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Lorsquo lo doeumont ost trop grand pour Atro raprodult on un aaul ollohA, H aat fNm4 A partir do I'angki aupArlap gauohq. d« gouclia A droHo. ot do haut an bOa, an pranant la noidbra dimagaa nAcaaaaIra, Laa diagrammab suHfqnts INuatrant la niAthodo. > % ■ ; i. .•N 32X " • 1 • 1 2 3 . . r 4 5 6 •m ,^ i^ WtCLIFFE COLLEGE UNlVMftfTY OP TOIOMTO " ' / ? 'M u« ^■f *i. .■ AraUAL COf^fVOCATION OCTOBER 9th, 1I90 ■f • ^ < j'^ • n •^ . 't f ♦ '* LECTURE I •t'wni , Rbv. Principal, Sheraton, D*D. L,*V I:' • ,'. < "The Church : The Hpusehojirf Faith." 'If •ff 4". 'N.. >> . 7 ^ K >--.> ■>'. ■*;,JK TPftDltTO Tim J. B. Bktmit CoMrAVT (Lmitso) « /^'" nxii- '", i aaa "' > ■f 1' -f U •■ cituMiilpirvucATioMft^ tJim J.«.|^V^ OOllfAIIY 0.IIIIT1P). Tilt ClWfok 9mtUf tiM OMMl^iaiiM liiMl CwAi.'. tteCMM '--$ '/'ii\/:;. *!1^_ r^-'-'g,, " JV'^' WYCLIFFE COLLEGE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO ^ ANNUAL CONVOCATION OCTOBER 9th, 1890 LEGTURE [by. THE Rev. Principal Sheraton, D.D. ■■■4 i f #. , \,i-, I- . • 1 1 " "The Church : The Household of Faith. /. >■ A 'A^ TORONTO The J, E, Bryant Company (Limitkd) ' iSgo ( ■-:.: > - % / .1^?i4 -.J; :! "STBP?' f.'^T "«'"• "■• T W' r -■"i*. The Church : The Household of Faith. A LECTURE ■V TlfB RBV.'PllNCIPAL IHBKATON, D.D. At tk4 AHHttai Cimvoeati9H of Wyeen those who dimly perceived that their relationship with God was liound up with their relationship with their fellows, and felt within them the stirrings of universal kinship. It is to the honor of the StcMKthat they first implicitly taught a brotherhood of men, and even of men with the gqds : Communem urbem et civitatem hominurn et fieorum (Cicero de Fin. 3:19). But they recognized neither the infinite greatness and holiness of God, nor man's dependence on Him. The community they dreamed of was attained by the degradation of God^ not by the elevation of men. The Latin jurists made the Stoic doctrine the philosophi- cal foundation of Roman law, and thus imparted to it its cosmopolitan character and its enduring value, even for us. So it was that both the philospphers of Greece and the jurists of Rome were in harmony with the prophets of Israel in their anticipation of a divine fellowship, a social state in which all men would be united under ju^t and equal laws, and wherein the ideals of liberty and righteousness would be realized. But in Greece libertyv became license, and in Rome the supremacy of righteous laA^wassjuj^pianted by a crushing and humiliating despotism. A The ideals of sages and of legislators bore witness to man's ^supreme need ^■A I /. '^j. it ' of fellowihip ; they had no power to ttttlii to It Bui while man it looking for God. (lod it looking for man. If mart nted% God, God alio needs man, and cannot mainUin indifTcrcnce towardi him. Ai Luthardt cxpreMively layt : •• Man if the flrrt and lait thought of God, the reK)lution of Hit will, the beloved of Hit heart.** It if thia that diilinguithe* the religion of the Bible from all othert. TheM, indcfid, arc the outcome of man'i iearching after God ; but thii is the outcome of (Jod'i search after man, the marvellous quest of the Divine love which found its full expression in the mission of Him who came to seek and to save that which is lost. The bid Testament not only fore- told a universal fellowship of riKhteousncsa, but showed how it was to be established. The propheta pointed lo a coming One, the Messenger of the Divine will, and the manifestation of the Divine mercy, by whose work and self- sacrifice the glorious fellowship would be brought into existence. We perceive, theh, how deeply ar^ laid the foundations of the Church of Jesus Christ ; that in its essential idea of a fellowship of men with God and with one another, it reaches back into the very ori^'nes of man's being, and is the fulfil- ment of God's design in roan's creation. In its ideal and consummation, it will prove to be the satisfattion of the earnest eUpecfution of the creation, which waiteth for the manifestation of ihe sons of God, as well as the fulfilment of the predictions of the prophets. The Church is intended to become the realization of that fellowship for which man has been waiting throtigh the weary ages of his travail, and which God has been planning through the ineffable ages of His eternal love and wisdom. The Church, is no after- thought, no accident, no outcome of mere hiUnan wisdom or of human self-will ; but the offspring of the ages, the goal of that increasing purpose of God which runs through them all. ■ 4: I" \.™i'of fellowship. By it man attains to greatness. Thus faith is exalted by our Lord Jlimself, and extolled in the Scriptures as the great creative and saving grace. Such was the source of the pre-eminence of Abraham, to whom, St. Paul asserts, the gospel was preached beforehand ; that very same gospel of grace which is fiilly set forth iii the, New Testament. God established His covenant with Abraham, calling him Into fellowship with Himself, so that he became the friend of G}r ■ s. those who possessed the fiith of Abraham. The law was but a temporary and parenthetical dispensation, as St. Paul describes it. Notwithstanding its externalism, which was due to its preparatory character, the Old Testament Church was constituted upon the ground of faith, not of works. The more the Israel after the flesh declined, the irifore manifestly the believing remnant was seen to be the true Israel. When, ifor examp^ King Ahaz, instead of trusting in Jehovah, sought the help of Assyria in an alliance which soon proved the temporal destruction. of Judah, the little band o^ faithful men, among whom Isaiah was conspicuous, formed thereal Church within the nation. The unifying principle of this fellowship was faith in God. It fornied.the "holy Seed" which made the restoration possible;, for upon it, and not upon any external institution, depended the continuity of the existence of Israel knd its perfnanenceV Ttiiswasthe enduring element in Judaism which passed over into Christianity. The external institutions were but thie protecting envelopes, which withered away when the germs they sheltered burst into the full fruitage of their life. Tney were, as S^. Paul describes them, "the weak and b^garly elements f; a needful discipline for the spiritual childhood of the Church, but superseded, because out- grown, when it attained to the maturity and freedom of inan^ h<^^)Od. To return to these crude, childish, and unspiritual elements js, as St. Paul tells the Galatian Ritualists, to dishonor faith, to renounce their Christian manhood, and virtually to relapse into their former heathenism. THE TEACHING OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. When it is SO plain .that faith was the living and con- structive principle of the Jewish Church, notwithstanding the externalism of its pupilage and its seminal and preparatory imperfection, how much more manifestly so maj^ we expect tp find it in- the Chy#ch of the New Testament ? / \ i VI J- **> .<^.,V,' ■ V i :■■ \ IO-- We can but briefly touch upon a few salient points. Most important is the view which out Ix)rd presents of His • own mission. " I am come," He says, " that ye might have life." "The gift of God is eternal life/' and this life is in His Son. Hence it follows, as St. Jobn tells us : " He that hath the Soiyliath life, but he that hath notlhe Son of God hath not life." We are further told that the means by which roeryare made partakers of this life is faith. " He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life ; and he that believeth not the Son ^hall not see life." Those who are thus onited to Christ have, as Bishop Westcott says, "their real life solely in their connection with Christ." And Christ's method was in accord with His purpose. He did not begin from without, but from within. He did not proceed to found an earthly kingdom, as the Jews fondly expected, and as more than once they sought to com- pel Him. He did not even come as a law-giver, like ^ Moses, enacting stotutes and canons. The contrast is • expressly drawn between them: "The law was. given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." He likened Jlis kingdom to leaven which, working from within outw.rdR, gradually transfbrms the mass. So Christ works . from within by the expulsive and expansive power of a new heart, new affections, the love of God shed abroad within, and gradually possessing the whole sphere of human activi- ties ; by the impartation of a Divine lile, which puts forth energies and powers and organs through which it reveals its effects and proves its existence. Take, for example, the occasion ever memorable for the famous confession of St. Peter, and our Lord's declaration concerning the Church on the rock. Certainly it is not Peter's person, but Peter's faith, which is the fundamental matter in Christ's mind. It is to Peter as the man of faith, the typical New Testament believer, the representative of the. faith whicl^be has. h" ' ,^- *t;' -r ,ii.'' •% ''.. ■ ■ ■ } ■ ^ ■ ■- -■ — ^>ar- ■■"•■•■ ■ t ■ ■ s. • * V ticth us to Him is our faith in th© , j^romised salvation revealed in His Word of Truth." And sd He tells us that "Faith is the ground and glory of all the WcUareof this building." . ; ^-iu* thus th? Catholic Church has no existence apart fifoqi believers. They constitute it. That which makes a man ^ Christian makes him a member of the Catholic Chtirch/' namely, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This basal principle o( the Christian life is the basal principle of the Christian t Church ; so that, in its essential being, the .Church of Christ is simply the fellowship of believers in Christ. Accordingly Hooker says : " That Church which is Christ's mystical body consisteth of none but only true Israelites, true sons of Abraham, true servants and saihts of God." In like manner, Bishop Ridley affirms : *'That Church which is Christ's body, and of which Christ is the Head, standeth oftly of living stones and true Christians, not only outwardly in name and tHle, but inwardly in heart and truth." Bishop Jeremy Taylor declares that "the mere profession of ' ' Christianity makes no man a member of Christ; nothing ' but a faith working by love." Again, he says: "The invis- ible part of the visible Churcji ; that is, the true servants of Christ only are ^he Church." « So," says Bishop Mcllvame, of Ohio, " we roust say of all the baptized and the communi- cating that, while they all have the visibUity of the Church, none of them have any part in its reality except they be joined by a living ikith to Christ." THE VISIBLE AN©" THE INVISIBLE. / In the statements of these divines, emphasis is laid upon ^ "the difference between the profession and the reality of Christianity ; the inevitable distinction between the Church - in Its reality, as it is seen by God, and the Church as it appears in the world ; or, as it is technically described, between the Church visible and the Church invisible. This \'- -i- V 'mr ' V n ih it d, lis distinction is often misunderstood, and not seldom ipisrepre- sented. But as the great German theologian, Dorner, says, it is a distinction which rests upon Biblical grounds, and is indispensable t^ the idea of the purity of the Church. And our own Hooker says : " For lack of diligent observing the difference between the Church mystical ^nd visible, the oversights are neither few nor light which have been com- mitted." In the early ages of the Church, this distinction was not sharply drawn because of the sifting power of ^ rsecution, which kept the Church comparatively pure, and "^used profession to correspond more nearly with reality. But wiien the Church became prosperous in the world, and to be a *«••' —14— y-' divines of the Church of England, such as Tyndall, Ridley, Coverdale, Jewell, Hqfbker, Field, Taylor, Jackson, Usher, and numerous others. 'The relation between the visible and the invisible Church thus form^ an all-important factor in the definition of the Church. It is not meant that there are two Churches. There is but one Church, and to it belong the attributes both of visibility and invisibility. All the Protestant Con- fessions maintain that the Church has visibility, that it manifests its unseen fellowship by means of visible ordi- nances. And even Roman Catholic theologians, on the other hand, admit.that, in one sense at least, the Church is invisible, making a distinction between dead and living members. If both, then, assert, at least to some extent, both the visibility and invisibility of the Church, wherein lies the difference between them ? For a difference most vital and distinctive does exist. The real point of difference lies in the place assigned to the two respectively in the contending systems., 'the Evangelical theory of the Church makes what is visible in the Church the consequent and result of the invisible, the out- come of the unseen life. The Sacerdotal theoryiTeverses this order, afhd makes what is visible the antecedent and cause of what is invisible in the life of the Church. As the philosophical Roman divine, Moehler, fairly puts it in his "SymboHk": "The (Roman) Catholic teaches that the visible Church is first in the order of time, afterwards the invisible; the relation of the former to the latter being that of cause and effect. The Protestants, on the contrary, affirm that the visible Church owes its existence to the invisible, the latter being the true basis of the former." The Sacerdotal doctrine adtnits, indeed, that there is, or ought to be, in the Church an inner life and spiritual reali- ties invisible to the human eye; but it looks upon these , spiritual realties as merely accidental or subsidiary, and not !> -\ •■ Ir . 7. / —IS— *v -■ ^vu*. at all essential to the existence of the Church, which, it asserts, depends Upon what is external and visible, the succession of the episcopate and the sacraments. The Evangelical doctrine, on the contrary, affirms that the being of the Church lies in what is invisible and spiritual and that its visibility is the result and manifestation, and not the ground and basis, of the former. The visible Church is simply the invisible taking form. Thfc invisible is the ideal ; it is the Church as it exists in the knowledge and plan of God, as it will be revealed in the consummation of redemp- tion. The visible is that ideal, so far as realized on earth, as embodied in confessions of faith, in works of love and mercy, in worship and adoration, in ordinances and minis- tries. The invisible is related to the visible as cause to effect ; as the living spirit is to the body which it moulds and inhabits; as faith and love and desire are to the words in which they are expressed, and to the acts to which tbey prompt. • But it may be asked : Ought not the visible to be the counterpsirt of the invisible? Ought not the rtalization of the ideal to be like the ideal itself ? Truly, it ought. As the invisible is one, one life, one faith, one love, so ought the visible to make that unity manifest. \s the ideal is holy and spotless and bears the image of us head, Christ, "SO ought its embodiment to reveal in the world the beauty of holinesSj and the glory of unselfish love. It ought— t^at is the Divine purpose ; it will— that is our goal. But What hinders now? First, the Church is made up of imperfect Christians ; their knowledge is partial and theil^ love feeble. Each individual Christian is only a very partial and defective embodiment of the ideal. The image of Christ, as reflected in His life and charactei:, is shadowy, distorted, imperfect. Could any number of such broken and fragmentary reflections form one true and cbmplete " likeness ? Kow, it is just through the lives and characters, ..m ^ !»; r 'a t V \ 16^ '-^ the fellowship and worship of Christians, that the invisible takes form, receives embodiment. And how can such a form, under such circumstance, be otherwise than imper- fect, and fall far short of that to which it gives expression ? Then, not only have we imperfect Christians, but we have also spurious Qiristians ? No sooner was the Church revealed in the world than the world began to enter the '' Church. Among the apostles was a Judas; among the brotherhood of Jerusalem were Ananias and Sapphire. So;T^' everywhere are Christians by profession, not in reality; Christians who have the name but not the spirit of ^Ikist. Now, must not the influx of all this worldlineis,' Selfishness, and unbelief, into the visible Church mar its fair lineaments ? The visible, then, in taking form, sustains serious lo^ and damage from both these causes ; and, from the very nature of things, it must be but a very partial and inadequat^e rclpresentation and embodiment of the glorious ideal. y THE ISSUES INVOLVED. \ The relative position assigned to the external and the internal in the doctrine of the Church is no mere quesjtion of words. It involves themost redical and vital issues. As we have ol^served, the Evangelical doctrine of the Church grows out of and depends upon the Evangelical doctrine of salvation. J The Sacerdotal system reverses the Evangelical Order. The doctrine of the Church is the basis of the system ; and upon it is constituted the Sacerdotal doctrine of Salvation. The. contrast between the twp systems is accurately ex- pressed in the well-known antithesis of Schleiermacher : ''Protestantism makes the relation of the individual to the Church dependent upon his relation to Christ; (Roman) Catholicism makes the relation of the individual to Christ dependent upon his relation to the Church." According to the Sacerdotal theory, the Church is '* i if — «7— essentmlly and primarily an external and visible institution. Bellarmine maintains that it is as much so as any kingdom of this world. Moreover, it is an institution constituted by m^ns of one s|)ecial and definite form of external organiza- tion, outside of which it cannot exist, viz., a tactual succes- sion of the Episcopate ; to which the Romanist adds, the headship of the Pope as the successor of St. Peter and the vice-gerent of Christ. The Papal addition it is not necessary to discuss; it is but the logical outcomijL of the . Sacerdotal' position, shaped by the political environ- ment of the Roman Church. The Sacerdotal prin- ciple itself is held in common by Tractarians and Roman Catholics. Both Dr. Piisey and the present Bishop ^ Lincoln have declared that the Sacerdotal character of the Christian Ministry is the real question now at issue in the controversies within our Churth. Mr. Gore, the head of the Oxford Pusey House, defines ^Sacerdotalism to be "the belief in certain individuals ordained in a certain way being the exclusive instrument in the Divine Covenant of sacramental graces." Again he asserts the principle of Sacerdotalism to be "the conveyance of spiritual graces and gifts only through a specially ordained and commissioned human ministry." Haddon states that the doctrine of Apostolic Succession "means, in a few words: without Bishops, no Presbyters; without Bishops and •Presbyters, no legitimate certainty of sacraments; without sacraments, no certain union with the mystical body of Christ, najljy, with Hisj:^hurch; without this, no ^ certain union^mh Christ; "IB^d without that union, no salvation." The existence of the Church is thus made dependent upon the existence of the Ministry, and that ministry is Sacerdotal in its nature, and perpetuated by tactual succes- sion, these being, as Mr. Gore states, the two primary I /principles involved in Sacerdotalism. I .,? •f ■^ -^ ^i8- Three issues are here raised : Is the existence of the Ministry the precedent t)r consequence of the existence of the Church? Is this Ministry Sacerdotal/ ' Is it perpe- tuated by means of a tactual succession ? liut, indeed, the second and third issues are resolvable into the firsts If the essential being of the ChurchJies simply and solely in the faith which r^sts upon the Word arid embraces the Person of Christ, it cannot lie in any external Ministry, whatever its character. So we are brought back again tp the pri- mary question from which we set out, viz., does the fsscn- tial being of the Church lie in what is internal and spiritual: faith in Christ and its fruits ; or in what is external and visible : the external organization and polity of the Church? Ust us return for a moment to the New Testament. Read for example the Epistle to the Ephesians. How beautifully is the Church there portrayed in all its ideal completeness. Ev^ry trait, every characteristic,* every quality named is internal and spiriti^ilT^ The whole ground of its existence is Christ. Everything depends upon its relation to Him. As Ignatius wrote in his letter to the Smyrnaearts, '* Where- ever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church." It is repeatedly described (Eph. i. 23; I. Cor. xii. 12-27) as the, body of Christ, the body -of which Christ . is the head. Each Christian is a member of the body; for strenuously as we«*must^ insist upon peirsonal religion and personal responsibilities, yet there musj bfe social relations and social dutie^."^ Thei relation, which a- Clyistian enters into with Christ isSiot (hat o( a Solitary individual but of a member of a comn^unity. C/num corpus sumus in Christo. We are one body in Christ. But what is a body ? Not a mere congeries of disconnected atoms without unity or complete ness. Nor is* it a mere tpachine, which,"^ however complex or compact in its unity of many parts, all necessary, and each having its place and function, is formed from without and regulated from without. A body is formed from A • *■ — 19 — /!f • within. It is an organic unity, built up out of many and various elements, composed of many and difTerent mem- bers, constituted and moulded by the life of which it is the product, controlled and unified by the indwelling Spirit. Such is the Church of Christ. It is not constituted by any external or mechanical process. It is a life growth, con- stituted and built up by the Spirit of Christ, who abides in the hearts of Christians; as Luthardt well says: "It is not external forms and customs, but the Holy Ghost which n^akes the Church really the Church. He is the soul that fills and animates her, and combines all her individual mem- bers into the unity of one body." "There is one body and one Spirit," St. Paul writes to the Ephesians. The body is not the external polity and organization, as some affirm, but the fellowship of believers, and the Spirit is the Holy Ghost, who, as St. Paul declares, dwells in each Christian. The life of the Church is not a thing apart from the life of its members. There is no such thing as a " cor- porate life" of the Church, other than the life of which every believer is a partaker. The doctrinal teaching of the Epistles is corroborated by the actual history of the Early Church as recorded in the Acts, and subsequently traced in the basal centuries. That is a pure assumption, frequently affirmed both by Roman and Tractarian writers, that during the forty days prior to the Ascension, our Lord gave to His apostles the outlines of that external organization, in which they conceive the essential being of the Church to be placed. It is contra- dicted by the historical records. The apostles did not begin with the external polity. They went forth,. we are told, and preached the Gospel. When those who heard believed, they by their faith itself, a faith professed and declared in baptism, were made members of the fellowship of which Christ is the living head and centre; in the expressive words of St. Luke, " They were added to the '4 ii i n mm '^1 ■i " ''■^- ■^' i ^ lx)rd." Bellevcrj united together in worship tnd work, at firnt without any definite organization ; but a« the Church increased, organization bccanie necessary, and as necessitiea^ arose, provision was made for them. Thus it was, as [..ech- ler affirms, that " an external association arose out of the internal community of faith." To life belongs the extraor- dinary iK)wer we call assimilation, the power of building up organized structure out. of unorganized material. It takes to itself the crude elements of its environment and fashions them into the form and gloryj^he manifold structures in which it reveals itself The elements of which the external organization of the Christian Church is composed were already in existence in human society; and it yi^s of these pre-existing elements that the various forms and varieties of Church organization were moulded. In the case of the J^sh Christian Churches, the^jSynagogue, itself the off- spring 6f necessity under Providential guidance, was the mould in which the nascent organization too>(|| ||||^^ ' the elements derived from thif source, were JJjMPtt^'- wards, as .the Church grew among the Gfl^ro; oiher eleroetlts ],, ,*v? /t^l^ K ' * f > ■ 1 I 'S m^ ,-S^ '^N .1 ^11 . :i ./ * I '% SACtRDOTAUSM SUBVERTS THE GOSfgU *But Sacerdoutism not only makes the doctrine of salva* tion subordinate to the doctrine of the Church, it also mosP seriously modifies and changes that doctrine itself. If God has irrevocably and unreservedly committed all the treasure* of His grace and mercy to the Church: that w, to the Roman Church, as the Romanists say ; to the Chuf( hes conceived to possess Apostolical Succession, as the Trtctarians affirm; then the Church, as Dorner points out. coiwes to occupy the place of Christ, and we can only come int© communion with Him through the Church. Consequently faith in the Church takes the place of faith in Christ, and obedience to the Church the place of obedience to Him who is the Truth. The meaning of faith itself is changed so that it no longer, means trust in the I^rd Jesus Christ* but assent to the dogmas of the Church. Our Ekventh Article asserts that " we are justified by faith only." Hooker, in his sermons on justification gives a grand expositioai>f the teaching of our dhurch, contrasting it with the dloctrine of Rome. V Even the man which in himself is impious, full of iniquity, full of sin ; him being found in Christ througli faith, and having his sin in hatred through repentance; him God behold^th with a gracious eye, putting away his sin by nqt imputing it, taketh quite away the punishment due thereunto, by pardoning it ; and accepteth hiiti in Jesus Christ, afi perfectly righteous, as if himself had ful- filled the whole law." Hooker shows that Rome teaches that men are justified not by lieing accepted as righteous, for Christ's sake, but by grace infused through sacraments and penances ; that is, not by the righteouv»ess of Christ but by a righteousness of their own. He calls the Roman doctrine of justification the mystery of the man of sin, and characterizes it as the great difference between the Church of Rome and the Churcji of England. The latter makes the ground of our forgiveness something which is altogether without us— the merits of Christ, what He hath done for us. • •,*' ■A t t' m ■■• V'' 'l^IP ^*}^r;^f-, // VF» JL_:.. -22 — ■f The former makes the ground of our forgiveness and acceptance something which is within us, a disposition or ' quality imparted to us. Justification is thus coi^founded with sanctification. To sanctify is to make righteous ; to justify is, in the words of our Article, to account righteous, to reckon and deal with and treat as righteous, although we be unrighteous, simply and solely on the ground of Christ's merits in which we trust. SanctiBcation follows, We love Him who first loved us, and love becomes the principle of obedience which assimilates our character to that of Christ. The Church of Rome on the contrary^ teaches that God 'first makes men righteous by a sacramental process, infus- ing righteousness into them, impaiting spiritual tqualities by physical acts. And then on the ground of what has been "done in 4hem, they are accepted as righteous. But, says Godet, " it is contrary to the fundamental principle of Paul's gospel to put regeneration in any degree whatsoever as the basis of reconciliation and pardon. It is to make the effect the cause and the cause the ^ffect. According to St. Paul, God does not declare man righteous after having made Him righteous ; He does not make iJim righteous till He has first declared him righteous. The Whole Epistle to the Romans excludes the first of these two principles, which is no other than the Judaizing principle ever throwing man back on Himself^ and goes to establish the second, the evangelical principle, which detaches man radically from himself and throws him on God." 9 The first of these views, he adds, is that of the Church of Rome, the second is that around which the Protestant Churches have rallied. --The Roman view, which Hooker so strenuously opposes, began to find entrance into the Church of England in the days of Laud. It was greatly advanced after the Restoration by the . erroneous teachings of Bishop Bull, whose views were largely adopted by the non-jurors. It is essentially the view of the Tractarians and Ritualists of t^Hky, although —43— « expressed in somewhat different terms, which approximate even more closely to those of Rome ; so that Dr. Puse)r_ could and did write in his " Eirenicon" : " There is not one"^ statement in the elaborate chapter on Justification in the Council of Trent, which any of us could fail of receiving." Here then is this alarming phenomenon. Pari pasiu with the growth of Sacerdotalism within our Church and as its logical concomitant, we behold the rise and development of the" same radical error which Hooker brands as Rome's masterpiece. Instead of the Gospel of Grace, we have now, as in Galati^, a Gospel of works and ceremonies' and externalism. It is this fact which gives such tremendous significance- t'-ii5r'' ' It is a fatal error, Professor Wace points out, to think that the principles of liberty which have prevailed among the Protestant peoples doring the last three centuries can stand by themselves, dWorced from the great truths which the Reformation proclaimed. Only the power whicb originally emancipated men from bondage to the spirit of fear and superstition can conserve their liberties. Only the Christian man, ih Luther's striking antithesis* is through faith free lord over all things, and through love the willing servant of all. The question of Sacerdotalism involves our liberties, civil as well as religious.^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 1 - ---^^ :/ ' It is only in the Evangelical doctrine of the Church that we can 5nd the true ground of the 'permanence of the Church. The gates of hell, said our Lord, shall not prevail against it. It is a strange and common mistake to regard an external institution as a better guarantee of endurance than a living principle. But the real ground of permanence m any institution is the principle embodied in it. The securities ^or the continuity and indestructibility of the Christian Church do not lie in antiquarian researches, or doubtful precedents, or ihtj'u^ divinum of an external order ; but in the truth and love revealed in the Gospel and appre hended by humble and believing hearts. As Litton well says, "Just in proportion as Protestantism, as compared with Romanism, takes the inward view of the Church, does it place the legitimate expansion of the various elements of visible Church life upon a surer and more permanent basis." And the Roman theologian Mbehler makes the remarkable admissionthat "Christ maintains the Church in vigor by means of those who live in faith." "These, unquestionably," he says, '* are Jthe true supporters of the visible Church." gjjp. UNITY OF THE CHUJRCH. The Evangelical doctrine of the Church conserves its true unity. Of Saq terdotal theories, that alone of Rome is self- ■;*■■ .1' .-iT-;>'s>''^'- ■ ■<('■%, ,'. ^ O ' ' "' \ consistent. As it teaches that the Church is in its essential being an external society, so it claims for itself external unity, the whole body being subject to one, visible head. There is throughout the Roman Church a manifest unity of purpose and of action. But the Tractarian claims that the true Church is made up of three distinct bodies— the Angli- can, the Roman, and the Eastern, overlooking the fact that the latter is, as Dean Stanley describes it, a congeries of discordant sects. Assuredly unity cannot be predicted of a visible society between whose various division^ there is not only no inter-communion, but actual antagonism. The English Articles denounce Roman dogmas as blasphemous errors. Rome formally excommunicates England. There is neither uniformity of worship, agreement in doctrine, nor connection of government between these bodies. And yet this theory holds that they and they alone constitute the one Church of the Creeds. How self-contradictory is such an assumption. But if the essential being of the Church is constituted by the relationship of believers to Christ, their Head, the nature of the unity^of the Church is at 6nce apparent. It consists in essentials, not in mere externals ; in community of life, in mutual love and trust, in the co- operation of unselfish service, in likeness of character, in the all-pervading presence of the one Spirit, whose indwell- ing power binds all the members into one body. As Bishop Westcott forcibly puts it, " The essential bond of union is not external, but spiritual; it consists not in one organization, but in a common principle of life. Its expression lies in a personal relation to Christ, and not in any outward system." Unity is not to be confounded with uniformity. Variety as much as Unity is the law of life. Life-forms are diversi- fied ; some more simple, others more complex. The higher the life the more multiform will be the structures in which it is embodied. There will be growth in a living body, and growth means change, variety, replacement. As Westcott ' \ ' ' _ » r;^Y "**^^^^fe ''■■i^P'^""fi*^^/^'ngd^|^^/^J,^' says, "It is indeed impossible to regard the Church as a body, without recognizing the necessity of a constant change in its organization." The evil of disunion does not lie in the variety of foris in which the one body i$ manifested ; it does not lie in the existence of differing forms of government, modes of wor- ship, habits of thought, or methods of work ; but it lies in the jealousies and antagonisms which have shown themselves in connection with these differences. The law of distribu- tion is a wise and beneficent provision of the Creator. He adjusts each individual life to its surroundings ; He gives to each its limits and measure, and makes each contribute to the harmony and completeness of the whole. This law of dis- tribution is seen in its wonderful and beneficent working in every gradation of living creatures ; in the ease of plants, animals, and man himself. St. Paul reminded the Athenians that God "made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on 4ill the face of the earth ; and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of" their habitation.^' " Made of one blood "—here is unity of life ; " determined the bounds of their habitation "—here is distribution, with all the tribal and national varieties in which the unity of humanity is manifested. This law of distribution is a most fruitful and beneficent one. The contrasts, the manifold- ness, the necessities it creates, Ue at the basis of all human ihtercourse, commerce, and civilization. But jealousy and selfishness pervert the beneficent law; the contrasts become antagonisms; distribtition becomes division. Thence follow strife and devastation ; unnatural isolation or grasping ira- periousness contending for the mastery. So in the sphere of man's spiritual activities the same law of distribution " holds good. In its normal action it is most beneficent. It creates necessities, varieties, a rich manifoldness of being, in ■ which each supplements and stimulates the others. But here again human sin and selfishness have intervened to rob -7^ i«c r. —1. ■ '-t ' f •. ^l|^W|| — a8— - .- r ' k-\' ^ US of the blessing. Distribution has been perverted into division. Instead of "provoking one another to love and good works " there „ are unholy contentions, sectarian jealousies, exclusive and unscriptural pretensions, sectarian-, ism and proselytism. While we seek to remedy these evils, we must beware lest we rather perpetuate them by con- founding distribution, which is God's beneficent law, with division, which is man's unhappy perversion of it. jDivision, indeed, seems to be the necessary preparation for the manifestation of trth» unity. As Westcott has finely expressed it, " .division appears to be the preliminary of that noblest catholicity which will issue from the sepakite fulfil- ment by each part in du^^easure.of its proper function towards the whole." Thus, as he points out, the growth of true unity is not merely in slUite of, but by means of, these divisions. iThere must b^^alysis before synthesis. There must be by means of criticism, antagonism, comparison, and controversy, the eliintnation of each truth from error, and the definition of each, _bef ore the whole caiv be com- bined into one gran^ and harmonious expression. As West- cott states, " We cannot be surprised if we see around us many Christian societies, distinct and subserving in virtue oi" their distinctness to distinct types of thought and feeling. Differences which once were found in the same external body, are now seen embodied in separate societies. We lose something by the change, but the gain must not be neglected. We are led[ tg the spiritual basis of unity instead of reposing in thfe fact' Of formal unity. And, more than this, the full development of each part is best secured by independent action.** As true unity is a life process^ it proceeds from within outwards. It cannot be wrought ojit by any external pro- cess. We. can tie things together, but we cannot really unite them. ^ We can make mechanical conjunction of parts; God alone can produce a vital union. Every at tem pt to / f / *■'■■■ ■' anticipate God's time has ended in disaster; Mere'uni- formity is a method of repression and restriction destructive of thought and of that freedom which is of the very essence of religion. Instead of promoting, it has hindered unity by pre- cluding the full and free expression of thought and conviction. Are we then to be satisfied with the present condition of things ? To use the words of an eminent Baptist clergyman, Dr. Maclaren — "Does anyone believe that the present condition of Christendom, and the relations to one another even of good Christian people in the various Churches and communions of our own and other lands, is the sort of thing Jesus Christ meant, or is anything like a fair and adequate representation of the deep essential unity which knits us all together ? " Certainly, I for one, cannot think that it is. But I am also sure that no mere mechanical or ecclesiastical process can bring about this great consumma- tion, which every earnest Christian must intensely desire. Coleridge has pointed out the difference between form as proceeding and shape as superinduced. The latter is either the death or the imprisonment of the life within. We see the deadliness of the process iii the measures of external restriction and repression by which the Church of Rome maintains the appearance of unity, in which she glories. All organic form is innate. It is developed from the life within, to which it gives suitable and truthful expression. All endeavors to produce unity by external >neans enfeeble and dwarf the Church's life. A true external unity must be the maixifestation of the spirit within, and can only be pro- duced by spiritual agencies. , ^v \ As has been well said, "It is our ignorance and^ our prayerles&ness which keep us apart." Only as we advance in. the knowledge of Christ will we come nearer to unity. Only thus shall the whole Church attain to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ by the growth of each Christian up into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge -• •/.. -i*'i ■•*:'■! of the Son of God (Eph. iv. 23). ^¥ .« ' OUR DUTY. ^ There is one special duty incumbent upon us as mem- bers of the Church of England, that is, to maintain its Reformation position in the hearty and cordial recognition of the Reformed and Evangelical Churches. This is a matter in regard to which Evangelical Churchmen need to speak out more boldly than they have done. We must labour to secure practical co-operatipn with other Churches. The only really adequate and enduring expression of Chris- tian fellowship is to be found in united action in Christian work. There is abundant room for such co-operation and pressing necessity for it at home and -abroad. A policy of isolation is most injurious to ourselves. We thereby de- prive ourselves of the stimulus and enrichment which result from intercommunion and fellowship with all the varieties of spiritual endowment and development, in which the fullness of the one life manifests itself. Instead/ of thereby depreciating our own glorious heritage, we intensify our love for It and make it more worthy of our devotion. It is altogether legitimate that we should regard our own Church organization as the most completely organized, the richest in all the elements of efficiency, and capable of most fully manifesting the energies and activities of Christian life. But it is not needful to dwell upon these things. The ten-- dency at present in our communion is not to undervalue them, but rather to allow them to overshadow the great spiritual realities which alone give them value. And it is to^hese, therefore, that I now direct your earnest attend tion. Surely the body is more than raiment, the living Church of believers is infinitely more than jay garments, however beautiful, in which any branch oPthe Church visible arrays itself. Love, wisdom, truth, righteousness, are infinitely greater than the ways and modes in which they maybe exercised. Theultimate test of the value of different. -Church organizations and forms of government will be their •&=^ . ■> :Mk- -3" \ . ^ capacity to embody fully and adequately the rich, full life which flows from Christ, the Head ; and to carry out effect- ually the ends for which all Church organization exists, the bringing of the world into contact with Christ, and the discharge of all the functions of the .Christian life in its beneficence and self-sacrifice. i Let us, then, use our opportunities wisely. We want deeds, not merely words. Tlie spirit of reconciliation is one which is willing to yield mucb, and to suffer much, and does not stand proudly upon its rights. This is the spirit of Christ, the spirit of living unity. The want of it is the source of isolation and separation. When the tide recedes and the rocks are bare, the water stands in is6lated pools ; but with the incoming, tide they overflow and are lost in the full flood which enfolds them. So when spiritual life is at a low ebb, when formalism and externalism chill and weaken, the spirit of exclusiveness grows, and Christians and Christian Churches stand apart in unhappy isolation But when the full tide of Divine life and grace enter men's hearts the barriers are swept away. The fervor of love melts and moulds and unites in Christ Jesus. It is aston- ishing what an effect such close co'^operation will have in removing misunderstanding and promoting mutual respect and 16ve, and we hope finally preparing the way for a closer re-union. Let us labour on, then, in hope, and meanwhile, let us not be too much discouraged by the present imper- fect state of the Church. It is the time of her humiliation. It hath not^et been manifested, as St» John says, what she Shall be. She is still far off from her glorioufr ideal. She walks in the wilderness, Kke the Man of Sorrows, her glory hidden and her hope deferred. But the Epiphany of her glory shall come, when united, perfect and spotless, she shall be presented faultless before the presence of her Master, whose image she shall bear, and in whose light she shall dwell forever. For th a t hour a nd that r e v e lation of ■-.-•'^'w.-^)i;j^ ■ ,*(»«■* bl" APPENDIX. THE ENQLI8H REFORMERS AND THEOLOGIANS* ., ON THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH. ^^ The limitations of a lecture obliged me to confine cita tions from. our Reformers and divines to a few brief refer- ences. While the space at my disposal will not permit me «oi)resent a complete catena of authorities, I have thought it well to add the following quoutions from ^e of our leading theologians : " v " Holy Church is the congregation of just men, for whom Christ shed His blood."— W^ff/i^. Says Lechler : "According to Wiclif, the eternal groimd or basis of the Church lies in this Divine election. He always defines the Church to be the communion or whole body of the elect. He pUces himself in deliberate opposi- tion to the idea of the Church which prevailed in his time . . . according to which men took the Church to mean the visaie Catholic Church,"— ZecA/er's/oAn WUlif, vol ii„p. g8. " The Church is both visible and invisible. The invisible Church is of the elect of God only; the visible consists both of good and bad. ... I deny that succession of bishops is an infallible point to know the Church hy:*—Philpot. " Such as teach the people to know the Church by these signs, namely, the traditions of men and the succession of bishops, teach wrong." -^wA?/ ^^^^^ "The Church is the body of the Christian common- wealth ; that \% the universal number and fellowship of all the faithful, whom God, through Christ, hath, before all beginning of time, appointed to everlasting life. . . . Here in the Creed is properly entreated of -the c/ngregation of ' those whom God, by His Secret election, hath adopted to Himself through Christ; which Church can neither be seen ' » wm, ■ ' » ' i. • , ' . j;* ' with eyes, nor can continually be known by '.i.ns Y« th«e. ..Church of God visible, or, ha. may be?e^^- ^" do us^ Hi. my..er.e.. commonly called .acramen.,. with the same pureness and simplicity (ai touching this substancet Fh^h the apostle, of Christ usedWnd have put inwrUin? _"IconfeM thM in aythurch collected together in one Pl.ce. and a, liberty. go/Trnment i» nece,«.ryM th^ ^o^d k.nd of necessity- thJi,, as he has alread/exp arneHot one kmd of government isso necessary that, without it. the • wmc Other kmd, ,i,ought to be mote expedient. 1 utterly deny, d .he reaso^ns that move me so to do L these .7 r^ad t^'"" ' ^''"=''' "° "'°'""' '''°""' have tlln dl' ^ It had been a matter necessary unlo the salvation of the Church. Secondly, because the essential notes rf the Church ^bejhese only: the true preaching of the W^rd of God and th. right administration ofthe«.cramen,sf S ° Master Calvm sa.th, ' Wheresoever we see the Worf of (^ teted t1;r sac,amen,s,wi,hout superstition, adLni,- s ':7G:d7^T'°Th:^'^^^^^^^ "-•^'-''^ "•« ui ooa to De. The same 1$ the opinion of the ' godly and learned writers, andthe judgment of the RefoVmtd no.J>K? ^ ""•''*'""' ^"^ ""'' confessions; so that notwthstandmg, government, or some kind of goCernment and perfection of ,t. yet >s ,t not such a pfrt of the essence ft. . » ■.■•.■..■• "J:: '■■4' .~\ --V'-ifr^j -• 'f^ .r. I \ —34— and being but that it may be the Church of Christ withoyi this or that kind of government ; and, therefore, the ♦ kind of government' of the Church is not 'necessary to salva- Xxofir* -ArehbisMop IVhUfii/t, mrks, vol, L, p. 184 so,, Parker So€. E4. » /- -f jr , Field, Dean of Gloucester, insists on the distinction between the Church visible and invisible, making the former to consist of those called by the ((race of God' into the knowledge of the Gospel, and the latter of those wto, by outward profession, belong to the Church. Sec his tnitUe on "The Church," Book I., Cljapters f, 8, etc. "What is meant here (in the Creed) by the Catholic IChurch ? That whole universal company of the elect that ^ver were, arcf^ or shall l)e gathered together in one body, knit together in one faith, under one head, Jesus Christ . . * the multitude of all tijose that have, do, br shall believe unto the world's end."-.^ri:>Ww/fc?/ Usher's '' Body of Dmn- " The Catholic Church, in the prime sense, consists only of such men as are actual and indissoluble members of ChHst's mystical body, or of such as have the Catholic ^ faith, not only sound in their brains or understandings, but tlwroughlyrooted in their hearts. . . . The whole company of God's elect actually made members of Christ by virtue of an inward eflfectual calling to, faith and godliness— this we commonly call the invisiWe Church, or the Church of God's elect. The whole company of all those throughout the world who, by their doctrine and worship, do outwardly make profession of the name of Christ— this we cajl the universal visible Church, or the Catholic Christian Church." -^I>r, Jackson OH the Church, " The Church is a company of men and women profess- ing the saving doctrine of Jesus Christ. This is the Church ^^J^"^ f^'^'^*^^^^ v^ the sight of men; but because glorioui things are spoken of the city of God, the professors" *■ • ■ ■^■«;'''¥^g**W't|f' ^35— of Chmf. doctrine .re but imperfectly and incboatively the Church of (.od ; but they who are indeed holy and obedient to Christ 8 law, of faith and mannen^thete are truly and perfectly 'the Church' . . . these are the Church of (led K t^f^^r *""* ^^'^ °^ ^^- ^""^ ^^^ Church of God i. the body of Christ; but the mere profession of Christiar.lty makes no mari a member of Christ-nothinK but a new creature, nothing but 'a faith working by love' and keeping the commandments of Go^. Now, they that do this are not known to be-such by men, they are known only to God : and therefore it is in a true sense the invisible Church. . . . The invisible Churth is ordinarily and regularly part of the ^ .visible, but yet that only part that is the true one. . . . -, Now, If any part will agree to calf the universality of professors by the title of ChuVch,they(may if they will; but f by a Church we mean that society which is really joined to Christ, which hath received the Holy Ghost, which is heir of the promises and of the good things of God, >.hich IS the body of which Christ is the head, then the invisible part of the visible Church, that ,X the true servams of Christ, only are the Church."-^^>fc,;) 7ay/or>s ^^ Dissuas^ tfKfrom Popery:^ Part II., Book /, Section j, ^ Hooker urges strenuously th^ importance"^rTl(e distinc- t.on between the Church mystical and visible. "But we speak now of the visible Chdrch, whose children are signed with th6 mark, 'One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism.' In whomsoever thes^. things are, the Church doth acknowledge them for her children; them only she holdeth for aliens and strangers in whom these things are not found. For want of these things it is th^t Saracens, Jews, and infidels, are .excluded out of the bounds of the Church. Otherswemay not deny tQ be of the visible Church, so longiisthese things t!!!rZ?.!^"^'"/^"'°:. ^o^^PPa^entitis, that all men ji a re of nec e ssity eithe r Christians or not Christians. If by external profession ihey be Christians, then are they oi tL ■.t r." ■v^.- .1 ^ l^ ( I M'isii/e CiurM of CMsi; and Christians by external profes- SK>n they are all whose mark of recognizance hath in it • ^those Ihmgs wh,cl, we have raentipned, j-ea, although they ■be .mpious .dototers, Wicked here^^jpersons excommuni: cable yea and cist out for .oiorfeus improbity. Such •thai we deny noj to be the imps and liinbs of Satan, even so long as they continue such. Is it then possible that the a'^HTlK'"*nK''°f ''*'°"8 both to the ?ynagogu,; of Satan and to the Church of Jesus Chnst? Unto that thurch *h,ch .s H.S n^tical body, not possible; because that - My_ consisteth of none but only triie ^elites,- true sons of Abraham true servants and saia^ of God. Howbeit, of ;fhe visible body and Church of Jesus Christ those may be and often are in respect of the main parts of their outward . 4.rofess.c(n, who in regard of their inward disposition of mind, yea, of external conversation, yea, even of some parts of their outward profession, are-most worthily, Uh hateful Vnit °^.,^°l«"»«'f. »»d in the eyes ofle sounder part of the visible Church most execrable.»-.aw£, £ P III.,i.7,S. ■ .,' y- ^-y :■ ,^i'/ J. ■ -^The following words of Hooker are frequently quoted: . l-*t."»,notfearto be herein bold and perimptoiy, that if anything in the Church's government, surely the fim insti- tution of bishops was from heaven, was even of God, the • «oIyGI)ostwastheauthor«fit.»— £/>>■// _,^j, A What is involved in them can only be rightly understooq J^^ a„ Placed in connection with the foUow^ . ^"?'1*^°°'"''"=°»'^«1'"°» of an ordinance of God as explained m the following: "It (episcopacy) had either D vine appointment l^forehand, or Divine approbation afterwards, and is in that respect to be acknowledged the ordinance of God, no less than that ancient Jewish r^itoen w^iereof though Jethro were the adviser, yet after thS GcS had^owedivall men were subject unto it. as to thepolity ot trtjd, and not ofjethra"— .£./>, r//, c, J. r-Z~T' .i .. Secondly : Hookert view of the origin of tlie episconate « may be «aU.ered from hi, sutemenu in .he E P ^ ' ..:-(oo long to quot|> here. He first followed the view of h,s great master. Bishop Jewell, that the episcopate a^^ natura ly and without any apostolic sanctL o^t of 7l^ presbyl^mte. Afterwards, he seems to have adont^ th. op.n,on that bishops and pr^byters wer^^Steinct from he outset by apostolic appointment. ' "'""""""he rhn^f /' K?'?'"" °P'''-'°" '^ '« "« inthepowerol the h^htbus descended »rom tU a ^itstm^res!"; "[hr ttt :y:i::^tfrrordTr °' '■' '"-^ ---"'^ . "--nowie^i:^X^';:r;;n;t:r ^ let ,t tiach them not to disdain the advice of their Dr«' byters; bat td use their authority with so mLh ^ ~"",'"',r"'-,.-»"^^' " "t -1," , I " I: ■k ■ Reformed Churches, the Scottish especially and the French, have not that which best agreeth with Scripture, the government by bishops, I rather lament the defect than exagitate (reproach), sin«e none without fault may be f '^ '« ^^<^ that polity which is best." Again he says: Where the Church must needs have some ordained, and neither hath nor can have possibly a bishop to ordain : in case of such necessity the ordinary institution of God hath given oftentimes, and may give place." Yet again: " Some do infer that no ordination can stand but only such as is made by bishops. .,.. To this we answer that there may be sometimes very just and sufficient reasons to allow ordmation made without a bishop."^^/> ^77 xiv., II. '^ ' ' ''' Fifthly : Hooker expressly asserts the form of Church polity to be a matter of liberty. He insists that all may hold the .necessity " of polity and regimen » without holding one form liecessary in all." "Matters of faith," he declares, •^necessa^r to salvation and sacraments, are con- teined m God's Wbrd. But matters of ceremony, order. Church government, are free, if nothing against them be alleged from Scr.pture."^^./> ///., ,>•, j^ ^^ ,,^^ ; In coifoboration of my representation of Hooker's posi- tions, I will cite three witnesses. The late Bishop Walde- grave, of.garlisle, affirms that Hooker regarded episcopacy a^ necessary to the fien, esse, but not to the «^'of thi' Church.^ The writer of the article on Hooker in the f"^'^^f^ Bn^nnicastates « Hooker^ exact position " n ^ ru u "^^^'^^^'y^f Po"ty and regimen may be held m all Churches without holding any form to be necessary." Hallam, ,n his " Constitutional History," states that Hooker maintains that no certain form of polity is set down in aZ" ^' Sf^^^-^^y 'ndispensable for a- ChristTan i will also add three testimonies relating not only to I I i . H»Dker but also ,o ihe con«n»us of our Church of England au.bor..,e,a,to.hi.po,„,. Bishop O'Brien, in hi. cC of .84, on the Oxford movement. «.ys: "All our «St d mnes who m .intaia the reality and advantages ofaluS^ s-on from the apostles' time of episcopan^^rrd b^.ops and episcopally^rdained n>i^^J\J^a^Z and who rejoice m the possession of it by our om Chu^h tr.K°t'" r ■"""'*'" '"" '"» « "bsou^r^ntiai ; that they do not hold that it is." "aMitclear "They (our Reformers) rest the claims of minister not a cha n T i" r';""'" "''=^^'°" ^'9« the apostles. ." a Cham, of which, .f any one link be eVen doubtfu a n2tr* ""'""■"' " "'™*" °^" "» Christian odi the tc. rT"*"' ""'' ^'"'"='' P""leges forever; but on the fact of those ministers being the ngu/arly-LJnZ WhaUly^ Ktngdim of Christ," Essay 11 r^^^ lamented Dr. Washburn. Reetor of Calvarv Chuich, New York, in his "Ep^^hs of Church HbtZ^ ' t^SHrker''''''r ^ ""' °"^ '-*"« *"^nrom ' .nrt^TJ!'? ' """^ """^ <:Wmed more than histoHc , -■■e7,sarelytt'^:.':'''.XXo.^?::^t,ol an exclusive episcopacy, even in later times, when Cr<^[ / and Uud had naturalized it. gained footiL Ja C^^^ pnncple Field. Biamhall. Hall, Usher. m^St" From these quotations it is very, evidertl • \/' - - be,weI^tlrCh^t™'"M''"''^'r'^ clearly distinguished 2. That they held the essentiil being of / *•: ^.A- , .^ '■ ' . > ^ - ', > -Hr- \ 1 -40 — v i. That they held no-particular form of Chureh govern- ment essential to the being of the Church, or absolutely >and irrevocably binding upon the Church; 4. That they held episcopacy to be a lawful an^ scriptural form pf Church tovernment, and hot an aqueduct and channel of grace. ,. rft / .^.,. m V sf, "£ l^:\ 1 ' .': ■"> ' \: ■ -.f -vy. ■ •'■, ' '■ ■ y .,-, v>;' ■- »-' 1 ./S-.-:?^. -r-^ ^m- ■■..']; mt:M^^. :^^m'M-a:,a^,^^^ »^,w« ''Tf/^r, ,w ■':4*;?; -»; ; -*■> ?-, w, • If \ ' V> '-"I'm ,-it*fe( !^ ^'^:' ^ >• './ r/M .y^% '>i'i |-^ •• iVV^ N.jr/^vrt' ^$ I. ?»■' ■ » ■ 1 ip-'^ ^ / f ''Ml- u m. Om ^ ■^ i^r ■-'" '■"■ ■ ■ *'■ ^