be no more curse." Christ compares his advent in the formation of the church, when his king- SPACIAL ORIGIN. Ul dom and therefore himself should spiritually come, to the lightning ; and foretels the destruction of the Jewish organism, under the bold and striking figures of the darkened sun, the lustreless moon, the falling stars and the shaken powers of heaven, accompanied by the ap- pearance of his own sign, his gospel and his church, with power and great glory, occasioning mourning among the tribes of the earth, the Jewish tribes, cleaving to their earthly economy and rejecting the heavenly ; and then declares that he shall send his angels or mes- sengers with a great sound of a trumpet, the trumpet of the gospel, to gather together his elect or called, «Xf(crovf, the members of his church, into a new and glorious organization, from the four winds, from the one end of heaven unto the other ; and he determines both time and meaning by subjoining— " This generation shall not pass away till all these things be fulfilled." In remarkable accordance with our Lord's style, and in proof of the interpretation we have given, is Joel's prophecy, quoted by Peter on the day of Pentecost as then fulfilled. The formation of the church and its dis- placement of Judaism are compared to "wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood and fire and vapour of smoke; the sun turned into darkness and the moon into blood." The Jewish luminaries were first eclipsed and then displaced, and the whole Jewish organism destroyed. So Paul to the Galatians describes Judaism as cast out, like the bondwoman ; and to the Hebrews as shaken and removed, not as respects earth only, but also heaven, that is, both secularly and spu-itually. And so John in the Apocalypse tells us that " the first heaven and the first earth [the Jewish economy, spiritually and secu- larly,] were passed away, and there was no more sea," no more fluctuation and passing away. Unlike the Jewish ! II II H2 SPACIAL ORIGIN. Jerusalem, the new had no material tem])le, no reflecting moon or typic light, no candle to adumbrate a better illumination, and no rising and setting sun, like successive priests a fid proph"' ,n and ceaseless day. John saw this city " ^ i'-'?- -tion and glory, towards the close of his A^siuiis, because by these visions the church was Matured, fully furnished and beautified. He saw the city of co-equal length, breadtli and height, an exact cube, to denote the perfect proportion and cor- relation of the Christian rev« • . , , , .^i. organism; he found the measure an hundred and forty and four cubits, the square of twelve, which is the number of the ap(..uos and tribes, squared to denote its comprehen- sibiliiy of the whole human field, "the world" and " ever/ creature." The walls are jasper, or terrestrial green. The city itself consists of pure diaphanous gold, to d^^note the purity, lustre, and preciousness of the Christian organism, inhabitants, and endowments. The foundation consists of twelve courses of precious stones, which appear to be the same as tli«^ stones in the breast- plate of the Jewish high-priest. It is difficult to deter- mine the various shades of colour -which their names originally indicated, but the probability is that they substantially harmonize with the hues of the rainbow and spectrum, and accordingly together constit'te white, which comprehends all colours, and whose primitive elements are red, yellow, and blue Light is white and is the biblical sy. ^ol of f ruth an purity ; but reflected through the apost. .3, the twelve ornamental and founda- tional stones or courses, in the church, assumes the various color's w> 'cli these pre ous ston exhibit. Christ is the light of the church •, and his light is " like unto a stone most precious, even likf' ' jasper scone, clear as crystal ; " his apostles are indicated in tlieir ecclesi- astical value, by comparison w h pr uious stones, v id in SPACUL OKIGIN. 143 m le the vandy of their comm.mications and .isefulne*. by he vanety of the ,e„.„ ; their position i, what Chrirt h,» asMgned them, their precioume*, i» what he h^ g.v™ them, and their lustre i» hi, reflect, d rLw and their name, are on the foundation, because they a«' m,trument,, founded and formed th; ehurd. Tl^ statement that " the fo.mdation, of the wall of 'the city were garnished with all manner of precious stone " denotes the amplitude and yalue of the endowments and church. The city hiu, twelve gates, which are pearls three on every side, always open, to denote equd ami ample and constant access to n,e church, from ey'eit pn or division of the globe. The wal- ,f the city denote" d^tmction, defence and safety; lor "wehave'^artrr wL' t'°1 "^ "'"' ^f'""" '°^ ™"» -""l^"" warks 1 welvo names are on the foundations and on the gates; on the former the names of the formative officers of the church, "the twelve apostles a. he Lamb ; " and on the latter " the names of the twel™ tnbes of the chUdren of Israel," symbol calk rep. -ntative of the varied population, y^ of'ne parenta,», of the church of Christ. Twrfve angels or messe, ,. at the gates denote the ample and con- tmur , m^v and ministry of the church. The city i, repi^semed a. avin, the glory of God," in fuMImei of Isaiah s prophetic ., .dress to the church-" Arise shine for thy ,ght is come, and the glory of the Lorii's t n upon thee. When the church was instituted, God added "the saved" to it daily .„d John declares ttiat the nations of them which are saved shaU walk in the hght of It Chnst says, "Blessed are the pure in heart or they shall see God." John accordingly says of the .nhabitanta ,^ the New Jerusalem, "the^Usee , •ace. The first Jerusalem was a literal city, the sec ,nd l|( i. 144 SPACIAL ORIGIN. is spiritual ; the old was in bondage, the new is free ; the former was national, the present is cosmical and cosmoplaatic, or, in other words, destined to be world- embracing and world-forming. By a singular coincidence, the place of ecclesiastical enlargement to Ger' ilea Coisarea, the place where the church was ampliliud to embrace the world, bon not only a gentile name but the name of the cthnicul civil Head. In the house of Cornelius, in Ca'sarea, the church was catholicized, or made susceptible of em- bracing Cwsar himself and every other non-Jewish member of the human family. So appropriate and significant, then, are the Pales- tinian places of ecclesiastical formation. The church was opened in the Jewish metropolis to the Jews, and in the ethnicized Palestinian town to the great ethnic portion of mankind. And to crown the process, the churcli was consummated and seen in vision, as a glorious city, of catholic construction, in the island of Putmos ; as if to intimate that the islands of the sea were not to be overlooked or obscured. So it hnd been prophesied — " The isles shall wait for his law." And so it has oc- curred, in Britain's signal reception, illustration, and promotion of Christianity ; and in the remarkable pre- valence of the gospel, in modern times, among the islands of the sea. i| ' is free ; lical and l>e world- leHiastical irhere the bon not liciil civil irea, the of em- m-Jewish le Pales- e church ews, and it ethnic cess, the L glorious tmos ; as ,ot to bo hesied — I has oc- iou, and ible pre- le islands CHAPTEU V. MODAL ORIGIN. THE tHUttCH WAS APPROPRIATELY COMMENCED, AMPLI- FIED, PROPAGATED, AND FURNISHED. The analysis of vast machinery is a necessary preparation for apprecmtuig the process of construction, but is not the appreciation itself It is one thing to know that a machine consists of such powers as levers, pulleys, axes an. wheels screws and inclined planes, and is' moved and controlled by free and intelligent energy ; and it IS another thing to know the manner and order of combming and adjusting these powera The method of ecclesiastical formation wa.s accordant with the means and materials-wa.s worthy of the contriving mind and the constructing hand-and was eminently adapted to the aim and end. The materials were provided by Christ umself, during his personal terrestrial ministry the ecclesiastical mechanism was framed in Jerusalem on th; day of Pentecost, was amphfied in Ca>sarea, wa^ WH ely propagated by the apostles and their assistants, and was fully furnished or matured, by the perfection of the ecclesiastical creed and code, " in the isle called ratmos. Section I.— The Church was c(y,nmenced with Jews. The process of ecclesiastical organization or birth is distinguished as the development of the divinely-pre- pared germ, the fulfilment of prophecv and promise, the I i i U6 MODAL ORIGIN. answer (jf protracted prayer, the import of significant symbols, the preaching of the gospel, the illustration of ample means, the outburst of the Sun of Righteousness, for the creation of the world's day and for the glory and pleasure of the world's Author. 1. The disciple^, whom Christ had trained and pre- pared, were the nucleus and germ of the church. They were the seed that should vegetate and expand into the magnificent Christian tree. They constituted not only the nucleus around which converts should be gathered, the centre of ecclesiastical accretion, the visible stand- ing point and starting-post of ecclesiastical operation, but, olso, Christ's authorized and qualified officers by whom the process of accretion and operation should be conducted. When the time for originating and opening the church arrived, there were one hundred and twenty disciples, as the original accepted candi- dates for membership ; there were twelve officers of Christ then duly endowed and empowered to testify of their Master, to proclaim his society, to publish the nature and conditions of communion, and to conduct, through the ecclesiastical portals of belief and baptism, the proper applicants. At that momentous epoch, there was no paralyzing want of competent authority ; no delaying and distracting process of official election, for the witnesses' vacancy had been filled in the ten days of expectation, pause and prayer; and no dispute as to which of, ti^e twelve should have the honour Qf taking the initiative and acting as foreman, for the keys of the church had boon put into Peter's hand by the church's Founder and Lord, Hence, " Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice" and expounded and announced the great doings and developments of the day. 2. " No man hath seen God at any time ;" and, there- fore, no one could see the descending Spirit on the day THE CHURCH COMMENCED WITH JEWS. 147 ignificant ration of eousness, rloTy and and pre- h. They into the not only gathered, le stand- perafcion, ficers by 1 should ting and hundred d candi- fficers of testify of blisli the conduct, baptism, ch, there rity ; no ction, for 1 days of ite as to }{ taking yg of the church's up with ded and the day. id, there- the day of Pentecost But as God symbolizes himself to man, in the constitution and course of nature, and in the indicia of revelation, so did he symbolize his Spirit's Pentecostal visitation by miraculous changes, material and human; " And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them : and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave .them utterance." 1 The Spirit's emblem is the wind, which bloweth where it pleaseth, and the sound and the rush of whose mighty coming proclaimed the advent of the highest power and of the greatest of all religious revolu- tions. It filled the house, as if to denote the amplitude of the new energy and the new dispensation. Cloven tongues, like as of fire, on the disciples' heads, symbolized the effective and universal preaching of the gospel. If wind be the emblem of the Spirit's mysterious and world- wide power, fire is the emblem of his characteristic end generated purity, and cloven tongues the sign of his latter-day communications with every variety of humon tongues and tribea The very emblems of Pentecost pro- claimed the catholicity of Christianity, foretold its unre- stricted circulation, and forcibly rebuked the straitened aims and operations of Christian churches. The disciples began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit that filled them gave them utterance ; so that devout men, out of every nation under heaven, marvelled with amaze- ment, and inquired how mere Galileans could ypeak in so many and such various tongues as to be intelligible to Parthians, Medes and Elamites, to the t'.wellers in Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia ^t 1^ ' Acts ii. 2-4. OS 148 MODAL ORIGIN. Pamphylia, Egypt, and the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and to strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians ; evincing remarkable knowledge of God's wonderful works and unparalleled linguistic skUl and power. Mingled amazement, doubt and curiosity were the natural emotions of the thronging spectators ; while ungodliness, according to its wont, mocked and slandered. 3. Peter, a& the apostolic foreman and key-keeper, not only vindicated the disciples, from the insinuation of drunkenness, but pointed out the present fulfilment of prophecy and promise. " This is that," said he, " which was spoken by the jM-ophet Joel," whose words he pro- ceeds to rehearse. This remarkable prophecy first an- nounces the effusion and influences of the S[)irit ; and then the eclipse and extinction of Judaisra, under the boldest imagery. As nigh of kin to this, and next in order of statement, Peter declares the death and resur- rection of the Messiah, an witnessed by the disciples pre- sent, his exaltation and consequent spiritual effusion. " Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received oi the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear :" " For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off", even as many as the Lord our God shall call"^ The use of prophecy is to prepare and to prove ; unfulfilled, it is preliminary ; fulfilled, it is evidential. The use of promise is to stimulate and to cheer, by inspiring faith and hope. As exactly as the key is adjusted to the lock, to press its springs and propel its bolts, and as antitype corresponds to type, so exactly do the events of Pentecost realize propiiecy and promise, accrediting the prophetic and promi&sory medium, illus- trating tile omniscient benignity of God, and animating 1 Acts ii. 88, 39. THE CHURCH COMMENCED WITH JEWS 149 Cretes Christians to fidelity and continuity, in their work of faith and labour of love. 4. Prayer subserves faith ; and prayer both preceded Pentecost and was answered by its wonders. All the eleven, from the day of ascension, " continued with one accord, in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren." ^ A protracted prayer-meeting, interrupted only for an apostolical election, preceded the work of ecclesiastical formation and gospel publication. Thus was fulfilled Christ's command to pray always and not faint; and thus was exemplified, in the beginning of the Christian era, the spirit and power of prayer, that so eminently distinguish all true christians and churches. Not in vain did the disciples wait and pray. The Lord, whom they sought, suddenly came to his temple, the New Jerusalem, the tabernacle of God with men, to consume and purify, like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap. For ten days, they waited on the Lord and then renewed their strength : the Sun of Righteousness arose upon them, with healing in his wings ; and the associated disciples went forth and grew up, as calves of the stall.^ 5. Gloriouj achievements crowned the means and ministrations of the day of Pentecost. Disciples obedi- ently assembled, according to due time and place,— the Spirit descending with appropriate symbols— apostolical preaching— the fulfilment of prophecy, promise and prayer— all resulted in the belief and baptism of three thousand mvlIs. This was the first accretion to the ecclesiastical nucleus ; this was the first-fruits of the ecclesiastical harvest ; this was the distinguished evidence and illustration of Christ's character and claims and kmgdom, of his sacerdotal sufficiency and sovereign •AotBL 14. "Malachi iii. 1, 2 ; iv. 1. 2. 03 1 ,'5*' ■""«^»««>-(i««(to^^ 150 MODAX. ORIGIN. sway, of the amplitude and adaptation of his means for the recovery of a degenerate world. As if to pre- clude doubt and in^ire faith, in all ages, the gospel began with a mighty conquest ; the church leaped into life and started on her course, with gigantic strength ; the very beginning of Christianity indicated the hidings of the Redeemer's power and the inexhaustible fulness of the residue of the Spirit. If Christianity, in its birth, could develope such energips, could display such appa- ratus, could achieve suof a triumph, — no apostle or primitive christain need quail, no post-apostolical church need waver, no combination and array of hostile strategy and strength should daunt or drive back our marshalled legions, fighting in the eye and by the iiispired energy of the Captain of our salvatioa Pentecost is our origin, model, and study ; the church of that day is the ecclesi- astical first-bom of Christ, his might and the beginning of his strength, the excellency of his dignity ard the excellency of power. 6. The church, Judaically originated, was Judaically expanded. It was fit, as a historical sequent and as a gracious overture, that to the Jews first the gospel should be preached ; that with the Jews, and in their cherished city, the first church should be formed ; and that due time and opportunity should be allowed for the expansion of the church among the Jewi>, before its portals were opened to the idolatrous nations. And it was fit, too, that the last momentous trial of the Jewish people should be thus signal and distinctive, before the Roman axe descended on the tree and the Roman fire consumed it to the stump. The process of Jewish ecciesiaptical expansion was marked by the miraculous healing of the lame man and by the sermon of Peter, which occasioned the healing and which induced the conversion of about five thousand, together THE CHUBCH COMMENCED WITH JEWS. 151 with the arraignment and defence of Peter and John before the Jewish authorities, followed by a remarkable prayer-meeting and visitation of the Spirit ; by large and liberal donations to the ecclesiastical funds and by the sudden death of the impostors, Ananias and Sapphira • by the addition of multitudes, both ot meu and women' and the popular admiration of the apostles ; by thJ accomplishment of numerous miracles of healing ; by the imprisonment and miraculous release of the apostles and by their testimony before the council ; by the daily templar and domiciliary ministrations of the apostles ; by the appointment of seven deacons, as stewards and treasurers ; by the death of the proto-martyr, Stephen, a deacon ; by the Sauline persecution and consequent Christian dispersion ; by evangelical and ecclesiastical propagation, among the Jews in Samaria, eliciting the character of Simon and including the conversion of the eunuch ; and by the very momentous conversion of the church's chief enemy, Saul of Tarsus, into the church's chief labourer and promoter, Paul the apostle.^ All these events are full of meaning and interest, as contri- butmg to the full formation and efficiency of the church, and as illustrative of Christianity and its Author and of human character. The miracle-working and inspiiing energy of the Holy Ghost ^wlm never absent, when needed ; the apostolic and christian spirit and testimony never failed or flagged ; prayer and praisf3 were never neglected ; providential interposition, as in the release of the apostles, the advice of Gamaliel and the arrest of Saul, was often experienced ; prudential measures and the due division of labour, as \v the election of the deacons, were not omitted. But the crowning event was the conversion of Saul. By his learning, abUities, position, ■ i-'jf. 'ij. — ix. ii 152 THE CHURCH WAS AMPLIFIED WITH GENTILES. energy and zed, he was the most formidable enemy of the church and gospel ; he was the standard-bearer and leader of the church's foes ; his conversion is the most remarkable individual instance, on record, of the power of Christianity and of the succour of the church ; it seems to have so disheartened the persecutors as to afford rest to the churches, throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria ; and it so subserved th*> ,.& ise of Christ that those churches were edified, and, walj:ing in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the l^oly Ghost, were multiplied. The transformation of the enemy into . the operative of the church completed the process of Jewish ecclesiastical expansion and supplied what was necessary to Gentile incorporation, as it supplied the twelfth apostle to whom, pre-eminently, was to be com- mitted the gospel of the uncircumcision. Section II.— The Church was amplijied with Gentiles. The classification of Jews and Gentiles, like that of Greeks and Barbarians or British and Foreign, is com- prehensive of our race. The baptism of the Gentiles, in Caesarea, in the house of Cornelius, broke down the middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile and amplified the church, as a fold of world-wide capacity. Everything contributed to illustrate and adorn this event. The time was the completion of the church's Judaical expansion. The place was a Palestinian city and port, on the Mediterranean, affording peculiar facili- ties to missionaries and named after the great political chief of the nations. Cornelius, a devout centurion of the Roman emperor, was the primary Gentile instrument of Gentile communion. Peter, the ecclesiastical key- keeper, officiated, as on the day of Pentecost, in preaching the gospel and unbarring to the world the gates of the THE CHURCH WAS WIDELY PROPAGATED. 1 53 church. A.S before on the Jews, the Spirit now descended on the Gentiles, renewing them in righteousness and authenticating and sealing their Christian fellowship. Cornelius and Peter were coincidently prepared for this ecclesiastical enlargement, which was the answer of CorneUus's prayers and the fulfilment of Divine pro- phecy and promise, and was symbolized by the descending sheet. The gift of tongues was conferred ; baptism, the ceremony of transference from Judaism and from hea- thenism, the ordinance of ecclesiastical initiation, was observed;! and now the church stood forth with its gates of pearl unlocked to all mankind, proclaiming the mystery that had been hidden through the ages and awaiting the proper times and aieasons for deputing her messengers to every creature. So great a change as the amplification of the church was likely to be resisted and denounced by the adherents of the cu-cumcisioa And, accordingly, in Jerusalem they contended with Peter ; who, instead of simply asserting his authority, consecutively rehearsed and expounded the matter to them, so as to convince the of the Divine procedure. ^ "When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified Go<.l, saying Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life." '^ *» Section III— The Gfmrch was widely propagated. The Sauline persecution subserved Christianity, because It occasioned the dispersion of the disciple.s from Jerusa- lem and their extensive publication of the truth, " as far as Phenice and Cyprus and AntiocL" Generally, they preached only to Jews ; but some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, spake unto the Grecians, in Antioch, ^ Acts X. Daasim. * Aeta si. 1 ,1ft. 154 THE CHURCH WAS WIDELY PROPAGATED. with great success. On account of this, Barnabas was sent from the church in Jerusalem to Antioch ; and he not only saw the dispensation of grace but gladly encou- raged the believers. He also visited Saul in Tarsus and brought him to Antioch ; and together, for a whole year, they assembled with the church and taught much peo- ple. Here, for the first time, the disciples were appro- priately called Christians.* In anticipation of the famine, foretold by the prophet Agabus, the disciples in Antioch, in the true spirit of brotherly kindness and liberality, and in exact accord- ance with the Christian principle of contribution — " every man according to his ability" — spontaneously sent relief, by Barnabas and Saul, to the brethren dwelling in Judea.2 The period of Herodian persecution comprehends the martyrdom of James, the brother of John ; the impri- sonment and miraculous release of Peter ; the descent of Herod to Caesarea, together with his impiety and consequent death in that place ; and the promotion of the truth, as in the case of Saul, by the means that seemed likely to counteract and conceal it. " The word of God grew and multiplied." ^ The separation, by divine direction, of Barnabas and Saul (after their return to Antioch with John and Mark), to the work of Christian propagation, was a very impor- tant event, because it originated the systematic promul- gation of the gospel and the chief itinerancies of the apostle Paul. Paul and Barnabas, accompanied for a time by John and Mark, visited Seleucia, Cyprus, Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them for Jerusalem, Antioch in Pisidia, Iconium, Lycaonia, Derbe, Perga, and Attalia. Returning to Antioch, they reported their 1 » Acts xi. 1»— 26. " Acts xi. 27—30. » Acts xii. 1—24. THE CHURCH WAS WIDELY PROPAGATED. 155 labours to the assembled church, " and there abode long time with the disciplea" ^ The controversy and counc' , 'concerning circumcision, resulted in the tranquiUizatiou and prosperity of the churches and were followed by renewed itinerancies of Barnabas and Paul ; who, however, became permanently disjomed by a difference respecting companionship Barnabas and Mark saUed to Cyprus; Paul and Silas " went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churchea" Paui s journey is traced to Derbe and Lystra, Mysia, Troas, Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, Corinth' Ephesus, Miletus, Tyre, Ptolemais, CjBsarea, and Jeru- salem.'^ The circumstances and labours of Paul now assumed a new aspect, resulting in his entrance into Rome as a prisoner. The purification of himself and four others, by advice of James and the elders in Jerusalem, as a measure of conciliation, occasioned a tumult and conspiracy. From the Jews, who were beating him Paul wa.s rescued by the chief captain and permitted to address the multitude, till his voice became drowned by then- clamours, on the avowal of his mission to the GentUea The assertion of his Roman citizenship saved him from a scourging, which the chief captain had ordered. Arraigned before the council, he resented the mjustice of the high-priest, yet recognised his office; and, in a masterly manner, thwarted his enemies by dividing them into two hostile parties, Pharisees 'and Sadduceea The hand of God appeared in his nightly encouragement and in the detection and defeat of the conspiracy against his life. Removed, under a military escort of the chief captain's, to Caesarea, he ably defended himself, before Felix the governor, against the artifices iSi m * Acta xii. 26 ; xiv. 28. ■ Acts XV. 1 ; x«, 17, m 156 THE CIIURCH WAS FULLY FURNISHED. of TertuUus the orut»r who acted as the advocate of tlie high-priest and the elders. And wheu Felix was dis- placed by Festus, whom the Jews sought to ebcrap into a conspiracy against Paul's life, the apostle boldly asserted his innocence and his political rights, and appealed to the emperor. Festus, in order to "licit some ground for the prosecution of the case, instituted an examination of Paul before kuig Agrippa, with the chief captains and principal men of the city. Before this imposing assemblage, Paul nobly confessed his persecu- tion of tlie Christians, his conversion and commission, and his conformity, as a Christian, tu the predictions of Moses and the prophets ; and the result was not only his full acquittal from anything worthy of death or of bonds, but also a recognition of the necessity of prosecuting his appeal. The voyage and shipwreck of Paul and his companions ensued ; and. after a useful sojourn in the island of Melita, Paul and the others resumed their journey, sailing to Syracuse and thence to Puteoli, where he tarried wit's brethren seven days and whence he pro- ceeded to ilu!»'l Forum. Here he thanked God and took courag:, •»!•. -leeting brethren from Rome ; and in the great inf^t'i/polis he dwelt two whole years, in his own hired houae, by himself, with a soldier that kept him, preaching, first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles, " the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him." ^ Section IV. — The Church was fully furnished. As a spiritual and redeeming Prince, Christ, in person, prepared for his church, by training his disciples, espe- cially the twelve ; by the agency of his Spirit and the ' Acta zxi. 18 ; zxviii. 31. THE CHUK ,. WAS FULLY FURNISHED. inatnime^rtality of his apostles, ne created the church, . . the day of Penteco.,,, in Jerusalem, ; by the same agency and nnostolate and by the created church, he exZied his vx^xWe kbgdom among the Jews ; l,v the sameTeals he amphfiod, or catholically adapted, his chu ch inThe house of Cornehus, in CWrea; by the same m ans he :; itf"^'"^ his church and gospel, so as to put t ^vorld fairly m possession of them ; and by the apostJ^s and CO operative prophets and evangelists, I t ^ ,^^ prepared the first churches and the first cl.urc ^ for faithful and efficient action ' The agency of the Holy Spirit and the instru, atalitv tion and of ecclesiastical vitality and efficiency The agency IS always nresent and permeative, like the drcum ambient air; au.i its achievements are dope dent onW on mans non-r,.istance to its revealing light Tha nestled '^^f-^.^-^h, which was never wanting wW apos les and their -inspired coadjutors laboured. ^But n the absence of such men, itinerating and dyin. om fixed permanent and multiplicative record oTrteTd truth was necessary; and, accordingly, Christ harfu nished his church with her rule of %;ratiofand i^ ." word. The four gospels are the record of ecclesia^sti cal preparation ; the Acts of the apostles are he ree" d of ecclesiastical formation or genesis; the opisUes 're the rule of ecclesiastical operation; he apo^W^^^^^^ the record of ecclesiastical futurity or destinv l^^.i whole New Testament is the ocLsl Sa^c^e S and code. The gospels and Acts are the church? histoH. record,-the first introductive, the .eoonTZt^t^^'Z apocal^se is the church's prophetic record. In the Act pTo^L''^ ^Ti ^^ ''' ^p-^^-' tij : w? progress. Where the former ends, the latter .substan- i: MICROCOPY RESOLUTION TEST CHART (ANSI and ISO TEST CHART No. 2) I" 2.8 ■ 5.0 I" 13.2 |a6 I 4.0 2£ [2.2 M 1.8 ^ APPLIED IM/1GE Inc 165,'i East Main Street Rochester, New York 14609 USA (716) 482 - 0300 - Phone ' (716) 286- 5989 -fax 158 THE CFTTRCH WAS FULLY FURNISHED. tially begina Uninspired ecclesiastical history, like other human history, is not destitute of attraction and value ; but the biblical history of the church, which it behoves every christian to study, is couched in the apocalj^tic visions and comprehends everything essential, from the church's maturation to her appropriate and glorious close. By the completion of revealed truth, in the isle called Patmos, on the Lord's-day, the church was matured and appeared in her maturity, as the New Jerusalem. Deeply- interesting is this event ; most attractive and significant is its whole manner. In what place could the church be more appropriately crowned than in an island, and that island Mediterranean 1 On what day so appropriately as the Lord's-day, the day of her Founder and Head ? Through what instrumentality so appositely as that of the beloved and loving John ? By what agency but by that of the Head himself, arrayed in his sacerdotal vest- ments ; his snowy head bespeaking his antiquity, as the Ancient of Days ; his flaming eyes denoting his omnis- cience ; his brassy, brilliant feet indicating the strength and splendour of his steps and progress ; his ocean-voice betokening the majesty and might of his communications ; and his girdled loins evincing his readiness for action. Girt upon his thigh, wielded by his hand or issuing from his mouth, is the two-edged sword of his Spirit, his pure and perfect truth, by which he achieves his regal conquests. He walks king-like among his golden can- dlesticks ; grasping in his hand their concentrated flames, his astral messengers ; asserting his supremacy; dictating his ecclesiastical epistles ; unfolding his future operations ; presenting to his servant, in vision, his perfected and glorious church, " coming down from God out of heaven ;" prohibiting the mutilation or corruption of his word and indicating eternal retribution. Thus appropriately and gloriously was the church matured and croAvned, equipped SUMMARY OF ECCLESIASTICAL FOKMATION. 159 for her warfare and started on her progress; to sound the trumpet of salvation, to wield the sword of spiritual conquest, to carry through the world the torch of Chris- tian truth, and to flash it on the darkness of degraded humanity ; tdl every sleeper wakes, tUl every wanderer retiUTis, till evtry captive is rescued, tiU the glory of the Lord IS revealed and all flesh beholds it together. Section Y.Sumrmry of ecclesiastical formation. Very suggestive, as well as comprehensive and inter- esting, IS the scripture-history of the church's formation Begmning at Jerusalem." How fraught is the name with recoUections and anticipations I What christian (an forget or disregard " the holy city ? " Next to her chronologically, in ecclesiastical annals, is Samaria, where PhUip the evangehst formed a church. After baptizino- the eunuch in "the desert," between Jerusalem and Uaza, FhUip was found at Azotus ; and passing through he preached in all the cities, tiU he came to Caesarea^' Near Damascus, Saul of Tarsus was arrested ; and in the city Itself he found mercy and was baptized by Ananias, was certain days with the disciples, and preached Uhrist in the synagogues. How pregnant with mighty influence was aU this to the church and to mankind ' After viaitmg Jerusalem, Paul was brought down to Caesarea and sent forth to Tarsua This last was the place of his birth ; and Caesarea was the abode of Cor- nelius, the locality of the church's enlargement, and the scene of Paul's appearance before Felix, Festus, and Agrippa. We can no more forget C^sarea than Jeru- salem. As for Lydda and Saron, all that dwelt there saw Eneas miraculously cured of an eight-years' palsy, 'and tmned to the Lord." Of no other plax^e has such a record been mar^P Tr. Tr>«»^o u„i i tx. p2 160 SUMMARY OF ECCLESIASTICAL FORMATION. whose name is still indicative of benevolence, wh— also dwelt Peter, with one Simon a tanner, and where he was prepared by a trance for the baptism of behoving Gen- tiles. Other places harboured the persecuted and dispersed christians. " Nov/ they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen, travelled a^ far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antroch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only. And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preach- ing the Lord Jesua A.nd the baud of the Lord was with them ; and a great number believed and turned unto the Lord." Thus was the gospel mtroduced into Antioch, whence Saul and Barnabas were sent forth where the disciples were first and fitly caUod Christian^' where the first steps to settle the controversy concerEing circumcision were taken, and where Paul nobly withstood Peter m his error. With Derbe, Lystra, and Iconium IS connected the history of Timothy, who was so service- able to Paul and the churches, and to whom two most serviceable epistles were written. Several places from Seleucia to Attalia are the recorded scenes of the united labours cf Paul and Barnabas, in their mission from Antioch ; and some of these places are marked by the record of memorable addresses and events. Phrygia Galatia, Troas, Philippi, and many c places are con' nected with Paul's progress and achic . uents ; and some of them are marked by registered events of no ordinary miportance. To Galatia Paul v;.-ote one of his epistjies. In Troas, Paul heard in a vision the Macedonian cry. To Philippi, belong the conversion of Lydia and the jailer and also a Pauline epistle. To Thessalonica belong two Pauline epistlea Berea is noted for a noble-minded search after truth. In Athens was pronounced ono of Paul's most remarkable discourses. To Corinth were ( t i I a r >N. — alao re he ^ivas ing Gen- dispersed d abroad travelled 3reaching I some of hen they t, preach- Lord was i turned ced into at forth, bristians, ncerring "^ithstood Iconium ' service- wo most Jes from imited on from i by the Phrygia, are con- ad some >rdinary epistjes. lian cry. md the b belong minded one of h were SUMMARY OF ECCLESIASTICAL FORMATION. 161 addressed the two epistles which treat most of the resur- rection and of ecclesiastical matters. In Ephesus, some ot Johns disciples were rebaptized and Paul's protracted disputation was held, and to Ephesus was addressed one of I'auls epistles. In Miletus, the Ephesian elders were apostolicaUy addressed. Melita received Paul, after his shipwreck, and was the scene of many .miracles.- Rome was the scene of Paul's labours for two years and the destination of a noble epistle, logical, comprehensive, doctrinal, and practical. Colosse is known by the Pauline episc e to it. With Crete we associate Titus and the epistle to him. The apocalypse is connected with the churches in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sar- dis Philadelphia, and Laodicea ; .--d these are connected with Christianity and the church, alway.^ and everywhere because they are typical churches, repres. ntative of the character and condition of the churches of Christ in every age and place. • Every church finds its type and parallel in the apoca- lyptic seven. The number seven is biblically significant of completeness or perfection. It indicates and comme- morates a complete period of original time, the period of clivme creation and cessation, operation and repose • and corresponds with the week, which through all terrestrial time includes man's activity and rest, his secular and his spintual service It reminds us of the completion of Orod s work and the consequent sabbath, of redemption and Its commemorative weekly seventh. It denotes too completeness of purification: "as sUver purified seven times. The churches of proconsular Asia are symbolical m then- number and character, or, more briefly, they are a complete ecclesiographic symbol. To limit the apoca- lyptic epistles to the Asiatic churches, literally is not accordant with the symbolical style and comprehensive range of the whole apocalypse. It does not agree with p3 162 smiMARY OF ECCLESIASTICAL FORMATION. the general dedication to " the servants of Jesus Christ." It does not harmonize with the apocalyptic close : « I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto you these thmgs in the churches." "These things" are the pre- cedmg things, throughout the whole book; and were " these things" for the Asiatic churches only ? No : "they were written for our learning," and therefore preserved and included in the canon and entitled a reve- lation to the servants of Jesus Christ, as well as concluded with an unrestricted invitation to the Ustening and the thirsty. If the Asiatic churches be not ecclesiastically represen- tative, why was such a comprehensive book of prophecy addressed to churches, most of which have long since perished, and to whom the apocalyptic fulfilment could be but little known? The Turk or the Arab pitches his tent among the ruins of some of those once-flourish- mg cities ; and there are now no churches there, with their angels or messengers, to be taught and edified by the apocalyptic visions and epistles. But elsewhere and always, Christ has chm-ches that answer, m their condi- tion, to the Asiatic ones, and that require the lessons and warnings of the final revelation. Three of the Asiatic churches were degenerate; Ephesus initially, Lao- dicea Tnedially, Sardis decidedly} Two of them were FAITHFUL; Smyrna as auffermg, Philadelphia as juve- nile. And two were of a mixed character ; Pergamos stedfast hut U7idisciplined, Thyatira improving but lenient towards evil. We find not the local name of our own particular church in the Bible, but we find its character and condition there, m the biblical typical local churches. The Asiatic localities are worid-wide Sardis c??«^/' tAI^^^T-^''- ^''^^''^9. Laodicea apathetic, a«d fllfi ■ A 1^ ^f^- ^^ ^mnning to cool, tho second was lukewarm the third was cold. Tue lirst two were falling, the third wL /«S ' I, amniARY of ecclesiastical formation. 163 and world-during, because they represent ill ecclesias- tical localities. Thus has the wisdom of God provided m the biblical ecclesiastical records, for the instruction and edification of every church « always, even to the end of the world/' The church that was bom in Jerusalem was matured ui Patmos. The ecclesiastical blade spruu. p on the shores of the Mediterranean ; and the full corn in the ear appeared in the ^gean islet Peter opened "the house of the living God" to Jews and Gentiles; Paul rep emshed it ; and John finished it. The church's light broke forth on the Pentecostal sabbath, and culminated on the Apocalyptic. Peter and his co-apostles were tilled with the Spirit, when the church was created ; John was m the Spirit, when the church was consummated. One madom, one power, and one goodness formed and fur- nished the church, to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth. « Her foundation is in the holy hills." They shall prosper that love thee." « Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces." i &| PART III. €\t $dntm$ af t|t Cljun^. ' RELATIONS OF THE CHURCH. Nothing m the universe is isolated. God is related to al , as Creator and Lord ; and, correlatively, all are related to him, as his creatures and subjerts. The secu- lar subserves the spiritual, and the spiritual serves God Agency and instrumentality, means and ends, minute and vast, distant and contiguous, are connected and cor- related. Each individual is related to all circumjacent being ; the present is related to the past and the future • and all created things are related among themselves' because they spring from one origin, and co-operate for one end. The study of ecclesiastical relations is antecedent and preparatory to the study of ecclesiastical operations. If the church be not solitary but complicate, it should operate m harmony with every other Divine institute and instrument ; and, to appreciate its harmonious ope- rations, we must appreciate its relations. It exists and operates circumsp. -ively, or in relation to co-existent and circumjacem agencies and means ; retrospectively or in relation to the past ; and prospectively, or in priority to future means and mutations. h' , I CHAPTER I. t'lllCUMSPEtmVE llELATIONS OF THE CHURCH. Mediatorial government is comprehonHivoly n(l{ii)tod to man's nature and relations ; and, consequently, con- sists of two great departnieuus, the secular and thd spiritual, securing to both sotd and body sustentation and supply. We have wants and interests to be provided for, belonguig to the body ; and, accordingly, we are physical or secular beings. We sustain relations to the rights and happiness of others, with consequent duties and privileges; and, accordingly, we are moral and spiritual beings. Spiritual theocracy, or Grace, is the great theme of the Bible, and its great result is godli- ness. Secular theocracy is usually denominated Provi- dence, and its great result is civilization. Physical science, secular society, and secular art are all subordinate to the means and methods of redeeming grace. The church is a spiritual institute, included in the spiritual department of Christ's comprehensive sovereignty. Its circumspective relations are to the whole system of Divine government, both to the spiritual department with which it is interwoven, and to the secular which it transcends. Hence, it stands in collateral or interior relations to the various elements of Christianity, and in declinate or exterior relations to civihzation. To every- thing in Christianity besides itself, it is related collaterally, Hke*'one part of a printer's machinery to every other s T 1 h t 1 n !^ ♦ INIERNAL ECCLKSIASTICAL UKLATIONS. If)!) iflca« of sZS,°Tri "' f "«^.^' '' "»"■ ■"*'-'-»" suggests , as oral sound.,, ,t indicates to the ear • as the Wmd, to the t«ueh. Society is requisite and bene- flcial for both secular and spiritual interests and ope atbns In m ancy and chMhood, our secular .supplies are deved from the society that brings us into the world • aad lur prepamtion for manhood, by suitable edu^aZ, is dependent upon the same .society. I„ manhood we find B 182 EXTEllNAL Et'CLI">jrASTICAL ItRLATIONS. :t I uurH^'iveH incorporntetl with civil society, or vested with rights ni. i obligations as members of some coiifeilcration, called territgy ? The second is— What correlation of church and state har- monizes with the system or science of Christianity to which the church belongs ? And the third question is— What correlation of church and state harmonizes with the science eaUed Choriology or politics, in which the state or civil government is included ? Thus the ques- tion before us has a social, a religious, and a political aapect and standard, and must bp considered a<;cordingly Society at large is a va^t and varied mechanism dmnely originated and employed, consisting chiefly of the tamily, the nation and the church. The science that attempts to appreciate this mechanism, and to account ' Psalm kviii. 6. » Rom. xiii. 1, 2, 4, 6. w Ji .1 H 2 184. EXTERNAL ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS. V ■ for it, systematically, is called Sociology. This trinary social constellation is worthy of its author and adapted to its end ; and must, therefore, be harmonious and intelligible. Each member of it must have its distinct orbit and office ; and the whole must include whatever is really requisite, as a social instrument, for the happi- ness of man. To comprehend this complex social machinery is really to determine the correlations of its several simple machines. The object or end of the oldest society, the family, is the continuance of the human race, or the introduction of the human being into terrestrial life ; the preservation of that life in immaturity ; the preparation of immaturity for maturity ; and the happiness of the parents them- selves. This society, in its best and proper style, is caused by sexual love, and consists, of husband and wife, parents and children, and of such others as the husband and wife may choose to accept as companions or to employ as servants. It is also caused by the circum- stances and necessities of men, which oblige them to construct and occupy houses - and hence the name, household or domestic society. As thus caused, and in its secondary style' domestic society may consist of any two or more persons, whom economy or friendship may induce to live together. According to the operation of this species of society, according as it is well or ill con- ducted, arise the varieties of domestic happiness oi* misery, unity or discord, prosperity or decline. National or civil society is caused by the love of country and by the circumstances and necessities of mankind ; among whom secular wants abound, requiring co-operation ; and among whom wrongs obtain, occasion- ing curatorship, or preventive and remedial measures. It consists of the o\vners and occupants of a territory, which is naturally or artificially bounded and defined. Only in a iw ',S #1 ppmess o»* EXTERNAL ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS. 185 very lax and inferior sense can it be said that the mem- bers of a nation dwell together ; but they co-operate either personally or by proxy, the government consisting of the appomted or accepted representatives and care- takers of the whole territory and confederacy Accord- ing to the varieties of government, as respects both the governmg ma^hmery and its action, are the varieties of national society Hence we speak of monarchical, aris- tocratical and democratical countries; of nations enslaved and free, prosperous, declining, and stagnant Ut the ends of national society and of its organ and operation, which are civil government-themes so momentous and so much controverted— we postpone the consideration tiU spiritual society has been described. Ecclesiastical society is caused by Christian love, fallal and fraternal, and by the circumstances and necessities o Chnstians. The necessities spring out of man's moral alienation ; the circumstances arise from God's redemp- tive mterposition, in its final development. The society Itself consists of professed believers, called « the house- hold of faith," Jocally convocating, co-operating and care- takmg, m conformity to the New Testament. Its objects or ends are purely spiritual ; and its proper office and operation are the communication of divine truth and the mtermediary elicitation of divine power. Its strict and simple spirituality has been already proved Secu- larities are sought and employed by scriptural churches only m subserviency to spiritual ends and in conformity to spmtual rules ; and thus related, they cannot cease to be subordmately necessary till man ceases to be a com- pound of the physical and the spiritual, and a probation- ary occupant of such a region as the globe. Waiving all minor aspects and distinctions, we are now prepared to discriminate and characterize these three great forms of humar society The end and office R 3 I ill 186 EXTERNAL ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS. of the family are to perpetuate humanity and pre- pare IT FOR MATURITY The end and office of the nation are to promote mature man's secular wel- fare Ihe end and office of the church are to promote MATURE MAN'S SPIRITUAL WELFARE Domestic societv IS for iMMATumiT; civil and ecclesiastical society are for MATURITY the former for maturity in>its seUw inter- ests, the latter for maturity in its spvrUual interests. Thus considered, how beautifully do they dovetail and interlink, conjoin and correlate ; how complete the social mechanusai which they constitute; how admirably are they adapted to man ; and how impressively they illus- trate the wisdom, power and goodness of God ' The taimly is man's birth-place and school ; the nation is man s secular, the church is man's spiritual, arena and held ; the whole constitute man's great probationarv Hocial sphere, in which he is to give and receive to Fove and be proved, to prepare himself and to aid in preparing others for retributionary reckoning and r^sulrs to the glory of God for ever. The family and the church are local household societies ; the natioli is a territorial society. Domestic society is formed by marriage and its resultant births; civil society is formed by birth and naturalization, oi' by birth and adoption ; ecclesiastical society IS formed by belief and baptism. The family is pi-eparatory ; the nation and the church are consum- matory. To appreciate this mechanism of divinely-instituted society IS not merely to suppose or believe but to see that the end or object of civil society is simply secular. To think otherwise is to imply that God's coastruction of society IS confused and imperfect ; that the functions of his several social instruments are chaotically blended or unhappily undistinguished; and that society is framed for collision and controversy "As for God his way i. EXTERNAL ECCXESIASTICAL RELATIONS. 187 tmctness of function ; and there can be no distinctness of function rthout dirtinctness of desiga B Ss the same revelation that detennines the sLpIe ^ritukit the state The sword of the Spirit i. committed to the belong to the latter, spintual to the former. The kin.,- dom of Chnst, for which his personal minist,-y w Ja p^- parafon, .s not of this world, not .secular in its oZ« object an.l operations, a. all other kin^loms are T is the basmess of civil or national judge,, to divide seculi mheritances; to be a terror to me,, not as bel e ws oT uubehevers, but a. evil-doers under nation,aI law ; and Z be a p,a,se, not to the baptized or unbapti^ed, but to hem that do weU, accorfing to law. Acts, not r ligioul attributes, ai-e to be cognosced by the magistrate Td canal weapons physical force, not spirftualiti L; "' he leans of his conquest and control. Every hh^! IS Gods, the secular and the spiritual, the earth and its fulness, and all its souls ; and, therefore, when Chr d«mgui.,hes between what is CVrnrs and what is gZ we must uiKteand him not as denying anythin" ,^ God but a. distinguishing between his spirLal fnd ec°de astical domain on the one hand, and, on the otherhl, »ecdar control, by means of secular or civil society How obvious, then, is the relation of the church to the state or nation, as that of perfect distinctness and independence ! We ought not to identify, or intermix gukhed. We ought not to combine the oreat u.stru nientaities which God himself creates ai^Tl " " separate and whose combmation he Im not aiith.,rized We ought not to unite societies so diverse, and, therefor,-' so unsiLsceptible of union, as church and nation «; 188 EXTERNAL ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS.' agencies so diverse as clergy and magistracy. The church is local, the nation is territorial The former is spiritual, in its end, office, means, and operations ; the latter, in these respects, is secular. The first is volun- tary, the second compulsory ; the one is for salvation, the other for civilization. The church is replenished by truth and faith ; the nation is replenished by birth and force. The nation belongs only to the Hfe that now is, and to the relations of man with man; the church belongs pre-eminently to the Ufe to come, and to the relations of man with God. The church is ruled and regulated by revelation; the nation is ruled either nghtly by the consent and the created laws of its owners and occupants, or wrongly by the dictates and decrees of its usurping and domineering masters. The nation, the church and the family, which God has created separate, ought to be kept separate. The family ushers man into the world, and provides for him in his imma- turity, and prepares him for manhood ; and having accompUshed its important initiatory and preparatory task, it transfers him to the nation for the social secu- larities of maturity, and to the church for the social spiritualities of maturity. Man, in his nonage or unripe- ness, is incapable of discriminating and separately regarding the moral and the material, and is, therefore, placed in the family, which combines the two ; but in the maturity of his powers it is quite otherwise ; and to attempt, then, to blend or bind, by artificial ligaments, the tilings that so greatly differ, is to induce confusion^ frustration and mischief The church is above, the state below ; and it is impossible to unite them without dis- placement and disorder, without degrading the church or forcing up the state, or doing both at once. The church is spiritual, the state is secular ; and it is impos- sible to unite them without vitiation, without secularizing EXTERNAL ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS. 18 the church or spirituaHzing the state, or both together, and, m either case, damaging and disoidering both. We enter the church by one door, we enter the nation by another ; we have one work as churchmen, we have another as patriots ; and to "ttempt an organic or artifi- cial connection of our corresponding associations and relations, is to induce sociological derangement, discord and deterioration. It is only fron formal union that competition and collision, between church and state, can arise. Church, nation and family, working separately work harmoniously and efficiently. The church and the aation should pursue their respective courses, and per- form their proper functions, apart. To attempt t. unite them IS to retard and burden each. How mischievous and absurd to conjoin the mechanism of a steam-enoine and a chronometer, the mechanism of propulsion* Ind the mechanism of chronal-indication ! Such different kinds of mechanism cannot work in formal union, with- out the aid of guards, breaks, checks, and counter- balances ; these clumsy contrivances cannot be applied without loss of time, trouble and material, without the most serious imperfection, difficulty and danger; and all these may be advantageously dispensed with, by returning to the simplicity and perfection of the divine arrangement. We foolishly and impiously seek to mend Crod s work, and we mar it ; and, then, instead of relin- quishmg our folly, we institute a second absurdity to counteract the first, we complicate our clumsiness to correct its confusion ! "The separation of the spiritual from the temporal power is the source of liberty of con- science ; and it rests upon no other principle than that which serves as the base of the most unrestricted and extended liberty of conscience. The separation between the temporal and spiritual p<5wers is founded upon the principle that phynical force han no right or influence t )\ ;;i 1,1 r-ti Iff • 190 EXTERNAL ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS. over the minds of men, or over conviction and truth. It results from the distinction established between the world of thought and that of action, between ckcum- stances of an internal and those of an external nature. This maxim of liberty of conscience, for which Europe has struggled and suffered so much, and which has prevaUed only so lately, often against the exertions of the clergy, was laid down under the name of a separa- tion between temporal and spiritual power, in the earliest stages of European civilization ; and its introduction and maintenance was owing to the christian church being compelled, by the necessity of its situation, to defend itself against the barbarism of the times." ^ Thus the separation of the spiritual and temporal, and the freedom of the for- mer^ may be not only found in science, the science of soci- ology, as a most important principle, but also traced in history, as a most prominent and influential fact Its introduction, however, is much higher and nobler than "the necessity of ecclesiastical situation ;" for it spring* from the nature of things, the divine constitution of society, and the principles of both christian and civil science. 2. The relation of the church to the state is a religious or biblical question, because the church is a religious society, and is ruled and regulated by the bible, as the reve- lation and law of the church's Head. It is too obvious to admit of dispute, or to require proof, that the church should sustain no relation, should accept or suffer no relation, but what is perfectly accordant with the spirit- ual system to which she belongs, and with the spiritual standard by which she is to be judged. No formal relation whatever should be instituted between the church and the state, because Christ has ^ Guizot's "Hiitory of Civilization in Europe." Leciure II. i-V EXTERNAL ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS, 191 ordered and warranted none, and because Christianity has come perfect out of bis hands, so that his institutes are not to be moulded and tampered with by man. Christ has created his church independent of the' nation, separate from the state, and as such it should be most sacredly observed and maintained. The union of church and state is religiously wrong because it is unauthorized; and It is the utmost presumption and impiety to attempt to nnprove God's work. If Christ had designed his church to be allied to the state, he would doubtless have authorized and instructed his servants accordingly; and, m the absence of any such authority, to unite the church to the mechanism of the nation is practically to add to his word and presumptuously to alter his work. If the mere circumstances of primitive Christianity, the mere want of sufficient gospel prevalence and of magis- terial and imperial conversion, prevented the union of church and state, we should, at least, expect to find a provision, a prospective legislation, for such a union in the New Testament ; but nothing of the kind really exists. ''^ But the union of church and state is condemned by Christ, as well as unauthorized, because it contravenes and violates the spirit and principles of Christianity. It transforms a voluntary institute into a compulsory ' one, and transposes a superior institute into a subordinate one! If the union of church and state means anything, it means, at least, the endowment of the former by the latter, the derivation of ecclesiastical secularities from civil sources. We have seen that the secular is both suppletory and significant, and as such it is both requi- site and subservient in the church. The church needs houses for its convocations, and supplies or salaries for Its officers, who are fully and exclusively devoted to its service; and it needs secular things as simifinnnt of I I f:i i' I l-J ■•] 192 EXTERNAL ECCLESIASTICAL DELATIONS. spiritual, for it needs water, bread and wine for its sym- bolical ordinances, writing materials to record its transac- tions, and also books and vehicular means for the circu- lation of its inspired standards. Whence, then, is the church to derive its secular supplies ? It must be either from within or from without, from the voluntary contri- butions of its members or from the compulsory levies of the state. The Head of the church ha.s made proper provision, because he has made it the duty of church- members to supply church-funds, he has charged ecclesi- astical secularities on ecclesiastical and voluntary contri- butions, not on national and compulsory collections. " The Lord hath ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel/' ^ "Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth m all good things." 2 «rpj^g labourer '« worthy of his reward."^ " The workman is worthy of his meat."^ "If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things."^ Nothing can be more natural and equitable than this arrangement. It is meat for the workman, wages for the labourer, from those whom he serves ; it is a fair exchange of spiritual things for secular ; it is support from the church to the servants of the church. Why should one society support the agents of another society ? Why should the servants of a spiritual copartnership be sustained by the funds of a secular copartnership ? How can they be so sustained with any fairness or propriety ? And how can an insti- tute that is essentially and distinctively voluntary be sustained, and endowed by an institute that is essentially and distinctively compulsory, without surrendering the voluntaryism of the former institute and merging the 1 1 Cor. ix. 14. 2 Gal. vi. 6. 3 i Tim. v. 18. ■• Matt. x. 10. " 1 Cor. ix. 11. EXTERNAL ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONa 193 spiritual in the secular? National funds are ob- tained by force, by carnal weapons, by seizure and sale, by fines and imprisonments; but Christianity repudiates all this, in the church, as utterly foreign to Its nature, as utterly discordant with its purposes and principles. "If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight: but now is my kingdom not from hence." The church is not at liberty to resort to fighting and force, or to accept of carnal weapons ; :^et this she must do, if she leagues herself with the state. In doing this, she descends from the altitude of spiritualism and voluntaryism into the low ground of carnalism and compulsion ; she repudiates the provision which her Head has made for her, and pre- fers the provision of an inferior and foreign association • she sacrifices her character, and adopts a self-deba-sing and suicidal policy. " Ye are complete in Christ," says Paul to the Colossians, not complete in civil patronage and pay, but " in him who is the head of all principality and power,"! and whose kingdom ought not to be subor- dmated to principalities and powers that are subservient to himself A state-paid church is a degraded church. The church's proper position is above the state, because the spiritual IS above the secular, and because operation divinely revealed and ruled is above operation humanly contrived and controlled. But when the church sur- renders and sacrifices her voluntaryism, her dependence for support first on her own members and ultimately on her heavenly head, she not merely derbies herself to the level of secularity but subordinates aerself to the secular power. No nation, no civil government, either does or should endow an association vdthout a return of ^ Coloss. ii. 10. 194 EXTERNAL ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS. f\' >■ w i •4 subordination and service. The paymaster is clearly and confessedly above the paid agent. If the nation jjays the church, it ought to cognosce and control the church, and it does. True patriotism and political consistency and fidelity forbid any other course. A church paid by the state is really a department of the state, a servant of the state, a creature of the state ; Cuesar and not Christ is her head ; compulsion and not freedom is her stamp and mark ; and " Ichabod," the glory is departed, glares on her front and forehead. The state will not endow the churcli for nothing, and ought not. If the church renounces her self-reUance and her divine sus- tenance, she deserves nothing better than to be Csesar's tool, and nothing nobler and better can sh ^ attain. The church's choice lies altogether between suljordination and separation. Ecclesiastical subjection is the price she must always pay for civil salary. In every alliance of church and state, there are and must be, expressed or understood, terms and conditions of endowment, a quid •pi'o quo. The state will clothe and feed the clergy, if the clergy will help and serve the state, and not other- wise. The state will become eoclesiasticai, if the church will become political. The state will accept the theology and polity of the church and replenish her treasury, if the church will become a buttress to the state and a barrier against disloyalty. " You serve me and I v/ill sustain you " — is the language into which may be fairly and intelligibly translated every proposal and league of the state to the church. Christ created his church to be dependent on himself only, and, in this dependence, to be self-sufficient. " Our sufiiciency is of God." But to yoke the church to the state is to disavow all this, to despoil the church of her glory, to dishonour the church's head, and to make the church the servant or paid agent of man. In the INS. clearly and nation pays the church, consistency •ch paid by e, a servant lar and not dom is her is departed, ate will not aot. If the divine sus- I be Caesar's ittain. The ination and ! price she ;ry alliance xpressed or lent, a quid tie clergy, if I not other- ' the church he theology treasury, if state and a and I v/ill ay be fairly 1 league of on himself lent. "Our irch to the irch of her » make the I. In the EXTERNAL ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS. 195 sovereignty of Christ, in the completeness and adaptation ot Scripture, and in the affection and fidelity of her members, the church has everything requisite to her efficiency and prosperity ; and when she descends from her high position to ask help of Cfesar, to bow at his levees, to accept his donatives, and to seiTe his int rests she becomes ineffably debased and most reprehmsibly mconsistent. The payment of christian ministers from cml sources, instead of being decent and dignified, as is generally supposed, is most mean and debasing. ' It is unfair that the servant of one society should be'paid by another. It is dishonourable to the minister of truth and love, of divine influence and voluntary operation that his salary should be collected by physical forc« by civH summons and execution, by bailiffs, distraint knd imprisonment How dare any church stoop to such dis- honour and wrong? How dare any christian minister accept such foreign and forbidden support ? a The union of church and state is also a political question, to be weighed in the balance of political science .Sociology, that comprehends all society, takes the broadest view; bibhcism applies its own test and pronounces its own judgment ; and political philosophy measures with Its own rule, and reaches its own result These three sources of evidence and standards of action cannot be discordant, for all truth is harmonious. Let us not put on the eye-glass of socialism for sociology, of sectarianism for scripture, of party prejudice for political science • and by every inspection we shall discern one conclusion' that church and state are separate societies. PoHtical science is the science of territorial justice The basis and distinction of every kingdom, state or nation, is a territory, region or country, large or small • the members of political society are the o^vners and occupants of the territory; the object or end of the s2 I f > f t t . 196 EXTERNAL KCCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS. society is secular welfare ; the means are secular co-ope- ration and care, especially in the emictment and mlmirus- tration of just laws ; and the state or civil government IS, formally or pnictically, the representative agency of the political society, to frame and enforce the laws of territorial justice. Now it is obvious that when the state allies Itself to the church, it overpasses its proper bounds, or travels out of its record and province, and becomes guilty of gross impropriety and perversion. Men as such, men in their individual capocitv, and men in their religious or ecclesiastical relations, have an unquestionable nght to judge for themselves in all spiritual mattera But men, m their political relations and in the discharge oi their political duties, have no such right, and cannot intermeddle with religious matters without unwarrantable .assumption and excess. When, therefore, civil rulers ally themselves to ecclesiastical agency, they must either endow all sorts of reUgious doctrine and polity, which is grossly unprincipled and latitudinarian, or they must sit m judgment on questions and claims of religion, and thus confound civil and religious offices, and pervert their political position and power to extraneous and unconsti- tutional purposes. In endowing all religious sects and systems, they pervert their office and authority, which are purely secular, aiid they practically disregard all distinctions of truth and error, right and wrong ; and in selectmg any, they unwarrantably and unconstitutionally turn the seat of civil legislation and administration into the chair of biblical criticism and polemical theology But such a selection is open to stiU higher and graver objections. It is a process of favouritism, of gross par- tiality and injustice, on the part of civil rulers, to select and endow and honour any portion of the people, as rehgiomsts, and thus throw all the rest into a position of oblivion, inferiority and dishonour. The relation and •NS. ular co-ope- lul iulmims- tjovemnient 3 agency of the laws of en the state per bounds, id becomes Men, as len in their uestionable al mattersL e discharge and cannot .warrantable civil rulers lust either y, which is jy Hiust sit ti, and thus rvert their unconsti- i sects and •ity, which regard all y ; and in itutionally ution into theology, nd graver jross par- to select )eople, as )osition of ation and EXTERNAL ECTT.ESIASTICAL RELATIOXH. I!)7 function of civil rulers are wholly secular, and compre- hend all the owners and occupants of the territory, with- out exception or distinction ; the great duty hence arising isjustiro, strict and stern justice ; and this Hrst,this last this ak-comprehending duty of civil rulers is utterly disregarded and trampled in the dust, when a part of the terntonal occupants is selected, on religious groun.ls to receive peculiar civil honour, salary and support, and the remaining part is rejected, dishonoured, and depressed. If there be but one religious denomination in a country the alliance of church and state is still a peri-ersion and abuse of civil power. But when has such a case occurred ? Not wher the Romanists of England were disestablished and the Protestants endowed ; not when multitudes of ministers were ejected and the rest main- tained ; not wlien nonconformity was harassed and perse- cuted and Anglo-episcopacy fostered; and not now, when national honours and emoluments are lavished upon one- half of the kingdom, and the other half is necessarily, in consequence, dishonoured and obstructed. Even if the alliance of church and state could arise unobjectionably, Avith only one denomination, it ought not to be continued, on the emergence and consolidation of other denomina- tions. But the fact is that it ought never to begin, for It IS necessarily unconstitutional and unwarrantable ; and to continue it as a selection involves the additional abuses of favouritism and injustice. If a nation be not equitable and just, it has nothing that it ought to have ; and it cannot be just with one religious denomination, out of many, preferred and endowed. If a nation overstep its proper boundary and intermeddle with other association and office, there is no assignable limit to its transgression v and perversion ; and such is its position and process when It estimates and endows, or endows without esti- mating, a religious system and society. S3 I ^ 1 i i , 1 ". 1 1 ., Hja I 1 i 1 ■< ■■i 1 TfU Wt 198 EXTERNAL ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS. 4. Weighed in every balance and tried by every test, the union of church and state is wrong. It is the derangement of divinely-instituted society, the prostitu- tion of the church, and the perversion of the state. It is sociological folly, ecclesiastical dishonour, and political injustice. The church was originated independently of the state, and ought to remain so. The church is supe- rior to the state, as spiritual is superior to secular, divine to human; and they cannot be tmited without displacing one of them or both, without unnaturally degrading the spiritual or improperly exalting the secular, or doing both at once. How can the freedom of religion be aUied to the force of politics ? How can the volun- tariness of the church be conjoined to the compulsoriness of the state ? How can moral society be interlinked ^vith physical ? How can the secular federation of a territory be leagued with the spiritual copartnerships of multitu- dinous localities? As well attempt to combine the machinery of a mill with the mechanism of a chrono- meter, the operation of a forcing-pump with that of a telegraph. The theory is folly,- and the practice is mis- chief The mill and the chronometer do not and cannot work well together. With interposed checks and breaks, some co-operation is obtained ; but the mill goes heavily and grinds badly, the chronometer goes irregularly and never tells true time. . The nation is the sphere of justice, founded on jural relations, or relations to men's rights • the church is the sphere of beneficence, founded on fehci- tarian relations, or relations to men's happiness; the former is for the present life and the things terrestrial, the latter is chiefly for the future life and the things celestial ; the one operates by force, the other by faith embracing truth, and by love fulfilling law ; and every attempted coalition of the two must be mischievous to each. M.j EXTERNAL ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS. 199 The friends of national churchism are ever ready to allege the paternal character of the state, its godlessness without ecclesiastical alliance, and the inadequacy of voluntary churchism. To some these allegations may seem plausible and forcible, but before the light of reason and religion, they vanish like mists before the noon-day sun. The personality and paternity of civil government are rather figures of speech than facts. A nation is not, in any sense, a person but a territorial coalition. And civil rulers are the elected or accepted or obtruded care-takers and controllers of the secularities of such a coalition. Patriarchal civil government is a fiction, a fallacy, and a figure. Authentic history ignores it, and reason di ^ards It. ^Nimrod, the first recorded king, was "a mighty hun- ter," not a paternal civil curator. A father is a procre- ator ; and what has procreation to do with the claims and control of kings and queens, of consuls and councils of pretors and presidents ? What analogy can there be between the society of a house, or tent, and the society of a tnbe or territory ; between the offspring of one man and the owners and occupants of lands who permit or employ one or more persons to enslave them, or to take care of their common secularities ? Domestic society a. respects husband and wife, is a partnership ; as respects children, a procreatorship; as respects household servants a commutation, an exchange of money or goods for ser- vices ; and all these pertain to a house or household Civil society is purely a tenitorial pari^nership ; and civil govern- ment is the exchange of the honours and emoluments of such society for the curatorship of governors. Parents ought to take care of their children, because they own their children ; and civU society ought to take care of its territory, because it owns that territory ; but civil nilers are not the owners of the temtory, but the representative agents and care-takers of the owners. Ijl . I i i ,. r (P f h 200 EXTERNAL ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS. Superficial thinkers, with whom words are coins and not counters, are never weary of declaring that as nations have no existence in the other world, they must be reli- gious in this or not at all, must be divinely rewarded and punished now or never. If civil relations will not exist hereafter, the persons civilly related will exist, and they will be responsible and retributable for their conduct in every terrestrial and temporary relation. All collections of men consist of individuals; all collective or social operations are the results of the voices and votes of indi- vidual men, in their relations to each other, and are con- ducted by an individual or by a plurality of individuals ; and each of these men must answer hereafter for his part and participation in all terrestrial social movements. The individual is never lost in the society. A nation can be religious, only so far as the individuals that com- pose It are such, because religion is a personal possession and procedure. If its religiousness consisted in the com- bmation of religious forms with political acts, of ecclesias- tical machinery vvith national machinery, then indeed a nation and a church must either be go-carts to each other, or the former be bitterly godless. And, then, on that ground, every secular association must be leagued with the church, or be a godless association; and Into every office, shop, market and exchange, we must intro- duce sermons and psalms, bibles and hymn-books No such absurdities follow from just and rational appre- hensions. Religion should be in every man's heart wherever he is, however related and occupied, but not' therefore, always in his mouth; it should always be withm and always practically without, but not always ostensibly without; he should always have its principle and ix)wer, but not always observe its form and profes- sion ; he should always fear, trust, love and obey God but not always talk of God, not always sing praises or )NS. re coins and it as nations lust be reli- swarded and ill not exist st, and they conduct in 1 collections 'e or social otes of indi- ,nd are con- individuals ; for his part movements. A nation s that com- [ possession in the com- )f ecclesias- m indeed a ts to each d, then, on l)e leagued ; and into nust intro- ooks. No nal appre- m's heart, I, but not, always be lot always 5 principle nd profes- obey God, praises or EXTERNAL ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS, 201 utter prayers to God, not always hear or pronounce ser- mons. All the members of all associations— political, literary, scientific, benevolent, spiritual— should be reli- gious ; they should be such as individuals ; they should be such by possessing, everywhere and always, the spirit, the principles and power of religion; they should be such by constantly practising the justice and goodness of religion; but not by Imking spiritual machinery with secular machineiy, and not by organically combining reli- gious forms and fashions with other forms and fashions. The efficiency of church and state is not furthered but hindered by their connection. Their diversity should disjoin them, and their disjunction surely harmonizes them. The church is not to rule the nation, for it has no right of secular cognizance and control ; the nation IS not to rule the church, for it has no right of spmtual cognizance and control. Their union ren- ders the one intrusive upon the other, for it makes the state pseudo-ecclesiastical and the church pseudo- political. When all kinds of machinery must be formally united, to render them effective, it will be time enough to unite the secular and inferior machinery of the state with the spiritual and superior machinery of the church. When a steam-engine ceases to propel, because it is not linked to a chronometer or to an electric telegraph, it will be time enough to link the kingdom that is not of this world with the kingdom that is. Each institute has its place and should keep it. Each has its work and should do it. The one is not to compete, col- lide, or interfere, with the other. They are natural and harmonious when separate, and deranged and discordant when united. They co-operate apart, by different func- tions, m accomplishing the distinct and graduated ends of divme government. He who made both employs both, but has not united them, or authorized their union, •f i I)! ft ! 202 EXTERNAL ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS. or made them susceptible of union. Attempt to unite hem, and each begins to struggle for pre-eminence. The SU esman tnes to make the secular power predominant ; and f he succeeds, as he is sure to do, the result is Erastxanism The ambitious and worldly eclleZZ tnes to make the church predominant; and f he Tu^ cceds the result is priestcraft and pr;ctical poper; a withering hgotry and a relentless tyranny. If ^cSist had mtended or approved such a measure's the uj^n of church and state, he would, at least, have prospect tively legislated for it ; but he has not done so fhelas legislated against it. He has made his service alW prehensive, not by the conjunction of diverse organisms, but by the permeatmg power of his own principles To serve him m all secular things, to eat, drink, or Otherwise act without exception, to his glory, is not universally to transfer his forms but thus to transfuse his principlea To carry his spirit and principles into our political and rr rf "'°T'"'^^"°* to carry the church into them. To love and serve Christ, in all things, is not to effect a umon of the church with all things. To be godly m politics IS not to be ecclesiastical. To be philosophical politicians IS not to unite philosophical societies with the cm government, but to carry philosophy itself into our political deliberations and transactions. And to be chris tian politicians is not to unite the church and the state, but to carry Christmmty itself, its spirit and principles into our political thinkings and business. He is not a godless statesman who seeks to keep his secular machinery fTlfr ^' T^"^' ^"^ '"^^^ l-^« ^thout the ^rinnnl 7/. ^^''''' "" ^'""'''^^ ^^^ permeating pnncipks. And he is not a godly statesman, but a blind and bad one who seeks to interlink and incorporate the machinery of earth with the mechanism of heaven the agency that fights with the agency that prays, the f;uit EXTERNAL ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS. 203 Of the Spirit witli the force of the sword, the Icingdom Xp'ZtlT ™'* *-'"--'''' 'he .ir.gaf„S The union of church and state involves, on both sides no nglit to levy taxes for spiritual purposes. It cannot intermedd e with religious things, either spontaneo "v ulZioTlkft'rr ^' '"'''''*"^""' -" — usurpation. The state has no right to endow the church T;feN:wT::' '^r "=**—?» -^h endo™ ;': Ihe «ew Testament contains no enax:tment, express or constructive, immediate or prospective, in favour oflch hotrT/l ■""' "'^™■^ "^^^-' - "»- teen ll^ showa Nothmg surely can be simpler or clearer than s ries'"T: "Trv"" ^!'™'"^^ --^ *"ut sories. It cannot be disputed, and is not, that the onlv financid system of the primitive christians was vo ntlrv .Bm, and that this is perfectly scriptural. Let scrbta"'" authority, then, be produced as well for compuL^ecl siastical endowments. Let the church produce her dTvnnt warrant for leaguing herself with the Lte ^nd ac ™ mg the aid of carnal weapons, the honour that cCeth strirr/ ''' '7'^ 1 ^'^^'' ^""^ •'-«ff'« taon and the i!rm:d Sg with'th xi'irdT "rr-* ''^ sp»;ualfuncLnsan!?:fftr\r/lef:h;S td^ir nndicate, if they ean-but they canno Jhe p 'tiS and favouritism of endowment, the violation ohS and conscience involved in comDellin» m„„ t„ ^ religion which they abhor. B/wh^f rightist^C ch thrsaTe7^Vhr''T ™"'r^'^ - i-orpo.;in\ri h me stater Who made civil rulerq aq oi,«i, • j theology » ^ ,„a for theiL^^^r ;tt1S » to weigh and decide theological questions hn^ ^ entitled them to do this as dvil ^^^^ 204 EXTERNAL ECCLESIASTICAL REIATIONS. them to do this for a nation ? There is no visible tri- bunal, competent and authorized, to judge between papists and protestants, Calvinists and Arminians, episco- palians and Presbyterians and independents; and to detennine which system and society, if any, ought to be preferred. The endowment of one creed and church out of many is sheer favouritism and class-legislation ; the endowment of all creeds and churches is latitudinari- anism ; the endowment of any church is an assumption and abuse of civH power ; and the acceptance of such endowment, on the part of the church, is treachery and prostitution. When will the churches of Christ, univer- sally, avow their sole dependence upon their Head, the sufficiency of their own constitution, and their elevation above civil subsidy and sway? And when will christian ministers awake to the sin and shame of subservience to Caesar, and of accepting support that is dragged out of the people by the secular arm ? It matters not whether the persons taxed for religious purposes are in the church or out, compulsories or voluntaries in theology ; they are taxed as civilians, by the civil power, for non-civil pur- poses. It matters not whether the ecclesiastical tax is levied overtly or covertly, separately or by composition with other taxes. The state has no right to demand such taxes, and the church has no right to receive them ; and no christian minister can accept them, without dis- honouring himself, his office, and his Lord. The church is not authorised or permitted to receive support, irre- spective of its source and character, for otherwise she might allow the wages of iniquity to be thrown into her treasut-y. She is not at liberty to form or suflfer any alliance or connection, but what comports with her Mes- sianic origin, rule and relations. In determining the proper relations of church and state, the question is not whether the truth should be BIXTEKNAL ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS. 205 conveyed to the world, without its desire and demand tat on whom devo ves the duty of conveying it, and^hatl the proper position and procedure of the coivayer The tft » r\"-''' '^^'"'""^ "-"l -hide 'of Jug truth; and she is appropriately and adequately suc^ i^'VZ'' ft '"' ^"'""^^ '°' «I»ntLous'o^i tioa Whi, she has received she gives, and her gift is the expression of her own life and love Throlh he a one, the spuntual supply of the world can come The aence upon her own voluntary resources only is no arg"»ent for state interference/ We may norcJmfs- me:e''Srtl\™'''"^"'".' P"^'™"''" -" "^n mere artizans to become schoolmasters. The church may not have accomplished the regeneration of a tt , dLc tlv to eZv V " '"'^' ""' '■"'' ^'-g'^t *he truth airectly to every human creature, within the rai »e of it« terence, and no proof whatever of the unfitness or in- d. quacy of independent churchism God h mTe f h ," confided the communication of the truth to hTchurct alone, and that is enough The church may have been lethargic and unfaithful, but God has not dfsidssed her or commissioned the state to supplement or rSy h ™ The spiritual interests of a country are not confided to the cml government, and the civU government tW T- ^r' r t '"^"'^'^'^ » accoL of the„ IS especially should this government not pervert The .i.! and methods of spiritual persuasion LfZVXZe as buttresses and talwarks to its own poUcy a^dl^^I tensions. It is, in fact, the perversion of the slate and the prostitution of the church, in the alliance of hi two that has rendered the church, for so long a time letllr gie and cramped How much the churc\ can d^ in tt freedom of mdependence, her youthful achievCnts T lil 206 EXTERNAL ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS. declare ; how little she can do, in the fetters of compul- sion, let the middle ages testify. If the church has not adequately cultivated her long-occupied field, and duly extended her conquests, it is not from any fault in her constitution, or any deficiency in her provision ; it is not because state patronage and pay are essential to her vitahty and vigour; but it is greatly owing to the incu- bus and vu'us of her unnatural and dishonourable sub- servience to the state. The question is not what the church has done, or failed to do, in this position of subservience ; but what she might have done in perfect freedom, and what she really did, in the years of her freedom, the period of her pristine purity and indepen- dence, before she parted with her glorious distinctness, to become the puid agent and poHtical servant of the Roman power. The question is not what independent and voluntary chuichisn has done, in modern days, in a small minority, persecuted by the compulsories, fro'wned on by the state, driven mto a corner, suspected and checked in all its operations ; but what it would have done in fair and proper ckcumstances, and what it did, m reality, before the days of Constantine. It is very unfair to allege, in a country like England, Scotland, or Ireland, that voluntaryism is impotent or inadequate because it has not fully met the spiritual wants of the people. National religion may be said to be unpotent and inadequate for the same reason. But the fact is that the connection of church and state is one great reason for the contracted operations of British churches. National churchism takes forcible possession of the field; acquires civil status, honours and emoluments, and draws or drags into its train all, or nearly aU, the wealth learmng and influence of the land; gags, fetters, impri- sons, wastes and consumes all dissent or nonconformity • till in spite of all this the object of its persecution and in : it is not EXTERNAL ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS. 207 longe ; and then gr.v. ;• alleges the shortcomings of v^untaryjsm, m feeding the people, as a reason for its )vm position and pretensions ! Was ever insult so grossly and wantonly added to injury ? Even now when persecu^on IS impracticable, the political favouritism and ecclesiastical prostitution, involved in national churchism preclude a fair trial to voluntary churchism. The educ": tional operations, both literary and theological, and the pastoral : ^bours, of voluntary churches, must dways be greatly impeded and injured by the influence and effects ot a national ecclesiastical establishment. Such an establishment compels voluntary christians to pay money voIuITk?/'"''! "^^'^^^ '^'''^y '^' '«t of voluntary ability and contribution, and cripples the means of yountary extension; and holds out secular attractions and inducements that often diminish the ranks and resources of voluntary churches, and serve to elic t and mu^trate most painfully the exi.nt of human infirmity mtjiout really augmenting, in any quarter, the strength and efficiency of spiritual agency. * ^ It is, also, fallacious and unfair to charge upon anv religious system or systems the entire amount of irrell^ gion m a land. No system can create general relimous- matter, and is, at least, a^ chargeable upon individual choice as upon the evils of ecclesiastical systems or the 6 antmess of ecclesiastical supplier Churches may sup- them. The gospel may be preached in every neighbour- hood and introduced, by pastoral visitation, int! every house, and yet great numbers of the people may reject It and refuse to attend its public services. Such I result IS evidential of human freedom and folly, but not o maptitude or inefficacy in voluntary churchism. AIuJ t2 H {1 .. ii* "I : I 208 EXTERNAL ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS. U ! II J'' 1 ( n » Buch persons he compolled by the magistrate to observe he forms of Cliristianity, and individual rights and liberties be thus trampled on, for no better end than to multiply hyp<3crisy and mockery ? If not, what can national churchi8m do in such caaes ? No form of reli- gion can force, or ought to force if it could, irreligious men mto the ranks or un.ler the regime of rharches ; and, therefore, the mere number of such persons is no evi- dence of ecclesiastical impotence and unfitnesa The question is not does a religious system christianize all around i but does it adequately try to do so ; does it Bcripturally communicate with all, and make spiritual supplies properly accessible to all ? The wonder is not that voluntaryism has done so little, but that, in its crip- pled and thwarted condition, it has done so much ; and the rational hope and belief are that when it alone occu- pies the umversal field, as assuredly it some day will its pristine power will appear and its original glory return Ihere is no paraUel between voluntary evangelization home or foreign, and the economic doctrine of demand and supply. I„ trade and commerce, in mere secular exchange the demand and the supply regulate each other. And such, for the most part, and such scrip- turally, as has been shown, is the principle that regelates the pastoral supply of churches. But not wholly so for it IS the duty of strong churches to help the weak, that the abundance of the former may be a supply for the want of the latter, "that there may be equality." Besides and especially, we are not to confound the sustenance of churches with their extension. The demand for pastors and the supply of pastors regulate each other, so as to sustam existing churchea But from those that are without there is no demand for spiritual supplies ; and voluntaryism does not, in theory or practice, wait for such demand, but spontaneously seeks to create an appe- EXTERNAL ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS. 201) tancy and Offer a supply, "in the regions beyond." It 8 simply libelling voluntaryism to describe it as "Free trade m Christianity" There is nothing of the trade- spirit in the free election and cordial support of a pastor and in the spontaneous and gratuitous distribution of the' bread of life. The home and foreign missions of modern voluntary churches disprove every such libel, and vindi- cate the excellence and efficiency not of ^ 3e trade but of free truth in religion. Voluntary churchism is not ree trade m religion, but compulsory churchism i.« pr„- tectiomsm aiid monopoly in religion. The real traders in (.hristiamty, are the churches which trade with civil governments for sustenance, extension and pre-eminence at the price of ecclesiastical subsidence and subservience' laking the lowest ground, the ground of expediency It IS easy to demonstrate the utter inaptitude and inade- quacy of a national church for both home and foreign evancrehsm, but especially for the latter. No existing state church provides fully for the wants of the country to which It belongs, but is grievously deficient either in mechanism or in Lfe, in pure spiritual provision or in the means of its distribution, or in both ; and the history of all state churches proves that the more exclusively they obtam and prevail, the more spiritually lethargic and debased their countries become. The remedies for such declension and the spiritual revolutions which those remedies occasion are always created and characterized by voluntaryism. The extension, too, of national churches, as of England and Scotland, is a process of voluntaryism, in the form of church-building societies gospel-propagation, pastoral-aid, church-missionary and religious-knowledge societies. Only or chiefly by such societies, can national churches achieve either domes- tic or foreign evangelism and extension. How are state churches, as such, to spread Christianity abroad, in t3 %i. I . : If r ' 210 EXTERNAL ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS obedience to the divine mandate ? Must the civil govern, mont. through the church, become a spiritual propa- gandist and proselyter, in other lands ? Must it appro- priate the country's resources, raised for itself, to the culture and welfare of foreign regions ? Ought it do so an. will other nations suffer it to do so ? It ill comports with the principles of international law for the govern- ment of a country, through its ecclesiastical .servant to comraonce a systematic attack upon the religious princi- ples and institutions of another country. Must Chris tian and Pagan. Protestant and Popish nations thus com- mence belligerent proceedings ? Is it thus the peace and goodwill of the gospel are to be promoted ? It is easy to see that nation;il churchism is wrong, because it cannot harmonize international law and evangelical zeal • and that a spiritual system, like Christianity, that aims at umversal diffusion and triumph, cannot be made the mstrument and dependent of any civil power whatever without the surrender of its principles and the sacrifice of its pretensions ; that alliance with the state must either keep a church at home or send it, a^ a firebrand abroad, must paralyze it or pervert it, degrade it or demoralize it ; and that Christianity can never cicum- navigate the globe without cutting the cable of the state, or pursue her march of universal conquest and blessing but in perfect independence of civil machinery and secular sway. Patriotism and piety combine to dissolve the unna- tural, the unholy, the disgraceful and disastrous alliance of churcli and state. The question between the volun- taries and compulsories is not, as some say, a mere ques- tion of machinery, but of momentous principles. It is therefore, exceedingly inaccurate and unfair to compare the voluntaries, as Dr. Chalmers does, to machine- breakers; but to compare the promoters of a le-al dis- "Kr EXTERNAL ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS. ul»t,tu ba-l names and fete analogies fo uh an,l mtehgent».„ptu.al piety. Either ^'roee.. iJT",: science Ihe compound miwhinery of cliurcli an,l «•,»,. Lte J ?;? T" '"» -'""* »'-■"' -i cT ™ r instead of attempting to mend matters, by settincr ,rf7„ tuiKered we sliould disunite the iil-conioinod engine, an. consign them res^tively to conif'' ent ,p ri nl Zrt Thr"?. '" ™'-'' *«'" *'«"' "i Vigo y apart. The question is not whether popular rtpresenta- tive are freely chosen, and whether the^ rep.e^rtX Ir^'Xnr' '• "" '"" " '"'■^» ■■ '«" -"" Hg .t nave civU rulci .„ mtenneddle with relimon tn J- ::ST,en:^tr'^''^'^'^"^^^^^^^^^ «.,!,! 'i*' I '^'^P' ™°'' ""dx, to sulx<«>rve the stote, to dehaso themselves, and to disobey Christ ? Silt not right, l.uman policy not heavenlyprincil.. W„7 not godliness, love of honour not hS't^nJ .'X" p tx il :ii i . ' . ei-i.. ' " ^.jc - 212 EXTERNAL ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS. possessions, whose horns are kings or secular rulers " And the woman is that great city," ruled by crown and crosier combined, " which reigneth over the kings of the earth." From this mystic city, from its suburbs and its environs, from the shadow of its sceptre, from the pollution and progeny of its harlotry, let every one that loves his Saviour and his soul, make haste to flee. The obvious inference from all that has been said is that the only right relation between churches and civil governments is that of perfect independency. Such independence belongs, of course, to nothing but what is distinctive of each institution. The nation is independent of churches, in everything secular and territorial ; churches are independent of nations, in everything spiritual. But cvnl government has cognizance and control, on dispute and appeal, of ecclesiastical temporalities, of houses, grounds, and funds. Churches rightly obtain these by spontaneous liberality or voluntary contribution; and the state recognizes them, as part and parcel of the ter- ritorial secularities. Money already given to an eccle- siastical officer, for his support and in lieu of his services, is of course beyond dispute ; but money guaranteed, real estate or money funded, property held in trust, for spe- cified ecclesiastical purposes and according to specified methods, is, of course, Hable to difference and dispute, and may occasion application to civil judicature. The question to be determined, in such a case, is one of fact, the fact of the donor's expressed intentions, the fact of the trustees' compliance with such intentions, the fact of the person or persons now rightly charged with the ful- filment of such intentions. We can easily conceive, it is true, of a trust created on improper conditions, such as the exact and thorough observance of everything bibli- cal, to be weighed and adjudicated by the civil judica- ture ; but the state should decline, legislatively and EXTERNAL ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS. 213 administratively, such a fiinction and^trust, and make property so vested a lapse to the heirs or a forfeiture to the territory. Churches or individuals have no right to impose improper functions or responsibilities on civil authorities; and the civil authorities ought not to accept them All secularity, however acquired and designed 18 liable to the common poHticaJ burdens and cogni- zance ; and all churches and ecclesiasts are as hable as other associations and functionaries to answer to the terntona courts, for their proprietary and personal relations to the terntorial laws and institutions f >, ;T ""Y ^^f ^'° "^^^ ^* ''' ^^^' ^ be inferred that the only nght relation between the church and THE FAMILY IS that of PERFECT INDEPENDENCE. A famdy cannot dictate to a church, or a church to a tamily. An individual may be at once a member of both and responsible accordingly; and just as the secu- larities of a churchman, but not his spiritualities, are cognosced by the st^te, so the spiritualities of a domes- tician but not his secularities, may be cognosced by his such h.„s the church any right of cognizance, but of the spiritual conduct of its own members, individually, to whatever famihes belonging, and in harmony simply with the revealed wiU of the church's Head. Children are the property of their parents and cannot be right- tully subje.^d, m nonage, to any ecclesiastical instruc- ^on or mfluence, except by consent of the parents. Primarily It IS the duty of parents, not of churches, to tram up children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord ; and it is the duty of the church, as the vehicle of truth and the ehciter of blessing, to co-operate with parents, by conveying the truth, with faith and prayer to children s mmds, as often and as fully as parents afford her an opportunity of doing so. Neither the -hu-cli 214 EXTERNAL ECCLESIASTICAL RELATIONS. nor the state has a right to abolish and absorb parental power and authority ; on the contrary, they are bound to respect the domestic institute as the oldest among men, as the spring of all human affinities, and as man's great preparatory school, arena and field, from genera- tion to generatioa The only education which the church is bound to give is a spiritual or religious educa- tion ; orally, by pastors and teachers; writtenly, by printed bibles and biblical aids ; in Sunday-schools and bible classes ; and in theological classes and colleges, to accepted and qualified candidates for the christian ministry. The work of secular education belongs not to the church, in her distinctive capacity, and ought not to be embarrassingly or unduly undertaken by her ; though, in its subservience to religion, to the perusal and appre- ciation of the sacred writings, and to the qualification and accomplishment of christian ministers, it is inappre- ciably great; and it claims, accordingly, the earnest sympathy and support of all christian men. CHAPTER IL RETROSPECTIVE RELATIONS OF THE CHURCH. The church is not only an element of a system but a social form of true religion. To know how much it inherits aW how much it introduces is necessarTto the appreciation of its position and province. ^ " J ifT'f ^°"^^-^"^^^* «f "mankind, from the r -It I '''' '^^^^'TlVE AND PREPARATORY. J . lent 18 not necessary to the wisdom of God and prepaxation is not necessary to his mere power • butt^v are requisite to man, as a subject of moL go„nT which ,^pbe, the intelligence of its subjectfannhet moral education by appropriate means ; and, accordino^^ they are subservient to the moral nnmn^oo ^^'^'''^^"^§^3^' of God himsplf T>,o 1 P"^?oses and processes were chieflyp.o.<^ a life aL ir^dl ^atr tt: and the problem which it solved wa^ t},« ir, *•* ^ . these conditions to the rao^f^ZTlZ^tl Their total unfitness was proved hv ih^ u . with view," fo. '■js^^z:^.:^:!^ 216 KETROSPECTIVE RELATIONS. the earth." ^ A wrecked world is the fit abode of a wrecked race, and therefore the world was wrecked by the flood ; an abbreviated life is the proper probationary duration of fallen man, and, accordingly, man's life became limited, first to one hundred and twenty years, and then to seventy, instead of eight or nine hundred ; and, in these new and apt conditions, from the subsidence of the deluge, began the chief and continuous develop- ment of restorative theocracy. The first era of this development was Patriarchal, or domestic .cause the family was its chief social instrument and .onn. The second era was Chorarchal, or national, because reli- gion was socially embodied and promoted in the Jewish nation, commencing with the civil organization of the Jews at Mount Sinai. And the third great era is the EcCLESiARCHAL, or ecclesiastical, beginning on the day of Pentecost, and characterized by the church, as the great social instrument and expression of Christ's spiri- tual sway. The christian church is not the successor of a Jewish church, but absolutely the first and only church ; in these pages, therefore, it is simply denominated the church. There was never any church in the world before the day of Pentecost. There was religion in the world before, there was revealed* rehgion, there was religion socially developed and subserved, in the family and the nation, there were religious ordinances, officers, and assemblies ; but there was no church. To confound the church with the forms of religion generally, or with any other form particularly, is to obscure the ways of God and perplex and mislead the biblical student. From the mere occurrence of the term ecclesia, nothing definite and conclusive can be argued. " The church (ecclesia) in 1 Gen. vi. 6, 11, 12. RETROSPECTIVE RELATIONS. 217 the Wilderness"^ is simply "the assembly in the wUder- ness, the Jewish national assembly ; and we have seen that a church is not a nation, or a simple assembly, or even a mere religious assembly. The passage, just referred to, is the only one, in the New Testament, in which the term ecdesia is applied to any pre-pentecoslal institute, and It denotes nothing more than a national gathenng. To denominate the whole body of the Israelites, or any part of them, a church, because they are often denominated the congregation of the Lord is to betray ignorance of the real nature and characteristics ot a church, and to confound an organized, registered partnership with an assembly. The tumultuous concom-se (systrophe) of the Ephesians is also called an assembly (eccUsm); but neither the Ephesian nor the Jewish assembly was a church. The first mention of the church, m the New Testament, is predictive, not descrip- tive : M will build my church." What can more clearly and mcontestably indicate the non-existence of a buildmg than the avowal of an intention to construct it ? rne second mention of the church is in a passage that has been shown to be prospectively legislative.^ The third mention of the church, which is the first mention ot It as an existing institute, occurs on its Pentecostal tormation. Describing the Pentecostal events, the his- torian says-" the same day, there were added three thousand souls," not added " to the church," because till then there was no church at all ; and he closes his nar- rative with the first mention of the church as an extant operative institute : " and the Lord added the saved daily to the church." Till the day of Pentecost, the church IS spoken of as future, and in only two instances • Irom that day it is often and familiarly referred to as Acts vii. 38. "Matt, xviii. 17 U 218 RETBOSPECTIVE RELATIONS. actual and active. The inference is inevitable that on that day it was created. If Judaism and its successor are both churches, and, consequently, essentially alike but circumstantially differ- ent, why does Paul so strikingly and thoroughly contrast them, in his epistle to the Hebrews? "Ye are not come" to the tangible, fiery, dark, tempestuous and terrific Mount of Judaism, with trumpet-tongue and unearthly voice ; but to " Mount Sion." Ye are come to " the general assembly and church of the first-bom," to the catholic association of Jew and Gentile, to the chiu-ch of the first-born ecclesiasts. Ye, believing Hebrews, " holy brethren," " partakers of the heavenly calling," by which men are invited out of the earthly economy of Judaism into the heavenly economy of the Ecclesiasm ; ye first recipients of the gospel and first incorporated eccle- siasts, to whom I now write ; ye are come to the church that is composed of the first-born, and, therefore, to the very first church, the church originated in your own times, not to the consecution and modification of a church formed under any previous dispensation. The primitive christians were the eldest churchmen ; and the eldest of the eldest were the believing Hebrews. With what marked propriety and significance does the apostle write to contemporary Hebreiv christians, probably in Judea, as having come to the first church, the church of the first-boivi, whose names are written in the new and heavenly economy, instead of in the terrestrial Jewish genealogies ! The onus probandi really Ues upon those who assert the existence of a church before the day of Pentecost. We have shown what the christian church is and when it commenced ; let it be shown, if possible, that there was any earlier similar institute. Those who deny an ante-pentecostal church have nothing to prove; for a able that on rove ; for a RETROSPECTIVE RELATIONS. 219 negative need not and cannot be proved. It avails nothing to show that, before the day of Pentecost, there were social religion, revealed religion, religious assem- blies, religious ordinances and officers, religion in families ,r!!.r'yf''\' ^^1 *^ '"^^/that these constituted or implied a church. The church is distinct and different trom both domestic and civil society. What trace or evidence ,s there of it, or of anything like it, before the day of Pentecost? There was a covenant before that aay, but not a covenant with an actual church. Christ reigned before that day, but not in and through a davtoth r T ' "f^ P^^P^^ '' ^^^ b^f-« that day, both as famihes and as a nation, whom Paul com- I^es to an ohve tree ; but there was no separate, local, ST' I '^r' ^^P^^^«^«hip, till Christ began t^^ bmld his church, m Jerusalem, on the ever-memorable day of Pentecost foUowing his own ascension. From Abraham onwards, the people of God were distinguished by circumcision, but such distinction is far from bein;. equivalent to ecclesiastical unioa The Old Testament predicts the church, but does not chronicle it ; ^eNew Testament cliromcles its creation and predicts its course Ia^Z" """ ""T""' I' f^ ^""^^^S a church but the chnstian association of the latter days. The Jews were ruLTb t *"T'"\ --^^^--t-n: a religious naSn ruled by laws dmnely dictated and by divine agenc^ directiy exerted, a nation whose officers and ordinfnces were both secular and spiritual; but the church tS trlr ^''^' 1^^"'^"' ^'* '*^*^^^^^y' ^^tholic not con- tracted spiritual not secular, co-existent with families and nations and not absorbent or supersessive of either The church is the mstitutionaxy glory of the latter days - tionarygiftofthrrn^rdlir^^^^^^ u2 I If 220 RETROSPECTIVE RELATIONS. obscure the present glory of the Savdour's reign, we shade the lustre of the latter days and the churcli, when we ascribe the peculiarity of ecclesiastical advantages and usefulness to any preceding time, state or people. It is oui-s, post-pentecostals', not Abraham's or the Israelites', to belong to the church of Christ ; and, as such, to rejoice in our ecclesiastical privileges and to perform our glorious ecclesiastical work. The kingdom of Christ is essentially the same in every age, from the fall to the resurrection, yet comprehends a series of ascending and expanding dispensations. Its development and glory are "like the shimng light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." The emission of its light began in the midnight of man's apostacy, and has kindled and heightened from astral to lunar, and thence to solar radiance. Each consecutive dispensation outshines and eclipses the preceding. The promise of the woman's conquering seed was the first, the solitary star, that shone upon fallen man,— a lamp suspended by the hand of the Almighty, in the firma- ment of heaven, to mitigate the gloom of midnight, and to manifest faintly the way of salvation. It was not solitary long. It soon became a member af a constella- tion, and was succeeded by the emergence of stars and clusters, during the patriarchal era, tiU the heavens became bright with the lamps of love and mercy. The moon of Judaism in due time appeared, and slied its mild but superior lustre upon our darkened world. Extraordinary messengers, called prophets, appeared at uncertain intervals, like comets blazing and rushing through the sky, to alarm and reclaim the evil-doers. John the Baptist was the harbinger of day ; the east brightened at his coming, and rejoiced in the dawn of a long-desired and expected light. Soon the Sun himself appeared. RETROSPECTIVE RELATIONa 221 ' See, yonder comes the powerful King of day Rejoicing in the east The lesaoning cloud, ' The kindling azure, and the mountain's brow. II am d with fluid gold, His near approach Btotoken glad" Celestial truth, " full orb'd, in his whole round of rays Zf^ ' T^ "'^""''^ *^" ^^P^'^^ «^ i^eaven, and absorbs, or throws into deepest shade, all anterior lustre ^ight IS gone never to return. "Morning high and higher shmea" The shades of death and dlknL dis api^ear, God is light, and relumes and revives benighted man. The Sun of Righteousness makes our day, never to deehne though occasionaUy obscured by lowering clouds and infernal fogs, but yet to ascend to his zenith^ and thence diffuse his light and heat for ever. Judaism has now no glory, by reason of "the glorv that excelleth." It was a blessing to millions who rejoiced in its light ; it was a preparatory economy and having fulfilled its end, ha. passed awa^ Its Z^ at once enjoyed its advantages, and looked for a better sta e of things, which is om-s. They eagerly and anxi- ously watched for the morning, which belongs to i' thiLT" ^t''^ i' "^°' ^^ P-^^^^ --e better nerfL " V ^^^^ ^**^^"* "« ^^ould not be made perfect. Kings, prophets and righteous men desired to see what we see, but died without the sight Thev bent and listened, to catch from a land far off the musinf the gospel ; that music falls on our ears, in strains of highest harmony. Theirs was intense desire, ours the IhlL w ? '^''^' " ''"^^^ ^^^^*« <^«t their shadows before;" upon the events themselves we gaze and expatiate, with unspeakable delight. Theirs were the lunar light, the veUed face, the lengthened vista, and the vague conjecture ; ours are the day's resplen- cience, the open face, events transpired, and the full assurance. Not unto themselves but nnfn .,. ^v" u3 it 222 RETROSPECTIVE RELATIONS. «. ; ministered. They had truth in figure ; we have it in fact. They saw it in dim perspective ; we have it in the foreground. Theirs was society circumscribed and cir- cumcised ; ours is the catholic church, expanding and free, radiant with divine light, renewed in love, baptized with the fire and the Hood of the eternal Spirit's energy. It was theirs to gather and group around their beacon- hght, on the shores of the Mediterranean ; it is ours to carry the torch of celestial truth into e/ery benighted heart, home and < -antry,— to kindle and keep alive, on every ocean-shore and every mountain-top, the light and fire of universal love,— to rend the vail that is spread over all nations, and relume them with the radiance of day, that darkness and death may disappear for ever. The present dispensation of truth and grace is succes- sive and superior to Judaism ; characteristically ecclesi- astical, not national or domestic ; settled and complete, not preparatory or experimental. The church is the localized and catholicized successor of a national religion, but not of a national church. Judaism had no church,' either national or otherwise, and therefore furnishes no parallel or precedent for national ecclesiastical establish- ments. The stereotyped verbiage and transcriptive absurdity of justifying national churchism by Judaism, should, at once and for ever, cease and determine! Inspiration knows nothing of national churches, though it reveals the operation and display of religion in the family, the nation, and the church, as well as in indivi- duals. Kings and Queens should be nursing parents, among the people of God, not by absurdly and mis- chievously linking their coarse secular machinery with the spiritual organism of fche church, not by presump- tuously and impiously carrying their civil supremacy into Christ's domain, and among Christ's co-equal ser- vants ; but by being themselves faithful christians and RETKOSPECTIVi; RELATIONS. 828 Sr'owfr, '^ "-'"buting literally to eccWia,- tical bjecte and resources, and hy dischantins -heir reotoral and other dutiea, with exon'plao- diSee'td fiddity, and in the faith and fear of Christ No one, that understand* the relation of Christianity to J„da«m, can .upposo for a mon«>nt that the fo™e^ , or ought to be, n,„delled aaer the latter. UeZZ « no moulded by the less. The superior and permanent H not copied from the inferior and ab^gatecf DaTis uot the ,m,tat,on of moonlight Antitypes do not Jke take their shape and hue from typea If J„dai"m Ttl be our model, we ought to MUUm churckZZnZ the nation everything. And, indeed, this is virtuallvth! theory of many ecclesL^fc and politician; andt prt t.caly and largely the result in most countri^ * t Zt": eZ T'tT''- '* '^ '^ " ^-' «^'»' * Zs tl ?„tT "'" ■"'■"'*■■' "'■ *« "-tional church constitute local congregations but not local churche, except in a very imperfect and qualified se„^ The chief magistrate ,s the head of the church, c-mrarvto Christ s sole eccleeiastical head.,hip, and contrarvVo ,1 exclusion of females from ecclesia.Lal cZS^Z tt monarch as such, and by the monarch's political adv s!„ ^e chief ecclesiastical ap^intmente are made, laTto subserve pohfca party purpose.,. The civil fegislt^ ^ enacts a^l ecc esiastical law... Ecclesiastical officers "e conduct The monarch must have no conscience or LlSrt"'*;-''' *''%'-' "f*" land p..escrib~„d s this Christianity and its chnrchhood! Certainlv no, these, whatever else it may be. It i.s a reC^sTn to Judaism, a return to the weak and beggariy ekmTnt! ofasuperseded economy, and a heart-rfnding pr^rl tionand paralysis of Christ's gloriou.. Institute ^ WhateverbethesupnosedadvaM»™a„*.i-. . ,. . r, - . a.. . rt.n,._j-,s oi -.ijc parochial I tt4 RETROSPECTIVE RELATIONS. system, they did not belong to Judaism and are not neces- sarily peculiar to a national church. A civil government may allocate the whole territory, in portions called parishes, to ecclesiastical teachers, with adequate endow- ments ; but, in a free country, it can do nothing more. It ought not to do even this. It cannot, and should not, compel the individuals or households of such parishes to receive such teachers ; and these teachers can only offer their services to the parishes collectively, and to the inha- bitants and families particularly. But all this, substan- tially and m its religious elements, a voluntary confedera- tion of churches, or separate and independent churches by mutual agreement, may do. They mnv divide the whole country between them— though we tliink they ought not— and may offer their services to the several inhabitants and families. Without national recognition, allocation and endowment, the apostles, daily and in every house, cease Psalm xcv, 5. 3 p^.^y ^^j^ 4 » Rev. iv. 11. ♦ Jer. X. 11. GOVERNMENT. > tako care Dtrol. A stains the persons to winded on ly obvious lation and 'ho Deity takes care 3 it . The e next to y being is rst of all, or made, jcause he le fulness ein. For ilisJied it nade it."^ Accord- ule] that ill perish "Thou o receive reated all vience to st four of creation, iiiidod on »Jer. X. 11. £89 creation. God is worthy of power, he is entitled to it property of oodfeoafrtti' t,': , xr .ro''i verse but God ls property, because every k'n^ l,ut 0,„1 my nght ; but m relatiou to his fellow-c-eatrnvs ev^^ m telhgent, sentient and free being has rights. Fi,77f others, fts personal rights include life^imb and free r--hts"tr=:-r^^^^^^^ ohers consftute justice or righteousness the tversj of ths u injustice, uiu-ighteousness, or \„oJT^ As all rights are either personal ^r relate l/h? origmal or derived, so are all wrongs Th!' I ? wrongs we can either inflict or ^ff "*>*"" the per.n,-injury to si^ r bo, y"!! oltalltr '" r to tes""^r' """J ^^™'- ^^ ^^' s or purchased things, and ^ b^r^S^ '^^ ••if'-, Cv 240 GOVERNMENT. greatest of all crimes and wrongs is soul-pollution, and, therefore, the Tempter is the greatest criminal in the universe. Next to this is corporal-destruction, or mur- der ; and next to this is enslaving. Personal capabilities cannot avail us unless we are free ; and, therefore, the man-siealer, the man-keeper, the man-seller, the man- buyer, the man-owner, the man-enslaver, take rank with the greatest criminals in the universe, with Satan and the scarlet Harlot, because they trample on men's per- sonal rights, their highest rights, and because the want of freedom renders life and limb of little value and avail Tyranny or despotism, in all its forms and gradations, is Satanic wickedness, deepest and darkest maleficence, which no blackness can depict, which no language can strongly enough describe, which no estimate can exaggerate, and which cannot be hated and hunted down with too much earnestness and effort. Section III. — Proprietary curatorship is sitlier direct or representative. The only direct proprietary government in the universe is parental. God is the universal parent and proprietor, and, therefore, the rightful universal ruler. Human parents are the proprietary rulers of their children. As God is the owner, because the creator, of all things, so parents are the owners, because the procreators, of their children. As such, they have a natural and unquestion- able right to exercise domestic sovereignty. But besides divine and human parentage, there is no proprietary government, known to \xs, in the universe. Only God and human parents propagate intelligent existence. And this propagation is one of the highest aspects of humanity, and a part of that image of himself with which God invested man. GOVERNMENT. ution, and, aai in the Q, or mur- apabilities refore, the the man- rank with Satan and nen's par- cause the ittle vakie forms and id darkest which no LO estimate ad hunted Ifier direct le universe proprietor, Human Idrcii. As things, so •s, of their nquestion- lut besides )roprietary Only God 3nce. And humanity, tvhich God 241 All other rightful curatorship is indirect, and there- lore IS an agency, a stewardship or foctorship, a repre- sentative or delegated right. Parents often entrust a portion of their authority to others, to instruct and rule cheir children ; and only as thus entrusted can any onp be entitled to control the children of living parents bivil or ecclesiastical government is also an agency or representative function ; or else it is an imposition and a usurpation. Every actual government is necessarilv one of might or right, or a compound of the two It cannot, in the nature and relations of things, be anything else. Pretending to govern but not really governing not able to govern, is a mere show or sham, that can ehcitnothmg but contempt. Professing to govern and entitled to govern, but not really governing, is a dere- liction of duty, an omission of proper action, that deserves reprehension and dismissal. Claiming and attemptmg to govern, either without any right or beyond right, is an imposition and usurpation, a wrong- doing and despotism, that ought to arouse the strongest abhorrence, the most determined and decisive resistance Kightful rule over mankind, either as single or as social beings, over either an individual or a society of individuals, must be foumled on the consent of the person or party ruled, or on the appointment of God himself But on the latter foundation no fabric of human autho- rity can now be based, because no miracles are now wrought to attest it, no species of divine interposition is now vouchsafed to prove it, and no part of God's word accredits it. No individuals, after the apostles, are named in the bible as entitled to bear rule ; and no individuals, as has been shown, either did or could succeed the apostles. The general terms in which the bible sanctions and enforces government, both civU and ecclesiastical, must be taken either ahsolutely, on behalf 242 GOVERNMENT. r 1 <( ; of all government, or conditiorudly, on behalf of govern- ment by consent of the governed. To take it absolutely is to take it as a licence to all manner of oppression, slavery and misgovernment, tyranny and wrong ; and to take it thus is to misinterpret it, because it is to make the bible contradict both itself and the nature and relations of things, both the work of God and his explicit word. In harmony with itself and with man's unques- tionable nature and rights, the bible can be understood only as sanctioning rightful rule ; and what rightful rule is and in whom- vested, it behoves every man accurately and honestly to ascertain. The consent of the governed is the only rational, real and adequate foundation for any authority besides paren- tal. The very word, authority, denotes the source of governing power. Authority is what belongs to an author, the control of parental authorship or the trust of consenting authorship. Parents are authors and, accord- ingly, have authority over their children ; other rulers are factors, and receive authority from those who have natural and rightful control over themselves and their poasessions. No one can have any rightful authority in the church,' but by consent of the church ; or in the nation, but by consent of the nation ; or in the family, but by consent of the parents. The owners and occu- pants of a territory have a perfect right to create what- ever form of civil curatorship they prefer, to abolish or modify an old one, or to institute a new ; and the only limits to their rightful powers are inahenable individual rights. The members of a church have a perfec^ right to institute or modify an ecclesiastical curatorship ; and the only limits to their power are inalienable individual rights and the revealed will of the church's Head. Both in the church and in the nation, there is no source of visible and public power but the people ; he who rules in 1 t c a g r e n ?5 I of govern- absolutely )ppression, 'ong ; and 16 it is to lature and lis explicit .'s unques- [nderstood ^htful rule accurately onal, real des paren- source of igs to an le trust of d, accord- ler rulers ivho have md their thority in 3r in the e family, md occu- ite whfvt • ibolish or the only adividual ec'- right lip ; and idividual d. Both iource of > rules in GOVERNMENT. 243 a church, without the consent of the members, is a spiri- tual despot, an ecclesiastical tyrant and u urper an t^tzziz'iLT ': ^)' '^'- '^ ^ -t:3ho: me consent of ths temtonrj owners and occupants is a «v.l despot, a political tyrant and nsnrper a prStLl metempsychosis of Nimrod and Nero ^ to Ir^ "T°' '' ''°"' '■°™«' "■"' P™««J- Consent to a system of government, or to specific acts of covSn ment, or to specific holders of governing power mTv be" formally g,von, by voice or vote, with °„n1nimity ^ b„ ZZ P m general assemblies or by represemativ^ agents. Consent may, also, be given practicably as when a nafon contentedly inherits a form of politicat c^rlr A.p or quietly acquiesces in one. EnglLdh the nbe: ^ntn cfeBtury, has not formally consented o tl e BuHf Ryhts, to Magna Oharta, to the KoyaJ succession but she has consented practically, because she has contend mhented these things, and has forborne to use her 2v^ of abrogatmg or alterkg them. The United States o America, m this century, have not formally chosen th. ZTZT T™^™-*^ °f t''- revolutionis^;:nce: »d 'f„n ^ ^ 7 P^tically chosen them, though they h^ fu 1 power and authority to do otherwi*. The same d.stmcfon obtams in relation to ecclesiastical rmTJ"' wed as to cvd. Churches formally appomt office^' u th tir rr ■ r ''^^ p-^^Wacc^t the ^zc d« tIt, h""' "' ^. ""»«-»'« of theu- ;::. aecesso.. The latter method may easily be so enlarired an.d elaborated a^ to leave but little opporLity of c3e and, therefore, but little freedom. The noble t of S governments is self-government .n,l ;, i ? rightful as it is noLTtiTt ;i:a:s':: every a^oc,a.on should aspire and advance. "He Tat ':^^^Jt_^±;»heUe^a^h^t}^ taketh a city!- Ik }\\] Prov. xvi. 32. y2 244 GOVERNMENT. " All that believed were together, and had all things common." Churches and nations are at perfect liberty to make any change they please, in harmony with essen- tial individuality and divine authority, and to institute preliminaries and provisions accordingly. From the decisions of any society, acting representially, there is no appeal now but to the members themselves, to the collec- tive society, and no other appeal at all but to the judg- ment-seat of Christ. All non-parental authority is the result of co-operation ; it is the effect and fruit of society; the efflux and ci tion of some human partnership ; and to be righteously claimed and exercised, it must be, eitlier formally or practically, the representative agency, the created service^ of the persons associated. ! I Section IV. — TJie origin of government signifies either the origin of society or the oHgin of cura- lorship. Society itself is either a divine institution, or a human compact, or both together. The divine institution of society, among free beings, such as men, cannot mean their compulsory combination ; it means the creation of men with social aptitudes and tendencies, and the divine control of men by inspirational or providential means. Men themselves must freely combine to make an actual association ; and they do thus combine by marriage, by continued residence or emigration, and by ecclesiastical entrance. They cannot continue combined without some means and method of co-operation and common care ; and these are nothing but government. Government is co-operative and curatorial machinery, the substitutionary agency and action of society. Without it, a society cannot last. The members of a society cannot be all things ect liberty vith essen- 5 institute From the here is no the coUec- the judg- rity IS the of society; ship; and b be, eitlier jency, the GOVERNMENT. 245 signifies V of cura- * a human itution of mot mean ireation of the divine al means, an actual irriage, by ;lesiastica.l bout some Lion care ; ■rnment is itutionary a society :annot be tS • ^^! ■ ™''' *'"''*'"<'• 'hey must either be wholly ,„act.ve m the iutervak of convocation, or employ persons to act for them in such intervals. Tl ey mav be too numerous also, like the iuK-tbitants of a iaL terri! tory, to meet together; and, therefore, they nm.lZ ™rZ^ or representatively, ^ese' repLemativt may foi various reasons, confine themselves to the r a'Lrfrr'/V™-'' "" ^PP°'»' ^ ™^"" »«"'>'« td,?rf f . r'' *' ™ "8»" " '^ " P™<*ieal foun- to ul rr , ™""*" ">" '™'^ '''"«'■ ti'^y '^i^e anJ wh"ch fcvirTr r"'"*""'' *" p"'™-^ '™'' p^^-ions Which they legislatively grant. From the very nature and necessities of society, both government itself and the forms and gradations of just government arise; society Lthe aretimnwVh f , '"""""" J»™*''rial representa- tives of human society. There can be no rightful source llTlr" '"',*' "H'-"*'™ "f-iet/and s^d^ mdividual no,v to claim power and authority, in a societv b^ou^ r,gkt. The society itself ma, exist by dS nght and may operate by divhie law; but the recto"l opemtion itsel is nothing less or more than the JocSy acting for itself, taking care of itself, by one or n ' e ndividuals, a. a stewardship, a factorship, a service an SSed ''^'^'^»' fo.-mally'^^ practL^ appomted. The right divine of priests and princes of kings and constables, is an absurdity too palpable To be recognised and too mischievous to be'^endird iW "of ™:k::d. ""™*™' ■■""" '" '"« --" -" "«'* Civil government, for instance, must always have ori- g.nated .,s a pop.'., o-.ation, or apopulara^-eptanl " ¥8 246 GOVERNMENT. a popular enslavement. The people of the United States of America created their civil government, on their revolt against Great Britain ; and their successors accept the creation. The people of Great Britain, so far as they are represented in the legislature, have created several new aspects and principles of territorial raauage- nient. The Israelites accepted the divine laws from Sinai and the divinely-ap^'inted leaders. But the government of Nero and of many other tyrants was an enslavement of the people. The notion of a compact between rulers and people, as the origin of civil govern- ment, is fallacious in theory and false in history. A compact necessarily implies two parties, between whom the compact is made ; and, to ascend to the origin, we must not only reach the compact itself, but also the distinc- tion of the parties, and ascertain how such a distinction occurred. What is properly meant by the origin of civil government is not a compact between rulers and people, but the commencement of tlie distinction between rulers and people ; and this distinction, it is evident, the people themselves create, or accept, or slavishly endure. Ml Section V. — Summary. Every government, then, is either rightful or wrongful, or, in other words, a government of right or a govern- ment of might. The foundation of every rightful government is ownership ; and the form of every rightful government is direct or representative ownership Every direct proprietary government is parental, and is either divine or humf»ii. Every other rightful government is. one of trust or representation, either formally or prac- tically, by either proprietary creation or proprietary acceptance, or. in other words, by either popular choice le United nment, on successors n, so far as e created il mauage- iaws from But the its was an I compact il govern- story. A jen whom origin, we he distinc- iistinction in of civil id people, een rulers he people GOVERNMENT. 247 wrongful, I govem- rightful y rightful p Every is either ument is. or prac- oprietary w choice before tbet^Tl!^^^'"^" °^f^^« *" "'''■'' I'^'tioa designed to be mere subjects of ,w.„ T' *'''* merely to be goveraed and^f th! kT' "' "^ '' '"'"' qaiet subm Jon. But ",„alt to f !? ''"*' "^ "™ '* object of all sway, except^.! .'",'''' '''^.^''"'■'^^'^ »« «11 well a. be goven/ek, to^v t w' ool,X\':^"T "" and to .« governed b/ individuritaLwIflft''' subjection to divine government tl„ 1,: . ' " »tyle of „«„ is .self-giemment if all S T' "'"' inent denotes .re ■ tf all oarHs fltd't; ~ tl; ; oly'^TrZr '' *"™^ ^her'^inVru creation 0/ the ~ieo(T'^'''^'''' '' ^'"'^' *''« society in wbLf SaT i , , "'"P'" ™"'P°''°S ">« «m questiorctcemlglrrrti^r"''™"' ■ *"' *^ not respect the oa.S^TSe 1^™"™ ' ""^^ of the rule,, ,,,, ,L .;,,,.„/.,:,'■; :^-' -^^^^^^^^^^^ should not ask is the government u^efal, bu,t i rij, A^.-not ,s It good, but is it just! Th; i i "r'" ~"^- i^'^o. Oi uiiiity <>£i 248 GOVERNMENT. can never warrant or vindicate what Is unjust. " Is it not la^vful for me to do what I will with mine own ?'' The owners and occupants of a territory have a perfect right rfrtfo. rT'""'"'-.'^"^ P^^^^' ^^^ no man has a r^ht to subvert or assaU such government on the ground that It :s less useful than some other government He may endeavour, by reason and argument, to change the w 11 of the people themselves and thus, through them improve the government; but if he acts otherwise ifTe' assai s with violence the curatorial representation 'of the people and especially if he trample upon the people hemselves with armed bands, with military legionsand Zl ?fT ''T '"f " '"'"^ °^ ^^™-*' -d- ;re. ence of benefi ing them, or under any otner pretence he ^ a robber of rights, an enemy and oppressor of the peop e, A POLITICAL PIRATE, whom no words can suffi! ciently execrate, and against whom, as such, no opposi- tion can be too indignant, determined ani relentlesl Let men do what they will .vith their own. If hey M or err, the failure or error is theirs. In the field of thet ' own possessions and in the school of their own experiencT to none but God and subject to no control but his. What qualifies a man to rule is one thing, what constitutes him a ruler is another. Every claimant of social power is an impostor and a tyrant who cannot authenticate^ his claims by the miraculous attestation of God, or by the conspnt of the society in which he claims to govern Chnst IS the owner of the church, because he made it • and he rightfully rules it because it is his. The on ; rightful government in the church is the government of the head and the government of the body, the ec Lsi archa rule of Christ, and the ecclesiastic^ rule "t'h the churches themselves create or accept, in harmony " Is it not m?" The erfect right ^ ; and what man has a the ground nent. He 'bange the ugh them, ^vise, if he ion of the he people ?ions, and mder pre- etence, he or of the can suffi- opposi- relentless. they fail i of their perience, !ountable is. AVhat utes him ver is an is claims consent GOVERNMENT. 249 tion, an oppreLln .7 "" •■nposition, au innova- nade it ; 'he only nent of ecclesi- e which armony . ^i*. . I, i I 1'^ illf^ ST' ' ' I I CHAPTER II. ECCLESIARCHAL OPERATION. Our Lord Jesus Christ, as Ecclesiarch or King ol his chuioh, operates legislatively and administratively. As ecclesiastical legislator, he enacts the laws by which, his kingdom among men is governed and discriminated ; as ecclesiastical administrator, he conducts and controls the application and use of all the resources and possessions of his kingdom, in harmony with his lawa The legisla- tion is invisible in its source and overt in its form, or theo- pneustic^ in its origin and andricostic^ in its expression, in one comprehensive word, biblical ; the administration is invisible in its source and agency, ^s providential and pneuma! ' ..laf, ;md also overt or visible, as consisting in the events of r'r- evidence and the fruits of the Spirit. Strictly speakiii^^, thi communication of law is an administrative process, ar, I accordingly, legislation is the dictation of law, and administration the development. Law is dic- tated by Christ as the originator, owner and overseer of the church; and law is developed by Christ, in theo- pneustic influence, andricostic communication, ecclesiar- chal administration and ecclesiastical obedience. The first two of these means of development belong to the study of inspiration, but the resultant church-law belongs to the study of ecclesiography. » " All Scripture is theopneustic," " given by inspiration of God." • Andricostic, human, from avhpiKos. EC<:'T.ESIARCHAL OPERATION. 251 Section l^EccLe ^ar^'hal Legislation. \e^^n ''fi''^ ^'''''^' ^^^^^1«'' ^^»J registered in the col- to the ch„^ ;■ '"r "^'"P^^'*^^- -"^^ the bible, presents to the chuu-h two great aspects, or consists of two great e ements, a code of regal precepts to I.o recocnn..d and observed, and a message of regaUnstruction to f^™, and conun,n.cated. These are the church's creed and code. Notlnng can be taught as the truth of Christ, and Christ, but what IS contained in his wr.tte, i ■ and therefore, to allege any secret communica, . bS or any ,nward call of his Spirit, as an eccle. ..tical com ™on or command, is to add to his written will andTo Sod h Jc'.I 1 r'^'^- • ^ """ '^ "^^' ^- i-tance, that of 1 hun, or mwardly moved him, to the work of the mmiHUy, maybe to him a reason for offerincrhim- inga call to it; but it can be no reason to a church to reason that it is utterly unknown to the church it is a Tn ard'ooT ) • V' r'l ^^^" '''^' '^ ^^^-- th! nian and God, which nothing but a miracle can develop • and, consequently, such an alleged divine call or mission can give no man any authority to teach or to r^ile in the church of Christ, or in any other human society. It is taicism and folly to allege a divine call now, in this non-miraculous era, as a foundation or reason for ec le .siastical office and authority, and it is a sinful and mtt reprel^nsible attempt to add to the perfected reveladon The laws of Christ consist rather of general practical prmciples than of particular precepts ; Ld, acco'Ig ; th y trans use the heart, without oppressing the memfry,' and operate as vital influences, not mechanical means. MICROCOPY RESOIUTION TEST CHART lANSI and ISO TEST CHART No. 2) ■ 50 2.8 3.2 IT 1^ 2.5 2.2 2.0 1.8 ^ APPLIED IfVMGE IS"^ 165J Cast Men Street S%iS Rocliester, New York 14609 U' '■^= (716) 482 - OJOO- Ptione ^= (716) 288- 5989 -Fax 252 ECCLESIARCHAL OPERATION. J !., The great permeating practical principle of the church, as of the individual christian, is the law of love. " Let all your things be done with love." ^ Love is the noble impidse, the pure and pregnant source, of all christian excellence. The church should be governed by love of God, love of the brotherhood, love of our neighbour ; and from such love should spring continually the faithful conveyance of divine truth and the elicitation of divine power. It is not necessary now to trace the "ramified influence of this love, but as the spirit of ecclesiastical law to ascertain its general aspects; the specific aspects and the more particular precepts will be found distributed through the subdivisions of ecclesiastical operation. 1. The primary ecclesiarchal law is subjection to Christ, and the corresponding impulse or motive is loyal love. The law and the motive are thus indicated : " One is your master, Christ : " " the church is subject unto Christ : " " if ye love me, keep my commandments." The fear and love of Christ should prompt and charac- terize all ecclesiastical operations. The church can have no rightful power to frame or enforce any rule or regida- tion in opposition to Christ's supremacy, against his revealed will or without it, or to teach or maintain any doctrine additional or repugnant to the message which Christ himself has deposited in his house. The sove- reign authority of Christ prohibits and annuls all counter claims and pretensions. Our sovereign Lord must be obeyed and honoured, whoever may choose to contradict or question, or whatever may be the concomitant or consequent difficulty and risk. In all ecclesiastical cases, direct reference should be made to the words of Christ, to ascertain his will ; and no organization, ordinance or ■iSffii; 1 1 Cor. xvi. 14. f the church, lW of lovk Love is the source, ':)f all be governed , love of our g continually :he elicitation to trace the the spirit of aspects; the scepts will be ecclesiastical EJECTION TO or motive is LIS indicated : ch is subject mandments." and charac- rch can have lie or regula- against his naintaiu any issage which . The sove- Is all counter )rd must be ho contradict icomitant or lastical cases, ds of Christ, ordinance or ECCLESIARCHAI. OPEUaTIO.N-. 253 officer, is to be recog.uzed or respected that contravones bis rights and revelation. " If any man teach otherwise anu consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he is proud, knowing nothin<. but dotmg about questions and strifes of words, whereof Cometh envy, strife railings, evil surmises, perverse dis- putings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the d^aw^r/s"? '''' '"'^ '^ ^"'"""^ ■ '^^'" ^-^ -i^»- Love is an associatory emotion, for it comprehends the known associates of its direct and proper object We cannot love Christ, without loving all the known associ^ ations of Chnst, particularly tlie truth by which he sanctifies and sustains. To preserve, propagate and pro- mote the truth, with fervent love and zeal? is the gLt office and business of the church. Nothing that can guard the truth from corruption, that can elucidate its meamng, that can multiply and diffuse its accurate transcriptions and translations, its due rehearsal and exposition, and that can worthily promote its prevalence - should be neglected by the church of Christ 2. The second ecclesiarchal law is mutual subjection • and the corresponding impulse or motive is brotheri;/ love. The law is thus stated : "Yea, all of you be sub- f'^W's'^T'"''-" "«"^^«i"ing yourselves one to another. ^ The motive is thus stated: -A new com mandment I give unto you, that ye love one another : as I have loved you, that ye also love one another : by this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."^ "Be kindly affec-ioned one to another, with brotherly love."^ "Love a.s brethren •'•' ihe ru le and th e motive are thus combined : - By love, ' 1 Tim. vL 3—6. » 1 PeterTTs! s^^lTTsT TTZ ^77" ~ » Rom. zii. 10. « 1 & m. 8. *^"^° '"•• ^'' ^^■ H ?l[l 2.54 ECCLESIARCHAI. OPERATIOX. serve one another.^i This is the great law of ecclesias- tical reciprocity, founded on ecclesiastical .quality and loyalty, and is fraught with important and extended influence. Love to Christ binds the whole body to the head ; and mutual love, co-operating, binds tlie members to each other. The law of subserviency to Christ pre- cludes all just dispute about sovereignty in the church for it secures that sovereignty to Christ alone ; and the law of mutual subservience precludes all just dispute about priority or pre-eminence in the church, for it dis- allows such a position to any. Among scriptural church- men, none is first and none is last, none is greater or less, for all are equal. Just distinctions in the church are iiot original and gradational, but created and operational. Christians are members one of another, not one above another or one before another. He who claims more power in the church than belongs to others, unless he has received it from the church, and he who claims more power, as the gift of the church, than the church has given or can lawfully give, is an ecclesiastical impos- tor and usurper, whatever may be his real or apparent piety, ability or services, and whatever may be the grounds and historical antecedents of his claims. Mutual law involves the love of the church, agreeably to the precept—" Love the brotherhood." The service required of the christian, to hh fellow-christians collec- tively or individually, is purely ,tual and scrptural. (3nly as disciples of Christ in u.. church, are men to submit to each other and to serve .ach other, and only in conformity with the sovereign rights and regulations of the dmne head. How admirably this mutual sub- mission and service are adapted to promote union, peace and cordiality, must be evident at a glance. Where ' Gal. V. 13. ECCLESIARCHAL OPERATION. another, there can be no collision or conflict The d observance of this law woukl speedily realize th. . v s^p.tu.ofthepsaW:4owi::it:it^^^ sant It s for brethren to dwell together in unity !" ^ NF?S an'] II '''^'''^''^'^^ ^^'^ i« CHRISTIAN US.FUL- of W 7 7respon,ling in.pulse or motive consists or loyal love, hrotherly love, and neujhhonrh, love Th s law IS stated and reiterated with great cleai^T.: ar^empha^is : '^.et everything be done l^.^^^ another'' Tn^'^^l^^r '^^^^^-^ -e n.a^ Jif, o e fi :• f ^Y P^^PJ^^^ieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation and con fort "•* Anos ll prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers ar.; mte.. ed "for the edif^. .. the bo^ tf Q^t " Walk n. wisdom toward them .hat are wi ■'-■ Thou Shalt love thy neighbour as thy„elf :" '^ C^ lou and do likewise."" The second uJ .. ■ ^ ' ^'"''^ «.thout Eccles.ast,cal breliiren we are to serve «i,l, brotherlylove; eccle,,i.a.tical alie„,woareto serve a"L„o or a.s neighbour,., with neighbourly love ■ and a ie unknown or not neighbour, with byal loJe, Tn obe :„: o s„vere,g„ precept Our neighbours ar; not al nen as IS often supposeJ. but those who are nu,hLtT{ .«gto both Greek an.l Saxon .^r^'V^^':^: house ,., denoted by the word Ljt^i^^Z:^: terr,t„r,al vie.mty; ,x,™„» is from „■, ..^ar ; .^d each of these words is rendered « neighbour " 0,„. T i ^-™^Sood Samaritan l^i'^rteaeh: .tt^:^ « H z2 llp 256 ECCLESIARCHAI, OPERATIOX. »f I 'iU ' man is our neighbour who is near us, irrespectively of his national origin or party position. The wounded Jew and the journeying Samaritan were neighlwurs to each other, l)ecause they were near each other; and of all that saw the victim of injustice, the Samaritan alone was the consistent neighbour, because he alone performed a neighbour's part. We cannot love as ourselves, we cannot love at all, one who is not near us, or whom we do not know ; but while brotherly love constrains us to benefit the brotherhood, neighboiirly love to benefit the neighbourhood, the love of Christ should constrain us to benefit the woridhood. The universal promulgation of the gospel does not sprin^^ from the love of our neighbour, but from the love of our Saviour. The world needs the gospel, the church is charged to supply that need ; and, therefore, the great business of the church is u.sefulne,ss to the world. The spirit of christian usefulness will produce true courtesy and kindness and generous self-denial. " Love worketh no ill to his neighbour : " " Let every one of u.s please his neighbour, for his good, to edification." ^ " All things are lawful for me, but all things edify not"^ What is lawful for us to do, what Ave have a peifect private right to do, may yet be of doubtful and dangerous social tendency, and should, therefore, Ik) foregone. For the sake of usefulness we may not violate the rights of others, but we may relinquish some of our own. Private inter- ests must often give way to public good, else love of country, love of christians and love of Christ are mere empty sounds. "For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, the reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me."^ So Paul would forego for ever his right to eat flesh, if the use of such a right made his brother offend ; because to act otherwise were ' Rom. xiii. 10; xv. 2. * 1 Cor. X. 23. ^ Rom. XV. 3. ECCLESIARCHAL OPERATIOX. 2.>7 Horn, XV. 3. to sm against the brethren, and wound their weak con- sciences and, consequently, to sin against Christ.' Even ^Ine^'ht T. T' '■' '"'-^^""^^ ^^^ ministration TcTv U- P"^'^^'^*^«" ^f the go.spel of the ^^•aee o bod. His own apostoHcal authority, he tells u..; and or nr -^ '" t'^ ecclesiastical authoH , was give, br edification and not for destruction.^ Accordingly, wh le he was sohcito^is, on the one hand, that the ince«: offender should be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus ^ Ihus did he endeavour to harmonize his rights and duties, his love ox- Christ and the church with hi^ love of souls adapting all his authority and gifts to the proper pur^ pose, and furnishing a model of conduct to all churches and churchmen^ in every age and place. The en)serve military ends, so proper order subserves the * 1 Cor. xiv. 32, 33. " 1 Thess. V. 12— H. Col. ECCLESIARCHAL OPERATION. 259 usefulness of the church and the pleasure of her glorious First of all, the head of the church decrees ecclesias- tical subjectiox, both suhovdimde to himself and co-ordinate among church-members; secondly eccle- siastical BEXEFiCENCE, to both cJmrch-cHizms and ckurch-alieas, whether the latter be near or far • and thirdly, ECCLESIASTICAL ECONOMY, including decency or good taste, and ovder, or good method. The source of all hese laws is Christ, "the blessed and only Potentate " of the church ; the subject of all the.se laws is the church it^lf, the body of Christ, not the mere clergy or officers of the church, for Paul says " to the church of God which 18 at Cormth . . with all that in every place call upon he name of Jesus Christ our Lord "-"Now ye are the body of Christ and members in particular ;"i the sense ot all these laws is most clear and comprehensive ; and the spirit of aU these laws is love, love to Christ, love to the brethren, and love to our neighbours. The church is not without law to GoVpse, Christ appeared, walking "in the midst of the candlesticks," resident and regnant among the cliurches; and described himself oh having "the key of DavKl," the control of the house by the command of the key, and, therefore, as "he that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth." He rec^ally resides m his house, checked or controlled by no other power whatever. Whoever obtrudes himself into Christ's house, except as an occupant according to the law of the house and whoever, in Christ's house, dares to deviate trom Chnst's own law of admission and exclusion must not only foil in his attempt to injure the house, but must himself suffer the penalty of his misconduct. Nothing can be more cheering to the churches, large and small than the assurance pf Christ's constont and gracious presence : " Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Respectino- a foul offender, Paul says to the Corinthian church— '^In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and ray spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to df-^'-^er such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the Itsh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." ■• The a.s.sembled church is thus directed to act in the name and with the presence n MCor. iilie, 17. SEpIuii. 22. => i Peter iv. 14. M Cor. v. 4, 5. 202 ECCLKSIAHCIIAL OPERATION. ana power of its hcul ; an-l with tho .spirit of the .-postle »>ocau.se unu.she.l with las iuHpinitiunal an.l authoritative written directiona 2. Christ couxoscEs the chi.rcli. He constantly observes h.schnrch,.s an.l knows everything respecting them. To the church m Kphesus he s,iys-" I know thy works, an.l thy labo.irs, an.l thy ixiti.nice, and how thou canst not bear them w!,ich are evil."' To th.. church in Smyrna he says-" I know thy works, and tribuhition, and poverty (but thou art rich,) and I know the bhusijhemy of them wliich say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan."^ To the church in Perganios he .say.'^" I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even wher- Satan's seat ia"^ To the church in Thyatira he says-" I know chy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and patience, and thy works ; and the last to be more than the first." ^ To the church in Sarclis he says-" I know thy works, that thou luist a name that tliou livest, and art dead."^ To the church ni Plnladelphia he says-" I know thy works '"^ And to the church of the Laodiceans he writes—" I kiiowthy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot "^ Hence it appears that the whole character, condition and circumstances of the churches are known to Christ, and that nothing can be concealed from his eyes of flame How alarming is this to untaithful churches; and how cheering to the faithful ! 3. Christ PRESERVES the church. It is at once the truit and the instrument of his continuous sway He promised that the gates of hell should not prevail against It, and that he would be with it always; and the unbroken continuity and unimpaired vitality of the cliurch, after » liev. ii. 2. » Rev ih 9. 3 r . jj ,3. . j,^^ .. ^^ , •Rev. ui. 8. 7Kev. iii. 15. f the ."postlo, autlioritativo 3 constantly g respecting ' I know thy i the churches, to whom it naturally belongs. There is not a single sentence of the New Testament that teaches the doctrme of a direct divine call to the christian minis- try, in post-apostolic times. The formative officers of the church the apostles, were directly and individually chosen of Christ; but the consecutive functionaries are not so chosen. Christ created the church ; and the v^rl '^"^ subserviency to Christ, creates the ministry When Paul tells the Ephesian elders that the Holy Orhost had made them overseers of the flock, he simplv asserts a fact, but not the modus operandi or manner ot the Spu-it s agency, which, therefore, we must gather from other passages. Parallel passages are those relating to the confession of Christ and to the origin of civil government. ^^ "No n-^n can call Jesus Lord but by the ±loly Ghost, becau^. every man is indebted for all his knowledge of Christ to the recorded revelations of the Holy Ghost, and because he can perform no accept- able worship or service but by the help of the Holy Uhost. No man can truly call Jesus Lord but by the revealmg and regenerating Spirit. And so no man can be an overseer of the church but by the Holy Ghost that created and continued the church, that has revealed Christ s legislation for the institution of overseers in the church, and that conducts Christ's administration for morally qualifying men to act as overseers in the church It Pauls words mean more than this, they mean an operation of the Spirit peculiar to apostolic times, which can be no precedent and rule to us. Because the Holy Ghost created and continues the church, he is the maker of Its officers and agents; just as the civH powers are said to be ; ordained of God," because civil association is Gods ordinance. The language respecting the divine ongm and ordination of civU rulers is, if there be any 2 a iii 266 ECJCLESIARCHAL OPERATION, difference, much stronger than the language relating to the appointment of church elders ; and it is a perversiop of biblical language, in either case, to quote it in support of a direct divine call. The right divine of clergymen is parallel to the right divine of kings. As reconcileable as j)opular civil rights and the popular origin of civil power are with the divine sovereignty and the divine origin of civil government, so reconcileable are popular ecclesias- tical rights and the ecclesia.stical creation of the ministry with the sovereignty of the Holy Ghost and his institu- tion of elders in Ephesus. God ordains civil rulers because he ordains the civil society that appoints or accepts them ; and the Holy Ghost makes elders because he makes the church that makes them. In neither church nor state is there a direct divine call, a call of individuals, to office and authority. No one is a rightful political ruler, unless he is aiDpoiuted or accepted as such by the territory or nation in which he rules ; in other words, unless ho is formally or practically elected by the people. And no one is a rightful spiritual ruler, unless he is appointed or accepted as such, unless he is formally or practically elected as such, by the people of the spiritual society or church in which he ministers. He has no power but what they give, and only while they give it. There can be no greater absurdity, no greater fanaticism and folly, than to make an alleged secret divine call the ground and reason of a public office, of a tutorial and governing function, in a church. To render a divine call thus broad and obligatory, it should be correlative and complete ; it should be at once to an individual to teach and rule, and to a church or churches to be taught and ruled by him. But no such double call has any sanction in Scripture or any actual recognition in the churches. The dogma of a partial divine call, a call to rule but not to be ruled, can be accounted for only by tracing it to gross igno- ;e relating to a perversiop it in support clergymen is ioncileable as f civil power ine origin of lar ecclesias- the ministry 1 his institu- civil rulers appoints or klers because either church f individuals, itful political i such by the other words, y the people. unless he is is formally or ' the spiritual He has no they give it. er fanaticism ivine call the tutorial and a divine call rrelative and lual to teach 3 taught and ly sanction in urches. The but not to be to gross igno- ECCLESIARCHAL OPERATIOX. 267 ranee, u fanatical folly, or to the pride and ambition of cierica. c ste; and, m any method of accounting for it. the st"...m ha^ all the feculence of its source, the off- sprmg IS the worthy likeness of its parent. In the selection and appointment of christian minis- ters, as m the various events of every christian's life especially the more important events, we ought to recoa! nize a sacred pneuma and a special providence. " It Is Ood that worketh in us, of his own good pleasure, to wil and to do.;' " The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, m fulfilment of his precept and promise- In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he will direct thy paths. The Spirit and Providence of God are doubtless concerned in the deliberations and decisions of tlie e lectmg church and of the consenting elected person. Ihe divine agency is not miraculous, but moral and pro- vidential ; not analogous to the election of apostles, but to the guidapce of all true christians ; not such as to be an infallibly-ascertained rule of action or a formal ground of office and authority, but an important and encouraging means, to both parties, of deliberate and prudent christian choice. These distinctions well serve to Illustrate our Lord's command : "Pray ye, therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers mto his harvest."^ And they accord with Pauls language, in charging Archippus to "take heed to the mimstry which he liad received in (.., not frmn) the Lord, '•- and in describing differently his own minis- try as that which he had received of {^apa, not merely ill) the Lord Jesus." ^ -^ The operation of Christ, therefore, in furnishing his church with ministers, is both legislative and adntinis- trative. It is his law that his church should operate by il' ^ Matt. ix. 3S. * Col. iv. 17. ^ Acts XX. 24. 2 A 2 - *«., 268 ECCLESIARCHAL OPERATION. appropriate order and agency. And it is the aim and achievement of his a/1 ministration to promote the fulfil- ment of this law. Tliis administration is both pneuma- tical and providential. By his Spirit, he secretly influ- ences his faithful churches and faithful servants, in the bestowal and acceptance of office. And by his provi- dence, he brings churches and individuals, who are fit for each other, together, and guides them both in the formation of the proper relations. 5. Christ RECTiFiEis the church. He does this by extinguishing some corrupt churches and by reformin;.,^ others. It depends on his own sovereign wisdom an t will how far a church may degenerate, and how long ?t may continue degenerate, without destruction ; but that destruction is the doom of incorrigible churches is clearly taught in the New Testament. Christ to the church in Ephesus says — "Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen ; and repent, and do the first works ; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove tVy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent."^ To the church in Sardis he says — " Remember, therefore, how thou hast received and heard ; and hold fast and repent. If, therefore, thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief ; and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee."^ Babylon, the symbol and t3^e of incorrigibly corrupt churches, is doomed to be " utterly burned with fire : for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her."^ As a tree is purified or pruned by the excision of dead or incurably decayed branches, so the church of Christ is rectified by the destruction of dege- nerate and offensive churches. Ihe Jewish tree wrs hewn down with the Roman axe ; and the fallen churchc :; of Asia and Africa were wasted and destroyed by the Mohammedan sword. » Rey. ii. 5. " Rev. iii. 3. * Rev. xviii. 8. the aim and )te th9 fulfil- )oth pneuma- iecretly influ- rvants, in the by his provi- , who are fit both in the ioes this by by reformini,^ I wisdom an I 1 how long ?t on ; but that ihes is clearly the church in from whence r^t Avorks ; or 1 remove tty •epent."^ To )er, therefore, hold fast and I, I will come )w what hour ibol and t3rpe o be " utterly rd God who )runed by the inches, so the ition of dege- rish tree wrs illen churchc :; ;royed by the sviii. 8. ECCLESIARCHAL OPERATION. 269 leformation and improvement are his own word and fepirit his providential chastisements, and, as warnings, Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washii'i. of water by the word ; that he might present it to hintself a glorious church, not having spot or wTinkle or any blemish To the church in Pergamos he says- wm n ' "' ^^^^/^" ^<^^»e unto thee quickly, and will fight against them [the Nicolaitanes] with the sword of my mouth,- the word of God. To the church of the Laodiceans he says-" As many as I love I rebuke and chasten : be zealous, therefore, and repent."^ And to the church m Thyatira he says, of Jezebel-" Behold I AVI 1 cast her into a bed, and them that commit adulte'ry with her into great tribulation, unless thev repent of anr«1lt f 'i'"'i'^^^ ^^^ ^™-" with 'death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts; and I AviU give unto every one of you according to your works."" Jezebel onginally the name of Ahab's Avife, who introduced addi^ tional Idolatry into Israel, and nourished four hundred heathen prophets, is a symbolical apocalyptical name. It probably denotes a corrupt religious party. That it denotes religion of some kind or form' is evident from he fact that Jezebel called herself a prophetess; and hat Jezebel was not a mere individual, is evident from eIth^!"p^•l^^'"^^^"^ ^^^" ^^^ h^r ^l^ilJren .vith cteath. Children are imitators and followers ; and it I'll Su''''* '''"°''"*' ^^^'-'^S, that Christ threatens to i^m. 1 he constant apocalyptic symbol of true and false l\ ' Eph. V. 25—27. ^ Rev. ii. 16. * Rev. ii. 22, 29, ' Rev. iii. 19. 2a3 lii 270 ECCLESIARCIIAL OPERATION. societies is a woman. The true church is the bride, the Lamb's wife ; apostate churches are the scarlet harlot that sitteth upon many waters. So Jezebel is a corrvipt religious party, answering to its prototype, Ahab's wife, by whom Israel of old was con'uptod and misled. This party sought to seduce the christians of Thyatira into idolatry — " to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols." Idolatry was a complicated and prolific evil, involving many sins in itself, and drawin;.; others in its train, of which fornication was one, as well SIS a symbol of the whole. Chastisement was to be given to the Thyatiran seducers ; destruction was threatened, in case of impenitence ; and the grand result was to be the instruction and benefit of "all the churches." 6. Christ succeeds the church. It is the instrument of his power, and is absolutely and ceaselessly dependent on him. He operates, by his Sjnrit, in its convocations and ministrations. The church is not only to wield " the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God," but to pray always, with all prayer and supplication, "in the Spirit," by whom the requisite strength is given. The same Spirit of the living God that, by the apostles, wrote the primitive living epistles, " in fleshy tables of the lieart," repeats and multiplies such epistles, by the chiu-ch, from age to age. Now, as formerly, the souls of men are purified " through the Spirit in obeying the tr^th." Salvation is always "through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth," and both the church of • Christ and individual man are always dependent on Christ for his Spirit's purifying power. The Spirit is Christ's own gift, which he pours forth, as the glorious fruit of his svscension and ecclesiastical installation, in fulfilm.ent of his promise, and for the efficiency of his own truth. The symbolic stars are in the Ecclesiarch's hand ; the weapon that conquers and converts the world proceeds from his ECCLESIARCHAL OPERATION. 271 ;he bride, tho icarlet harlot I is a corrupt Ahab's wife, nisled. This rhyatira into 3 eat things iplicated ami and drawing- one, as well IS to be given threatened, in was to be the I. le instrument 3ly dependent convocations to wield " the God," but to tion, "in the given. The postles, wrote tables of the sties, by the y, the souls of 1 obeying the notification of I the church of dent on Christ irit is Christ's )us fruit of his fulfilment of n truth. The 1 ; the weapon seeds from his mouth ; he has the seven spirits of God, and by him the candlesticks are created, furnished, arranged, maintaimd and multiplied. He formed the vehicle, entrusted it with his truth, and enables it to diffuse tlio truth with fidelity and effect. By his Spirit he presides in his assembled churches, to control and succeed their delibe- rations and deeds, accordmg to his comprehensive promise that where two or three are gathered in his name he himself is in the midst. By his Spirit he accompanies the messengers of truth and mercy always, even unto the end of the worid. His providence prepares the way oi' his church and opens doors of usefulness for its agents and messengers. So a great door and effectual was opened to Paul ; i and so, before the church in Phila- delphia, an open door was set, which no man could shut.- The church enters such doors and cultivates, with zeal and success, the accessible regions beyond, because Christ himself animates the church, goes with ihe messengers, and succeeds the means and ministrations. "God giveth the increase." 3 " Not by might or by power, but mv Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts."'' " Therefore, my beloved bretl.ren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always aboundin;. in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that youl labour is not in vain in the Lord." ^ 7. Christ HONOURS the church. He gave himself foj it, to make it " a glorious church." To the faithfui but juvenile church of Philadelphia he says—" Behold, I wilj make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews and are not, but do lie ; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that T have loved thee."« " The New Jerusalem is "a great city," " prepared as a bride adorned for her hus- band," " having' tliegbry of God," "and a wall great and 1 1 Cor. xvi. 9. » Rev. iii. 8. > 1 Cor. iii. 7. ■• Zech iv 6 ~ fill I! IV: 272 ECCLESIARCHAL OPERATION. gold 'nil high." The wall is jasper and the city itself pure ^ the twelve foundations are garnished with all mann'er of precious stones ; the twelve gates are pearls and the street is gold ; the Lamb, not revolving sun and waning moon, is its light ; and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. God himself has magni- fied it, and the greatest of men occupy and honour it. Goodness is the highest greatness ; the highest goodness IS the beneficent imitation of God, for " he that doeth good is of God ;"i and the church of Christ is great, because it is the dwelling-place of the Deity, the depot of his truth, the social instrument and development of his highest designs and most glorious manifestations. The ecclesiastical Jerusalem is new, free, great, holy, heavenly, and the city of the living God."^ " No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper ; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou Shalt condemn. This is the heritage of tlie servants of tiie Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord."3 "The Lord saith . . . them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed."* ^ 3 John 11. j* Rev. xxi. 2, 10; Gal. iv. 26 ; Heb. xii. 22. Isaiah liv. 17. ■• 1 Saiu. ii. 30. pure gold ; manner of 'Is and tlie and waninsr :h do bring has magni- 1 honour it. rt goodness that doeth St is great, the depot ilopment of lifestations. freat, holy, S"o weapon and every fnent thou servants of saith the lat honour e shall be . xii. 22. CHAPTER Iir. ECCLESIA.STICAL OPERATION. The church operates, or ought to operate, according to Its nature, origin and relations; as Christian and locr 1 human s(3ciety ; as the vehicle of divine truth and the eliciter of divine power ; as the body or social living nistrument of Christ, in subservience to its originating and controlling head, and therefore in exact confonnit v to his WTitten laws and in due regard to his pneumaticiil and providential sway. Ecclesiastical operation, which comprehends ecclesias- tical polity, is a web which cannot be disentangled, a labyrinth that can never he threaded, except with a single or local church, as the point of departure and the line'^of progressive inquiry, and with scripture only, as the suili- cient and infallible guide. The controversies between episcopalians, presbyterians and independents have filled the air with clouds of dust and fogs of prejudice ; and our only method of escape is to climb the hill of revealed truth, which " midway leaves the storm," and upon whose glorious summit "eternal sunshine settles." Aids to biblical interpretation should be thankfully but inde- pendently consulted, while practical rivals of biblicfii truth, such as elaborate sectarian theories and imrty pre- tensions, should be quietly discarded. The inquiry is net what is old but what is true ; not what is customary but >r.\ '; . y lirl I 274 ECCLESIASTICAL OPERATION. i what is canonical ; not what clmrches say but what Christ himself says. And just as all social science presupposes individual, so all comprehensive churchism presupposes particular churchism. To know man generally we must know man particularly. To know men we must know a man, we must begin with an hulividual of the human species, and we must never lose sight of an individual specimen. We may multiply but not disuse individual specimens. And to understand what the church is, how it began, how it is related, and how it operates, we must commence and continue our inquiries with particular or local churchism. It is thus that Christ teaches us in his word. He tells us of the church at Jerusalem, at Corinth and at other places ; and it is by the study of such eccle- siastical particulars that we are to prepare for ecclesias- tical induction and generalizatioi . The operation of the church comprehends the nature OF the avork which is to be performed, the mode of DOING IT, and THE operative results ; or, in other words, material, modal, and resultant operation. The material operation, or the work itself, consists of the duties which spring from the surbordinate relations of a church to its head, from co-ordinate relations to other churches, and from extra-ordinate relations to the world. The modal operation consists of the original, the organical, and the local action of a church. And the resultant operation is the expansion of a church into the symmetry and size, the vigour and fertility, that achieve and embody the design and will of the Great Ecclesiarch. Section L— Material operation. 1. Towards Christ, or subordinateb.^ a church should operate executively, not legislatively. The first relation of a church and, therefore, its first duties are what Christ presupposes presupposes lly we must lust know a the human 1 individual Q individual ch is, how it 5s, we must articular or es us in his , at Corinth :' such eccle- 3r ecclesias- HE NATURE 3 MODE OF r, in other ,tion. The ists of the lations of a as to other the world. e organical, e resultant ! symmetry nd embody rch should The first duties are ECCLESIASTICAL OPERATIOX. 275 towards Christ, because he is the church's creator and ^: )^\'^""<^* P'-^F^'-ly and accurately ascertain what a church is to do towards men, till we have ascer- tained Its ;vHpect and operation towards God. Guided by the usual distinction of social action or of government, as both legislative and administrative, the first inouirv obvioasly ,s whether both these or one only, and if onlv one which, belongs to a church. Upon the solution of this question the tenor of the whole remaining incmiry very greatly depends. If a church be clothe,! with legislative power, the field of its operation is exceedin.dy wide ; if with executive power only, the field is bSth restricted and defined by the sole supreme legislation and m this case we have only to a.sk what the lawjriver enjoins and allows. The word law, so variously expounded and used really signifies either method of action or indication of rectoral desire. Voluntary rules or modes of action, and the methods of nature's action or of natural chano-e exemplify the first signification ; and the oral or written expressions of the desire of parents or of civil rulers exemplify the second. A law of nature is simply a method of natural change. A voluntary rule of life is merely a method of free action. But the law of a ruler IS the indication of his desire. The law of God is the mdication of his rectoral desire. Parental law is the indication of parental desire. Civil law is the indication of civil society's desire or of the desire of civil rulers Whether the government be one of right or mi^^ht be just or unjust, the nature of law, in its governmental sense, is the same. What a ruler enacts, commands or legislatively requires, is the expression of what he desires his subjects to do. Law, therefore, has both a govern- mental sense and a merely methodical sense. It is with the first sense only we are now concerned. And in this i II :.fr T i ii'^ l! I SI * 1 11 i.i 276 ECCLEHIAHTICAL OPERATION. 801186, law is of prime importance. The hij^hest kind of jy»»vernment is legislation ; it is the first form and the formsil founfain of all government. The right or power of legislation comprehends or implies the right or power ol government in /ill its forms and stagea It carmot be denied or questioned that Ci.rist himself i.s the eccle;siarchal lawgiver. As the originator, owner and overso*""" ^f the church, as " head over all things to the church," li*; has, miquestionably, the right and power to legislate. And it canncjt be denied that he has exercised his legislative rights and embodied his laws in tiie bible. The first of these laws to his church, as has been shown, '3 the law of subjection to himself. As Christ himself is the fountain of all ecclesiastical p(nver, as "all power in heaven and earth is given to hin, " die church can have no rightful power but what Christ confers ; and the exercise of legislative power in a church, without his warrant, is a gross assumption and a flagrant iuh'ingement of his prerogative. Where, in his word, has Christ authorized his church to make laws ? Nowhere. The law of the church is not an ecclesiastical law, but a " royal law." " There is one lawgiver " and only one, rightfully, among churchmen. There is one authoritative and allowable law in the church and only one, the written will of Christ. No other law is needed, ioY this is clear and comprehensive. No other law is valid or permissible, for the Ecclesiarch allows no other. The church is the body of Christ, to which none but the Head is entitled to dictate. " One is your master, Christ," who alone makes laws for his spiritual house ; " and all ye are brethren," not lawgivers or lords. There was in Judaism no human legislation, because Gad was the sole legislator and boc:iuse he gave ample written laws. And so there is no bu'^ion legisla< or in the Ecclesiasm, because the Ei U'siiirjii does not sanction est kind of rm and the it or power it or jwwer .rist himself lator, owner 11 thin«^H to band power lilt he has his laws in Lirch, as has imself. As ical power, } hin;," the ifliat Christ in a church, i a flagrant I his word, ake laws ? cclesiastical j^iver " and lere is one ?h and only • is needed, ther law is vs no other. Dne but the ur master, ual house ; or lords. )n, because gave ample gisla< or in lot sanction ECCLESIASTICAL OPKRATION. 277 ire eltl'"??' !*'' ''''"''' '""^ ^"P^''" ''^^^^ ^'^ P'^r-^t., a e entitled to give .w« to their chUd. u and citizens to nr country because they are proprietors and because Oo i has not furm.shed mankind with domestic and national law. Rut the /v -lesiarch's legislation i ft>r the church as for tho individual believer. The sole function of the church, in relation to Christ, is sul.erv^^ tnrTTr' and nothing is left to 'the ded^lb:, churches but matters of executive ostles, which lonnection of * 1 Cor. xi. 16. ECCLESIASTICAL OPERATION. 279 local churches haa ever been divinely-instituted or divmely-authorised. As subordinate and executive a church IS related to Christ ; and as co-ordinate and 'co- equal. It is related to all other churches. Towards Christ a church should operate subserviently ; towards all other churches, it should operate fraternally. A church should operate with fraternal /reec^om. To operate freely is to operate singly and independently. The word church (ecclesia), in scripture, denotes either the totabty of christian societies or a single christian society ; and, accordingly, our choice lies between an ab- solute federation of churches, and the particular freedom and mdependence of churches, between the co-organiza- tion of all churches and the autocracy of each The orgamc axjtion of the whole church, throughout its whole range and duration, is of course impossible. Co-existence IS essential to complete organization ; but the church in Its totality, is not co-existent " Part of his host has crossed the flood, and part is crossing now." Even i universal federation of existing local churches is either utterly impossible or too difficult to comport with the simplicity, elasticity and catholic adaptation of Chris- tianity. Neither the constitution of man himself nor the structure of his present planetary abode admits of a world-wide dominant or dictatorial federation The dream of universal empire has never been realized by man and never can be, either secularly or spiritually Local mterests and attachments, and the essential indi- viduality of man, wUl always resist a universal empire • and the barriers and demarcations of mountain chains' oceans, and desert wastes, wUl always obstruct such an' empu-e, however wonderfully scientiiic art may mould and wield the energies of nature. The enactment an.I admimstration of laws by the whole world's central- ized newer, howpv^ar +^nf *- i ■ i --, ,..,,!:. ^,y^i ^^^.j^y ijQ created and 2 B 2 III I It 1% 280 ECCLESIASTICAL OPERATION. if I'M. 1 ! i i !• constituted, is neither convenient nor allowable. It is not convenient, for it involves too much waste of time and strength and material, in collecting the world's repre- sentatives, in conducting the world's legislation, and in administering, by communication and enforcement, the world's decrees. And it is not allowable, because it is utteriy unfriendly to the rights and liberties of mankind. Such a govermnent, like all great centralized powers, would be sure to develop the evils and infirmities of lapsed humanity, in oppression and corruption, and would extinguish, in detail, all attempts at counteraction and cure, by employing its acquiescent forces to destroy the remonstrant. Its very universality would cut off, from the oppressed, all refuge and retreat. The undue growtli of power, as respects width or intensity, always produces abuse ; abuse of power always provokes resistance and precedes defeat ; and hence, the undue centralization and increase of power invariably precede and promote their own overthrow. Powers weaken as they widen. The concentration of power, in its depositories, with the diffusion of power, over multiplying and expanding sub- jects, cannot long and safely pertain to man ; their abolition is simply a question of time and manner. And as civilization and religion advance and spread, and as the intercommunion of nations and races becomes facili- tated and strengthened, the time of abolishing tyranny becomes shortened, the manner simplified, and the abo- lition itself assured. A universal ecclesiastical federation, then, a catholic chiu-ch organization, is altogether inexpedient and imprac- ticable. It would be, if practicable, the most hideous and mischievous despotism the world has ever seen, because it would be the slavery of souls and because, by the alleged* authority of God for its acts, it would pre- clude all appeal and effectually stifle all means and ECCLESIASTICAL OPEKATION. 281 ble. It is not 1 of time and world's repre- atjon, and in rcement, the because it is 5 of mankind. lized powers, infirmities of >n, and would teraction and ) destroy the cut off, from indue growth 'ays produces ;sistance and centralization and promote they widen, 'ies, with the panding sub- man ; their anner. And )read, and as jcomes facili- aing tyranny and the abo- n, a cathohe 1 and imprac- nost hideous i ever seen, because, by ; would pre- means and methods of counteractioa It would be a universal inqui- sition, a universal ecclesiastical despotism and dungeon. Every approximation to such dommion exemplifies ahd proves these views. For the same reasons, spiritual despotism, in all its forms and stages, is the most bale- ful. It seizes the soul, the source of action, and stupifies, fetters and freezes it. It claims the sanction of conscience and divinity, and thus cuts off all remedy and converts its own cruelty into ostensible excellence. Against no sort of assumption and ambition should the world so anxiously watch as against spiritual, ecclesiastical, sacer- dotal, clerical. It is Satan transformed into an angel of light It is the red-hot iron chain of Pandemonium, wrought perhaps into forms of exquisite beauty, gilt and burnished. It is the most deadly poison, though bottled and labelled as elixir, and redolent as the choicest per- fume. The same practical and fatal objections lie against any dominant ecclesiastical federation, less than universal and more than local. On what principle should it be circumscribed and defined ? The relation of the church to the nation forbids and condemns the circumscription of an ecclesiastical alliance, according to political bounda- ries. The spiritual is not to be made conformable and coincident with the secular. Nor is the church to be moulded and organized according to the great divisions and distinctions of the globe. The New Testament furnishes no principle for either the circumscription or Catholicism of ecclesiastical legislatures, and no warrant for their existence at all. The convocation of apostles, elders and brethren, at Jerusalem, belonged to the for- mative era of the church and can be no model for con- secutive eras ; it derived all its authority from the pre- sence and participation of inspired men, or rather, from the Spirit of Christ speaking through them ; and it can 2 b3 i i: ■v.*^*«**'*«>*«- 282 ECCLESIASTICAL OPERATION. ' be no precedent and parallel for uninspired and post- apostolical assemblies and agents. Denuding the church of its unwarrantable legislative powers, it is natural to ask— What has an authoritative federation or an elaborate organization of churches to do ? No power to legislate is no power to dictate, and is, in fact, no power to do anything but obey. The right of ecclesiastical legislation once disallowed and disproved, all authoritative church confederacies vanish into thni air or appear in the deformity of assumption and impo- sition. To teach and pray are the business of every church ; no ecclesiastical dictation of this business is either necessary or allowable ; and, therefore, no autho- ritative organization of churches is scriptural. The ques- tion is not what the apostles or their special assistants did, but what the churches themselves are authorized to do. The church at Rome had no right of interference with the church at Corinth, and vice versa ; until the mystery of iniquity bega,n to work, until ecclesiastical ambition and assumption began then- course, until " the man of sin " began to seat himself in the temple of God, the house or church of the living God, showing and exalting himself, as if he were God. This man of sin is the symbol of all ecclesiastical usurpations, dominations, tlictations, proud prelacies and paparchies. There can be no appellate court without legislative power to create it ; the churches have no such power ; and Christ, the legislator, has created no such court. Nothing like appeal from the adjudication of a church is even hinted at in the New Testament, in the most indirect manner, but the reverse. If an offending brother will not hear our own remonstrance oi* the remonstrance of one or two more, we are to tell the matter to the church to which both parties belong ; and, if he will not hear the church, he must cease to be a member of it ; he must d and post- ^e legislative luthoritative irches to do ? te, and is, in rhe right of i disproved, >h into thni D and impo- iss of every business is 3, no autho- The ques- al assistants ithorized to interference t ; until the jcclesiastical , until " the iple of God, lowing and an of sin is iominations, 'here can be r to create Christ, the othing like even hinted 3ct manner, U not hear 3 of one or ! church to ot hear the t ; he must ECCLESIASTICAL OPERATION. 283 become " a heathen and a publican," instead of a broth r and fellow-citizen. From the judgment of the church at Cormth, there was no appeal to the judgment of the church at Ephesus or Antioch. Each church was free and mdependent, though fraternally related. All indi- vidual christians and all individual churches are brethren and, as such, distinct and umettered. Ecclesiastical courts of review and appeal are altogether unknown in the New Testament, and were never heard of in the churches till Antioch, Alex9,ndria, and Rome b.-gan to lift up their heads, and exercise control over other urban, as well as rural, churches. Each church, as well as each nation, is a free and independent connection, authorized and re- quired to execute the will of Christ, and to pronounce final judgment in all disputes ; with this difference, however that a church is simply executive, and that a nation is both legislative and executive. It is just as idle and vain to complain of the hardship of finality in the one as in the other. There must be finality somewhere in the deter- mination of all human disputes ; and it is vastly better to end a dispute, where the rightful judiciary ends, than to prolong a dispute by the creation or acceptance of unwarrantable courts of review and appeal. From the judgment of a church and a nation there is no legal appeal but to the judgment-seat of Christ ; and there ought to be no other, though there may be, and there is a practical or moral appeal to Christendom and Human- dom. A controversy confined to a single church is com- paratively topical and temporary; but repleaded and reviewed m the successive appellate courts of federal churchism, it expands and matures its distracting influ- ence, till the famUies and churches of a district, a pro- vince or a kingdom, become disturbed and distracted The wind and waves of a lake soon spend themselves on the contiguous shore : the wind and waves of the i ? ■ ■ 284 ECCLESIASTICAL OPERATION. 1 ocean may sink a distant ship. The churches of Christ are candlesticks, detached, local, self-sufficient in their relation to Christ; an authoritative federation of churches is an attempt to create a sort of monster candlestick. The stars of the churches are not united together, though comprehended in the Ecclesiarch's grasp. Each shines iu its own orbit and by its own lustre. The folly and error of joining together what God has created and placed asunder are as great as the folly and error of putting asunder what God has joined together. Each church is a candlestick in the house of Christ, a city on a hill ; and there is no warrant whatever for attempting to fuse the candlesticks or join the cities. Every dominant or dictatorial federation of churches or of ecclesiastics, or, in other words, all co-organization of churches, is incompatible with the essential integrity, inde- pendence, and efficiency of local churches. The locality of the church, as has been shown, is as scriptural as its totahty ; and whatever cramps, impedes, or overlays indi- vidual churches is a perversion and abuse. So soon as churches, or church-officers, combine to wield a perva- sive or comprehensive power, so soon the individual churches are fettered and obscured to the extent of that power, and threatened with a further and undetined extinction of their rights, liberties, and privileges. No local church can occupy a determinate and certain posi- tion, if it be subject to a human legislature and an appel- late court. Its responsibility is then direct to man and only indirect to God, and its gravest judgments are but preliminaries and conditions of ultimate adjustments. Not thus has Christ created and constituted his churches, but unfettered and free, local and independent, single and self-sufficient in his almighty hand. But the greatest and most fatal objection to all autho- ritative connexionism is its inconsistency with ecclesiarchal ECCLESIASTICAL OPEEATION. 285 hes of Christ lent in their n of churches : candlestick. 3ther, though iach shines iu lly and error and placed r of putting sh church is y on a hill ; 3ting to fuse ' churches or janization of tegrity, inde- The locality ptural as its verlays indi- So soon as ild a perva- 3 individual tent of that 1 undefined dleges. No ;ertain posi- id an appel- to man and snts are but idjustments. lis churches, dent, single all autho- icclesiarchal righta The power of general or comprehensive legisla- tion and administration belongs to Christ alone ; it is his exclusive and inalienable prerogative ; he alone is head over all things to the church ; and whatever man or body of men claims or wields such power trespasses upon the crown rights and honours of Christ, seeks, so far and practically, to seize his sceptre and sit upon his throne. No agi-eement of churches or ecclesiastics can justify this, for^it has no scriptural warrant, and the agreement itself is a conspiracy, in fact, against ecclesiarchal prero- gative. There can be no extra-local church judiciary, no court of appeal and review, without power to create it ; such power is legislative and is either ecclesiarchal or ecclesiastical; such power has not been conferred by Christ and such appellate court has not been instituted or sanctioned by him ; and hence church connexionism or co-organism is reduced to a form without power, or to a fraud and a pretence. As to authority from Christ, it makes no diflference whether such connexionism is clerical, laical or mixed, assumed or delegated ; whether it be denominated a conclave, college, councU, synod, assembly, convocation, conference or couveution ; whether its mem- bers be orthodox or heterodc>x, sound or unsound ; the whole fabric is a human device, an unwarrantable assump- tion and usurpation, an infringement upon the corporate rights of local churches and upon the capital rights of Christ, a masterhood and lordship divinely-forbidden in the church, a prolongation or renewal of the old attempt and achievement to create a pyramid of ecclesiastical power and to assimilate the church to the world. The proper operation of a church, the only authorita- tive operation, is single or local. Each church is bound and empowered to serve Christ, its creator and king, according to his own .statute-book, the bible, the only statute-book of the church : and (^aoh rhnrnli ia fr. 286 ECJCLESIASTICAL OPEBATION. .!■ "11? interpret for itself the contents of the bible. As each christian is bound and empowered to interpret the scrip- tures for himself, to instruct and guide him in his various relations j so each church is to interpret the scriptures for itself, in its relations to Christ, to co-existent churches and to the world. No other standard of truth or canon of duty is either needful or permissible. No federal dominancy is authorized to impose its interpretation of the bible, and no local church is allowed to accejjt such interpretation. Nor is any local church allowed to substitute, either wholly or partially, either directly or indirectly, its own written interpretations for Christ's written code. Biblical interpretation is a free and pro- gressive process and should be performed by a church accordingly, as its relations and circumstances require. The interpretation of any one time is not to be imposed or accepted for all time, or as final and authoritative. The biblical text, freed from all co-uptions, is final and unchangeable; but man's appreciations and interpreta- tions of that text are not such and should not be imposed as such, in the creeds and confessions of local churches or of church coimexionism. Can any uninspired composition be equal to the inspirational record? Can any ante- cedent christian or body of christians have had any greater right to interpret scripture than we ourselves have ? Why should we bind ourselves to what Athana- sius, Augustine, Ambrose or any one else has said or written, and not simply to what God-inspired men have written? Can any one church be more entitled to expound the ecclesiarchal revelation and rule than another? And can a church's interpretation of to-day be so peculiarly just and full as to preclude any exegetical attempt to-morrow, or any improved interpretation at any future time? The path of a, church, like the path of a saint, in the exposition, execution and experience of ECCLESIASTICAL OPERATION. 287 ile. As each aret the scrip- in his various the scriptures tent churches :uth or canon No federal jrpretation of a accept such I allowed to ir directly or I for Christ's free and pro- by a church nces require. be imposed authoritative. ), is final and d interpreta- )t be imposed II churches or 1 composition m any ante- ive had any we ourselves i^hat Athana- has said or 3d men have entitled to i rule than )n of to-day ny exegetical rpretation at ike the path experience of the divine will, should be Hke the shinmg light that shmeth more and more unto the perfect day. Paul repudiated all control of Christian belief- "Not tor that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy." We believe the bible, not because of the men who wrote it but because God speaks to us through them. He only has dominion over our faith • and, therefore, nothing but his own word can be rightlv imposed or employed as a rule of religious faith and practice Other compositions may be used by churches ostensibly or intentionally and at the outset, as merei; explanatory of the bible; but practically and eventually they become rivals or opponents of the bible or, at the iea^t, vails and shades of the bible ; and from the verv outset, they are substitutes for the bible, when they are adopted as rules of faith and practice, as tests of member- ship and ministration. Any church and any member of a church may express their apprehension of scripture either orally or in writing ; but they are not allowed to impose this expression as complete and unalterable or as the requisite expression of another. The co-organUtion of churches, without a created con- stitution for faith and practice, has never been known and is plamly impracticable. A single church can oper- ate without It, but not a connexion of churches or a ter- ritorial church, exercising legislative and appellate power 1 he very nature, the radical conception, of such a confede- ration mvolves extra-biblicism and is, therefore un- scnptural. Its boasted power to conserve divine trJith is a fiction. It may humanize, it may stereotype theology • It may drive out diversity for a season ; but it cannot prevent or destroy what it drives ov^ and it cannot ensure itself, by all its stereotyped and suited orthodoxy from degeneracy and corruption. If God's word cannot guarantee exemption from capital error, man's word ^'.fe! 288 ECCLESIASTICAL OPERATION. I I'M t cannot, the co-organization of churches cannot. If Juda- ism never dared to create an extra-scriptural creed and code, the Ecclesiasra should not do it, but, renouncing traditionary or unauthorized belief, contend earnestly for the faith as it was once delivered to the saints. The apostles themselves did not exercise general administrative power, in the churches. Their peculiarity consisted in the inspirational communication of truth, the miraculous autheutication of truth, and the forma- tion of the vehicle of truth. As inspired teachers, they told the churches what they ought to do, as well as believe, but they left the churches to do the work and to receive the truth freely ; and they expressly repudi- ated dominion over their faith. They directed the church at Jerusalem to nominate deacons ; Paul instructed the Corinthian church to expel the offent'in- ; and what they taught, as inspirational channels, eacii church freely and independently, as surbordinate to Christ alone, received and practised. Even over christian teachers, the apostles did not claim the power of dictat'on and control. " As touching our brother Apollos," says Paul, "I greatly desired him to come unto you with the brethren : but his will was not at all to come at this time; but he will come wh t he shall have convenient time." Language could not indicate greater freedom and independence than is attributed, in these words, to Apollos. Though not an apostle, he would not gratify the strong desire of even the apostle Paul, simply because he himself willed differently and waited for a convenient season. Modern ecclesiasticism, forsooth, would arraign, depose or severely censure such flagrant contumacy and insurbordination as this. Federal ecclesiasticism is in- compatible with this, and, therefore, is incompatible with scripture. It is a system of ecclesiastical degradation and enslavement, converting the local copartnerships of I I ECCLESIASTICAL OPERATION, 289 ot. If Juda- al creed and r, renouncing earnestly for ita raise general 'ir peculiarity ion of tnith, i the forma- eaohers, they I, as well as he work and •essly repudi- ;d the church istructed the ; and what church freely Jhrist alone, dan teachers, dictation and i," says Paul, ou with the come at this e convenient iter freedom ese words, to d not gratify inply because a convenient ould arraign, ntumacy and isticism is in- fipatible with fradation and rtnerships of Christianity into an unnatural and unwieldly confederacy, and substituting for christian ecjuality and independence a complication and gradation of power, more or less aris- tocratic and usurpatory, derogatory to Christ and injurious to his people. The independent or fraternally free operation of a church is a fulfilment of the primary ecclesiarchal law, which enjoins ecclesiastical subjection to Christ alonei and, therefore, forbids such subjection to any other. And ecclesiastical co-organism, sometimes called connexion- ahsm, is a violation of this law. Every church is a con- nection, and, therefore, what the New Testament disal- lows, is, properly speaking, not connexionism but co- organism, the organization of church mth church ; not the voluntary connexion or union of church delegates or re- presentatives, without legislative or appellate or revisory power, but their union with authanty. It is not the con- nexional principle that is wrong but the co-organical principle, if terms are correctly employed ; the evil to be dreaded is not voluntary association but authoritative and dominant, not local connexionism but territorial The choice lies simply between ecclesiastical independence and ecclesiastical co-organism, and there can be no hesitancy in choosing, if prejudice and policy be discarded and the teaching of the New Testament be earnestly and perse- veringly sought, A church should operate with fraternBl fHendship, as well as fraternal freedom. Though organically separate from all other churches, it is fraternally related to them, and should sympathize and co-operate accordingly. Fra- ternity denotes the friendship of common origin, as well as the freedom of co-ordination ; and, therefore, on the one hand, it sanctions voluntary union, and, on the other, forbids authoritative connexionism. Brothers may help each other, but should not combine to coerce 2c 290 ECCLRSIASTICAL OPERATION. each other. International relations are tlie relations of free anil independent states, respecting each other's rightH, sympathizing and assi.sting in each other's sufierings and wants. And inter-ecclusiastical relations are the relations of free and independent churches, not combining to dic- tate and coerce, but voluntarily and freely consulting one another, and helping one another, according to circum- stances and ability. The churches of Chri.st are not per- mitted to conspire forthe assumption and usurpation of sovereign legislation and control, or for the restrahit and depresvsion of local churchhood ; but they are permitted to commune with each other, and to co-operate with each other, co-ordinately and freely. And such fraternal friend- ship as this may subserve momentous ends and interests. It may facilitate the education of the young, the training and preparation of ministers, the support of home and foreign missionaries, the relief and maintenance of aged and enfeebled ministers, the sustenance of small and feeble churches, the erection of ecclesiastical edifices in destitute neighbourhoods, and the relief of churches in lands or seasons of plague, war, or famine. , Such were the relationship and conduct of the primi- tive churches. They lived apart, in their several locali- ties, but they loved as brethren : " In these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antiocli. And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world : which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar. Then the disciples, every man according to his ability [by individual volition, not federal dictation], determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judea. Which also they did." ^ " Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the 1 Acts xi. 27—30 ECCLESIASTIfAL OPERATIOX. 291 ati< >n» of free ;hor'.s rights, ittbririgs ami the rehitions lining to dic- naulting one r to circum- are not per- surpation of 'estraint and :e permitted ,te with each ernal friend- ,nd interests, the training f home and ince of aged : small and 1 edifices in churches in »f the primi- iveral locali- 3 days came And there signified by I throughout s of Claudius 3rding to his 1 dictation], which dwelt V concerning order to the churchcH of Gaiatia, even so do ye Upon the first day of th.' w. ok let every ^ of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered iiim, that there be no gatherings when I come. And when I come, whomsoever ye sjiall approve by your letters, them will I send to brinr,' y,mr liberality [or gift, or fraternal contribution] unto Jerusa- lem."' " Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia ; how that, in a gr.,'at trial of affliction [great famiiu', or great poverty occasioned "ly persecution] the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. For to their power, I bef,r record, yea and beyond their power, they were willincr of themselves [not prelatically, presbyterially or co-organi- cally ordered] ; pra>ng us with much entreaty tha°t we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering [the friendly and fraternal ministerin.^ of pecuniary aid] to the saints."^ ., j ^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ other men be eased and ye burdened : but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want : that there may be equality "' " For as touching the ministering to the saints [by voluntary pecuniary gift], it is superfluous for me to write to you': for I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia [includ- mg Corinth] was ready a year ago ; and your zeal hath provoked very many. . . . Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give ; not gTudg- mgly or of necessity : for God loveth a cheerfufgiven ... For the administration of this service not*only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God ; whilst by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed I is ifm » 1 Cor. xvi. 1—3. so Cor. viii. 1—4. 3 2 Cor. viii. 13, 14. 2c2 292 ECCLESIASTICAL OPERATION. ..| subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men ; and by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you."^ The liberality of the churches, in all these instances — Antioch, Galatia, Mace- donia and Corinth — was at once a fulfilment of inspira- tional precept and a free fraternal act. No organization or connexion of churches commanded it ; no church or church-agent was summoned to pay an allotted quota, to account for deficiency, or to be censured for neglect. An inspired apostle instructed the churches m the duty of fraternal friendship, but never presumed to arraign and punish for neglect ; there was no ecumenical council, no conclave of cardinals, no convocation of upper and lower clergy, no general assembly of nding and teaching elders, no annual conference, to decree and enforce the charitable collection. The abundance of one church should supply the want of another church ; and between neighbouring churches, particularly, there should be a reciprocity of sympathy and kindness ; but there should be no combi- nation of churches or of clerics to dictate laws to local churches, to arraign the disobedient, to hear appeals, and to wield a general and comprehensive power. Churches, like church-members, should sympathize and co-operate. " Whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it ; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it."^ Let us, then, duly appreciate the correlations of local churches and their consequent action. They are subor- dinate to Christ alone ; they are co-ordinate among themselves ; and as fraternally co-ordinate or co-equal, they should operate with ecclesiastical freedom and eccle- siastical friendship. Their freedom does not arise from 1 2 Cor. ix. 1, 2, 7, 12, 13, U, « 1 Cor. xii. 26. ECCLESIASTICAL OPEnATIOX. 203 estrangement but from social distinctness and complete- ness, hke the freedom of political states or nationa Tl ir nendship ,s obedience to divine direction, but not to uman or ecclesiastical; it is not the result of a federl ton or organization of churches but of the common origin and fraternal kmslnp „f churches; it is not the opem- Uon of co-organical office and authority but of local Avbrtrt f°or-""' 'V^ c„g„:.abl'e l,, no auth W f . f ^''™'' ■""' "JJ-'^io^We at no bar but that of the last great day. No co-operation of churches nptural but what perfectly harn.onizes with the r^h lis tl,r7 " "'',""' -='---'-' pre-emineLe, Ihe manner of such co-operation is a matter of execu- tive detail, to be considered and determined bv tTe co-operatmg churches. Tiie fraternal friendship of a cliurch is a fullihnent of the second eeclesiarehal law of brotherly love and the ' third law of Cliristian usefulness. a Towards the world, or extra-ordinately, a church ould operate eyaxgelisticallv, not .selfishly. A cliurch operates towards Christ, as one .above its ordi- nate ; towards other churches, a. m the same ordinate • noncW " T''»""^' "'^ non-eecle.,ia.,tical and non-cl r«,an, as without or beyond its ordinate or orbit A cordingly a church should servo Clirist, befr ei 1 other churches, and benefit the world. The woiW distinguished from the church, consists of all Ti ho," the church, and forms two great departments, the a e ot Christendom and the aliens of Heathendo n ehmc s rangers at home and chnich-strangers abroad. To bo h these sections of the same large dass. the church t rela ed ^ a spiritual benefactor, « instniment of dti,: beneficence for salvation, a vehicle of saving truth Zl an eheiter of saving power. This benefice'ncr,,^ ™' 2c3 y Sj i i 294 ECCLESIASTICAL OPERATION. distinctively denominated evangelism, the communica- tion of the good news, and forms the great and glorious field of Christian Missions, both domestic and foreign. Its source is the love of God to all men, its soul is the constraining love of Christ in the believing heart, its standard is the truth of God, and its sphere is the world. The charity of this evangelism sho\dd begin at home but should not stay there ; it should " go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." The ecclesiastical vessel should circumnavigate the globe and gratuitously distribute its celestial cargo to every nation under heaven. The living waters that floAV out, from under the temple, should deepen and widen, till they saturate and fertilize the globe. The river of life, pro- ceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, should wind its way through every land ; and the mes- sengers of life should call from its banks, to every crea- ture, to come to the waters and the conterminous fruit. The Spirit and the church cry come ; every hearer should echo and obey the call ; till all the nations are healed by the leaves of the life-giving tree and satisfied with the water of the life-giving river. Nothing can be nobler than the position of the church towards the world. It is the position of Heaven's selected almoner, of a universal dispenser of celestial treasure, of a mes- senger of mercy to a ruined race. The ch'jrch is empowered to unfurl the banner of redeeming love in every land, to conduct the stream of life into every country, to kindle a light divine in every nocturnal shore and shade, to proclaim liberty to every captive, and to scatter the largesses of Heaven amid all the poor that perish, O blessed and glorious vocation ! Well might angels envy such an embassage and eminence, and well might they weep, if either envy or sorrow could seize them, to see so glorious a function despised, so commumca- and glorious ; and foreign. 1, its soul is ieving heart, phere is the )uld begin at I " go into all •eature." The tie globe and every nation )w out, from len, till they r of life, pro- f the Lamb, nd the mes- ,0 every crea- minous fruit, every hearer 3 nations are and satisfied Nothing can towards the ited almoner, re, of a mes- le ch'jrch is ming love in fe into every ;ry nocturnal very captive, :l all the poor ation ! Well id eminence, sorrow could despised, so ECCLESIASTICAL OPERATION. 295 godUke a work neglected. When ;vill the churches of thrist fully awake to their honour and their shame, and send forth and sustain the messengers of mercy 'with love and liberality, so as to hasten and ensure the 'evan- gelization of aU mankind ? " Say to the north, give up • and to the south, keep not back ; bring my sons from tar and my daughters from the ends of the earth." The evangelistic operation of a church is a fulfilment to neighbours and foreigners, of the third ecclesiarchal law of christian usefulness. The difference between home-growth and missionary labour is purely circum- stantial. Setting civil distinctions and considerations aside, as foreign to the office and work of a church the difference between domestic and foreign missions 'is a difference of distance. With this may also be combined difference of language and manners, climate and comfort aud perhaps some more of the numerous practical and cu-cumstantial diversities of our race. Section 11. --Modal Operation. 4. By original constitution, a church should operate collectively, not bureauceatically. If a church be, as has been proved, a partnership of equals, if one of its divme laws be mutual subjection, and if its proper operation be the indei^endent execution of Christ's will then its proper aspect and style are aji executive chris- tian republic. Let those describe it in fewer and juster terms who can; and let those who dislike and repudiate such an estimate, first overturn the premises on which it is based and from which it springs. The members of a church are originally on a level; who can i^rove an original and scriptural difference? They are to be co-ordinately and mutually subject ; who can prove any other constitutional and original subjection ? A church m iH. 296 ECCLESIASTICAL OPERATION. is simply an executive society of Christ ; who can adduce ecclesiarchal authority for any other function, for any legislative power? A church is fraternally free, and therefore singly and independently constituted ; who can prove an authorized organization of churches? And who, then, can evade the obvious conclusion that a church is an executive equi-partnership of Christ ? As such and in its various divine relations, its office and work are to interpret and obey the revealed will of its divine head. And the manner of such interpretation and obedience, it is now averred, is, first of all, collective. How else but collectively can an equalitarian and executive committee of Christ bes^in to act at all ? Where all are equal, the exercise of power on the part of any one or more members, without general consent, would be a flagrant assumption, usurpation and imposition — an iniquitous bureaucracy. And how is general consent to be ascertained and expressed but by the convocation and action of all the members ? Their consent, privately and separately, is not their church consent, and can be no warrant or sanction whatever for any church agency or office. There can be no ecclesiastical interpretation and fulfilment of scripture but by a church itself or by a church's representatives. It cannot be by the church, without church assemblage and action ; it cannot be by the church's representatives, until these are fairly and freely chosen by the collective church. For men to say that they are christian ministers and therefore the repre- sentatives of a church or churches, by a divine commis- sion and without the concurrence and choice of the assembled church, is an absurdity, a falsehood and a fraud. It is practically adding to Christ's words. Scripture, it has been shown, does not warrant the doctrine of a divine designation and commission for the ministry, except moral and providential, in post- can adduce ion, foi' any ly free, and 3d ; who can ^hes ? And liat a church As such and id work are divine head, obedience, it litarian and all ? Where part of any nsent, would position — an al consent to vocation and Drivately and 1 can be no jh agency or rotation and self or by a the church, cannot be by ■e fairly and r men to say re the repre- dne commis- loice of the jhood and a ist's words, warrant the imission for ial, in post- ECCLESIASTICAL OPERATION. 297 apostolic times. Besides, such a commission can be ot no social obhgation and value until it is socially deve- loped and demonstrated, and this can be done by miracles alone, or by a direct divine call to the church to obey, as well as to an individual to rule. A divine call to obe- dience IS the necessary complement of a divine call to government. But the fact is that since inspiration aiid miracles have ceased, the only rational, scriptural, and valid ground of official authority, as has been shown, is the formal or practical consent of society itself In a nation of great antiquity and slow growth, practical con- sent to agencies and forms of government may be suffi- cient ; and it may be sufficient in any nation, if the nation desire no better and despotism do not prevent a better. But in a local society, like a church, easily con- voked and consulted, the assumption of power, or the plea of practical acceptance instead of fonnal appoint- ment, is altogether unwarrantable and wrong. The collective or convocational action of a°church and the importance of its membership are clearly taught in scripture. In the first church, at Jerusalem, " all " that believed were '' together," and were co-ordinate church- members. And, frequently, afterwards, we find specific mention of « the brethren," or church-members gene- rally, in connection with apostles and elders, and of their convocation for business as well as devotion. "The apostles and brethren heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God."^ Peter was directed to de^^lare his deliverance from prison " unto James and to the brethren."^ "The apostles and elders and brethren " were concerned in the council respecting the circumcision of the Gentiles.^ Timothy was "well reported of by the brethren at Lystra and Iconium"* ^Actsxi. 1. "Aetsxii. 17. « Acta xv. « Acts xvi. 2. f ^ai"" »iii 298 ECCLESIASTICAL OPERATION. " The brethren sent away Paul and Silas " from Thessa- lonica, and sent away Paul from Berea.^ It Avas two unofficial persons, Aquila and Priscilla, that qualified Apollos for eminent usefulness as a christian teacher, by expounding unto him the way of God more perfectly ; and when he was disposed to go into Achaia, it. was " the brethren " that introduced and recommended him. Some erroneously suppose that Aquila was a christian minister, because Paul calls him his helper in Christ Jesus. But helpers are not always official teachers, and they are even distinguished from teachers and governments by Paul himself 2 Paul would not suffer a woman to teach or to usurp authority, yet he calls Priscilla his helper : " Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus." ^ The woman is thus placed before the man, probably according to merit, because helping evidently denotes cordial co-operation, either in office or out. " Help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow-labourers."* On Paul's arrival at Jerusalem, " the brethren received him gladly." 5 He tarried seven days at Puteoli, in com- pliance with the wish of the brethren ; and he thanked God and took courage, when he was met at Appii Forum, by the brethren from Rome." It certainly does not appear, from such a style and strain as this, that " the clergy " are everything and the people nothing ; that the former constitute the church ; that the people are to be kept Avithout power and in '•' quietness," content with paying and praying ; but that the churches themselves, the people, the brethren, are everything, for whom all officers are appointed and all ecclesiastical machinery and methods instituted : " All things are yours ; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or 1 Acts xvil. 10, 14. 2 1 Cor. xii. 28. ^ ji^y^^ ^vi. 3. ■» Philip, iv. 3. * Acts xxi. 17. * Acts xxviii. 14, 15. from Thessa- It was two liat qualified bti teacher, by •re perfectly; \, it was " the (1 him. Some tian minister, t Jesus. But md they are ^ernments by man to teach a. his helper : Christ Jesus." ^ an, probably sntly denotes " Help those gospel, with i^-labourers." * iren received teoli, in com- d he thanked A.ppii Forum, aly does not is, that " the ing ; that the pie are to be content with s themselves, or whom all il machinery irs ; whether d, or life, or * Philip, iv. 3. ECCLESIASTICAL OPERATION. 299 d^ath, or things present, or things to come, all are vours- and ye are not the priests' or the clergy^ but] CI ri t v' and Christ is God's." » -' ^""^^S' The church is not "the nlpro-xr-" <« <.k n x- tnrn+« " " u • ^^^^SY, the Collective pas- anT he :trj::!T„f "» -^"»p^ -<, uZ^ that time there wa. a groat persecutior, aoainrt the church which was at Jerusalem ; and they v ere 1 scattered abroad, throughout the ^ons Zj:deaa^d Samaria, except the apostles." '- Alf the church ex^pt .1^ apostles, ™ scattered; so that the apostks , I , not the church but a mrt of if tk ^i^ Bama, ana p,„ , T^^ ^f s^S" gehzmg the geutiles, in obedience to a divine commind 2'Sio h'TheTt'"''"™^" -^ "-^ctim n Antioch. The historian mentions five prophets and teachers, not, we think, a. the persons by whom but the church " so expressly mentioned, if it was nof to he church the command was given 1 if we sZose to he command was given toShe five piXts td r alio' tf r T' " ^™ ^'^™ '° P-' -' ^-- T' ^ '™ °J. ""= fi™. t» separate themselves, whereas the command is not to them but respecting them " X Hoy Ghost said Separate me BaLbas and SauL' a rhe sense of a historian must be ascertabed by his ments of the author of the Acts plainly indicate the collective operation of the church, in the orilat on of everything not peculiarly apostolical. Be si'des when Paul and Barnabas fulfilled their work, they retu™ d to Antioch, whence they had been sent ; and they " g„?l!ere^ the church together," not a clerical synod or the o her 1^1 Iff 11 300 ECCLESIASTICAL OPEIUTION. three, and " rehearsed all that God had done with tliem, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the gentilea"^ If the collective church had executively separated them and sent them forth, nothing was more appropriate than its reception of the report of their journeys and labours. And such is the evident sense of the whole account. In the coimcil at Jerusalem, respecting the ckcum- cision of the gentiles, the elders and brethren were included. The question at issue was solved by the Ecclesiarch himself, through his inspired apostles, not by the wisdom of man ; but the solution was so reached and announced as to prevent even the appearance of a precedent for depressing the people, under the name of " the laity," or for magnifying the people's officers, under the name of " the clergy." It waa to " the apostles and elders " the deputation from Antioch was sent ; it was " the churcli " that brought " on their way " the mem- bers of the deputatit n, " Paul and Barnabas and certain others;" it was "unto all the brethren" that these deputies, in their journey and by the news of gentile conversion, " caused great joy ; " it was " of the church, and of the apostles and elders," as a part of it, that they and their news were received in Jerusalem ; the assem- bled council consisted of apostles, elders and brethren, for though, in the sixth verse, it is said that " the apostles and elders came together, for to consider of this matter," yet in describing the result, the people's inclu- sion is recognized,: "then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch," with letters declaratory of the conclusion ; and these letters were sent from and in the name of " the apostles and elders and brethren," le with them, ith unto the I executively ng was more port of their lent sense of the circum- rethren were ilved by the apostles, not as so reached )earance of a the name of officers, under apostles and sent ; it was y " the mem- s and certain " that these vvs of gentile f the church, it, that they ; the assem- ,nd brethren, d that "the nsider of this )eople's inclu- apostles and osen men of s declaratory mi from and id brethren," announcinf ECCLESIASTICAL OPEBATION. what 301 ^n „« " Ti • ' ^^^.'''^'^ ^""^^^ *° *''^ ^""^y <^»^o«t and oo us. 11ns councd is no precedent and authority for post-apostohcal councUs, because they cannot be consti- tuted and divmely-directed as it was, and l^ecause the completeness of scr-^ .ire renders them unnecessary • and yet the apostolical and inspirational council was so constituted, conducted and described as to recognize most fully the rights of the people. Even hispired men did not confer with closed doors or shut out the people as unfat to be present and participant. What, after this can we thmk of clerical councils, which exclude the people as either members or witnesses? Estimated as mi dly IS possible, they are an insult and an injustice to the body of Christ, " the fulness of him that filleth all in all " Soon after Pauls last arrival in Jerusalem, James and the elders, in a conference with Paul, remarkably recoff- mzed the convocational or collective rights of the bre- threa Keferring to the "many thousands" of chris- tian Jews, they say-" What is it therefore? the multitude must needs come together : for they will hear that thou art come." Nothing so absurd and tyrannical <%s a law against public meetings was ever dreamt of by the apostles and the primitive ecclesiasts. "The multi tude must needs come together;" it is their indisputable right and constant practice to assemble, deliberate and decide. Who can conceive the indignation, consternation and commotion of the early christian republics, if any ofticial conclave had forbidden such right and practice ? Any such attempt to wield the great "democracy and fulmine oer the church would have convulsed the brotherhood from centre to circumference. The apostles themselves neither would nor could assume such lordshin dictation and despotism, in the christian commonwealth }• f if ' I 302 ECCLESIASTICAL OPERATION. The church of Christ, consisting of official and private uioniberH, not a class or clique or clerisy, filled the great apostle's eye and animated his heart, when he contem- plated the glory and development of the latter days. The church, he tells us, is the body and temple of Christ, the object of his love and self-devotion, his bride, that is to be made spotless and faultless and glorious, the deve- lopment of God's manifold wisdom to the principalities and jjowers hi the heavenly places. C-'ii.^istently with all this, how absorbedly Paul cherished, cared, and edified the churches, teaching from house to house, and warning every one, night and day, with tears ! With the fond'^ uess of a father and the gentleness of a nurse, he watched and wrought. On his way from Ephesus to Antioch, he landed at Cesarea, and went up and saluted the church.' The apostolical epistles are addressed chiefly to the churches, to the saints, and not solely or peculiarly to church-officers. Three epistles are addressed to two special apostolical assistants, Timothy and Titus, first for their own instruction and then for all christians ; and there are three other very short personal epistles — to Philemon, to the elect lady and her children, and to Gaius. The great mass of epistolary and other inspira- tion is addressed generally. According to clerical pre- tension and assumption, all instruction to the churches should be communicated by and through " the clergy ;" but inspired apostles thought otherwise ; and one of the chief teachers of the primitive churches, Apollos, was fitted for his work, not by professors of theology but by two private church- members, Aquilaand Priscilla. Theo- logical tutors and colleges are not to be depreciated, but they ought not to be unduly magnified ; and the pastors and teachers of the churches ought not to supersede or ^ Acts xviii. 21, 22. ECCLESIASTICAL OPERATION. 303 supplant the churches, or obscure the churches, „r olaiu, o be an aboriginal church caste or cla»., but confi e "c *;'^ '""-' '""" "'"' "'"^ - "- ~ n v> the rigid and dutu of each church to come,, are at Ph.hpp,, with the bishops and deacons" Pa„l enjoins the task of "hol.hng forth the wordoflfe" con«,tency with their office and character, as lU hming m the world.. This direction i.. not giv^i to .lie bishops and deacons separately or p^culiafly, I ut Ts embedded m a series of instructions that incoite bly thtTe ItC , '"^'"'"^ -i.«-n.l faithful brethr'^ ■ -WrZn T- ""' '° '"'"'"'^■^' *»t P™1 says- re!^ aUo T't '\""f """""S ^""' '■•"- ""at ft be read also m the church of the Laodiceans ; and that ye 1 kewise read the epMe from Laodicei." = To "the says- IVom you sounded out the word of the Lor.l not only m Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every pC or truth, for which we are commanded to contend cr;:r^ir ' r *"nT' *" "'^ '^'"'»' -* '» » ^'« " ni trn^ b r 1 ""''" J"^^*^ '' '' «™''^W 'hat dmne truth has been deposited in the churches them- selves, not among church-officers, and should be guaXl fldeIitr"Trt ■ 7 '"r '""""^■' -"^ -»' «» ff , , . , ."'""■^'^s themselves are shuiing light, re"ad thf t '1' '^n,' "™'' ™'' '"«■ "'^ -« ''^ truth, as the operative instrument of salvation, is the highest style of religious usefulness, and belong^ to he churches of Christ singly and severally. Paul fay"to a ^ Philipp, ii. 15, 16, » 2 ) Coh >^.iv. 16. MThes8.i. 8. ''Judea. 2d2 904 ECCLESIASTICAL OPERATION, •4 , i j [S ^^ ' i rj n ^' H ' BH church — " Desire spirifnal gifts 1)ut nither that ye may prophesy. . . . He that {)ropliesieth spoaiceth unto men to edification, and exhortation and comt'urt. , . . He that prophesieth edifieth the church. ... I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied. . . . Prophesying sorveth not for them tliat believe not, Init for them which believe. . . . For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted. . . . Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy and forbid not to speak with tongues." * This collation of passages shows that prophesying is teaching the church, and that every member of a church, if qualified, is eligible to this usefulness and should desire it : " for ye may all prophes)/, one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted." " Let the word of ChrLst dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs." ^ " Exhort one another daily, while it is called to-day."'' It is the office of a church to elicit diviiie power. The office of elicitation belongs to the chnrch, not only gener- ally, as has been shown, but also to particular churches and in relation to the apostles themselves. To the saints (jf Rome Paul says — " Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me, in your prayers to God for me." * To the church at Corinth and to the saints in all Achaia he says — " Ye also helping together by prayer for me."^ To the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus he says — " Pra3rino' . . . for mo, that utterance may be given unto me, that T may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel."" To the Colossians he says — 1 1 Cnr. siv. 1, 3, 4, 5, 22, 31, 39. » Coloss. iii. lO. » Hub. iii. la. Ulom. XV. 30. '2Cor. i. 11. « Eph. vi. 18, 19. !iat ye may 'ukoth unto rt. . . . ... I tier that ye )t for them vc. . . . may learn, B, brethren, I tongues." ^ )hesying is >f a church, lould desire lat all may he word of aching and lymns and iy, while it ^oiver. The only gener- ir churches 3 the saints rethren, for love of the >ur prayers and to the g together at Ephesus -'* Praying unto me, known the he says — Heb. iii. la. , 19. ECCLE.SIASTICAL OPERATIOX. .'JO.'j "Epaphras, who is one of you, a .servant of Chri.st saluteth you, always labouring ferventlv for you in pruyern' that ye may stand perfect an.l complete in all the will of tiod. To the church of the Thessalonians Paul sa>s— "We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers.'"-' Fervent and effectual mtercessory prayer belongs both to individual believers and to churches, and was requisite for the apo.stles as well as for subsequent nuuisters. And on a careful exami- nation of the various passages relating to intercessory prayer for spiritual aids, it will be found that the ble.s,sing sought IS always the Spirit's power, in some of its aspects and effecta Every church needs this power, for its own edification and for usefulness to the world ; and everv church should at once communicate the truth ans— Him that is w< xk in the faith receive 'receive ye one another, as Christ also received ye us, to the glory of God."=^ He directed the Crinthian church to forgive and comfort the penitent offender whose expulsion he had formerly , ujoined ; and he makes no allu' ion whatever to any source of ecclesiastical I ' Coloas. iv. 12. « 1 The.% i. 2. xiv. 1 ; SI 2d 3 306 ECCLESIASTICAL OPERATION. h; punishment or pardon, excision or incorporation, but the church itself. 1 To the churches of Galatia, he says — " Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual [not ye which are clerical or official] restore such nn one in the spirit of meekness ; considering thy- self, lest thou also be tempted." ^ To the church of God at Corinth, he says — " Need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you ? "^ This plainly implies that letters commen- datory, letters of ecclesiastical transference and intro- duction, were both given and received by the churche.s themselves. The oversight of members heloiigs to a church. "And I myself also am persuade