LI M -TED.) ^ — —^tijj S 2. KING STREE * '<■ ROAD , S ^-- •<^v i",r;/ (.=-,«> 7--<^^V-.-=l-; '.■r>\f^:i>:K ::r':.i;jA.-\ THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESENTED BY PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID ^Mw■m^^^rmf'^- Digitized by the fnternet Archive in 2007 with funding from —' IVIicrosoft Corporation rchive.org/details/ecclesiachurchprOOreynrich ECCLESIA. ECCLESIA: Cl)urcl) ^vohltms Consttrereti, IN A SERIES OF ESSAYS. EDITED BY HENRY ROBERT REYNOLDS, D.D., PRESIDENT OF CHESHUNT COLLEGE; FELLOW OF UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON. lonDon : HODDER AND STOUGHTON, 27, Paternoster Row. MDCCCLXX. O^BERS, ■*l; ATJD ^^ ADVERTISEMENT, The principles of self-government, and of personal and congregational freedom, are asserting themselves with great force through the entire ecclesiastical sphere. Reverence for conscience is widely associated with the craving for truth. Those who have enjoyed any special opportunities for acquiring knowledge, or whose opinions on controverted questions represent a peculiar phase of our national life, are encouraged to speak freely. The present is not, therefore, an inappropriate time for writers who have long been practically acquainted with the excellencies and aims of a considerable section of the Free Churches of Britain, to give combined utterance to some of the theological, ecclesiastical, and political principles, which are more or less embodied in these organizations. The following Essays have been written independently of each other. This circumstance may be held to explain occasional repetition of arguments from different points of view, and some variations of sentiment. The authors are severally and solely responsible for the ideas they have ventured to express. January, 1870. M313163 CONTENTS. PRIMITIVE ECCLESIA : Its Authoritative Principles and its Modern Representations. By John Stoughton, D.D i II. THE IDEA OF THE CHURCH REGARDED IN ITS HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT. By J. Radford Thomson, M.A 59 ' III. THE "RELIGIOUS LIFE" AND CHRISTIAN SOCIETY. By J. Baldwin Brown, B.A 133 IV. THE RELATION OF THE CHURCH TO THE STATE. By Eustace Rogers Conder, M.A 195 V. THE FORGIVENESS AND ABSOLUTION OF SINS. By The Editor ... 243 vi Contents, VI. PAGE THE DOCTRINE OF THE REAL PRESENCE AND OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. By R. W. Dale, M.A ... 315 VII. THE WORSHIP OF THE CHURCH. By Henry Allon. ... 393 VIII. THE CONGREGATIONALISM OF THE FUTURE. By J. Guinness Rogers, B.A 463 IX. MODERN MISSIONS AND THEIR RESULTS. By Joseph Mullens, D.D. 533 PRIMITIVE ECCLESIA: ITS AUTHORITATIVE PRINCIPLES AND ITS MODERN REPRESENTATIONS. REV. JOHN STOUGHTON, D.D. Edin. PRIMITIVE ECCLESIA: ITS AUTHORITATIVE PRINCIPLES AND ITS MODERN REPRESENTATIONS. Those who are acquainted with English Ecclesiastical Controversy must be struck with the change which has come over it of late years. It used to be the fashion to recognize Scripture as our supreme authority upon this subject, to repair to it as the main storehouse of argument, and to regard it throughout as the last standard of appeal. No doubt the old mode of discussion had its dis- advantages ; texts were handled in a narrow unscientific spirit of criticism ; some were applied to a service which a larger and more accurate acquaintance wuth the Divine records cannot justify ; and some, by being squeezed, crushed, and distorted, were made to mean much more than could have been originally designed. The amount of information on ecclesiastical points was not carefully measured, not correctly estimated ; more was supposed to be taught than a deep and thorough investigation warrants us to believe. By some controversialists little or no scope was left for the action of enlightened reason in the application of what the Bible teaches, and in the practical administration of matters concerning which the Bible is silent. B 2 Primitive Ecclesia. The method is now changed. Ecclesiastical subjects are commonly debated on grounds of history, expediency, and reason. By many writers no endeavour at all is made to ascertain, by a survey of those parts of Scripture which refer to the primitive Church, what was the nature of its institutes ; and, consequently, the question is not asked — After what manner should the teaching of the New Testament be applied to the regulation of Church affairs in the present day ? Here and there a text of Scripture may be cited, if it happen to agree with a prior conclusion, or if it sljould chance to discredit an an- tagonist's position. Interest and novelty may, according to this method, be imparted to a discussion of well-worn topics. The danger of a threadbare iteration of familiar quotations may be avoided ; a philosophical cast may dig- nify a discussion. Light may be shed upon political and social problems, and practical suggestions of considerable value may be pertinently supplied ; but the point is left untouched— What help does the Bible afford in these matters ? Yet, surely, that Is the chief question after all. At any rate the inquiry is one of great interest. If the classical scholar devotes himself to the study of all he can find In the literature of the ancients, bearing any relation to the rise of the Greek Republics, or to the early stages of the Roman Commonwealth — if English readers delight to trace whatever can be discovered respecting the early constitution of the government of this country; surely a Christian man must feel pleasure in examining every Scripture reference, even the most minute, to early com- munities, — which, beyond those of Greece or Rome, or England, are affecting our moral and religious destinies as Individuals, and are really the parent stock from which have sprung all the ecclesiastical organizations of Christendom. If the sacred notices of a primitive Church be so few, Primitive Ecclesia. 3 so scanty, and so insufficient, that no idea can be satisfac- torily formed of its fundamental principles ; or if Scripture conclusions on the subject are inapplicable to the set- tlement of modern controversies; or if the conditions of society have so completely changed, that apostolical precedents are necessarily obsolete ; at least let these positions be clearly established, that we may know just where we are, and search after sufficient reasons for placing the whole subject upon a new foundation. In the following Essay we must bear in mind the position into which Church questions have drifted, and direct our investigations accordingly. The main object will be to ascertain what may be learnt from the New Testament respecting the nature of the primitive Ecclesia ; to consider how far its principles are binding upon Christendom ; to discover the bearing of our conclusions upon a great question of the present day ; and to point out to what extent the Scripture ideal is embodied in existing organizations. What was the Character of the Primitive Ecclesia ? The first Ecclesia — or Church — consisted of the be- lievers in Jerusalem, including the Apostles of Jesus Christ, the disciples who associated with them after the Ascension, and the persons who, on the day of Pentecost embraced the faith. Drawn out of the world by mutual sympathies springing from an experience at once new and blessed, and evincing a simplicity of character perhaps as great as their knowledge generally was small, they communed, worshipped, and worked together, in order to propagate the truths which they had received fresh from heaven. The^^;^^^^^ and formation of this kind of community — this clustering of men around certain Divine prin- B 2 4 Primitive Ecclesia. ciples of faith, fellowship, and order— and the unfolding of so new and strange a social nebula Into new and strange social worlds, may be studied historically and analytically — the progress of the idea In its practical embodiment being traceable step by step through the Acts, the Epistles, and the Apocalypse until the word Church, at first popular and vague, assumes a technical precision — and the sympathetic gathering, on the first Pentecost at Jerusalem, reappears in the seven organized societies of Asia Minor. The earliest idea of a Christian Church is that of a brotherhood for the maintenance and diffusion of religious convictions. Associations for religious and benevolent purposes, apart from a distinct recognition of particular opinions, have been common enough in all ages ; but such associations are plainly distinguishable from the EcclesicB of the Acts. For the disciples in Jerusalem were emphatically believers ; the pupils of a Divine Teacher, the earnest and devout re- cipients and advocates of truths unknown to, or opposed by, the world around them. The new converts continued steadfastly In '' the apostles' doctrine;' their confederation from its commencement being " a pillar and ground of truthy Whether or not the term doctrine be meant In the rigid sense of dogma — whether the word " truth " be equivalent to theological principles or Christian senti- ments — at any rate the shield as first displayed by the Church was not like the shield of Amphlaraus, a blank surface without device, but rather like the shield of Minerva, which Phidias made with his name inwrought in such a manner, that the one could not be extracted without destroying the other. No merely vague re- ligious feeling constituted the nexus of fellowship, but faith in a Divine namCy the name of the world's Redeemer : faith in Him as a Divine person, the ground of penitential trust, and the foundation of saintly, hope — faith In the Primitive Ecclesia, 5 doctrines respecting Him taught by men who '* spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." Primitive truth and the primitive Church were one : or at least so con- nected do they appear that the idea of the latter dissolves, when the idea of the former is withdrawn. The Church comes before us at the beginning as a sympathetic conso- ciation for maintaining and teaching the doctrines, as well as for cherishing and diffusing the spirit of the Gospel. The Church is not only a creation of the genius of Christi- anity, it is a herald of the principles of Christianity. A line must be drawn between Christianity as a re- ligion and Christianity as a theology, between its vital essence and its scientific expression ; and we may trace in the apostolic age a progress in the unfolding of truth even as we do a progress in the organizing of institutes. The study of the Epistles in their chronological order with this reference, is alike interesting and instructive in the highest degree ; and the thoughtful reader of them, when they are so arranged, will find how, in succession, one truth after another came into prominent and distinct manifestation before the mind of Christendom — the great Inspirer of the first age adopting throughout a law of development in harmony with maxims laid down by the Incarnate Word. On the side of fellowship, as on the side of faith, the Church assumed a distinctive character. Not only were the members united, but the object of their aggregation is seen to be the culture of a unity which sunk down infinitely deeper than the roots of ordinary communities. '' The multitude of ^hem that believed were of one heart and of one soul, neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own." '' Great grace was upon them all." Union is exhibited as both the beginning and the end of their fellowship. It appears as the seed, and as the harvest of a new kind of love 6 Primitive Ecdesia. with which the world was to be sown. Sympathy brought disciples together, and they came into fellowship that they might deepen that sympathy. Their sympathy was a sentiment : it was also a life, an unselfish motive, a Divine power, impelling its possessors to work for one another's benefit, and for other men's salvation. It has been asked, ** Is a Church a body of men formed by the combination of certain men, who agree in reverencing the name of Christ, or who have the same opinion respecting His doctrine ; or is it a body instituted by God Himself, to which men as men are invited to belong, and to which no one can refuse to belong without abandoning his own human privileges, and denying the privileges of his fellow men ?" * I answer unhesitatingly both ; for how can men accept the universal invitation without agreement in reverencing **the name of Christ ?" How can men belong to a body instituted by God Himself, and claim their own privileges and those of others, without faith in that institution as a Divine one, and as resting on divinely revealed prin- ciples ? How can they form a Christian body of men at all, without having to some extent '' the same opinion respecting " His doctrine," and without in consequence entering into '' combination'' or communion ? A community of the peculiar kind described in the New Testament, could not but embody a principle of selectness. In the nature of things, it could not be a mere concourse of social atoms ; of necessity there worked within it a law of afiinity, as real as any which in chemistry draws together substances of similar kinds. Like attracts like. Believers consorted with believers. " Being let go they went to their own company," — a statement, which expresses a moral fact deeper than * Maurice's Kingdom of Christ, ii. i. I thank Mr. Maurice for admitting that nearly all founders of tects have had glimpses of a principle deeper than that of mere combination. A Church is a combination: but it is something more. Primitive Ecclesia. 7 the mere circumstance which it records. And the law of selection and affinity, acting on its negative side, could not but become the innocent occasion of repulsion or exclusion. '' What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light with darkness, and what concord hath Christ with Belial, or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel, and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols ?" Such an inquiry is perfectly natural, and admits but of one answer. The human race is composed of alienated tribes, a nation may consist of disaffected masses, a family may be divided in views and interests, associations for particular purposes may contain heterogeneous mate- rials ; but no company meeting together from a sentiment of union, and for the promotion of union, — from moral sympathies, and with the desire of spreading them, wave beyond wave, circle beyond circle, — can do otherwise than lay down rules of admission and order which must exclude or must remove those who are antagonistic or alien. Every modern association, every club based upon friendship and acquaintance, the democratic as well as the aristocratic, is an example of this. Discipline is indispensable to a society, as distinguished from a mob. It arises not as something accidental, or conventional ; but as a necessary outgrowth of the deepest and strongest social life. The primitive Christian community could not be called exclusive in any odious sense. Odious exclusiveness can only mean pride, selfishness, antipathy, a dislike to the 01 TToXkol^ — a desire to shut out as many as possible from the privileged enclosure ; — but an Ecclesia was, as far as possible, removed from feelings of that description ; for it sought to bring as many as possible within the limits of the fold, and refused none who had an honest desire to enter within its borders. Yet it is remarkable that in an 8 Primitive Ecclesia. association framed to rest on the corner stones of a Catholic charity, an awful act of exclusion occurs in the case of Ananias and Sapphira,* and it is also plain that laws of discipline are laid down by the Apostle Paul, laws which on reflection are recognized by us as natural and necessary, for healthy bodies do, and ever must, throw off whatever is diseased and corrupt. Next to fellowship comes worship. They who '' con- tinued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellow- ship" also united ''in breaking of bread and in prayers." Religious people, meeting for religious purposes, could not do otherwise than engage in acts of praise and supplication. From the circumstances of the case the worship must have been simple. The idea of any elaborate ritual is inconceivable. Not a word is said of vestments, or of attitudes, or of any forms at all ; indeed no room existed for such regulations, and all must admit that things of that kind, whether right or wrong, are entirely the production of succeeding ages. Whatever more the breaking of bread may denote — pro- bably a social meal, some sort of Agape, or love feast, it is obvious that the communion of the Lord's Supper con- stituted an essential part of the social service. It is not only curious, but important, to notice how eating together appears as a symbol of Christian union and charity, and how this symbol became complicated with early con- troversies. Jews and Gentiles had been wont to keep aloof from each other's tables. The *' clean " would not eat with the '' unclean," but they were called upon to do so, after caste had been broken by Peter's vision at Joppa. People from the east and west, the north and south, were to sit down together in the Kingdom of God. Conse- quently, a new social law entwined itself around the communion of the body and blood of Christ ; yet not so * Acts V. i-ii. f I Cor. V. 5 2 Cor. ii. ; Gal. vi. i j 2 Thess. ill. 6. Primitive Ecclesia. 9 as to obscure the doctrinal signification of the Institute as pointing to the pecuHar method of human redemption. The sacrificial atonement of our Lord was prominently exhibited, and inseparable from that, there existed a recognition of the fact, that having made peace by the blood of His Cross, having rent the vail between man and God, He also broke down the middle wall of par- tition between man and man. The initiatory rite of Baptism had become included in the ceremonial service of Christianity; and the simplicity, we might almost say, the nakedness of that service altogether, is conspicuously orieinal and remarkable. Thus far we reach a threefold result. Faith, including theology ; fellowship, including discipline ; and worship, including prayer, praise, baptism, and the Lord's Supper, — these were fundamental elements in the original polity. As to the promulgation of the faith — preaching is a Divine institute, characteristic of the Church ; and also of the Gospel which the Church proclaims. Although by no means confined to any particular order of men — for *' those who were scattered abroad, by the persecution of Stephen, went everywhere preaching the Word ;" — yet in point of fact, the office of preacher was fulfilled, principally by the Apostles and their companions ; and it is remarkable that, in the memorable passage in the Epistle to the Ephesians, respecting office and instru- mentality In the Church, the reference throughout Is mainly to teaching, rather than government. " And he gave some apostles ; and some prophets ; and some evan- gelists ; and some pastors and teachers ; for the perfect- ing of the saints, for the w^ork of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." Other functions besides preaching had to be discharged by officers appointed over the new societies, in order to the furtherance of their well being* lo Primitive Ecclesia. We have noticed Christian disciples as grouped together by spiritual affinities, we must also regard them as grouped together in relation to particular localities. People in cities and districts, being converted by the Gospel, associated together, as did those at Jerusalem ; and in their social proceedings, they acted under direction of the Apostles,andof their companions and representatives. Paul " departed with Barnabas to Derbe, and when they had preached the Gospel in that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra and to Iconium and Antloch, confirming the souls of the disciples, — and when they had ordained them elders (presbyters) in every Church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord on whom they believed." * Again, Paul and Silas went throughout Syria and Cilicia con- firming the EcclesicB. f Paul besought Timothy to abide at Ephesus that he might charge some that they should teach no other doctrine than he had taught. He described to Timothy what a bishop should be, evidently meaning by a bishop the same officer as he subsequently called an elder. And Paul further charged Timothy to commit what he had received to faithful men who should be able to teach others also. \ The same Apostle left Titus in Crete, that he might set in order the things that were wanting, and ordain elders in every city.§ I have thought it best in this rapid sketch to adhere as closely as possible to New Testament language, and to refrain generally from using equivalents, since modern * Acts xiv. 21, 3. f Acts XV. 41. According to the true reading in Acts ii. 47, the words should be, *' the Lord added to their number.^'' The first instance, then, of the occurrence of the word Ecclesia in the Acts is in V. 1 1 ; next vii. 385 viii. i, 35 ix. 31, where the correct reading is, "The Church throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria." (See Tischendorf and Alford.) In these instances, is the word used in any technical sense ? Does not the technical usage begin with Acts xiv. 21 ? X I Tim i. 3; I Tim. iii. i j 2 Tim. ii. i. § Titus i. 5. Primitive Ecclesia, 1 1 expressions respecting these subjects may prove much more, or much less than equivalent; perhaps they are quite different, at any rate, they often mislead. So far, then, we find Apostles, and persons specially commissioned by Apostles, performing certain kinds of religious superintendence. Such officers, however, were rather over the Churches than within them. They were not properly ecclesiastical, looking at the nature and con- stitution of a local Ecclesia, but they were really super- ecclesiastical. They appear as founders and directors of Churches, ab extra, rather than as ministers of them ab i7itra. Officers of the latter kind whom they or- dained are called elders or overseers, presbyters or bishops, — words used interchangeably, about which there has been much controversy. The words have acquired, in the course of time, technical significations, pointing to what are styled two orders, but that no such technical distinction exists in the New Testament, distinguished episcopalian scholars are prepared to admit:* and I may add, that to insist upon a distinction of meaning in these titles, is by no means essential to the maintenance of an argument In support of diocesan episcopacy. We may then at once set the distinction aside, and affirm that there remain only Apostles and their representative officers, ab extra in relation to particular local Ecclesice, and pres- byters or bishops, purely spiritual officers, ab intra. The Christian ministry has proved a theme fertile of debate. Arguments of conflicting kinds have grown up under the husbandry of opposing parties. Plenty of dragon's teeth have been sown, plenty of warriors .have been reaped, and their fate has been that of Jason's harvest of armed men : they have nearly, if not quite, destroyed one another. A complete idea of the * See Alford on i Tim. iii. i j also Whately's Kingdom of Christ, and Lightfoot's Commentary on the Philippians. 12 Primitive Ecclesia. Christian ministry should be sought in its latest develop- ment, and the last development appears in the seven Epistles of the Apocalypse. In them the Angel is mentioned. I am aware that difficulties beset the interpretation of the term. It is the forlorn hope of some advocates of diocesan episcopacy, and to it, con- gregational critics of learning and candour strangely affix a symbolical interpretation. That it does not mean a diocesan prelate I infer from the previous writings in the New Testament. That it is symbolical, I see no reason to believe. The contents of the Epistles relate to the members of each Society at large, and it is only consistent to regard the letters as addressed to the chief officer. Ephesus, when Paul was at Miletus, had its one Church, with a plurality of elders. At the time when the Apocalypse was written, that plurality could scarcely have dwindled down to a ministerial unit. Hence I cannot resist the conclusion that some one of the Ephesian pastors acted as chief superintendent ab intra of the Church ; not as a diocesan prelate, but as a primus inter pares. In connection with the final development of the ministry, another circumstance appears. The seven Churches, addressed in the seven Epistles, are presented as distinct from each other ; no sign of common govern- ment is visible ; no other bonds of union amongst the Churches can be recognized, than the interchange of common spiritual sympathies and subjection to a common Divine law. The seven-branched candlestick, chosen by the Son of Man as an emblem of the seven Societies, signifies at once their organic independence, and their moral unity. It should be further remarked, that congregational pastors were rulers.* They ruled in the name of their * I Thess. V. 12} Heb. xiii, 17. Primitive Ecclesia. 1 3 Divine Master, administering His laws, not enacting any of their own; yet, as in Jewish cities, in Greek Republics, and in the Roman Commonwealth, popular influence ob- tained in connection with magisterial control and authority; so in Christian Churches, — which although divinely con- stituted, were not framed irrespective of harmony with ancient usage, political wisdom and common sense, — the people had a voice in the election of officers, the exercise of discipline, and the management of affairs. In the case of the election of seven men of honest report to be appointed by Apostles over the business of the daily ministration, the practice of a popular choice Is unde- niable,* and in the absence of anything to the contrary, it may be fairly inferred to have been the practice also in other ecclesiastical elections. Apostles appointed the seven at Jerusalem, yet notwithstanding this there was a popular election ; and therefore, the appointment by Apostles of bishops In Churches, by no means excludes the popular mode of electing them. Also the consent of the people in acts of discipline is Implied. \ Besides the office of bishop, Paul mentions the office of deacon. Of candidates for it he says, '' Let these also first be proved, then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless." " They that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus." In studying these words we must lay aside sectarian prejudice ; and if we connect them, as I think we ought, with the history in the Acts, of the appoint- ment of the seven, we are led to inquire whether the words do not suggest the Idea of other functions than minis- tering to the necessities of poor saints ? No particular class of women is mentioned under the name of deacon- esses, but *' widows" are alluded to as a class of female * Acts vi. 1-7. t I Cor. v. 45 2 Cor. ii. 7. 14 Primitive Ecclesia, officers, or workers, and a rule respecting age is laid down for admission ''into the number:" hints also are given as to their character and employments ; but how far they constituted an organized body admits of doubt* Their place in Scripture, however, is no more to be overlooked by any one honestly desiring to know the exact nature of a primitive Church, than the place assigned to the following remarkable ecclesiastical dis- tinction : " Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine." What follows expresses the law of pastoral support : " For the Scripture saith, thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn, and the labourer is worthy of his reward." It would be a waste of words here, to adduce evidence In proof of the fact, that the primitive Churches derived their revenues entirely from voluntary gifts ; — State endow- ment, or any kind of compulsory taxation, being then impossible. An important Inquiry remains in connection with the subject of the perpetuation of the primitive fellowship. What was the extent of a primitive Church ? One thing is plain, we nowhere find in the New Testament any trace of a Church, co-extensive with the limits of an empire, the limits of a country, or the limits of a pro- vince. Nor does the conception of a Church so large comport with the conception of a Church as founded upon any considerable degree of knowledge and sym- pathy ; or as capable of meeting, at least sometimes, '' In one place." t On the other hand, allusion is made (a.d. 57) to an Ecclesia in the house of Aqulla at Ephesus ; and (a.d. 58) to an Ecclesia in his house at Rome, — probably the premises which he employed as a tent-maker * See a carefully writren article in Smith's Dictionary of the Bible on the word "Deaconess." i Tim. v. 17, 18 j also see i Cor. ix. 7-12. f I Cor. xi. 20. Primitive Ecclesia. 15 might be convenient for worship;* — also (about a.d. 62) to an Ecclesia in the house of Philemon at Colossae : t and in the same year, to an Ecclesia in the house of Nymphas in that city.]: Whether the term in these passages is to be taken in a specific and technical sense, as meaning an organized and complete Church, to say the least, admits of question, and in my opinion the question should be answered negatively, for this reason. In the i ith chapter of Acts V. 30 (a.d. 44), we first read of elders. Even the Ecclesia at Corinth, to which the Apostle wrote his first Epistle (a.d. 57), must at that time have been in a confused and inchoate condition. No mention is made of its having bishops ; great irregularities prevailed ; discipline was neglected ; those who professed Christ- ianity in the city at that time seem to have met for the exercise of their gifts, and for the .celebration of the Lord's Supper, without what could be called definite organization. The Ecclesia at Corinth at that period cannot be considered as equivalent to what the Church afterwards became, with its full complement of bishops and deacons, and its regular method of government, discipline, and worship. Now if the word Ecclesia ^ in its strictly technical sense can scarcely be applied to the assembly in the city of Corinth : how can we apply it in such a sense to com- panies of believers meeting about the same time, in the house of Aquila, whilst he resided at Ephesus, and then in the house of the same person, whilst he dwelt at Rome? Cenchrea, the harbour of Corinth, had in it an Ecclesia when Paul wrote to the Romans ;§ and there probably existed a distinct Christian community — the harbour being nine miles distant from the city. In all other cases in which particular localities are mentioned, they * I Cor. xvi. 19 (a.o. 57). The place Ephesus, where the Epistle was written, is pointed out in the 8th verse of the chapter. Rom. xvi. 3-5 (a.d. 58). ■ t Philemon 2 (a d. 61 or 62). % ^°^' '^' '5 ('^•"- ^* ^'' ^^)' § R-om- xvi. i. 1 6 Primitive Ecclesia. are cities ; putting aside the indecisive passages just mentioned, no Instance can be found of more than a single Church in a single municipality; the rule, it appears, being that a whole Church should meet at times in one place, and that one Church should be gathered out of one city. As Christians multiplied, the problem would arise — If the observance of the double rule be no longer possible, if all Christians in a large town cannot any longer meet in one place — which side of the rule shall be maintained, which side shall be surrendered ? Is the oneness of the locality to be preferred to the one- ness of the body, or the oneness of the body to the oneness of the locality ? Looking at the strength of personal sympathy amongst primitive believers, and looking at the nature and ends of their organization, it seems most likely that they would be prepared to sacri- fice a unity of place to a unity of persons ; yet that they would hold occasionally a large gathering on the same spot, for the sake of keeping alive religious sympathy, which existed within them as a second nature, and for the sake of enjoying a spiritual communion, which was felt by them as one of their deepest needs. They would be very unwilling to break up a large community into a number of sections organically distinct ; and having kept together as long as they could, when compelled to part they would make the partition as slight as possible. A plurality of pastors in a large Church followed as a necessity, and accordingly the earliest Churches of which we read had more bishops than one. But the primitive pastorate, although a plurality, could not be a hierarchy, for, as we have seen, there existed no distinction of orders, only the simplest official gradation ; if, indeed, 2. primus inter pares can be regarded as Involv- ing official gradation at all. Nor did the ministry bear the character of a priesthood, any more than it did the Primitive Ecclesia, 1 7 character of a hierarchy. It offered no sacrifice but that of love and praise, in the presentation of which the people united equally with the ministers ; and it never pointed to any vicarious service, save that of Christ Himself. Subject to anti-hierarchical and anti-sacerdotal limitations, the primitive ministry might legitimately develop itself in manifold ways of arrangement and operation, and doubtless did so, with a division of labour suited to particular gifts. Nor does an example occur in the New Testament of any ecclesiastical assembly composed simply of persons sustaining ministerial office. The meeting described in the Acts of the Apostles differs essentially from the Councils and the Convocations of subsequent times. Paul and Barnabas were received of the Chui^ch and of the Apostles and elders. The Apostles and elders and the whole Church chose men of their own company to proceed with Paul and Barnabas to Antioch ; and the Apostles and elders and brethrcfi joined in writing the letter which was sent to the Christians of that city.* Of the body which decided the question in dispute the people formed an integral element. The points I have suggested require expansion beyond what the limits of this Essay will allow ; but I may be per- mitted to add that the central idea of a voluntary and congregational, not a national Church — of one Church in in a city, not a plurality — of a Church resting on faith in distinctive truths, and exercising discipline amongst its members, continued to be embodied for a considerable period after the removal of the Apostles. In the time of Clemens Romanus, the disciples of Christ in Corinth formed one Church, called the Church of God in Corinth. Those of Ephesus and Rome, not to go beyond the Syriac version of his Epistles, are called respectively by Ignatius, the Churches in those cities. The number of members in the Carthaginian Church * Acts XV. 4, 22, 23. C 1 8 Primitive Ecclesia. must have been very large, when TertulHan, remonstrating with Scapula, remarked that if that officer were to destroy the Christian people, he would extirpate the tenth part of the whole population.* The number of Christians in Rome and in Alexandria must have been larger still, and in each of these three cities all the people professing Christianity formed one distinct voluntary community, and only one. No early instance can be given of a Christian Church coincident in extent with the boundaries of a State, or of a plurality of distinct Churches in the same city, — except where a schism occurred, — or of a Christian community supported by other than voluntary contribu- tions. Christians in the same city met together at certain times for common purposes — for communion, for discipline, and for the general management of affairs. Cyprian at Carthage superintended Church affairs In the presence, and with the council, of the people In general, f In Alexandria, at a later period, the orthodox in com- munion with Athanasius, maintained their unity by meeting together with him on the same spot, and by guarding their faith against that which they con- sidered to be pernicious error. Of the same people, Athanasius says that at times they assembled in several places, which he describes as being '' small and strait," \ and afterwards Epiphanius speaks of different meeting- places in the same city, each of which had its own presbyter or presbyters dwelling near to it ; § a plan which, so far, — according to the latter of these writers and in the opinion of certain distinguished critics and archaeologists, — was an Alexandrian peculiarity, the usual practice being for all the Christians in the same place to be served by members of the same presbytery. || * Ad. Scap., s. 5, f Ep. xiv. 5 ; xvi. 3 ; xvil. % Athanasius Apol. Contra. Arianos, L. II. § Epiphanius Hser., p. 69. Ij Bingham's Christian Antiq., vol, ii. p. 4.29. Primitive hcclesia. 19 Bingham remarks, that the external poHty and govern- ment of Churches, as to their Hmlts and method of administration, agreed with the Imperial municipal arrangements.* They did so ultimately; but they were not originally founded upon those arrangements. The government and discipline of bishops and presbyters in the first three centuries could not be territorial, they could be only congregational, comprising the voluntary pro- fessors of the Gospel in a certain district, and not laying claim to any control over the inhabitants in general. Bingham's allusions to the municipal model, whilst they serve to throw light upon the extent of the early Churches, also help to explain the rise and progress of prelacy; but all the way through his learned disquisition he confuses the subject, by confounding the congrega- tional with the territorial principle. Are the Principles of the Primitive Institute binding upon the conscience of christendom ? We may at once answer in a general way : the evidence pr una facie, the proof presumptive is, that these principles having been adopted by divinely-commissioned Apostles, are an authority for ecclesiastical institutes and proceed- ings to the end of the world. They cannot, however, be used in conducting Christian affairs, without a compre- hensive and thorough consideration, not only of their own nature and extent, but also of the circumstances and wants of mankind in modern times. There is no short cut by which thoughtful men can make their way through the numerous inquiries which beset the subject. We are met by one or two preliminary questions upon our attempting to take the first step : Ought not the teaching of the Old Testament to be combined with that * Christian Antiq., vol. ii. p. 253. C 2 20 Primitive Ecclesia, of the New before any Scriptural model of ecclesiastical polity can be framed at all ? Some aver that the prin- ciples of the Jewish Church should be studied first, that they should then be combined with the principles of the early Christian communities, and that the result of this combination should form the standard of all subsequent proceedings. But against this, there lies an objection obvious and fatal. The Jewish Church was, in certain respects, and those the most characteristic and striking, so utterly different from the Churches instituted by the Apostles, that a com- bination of the principles of the first, with the principles of the second. Is simply impossible. New Testament pre- cedents may be set aside for the sake of adopting Old Testament examples ; — the system pursued by the early Christians may be exchanged for the system practised by the House of Israel ; but the one can never be modified by the other. It is a question not of modification, but of revolution ; as we see at once, when we compare the principal features of the one, with what were the prominent marks of the other. The Jewish Church was national, and so constituted by law. Whatever theory may be entertained, whether that of alliance between Church and State, or that of the identity of Church and State, or that of the control of the one by the other, the fact of the State-nationality of the Israelitish religion remains. It formed a Church In its extent coincident with national boundaries, and In Its order bound up with national laws. But It is certain that Christianity was not originally national either In the one sense or the other. Jewish Christians, Indeed, wished and endeavoured to make the new Church national, after the old method; they sought to do so by extending it on the one side, and by limiting it on the other, according to the number of the seed of Jacob. An Intense spirit of Primitive Ecclcsia. 21 nationality under this form animated all the Judalzing plans and practices of the teachers, whom Paul so sternly rebuked for their retrograde theories. The nationalizing of Christianity, In the nobler sense of its penetrating and purifying national life, lifting up the whole population to heights of virtue and excellence, so as to make Jerusalem the joy of the earth, the Apostle would have been glad enough to behold ; but the nationalizing of it, in the sense of identifying the circle of its range, with the admeasure- ment of the land, or with the census of the people, he de- precated with an indignation as earnest as it was righteous. The religion of Christ he wished to see carried throughout the earth ; walls of partition between country and country, between race and race, he sought to pull down ; he aimed at making Jew and Greek, Barbarian, Scythian, bond and free, one in Christ. But as to organized Churches, he planted them one after another distinctly and inde- pendently In city after city, — In this respect following examples of still earlier Apostolic zeal. Paul's Churches were confessedly congregational, not national — Inde- pendent, not interlaced in the network of a political system. Congregationalism, such as his, completely van- ishes, and is entirely lost in a national ecclesiastlcism like that of Judaism. The Jewish Church had a priesthood, a sacerdotal order — a caste appointed for the sole offering of sacri- fices, and for the sole performance of ceremonies. But the earliest Christian ministers were of another kind ; they preached, they ruled, they administered discipline, they baptized. The festival of the Lord's Supper was cele- brated by the believers, but it is impossible to prove, from the New Testament, that Christian pastors alone administered — as it is sometimes termed — the holy rite ; and It is significantly acknowledged by those to whose views It would be a support could they maintain the con- 22 * Primitive Ecclesia, trary, that '' the tone of the New Testament is unsacra- mental, and the impression it leaves onthe mind is not that of a priesthood and its attendant system."* To claim for the Christian ministry a sacerdotal character, is to revolutionize and overturn, not to develop or even supplement the original institution. Jewish priests were supported partly by tithes, and partly by what the law had appropriated to their use, out of the offerings which they placed upon the altar. The tithes did not wholly fall into the hands of the priests — a share belonged to other Levites. No power seems to have existed for the compulsory enforcement of the claim attaching to the tribe thus divinely endowed. Certainly, nobody can maintain that any compulsory tithe system was ever established, or thought of, by the founders of Christendom. A tenth in some cases may be a fair and wise proportion of property to be bestowed voluntarily for religious uses ; but not a word can be found in the New Testament to show that even a law of that kind, appealing only to spontaneous action, is there laid down. To plead the Jewish tithe system as sanc- tioning a legal charge on land is not merely to modify the method of contributing, it is really to shift the rights of revenue from the ground of voluntary tribute, and to place them upon another, and entirely opposite basis. In speaking upon these points I do not touch the question whether, in our day, the maintenance of national Churches, or the institution of a priesthood, or the support of the ministry by means of tithes, be right or wrong. At present our thoughts are confined to the inquiry, Can the ecclesiastical constitution of Judaism be harmo- niously incorporated with the Apostolic instiutions of Christianity ? The true answer is unquestionably in the negative. * Tracts for the Times, No. 85, p. 58. Primitive Ecclesia, 23 Further, It may be asked, in limine, Ought not the teaching of the New Testament, on this subject, to be interpreted in the light of Church history ? I reply, certainly it should ; and I have attempted so to inter- pret it in this Essay ; but there are two things which it is essential to keep in view : — that no legislative authority attaches to the proceedings of the ante-Nicene, any more than to the post-Nicene Church ; that usages are not proved to be Apostolic and Divine, simply because they obtained in the third, or even the second century ; and that a distinction must be made between normal and abitormal developments ; between those practices which are legitimate outgrowths of Scripture principles, and those which are the results of innovations upon divinely- authorized methods. With this understanding, it is wise to study Scripture In the light of history. The effect will be instructive, stimulating, and cautionary ; — In- structive ; for we shall trace what will explain and illustrate primitive precedents ; we shall see forms and usages instituted by Apostles, perpetuated through after ages in altered circumstances — a fact which corroborates the con- viction, that they were not of transient utility, but of enduring worth : — Stimulating ; for we shall find, that the Churches near to Apostolic times, and largely con- formed to Apostolic examples, were as vigorous and efficient in their work of Christianizing the heathen popu- lation around them, as they were simple In their piety, and self-sacrificing in their spirit : — and Cautionary ; for in later times, when innovations had crept in, had become developed, and had been stereotyped by tradition, we meet on every page of history, with proofs of the mis- chievous results which followed. And now having cleared the ground, it is time to ask. In what 'way are we to estimate the principles of the New Testament, and apply them to the age in which we live ? 24 Primitive Ecclesia, The old Puritans laid down the position, that '' The Word of God containeth the direction of all things pertaining to the Church, yea, of whatsoever things can fall into any part of man's life." * This is one of those unguarded positions into which ardent minds are betrayed by a blind consistency. The Puritans, indeed, adopted a principle which lies at the foundation of Protestantism— the sufficiency of Scripture; but in answering the ques- tion, "Sufficient for what ?" although at times speaking cautiously, at other times they pledged themselves to this rash answer, " Sufficient for all things." " Whatsoever is not of faith, is sin ; but faith is not but in respect of the Word of God ; therefore whatsoever is not done by the Word of God, is sin." * Then rejoined their opponents, " To take up a straw," without warrant from the Word of God, is sin. With logical consistency, equally honest and simple, they rashly admitted that — " The sentence of the Apostle reacheth even to the taking up a straw." f Added explanations took off the edge of the absurdity, but the position was unwise and untenable; consequently Hooker, immortally renowned as the "judicious," assailed this weak point, and triumphantly drove his antagonists from their outpost of defence. He incontestably 'demonstrates that reason is a Divine gift, and that it speaks where Scripture is silent. Yet the ecclesiastical principle which the Puritans meant to cover and defend — the principle of the authority and unchange- ablenessof a revealed Church polity — Hooker substantially admits. He does not, like his antagonists, believe that the revelation came of necessity, but he allows that it came by special favour or grace. He does not believe it to be perfect and complete, so as to supply directions in all exigencies ; but he does admit " the precepts that Scripture setteth down are not few, and the examples * Cartwright's Reply, p. 14. f Second Reply, p. 60. Primitive Ecclesia. 25 many, which It proposeth for all Church governors even in particularities to follow." * And although this deep thinker sometimes talks perilously of altering Christ's laws, he says : — " In the matter of external discipline, or regiment Itself, we do not deny but there are some things whereto the Church is bound till the world's end." f And again, he maintains, '' Our constant persuasion Is, that we have no where altered the laws of Christ, further than in such particularities only as have the nature of things changeable, according to the difference of times, places, per- sons,and other the like circumstances." He adds: ''What- soever Christ hath commanded for ever to be kept in His Church, the same we take not upon us to abrogate." \ Hooker arrived at conclusions differing from those which are expressed in this Essay respecting what the Scrip- tures teach as to Church polity ; but the general maxims which he propounds, before he enters upon details in the latter part of his great work, are, on the whole, such as may be consistently adopted by Congregatlonallsts. I have referred to Hooker because of his great authority with Churchmen, and an appeal to his reasonings will, with such persons, prove much more satisfactory than any arguments which might be produced by one like myself ; and because an original discussion of the subject would involve deeper inquiries into the grounds and reasons of ecclesiastical law, than within the compass of this Essay it is possible to undertake. § To adopt the quaint language of a distinguished Puritan : — In the Scripture there is not only what covers the Church's nakedness, but there are also " chains, and * Eccl. Pol., book III. chap, iv., also chap. xi. ; Keble's ed. I. p. 452. ■f- Ibid., book III. chap. xi. ; Keble, I. p. 512. X Ibid., book III. chap. xi. j Keble, I. p. 513. § Vide the first book of the Eccl. Poliry. How profound is the remark : — •* Easier a great deal is it for men by law to be taught what they ought to do than instructed how to judge as they should do of law, the one being a thing which belongeth generally unto all j the other, such as none but the wiser and more judicious sort can perform." — Chap. xvi. 26 Primitive Ecclesia. bracelets, and rings, and other jewels to adorn her and set her out." Not only sufficient to quench her thirst and kill her hunger, but much also to minister " a more delicious and dainty diet." * What amount of ecclesiastical information the New- Testament affords we have attempted to determine, and its binding force in a general way is so plain as to be acknowledged by opposite parties. It would be as unreasonable towards ourselves, as it would be irreverent towards Christ, to speculate or dispute about ideal Churches, without studying as applicable, and obeying as authoritative, the things which we find written in the one Book, which all Christians unite to honour. With the Puritans I feel satisfied, that Christ has laid down ecclesiastical laws for His Church, and that those laws cannot be abrogated; and with Hooker I feel satisfied, that in the interpretation and application of them, enlight- ened Christian reason, which is a gift no less Divine than the laws themselves, is our counsellor and commentator. But at this point, we must take care lest, after all, we are not left at sea, without chart or compass. A distinct and clear understanding is requisite as to what we mean by the binding force of the Scriptures in a general way, and by the province of enlightened Christian reason touching this subject. I venture to suggest the following particulars : — 1. Ends are to be distinguished from means ; the ends being the promulgation of the faith, the perpetuation of the fellowship, and the maintenance of the worship of the Church — confessedly these ends are divinely proposed, they are immutable and everlasting, and all ecclesiastical proceedings whatsoever, must aim at their attainment. 2. Certain primitive means were essential, others only * Cartwright's Reply, p. 14 . Primitive Ecclesia. 27 subordinate. The ordinance of preaching ; the appoint- ment of bishops and deacons ; the preservation of morahty and religion in Churches by careful discipline ; the con- finement of them within such local limits as allow the development of sympathy and the exercise of power ; and a reliance for the temporal support of Christianity upon free-will offerings, — these, regarded in the light of our preceding remarks, are, beyond question, fundamental methods for securing the ecclesiastical purpose indicated in the New Testament. On the other hand, the pecu- liar arrangements at Jerusalem for assisting the poor (the brethren having all things common, whatever that may mean), appear unessential, and therefore temporary. And other minor matters require to be placed in the same category, without involving any sacrifice of loyalty to Divine legislation. 3. Certain powers of government existed in primitive times necessarily without subsequent parallel. The Apostles were persons in their official relation so com- pletely sui generis, that they could not leave behind them perfectly corresponding successors ; and other powers of superintendence and control, such as were exercised by Timothy and Titus, were needful, simply in consequence of the immature and unsettled condition of the Churches which they were appointed to nurture and strengthen. 4. These distinctions are to be borne in mind in applying primitive precedents to ourselves ; whilst we are bound to follow what is fundamental and plain, there can be no obligation to seek conformity to that which is uncertain or incidental. That which from the very nature of the case was confined to the primitive age, renders imitation by us impossible ; and what pertained to particular conditions and exigencies in ancient days, can be repeated only when similar circumstances arise in our own times. For example the ab extra ofifice of men 28 Primitive Ecclesia. like Timothy and Titus, may require, and does actually find, a rather closely corresponding parallel in the functions exercised by the superintendents of missionary operations both at home and abroad. 5. In the use of primitive precedents for the regulation of ecclesiastical affairs, large allowance must be made for differences of age, of country, and of circumstances ; and respecting a variety of matters, a liberal discretion must be exercised, under the control of a jealous regard for the simplicity and the spirituality of the Church of Christ. Moreover, when Scripture is silent on specific points, nothing remains to guide us but its general spirit, according to the judgment of our own reason, enlightened by experience, observation, and history. Yet, in the case of conclusions so reached, and adopted for the sake of order and seemliness, never should they be imposed as essential terms of communion upon any disciples of Christ, who seek the consolation to be derived from the holy ordinances of the Divine Master. Finally, in working out the development of ecclesiastical principles, we must carefully guard against any de- velopment which is abnormal and illegitimate, and in our plans for securing ecclesiastical prosperity, no additions must be made to the primitive model, except such as are in harmony with its genius and spirit. Innovations, de- cidedly foreign and incongruous, I may observe, were at an early period introduced into Christendom. Some of them might be almost infinitesimal in their origin and first appearance, but they contained germs of error and evil, and through their subsequent growth, and their tra- ditional preservation, flagrant deviations from Christian truth and rectitude at length occurred. History reads us a serious lecture upon the consequences of abnormal developments. For example, the union between Church and State, as it existed during the Middle Ages, no doubt Primitive Ecciesia, 29 produced certain social advantages, but It also resulted in enormous disadvantages. To mention nothing else, the power of persecution, as then exercised by the Church, arose entirely from the political connections of Christianity. The Church could destroy the heretic only because it had the magistrate, with sword and fire-brand, at its beck and call. It might have launched its interdicts and frightened kings and people without the help of the civil power ; but it could not have burnt, beheaded, or im- prisoned its victims. Spiritual despotism became political tyranny when it could wreak its vengeance in blood and flame and incarceration. The mischiefs of the Middle Ages, in this respect, survived the Reformation. But now the days of persecution are past, and it would be unfair to refer to them as illustrative of the working of a State Church in our England of the nineteenth century, with a purer atmosphere of civilization breathed around it than existed at the periods to which I have referred ; but they can be justly referred to as illustrative of the effect of the union, when it is carried on with a cruel consistency ; nor can we be blind to the social injustice which still, in many ways, is being done to Churches outside the privileged pale. We have now, however, to deal, not with the history of the past, but with institutions existing, and con- troversies rife, at the present hour. What, then, is the bearing of the principles laid DOWN upon a great ECCLESIASTICAL CONTROVERSY OF THE PRESENT DAY ? I have hitherto avoided the word Establishme^it, because of the loose and indefinite sense in which it has been often employed, both by Churchmen and Nonconformists. In assault and defence there has been frequently absent a clear conception of the points at issue. So long as the controversy remained in the region of abstract philosophy, 30 Primitive Ecclesia. this was not of so much consequence, as it is now that the question has been brought down to an arena of debate, where it demands a practical solution. Subject to the analysis of political criticism, it is found not to be a simple question but a very manifold one. The existing union between Church and State is almost a Gordian knot, but it must never be cut by the stroke of a sword, it requires to be carefully examined, so that the ends of the cord may be discovered, — then the intricate entanglements may be untwisted. I do not presume to determine all the details involved, but there are some which, in connection with our task, ought to be specified. To facilitate our object they may be classified thus : — Things obtaining amongst us to which the existing union between Church and State is essential ; and things to which this union is not essential, though at present they are identified with it. This distinction is important, and it will presently be seen, that our con- clusions from Scripture stand in a different relation to the one class from that in which they stand to the other. Prominent in the first class is the compulsory support of religion. This is indispensable to the maintenance of our tithe system, or to any legal provision in lieu of it. It is just here that the pinch is felt, when we apply the laws of the New Testament. Let us examine the subject with a little patience. There is no ground upon which national endowments actually rest but the will of the greater number. This is the rule, but it is one which runs counter to a higher rule. For the Divine law builds a Church only upon the foundation of truth, and invests it with claims derived entirely from its spiritual and Divine position. A true Church, in the sight of God, whether large or small, is entitled to re- venue at the hands of willing and devoted members ; but it does not ask for it, and such a Church, if true to its Prhnitive Ecdesia. 31 mission and its God, cannot seek that which Is procured simply on the ground of the right of national majorities. I do not forget the distinction between a Church and the national endowment of a Church. A nationally-endowed Church may, as a Church, be based on truth ; but the cir- cumstance of its national endowment is not so based ; therefore the method of its endowment comes into collision with the basis of its constitution. A national Church has been defined by an accomplished Prelate * to be not the Church of the majority, but '' one which asserts the idea of free national life as against the national despotism of the Papacy." I am at a loss to understand exactly what this sentence means ; for it would appear to deny that a Roman Catholic Church can be a national Church at all ; it would seem to imply that there is no national Church in P" ranee, or in Belgium, or in Austria ; and it would further look, as if comprehending an admission, that the functions of a national Church may be efficiently discharged by Protestant Nonconformist communities, — inasmuch as they are loud and distinct in affirming that highly-prized Protestant idea which the writer so eloquently describes. But the definition does not touch the question of the national endowment of a Church, let that Church be what it may. A Church per- fectly and nobly national cannot be in the possession of national endowments, without the consent of the majority of the nation. Whenever that consent comes to be with- drawn, whenever in this country. Parliament, which is an expression of the majority, pronounces a judgment adverse to the continued national endowment of any ecclesiastical organization, that endowment must of necessity cease. The advocates of Establishments have again and again acknowledged the anomalous position of a Church poli- * Bishop of Peterborough, In an article contributed by him, when Dean of Cork, to the Contemporary Review. 32 Primitive Ecclesia. tically patronized, and nationally endowed, whilst its members form but a minority of the population ; and we are told that " the idea was familiar to statesmanlike minds, in the last century, though obscured by the supposed political necessity of maintaining Protestant ascendancy." * Even if the theory be adopted that the State has a conscience, and consequently is bound to endow truth because it is truth, the practice in the end comes to be that the endowment follows the law of numbers. The conscience of the State must be the conscience of those who are most numerous in the State ; and that conscience, w^hether ill or well informed, whether blind or enlightened, must dictate the form of opinion to be supported by law. Thus in any case, the decision, as to the object of endow- ment, must ultimately hinge on a numerical inquiry ; it must be so even where it is certain that a vast multitude affecting the decision know little or nothing of Christianity, and where they do not in any practical form profess it, nay, where a large proportion deny it altogether. The theory will not bear examination. It is one of those dreams which have an enchantment for noble minds, but which when they come to be applied to existing cir- cumstances, exhale and vanish like tinted clouds. And here let me add, in passing, — the theory is ignored or repudiated bymanyChurchmen themselves ; and in connec- tion with this fact it is very remarkable, that the ablest advocates of Establishments appreciate lightly the value of dogmatic truth, whilst the ablest advocates of dogmatic truth indicate sympathies with voluntaryism, or are its avowed advocates. The prevailing currents of opinion and feeling seem to show, on the one side, that the English Establishment, should it remain, by being modi- fied, or by being reconstructed, according to the advanced * Times, July 24, 1869. Primitive Ecclesia, -y^^i spirit of the age, will become more and more latitudi- narian, and will give up old distinctive dogmas ; — and on the other side, that faith in doctrinal Ghristianity will be left to be embodied in voluntary Churches, they evidently having the strongest sympathy with it. That is a significant passage in which Keble says to Sir J. Cole- ridge : " My dream," (the poet had imagined a restoration of discipline,) " if it went on and found that nothing could be done, would be a very frightful one ; for it would exhibit our Church in no long time reduced to the alter- native of voluntaryism or unbelief."* It would look as if a State Church could not stand consistently with faith in dogmatic truth ; and as if voluntary Churches could not stand without such faith. As a matter of fact, it is incontestable, that the degree of vitality, force and pros- perity, in voluntary Churches at the present day, is in a ratio with the importance which they attach to the posi- tive and distinctive truths of the Gospel of Christ. The argument respecting the rights of truth as bear- ing on a compulsory method of supporting religion is re-enforced by another. To pass from primitive volun- taryism to the present tithe system, or any legal equi valent, is completely to change the law of revenue. Should it be said, that the two methods may be com- bined, I reply, that although the compulsory method may be supplemented by the voluntary, yet the voluntary principle rightly understood, steadily pursued and con- sistently maintained, shows Itself to be utterly alien from its opposite; and that whilst it graciously and from charity helps its antagonist, it does so under protest against all compulsion in religion, as alike unjust, ungenerous, and inexpedient. Force and freedom can never cordially em- brace each other, can never consistently work side by side. Nor is the New Testament wantinor in a condemnation o * Coleridge's Life of Keble. D 34 Primitive Ecclesia. of all compulsory action in Christian service. " My kingdom is not of this world, else would my servants fight," is a passage, which may sometimes in this contro- versy have been stretched beyond its legitimate mean- ing ; but can any one think it misapplied, when used as an argument against collecting Church revenues, after the manner in which the revenues of Caesar are col- lected? It has been said, "that a compulsory support by the State displaces a Divine ordinance, and sets up in its room a corrupt invention of men;" and to this a reply has been attempted in the form of a question : — '' Is it a sinful departure from the primitive model, when British Christians use the ships, the science and the power of our country to spread the Gospel among the heathen, because those means were not employed in the first propagation." * A moment's reflection shows that the cases are not at all parallel, for in the case of an Establishment, there is a change of ecclesiastical prin- ciple ; whereas in the case of the application of modern discoveries to missionary purposes, there is no change of ecclesiastical principle whatever : hence the charge brought against the transition from voluntaryism to com- pulsion in the fiscal law of Christianity remains untouched. Moreover, any Church, accepting national endowments, must thereby be placed in a different relation to the State from voluntary Churches, and consequently must incur some political restriction of its ecclesiastical pro- ceedings. It is strange that all intelligent men do not perceive this. Mr. Joyce, after describing the state of the law in America, with regard to the free Episcopal Church of that country, adds : " It is here worthy of observation, that the principle of equal justice is also adopted in this country with respect to all religious bodies whatever, ex- cept one. That solitary exception is remarkable, being * Birks' Church and State. Primitive Ecclesia. 35 none other than the Church of England."* Of course. Whether the treatment which the Church of England re- ceives from the highest courts in the country be just or unjust, I do not presume to determine; but that the law of England must ever treat a Church established and endowed by the State differently from what it does a Church not so endowed, and that it will withdraw a portion of liberty in exchange for State patronage, national property, and exclusive position, seems so exceedingly plain, that it is wonderful indeed, when any one with a practical mind does not see it in a moment. In the Church and State system, with compulsion is connected patronage. The patronage of the Crown in the nomination of bishops, which in spite of the Congd (Tdlire, is really a royal appointment, their high social position and their title to seats in Parliament — whatever the legal nature of that title — are not essential to a system such as political philosophers may create ; but these arrangements are essential to the system as it now exists, and assuredly the system is essential to them. They have come down from ancient times, and not only are they venerable for.their antiquity, but they have gathered round them almost august associations. The names of noble kings and princes and prelates are twined about the double Institution. It is almost dangerous for Nonconformists, with certain tastes, to walk through our abbeys and cathedrals, and to come under the spell of that romance which encircles crown and mitre ; or to ponder certain pages of our English annals, in which names of illustrious ecclesiastical states- men are prominent ; yet here the shadows are as con- spicuous as the lights, and such Nonconformists, in spite of all enchantments, are compelled to pronounce this sort of connection between Crown and Church as utterly opposed to primitive precedent and primitive principle. ♦ " The Civil power in its relation to the Church." D 2 36 Primitive Ecclesia. For whatever differences of opinion may exist as to those in whom lay the power of appointing bishops in the earhest times, no one dreams that it rested in the hands of Caesar. It must have belonged either to the people or to the Apostles. Churches constructed on the original plan, could not have accepted bishops sent them by secular rulers, even if those rulers had been Christians ; because to do so would have been utterly inconsistent with the voluntaryism and the independency of those spiritual communities. To adopt the State principle now, must be a departure from the principles maintained then. Arguments specious, in their nature may be skilfully employed to show that Churches ought to be national, and that kings and princes, as the heads of Christian nations, ought to elect their chief ministers ; but, beyond dispute, the practice lies quite outside the teaching of the inspired founders of Christianity, and when adopted, com- pels a departure from their practice and example. It is not astonishing that the simple conversion of sovereigns to the Christian faith should be unnoticed pro- phetically or otherwise, in the New Testament, because no distinctions of society are recognizable in the spiritual change of the new birth ; but it is astonishing that nothing is said of their official relation to the Church, if they were divinely destined and authorized to be what they have subsequently become. It is idle to urge that there were no Ch7nstian rulers in the days of the Apos- tles. There was no Israelitish king contemporary with Moses, yet the occurrence of such a magistrate is antici- pated and provided for in the Book of Deuteronomy.* Crown patronage extends much further than to the appointment of bishops, and, in common with it, lay impro- priation lies open to manifest objections drawn from the * For a reply to the objections of De Wette and others to the Mosaic authorship of this portion of Deuteronomy, I must refer to Havernick and Keil, and to Davidson's Introduction (1856), p. 610. Primitive Eccksia, 37 consideration of primitive Institutes. Both involve the usurpation of those congregational rights which are recognized in the Scriptures. The right of presentation, if it appears an advantage on one side, is manifestly a disadvantage on another. If it bestow independence upon an incumbent, it inflicts the opposite upon a people. They have no voice in the selection of their instructor. They must submit to his teaching, however contrary it may be to the Word of God, and to their own con- scientious convictions. Much is said of the freedom of clergymen so inducted ; but such freedom for a clergyman is really the bondage of his parishioners. Moreover, lay impropriation is, in practice, often connected with persons and proceedings which make all good State Churchmen blush. Who can endure to think of the character of some lay patrons, or of the selling advowsons, even when not tainted, as is often the case, with spots of simony ? Pursuing the classification suggested, first of things to which the existing union of Church and State is essential; and next of things to which, though now identified with that union, it is not essential ; I must briefly touch on the latter. It is scarcely needful to say that endowments bestowed by the liberality of individuals are fruits of the voluntary principle; and therefore, the encouragement, the increase, and the preservation of such endowments involve no re- cognition, in any way, of the Church and State principle. Less obvious, but no less true, is it, that the power of secular courts to decide disputes respecting pecuniary ecclesiastical interests, only implies the supremacy of the Sovereign over all temporal causes, and concedes no supremacy over those which are purely spiritual. To allow the latter, in any degree, voluntaries would deem disloyalty to the Lord Christ, the only Lord of con- science ; to allow the former, is, in the judgment of most, 38 Primitive E celesta. if not all of them, to leave His Crown rights entirely untouched. Nor, in a state of society where temporal and spiritual matters are, in subtle ways, inextricably interwoven, can the interposition of the State to prevent social oppres- sion, or civil disadvantage, on the part of one Church towards another, or on the part of any Church towards its members, be censured or questioned by thoughtful people, however jealous they may be of any foreign in- fringement upon moral domains. The interference of the State also to check abuses in the working of voluntaryism, under the influence of superstition, does not appear to me to be inconsistent with the principles I have laid down. Few, I suppose, would wish for the repeal of the Act of Mortmain, which arose from the sagacity of our ancestors, when they felt it necessary, for the well-being of the country, to prevent the threatened absorption of its wealth by ecclesiastical bodies ; and cases are still possible, in which the sensibilities of a dying man may be wrought upon to the injury of family interests, the detriment of domestic peace, and the production of mischief through a large social circle. Domestic wrong may spring out of spiritual abuses, and require legislative and legal interference for the public good. Nothing in the New Testament dis- countenances the exercise of great caution on the part of general society, for the preservation of its rights from the inroads of fanaticism. For one I am prepared to contend for the maintenance of a Protestant succession to the throne. The reasons for it are furnished not by the religious, but by the poli- tical character of Romanism. No particular doctrinal or ecclesiastical opinions ought to exclude a legitimate heir ; but a Popish claimant is the subject of another and an ambitious power, which associates temporal with spiritual Primitive Ecclcsia. 39 authority, which regards the former not as an accident, but as a necessity, which employs assumed prerogatives after a most elastic fashion, and which can contract or expand them with exquisite cunning, as expediency suggests. A Roman Catholic sovereign is trammelled by complications intolerable to a Protestant nation like ours — which has a history full of warning against the permission of any foreign interference with national pro- ceedings and national life. Amidst the Protestant bigotry of the seventeenth century, it appears to have been a true patriotic instinct which led Lord Russell and others to deprecate, as a terrible calamity, the accession of a Papist to the English throne. Whilst condemning bigotry, we are taught by the story of the past and by the condition of the present, by the annals of our country and by the circumstances of Europe, to guard against the return of Romish intermeddling with English affairs. A burnt child fears the fire ; and the old maxim is quite as good for empires as for individuals. Reactions now, produced by Protestant intolerance in former days, should make us all the more cautious, lest in a fit of blind generosity, mistaken for justice, we open a door of mischief, which, when too late, it would be difficult or impossible to shut. • The connection of public and national religious cere- monies with Coronations and Royal funerals, with the outbreak of war and the return of peace, with visitations of famine and seasons of plenty, does not require the existence of any political establishment of the Church whatever. For temporal rulers to impose religious rites, or even in any way to command them, would be going beyond their province; but to recommend them in words, and by example, is simply carrying out the principle that the magistrate is a minister of God for good. A subtle logic can exercise itself in drawing inferences 40 Primitive Ecclesia. as fallacious, as they are remote, from the maintenance of the true rights of conscience ; but moral sensibilities, which, no less than the gifts of reason, are Divine endow- ments, and social instincts, which, by God's hand, are rooted in our souls, impel a people, when calamities sweep across the land, to cry for mercy to the Lord of Hosts ; and when the sunshine of a loving Providence bursts from behind a cloud, to clasp hands before His throne, and to send up to Heaven shouts of joy and thankfulness. These and some other things are, in the eyes of some Conformists and some Dissenters, identified with a con- stitutional union between Church and State, and they are counted by the one party as a Palladium, and by the other as a Trojan horse. To disestablish the Church according to the former, would be to dissipate all endowments ; to withdraw wholesome legal restraints from the vagaries of spiritual despotism ; to overthrow the Protestant suc- cession ; to leave Protestants at the mercy of Roman Catholics ; to render national fasts and thanksgivings, and all religious ceremonies In connection with royalty, Impossible ; and to stamp the Crown and the Senate with the Impress of atheism. Nonconformists also may be found who, — esteeming some or all of the arrangements now mentioned, as infringements upon pure religious voluntaryism, and, smiling at the fears of their neigh- bours, — believe that any deficiencies left, by a policy of disestablishment, would be amply supplied by Individual religious action. I do not sympathize in the fears of State Churchmen, because I do not believe that union between Church and State Is at all essential to some of the pro- visions and safeguards which they so highly value. Nor do I adopt the extreme opinions of some voluntaries, be- cause I cannot see that the arrangements, which I have ventured to approve, are at variance with the liberties of Christian Churches, or with the rights of human conscience. Prhnitive E celesta. 41 We are often solemnly reminded, by the advocates of an Establishment, that It Is the duty of the State to acknowledge the Almighty, and of rulers to believe the Gospel, and of the nation to promote the prosperity of the Church of Christ as far as possible ; and by insist- ing upon these obvious truths, some intelligent men really Imagine that they are settling the controversy between voluntaries and themselves. What Christian denies, what Nonconformist doubts, these first principles of social Christian duty ? The only question is : When a nation and its rulers have embraced the religion of the New Testament, how are they to advance its prosperity ? Are they to do It by supporting an Establishment like our own, with its political complications, its compulsory sup- port of the Church, its methods of clerical and episcopal appointment, and its unrighteous depreciation of unestab- lished and unendowed denominations ? It Is useless to talk of an Establishment tit nubibus. Our debates must refer to the Establishment on terra Jirma ; any fundamental change in which would be resisted by the theorists them- selves with Invincible obstinacy. With reference to that which is the gist of the question. It may be replied, that the things now pointed out, as those to which an Establish- ment is essential, are inconsistent with the Gospel, and are also injurious to Christianity — harming that which they are Intended to help, and, however well intentioned, most unwisely done. On the other hand, the things which I have indicated as capable of being maintained without any Establishment, together with the employment of means, to which the principle of an Establishment is antagonistic — In other words, the voluntary religious action of rulers, combined with the voluntary religious action of the ruled, would effectually secure all the ends w^hich devout advo- cates of a Church and State system propose or desire.* * Whilst I am writing these lines the question of Establishment is being decided by the 42 Primitive Ecclesia. It remains to inquire to what extent may the principles illustrated be found in operation amongst THE Churches of our own country. I. Congregationallsts, including Independents and Baptists, regard their Churches as close approximations to original Christian Institutes. They profess to bow to Scripture authority upon all ecclesiastical as well as all theological questions ; and where Scripture supplies no formal directions, to fall back for guidance, upon the spiritual nature of Christianity. They believe that Churches are formed for the maintaining of truth, and for the edifying of believers ; fellowship being based upon common faith, and a common range of spiritual sympathy. It is a fellowship of religious life, experience, and action. Care is employed in the admission of mem- bers, lest persons should intrude themselves with mis- taken views, or for improper ends. Discipline is exercised, and in cases of immorality, delinquents are forbidden to receive the Lord's Supper. Upon proofs of repentance such persons are restored. Bishops and deacons are popularly elected. Each Church is complete in itself, and independent of others ; nevertheless, County Asso- ciations and National Unions, are formed for confer- ence, counsel, and co-operation. Both the denominations specified are opposed to a hrerarchy, to an official priest- hood as distinguished from the priesthood of all the faithful, and to what is generally meant by Ritualism in (July, 1869) Parliament of England. The protest of certain Lords is doubtless true ; the Irish Bill " for the first time, since the foundation of the British Monarchy, introduces, so far as Ireland is concerned, the principle unrecognized in any other country in Europe, of an entire severance of the State from the support of any and every form of religious w^orship." And the jubilation of the triumphant statesman is warranted by facts. " The disestablishment of the Church," says Mr. Gladstone, " is complete. The words, * Royal Supremacy,' ' Church and State,' ' Protestant ascendancy,' as connected with the Church and ' national religion,' are now, by the judgment of the House of Lords, not less than the House of Commons, nothing but the notes and traces of a buried controversy. Even the last shadow of Establishment, if it were one — the existence of Irish bishops with seats in the House of Lords — has disappeared." The principle of an Establishment is surrendered by the nation and the Senate, and the future destiny of State Churches in the British Empire is left to the effect of time and circum- stances. Primitive Ecclesia, 43 worship. They protest against every method of support- ing rehgion, except that which is voluntary. These principles, generally considered, are in harmony with the ideas of primitive Churches, conveyed in the first part of this Essay. How far practice is in conformity with these principles, and how far the principles, as some- times expounded, come up to the ideal which is acknow- ledged and upheld, is another question : — principles, and the organized systems into which they are wrought, are not identical ; and with certain general principles dif- ferent particular opinions may be connected. It would be beside the mark to enter fully into this complicated subject, but since I do not assume the func- tion of a special pleader for English Congregationalism as it is — since I wish to be, if not a disinterested, at least an honest critic — I may be permitted to remark, that it appears to me that Ecclesiastical principles of Divine authority have been decidedly seized, but not thoroughly grasped by Congregationalists ; that with attainments reached, there are defects betrayed. Holding, as I do, what for brevity's sake may be termed the theory of the municipal limits of Churches ; the practice of constituting several perfectly distinct socie- ties in the same city or town, when all the members of those societies could easily worship together, has, for many years, appeared to my mind to be a departure from New Testament precedents. Whether the exact limits of a primitive Church should be reckoned amongst essential, or circumstantial elements of ecclesiastical polity, may be open to debate ; that we are not required to adhere to a strictly municipal boundary for the range of local com- munities, may be readily granted ; but, if it be an essen- tial principle, that no one Church should be co-extensive with the nation, it cannot be denied to be an essential principle, that Churches are legitimately incapable of 44 Primitive Ecclesia, indefinite divisibility. If we recognize as a Divine law the principle which checks the territorial extension of each society, why should we deny the character of a law to that principle which checks its territorial diminu- tion? We have no more right to set aside the prin- ciple when it operates In one direction than when it operates in another. Besides this — conformity to the primitive custom, In the latter as well as in the former respect, is commended by an enlightened expediency : the conclusions of human reason on this point, as on so many others, enforce the application of the Divine precedent. For I am quite sure, from long experi- ence, with considerable opportunities for observation, that unchecked divisibility is working disastrously to the interests of religion. It creates rivalries. It pro- motes alienation. It entails feebleness. It occasions the impoverishment of pastors. It wastes time and strength, which, husbanded and employed in a large society, might secure results the most beneficial. Moreover, partly through this practice, which proceeds upon a false or defective principle, but much more through forgetfulness or misapprehension of other prin- ciples, or most of all through inconsistency between practice and principle, — Congregationalists sometimes lay themselves open to blame. Isolation, sectarianism, and schism are evils. That Independency alone, unguarded by other considerations which are as Divine as Itself, has a tendency to produce such evils, none will deny. As well deny that the centrifugal force, apart from the cen- tripetal, has a tendency to break up the solar system, and to drive off the planetary bodies into eccentric and lonely paths. New Testament principles taken altogether will effectually prevent mischief, causing Churches to move together in order and unity, and to march to the music of truth and love. But, to change the figure, Indepen- Primitive Ecclesia. 45 dency, cut off from the parent stock of truth, and en- grafted upon human nature, as we often find it, is Hkely to produce " very sour crabs.'* The danger of fostering a sectarian spirit, of hemming sympathies within narrow bounds, is imminent, if people do not carefully blend in their minds, with an idea of the limited extent, and the self-contained character of distinct Congregational societies, other ideas, which are of equal moment and of equal authority. Churches, though complete in them- selves, are not to live in and y^r themselves. Selfishness, whether in individuals or societies, is an abomination to Christ. Distinct *' religious interests," as they are some- times called — if the hateful phraseology be literally understood, as facts, in some cases, show that it must be — are utterly opposed to Divine law, and Divine love. Further, all true Churches are divinely related to the world. Patriotism is their duty. They cannot be indif- ferent to politics. Their field is the world, and it is their business to sow the earth with '' the good seed of the kingdom." It is unfortunate that controversy has driven some to overlook the position of the Christian Church as to the institutions, the laws, and the well-being of the nation ; and it is idle, with the history of new England before us, to deny that Congregationalism can give a tone to national life. I must confess that I cannot regard the State simply as political and economical — a nation is not a mere aggregate of human bodies, it is a congrega- tion of human souls, and as such it stands in a moral and spiritual position towards God, religion, and the Church. I believe in the possibility of a Christian State without an Established Chucrh. So far as England is, or ever can be, a Christian State, it must be so through the common worship of Almighty God, the holiness of national life, the justice of law, the equity of government, the mercy which tempers justice, the honesty of commerce, the 46 Primitive Ecclesia. purity of literature, the humility of science, and the nobleness of art : — and in the promotion of these ends, every Church is competent to take its share. Perhaps the majority of religious people in Great Britain and Ireland at the present day are connected with volun- tary denominations, and all of them are able, and all of them are required, to help in the true Christianization of the whole State ; nor is there room to doubt, that, if the whole population were to imbibe the voluntary senti- ment to-morrow, instead of diminishing, it would increase the efficiency of godly men, in their endeavours to im- prove the character and tone of national life. Schism is an ugly word, rudely flung in the faces of Nonconformists. The natural result is, that in defend- ing themselves against a false accusation, they shut their eyes to a true one. Nonconformity is, in its essence, no more schismatic than is Protestantism. It is an unfortu- nate circumstance that negative terms should be used to denote two great religious movements, full of positive faith and feeling, both distinguished by a tenacious hold of Scripture truth; both based upon an intense experience of spiritual life. Protestantism and Nonconformity are terms which point simply to the utterance of a contro- versial No ; whereas each of these powers is the expres- sion of a calm and edifying Yes. The principles of Non- conformity, taken as a whole, do not merely pull down ; they build up. They do not make rents in the Church ; they are rather fitted to repair them. Circumstances have given these terms a negative bearings but naturally they are inspired with positive force. Yet Independency and the right of private judgment, isolated from the system of truth, of which they are a part, and only a part, have a tendency to rend in twain what ought ever to be kept intact ; and the upholders of Nonconformity can, and sometimes do, by their wilfulness and obstinacy, become Primitive Ecclesia, 47 really schismatlcal. I am fully persuaded, that for persons to separate and divide, not on doctrinal and ecclesiastical grounds, not from unmanageable numbers ; but from personal disputes, from party feeling, and from mutual misunderstahding, is, to all intents and purposes, to make a rent in Christ's body. It is a violation of His law, an insult to His love, a grief to His Spirit. Nothing could be more salutary and bracing to Congregationalism, than the maintenance amongst its upholders, of a strong public opinion against the evils now pointed out, and against such proceedings as naturally tend to produce them. With a wish to be as practical as the scope and limits of this Essay will allow, I would add, that there are cer- tain other weak points in our organizations and practices for which our principles are not responsible. Power pecuniary, social, intellectual, and spiritual, existing in ' our Churches is not, to adopt a current phrase, adequately utilized. Strength amongst us often lies unemployed, and runs to waste. Existing societies, and methods of working, in connection with Free Churches, whether by schools, district visitation, or the like, do not exhaust available resources. The temporal wants of the poor and the sick, not merely such as are identified with our communities, but such as lie in the moral wastes reaching up to our very doors ; the intellectual and social wants of large numbers in the same position ; and the political aspirations of multitudes, needing to be edu- cated and guided in the use of rights for which they crave, require from us, in common with all Christian men, far more attention than they have ever yet received. The time, too, is come for pious people, particularly pious women, to combine almsdeeds with almsgiving ; and not only in Dorcas Societies to make garments for the poor, but as individuals, by wise, kindly, and genial 48" Primitive Ecclesia. . intercourse, to teach ignorant and inexperienced heads of families, how in a hundred Httle ways they may help themselves. Other objects, scarcely ever noticed by some good men, require attention. Books and periodicals, directly or indirectly illustrating the principles of Free Churches, and productions by Nonconformists, defending or inter- preting the common faith, have scant justice done them by co-religionists, unless such productions be of a popular kind. Besides College Professors, there are other Con- gregational ministers, especially some of the younger, who are sound scholars and deep thinkers, qualified, if they had time and means, greatly to enrich our national literature. But Independency has no spheres, except pastoral ones, in which such men can labour and live, and for such spheres these men are not well fitted. Might not fellowships be endowed to help these gifted spirits to do the kind of work which God has formed them to accomplish ? Necessities, in reference to mat- ters of this description, force themselves just now upon Nonconformists, and will before long secure practical consideration, if Nonconformists be wise. 2. It is a great mistake to suppose that Congregation- alists are the only persons contributing to realize the Divine ideal, or that the intelligent amongst them im- agine this to be the case. Any such supposition on the part of a religious community in this imperfect state of existence, is a prejudice belonging to a fifth class of idols, which may be added to those of the triSe, the den, the market, and the theatre. It is an idol of the Church, and it becomes enthroned, and receives worship where- ever a Church falls into self-conceit, and sectarian bigotry. Protestant Nonconformists, of other denomi- nations, Presbyterian and Wesleyan, may be, and often are, just as staunch and ardent voluntaries as Congrega- Primitive Ecclesia, ' 49 tlonallsts can be, and in many respects they frame their organizations according to Scripture rules. Their Churches recognize certain theological truths ; their ministers are placed on terms of official equality ; their fellowship depends upon the sympathies of spiritual ex- perience, and by the last-named class of Christians fel- lowship is carried beyond that of any other community. 3. Parts of the New Testament ideal also find modern representation amongst those who are regarded by Non- conformists as having in some respects most widely de- parted from it. What Congregationalists endeavour to re- duce to practice, Episcopalians maintain in theory, when in the Articles they define a Church as *' a congregation of faithful men, in which the pure Word of God is preached, and the sacraments be duly administered according to Christ's ordinances, in all those things that of necessity are requisite of the same." The importance of discipline, too, is theoretically admitted; and there are longings for its exercise, and occasional attempts to secure it more or less wise, which bear witness to the hold of the principle upon Christian consciences. Even popular elections of pastors are not unknow^n amongst Episcopalians; and something like homage is done to the right of the Church to elect its own officers, even in the formal but fruitless writ of a Conge cTelire. Large scope is allowed by some clergymen for the activities and wants of religious life ; social meetings for religious edification, similar to those existing among some Nonconformists, have been countenanced by distinguished and zealous incumbents ; and every one is aware of the vigorous endeavours made to introduce a lay element into recog- nized modes of ecclesiastical conference and operation.* These are modern representations of primitive principles and sentiments, and they have much significance. * The discussions at the Liverpool Congress, and what is now going on in Ireland, illustrate this. £ 50 Primitive Ecclesia. The progress of voluntary efforts in the Established Church Is another instance in which primitive usage is followed, and It is an instance which requires special attention. Compare the days of Queen Anne with the days of Queen Victoria. Fifty new Churches after the fire of London, had been, by Act of Parliament, ordered to be built, when In the tenth year of Queen Anne another Act was passed for the building of fifty more, to redress, as stated In a subsequent commission, "the inconvenience and growing mischiefs which resulted from the Increase of Dissenters and Popery." After the completion of the edifices, erected by virtue of such legislation, there followed a long pause of neglect and indifference ; and from the beginning almost to the end of the reign of George III. not six Churches were erected in London. Such was the supply of spiritual wants made by the State. Contrast with this, what has been accomplished during the last twenty or thirty years. Voluntaryism In the Establish- ment has done much to supply the States' lack of ser- vice. It Is remarkable that the efficiency of the Church of England, of late years, has arisen not from its State alliance, Its State endowments, the patronage of the Crown, and the Influence of Prelates in the House of Lords, but from proceedings similar to those of ancient Christianity, and modern Nonconformity. Witness the fund Instituted by the Bishop of London, and other movements of a similar description. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners have challenged the Church, offering ^150,000 to meet equal private benefactions for the augmentation of poor livings ; and the result Is the voluntary contribution of more than ;^300,ooo in one year. Statistics, upon which we have not room to enter, are at hand to show the wonderful progress of voluntaryism In the Establishment.* * The power of tlie voluntary principle is exemplified in the efforts of our Roman Catholic fellow-countrymen. To apply our ecclesiastical beliefs to the criticism of their Church theory Would lead us into a ontruversy fctrcign to our object. Prifuitive Ecclesia. 51 It is curious to place these facts by the side of onslaughts upon '* the voluntary ideal," and the vigorous efforts made to preserve an Establishment, as the great safeguard and support of religion. ** Too much of the voluntaryism of the day," we are told, " is an application to worship of that devil's gospel of modern plutonomy, which resolves all right and wrong, all happiness and misery, into a mere question of supply and demand." To say this, is utterly unfair. There may be some who make the voluntary principle an excuse for buttoning up their pockets, and for asking ''Why should I pay for any other worship than my own V Selfish people may virtu- ally mean by it "a negation of the social need of wor ship."* But it is a strange contradiction of facts to main- tain or insinuate that it is characteristic of voluntaryism to ignore that social need, when, on the contrary, volun- taryism is everlastingly talking about it, and striving to meet it ; often very much to the personal annoyance of State religionists, who, in another mood, ask, as they witness zealous voluntary efforts, "Why this waste?" The same spirit which is one day reproached as selfish, is another day rebuffed as intermeddling. At all events, public opinion has reached a point which renders hopeless the supply of spiritual wants on the part of the State. What would be thought of a Chancellor of the Exchequer who should include in his budget a good round sum for the building and endowment of new churches ^. What zealous believer in Establishments dreams of such a thing being attempted ? The tide runs the other way, and the most determined enemies of voluntaryism in theory are driven by the force of circum- stances to adopt it in practice; and it is strange policy — to say no more — for those who are totally dependent on voluntaryism for missionary efforts at home and abroad, * Vide Contemporary Review, vol. ix. 572. E 2 52 Primitive Ecclesia. to undervalue its power, and vilify its character. I am by no means a blind eulogist of British voluntaryism. It is often defective for want of means, for want of motives, and for want of wisdom. It is sometimes accompanied by rashness and by waste. But all this leaves the heart of the principle untainted, and the authority of it untouched. It remains the only source of support known in the New Testament, — the one law of revenue upon which Apostles ventured the per- manent subsistence of the Church. It may not be amiss here to remark that two currents of sentiment are, at this moment, running in opposite directions, both of them composed of mingled waters. The current of voluntaryism consists, mainly, I believe, in a devout and intelligent desire to purify and invigorate the Church of Christ, to render her independent of the world, and to bind her heart more closely to her Heavenly Lord. With this nobler impulse no doubt there are others mixed. Men of spiritually despotic views and aims, who wish ecclesiastically to enslave mankind, and men who hate religion as mere superstition, and would gladly sweep it from off the face of the earth, do sometimes join in assail- ing Establishments, and this is turned into a reproach against voluntaryism. But it should be remembered, on the other hand, when we turn to examine the opposite strong current of feeling in the present day, that whilst pure-minded men, anxious for the highest welfare of Christendom, support Establishments, under the idea of their being bulwarks against fanaticism and infidelity, others lay hands upon the ark to hold it up, simply as an engine of State policy, or as a coffer of wealth for a favoured few. At the best, they take part in the settle- ment of Church questions as merely "a compromise of parties, to secure a more or less approximate justice in the application of funds." The advocates of Establish- Primitive Ecclesia, 53 ments must see that their forces, certainly not less than those on the opposite side, are of a mixed description. But the motives of men on both sides must be put out of sight, and we ought to judge of the two conflicting ecclesiastical principles upon intrinsic grounds. In drawing towards a conclusion, may I be permitted to remark that the history of voluntaryism during the last two centuries presents a series of facts, unpre- cedented since the conversion of Constantine. At the period of the Restoration, the Established Church ap- peared triumphant, an immense majority shouted in its favour, amidst a political excitement, which, even in our most feverish seasons of agitation, it is difficult to conceive. Nonconformity of all kinds was driven into holes and corners, and its total extinction became an object of anticipation close at hand. But instead of extinction behold progress, — steady, persistent pro- gress, in spite of all sorts of political and social oppo- sition, and with nothing to support the despised commu- nities except the maligned energies upon which they rely. And now at the close of a period — short in the estimation of an historical inquirer — British and Irish Churches, free from the control, and Independent of the support of the State, number amongst their adherents a decided majority. Finally, may I ask whether the time be not come for State Churchmen to consider more dispassionately the questions at Issue between themselves and Nonconform- ists. Is It any fairer for them to charge their brethren with spoliation and robbery, or with envy and jealousy, or with hereditary blindness, or with ignorance, or with an incapacity to apprehend reasoning, or with narrow- ness, bitterness, and want of candour, than it is for their brethren to charge them with corresponding faults .-^ Many State Churchmen are actually adopting the practices, 54 Primitive Ecclesia, if not the principles, of those whom they misrepresent or misapprehend. They are forming voluntary associa- tions, raising voluntary funds, and doing many things after a manner, which of old would have shocked the Anglican, and filled the Puritan with joy. Some modern religious movements, redounding to the honour of Church- men, would have aroused the anger of Whitgift, of Laud, and of Sheldon ; and would have won the sympathy of Cartwrlght, Calamy, Baxter, and Owen. This makes it manifest that there is a practical approach in the Church now towards the usages of those, who formerly were deemed the enemies of all Churchmen. Should not this circumstance at least induce a disposition frankly, and without prejudice, to regard the ecclesiastical controver- sies of the day ? And should not the members of that de- nomination which is established and endowed in this coun- try be more generally ready to acquaint themselves with the principles and proceedings of their Christian brethren of other names ? Many are wisely seeking information upon a subject which so obviously calls for their close attention, but many more are content to remain ignorant of what is being professed and achieved by their fellow citizens living next door to them — thus betraying a kind and an amount of indifference, which can only be paralleled by the perfect unconcern of the upper classes in the Roman Empire to the early progress of Christianity, as it spread day by day amongst their neighbours, and under the very shadow of their own house-roofs. Human nature is made responsible for very bad things, and it may be deemed Quixotic to expect any good from that quarter. Some who deny the doctrine of its depravity have, notwithstanding, the worst conceptions of mankind. Yet, after all, do we really wander into a fool's paradise, when we hope for a better spirit in the treatment of religious controversy, and in the relations of ecclesiastical Primitive Ecclesia, ^ 55 parties ? Is there to be everlastingly a life and death quarrel between one denomination of Christian English- men and another, instead of a manly and patriotic appli- cation of mind and heart to practical problems, pressing for solution with increasing earnestness day by day ? Conscience and interest point in the same direction. Nobody can deny that we ought to turn over a new leaf, and putting aside recrimination, to look at the im- mensely important subjects before us, in the sight of God, and in the spirit of charity. History shows the mischief of dogged resistance to change, and of the re- sentments which that resistance enkindles. It shows what may be feared from obstinate conservatism on the one side, and from fanatical revolution on the other. The references to the 15 th chapter of Acts, on page 17, are of course from the Authorized Version. With regar4 to the 23rd verse, it should be observed that in the Vatican, the Alexandrian and the Sinaitic MSS., the words koli ol between "elders" and "brethren" are omitted. Accord- ing to that reading, the word "brethren" would not denote the mem- bers of the Church in general, as distinguished from the elders, and as uniting in the letter, but would describe the elders, who in this act joined the Apostles, as being brethren. Neander and Alford observe, that such an omission could scarcely have arisen from any hierarchical consideration, seeing that it occurs as early as the time of Irenaeus, and that it would be against any strong hierarchical view to call the presbyters brethren. Alford thinks the addition of the Kai oi arose from a wish to bring the salutation of the letter into accordance with the description in the 4th and 22nd verses. In any case, the omission in the MSS. mentioned, does not touch the historical argument in the Essay, that the people took part with the Apostles and elders in the primitive Conference at Jerusalem. I may add, that Scholz and Tischendorf (Ed. 1839) retain /cat oi in the text. THE IDEA OF THE CHURCH REGARDED IN ITS HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT REV. J. RADFORD THOMSON, M.A. THE IDEA OF THE CHURCH REGARDED IN ITS HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT. The Church, as a Divine society, originated in the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Christ's disciples on the .day of Pentecost. As a human institution, it shaped itself, under the guidance of the inspired Apostles, ac- cording to the circumstances in which it arose and grew. When no longer under the superintendence of the Apos- tles, its outward form was governed by the principles and the wisdom of its members, who, doubtless, were more or less influenced by the primitive models. There is ambiguity in the word Church corresponding with the several meanings attached by New Testament writers to the term ifCKXrjo-La, and indeed extending be- yond these limits. Our Lord and His Apostles use the word to designate the whole fellowship of the faithful and holy throughout all places and ages.* This is em- phatically ^/le Church, called by Protestant theologians, "CathoHc" and "invisible," as comprising all spiritual Christians, but as known in all its extent to the Omnis- cient eye alone. The word is also employed in the New Testament as the common name of Christian societies, formed in certain places, and associated for worship, edi- • fication, and mission work. In whatsoever place the * Matt. xvi. 18 } Eph. v. 25-7, &c. 6o Idea of the Church Word of eternal life was preached and received, there was formed A Church or Christian assembly. Such an assembly would meet either in a private house,* or, when more convenient, in some other room hired or granted for the purpose. The usage will appear from a comparison be- tween the opening of the Epistles to the Corinthians, and that of the Epistle to the Galatians. St. Paul writes to '* the Church of God which is at Corinth,"! but to "the Churches of Galatia."| The one society assembling in one place is " a Church ;" the several societies scattered throughout a district are not " a Church," but Churches. It is maintained by many writers that the word " Church " is used in the New Testament in other senses beside the two now mentioned. Upon one passage an attempt has been made to base an interpretation of the term in question evidently intended to support a fore- gone conclusion. When our Lord supposes an offender to refuse to '' hear the Church," it has been affirmed that He referred to the officers of the Church ;§ but to this it is a sufficient reply that what is done through the officers is done by the society ; there is no need to assume a special signification for the word in this passage. Whether the word is ever employed in Scripture to denote a collection of congregations in a city or district, or the aggregate of all existing congregations, is a dis- puted point. Some Independent controversialists have boldly maintained that, even in such a case as that of the Church at Jerusalem, there was only one congregation of Church members in a city, whilst Presbyterians have insisted upon the extreme improbability that thousands of believers could be brought together into one assembly, and have argued that though there may have been many * Rom, xvi. <; j i Cor. xvi. 19; Col. iv, 15 ; Philem. 2. t I Cor. i. 2 ; 2 Cor. i. i. X Gal. i. 2. § Bannerman, The Chuich of Christ, vol. i. p. 14. Bannerman gives five meanings to the word ; Palmer, in his Lectures on the Church, also gives five, which nearly coin- cide with Bannerman's. Historically developed. 6t congregations, there was only one Church, whose officers (in distinction from the lay-members) met for purposes of deliberation and government. The view which com- mends itself to our judgment is that in some cases there were several assemblies for ordinary worship and instruc- tion, but that the elders and deacons were officers of the whole society, and that in an aggregate meeting of the community the ultimate power resided.* There is, how- ever, no passage in which the Christian societies through- out a district are designated a Church, as in our modern usage we speak of the Church of England, &c.t Those few texts which have been quoted in favour of the sense of '' universal visible Church," as attaching to the word eicKKr)aia, may perhaps be referred to one or other of the two usages which have been admitted. The word ''Church" has, however, become so generally used in these last-men- tioned senses, that it would be impossible in popular usage to conform to strict New Testament precedent, and in the course of this Essay we may speak of the Church of Africa or France, and we may use the word Church to denote the aggregate of the Christian societies existing upon the earth. Like all organized human societies, the Churches founded by the Apostles needed officers, whilst the special purpose for which they were instituted rendered necessary in such officers peculiar qualifications. It has been asserted and learnedly maintained that the primi- tive Christian societies were based in their constitution upon the model of the Jewish synagogue ; and however difficult of proof this position may be, it is certain that there was far more correspondence between a Church and a synagogue than between a Church and the Temple- * "The Epistles of the Apostle Paul give the clearest evidence that all the Christians of one city originally formed one whole Church. Yet we may easily suppose that some parts of the Church, without separating themselves from the whole body and its guidance, held particular meetings in the house of some person whose locality was very suitable, and who acted as the ^j^afTxraXog." — Neander's Planting, p. 151. Vide also Davidson's Eccl. Polity, lect. ii. t The one apparent exception (Acts ix. 31) is based upon a reading which has certainly strong M.S. support, but is contrary to the usage of the New Testament. 62 Idea of the Church scheme. There was no order of men in the Christian community designated priests (lepeU), and there was, in our opinion, nothing corresponding to the Jewish sacrifice which such persons could have offered. On the other hand, the reading of Scripture, instruction, prayer, and praise ; these were common to the synagogue and the Church.* For the very special needs of the infant Church, provision equally special was made by its Head. The first officers were the supernaturally-inspired Apos- tles, who were endowed with signs corresponding with their authority, and who, whatever credulous, superstition may aver, had no successors in office. Charisms, or gifts useful for spiritual ends, were abundantly scattered throughout the primitive Church, and do not seem to have been confined to office-holders. In Apostolic times, however, two orders of officers were universal. First, in point of time, w^ere deacons, if, as is generally believed, the seven appointed at Jerusalem held the same office with the Blclkovol of St. Paul's Epistles. Then came the presbyters or bishops {irpea^vTepoL, iTTLaKoiroi), who were the spiritual teachers and rulers of the societies. The qualifications of these officers are described in the pastoral Epistles of St. Paul; their appointment originally seems to have rested with the Apostles and specially- gifted evangelists, evidently — judging from analogy — - with the concurrence of the brethren, with whom subse- quent elections would naturally remain. So far, then, as can be learned from the New Testa- ment, the first Churches were societies of faithful and holy, though imperfect men and women, independent of control from without, save from the inspired Apostles during their life-time, meeting under the presidence of * O.i the distinction between the words (stfvayioyrf and tKKXTjcria^ 'vide a valuable note in Webiter and Wilkinson's Greek. Test, on Acts ix. 31. It may be observed that Christianity favoured the multiplicity of the synagogue system, lather than the unity symbolised in the Temple. Historically developed. ()2) their elected officers for spiritual edification, receiving and excluding members upon the principles laid down by the Lord and His Apostles. They strove, with more or less success, to realize the high ideal Divinely revealed, and to accomplish the noble and benevolent purposes for which their fellowship had been instituted. Let us strive to comprehend how clearly the New Testament writers recognized the distinction between the two senses of the Ecclesia which have been alluded to ; how grandly they conceived of the glorious society known in its entirety only to the mind of God, and how justly they dealt with those communities which, though bound to aspire to the ideal Church, yet soiled their garments with earthly impurities, and stained them with the blood of earthly warfare. Christians have found both their justification and their motive in New Testament Scripture for regard- ing the Church with reverence and with fondness. The Apostle Paul especially has summoned the vast powers of his inspired imagination to depict and present the Church universal in the most dignified and attrac- tive form. It is the spiritual and holy Temple* as the chosen dwelling-place of the Most High, and the scene of His perpetual manifestation, destined to do more than replace the abolished Temple and services of Mount Morlah, and to endure after the fleshly temple of Christ's body had been taken up out of sight. f It is the mystical Spouse\ of the Divine Man, who has loved the Church, and has purified it, that the Bride, holy and without blemish, might be prepared for sacred and spiritual espousals. Nay, as if even this most elevated figure did not adequately set forth the Divine conception of Christ's Church, it is His very Body,\ taken up, as it * I Cor. iii. i6 ; i Cor. vi. 16; Eph. ii. 21. t Vide Bp. Hinds' Three Temples of t le One God. X Eph. V. 25-32. § 1 Cor. X. 17 J Eph. i. 22, 23 j iv. 15, 16 j Col. i, 18. 64 Idea of the Church were, into His own personality, supplied, guided, and kept in harmonious activity by the exalted, ever-living Head. The first-mentioned of these figures is sanc- tioned, and may have been suggested, by the words of the Lord Himself, '' On this rock will I build my Church;" whilst such sayings as these: "Ye are my friends ;" '\ I am the vine, ye are the branches ;" *' Abide in me, and I in you," may well have led up, by the intimacy of the relation they assert, to the other un- fathomably significant metaphors of the Apostle. Nor was St. Paul the only one of the inspired ex- ponents of Christian truth who appreciated this ideal and sublime view of the Christian community. St. Peter waxes eloquent when he enters upon this theme, and plies his readers with motives to practical holiness drawn from the lofty and spiritual conception of the Church ; they are lively stones wrought into the walls of a spiri- tual house, a holy and royal priesthood, a holy nation, the people of God.* And the Seer who, as the beloved of the Saviour, was wont to lean on Jesus' breast, and who, when that Saviour had ascended, was admitted to the clearest vision of the unseen and the future, dwells, as might be expected, fondly and poetically, upon the Church, viewed as it appears to ransomed immortals, and to Him who sits upon the throne. Like the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, he contemplates the Church as the holy city, the new Jerusalem; f and like the Apostle of the Gentiles, he sees in the Church the Bride, \ the Lamb's wife, attired in the radiant linen of righteousness, and ready for the nuptials of eternity. It is impossible, however, to overlook the fact that the same Apostles who wrote concerning the Church of the Lord Jesus in so elevated a strain, were thoroughly cognizant of the actual condition of the Christian socie- * I Pet. ii. 5, 9, 10. t Rev. xxi. 2. % Rev. xix. 7, 8 ; xxi. 2, 9. Historically developed. 65 ties then existing, and were by no means blind to the grave faults by which the members of those societies were characterized. The Corinthians were reproached by St. Paul for their '' envying, and strife, and divisions." There were those among them, he affirms, who defrauded their brethren ; and those who despised him, the Apostle of the Lord, and their own father In the faith. The Lord's Supper was made by some an occasion for selfish and carnal festivities. Nor were grosser sins unknown ; the Apostle feared to find among them impenitent fornica- tors, and he directly charges them with tolerating a case of incest. The Galatians were reproved for forsaking the spiritual religion they had accepted, and for turning again to the weak and beggarly elements of Judaism. St. Paul warns the Phillpplans, that among the teachers who were to be found in the Churches, there were some who preached Christ of envy and strife, and some who were the enemies of the cross of Christ. In the Church of Thessalonica he censures some as disorderly, and as idle busybodies. From his Epistles to Timothy, especially, it appears that the Apostle expected these imperfections to continue, for he foretells the rise and the partial success of false teachers. The writings of the other Apostles point to the same state of things ; St. James denounces the strife, avarice, and oppression that prevailed among the Christianized Hebrews ; the admonitions of St. Peter imply the existence of pride and sensuality ; the first Epistle of St. John is directed against the already- appearing errors of the Gnostics ; and no proof can be more conclusive of the compatibility of the lofty ideal of the Church universal, with a clear perception of actual imperfections, than that which is afforded by the Apoca- lypse, for the addresses to some of the seven Churches of Asia contain the keenest reproofs of impurity, negligence, and false security. 66 Idea of the Church It would have been well had this distinction, evidently recognized by the Apostles of the Lord, been as clearly and constantly regarded by the leaders and writers of the early Church. The Idea of a spiritual society holding the truth in Its Integrity, living in fellowship with the glorified Redeemer, reflecting upon the world the light of His holiness ; — this Is one thing. The fact of a human organization composed of persons Imperfect In knowledge and In character, even at their best, and in reality contain- ing hypocrites and deceivers of self as well, and presided over by officers themselves compassed with infirmities ; — this Is quite another thing. But to this distinction men have been too often blind : the Church has too often seen only the Ideal completeness ; the world has too often contented Itself with the faulty and Inconsistent reality. Hence many of the vain pretensions of the hierarchy ; hence much of the unbelief and scoffing of the heathen and the philosophers. The Apostolic Fathers present a view of the com- position and government of the Christian Churches very ' much corresponding with that offered in the New Tes- tament. The genuine first Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians is In reality the letter, not of an individual, but of a community. It opens with language which calls to mind the terms of letters continually passing between our own Congregational Churches of the present day : — " The Church of God which sojourns at Rome to the Church of God sojourning at Corinth, to them that are called and sanctified by the will of God, through our- Lord Jesus Christ." * It Is observable that the names of the bishops of the two societies are not even men- tioned In the salutation : Clement may have been the penman, but the Church was the sender of the Epistle. There is no trace at all of the subsequent distinction * I Ep. Clem., cap. i. Historically developed. 67 between the bishop and the presbyter : as Is the case in the New Testament, these terms are used convertibly to designate the same officer.* There are only two orders of ministry, — bishops or presbyters, and deacons. *' The Apostles," says Clement, '* appointed the first-fruits, having first proved them by the Spirit, to be bishops and deacons of those who should afterwards believe." f The Corinthians are remonstrated with for having deposed certain holy and blameless ministers from their offices. \ But Clement assumes no jurisdiction over his corres- pondents on account of his own official relation to the Church at Rome ; on the contrary, he bases his advice upon the duty of mutual counsel and admonition. § With the superscription of the Epistle of Clement should be compared that of the encyclical letter of the Church at Smyrna, on the occasion of the martyrdom of Polycarp, their bishop. It runs thus : — " The Church of God which sojourns at Smyrna to the Church of God sojourning at Philomelium, and to all the congregations of the holy and Catholic Church in every place." || Polycarp's extant Epistle professes to be from '' Polycarp and the presbyters with him to the Church of God sojourn- ing at Philippi." In it is no mention of three orders of ministry : the duty is affirmed of being " subject to the presbyters and ' deacons, as unto God and Christ," and the character and ministrations of these officers are described. IF The Apostolic Fathers follow the example of the New Testament writers in exhibiting under striking and noble figures the excellence and dignity of the universal Church. Barnabas writes of the spiritual temple : — '* Having received the forgiveness of sins, and placed our trust in * I Ep. Clem., cap. xliv. t Ibid., cap. xlii. Patrum Apostolicorum Opera, Hefelc's edition is referred to : but where an English translation is given, it is that of Clark's Ante-Niccne Library. X Ibid., cap. xliv. § Ibid., cap. Ivi. [j Martyr. S Polyc. ^ Ep. Polyc, cap. v.,vi. F 2 68 Idea of the Church the name of the Lord, we have become new creatures, formed again from the beginning. Wherefore, in our habitation, God truly dwells in us." * Clement compares the Church to an army serving under its leaders, in which each occupies his proper station and renders his appointed service ; and to a body where every member has its own office. t In the second (spurious) Epistle, the Church is likened to the spouse of Christ. \ Hennas, in the Pastor, represents the Church by many figures : it is especially a lofty tower composed of many and various stones. § Were those documents which have been quoted the only ones assignable to the age immediately succeeding that of the Apostles, it might be deemed well established that in the early part of the second century the Christian societies were governed each by its own presbyters or bishops, and served each by its own deacons, that they acknowledged no external authority or primacy, but were altogether independent of one another. In the Epistles attributed to Ignatius there are, however, symptoms of a remarkable change in process. Here, the will of the bishop is the people's rule. The presbytery is fitted to the bishop as strings to the harp. " We should look upon the bishop as we would upon the Lord Himself." The presbyters, submitting to him, submit '' to the Father of Jesus Christ, the Bishop of us all." The three clerical orders are already developed : — " Your bishop presides in the place of God, and your presbyters in the place of the assembly of the Apostles, along with your deacons." '' Your most admirable bishop, and the well-compacted spiritual crown of your presbytery, and your deacons who are according to God." '' Ye are subject to the bishop as to Jesus Christ." '* Fare ye well," is his greeting to the Trallians, " in Jesus . Christ, while ye continue * Ep. Barnab., cap. xvi. f i Ep. Clem., cap. xxxvii. X a Ep. Clem., cap. ii. § Herm. Simil., cix. Historically developed. 69 subject to the bishop as to the command [of God] and in Hke manner to the presbytery." The Philadelphians are told that " as many as are of God and of Jesus Christ are also with the bishop." In the longer, and probably the more largely interpolated, version of these documents, the hierarchy appears thoroughly established. ** Let governors be obedient to Csesar ; soldiers to those that command them ; deacons to the presbyters as to high-priests ; the presbyters and deacons and the rest of the clergy, together with all the people and the soldiers and the governors, and Csesar [himself] to the bishop ; the bishop to Christ, even as Christ to the Father." '* Do nothing," says he, '' without the bishop." The conditions of Divine favour are no longer, as in the New Testament, spiritual ; they have become formal and external. " To all them that repent the Lord grants forgiveness, if they turn in penitence to the unity of God, and to communion with the bishop." The pseudo- Ignatius magnified his office. "It is not lawful without the bishop either to baptize or to celebrate a love-feast : " the longer recension adds, "or to present sacrifice." Says Bishop Ignatius to Bishop Polycarp : — " If any one reckon himself greater than the bishop, he is ruined." Marriage is only to be entered upon with " the approval of the bishop."* From the Epistles which are acknowledged to be spurious it is unnecessary to quote. In these, the whole, array of Church-officers is obviously paraded, as they existed at a later period. Here, the bishops have become priests ; and we even meet with " the blessed Pope Linus !" t It is worthy of notice that whilst the longer Greek and Latin copies are more hierarchial than the shorter, the Syriac version, which is the shortest of all, is comparatively free from the sacerdotal taint. Perhaps * Epp. Ignat. passim. f Ignat. Ep. ad Mariam, cap. iv. 70 Idea of the Church in considering the question of the genuineness of the Epistles attributed to Ignatius, it is scarcely possible to be uninfluenced by ecclesiastical prepossessions ; but it is at least questionable whether there is satisfactory guarantee that, in reading even the shortest recension, the student has before him the genuine compositi3ns of the bishop of Antioch.* Ignatius doubtless favoured the rising system of prelacy ; and, in consequence of his well-known tendency, much was attributed to him, by way of interpolation or forgery, exceeding in ecclesias- ticism anything he really wrote, in order that the sanc- tion of antiquity might be claimed for dogmas and prac- tices of subsequent growth, f " Every town congregation of ancient Christianity," says Bunsen, " was a Church. The constitution of that Church was a congrega- tional constitution. In St. Paul's Epistles, in the writings of Clemens Romanus, of Ignatius and of Polycarp, the congregation is the highest organ of the spirit as well as power of the Church. It is the body of Christ » . This congregation was governed and directed by a council of elders, which congregational council, at a later period, was presided over by a governing overseer, the bishop. But the ultimate decision, in important emergencies, rested with the whole congre- gation." \ In the second century, the episcopal system univer- sally supplanted the Congregational or Presbyterian order of the primitive Churches. The prevalence of serious errors, particularly the different forms of Gnos- ticism, threatening to overthrow the doctrine and the discipline of Christendom, has been held to account for " an increase of official power, and the subjection of the Churches under episcopal authority." § The persecu- * Vide Mr. Basil Cooper's Free Church of Ancient Christendom, Appendix K. ^ t " Le fait qu'on ait precisement choisi Ignace pour lui attribuer les theories episcopales prouvt suffisament qu'il a travaille d'une maniere efficace a fortifier outre mesure Tautorite ecclesiastique au detriment de la liberte et de Tegalite des chretiens." — De Pressens^, Histoire des trois premiers si^cles de I'eglise chretienne, vol. ii., p. 464. Vide also a valuable note, K, at the end of the same volume. X Hippolytus and his Age, vol. iii., p. ^20. § Schenkel, in Herzog's Real. Encyc. Historically developed. 71 tions that arose would naturally tend to concentration of administrative trust. At the same period, the anti- Christian doctrines of a priesthood and of sacrifice were largely adopted ; and were no doubt favoured as tending to support the power and the pretensions of the clergy. An exaggerated importance was now attached to the merely outward connection with the visible ecclesiastical community. Irenaeus was the first great representative and ex- ponent of this system. His was the famous dictum : — '' Where the Church is, there is the Spirit of God ; and where the Spirit of God is, there is the Church." * The external society is emphatically the depository of the truth : — *' The Apostles, like a rich man depositing his money in a bank, lodged in her hands most copiously all things pertaining to the truth ; so that every man whoso- ever will, can draw from her the water of life. For she is the entrance to life ; all others are thieves and robbers." f The unity of the Church and her testimony is boldly proclaimed : — '' She also beli.eves these points just as if she had but one soul . . . and teaches them . . . as if she possessed only one mouth ;"| "undoubtedly the preaching of the Church is true and stedfast, in which one and the same way of salvation is shown throughout the whole world." § The same writer claims also for the Churches an Apostolical succession of chief pastors : — ** We are in a position to reckon up those who were by the Apostles instituted bishops in the Churches, and the successions of these men to our own times ;"|| "all pre- serve the same form of ecclesiastical constitution." IT Quotations might easily be multiplied to show the growth of the ecclesiastical system. " The grades here in the Church," says Clement of Alexandria, " of bishops, * Ircn. adv. Haer, L. III., cap. xxiv. t Ibid., L. III., cap. iv. J Ibid., L. I., cap. x. § Ibid., L. v., cap. xx. jj Ibid., L. III., cap. iii. ^ Ibid., L. V., cap. xx. 72 Idea of the Church presbyters, deacons, are imitations of the angelic glory."* '' The true Church, that which is really ancient, is one . . . . The pre-eminence of the Church .... is In its oneness."! '* The human assemblies which they (the heretics) hold were posterior to the Catholic Church. "J: " One is the only virgin mother. I love to call her the Church Calling her children to her, she nurses them with holy milk, namely, with the Word."§ More spiritual representations are, however, not wanting. Tertullian, for example, teaches that the Church is dependent upon the Divine presence, and Is manifested by the association of believers. " Wherever there are three (that is, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit), there is the Church, which Is a body of three." || *' In a company of two (or, where one or two are) is the Church ; but the Church is Christ. "IT The same writer also '' opposes to the Church, as consisting of a number of bishops, the Church of the Spirit, which manifests itself through men enlightened by the Holy Spirit"** Thus the bishop, who had been primus inter pares, as the president of the council of elders, obtained a monarchical position. The legislative power resided In the presbytery ; the judicial authority In the bishop. But even '* in the time of Callistus (a.d. 220), the power of the Bishop of Rome was already more absolute than constitutional;" according to HIppolytus, Callistus as- serted "■ that a bishop could never be deposed by the presbytery, or obliged to abdicate, even though he commit a sin unto death." tt Of this doctrine, HIppolytus himself disapproved. There Is good reason for regarding the schisms of the * Clem. Alex. Strom., L. VI., cap. 13. || Tertul. de Bapt., cap. vi, t Ibid., L. VII., cap. 17. ^ Tertul. de Pcenif,, cap. x. j Ibid. ** Neander's Church History, vol. i ., p. 211. § Clem. Alex. Paedag., L. I., cap. 6. ff Bunsen's Hippolytus and his Age, vol. i. 310. Historically developed, 73 early centuries as partaking in some degree of the cha- racter of protests against the ecclesiastical formalism and externalism of the times. The growing tendency in the Church was to attach the greatest importance to mere organization. The maxim of Irenaeus, ''Ubi Ecclesia, ibi Spiritus!' was hardening into a definition. There was one Church, the marks of which were, not so much accordance with the Scriptures and vigour of spiritual life, as the existence of the recognized officers and govern- ment and an undoubted episcopal succession : to be in communion with this organized society, and to participate, in due form, in its prescribed ordinances ; this was to be in the way of eternal salvation. It is neither to be w^ondered at, nor regretted, that there were minds which re- volted against this cruel exaggeration of the merit of mere system. ■' Schismatic" is a hard name, and those who have arrogated to themselves the appellation ''Catholic" have usually deemed the flinging of this name an end of all controversy. But it is a remarkable fact that several Important bodies of Christians, stigmatized as schismatics, have been admitted to have held fast the great cardinal doctrines of Christianity as faithfully as their adversaries. The points in dispute were points of order, discipline, and government, and in some Instances were distinctly personal. And yet the great schismatical sects still held to the episcopal form of government. These facts indicate that different conceptions entertained of the nature of the Church were, more or less, at the root of these divisions. Without implying that the seceders were right, and the Catholics wrong, it may be affirmed that there was abroad a commendable spirit of rebellion against the stringency with which the eccle- siastical authorities applied their principles of priestly authority and external unity. The earliest great division within the Church, — if this 74 Idea of the Church expression may be used In distinction from the distortions of Christianity produced in the East by attempts to com- bine it with philosophical speculations, Jewish ideas or heathen mythologies, and in distinction also from the doctrinal heresies which existed from the very time of the Apostles, — was that known as Montanism, after the name of its fanatical Phrygian originator. The claim of supernatural gifts was doubtless enthusiasm ; the assumption of an incarnate Paraclete was blasphemous ; and the belief in the perpetuation of the prophetic order might tend to restlessness and might favour imposture. Still, Montanism, if it did not owe its rise, probably owed its progress, to a laudable spirit of reaction against the system then advancing to general acceptance, which limited Church teaching and Church authority by lines of human officialism, and was disposed to overlook the Scriptural conditions of communion and the spiritual con- stitution of the Church.* The most reasonable explanation of the adhesion to the Montanists of their greatest name is to be found, not in the mere natural temperament of Tertullian,f but in the repugnance he felt to the habits of thought and action which he perceived in the hierarchical party. The Mon- tanists were earnest supporters of Trinitarianism ; the Sabellian party, represented by Praxeas, found in these sectaries their bitterest opponents. An alliance appears to have been formed at Rome, between the hierarchical party and the heretics, against the Montanism which opposed the sacerdotalism of the one and the Sabel- lianism of the other. Tertullian was disgusted with this coalition, and threw the vast energies of his nature into the support of what he deemed the truth. ''II se fit * ** Les Montanistes .... par leur severite ascetique etleur energlque revendication de la sacrificature universelle, qui allait jusqu' a abolir la prelrise speciale, etaient les ennemies jures de la tendance hierarchique." — De Pressense, vol. iii. p 448. f The view of many historians, — as of Milman, vide History of Christianity, vol. ii. pp 212-4 J Latin Christianity, vol. i. pp. 37-9. Historically developed. 75 Monta7iiste tout d'abord par sa vive repulsion pour ceux quirepoussaient le Monta7iisme.''* Montanism was a healthy power, in so far as it opposed a Church of the Spirit to one of mere order and form, so far as it recognized (and that practically) the universal priesthood of Christians, and so far as it gave importance to the prophetic function in the Church of the New Dis- pensation. In these respects it offered some compensation to Christendom for the evils wrought by the encourage- ment it undoubtedly gave to asceticism and to spiritual pride. And it should be borne in mind that, lofty as were the pretensions of the Montanists, yet (to quote the words of Neander) '' it does not exactly appear that they were inclined to separate from the rest of the Church and to renounce its communion."! The violations of the so-called " Catholic unity," for which Novatus and Novatian were respectively respon- sible, were more properly schisms than was the Phry- gian sect. They are chiefly interesting because of the importance of the sees they threatened and the bishops whose opposition they aroused. Men who ventured on an encounter with Cyprian of Carthage and Cornelius of Rome, — when these two metropolitans were severally and jointly bent upon the establishment of the episcopal unity as one great purpose of official life, — could not but im- mortalize themselves and their defeat A most curious example of the way in which circumstances furnish battle- ground for principles, is the history of the discussions raised about the sacrificati, thurifici, and libellatici, who applied for re-admission to the fellowship of the Church. The eagerness with which they sought this privilege proves to how enormous an extent belief in the importance of com- munion with the visible Church had grown by the middle * This view is that of De Pressense, who argues forcibly and eloquently in its support. Deuxieme Serie, tome I , livre ii. t Vide Neander's General Church History, vol. ii. pp. 196-223. 76 Idea of the Church of the third century. The value popularly attached to the recommendations or certificates of '' confessors" is an illustration of the growth of superstition ; but it is more than this, it is an evidence that Church-fellowship was ceasing to be the privilege of individual character, and was becoming a formal and technical status. The prudent determination of the great bishops neither, on the one hand, to submit to the indiscriminate prerogative claimed by the confessors, nor, on the other hand, to be guided by the severe and inflexible principles of the ultra-puritan factions, was undoubtedly the means of consolidating their official authority, and at the same time of enlarging the scope of its exercise. The Novatians denied the power of the Church to receive again into communion such as had sinned against God — especially referring to the lapsed ; and the popular idea of their exclusiveness was typified in the jocular remark of Constantine to the Novatian bishop : '* Acesius, take a ladder, and get up to heaven by your- self."* It is a remarkable fact that Novatus, who at Carthage had been the zealous upholder of the privilege of the confessors, and had opposed the just and moderate caution of Cyprian, became at Rome the advocate of the severer schism. Surely this is an indication, not merely that the man was fickle or personally ambitious, or both, but that there was abroad at the time a temper disposed to resist — although as time proved in vain — the exercise of resolute episcopal authority, and to favour a more free and popular conduct of Church affairs, t The writings of Cyprian abound with assertions and * Socrates, L. I., cap, lo. Sozonien, L. I,, cap. 22 t" Novatian maintained that purity and holiness, being one of the essential marks of a true Church, every Church which, neglecting the right use of discipline, tolerates in its bosom or re-admits to its communion, such persons as, by gross sins, have broken their baptismal vows, ceases by that very act to be a true Christian Church, and forfeits all the rights and privileges of a true Church." — Neander, vol. i. p. 343. " Novatian and his opponents were involved in the same fundamental error, and differed only in their application of it j and this fundamental eiror was that of confounding the notions of the visible and of the invisible Church. Hence it was that Novatian, transferring the pre- Historically developed. 77 claims based on what weshould call the High Church system. In writing to the " lapsed," he rebukes them for claiming peace of " the Church " in the name of a con- fessor, instead of submissively seeking this restoration to fellowship from the ecclesiastical authorities. Quoting Christ's words to Peter, he argues : — '' Thence, through the changes of times and successions, the ordering of bishops and the plan of the Church flows onwards ; so that the Church is founded upon the bishops, and every act of the Church is controlled by these same rulers. Since this, then, is founded on the Divine law, I marvel that some, with daring temerity, have chosen to write to me as if they wrote in the name of the Church ; when the Church is established in the bishop and clergy, and all who stand."* In his treatise on the " Unity of the Church," written '* on the occasion of the schism of Novatian, to keep back from him the Carthaginians, who already were not averse to him, on account of Novatus and some other presbyters of his Church, who had originated the whole disturbance," Cyprian uses some very strong language concerning the duty of conformity and the evil of schism. Thus he writes : — " Hanc Ecclesiae unitatem qui non tenet, tenere se fidem credit ? qui Ecclesiae renititur et resistit, in Ecclesia se esse confidit ? . . . Quam unitatem firmiter tenere et vindicare debemus, maxime episcopi, qui in Ecclesia praesidemus, ut episcopatum quoque ipsum unum atque indivisum probemus." '' Does he who does not hold this unity of the Church think that he holds the faith ? Does he who strives against and resists the dicate of purity and unspotted holiness which belongs to the invisible Church, the com- munity oi the saints as such (Eph. v, 27), to the visible form in which it manifests itself, concluded that every Church which suffered unclean members to remain in it ceased to be a true branch of the one Church. . . . His opponents differed from him only in laying at the basis of their speculations the notion of the Church as carried on and sustained by the succession of bishops, and then deriving the predicates of purity and holiness from that notion." — Ibid., P 344- • Cypr. Ep., XXV'. (Oxford Ed., xxxiii.) 78 Idea of the Chtirch Church trust that he is In the Church ? . . . And this unity we ought firmly to hold and assert, especially those of us that are bishops, who preside in the Church, that we may also prove the episcopate itself to be one and undi- vided." And again : — " Ouisquls ab Ecclesia segregatus adulterae jungitur, a promissis Ecclesise separatur. Nee pervenit ad Christi praemia qui relinquit ecclesiam Christi. Alienus est, profanus est, hostis est. Habere jam non potest Deum patrem, qui Ecclesiam non habet matrem." " Whoever is separated from the Church, and is joined to an adulteress, is separated from the promises of the Church, nor can he who forsakes the Church of Christ attain to the rewards of Christ. He is a stranger, he is profane, he is an enemy. He can no longer have God for his father, who has not the Church for his mother."* Even martyrdom was pronounced by Cyprian to be of no avail (if indeed any one could have fortitude to endure it without the encouragement of the Eucharist) without reconciliation to the Church, f The claims thus put forward by the bishops were but too readily conceded. We find that the Roman con- fessors who had countenanced the schism of Novatian and Novatus, acknowledged, upon their repentance and return to the Catholic unity : — '' We are not ignorant that there is one God ; that there is one Christ, the Lord whom we have confessed, and one Holy Ghost; and that there ought to be one bishop in the Catholic Church."]: It was part of the episcopal policy to keep the inferior clergy in a position of subjection. Cyprian, in one of his letters written to a brother bishop who had been troubled by the opposition and insolence of one of his deacons, observes that ** deacons ought to remember that the Lord * Cypr. de unit EccL, cc. 4, 5, 6. The English from Clark's translation, pp. 381-2. t Cypr. Ep. liii. (Oxford Ed., Ivii.) + Ibid., xlv. (Oxford Ed., xlix.) Historically developed. 79 chose Apostles, that Is, bishops and overseers ; while Apostles appointed for themselves deacons after the ascent of the Lord Into heaven, as ministers of their episcopacy and of the Church. But if we may dare any- thing against God who makes bishops, deacons may also dare against us by whom they are made."* In this connection it may be well to remark that even Cyprian was accustomed to take counsel both of his clergy and laity In the appointment of Church of&cers, as appears from a passage In one of his letters to the clergy and people about the ordination of Aurellus — a brave confessor of the faith — as reader in the Church ; the bishop deigns to explain his reasons for deviating In this Instance from his ordinary method, f Cyprian, though a very bold and and a very able man, and a memorable martyr for Christ's cause, must be re- garded as one of the most successful agents In bringing about the practical ascendancy of sacerdotal and prelatic doctrines. He did much to repress Christian freedom, and to substitute the symmetry of organization for that life which Is spiritual and varied and full. His dictum, " extra ecclesiam nulla salus,' in the sense In which It was uttered and received, was pernicious and misleading ; and he Is accountable to some extent for the rapid develop- ment of a system which has made Christianity a name of reproach where It should have been a name of honour and an earnest of spiritual help. The most Important and famous of the early schisms — that named after Donatus — was one that turned mainly upon the Idea of the Church, as viewed by two orders of mind of opposing tendencies. The causes of the schism were latent before the occasion of Its manifestation oc- curred. It Is Incredible that a mere personal rivalry, an inconsiderable Incident, should be " productive of a me- * Cypr. Ep., Ixiv. (Oxford Ed., iii.) f Ibid., xxxii. (Oxford Ed., xxxviii.) 8o Idea of the Church morable schism, which afflicted the provinces of Africa above three hundred years, and was extinguished only with Christianity itself,"* and the extent of which ap- pears from the fact that 400 bishops acknowledged the jurisdiction of the Donatist primate'. Whether or not Caecilianus was ordained to the bishopric of Carthage by a traditor, is, to our apprehension, a matter of infinitessi- mally small importance : to understand in how different a light this question was regarded by his opponents, re- spect must be had to their peculiar views. The Do- natists considered that the outward Church should con- sist of renewed and holy persons ; that a nominally Christian society which admitted or retained unworthy members was by such sinful laxity unchurched, and that ministerial or sacramental acts were vitiated if they were performed by unholy men. Now, Caecilianus had been consecrated to the bishop- ric of Carthage by Felix of Aptungis, in the absence of the Numidian bishops, who held the Puritan opinions alluded to. The ecclesiastics accused Felix of having been a traditor, that is, of having, in the time of perse- cution, delivered up sacred books to the heathen authori- ties. As this was in their view a heinous if not unpar- donable offence, certainly disqualifying for episcopal duties, if the charge were well founded, Felix was in their esteem incapable of conveying grace of ordina- tion, and the orders of the newly-elected successor to Mensurius were invalid. The Numidians, accordingly, appointed Majorinus to the see, and a religious senti- ment was by this event crystallized into a schism. After the death of the first anti-bishop, Donatus, a man of zeal and ability, was elected as his successor, and from him the Donatistae, Donatiani, or (as they called themselves) the pars Donati took their appellation. As * Gibbon, vol. iii. p. 44. Historically developed, 8i a sect, their leading principle was purity of communion ; their endeavour was to make the Church visible an exact counterpart of the elect society, as it is in the mind of the All-knowing. They admitted that hypocrites would succeed, to some extent, in baffling this attempt. The Donatists unchurched for laxity of discipline the greater part of Christendom ; according to the representation of Augustine, they affirmed that the Christian religion had disappeared from the whole earth, except from certain parts of Africa in which their own communities were settled.* Incredible as it may seem to the modern reader, they applied to themselves, as resident In Africa, this passage from the Canticles : " Tell me, thou whom my soul loveth, where thou llest In the South." f The great champion of the " Catholic " party in the Donatist controversy was the famous Augustine, to whose writings we are indeed indebted for most of our knowledge of the doctrines of his opponents. The voice and pen of the Bishop of Hippo did strenuous service in this, as in other famous conflicts. The doctrines of grace which he so ably and successfully systematized seem to be inconsistent with the principles of sacerdotalism, which had become distinctive of Western Christianity ; but there was a way of reconciling even these opposing forces. ;[ Without the personal arrogance, Augustine had a fair measure of the rigid ecclesiastical dogmatism of Cyprian, his great African predecessor. Augustine was naturally indignant with the Donatists for claiming Cyprian as of their way of thinking. It was Indeed the case that Cyprian had set the example of re-baptizing those who had professedly been received into Church-fel- lowship by the men who were deemed heretics ; but the * •' Vos enim eis dicitis, propter traditores quos non ostenditis, remansisse ecclesiam Christi in sola Africa partis Donati." — Aug. Ep., clxvi. t Ca. i. 7, " Indica mihi, quern diligit anima mea, ubi cubes in meridie." — Aug. contr. Petil. X For some profound remarks on this, wViS Milman's Latin Christianity, book 11, chap. li. G 82 Idea of the Church Catholic champion urges that the Carthaginian had always insisted upon the duty of maintaining inviolate the unity of the Church, and that only by putting themselves in this matter upon Cyprian's platform could they justly quote Cyprian's authority.* In his epistle in reply to that of Petilianus, Augustine admits that the question between the two parties is this : ''Ubi sit EcclesiaT' ''Where is the Church?" If it be here or there, In this place, but not In that, then the Dona- tists are right. But when they say, " Lo! here is Christ !" the sheep do not hear them, but listen to the Shepherd's voice. The controversy Is not concerning the Head ; Him they jointly confess ; It Is concerning the body. In contending for the Catholicity of this body, Augustine quotes the promise given by God to Abraham, that all nations should be blessed in his seed, and the predictions of Isaiah referring to the extent of the Messiah's king- dom. He also brings forward as a convincing argument the universal commission given by Christ to His apos- tles : " Go ye and make disciples of all nations." f So great was the importance attached by the Bishop of Hippo to the Catholic unity, that he would not admit the lawfulness of the Donatist secession, even If the charge made against Felix and others were substantiated. | With regard to the purity of the actual and militant Church, Augustine proclaims himself at variance with the Donatlsts who were Puritans of the strictest order. Wherever In his works he had celebrated the Church as * ** Quidque etiam beati Cypriani mentionem facere audetis, velut ille author sit vestrae divisionis, tantus defensor Catholicae unitatis et pacis ? Primo esto in Ecclesia, quam constat tenuisse ac praedicasse Cyprianum, et tunc aude velut authorem sententiae tuas nominare Cyprianum."— Aug. contr. Cresc, L. II., cap. xxxi. "Venite ad Catholicam concordantem quam Cyprianus non deseruit fluctuantem." — Aug. de bapt. contr. Don., L. II. t Aug. Ep. contra. Petil. passim. X " Testimoniis enim divinis, lltes suas praeferunt, quia in causa Caeciliani quondam Ecclesias Carthaginensis episcopi, cui crimina objecerunt quae nee potuerunt probare nee possunt, si ab Ecclesia Cathoiica, hoc est ab unitate omnium gentium diviserunt. . . Tamen Ecclesiam Christi, quae non litigiosis opinionibus fingitur, sed divinis attestationibus comproba- tur, propter quemlibet hominem relinquere non Heberaus." — Aug. Ep., L. Historically developed. 83 without spot or wrinkle, such representations, he says, are not to be regarded as applying to the Church as it now is, but to that which is in course of preparation, which, when revealed, shall be full of glory ; * and, arguing in favour of the validity of the sacraments, even of the imperfect Church, he affirms that great as was the difference between Peter and Judas, there was no differ- ence in the worth of the baptism they administered. Aug-ustine did not hesitate to declare the communion with the visible Church to be a condition of salvation. Confusing the spiritual society, which is defined by spiri- tual notes, with the organization, which is admitted not to be coincident in its boundaries with that other, he was misled by the very teaching of the Apostle regarding the body of Christ. '' He who is not numbered amongst the members of Christ cannot enjoy Christian salvation." f At the same time he was ready to acknowledge that persons may enjoy the outward privileges of the Church without being truly of the Church.]: Donatists and Catholics alike deemed it essential to salvation that a man should be in outward communion with an ecclesiastical organization. But the former, whilst they were right in protesting against the confusion be- tween the Church and the world, to which the times were rapidly drifting, and right in taking all reasonable precau- tion against impurity of communion, were certainly nar- row and uncharitable in so conceiving of the Church and of the ministry, as to limit the Divine grace to their own restricted borders. In natural relation to their opinions concerning the. * •• . . non sic accipiendum est, quasi jam sit, sed quae praeparatur, ut sit quando apparebit etiam gloriosa." — Aug. Retract., L. II., cap. xviii. ■f- " Haec autem Fcclesia corpus Christi est, sicut Apostolus dicit, 'procorpore ejus, quae est Fcclesia.' Unde utique manifestum est, eum qui non esc in membris Christi, Christianam silutem habeie non posse." — Aug. Ep. contr. Petil. For proof that this was the doctrine of " the Fathers " generally, mide Palmer's Lectures on the Church of Christ, lecture iii. X " Et multi tales sunt in sacramentorum communione cum Ecclesia, et tamen jam non sunt in Ecclesia." G 2 84 J-dea of the Chui^ch purity of the Church were their behefs regarding the union between Church and State. At first the Donatists had courted the imperial jurisdiction, at the time when toleration was proclaimed, and the empire was becoming professedly Christian ; but having failed to satisfy the arbitrators appointed by the Emperor, of the justice of their positions (and with regard to the charge against Felix there can be little doubt that they were in the wrong), and being unwilling to submit to comprehension within the Catholic unity, even on the most favourable terms, they came under the displeasure of the State. They were the more obnoxious on account of the violent and criminal excesses of what might be called in modern political language their extreme " Left "^the Clrcumcel- lion party. The methods of toleration and of persecution were employed in vain to reduce these African Churches to uniforimty. The endurance of persecution probably opened the eyes of the Donatists to discover the proper limitations of the civil power, which is bound to take cog- nizance, not of sins, but of crimes, and to repress, not heresies and schisms, which may be only the signs of intellectual and even spiritual life, but conspiracies and insurrections, which endanger the public peace. The Donatists were anti-State Churchmen ; Augustine and his party became the advocates of intolerance and perse- cution. Had the former sect, however, been in imperial favour, it is not unlikely that their position might have modified their principles. In one respect they followed their usual bent towards extremes; they looked upon the State as a power not independent of, but hostile to, the Church of Christ, identifying the political authorities with what in New Testament language is called "the world."* The Donatists arose just at the time when a moment- ous change took place in the outward relations of Christ- * Vide Neander's General Church History, vol. ill. p. 301. Historically developed. 85 lanity. Hitherto the followers of Christ had been by turns tolerated and persecuted by the Roman Emperors, and by their representatives in the provinces. Early in the fourth century, Constantine became first a professor and then the patron of the Christian faith. Henceforth, the danger to which the Church was exposed was, not the frown, but the smile of the Sovereign and the State. A bishopric was, in some instances, no longer a post of honourable danger, but one of consideration and repute, or even of emolument and political power. The clerical profession came to be looked upon as a path to worldly distinction, and had consequently attractions for un- spiritual men. The alliance between the Church and the State was so close that the civil power made use of the ecclesiastical, for its own ends, and conferred in return advantages which were too keenly appreciated, and too eagerly accepted. Thus an opportunity was given to the Emperor to assume a sort of lay-sovereignty in the sum- moning of councils, and the issuing of commissions for the settlement of doctrinal and ecclesiastical disputes ; and it most naturally followed that the same sanctions and penalties were employed to enforce divisions arrived at by imperial authority in matters spiritual, as in matters strictly political. ' A religion whose Founder had been unjustly put to death by the authority of a Roman procurator was not likely to look for much favour from the powers of this world ; and indeed its first adherents possessed both the injunction and the disposition to think lightly of the treatment they might receive from those powers. Still, as the example of St. Paul clearly proves, the promul- gators of Christianity were ready to accept such protec- tion or justice as the civil power would accord to them in the pursuit of their labour of evangelization. Both with the Jews and with the Romans, and probably with many S6 Idea of the Church of the nations under Imperial rule, religion was a depart- ment of State ; and as It consisted to a large extent In outward ceremonies, there was obvious convenience in such an arrangement. But the new faith, or '* supersti- tion," as it was called by its foes, Introduced among man- kind nothing less than a new life. Spiritual In its prin- ciples, aggressive In its action, It could not make Itself understood by '* the lords of humankind." Hence arose its exemption from the general tolerance, accorded under the empire to the faiths of subject peoples, and hence, in ac- cordance with the wisdom of Providence, the ordeal of affliction, of scorn, of persecution, in which Christianity proved its Divine origin, and asserted its claim to uni- versal sway. During the age of the ten persecutions, outward force in the lordliest and haughtiest of hands confronted spiritual power impersonated oftentimes In the lowly and despised ; and the result was that " the weak things of the world confounded the m.ighty." Early in the fourth century the Emperor Constantine entered into an alliance with the Church of Christ. By this singular change In the position of the recent but progressive religion, it could not but happen that the idea of the Christian Church should be affected. It was not simply that the Emperor as an individual embraced the faith ; amidst all her difficulties, the Church, as we have seen, had thoroughly organized herself, and Avas already possessed of vast power, though wielding no earthly sword ; and Into some kind of relation with this organized body the Emperors must come. It was not unnatural that the chief of the State should in some sense become the governor of the Church ; had It been otherwise it might have been feared that an imperium in imperio would have been established. To us, indeed, It appears that it would have been well for the Church to have tolerated no interference, and accepted no favours of a Historically developed, 87 special kind from an unbaptized layman. Notwithstand- ing all that has been said in praise of the impartiality of statesmen, as compared with ecclesiastics, and the tem- porary advantages secured by the presidence of a Caesar over such a council as that of Nicaea, vastly more was lost than was gained by the accordance to worldly power of spiritual authority. One thing is certain: had not ''the princes of this world," by patronizing Christianity, and giving civil immunities to its ministers, and civil sanc- tions to Its censures, entangled themselves with the spiritual rulers of Christendom, they would never in after ages have come to endure the interference and the indignities at the hands of Rome, which are the lasting shame of the Mediaeval Church. The proper part of Christianity was to infuse new life, new principles, new hopes into mankind ; and these were sufficient, gradually and insensibly, by the process of conviction, to remodel and to regulate all human affairs. Organization was necessary and beneficial ; episcopacy, that is diocesan episcopacy, may have had the recommendation of ex- pediency, for the protection of the weak in ages when the spiritual power was the only sufficient check upon the lawless violence of the feudal chiefs. Patriarchates may have been the necessary complement of episcopacy. Nay, whilst unity of faith and practice obtained, the Church might conceivably become, without injury, In the loosest sense of the word, a corporation ; though our estimate of human nature leads us to deem this extremely Impro- bable. But to accept from the State, immunities, emolu- ments, and honours, to use the secular arm in the sup- pression or punishment of heresy and schism — this was to throw open the door to a thousand corruptions. A price must be paid for such seeming advantages, and whilst the advantages were fictitious, the price was all but ruinous ; for the Church paid for them by selling 88 Idea of the Church both her purity and her freedom. Nor has she yet for the most part recognized the method by which alone these Divine blessings can be recovered. In the crisis of her fate there was no friendly voice raised in far- sighted, wholesome, if unwelcome, wisdom to exclaim : — "Timeo Danaos, et dona ferentes!" We have seen the congregational system merged into the episcopal. Christendom was a scattered galaxy of bishoprics, and communion with a Catholic bishop was the test of Christianity. But as human nature tends to society, so does society tend to centralization. The clergyman, still more emphatically the bishop, was the "persona" of the Church. But a still higher unity was desired ; a more palpable presentation or summing-up of the Divine community. During the age of persecution this could hardly be realized ; but now that Christianity was the religion of the Court, the obstacles to publicity and to manifested power ceased to exist. Provincial synods had indeed been held in the various parts of the empire, and under the presidence of the bishop of chief influence, had decided such questions as had been re- ferred to their wisdom. But the age of CEcumenical Councils had now come. The idea of a general Church assembly, which should reduce to something like uniformity the beliefs and prac- tices' of Christendom, originated in the mind of Constan- tine, by whose authority it could alone be made a reality. The Council of Nicsea became, in many respects, the precedent of those which followed. Summoned and pre- sided over by the first Christian Emperor, there gathered around this assembly much of worldly dignity and glory. As the Nicaean *' Fathers " deliberated upon the Arian controversy, determined the creed of orthodox Christen- dom, settled the time for observing Easter, agreed upon Historically developed. 89 canons of ecclesiastical discipline, they were the conscious representatives of the whole Christian world. Amongst them there might be selfishness, jealousy, hatred, and hostility, but they were the parliament, the microcosm of the visible Church on earth ; they were the Church.* That this was the light in which General Councils were regarded for ages, appears from the reverence with which their decrees were received and honoured. Although the authority of the first six of these assemblies has always been acknowledged both in East and West, a special respect has been paid to the Council of Nicsea. Since the great division of the Christian world, a truly CEcumenical synod has become impossible, and this fact perhaps accounts, to some extent, for the high estimation in which the early representative assemblies have been so generally held. Their decisions have been considered to express, more fully than was otherwise possible, the true mind of the Church. Even under the Papacy there have not been wanting those who have set a General Council above the Pope in authority ; and many of those who have no sympathy with Galilean liberality, are yet ready to concede that a Council stands upon a level with the Pope as interpreting the mind of the Church. In the compendiums of belief used in the early ages for imparting to catechumens a knowledge of the first principles of Christianity, there was no clause relating to the Church. What these creeds substantially were, may be learnt from the specimens preserved to us in the works of Irenaeusf and Tertullian.]: They concerned the Deity and the provision for human salvation made by Divine mercy. From these took its rise, as it were by * Vide Stanley's Eastern Church, lect. ii. Neander's Church History, vol. Hi. p. 248. Milman's Latin Christianity, book II., chap. iii. History of Christianity, book IV., chap. i. t Iren. Contr. Haer., L. I., cap. x. ; L. III., cap. iv. X Tert. de Virgin. Veland., cap. i. j Contra Praxeam, cap. ii. ; Praescript. adv. Haeret, cap. xiii. 90 Idea of the Church growth, the ancient Creed commonly called the Apostles', which has been used, though in the West only, from early times. In this well-known " symbol," the clause relating to the Church has been amplified by an important addi- tion. It runs thus : — " The holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints." There is reason to believe that these clauses are but one article of belief, the second clause being explanatory of the first. The Nicene Creed, as at first adopted, was confined to an exposition of the doctrine concerning the persons of the Godhead. In its later (Constantinopolitan, or Chal cedonian) form, in which it has been in use, in both East and West, for fourteen hundred years, it has the words, " and I believe one, holy,* Catholic and Apostolic Church." Two things are noteworthy in this connection. The doctrine of the Church must have held a. high place in the esteem of Christians to have been put so promi- nently and honourably in the Creed. There is also an implication that by the Church something more than a mere earthly society, however dignified, is intended : otherwise it would not be an object of faith ; as the rest of the creed refers to unseen and insensible realities, a fair presumption is, that the same is the case with this. But the idea of the Church was to undergo a yet further change. The process of centralization was car- ried another step. The Church, which had been per- sonified in the Catholic bishops, and on a grander scale had been represented by the Councils, came to be incar- nated (so to speak) in a single man. That the unity of the Church might be exhibited, its discipline preserved, its independence and power sustained, the more effec- tively, Christendom acquiesced in the assumption of the Bishops of Rome, that communion with them was the true test of the Church of Christ. And in conjunction * The epithet " holy" has been omitted from the English version. Historically developed, 9 1 with the domination of the Papal system, there prevailed a new relation between the Church and the political powers of Europe. As if still further to externalize religion, the earthly head of the Church became a secular potentate, and was mixed up in the alliances, the intrigues and the wars of the Western nations. It has been said, without exaggeration, that, as the soul rules the body, so it was the aim of the Papacy, through the Emperor, to rule the world. The mediaeval idea of the Church may be summed up in one word, — the Papacy. For the concentration of the ecclesiastical empire in Rome there were two grounds ; one of the nature of religious sentiment, the other of political association. It was believed that the Church at Rome was founded by the Apostle Peter ; it was known that Rome had been the mistress of the world. The steps by which the Bishops of Rome advanced, from the exercise of metropolitan and patriarchal authority over Southern Italy, to the assumption of primacy, and indeed universal episcopacy, over the whole Church, are related by the ecclesiastical historians. Irenseus, in refuting the heretics by the argument that the orthodox doctrines were held by the Churches which had enjoyed a regular succession of bishops from the time of the Apostles, quotes the Church of Rome as the most important and conclusive in Its testimony to the truth. He speaks of " the very great, the very ancient, and universally known Church founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious Apostles, Peter and Paul," and affirms that " It Is a matter of necessity that every Church should agree with this Church, on account of its pre-eminent authority" * (potiorem principalitatem.) But, as Mr. Hallam has observed, the authority *' is plainly not limited to the bishop of that city, nor is he * Iren. adv. Haer., L. III., cap. iii. 92 Idea of the Church personally mentioned.* Cyprian, the most sacerdotally inclined of the earlier fathers, does indeed, in a friendly letter to Cornelius, Bishop of Rome, speak of " the throne of Peter," '' the chief Church whence priestly unity takes its source." f But we may well infer from the tone adopted by the Carthaginian in his subsequent controversy with Stephen, that these high-sounding phrases were complimentary rhetoric ; for Rome has seldom heard language of more defiant independence than she had to endure from the resolute and haughty Cyprian. But though eminent and distant bishops might for a season preserve their independence, and scorn the pre- tensions of him they deemed their Roman colleague, there were causes in operation which rendered certain the supremacy of this great see. There was among the patriarchates no one fitted to enter the lists with Rome as competitor for spiritual empire. Jerusalem was but a memory ; and the Jewish converts were now only a small fragment of the Christian community. Antioch and Alexandria were torn and harassed by doctrinal and personal disputes ; Constantinople had not the prestige of antiquity. But Rome had maintained a regular succession of orthodox bishops, and the weakness of her sisters had been her strength. 1 1 was, however, the fall of the Western Empire which was the chief occasion of the elevation of the Roman see to power and primacy. The removal of the seat of empire by Constantinople to the shores of the Bosphorus, the transference to Ravenna of the Western division of imperial rule, the capture of Rome by the Goths ; these were the steps by which pagan Rome was humiliated, by which Christian Rome was exalted to the throne of power.]: The capture of the seven-hilled city, in a.d. 410, was the occasion of the composition by Augustine of his * Hallam's Middle Ages, chap, vii., note 3. f Cypr. Ep., liv, X Vide Milman's Latin Christianily, book II., chap. i. Historically developed, 93 greatest work, and indeed the greatest work of Christian antiquity, — the " City of God." Although the main purpose of this treatise is to contrast the pagan society and government of ancient Rome with the glorious polity which is destined to be universal in extent and sway, yet there is in it no indication of a belief in a Romano-Christian Empire, no anticipation of the Papal system as perfected in after centuries ; but, on the con- trary, a confident prediction of a Messianic kingdom con- sequent upon the change from the old earth to the new. Innocent I. was a man able and ready to take ad- vantage of the opportunity afforded by the downfall of the pagan city to advance the dignity and the authority of his see. The Council of Sardica had already accorded to the Roman Bishop the right of hearing appeals, — a right which had been confirmed by imperial authority. It was the policy of Innocent to claim supremacy over the West, although it depended upon circumstances, to what extent his claims might be conceded. The idea of Papal dominion was in his mind ; and with the process of centuries, repeated assertions would plant that idea in the mind of Western Christendom. The work which Innocent had so boldly commenced at the beginning of the fifth century, Leo the Great, in the middle of that century, pushed forward with equal ambition and vigour. The political situation was still favourable to the growth of the Papal power; and the religious condition of the East, of which the proceedings of the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon were symp- toms, enabled the occupant of the Roman see to further his designs of supremacy. The Africans might resist the Roman claim even to the last, and in some respects successfully ; Hilary might deny to his face the pretensions of the great Leo ; the fathers of Chalcedon might raise the prelate of Con- 94 Idea of the Church stantinople to an equal dignity with the Roman Bishop : but from the seed long ago planted had grown a sapling, green and vigorous, which was destined to become a stalwart and stately tree. The constitution of the empire naturally suggested what should be the constitution of the Church.* With the decay of freedom and the growth of dominion, the republic had merged into the empire ; and a similar transition was now taking place in the ecclesiastical realm. The Council of Sardica had already accorded to the Roman Bishop the right of hearing appeals, a right which had been confirmed by imperial authority. Reasons have been given why in the West such appeals should be only too readily addressed to the metropolitan see : and the long-continued disputes in the East rendered the favour of Rome valuable to either party, and inclined them in turn to concede her claims. The personal ability and ambition of some of the more distinguished Popes were directed towards absorbing the idea of the Church into that of the Roman obedience. Gregory the Great (590-604), by his inflexible will and untiring energy, as well as by his dexterous employ- ment of human weaknesses, advanced the empire, not of Christianity alone, but of the Roman see. His autho- ritative voice was heard throughout the Churches of the West ; and, at the same time, he fiercely resented the assumption by the Constantinopolitan Patriarch o f the proud title of '* Universal Bishop." f Although Gregory affirmed the assumption of such a title to be nothing short of blasphemy, his successors have not scrupled to accept the designation, "Universalis Ecclesise Episcopus," or " Bishop of the Universal Church." • "The community of the Roman Empire and the right of citizenship, even before the time of Hippolytus, wonderfully favoured the idea of the Catholic (universal) Church." — Bunsen's Hippolytus, vol. iii. p. 227. t Milman's Latin Christianity, book III., chap. vil. Hallam's Middle Ages, chap. vii. '* Gregory seems to have established the appellant jurisdiction of the See of Rome." Historically developed. 95 The Papal system was, however, consolidated In the Pontificate of Nicolas I. (858-867),* ''one of the proudest and most aspiring of the Roman Pontiffs,"! " who, If he advanced no absolutely unexampled pretensions to supre- macy In behalf of the Roman see, yet by the favourable juncture and auspicious circumstances which he seized to assert and maintain that authority, did more than all his predecessors to strengthen and confirm it."| The most remarkable of the events In the life of Nicolas, for the purpose now under consideration, were his disputes with the great Archbishops of Treves, Cologne, and Rhelms, in which he humbled the pride and forced the submission of those powerful princes of the Church. This was a severe blow to the arlstocratlcal sentiment which had exerted for centuries a mighty Influence throughout Christendom, and favoured the monarchical principle which was now on the high-road to ascendancy. It was not merely In becoming a vast and highly- organized corporation under an almost despotic govern- ment, that the Church departed from Its original Idea ; it became a secular power, ranking with the great States of Europe, and even assuming to dictate to kings and emperors. Legates or Papal ambassadors were commis- sioned to the several courts. A jurisdiction was asserted over all causes into which morals entered as a predomi- nating element, especially in cases of marriage, divorce, and adultery. Attempts were made to bring the powers of this world under the control of the successor of St. Peter; and means, deemed In that state of society of most formidable character, were used to effect this end. Ex- communication, — a weapon which even the proudest of potentates could not despise, — was directed against the rebellious and refractory. Communities were laid under interdict, and thus deprived of the sacred and precious * Guizot. f Gibbon. \ MiJman. 96 Idea of the Church ministrations of religion, — and more carnal weapons were often wielded by the arch-prelate. Intrigue was employed to use one monarch, or one nation, as the chastiser of another. The sword itself was drawn, and the spiritual head of Christendom marched his own soldiers to the field. In the eighth century were published documents, which, being in themselves unquestionable forgeries, were intended to serve the ambitious ends of Rome, and which because of the uncritical and superstitious habits of the times did actually, to a large extent, serve those ends. The ''false decretals," known as of Isidore, professed to be the decrees of popes and the canons of councils, from the earliest times. Their manifest design was " the aggrandisement of the see of Rome, and the aggrandise- ment of the whole clergy in subordination to the see of Rome."* About the same time appeared the " Donation of Constantine," an admitted forgery, conferring temporal sovereignty in Italy upon the Pope. If the former documents were convenient weapons in Papal hands for reducing bishops and archbishops to due obedience, the latter document may have added a sanctity to the real donation of Charlemagne, and a prestige to the more than royal pretensions of the occupants of the fisherman's chair. Nicolas " tamed kings and tyrants, and ruled the world like a sovereign," \ but there were those who came after him who out-Heroded Herod. In his treatment of Lothaire, Nicolas had shown himself a bold man, and (in the main question) a righteous bishop. But priestly pride has never furnished a more striking contrast to the demeanourof Himwhowas "meek and lowly in heart" than was offered by Hildebrand when the emperor grovelled at his feet. Compare Ambrose, at the door of the cathedral of Milan, refusing to admit the Emperor Theo- dosius to the communion of the Church, with Gregory * Milman's Latin Christianity, book V,, chap. iv. f A chronicler quoted by Milman. Historically developed. 97 the Seventh, shut up in the fortress of Canossa, while Henry shivered barefooted in his woollen shirt three days successively in the castle court, waiting for absolution, and there is a fine contrast between the spiritual dignity and independence which were the claim to honour and the secret of power in the persons of the earlier prelates, and that carnal arrogance and worldly ambition which in the mediaeval Pontiffs did indeed astonish and overawe the world for a season, but which also prepared the way for a certain and irrecoverable fall ! The thirteenth century witnessed the culmination of the Papal ascendancy.* From the accession of Innocent III. to the death of Boniface VIII., " Rome inspired all the terror of her ancient name. She was once more the mistress of the world, and kings were her vassals." During this age, the evident purpose and end of the action of the Roman Court was the personal and official glory and even the selfish enrichment of the Pope and his dependents ; the means employed to this end were often monstrous and arbitrary assumptions. Spirit- ual terrors were made subservient to Papal aggrandise- ment. "■ It is," said Boniface VIII., " necessary to ever- lasting salvation that every human creature be subject to the Pope of Rome." The Church had indeed under- gone a degrading change, when the spiritual society became the means, and the ministry and the organization became the end, of its existence. Of Boniface it is said, that** he appeared at the jubilee in 1300 . . . dressed in imperial habits, with the two swords borne before him, emblems of his temporal as well as spiritual dominion over the earth." The splendid but fatal distortion of the original idea of the Church, which culminated under such PontifTs as * Hallam's Middle Ages, chap. vii. (where the causes and operations of ecclesiastical supremacy are fully described.) H 98 Idea of the Church Innocent III. and Boniface VIII., carried within it the seeds of its own destruction. It was because it was a system based upon the ignorance and the creduHty of men that it could not survive the era of the revival of learning and the invention of printing. Long before the Reformation, the pretensions of Rome were falsified by the developments of history. She had arrogated to her- self the true unity, association with which was necessary to salvation ; but events showed that this unity was nothing but a fiction and a dream. The real and then formal separation between East and West was a violent and irrecoverable shock to the Papal idea of the Church. Ecclesiastical rivalry between old and new Rome dated from the division of the empire. Mutual excommunication had been, for causes half- political, half-theological, launched by the rival prelates, and had been followed by suspense of fellowship and intercourse.* The insertion of the famous '' filioque " in the Nicene Creed throughout the West had embittered a controversial difference w^hich in its beginning was inconsiderable, t Iconoclastic disputes had, in their time, arrayed parties in more than intellectual antagonism. But the true reasons of estrangement were political, and such as were intimately connected with the consoli- dation of society and the advance of civilization. The old order had changed. Through the rise of the Teutonic nations to power the Western Empire had been revived in another form. Rome threw herself into the political current of the age. She sacrificed catholicity for a limited but vast and glorious supremacy ; she turned her back upon the East, that she might devote herself to the new world which in Europe was emerging from the chaos of centuries. * The reference is especially to Felix and Acacius, late in the fifth century. + Vide the candid admissions of M. Ffoulkes in his pamphlet, entitled The Church's Creed and the Crown's Creed. Historically developed. 99 In the ninth century, the differences between Rome and Constantinople assumed a formidable shape. Each branch of the great tree of Christendom desired to be acknowledged as the main trunk. The Pope at Rome required that his jurisdiction should be acknowledged by the whole Church ; the Patriarch at Constantinople re- sisted the claim, maintaining that supremacy had passed, with the person and government of the Emperor, to the shores of the Bosphorus. In the course of the dispute which arose between Ignatius and Photius as the two claimants to the see of Constantinople, both parties appealed to Rome ; the Pope rose to the height of the occasion, and '' by the power committed to him by our Lord through St. Peter,"* restored Ignatius to his bishopric. Through the varying fortunes of this contro- versy, Nicolas and his successors made the best use of their opportunity, but on the 'whole the result was un- favourable to their plans, and the virtual alienation of the East and the West from each other outlasted the formal profession of disagreement. The final rupture between the two great sections of Christendom took place in a.d. 1054, when the Patri- arch Michael, and those who adhered to him, were solemnly excommunicated by the legate of Leo IX., who laid the document of cursing upon the altar of St. Sophia. Various attempts were made in succeeding centuries to bring about a reconciliation, but without success. And since the failure of the endeavour, which seemed so promising for the Interests of unity and of Rome, wit- nessed after the Council of Ferrara and Florence, the situation has been accepted, and the breach acknow- ledged as Irreparable. The Holy Orthodox Church at Constantinople is the Photian schism at Rome.f * Quoted in Miltr.an. •f* For an account of the real causes of the separation, see Stanley's Eastern Church, H 2 lOO Idea of the Chtirch From the time of the disruption between East and West, the assumption of the '' note " of CathoHcity by any outward ecclesiastical organization can have pro- voked only ridicule In the mind of an impartial observer. But the events of the fourteenth century were such as to shake the faith of Christendom, first in the necessity of Rome as the centre of the Church, and then in the much-boasted "note" of unity, even as considered within her own narrowed, European borders. When the Papacy became a dependency of the Crown of France, it was not independence only that was sacri- ficed. The Roman bishops had urged persistently their claim to supremacy on this ground, that theirs was the Apostolic See, founded by the prince of Apostles. But during what was called "the Babylonish captivity," which lasted for more than seventy years,* the Popes resided at Avignon under the patronage, and to a large extent sub- ject to the influence, of the sovereigns of France. In what sense could they be the successors of Peter ? Titular bishops of Rome, virtually they were merely bishops in partibus, not in JideliMm Indeed, but alienoruni. The end of this trouble was only the beginning of a disaster far more serious. There had been anti-popes in abundance from the third and fourth centuries onward. But ''the great schism" of the latter part of the fourteenth and the earlier part of the fifteenth centuries, is the most important Internal division which Latin Christianity has had to deplore. The memorable rupture was only closed by the determined attitude of the Council of Constance, which virtually deposed the three rival Popes. The spectacle thus presented to more than two generations, of a divided head, a divided body and a divided allegiance, lecture i. "The true differences between the East and the West existed long before their formal disruption, and would exist in all probability long after any formal reunion. The dis- ruption itself was rather a consequence than a cause of their estrangement," &c., pp. 23, 24. * From the election of Clement V. (1305) to the death of Gregory Xi. (1378). Historically developed, loi must have produced upon the minds, at least of the observing and thoughtful among the laity, an impres- sion strikingly at variance with the claim of unity which had been so constantly preferred by the ecclesiastics, and too unthinkingly acquiesced in by the people. The Reformation was not only a return to the doc- trinal teaching of the New Testament ; it was also, to a large extent, the restoration of the primitive idea of the Church. That this may appear, it will be well to explain definitely what was the Papal or Roman idea, which ex- pressed itself in the ecclesiastical system of the middle ages. The Church of Rome admits the distinction between the militant and the triumphant Church, but ignores, if she does not reject, that between the Church visible and invisible. The Church, according to the standards and the theologians of post- Reformation times, is a society exclusively outward and visible, consisting of *' a hierarchy instituted by Divine authority and the laity."* From this society three classes of persons are excluded : —the heathen, the heretics and schismatics, and the ex- communicated.! With these exceptions, all mankind beside are reckoned as members of the Church : the fideles being such as profess the faith, and partake of the sacraments. It is acknowledged that in the Church militant are two kinds of men, the good and the evil; both alike belong to the corpus, or body of the Church, * Perrone, in Praelect. Theol. The definitions of several distinguished Roman Catholic theologians are subjoined. The Church " is a society of men united by a profession of the same Christian faith, and a participation of the same sacraments, under the government of lawful pastors, and especially of the one Vicar of Christ upon earth, the Roman Pontiff. .... The Church is a society of men as visible and palpable as the Roman people, the kingdom of France, or the republic of Venice." — Bellarmine. " Christi Eccles.ae nomine significamus societatem illam quam Christus Jesus instituit ut depositum asservaret coelestis doctrinas in terras ab se delatse, atque organum seu medium simul esset, quo haec ipsa doctrina conservaretur Integra atque propagaretur." — Perrone, Praelect. Theol. " Ecclesia est societas hominum viatorum, veram Chiisti doctrinam profitentium." — Bossuet, quoted by Perrone. f Vide Catech. Roman. 102 Idea of the Church whilst all the just, and only the just, are of Its anima, or soul.* The unity of this visible and only true Church is maintained by the supremacy of the Pope, who is the " visible head necessary for the formation and preserva- tion of the Church's unity," t *' the vicar of God upon earth." I Communion with bishops in the Apostolical succession is not deemed by Rome, by itself considered, communion with the true Church ; as this succession is a fact which no heresy or schism can vitiate ; the only valid test is subjection to the Holy See. Oriental and Anglican Episcopalians are relegated into the category of schismatics. When sanctity is predicated of this visible Church, it is explained that sanctity means set apart, and dedicated to God. Its claim to Catholicity is intelligible, but incredible. Apostolicity, an attribute added in the Nicene Creed, is based upon Apostolic doctrine and ministry, and involves infallibility. The Communion of Saints is the common participation in the privileges of the Church. Bellarmine gives fifteen "notes" of the true Church, which he affirms to be wanting to Protestants. (i) The name of the Catholic and Christian Church ; (2) Antiquity; (3) Long and uninterrupted continuance ; (4) The num- ber and variety of believers ; (5) Apostolic succession of bishops ; (6) Doctrinal agreement with the ancient Church ; (7) Union of members among themselves and with the head ; (8) Holiness of doctrine ; (9) Power (efficacia) of doctrine; (10) Holy life of the founders, or primitive fathers ; (11) Glory of miracles ; (12) Light of prophecy ; (13) The acknowledgment of opponents; (14) Miserable * Vide Catech. Roman., and Perrone, Praelect. Theol. t Catech. Roman. J Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent. " Porro caput Ecclesiae totius Chrlstus est, sed Ecclesis visibilis, quae est in terris, caput est Apostolicus Pontifex, qui locum Christi in ea tenet." — Bellarmine, Explicatlo Symbol! Apostol. " Congregatio vocatur Ecclesia, non quod omnes fideles in locum unum sint congregati, sed quod congregati sint sub uno vexillo crucis, et sub uno duce, sive capite, Christo, et ejus universali Vicario, Romano Pontifice." — Ibid. Historically developed. 103 destruction of the Church's enemies ; (15) Temporal prosperity.* These notes, however, have been reduced to the four already explained, as in the Nicene Creed : these being, Unity, Sanctity, Catholicity, and Apostolicity.f There have been for centuries in the Roman Church two opposed schools of theologians taking contrary views of the ultimate source of power in the great hierarchy. Whether distinguished as Liberals and Jesuits, or Galileans and Ultramontanists, they have contended as to the authority inherent in the occupant of Peter's chair. One party has advocated the supremacy of the general councils as the representative body and as the mouth- piece of the whole society ; and has asserted the amena- bility of the Pope himself to an (Ecumenical Synod. In practical support of this position, reference has been made to the contradictory decisions of successive pontiffs, and especially to the admitted prerogative exercised by councils in the deposition of popes. On the other hand, of late years, the party appears to have been growing in strength, which contends for the supremacy and infallibility of the Pope himself; and to this party the British clergy in com- munion with Rome undoubtedly belong. | The safer theologians maintain that there is a co-ordinateness, if not equality of eminence and authority, attaching to pope and council. § The fundamental distinction between the Catholic and the Protestant idea of the Church is in the view taken of the relation between the society professing Christian doctrine, and the doctrine professed by the Christian * Bellarmine, De notis Ecclesiae in De Conciliis, L. IV. f Perrone, Praelect. Theol., cap. ii. p. 716. X Vide a recent sermon of Archbishop Manning, reported in the Times, of October 4th, 1869, where the Pope is monstrously decribed as " the sole last supreme judge of what is right and wrong ! " § " At ubi, et quomodo loquitur Ecclesia ? Loquitur per os Petri, per eum, qui sedet in Apostolico throno, per decreta et canones generalium conciliorum." — Bellarmine, Concio., cap. X., super. Psalm., cap. xc. For the liberal v'lewj'vide The Pope and the Council, by Janus. I04 Idea of the Church society. The definitions given by the Roman theologians are not based upon the true doctrine of Christianity held and proclaimed. The reason is obvious : Rome teaches that we are first to acknowledge the society or organiza- tion called the Church ; and then, upon its authority, to receive the truths of our Divine religion. She says to the inquirer, — Accept me as the authoritative, infallible representative of God, and then accept the whole body of Christian truth including the Scriptures, upon my simple but infallible dictum. Protestantism, on the other hand, starting from the right and duty of private judgment, requires of men that they should examine for themselves and become con- vinced as to what is the revealed mind and will of God, and further, that uniting with those who accept that revelation, they should profess and proclaim it, and thus justify to themselves the claim to be of Christ's Church.* One system bases the Word upon the Church ; the other bases the Church upon the Word. There were Reformers before the Reformation. Most of those who lifted up a voice of protest against the Papal system were moved to do so by the flagrant abuses which could not be hid. A comparison between the teaching of Christ and His Apostles on the one hand, and the practices of Rome on the other, could not but * "The difference is this : - The Romanist, while admitting that there is or ought to be in the Church an interior life, not cognizable by human eye, yet regards this as a separable acci- deht, and makes the essence of the Church to consist in what is external and visible j the Protestant, on the contrary, while admitting that to be visible is an inseparable property of the Church, makes the essence thereof to consist in what is spiritual and unseen j viz., the work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of Christians." — Litton, The Church of Christ, p. 70, "The one true Church becomes visible, not in its proper unicy under Christ its Head, but under the form of particular congregations or Churches."— Ibid., p. 326. " The Catholics teach," says Miihler, " the visible Church is first, then comes the invisible, the former gives birth to the latter. On the other hand, the Lutherans say the reverse, from the invisible emerges the visible Church ^ and the former is the groundwork of the latter." — Symbolik, section 48. Mijhler's fallacy is the confusion in which he has involved himself between logical and chronological sequence. In order of time, our relation to the visible Church, — i.f., our association with Christian people and our enjoyment of the means of grace, — may {^recede our incorporation in the invisible Church : but the spiritual society is the ground and the rah n d'etre of the outward community, notwithstanding. Historically developed. 105 awaken dissatisfaction in every just mind, and indignant protest in every bold heart. Amongst the Waldenses and other sects, there was a clear perception of the groundlessness of the Roman claims and of the priestly system ; they regarded the Papal Church as corrupt, if not apostate.* The great English Reformer, Wycliffe, was the first who openly, in the presence of Europe, defied the authority of the Roman Pontiff. He began his protest by declaiming against the impositions, avarice and vices of the friars; but his bold, fearless spirit led him to question the principles upon which the organized Church was based. In denouncing the begging brethren, in arguing against the assumptions of the Pope to authority over the realm of England, Wyclifte enjoyed the counten- ance of the great : but he went far beyond the limits which a prudent and time-serving Reformer would have observed ; he attacked the dogma of Transubstantiation, and assailed the constitution of the Church. According to his enemies, the monks, he taught that there is one only universal Church, consisting of the whole body of the predestinate ; and that the Church of Rome was no more the head of the universal Church than any other, f His own writings bear out these charges. '' The third part [after those glorified and those in purgatory] of the Church are true men that here live, that shall be after- wards saved in heaven, and who live here the life of Christian men." The " Church is mother to every man who shall be saved, and containeth no other." " All these things that popes do, teach that they are Antichrists. If they say that Christ's Church must have a head here on earth, true it is, for Christ is the Head which must be here with His Church until the day of doom."]: * Mosheim's Institutes of £ccl. History, century xii. t Ibid., liccl. History, century xiv. (note by Murdock.) X From De Ecclesiae Dominio, in Tracts and Treatises of Wycliffe, pp. 74-6. io6 Idea of the Church Wycllffe's doctrines, and especially that upon the Church, re-appeared in the teaching of the Bohemian Huss. Undoubtedly, the chief fault of which this noble man was guilty, in the apprehension of the Roman pre- lates and even of the reforming Council of Constance, was his daring and rousing opposition to the mechanical religion of the times. He believed and taught that there is a spiritual society, the living Church of Christ, of which even priests and bishops are no members, if their cha- racter and life be opposed to the Spirit of Christ. " He was the martyr," says Dean Milman, '' to the power of the hierarchy ; ... his testimony was against that supreme ecclesiastical dominion, which had so long ruled the mind of man." None of the pre- Reformation Protestants taught more clearly than did the famous John Wessel the true doctrine of Christ's Church. This, according to him, '* is the com- munion of saints (i.e., of persons still undergoing the pro- cess of sanctification and of persons already perfected) subject to Jesus Christ as their one true Head;" . . . '' something essentially internal, as a fellowship of holy per- sons, whose unity rests on spiritual grounds, and not upon connection with one visible and supreme Head." . . . '' The unity of the Church under one pope is only acci- dental and not necessary." . . . The inward nature of the Church, Wessel also illustrates, by showing that the living bond between its members is not an outward authority over their faith, but mutual love. '' We must acknowledge," he says, " a catholic Church, but we must place its unity in the unity of the faith and of the Head, in the unity of the corner-stone, not in the unity of Peter or his successor, as the Church's governor." . . . '' By the unity of faith, piety, and true love, the Christians constitute with us one catholic and apostolic Church, even though they should never have heard that there exists Historically developed. 107 such a city as Rome, or such a person as the Roman Bishop."* Probably in the century preceding the Reformation there were many Instances of practical Protestantism, both as regards doctrinal and ecclesiastical matters ; and some may yet be brought to light by the Industry of investi- gators. In Its main features, the history of Juan de Valdes cannot have stood alone ; and his later years (he died in 1540) strikingly exemplified the reaction against the sacerdotal and artificial system which he never for- mally abjured. During those years, when the devout and holy author of the CX. Considerations lived at Naples, he was virtually pastor of a Congregational Church in that city ; for there were several persons of position, and even of distinction, who assembled with him each Lord's day, and listened to his learned expositions of Holy Scripture, and his tranquil and spiritual meditations upon Divine things.! Hitherto, even those who had discriminated between the wheat and the tares, had not looked beyond the ecclesiastical pale for true believers ; but the events of the sixteenth century led to the formation throughout a great part of Europe of Christian societies upon a new basis. When Luther preached against Indulgences, which were sanctioned by the Pope, and therefore matters of faith, he was appealing from a human authority to the Scriptures and the Spirit. When he taught the doctrine of justification by faith, he was exalting the spiritual above the merely formal. When he appealed from the Pope to the Council, but stipulated that the Council should decide according to Scripture, he not only re- nounced the Papacy, but even the so-called Catholic system. * Ullmann's Reformers before the Reformation, in Clark's Foreign Theological Librarj', pp. 482-5. t Vide Life and Writings of Juan de Valdes, by B. B. WifFen and J. T. Betts. For other anticipations of Congregationalism, vide Waddington's Congregational Church History. io8 Idea of the Church He and his adherents found that they could not reform ; and they seceded. Although he shrank from the respon- sibility of forsaking a society which was in possession of Baptism, the Lord's Supper, the writings of the Apostles, and the succession ; he justified himself on the ground that Rome would not endure or permit the preaching of the pure Word of God. The same fact was Calvin's vindication for separation : " Instead," says he, *'of the ministry of the Word, there prevails in the Papacy a per- verted government, compounded of lies, a government which partly extinguishes, partly suppresses, the pure light. In place of the Lord's Supper, the foulest sacrilege has entered." Calvin also points out the absurdity of Rome in disregarding the doctrine taught, and placing the succession in persons.* Luther started from the broad principle that Christian people as such are the Church, and that the condition of membership is faith and spiritual communion with the Lord ; but, perhaps influenced by the exercises of the Anabaptists,! he came to supplement this popular prin- ciple by laying down " notes" of the true Church. These, briefly stated, are three in number : — the two Sacraments and the Word. But to these he added : — the keys, the appeal of clergy or Church courts, ( Berufung von Kirchen- dienernj prayer, and the endurance of the cross. Whilst the Church has an existence in cordibus, that existence is recognizable among men by these notcB externce Accord- ingly, the Lutheran symbols regard the Church as Inha- berinn der Gnadenmittel, (possessor of the means of grace,) because in it the Gospel is preached, the Sacraments are administered, the Holy Ghost works, and the forgiveness of sins is. enjoyed.]: * Calvin's Institutes, book IV. chap. ii. f Schenkel's Article in Herzog's Real. Encyc. X Brerschneider, Handbuch der Dogmatik der Evangelisch — Lutherischen Kirche, 8 cap. 3 abschnitt. He also says: ..." Kirche namlich istihnen die Gemeinde der Heiligen und Glaubigen, die in Gemeinschaft des Christlichen Glaubens, und unter der Regierung des heil. Geistes stehen mogen sie auch durch aie ganze Welt zerstreut sein ; und ihre ausserllchen Historically developed. 109 Calvin, the great theologian of the Reformed party, like Luther and Melancthon, held the Word and the Sacraments to be the external signs of the true Church. Like the other Reformers also,* he laid stress upon the power of the keys, which he explains by three proposi- tions: — (i) That the children of God whilst in the body stand in need of forgiveness ; (2) That they can enjoy this only in connection with the Church ; and (3) That forgiveness is dispensed by ministers in the Word and Sacraments, t It was admitted, by both these great parties, that the Church militant cannot be kept perfectly pure. Holding that the notoriously ungodly should be excommunicated, Luther maintained that the Church was not vitiated by the presence of undetected hypocrites. Calvin taught the Church might be viewed, either as it is before God, or as it appears to us, — the assembly of professing Christians, including hypocrites and wicked persons; and he re- garded as infatuated the Cathari, Donatists, and Ana- baptists for denying, to societies containing unworthy Christians, the designation of" Church."]: One of the gravest errors committed by the Reformers was the relation they favoured between the Church and the State. Luther was perhaps influenced by the poli- tical events of his time, in approving the dependence, to a large extent, of the spiritual upon the civil office. The Lutheran Church has remained to this day the creature of the State; and, as a matter of course, Church discipline has fallen into abeyance. The Reformed party else- Kennzeichen sind, diss die Evangelische Lehre unter ihnen recht gelehrt, und die Sicramente recht nach Jesu Einsetzung, verwaltet werden." He quotes from the Apol. Aug. : *' Dicimus existere hanc Ecclesiam, videlicet veie credentes et justos sparsos per totum orbem. Et addi- mus notasj puram doctrinam Evangelii et Sjcramenta." In the above account, use has been made of Muenchm:yer's Das Dogma von der sichtbaren und unsichtbaren Kirche. * Vide^ for other examples, Palmer's Treatise on the Church. f Institutes, book IV. chap. i. X For a succinct account of the Protestant view of the Church, controversially stated, vide Turretini Compend. TheoL Locus, xvi. no Idea of the Church where, adopting the Presbyterian form of government, In Switzerland and In Scotland, made the same mistake. The ancient bishop disappeared, but his representative In the person of the superintendent or In the synod or pres- bytery was (though no longer under the power of Rome yet) often subject to the control of a civil and perhaps unsplrltual ruler. If England Is not of all nations that one in which liberty of speculation Is most freely claimed and accorded. It Is certainly the one In which owing to the practical genius of the people, principles have been most freely embodied in actions and theories In facts. Hence the vast diversity, not of theological opinion merely, but of religious sentiment and ecclesiastical organization, which have for centuries obtained In this land. From the time of the Lollards until now, with but few Intervals, the nation has been characterized by Intensity of religious feeling and of Church life ; and It may be regarded as, In some senses, a microcosm of Christendom. The three governing principles, which have controlled the develop- ment of Christian association In this land, have been, — speaking somewhat loosely, — respect for tradition, reliance on reason, and reverence for Scripture. The reader will not need to be Informed that we have no sympathy with the too-prevalent disposition to account as " the Church " one section alone — however powerful — of Christian society in England. The Church established by law in these realms does not, as a Church, rank on either side in the great controversy between Catholicism and Protestantism. Dignitaries and parties within her pale have Indeed fought strenuously on both sides. From Laud to Philpotts there have been prelates who have regarded their Church as resting upon the ancient foundation of the '' succession," and her clergy as a priesthood dis- Historically developed, 1 1 1 pensing supernatural gifts and performing supernatural wonders. From Hooper to Whately there have been bishops who have maintained the spirituality of Christ's kingdom, and who have considered themselves and their brethren ministers of the Divine Word, and guides of a voluntary community. It must be admitted that both parties have abundant justification for their positions In the formularies of the Establishment ; and that, these formularies remaining as they are, neither party can fairly demand the exclusion of the other. It follows that, owing to the compromise in which Anglicanism orlelnated, and the discordant elements of which it is composed, no one definite ecclesiastical idea can be said to be that embodied in the Church of England. She is a Janus, and her temple Is always open. Those members of the Anglican Church who have adopted the sacramental and sacerdotal theories which were so repugnant to the Reformers, have naturally enough viewed with favourable and even envious eyes the communities In which the leading Idea of the Church for centuries has been the Catholic succession, with all that It involves. These regards have shown themselves sometimes In a lusting for the flesh-pots of Egypt, too strong to be resisted, sometimes In a habit of coquetting with the ancient system which has put the Anglican Catholic out of sympathy with the movements of his countrymen and the spirit of his age. One bond of union, or rather one link of sympathy, existed between the English and the Oriental Churches : both alike, though at different periods, from different causes, and in different circumstances, having rebelled against the pretensions and withdrawn from the com- munion of Rome. From the reign of James I. a strong party, of clergy especially, in the Anglican Church, have repudiated the friendly attitude towards the Protestant 1 1 2 Idea of the Church bodies of Europe which was exhibited by the prominent Edwardian and EHzabethan divines, and have sought every opportunity of stretching out the hand of fellow- ship to such churches as enjoyed the mysterious but priceless advantage of the Episcopal succession. Poli- tical reasons have always stood in the way of outward manifestations of friendliness towards Rome ; yet there have not been wanting communications, cautious in themselves and futile in their results, between repre- sentatives of the two communions. The attempts of Christopher Davenport to prove the substantial unity of Roman and Anglican teaching ; the correspondence between Bossuet and Leibnitz, which, though primarily affecting the Protestant Continental bodies, could not be indifferently regarded by English ecclesiastics ; and the communications between Archbishop Wake and Dupin, are enough to prove that the interest in the re-union of Christendom was not extinct up to the time of the Hanoverian occupation of the throne of England.* Those Englishmen whose hearts have yearned for the re-establishment of communion among Christians possessing the Catholic episcopacy, have often looked wistfully towards the great Eastern patriarchs. The immoveable and self-centred thoughts of the Oriental Churches have not as often been disturbed by reciprocal desires. There have been, however, signal exceptions. The active mind of Cyril Lucar led him, in the early part of the seventeenth century, to correspond, not only with distinguished representatives of the Protestantism of the Continent, but with such Anglican ecclesiastics as Abbot and Laud. The occupation of Constantinople by the Turks, and the consequently difficult position of the Patriarch and his clergy, gave opportunities to * Vide^ for a concise account of these and other overtures and negotiations, Plumptre's Christ and Christendom, Appendix A. Historically developed, 1 1 3 Englishmen to display a friendly spirit towards the Holy Orthodox Church. Several successive chaplains at Con- stantinople laboured to establish some kind of recognition between the respective Churches. A Greek Church was, towards the close of the seventeenth century, opened in London, and soon after there existed, for a few years, a Greek College at Oxford. But the most famous episode in the history of the relations in question was undoubtedly the negotiation between the nonjuring bishops and the *' Catholic and Apostolical Oriental Church."* This negotiation never proceeded far, owing to the incompetency of the nonjurers to speak in the name of the Church of England, and came to an abrupt close upon the death of Peter the Great. It is well known that of late years a very remarkable movement has arisen in this country in favour of what is called the Reunion of Christendom, but which is in reality the Reunion of the Anglican, Roman and Greek Episcopal Churches. This movement has received the support of many distinguished members of the High Church party, more particularly of their tutante^i et decus^ Dr. Pusey. It has seemed to many Anglican Catholics that their branch of the Church possesses peculiar advan- tages as a central and reconciling power. They can indeed scarcely boast of any remarkable measure of success in the efforts they have hitherto put forth : plain Englishmen might even say that they have been cruelly snubbed in high places. But they put the best face upon the matter, and are not slow in informing their friends of any successes .they may have gained. The literature which this party has produced has been abundant in quantity ; volumes of sermons and essays by various writers, members of the several communions, * Vide the correspondence published in The Orthodox Church of the East in the Eighteenth Century, by George Williams, B.D. I 114 ^^^^ of the Church and separate works, tracts and pamphlets in profusion. Satisfaction the most confident in their own position, contempt the most subHme for all dissidents, are pro- minent characteristics of their literature. The movement in question is most prominently re- presented by the '' Association for the Promotion of the Unity of Christendom," — a Society established on the 8th of September, 1857. Two years ago this Associa- tion had between nine and ten thousand enrolled mem- bers, clergymen and laymen of the three Churches. But we are not told what proportion of the members consists of Anglicans, and we must be allowed to presume that few belong^ to the other two communions. The con- ditions of membership are not burdensome ; — the offering of a brief and scriptural prayer for unity every day, and, in the case of a cleric, the offering of the " Holy Sacrifice " on the same behalf once in three months. One thing is very plain, that Protestants are intentionally excluded from the view of the Reunionists, as no Pro- testant minister would offer the ''Holy Sacrifice" for any purpose, not believing that the Eucharist possesses a sacrificial character. And every opportunity is taken to repudiate such Christians as practise other than the Episcopal form of Church-government. Dr. Pusey is anxious to explain that the Lutherans, German and Scandinavian, are not to be regarded as part of the Catholic Church. They have no true succession, no priestly office, no participation in the body and blood, no real absolution, and are accordingly wanting in the notes of genuine Catholicity.* In a manifesto of the Reunion party issued in 1862, for the instruction of foreigners visiting the Exhibition of that year, the claim of the Church of England to be regarded as a member * " The Swedish body has even yet retained more of ritual than we ; but having lost the succession and the faith of the sacrament (with the power ot administering it), it is but an empty show, the casket of a lost jewel." — Essays on Reunion, Introductory Essay, p. 77. Historically developed. 1 1 5 of the Catholic body is based upon her maintenance of the following doctrines : — the remission and regeneration through Baptism, the gift of the H oly Ghost in Confirmation, the objective presence of the body and blood in the Eucha- rist, as well as its sacrificial character, Apostolical Succes- sion, Absolution, and the authority of the Ancient Creeds.* The Roman Catholics are ready to admit that the Episcopal Church of England has peculiar advantages for effecting an organic reunion, or rather for serving as the rallying point in an endeavour to attain it.f But the terms on which the Romanists are prepared to welcome the projected alliance must be unpalatable in the extreme to the advanced Ano^licans. These are willing to concede the primacy of the Roman bishop, and are forward to profess that by dexterous treatment the Thirty-nine Articles may be harmonized with the doctrines of the Council of Trent : they merely ask that liberty should be allowed in matters which are not strictly speaking " of the faith." But there is no real harmony between the views of the Church taken by the two parties respectively. The Anglican claims for his Church a position of co- ordinateness as related to the Roman and Greek com- munions. But what is the view taken of this claim by the Latin Church ? It might be excused for asserting its precedence ; but it unhesitatingly asserts its sole right to be regarded as the Church, and rejects, either with proud scorn or yet prouder politeness, the assump- tion of the anxious Anglican. * Address of' English Churchmen to foreigners visiting England. + " If ever," says Count De iMaistre, " Christians draw together, as everything invites them to do, it appears that the movement must start from the Church of England. Presbyterianism was a French work, and consequently, an exaggerated work. We are too far removed from a worship too little substantial ; there are no means whereby we can reach it ; but the Anglican Church which touches us with one hand, touches on the other those whom we cannot touch j and although in a certain point of view it is exposed to the blows of both sides, and presents the somewhat ridiculous spectacle of a rebel who preaches obedience, it is, not- withstanding, in other aspects very valuable, and may be regarded as one of those chemical intermedei able to bring together elements in their own nature discordant." — Considerations *ur la France, chap. ii. (quoted by Gondon). I 2 1 1 6 Idea of the Church Certain Roman Catholics having, without due con- sideration, joined the Society already alluded to, their conduct came under the notice of their bishops, who obtained a decision thereupon from the Holy Inquisition at Rome. The Holy Office admits that Catholics ought to pray that schisms and dissensions among Christians may be plucked up by the root ; and that all those who have forsaken the holy Roman Church, beyond which there Is no salvation, may, upon forswearing their errors, be restored. But it insists that there is no other Catholic Church beside that which is built " super unum Petrum in unum connexum corpus atque compactum unitate fidei et charltatis," and that it is by no means to be tolerated that the faithful should pray for unity upon the sugges- tion of heretics. The view of the Association, that Photianism and Anglicanism are two forms of the true Christian religion, is stigmatized as the height of pesti- lential '* indifferentlsm." Catholics are forbidden to be members of the Society In question.* The same view of the inviolability of the Catholic unity is taken by the English laity, even by those most liberally disposed towards reconciliation. " No Catholic," says Mr. A. L. M. Phillipps de Lisle, " in advocating such a reunion, for a single moment would admit that the Catholic Church of Christ has ever lost her essential unity. The Catholic Church can no more lose her unity than she can cease to be. . . . No Catholic, therefore, in advocating the corporate reunion of any divided branch of Christians with the parent-stock, ever dreams of restor- ing unity to the Catholic Church, for she has never lost it ; but he does believe that such a re-union would restore * Supremae S. Romanae et Universalis Inquisitionis Epistola ad omnes Angliae Episcopas. " if the union of the Anglicans with the Roman Church is intended and promoted in this sense, that they, laying aside all error and schism, are willing to embrace in sincerity Catholic doctrine, and to accept the supremacy of the Roman Pontiff as the Chief Vicar of Jesus Christ on earth, and the Visible Head of His Church, you may count upon the kindness with which this Holy See would be ready to treat with the Anglicans, whether collectively or individually." — Second Letter of Cardinal Barnabo to Mr. A. L. M. Phillipps de Lisle. Historically developed, 117 Catholicity to any such divided branch."* What is this but to say, — We are the true Church ; you are, if not heretics, yet undoubtedly schismatics ; you are, however, at liberty to repent of your schism, and enter as converts the Church you sinfully forsook ! The two most striking phenomena as witnessing to a desire amongst Anglicans to promote reunion have been (i) the formation of the *' Association for the Pro- motion of the reunion of Christendom," and (2) the publication by Dr. Pusey of his '' Eirenicon." The response to the first on the side of Rome has been ably given by Dr. Manning, and to the second by Dr. Newman. The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster quotes the decided prohibition of the Holy Office, for the direc- tion of such members of the Roman Church as might be invited to enter the Association. He, however, recognizes with joy, as a proof of Divine grace, the fact that two hundred English clergy have applied to the Cardinal Secretary of the Holy Office, expressing their desire for reunion. At the same time he remarks that the Episco- pal Church represents only half of the English people, the Anglican school only a portion of that Church, the Anglo-catholic movement only a section of that school, and the Unionist movement only a fraction of that section. Much as he longs for unity, he affirms that it can only be offered upon unconditional submission to the living and perpetual voice of the Church of God. The faith is even more Divine than union. The Anglicans, according to him, place all religion in an imaginary faith of the undivided Church, the Unionists in an agreement of the universal Church founded upon a liberal interpretation of the Thirty-nine Articles on the one hand and the Council of Trent on the other. But the Church is inflexible in dogma, and can come to no compromise with those with- * Essays on Reunion, pp 227, 228. ii8 Idea of the Church out her pale. The Church is infallible ; that is, she per- petually holds and proclaims Divine truth by the perpetual aid of the Holy Ghost. Truth, then, must come first ; unity afterwards. And if asked how unity is provided for, he replies that it is by the submission of all wills to the Divine Master by the intermediate position of the pastors of the Church, and especially the Supreme Pontiff. There is no salvation out of the Church ; and of the Church the Anglican and Greek communions form no part. The Church never has lost and never can lose its unity. The Reunionists have laid great stress on the wishes and proposals of Bossuet. Dr. Manning quotes Bossuet in support of his own position. The contradic- tions which have arisen out of the Thirty-nine Articles are contrasted with the harmonious theology founded upon the decrees of Trent. It is plainly pointed out that to accept the Council of Trent, upon condition of interpreting it by our own opinions, is to sit in judgment upon it, not to submit to it. The inconsistency of the Anglican position is contrasted unfavourably with the simple Pro- testantism which is guided by the Scriptures alone. If the Anglicans were admitted into Catholic unity, retaining their views, they would be '' intus corpore, corde foris." The Anglican proposal to appeal from the Pope to a future Council is stigmatized as sacrilege. The Councils, like the Fathers, are only important as expressing the mind of the Church. Through its long history, the Church has been defining, not creating doctrines, by a series of declarations. This is the case with the Im- maculate Conception. The Pope is infallible as the head and voice of the Church. Matters like the tem- poral power and the worship of the Virgin must not be imported into the controversy. To deny the Church's infallibility is to expose oneself to indifferentism and infidelity. As for the reunion movement, it is ot Historically developed, 1 1 9 God only so far as it leads individuals jto submit to the truth.* Dr. Pusey, whilst maintaining most of those so-called Catholic doctrines against which Protestantism protests, has yet been for a generation the champion of the growing party which maintains that the Anglican is a co-ordinate branch of the one Church. He dissuaded his followers from joining the Church of Rome, — a step to which some of them felt almost impelled upon accepting the doctrines of the Tracts.! He resented the comparison which Romanists were wont to draw between the position of the Angrlicans and that of the Donatists, — and this on his authority as a devoted student of St. Augustine. M. Gondon shows most forcibly in how many ways the Church of England has refused to accept the interpretations which Dr. Pusey would put upon her teaching.]: The taunt is levelled at the Doctor that all he can claim for the English Church is the bare tolerance of the truth in conjunction with error. The "Eirenicon" (in form a letter to the author of the " Christian Year ") is in reality a reply to a letter to Dr. Pusey published by Dr. Manning under the title, » " The Workings of the Holy Spirit in the Church of England." Maintaining, according to his own explana- tion, the unity of the Church, Dr. Pusey affirms that this unity is not destroyed by the interruption of intercom- munion. He holds that the English Church maintains the true doctrines ; and attacks the corruptions of Rome, especially the undue veneration of the Virgin Mother, and the attribution of infallibility to the Pope. After quoting Roman Catholic authors who have favoured a reunion of Christendom, and referring to certain overtures which * Vide The Reunion of Christendom, a pastoral letter to the clergy, &c., by Henry Edward, Archbishop of Westminster, passim. \ Vide Pusey s Advice to Persons tempted to embrace Catholicism, dated August, 1845. J De la Reunion, &c., par Jules Gondon, pp. 229, 230. 1 20 Idea of the Church have been made in past times, Dr. Pusey propounds his scheme. The mininiMm of behef required by the Council of Trent is to be brought side by side with the maximnm of behef contained in the Thirty-nine Articles, — i.e., with those Articles interpreted in the Catholic sense, and an agreement may be found, which may be ratified in the eighth general council of Christendom. M. Condon has well characterized the proposal of Dr. Pusey, in saying that its first condition would be that the Catholic and the Oriental Churches should in the first instance become Puseyites. * In reply to the "Eirenicon" of his friend Dr. Pusey, Dr. Newman speaks of his correspondent with manly respect and with almost tender affection ; but he complains that some portions of the work scarcely consist with its title : that he has " hurled his olive-branch from a catapult." The reply chiefly consists of an explanation of the worship permitted to the Virgin Mary, and a defence of the Immaculate Conception. It closes with the assertion that the honour of the Virgin is dearer to Catholics than the conversion of England ! Only a few paragraphs at the commencement refer to the other part of the question : the different views taken by Romanists and Anglicans of the relation of Scripture and tradition are briefly ex- plained ; and the infallibility of the Papal See is not touched upon. The response from Rome to the Anglican overtures being on the whole decidedly unpropitious, it is only natural that the Reunionists should turn with anxious hope to the Eastern Churches. f "It is natural, of course," says the Rev. C. A. Fowler,]; "being children of the West, to turn our gaze wistfully to our own spiritual Mother * De la Reunion, p. 270. f The earlier English Churchmen regarded the Eastern Churches as at one with them- selves in rejecting Roman errors. Vide Field, On the Church, book III. chap. i. t Present Prospects of Reunion, in Essays on Reunion, p. 67. Historically developed. 121 first. Still, humanly speaking, we cannot help thinking that reunion with the venerable Eastern Church would be the better policy, and afford a better chance of success." This project, however, seems somewhat like the clutching at a straw by a drowning man. A Metropolitan of the Orthodox Eastern Church* admits indeed that when the English Church shall agree with his own ''on the more important points, in which at present it manifestly differs from us," then matters of secondary consequence may be arranged. The editor of the " Essays on Reunion," who must indeed be thankful for small mercies, and who evi- dently '' likes to be despised," prints in his volume an Essay by a priest of the Archdiocese of Constantinople, in which such crumbs of comfort as the following may be found : — "What has been denied, obscured, misrepre- sented, dropped or repudiated, which the Orthodox hold as from God, must be affirmed, set up again, accepted with sincerity, preserved and believed in, before reunion can be obtained ;" " All deviations from the Orthodox creed of Constantinople must be henceforth rejected and laid aside. That creed must be adopted and accepted wathout addition or subtraction, as it was formally pro- mulgated." Protestantism must be renounced, and the Anglican orders must be confessed invalid.! So much for the hopeless prospects of reunion between the several Episcopal Churches on the basis of cornmon possession of the catholic truth and the catholic succession. There has always been in the Reformed English Church, a party attached to its actual constitution, but not disposed to claim for that constitution either the authority of Scripture or the support of ecclesiastical tradition. Men who have thoroughly broken away from Rome, and who have had no disposition to return to her * The Metropolitan of Chios, pp. 293, 294. f The letter from the Archbishop of Constantinople to the Metropolitan of Canterbury, September 26th, 1869, is more conciliatory, but holds the same high ground. 122 Idea of the Church obedience, but who, at the same time, have been well aware that their Church was rather the creature of cir- cumstances than a society based upon primitive models, have sought for the justification of their position in the conclusions of reason and of expediency. The peculiar relations of the English Church with the State have re- quired for their vindication all the skill they could com- mand, and this skill has not been inconsiderable. The name of Hooker stands eminent among the chief theolo- gians of our country ; and Hooker's greatest work was the defence of his Church against the assaults of learned, zealous, and logical Puritans. The hopelessness of defending that Church by weapons drawn from Scripture, led to his magnificent eulogium of natural law, and his application of human reason to the establishing of eccle- siastical polity.* Opposed to the corruptions of Rome, sensible of the practical advantages of the actual Church of England, Hooker has ever been regarded with admira- tion by such as look upon religion as " the stay of all well-ordered commonwealths," and who are wont to ask, '* What things are convenient in the outward public ordering of Church affairs ?"t Fairly might a writer be credited with Erastianism who teaches that '' there is not any man of the Church of England but the same man is also a member of the Commonwealth, nor any member of the Commonwealth, which is not also of the Church of England,"! and that ''supreme power in ecclesiastical affairs" is given unto Christian kings by human right. § This theory has been developed with ability and elo- quence by Dr. Arnold in his introduction to the " Lectures on Modern History," and by Dean Stanley. || Perhaps there was never an advocate of Erastianism * Vide Ecclesiastical Polity, especially book III. t Eccles. Pol., book V. sect, i, 6. % Ibid., bookVlII sect. I. 4 Ibid., sect. 2. Vide Dean Stanley's Lecture, delivered at Sion College. Historically developed. 123 who went to greater lengths than Thomas Hobbes, of Malmesbury, the most able advocate upon principle of political absolutism. In that part of ** Leviathan"* which treats of a Christian Commonwealth, Hobbes boldly maintains the supremacy of the civil ruler in ecclesiastical affairs. He defines " a Church to be, a company of men professing Christian religion, united in the person of one sovereign, at whose command they ought to assemble, and without whose authority they ought not to assemble." In accordance with this definition, he teaches that Christ has left authority in matters of religion to civil rulers, and that if a sovereign command conformity with what is deemed error, it is right hypocritically to comply, f " The civil sovereign, being a Christian, hath the right of ap- pointing pastors. "J The idea of their Church entertained by the bulk of the laity, and probably the majority of the clergy, of the English Establishment, is that of an institution determined in form by circumstances, commended by expediency and usage, and affirmed and legalized by Parliamentary au- thority. Erastianism is the creed of the generality of the so-called Evangelical and Broad-Church schools. Some English episcopalians, notably the late Archbishop Whately, put their own ministry upon precisely the same footing as the ministry of other denominations of Christians. § The third influential tendency recognizable in Church life is the habit of reference to Scripture as the authority, and to the primitive Churches as the model. The Catho- lic relies upon the precedent of the diocesan episcopacy, * Leviathan, part iii. chap. 39. t Ibid., chap. 42. + Ibid. § "They (the Reformers) rest the claims of ministers not on some supposed sacramental virtue, transmitted from hand to hand in unbroken succession from the Apostles, in a chain, of which if any one link be even doubtful, a distressing uncertainty is thrown over all Christian ordinances, sacraments, and Church privileges for ever} but on the fact of those ministers being the regularly-appointed officers of a regular Christian community." — Whately s Kingdom of Christ, Essay ii. sect. 19. For the ablest exposition of the tenets of Nonconformists re- garding the relation of Church and State, "vide i-ssai sur la manifestation des convictions reli- gieuses, et sur la separation de I'eglise et de Tetat, par A. Vinet. 124 ^^^^ ^f ^'^^ Church which grew out of the primitive system ; if it did not, as he believes, prevail in the Apostolic times : his view of the Church is, accordingly, an outward, visible hierarchy. The Erastian may deem the form of government immaterial, and may not be concerned to vindicate a primitive origin for the organization with which he is connected : his view of the Church is an association which may have the re- commendations of precedent, convenience, or reason. The former of these maintains what we believe to be, on the showing of Scripture, falsehood most pernicious: the latter has in his system no guarantee that the purposes of Church-life will be secured. We approve and advocate the retention of the Scriptural idea of the Church. By its adoption we believe the two great ends (in subordination to the Divine glory) of Christian association will be best promoted, — the reality of spiritual fellowship, and the promulgation of heaven-born truth ; and we base this belief upon our conviction that the hearts of Christians are the chosen dwelling-place of the Holy Ghost. This has been, in the main, the Puritan, the Presby- terian, but especially the Congregational, idea.* All clear thinkers among us distinguish between the spiritual and universal society called '' the invisible Church," and the communities to which we give, in accordance with the New Testament usage, the name of Churches. Itcannot be overlooked that any society of human beings, on what- ever principle conducted, may include within it deceivers of others and even of themselves. Perfect purity of fellowship is not to be obtained by any meansknown to man ; but this is no reason why such purity as is obtain- able should not be wisely and strenuously aimed at. No earthly government can maintain perfect order and peace * For the Presbyterian system the reader may consult Bannerman's Church of Christ, and Cunningham's Historical Theology. For the Independent system, the works of Robinson, Owen, and Goodwin among the earlier, and those of Hanbury, Wardlaw, Davidson, Conder and Fletcher among contemporary writers. Historically developed. 125 among its subjects ; but that is no reason why laws should not be made and enforced for the repression of disorder and the encouragement of peace and liberty. Similarly, there are no means known to man whereby the wise exercise of power can in all cases be secured ; but this is no reason why the laity, the people, should be deprived of the right or absolved from the duty of self-government, in spiritual any more than in civil affairs. These appear to us the two great principles by which our position is differentiated from that of Catholics and Erastians. That the visible Church shall consist, as far as wisdom and vigilance can secure such a result, of those who are mem- bers of the Church invisible, — this is our first great principle. A society framed upon this law will contain those and only those who offer the fair evidences of personal religion ; — cordial belief of the fundamental doctrines of Christianity, devout habits and a holy life. As none but God can search the heart, profession must be taken as the criterion of faith : with reference to the remaining qualifications, our Lord's test must be applied, ** By their fruits ye shall know them." Respect for Scrip- ture, the practice of prayer, attendance upon the means of grace, — these are the outward signs of devotion. The pure and righteous life is to be witnessed by the know- ledge of men. Devotion may be simulated, sins may be secret : but God and God only looks upon the heart, and to His judgment undetected hypocrites must be left. In order to purity of communion, discipline must be main- tained, and, in case of sin requiring such treatment, must take the form of censure, and even of excommuni- cation. Unspiritual men will naturally detest principles which imply the duty of Church-discipline : it is well that they should detest them, and it is also well that the Church should disregard their detestation. Controversialists have magnified the differences between 126 Idea of the Church Presbyterians and Independents regarding purity of com- munion. We are of opinion that, so far as free Churches are concerned, (and no State-Church can in these days maintain discipHne,) the Presbyterians in no important particular differ in this matter from ourselves. It is affirmed that, whilst Presbyterians are satisfied with a confession of faith and a life in accordance with Scripture injunction. Independents require evidence of spiritual re- generation. In the means employed to satisfy the Church of the fitness of a candidate for fellowship, there may allow- ably prevail difference of method ; but the qualifications for membership are, in the view of the two systems, substan- tially the same. Even the Presbyterian definition that the visible Church includes the children of Christian professors would be accepted by the majority of psedo-baptist congregationalists. The second principle is that of self-government. This, prelac); and state-churchism alike dispute. The policy of Rome has been, from the beginning of the Papal system,* to withhold from the laity all control over Church affairs. In the Anglican Establishment, bishops and other dignitaries are nominated by the Government of the day, and the clergy are presented to benefices by the patron of the living, whether a Christian or a Jew, a saint or a reprobate. The people are allowed to elect one of tw- o Churchwardens ; but this is the privilege, not of the com- municants but of the parish. In opposition to these arrangements of hierarchical assumption or political ex- pediency, we contend for the right and duty of self- government. The Church should elect its own officers and rulers and teachers, and should, either directly by popular vote, or indirectly through its representatives, administer its own affairs. * " Les la'iques assistaient au gouvernement de 1 Eglise comme simples spectatcurs." — Guizot, Civilization en Europe, lect. vi. Historically developed. 1 2 7 In the carrying out of this principle there are differ- ences between Presbyterian and Congregational practices, not so easy of adjustment as those before referred to. Into these differences it is not our purpose here to enter. We have confidence In popular elections and in popular government ; and, whilst admitting the inconveniencies which are inseparable therefrom, we believe these are fully compensated by advantages which history and ex- perience alike should teach us to admire and appreciate. We claim for our idea of the Church, that it is the idea of the New Testament, of the Apostles, of Christ Himself. The true and universal Church is no human organization, but the society of the elect and holy both in earth and heaven. Scriptural Churches are societies of men and women holding Christian truth, leading Christian lives, observing Christian ordinances ; striving as societies to realize the Divine ideal ; regarding one another with con- fidence and affection ; regulating their own afiairs ; and co-operating for common purposes. We are confident that English candour will sooner or later recognize the strength of our position ; we believe that growing wisdom will admit of more efficient association and more practical intercommunion ; and we are not without hope that our principles may penetrate the mind of Christendom, and may, in all lands, mould and fashion and inspire the Church of the illimitable future. That the Church of Christ should present to the devout and thoughtful mind an ideal and universal as well as an actual, local, and sensible aspect, is warranted by Scrip- ture, and is required by Christian instinct and Intelligence. Multitudes can testify to the inspiring and consolatory power derived from contemplating the fellowship of the faithful in this light. Grateful love to the Redeemer has ever been, and ever will be, the strongest and the foremost passion of Christendom. But between this affection and 128 Idea of the Church that benevolence, that " enthusiasm of humanity," which is its proper fruit, there must be a love partaking of ad- miration, sympathy, and congeniality, and cherished with warmth and tenderness, directed towards the " holy, Catholic Church." The revealed purposes of Christ to- ward His people, the living characters, memorable situa- tions and imperishable acts of the Church, the literature which it has created, the traditions of worship it has handed down, its attempts to express its thoughts and yearnings in the highest forms of art, its consecration of suffering and of toil, its patient expectancy of approval and reward, its penetration of all human interests and its hallowing of all human goodness ; — all this and much more, acting upon the reverence, the reason, the memory, and the imagination, as well as upon the conscience of the Christian, tends to excite within him, not simply a belief in the universal Church, but an elevated, peaceful, and comforting affection towards that Church. Perhaps this is especially the case with those who minister to the spiritual well-being of Christ's body. Amidst the many trials to which they are exposed in the discharge of their ministry, whilst their best succour is derived from the sacrifice, the example, the spirit of their Lord, no mean measure of consolation is supplied by their conscious com- munion with the universal brotherhood. Amidst the vanity of the learned, the meanness of the rich, the bigotry of the ignorant, and the servility of the poor, they learn to lose sight of these partial and temporary imper- fections as they recur to the Divine Ideal and the future glory of the spiritual Church of the Lord Jesus ; and to this Ideal the actual Churches of the Lord may increasingly be conformed. As temporal and earthly governments become more secular, restricting their province to the physical well-being and the external relationships of mankind, there will be felt, amongst all who live a Historically developed. 129 life intellectual and spiritual, the deeper need for the existence of a society and communion more truly corresponding to the higher and proper social nature of man than is possible in monarchies or republics, guilds or clubs. There Is no danger of the world learning to do without the Church, or of the Church ceasing to exert a mighty influence over the world. The human rules and customs and creeds of the Churches may be modified ; but the Church itself must remain : '' the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Sooner shall the flames of love sink into the ashes of oblivion, and the stream of human thought pause in its eternal flow, than the Church of Christ shall cease to engage the warmest affections, to attract and employ the highest intelligence, and to enlist in her service and consecrate with her blessing the noblest enero^ies of man. K THE "RELIGIOUS LIFE" CHRISTIAN SOCIETY. REV. J. BALDWIN BROWN, B.A. K 2 THE "RELIGIOUS LIFE" AND CHRISTIAN SOCIETY. In the following pages the writer proposes to trace some of the broader outHnes of the Influence of the " reHglous life" on Christian society. Only the larger and more palpable features can In this place be dealt with. The delineation of the more subtle and delicate, but by no means least Important touches, would demand a wider space, and might task the energies of a more Instructed hand. But some thoughts on the main bearings of that form of life which for many centuries was recognized In Christendom as distinctively '' the religious," may not be out of place, nay, may be signally in place, In a volume of Essays on Church subjects by Nonconformist minis- ters, of which Ecclesia is the title. For the Evangelical Nonconformists have been mainly, as was to be expected from their position and traditions, in the very van of those who have striven most sternly against Papal pre- tensions and Romish corruptions of the truth; and, as befalls all strenuous champions, they have been In no small danger of taking a narrow and one-sided view of the matter in debate. We have been too ready to con- found the whole form and spirit of mediaeval Christianity with the Papal system, in our most righteous and needful protest against Rome. The word Roman has been made 134 The ''Religious Life'' to cover everything in the constitution and movement of Christian society during the Middle Ages, which did not square with the Puritan interpretation of the ApostoHc standards. But, in truth, Roman Christianity has only three centuries of history; dating from the time when the Papal See formally and finally rejected the principles of reformation. Then Romanism was born. Then the movement commenced, of which the dogma of Papal infallibility, hard as the more liberal Roman theologians may struggle against it, is the inevitable consummation. But up to the time of the disruption, and the develop- ment of what is after all but the great Papal sect, the movements of Christian society, under the inspiration of Christian ideas, though immensely influenced by the Papacy, were altogether too large, too deep, too human, too Christian, to be covered even by the ample name of Rome. One of the most profound and important of historical subjects concerns the influence of the Roman See on Christendom. What would the Europe of the Middle Ages have been without the Popes ? But we touch a still more vital question when we inquire. What would the Middle Ages have been without their Saints ; and as the saintly image was distinctly monastic from the fourth century to the thirteenth, this is equivalent to the ques- tion. What would the Middle Ages have been without their hermits, monks, and nuns ? St. Louis, in the thir- teenth century, marks the dawning of a new era. The great saintly figure of the time is a king and a layman. It is the age of the birth of a vernacular literature in the Western European kingdoms; it is the age of popular movements which bring the great third estate on to the arena of political action ; it is the age in which the West reaps fully the social and commercial fruit of the Crusades. Surely it is significant that in such an age one of the And Christian Society, 135 ablest and busiest monarchs in Christendom won a repu- tation for saintliness, which few Churchmen can rival. It is prophetic of that sanctification of secular life, that pas- sing forth of the. *' religious " idea into a wider world, ^vhich was the real meaning of the Reformation, and of all the most vital movements in the Roman Church during the last three centuries, down to the protest which P^re Hyacinthe has just uttered in the interests of civilisa- tion against the fatal policy of the Jesuits and the Pope. The influence of the Saint during the ages of which we write (and every monk and nun was saintly to the secular herd), was the influence of the Church in its most intense and concentrated form. And it re-acted on the Church most mightily, and continually nourished its power to influence and rule society. We must not confound the influence of the Church with the whole influence of the Gospel — that is, of the ideas and powers which Christ brought visibly to bear on mankind. That was a much larger matter, and must be sought equally in the development of the social life and political institutions of the nations which inherited, thanks largely to the monas- tics, the Christian traditions and polity of Rome. The ''re- ligious life " was, as it were, the electric jar into which all the most vital forces of the Church were gathered, and whence they discharged themselves, be it benignly or be it malignly, on society. And the Church represents in- comparably the most powerful of the many influences which were moulding the life of Europe during the earlier Middle Ages. The Church is the great connect- ing link between Roman and mediaeval society, between classical and mediaeval literature, law, and policy. No secular man, for instance, can compare for a moment with Gregory the Great, as a link of vital connection between the ancient and the modern world. He is the Caesar of the middle age of European history. 136 The ''Religious Life'' The formation of Christian society was the great prob- lem of Providence during all those ages. Alas ! It Is the great problem still. But the terms of the problem have been constantly misunderstood, and by none more per- versely than by the great evangelical party, the very backbone of which has been Nonconformist. The for- mation of a Christian community or communities within the bosom of the wider society, named the world in con- trast, has satisfied our conception of what Is to be desired jind aimed at as the fulfilment of the Divine purpose of mercy to mankind. But If we read history rightly, some- *^^hlng much larger than this has been the aim of the Divine workman through all these ages of Christian in- fluence on the world. It is remarkable that every great attempt, and there have been many, to work out the problems of society as Church problems, and to compress the movement and progress of humanity within the forms which suffice for the expression of man's religious life, has utterly and lamentably failed. The experiment has been tried by all parties, under all conditions; by Puritans, and by the Roman Church, where the last and decisive experiment is in progress now. The most notable attempt perhaps, certainly the most resolute and promising, which has ever been made to govern society as a Church after our notion of Churches, was that of the Puritan exiles who founded the New England States. Long and reso- lutely they strove to manage their State as they would manage a Church meeting, and to make the Church life the basis of the whole secular life of the community. How it failed, and why it failed, we cannot stay to con- sider. The curious student will find in the collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society much which will throw light on it, and on some of the most perplexing questions of these and of all times. But It did fail, and lamentably. And yet It Is the true Idea. It is what men A7id Christian Society, 137 are always dreaming of and aiming at. From Plato through all the Christian ages some kindred vision of the perfect human order has floated before the constructive in- tellects of the world. But then we make our Churches too narrow ; and the secular life, also a Divine thing if the Incarnation means anything, straining outwards as it grows, most blessedly bursts the bands, and compels us to an ever widening conception of the nature and range of the kingdom of the Lord. But the formation of Christian society is quite another matter. It implies the creation of a social life, which should be Christian to its very foundations, which should be penetrated by Christian ideas and aims in its very springs; of which the mind of God as revealed in Christ should be recognized as the basis, and in which there should be the acknowledgment that the rights and duties of mankind must be referred as to their supreme standard to the Divine law. No intelligent student of history, one would imagine, could refuse his assent to the position, that this recognition of the Christian basis and constitution of society was the characteristic feature of the political and social life of the Western European nations during their formative ages — that is, from the fifth century, when the seed of the Teutonic nationalities began to be sown in the fertile, because disintegrated soil of the decaying empire, to the thirteenth, when we find them grown to their full form, and prepared to enter on their manly career. I call these national communities Christian societies, far as their actual life was from the Christian standard of perfection, for the same reason which leads me to apply the name to " the congregation of faithful men," over which I have the honour to preside. They confessed Christ. I can very well Imagine that those who have only glanced at the troubled surface of mediaeval life, who have heard or read of its wild doings, 138 The ''Religious Life'' its fierce habits, its bloody strifes, its foul lusts, its gross excesses, its cruel tyrannies, its coarse blasphemies, may be tempted to exclaim, This confession of Christ seems to have been a very low, poor, carnal confession, scarcely worthy of the name. And surely they would be right. But I imagine that this is precisely what the angels are thinking about ours. I know not any Christian society upon earth which does more than strive in a very feeble and trembling fashion to order its life after the Christian law. And envy, hatred, malice, littleness, selfishness, worldliness, sins against which we are always witnessing, and from which we are always striving to free ourselves in our selectest societies with but partial success, may seem to the unseen watchers as grossly carnal as the strong, bold evils of mediaeval society seem to us. None can hope to understand the Middle Age who cannot see that the effort to be Christian was the key to its vital develop- ment. And, therefore, without forgetting that the breath of the Divine Spirit is abroad in the very air around us, and streams in upon us by a thousand channels of nature and of life, we are justified in affirming that the Church, which held the Christian standards and cherished the Christian ideals, was the most powerful visible agent at work on the nations of Western Europe during the Middle Ages. In truth, the history of the Church, up to the time of the development of a national life and a national literature in those Western nations — which dates roundly from the thirteenth century — is in the largest sense the history of mediaeval society. The influence of the monastic principle on the world at large, including Asiatic, Jewish, Oriental, and Western monachism, will form an important chapter whenever comparative religion is scientifically studied, and its hand- book is fairly written. But altogether the most vital and fruitful portion of the subject concerns the influence And Christian Society. 139 of the Benedictine rule on the development of Western Europe, for with the life of Western Europe apparently is bound up the destiny of the world. The civilisation of the West is the product of three factors — Roman civili- sation, the Teutonic nature, and Christianity. Roman civilisation, before it finally decayed and bequeathed its legacy to Christendom, had Incorporated largely Greek and Oriental influences ; In fact, it had gathered up into itself the whole ancient civilisation of the world. Hegel speaks of the middle as the Teutonic age. The question Is much agitated now. Why did Rome decay ? Luxury, tyranny, or as Mr. Seeley says, the sheer want of men, may account for it in a secondary sense. But these have to be accounted for. Had not the time come when a humanity of a different, of a deeper, larger, nobler type was needed to endure the strain which Christianity had brought to bear on men, and to fulfil the destiny which it had designed? In one sense, unquestionably Christianity was a conservative influence in the Empire. That Is, it made the continued cohesion of the ranks and orders of society possible. But for the work of the Church among the poor and the enslaved, but for its tonic influence on the relations of men, the empire must have decayed much more rapidly. But in another and deeper sense it was destructive. It propounded a scheme of life and duty, which Roman society was simply incapable of working out to any high purpose. The effort, through the inevitable growth of the Church, strained the worn- out bottles to bursting ; and finally the spirit, the genius of Christianity, passed out to organize for itself a larger, freer, and more fruitful life. It found the materials, the stuff to work upon, ready to Its hand. Philosophical historians have discussed the question as to how much of the special charac- teristics of modern civilisation is due to the Teu- 140 The ''Religious Life'' tonic * nature, and how much to Christianity. But that analysis can never be made. The proportions of father and mother In such children It Is simply impossible to trace. Such products have always a double parentage, and In proportion to the power and worth of the product Is the special adaptation of the parents to each other. Of all earthly marriages which have been made in heaven, there Is none perhaps which has been so fertile as the union between Christianity and the Teutonic nature, leavened as it became in the fifth century — though the work had long been in progress — with the civilisation of Rome. There seems to be no form of human nature and human society so capable of receiving and nourishing the germs which the good Sower brought into the world as the Teutonic ; at least, such must be our judgment with our present horizon. But the horizon Is rapidly widening, and our judgments on many points which have become quietly accepted may be much modified before many years have passed by. But there Is a very Important sense, in which it may be said that the great work of Christianity opened when it came fairly into contact with the Teutonic mind. A comparison of the Europe of Charlemagne, or the England of Alfred, with the Empire under Irene, or Basilius the Macedonian, will Illustrate the truth of the remark. Christianity simply failed to find the materials of a Christian society which should be permanent and fruitful, either In the Byzantine or the Roman worlds. He who pressed onward so earnestly to the uttermost parts of the West had a keen prevision of the destined * I use the word Teutonic in a wide sense, as describing altogether the largest and strongest element in the barbarian settlement of the West. It would not be possible here to attempt any discrimination of the different races of invaders, or to trace the influence of their native character in the institutions, habits, and features of the nations into which they were slowly developed, after amalgamating a larger or a smaller portion of the Roman population, which was itself an amalgam of a very remarkable and complex kind. I use the word German as expressing a predominating character, in the sense in which Hegel says, *• The German spirit is the spirit of the new world." And Christian Society. 141 path of the conquests of the Gospel. And there is something very remarkable, too, in the Westward pressure of the great secular precursor of St. Paul. It may be quite true that Julius Caesar had little definite or far- reaching plan in his Gallic conquests. Indeed the splendid audacity of genius seems to have served him more effectually than large forethought serves less brilliant men. A far-reaching and patient schemer, one would imaofine, would never have staked so much on the purest accident, as Caesar staked when he threw himself with a mere handful of troops into the midst of formidable dangers in Epirus, at Alexandria, at Ruspina, and more than once in his campaigns in Spain. Still the great fact remains, that the instincts of Pompeius led him Eastwards mainly, while Caesar pressed West- wards among the young, hardy, vigorous, prolific peoples with whom lay, though none saw it in that day, the future of the world. It is a strong sign of \ the supreme quality of a man, when his genius leads \ him to open a path which Providence intends the world to pursue. It may be said that Caesar made the path, and determined by his career the Westward progress 01 mankind. Far from it. The path was that which for ages humanity had been unconsciously treading ; nay, it had been marked out by the configuration of conti- nents, the set of currents, and the spread of oceans, countless ages before a human footstep was set on its dust. Julius Caesar all unwittingly was opening the path to the Gospel ; and it is not a little remarkable that the liberal and inclusive policy of the Marian party, of which Caesar and the Caesars were the heirs, translated to the spiritual sphere, became the characteristic policy of the Roman Church, and was not the least important of the legacies which the Empire bequeathed to the Middle Age. But it was in the new lands, and among the new [42 The ^^ Religious Life'' peoples in the old lands, that Christianity had to seek its supreme triumphs. The new Adam of the Church found his helpmate in the Teutonic Eve. These considerations justify us in dismissing with but slight notice in a brief Essay like this, the influence of the religious life upon the Oriental half of the Empire. Not that it was not both remarkable and powerful. The fact, too, that thence it entered the Western Empire and won its first triumphs in Italy, and especially in Gaul, lends to Eastern monachism a special importance. But it found no depth of earth in the East to nourish it. Rather, perhaps, the soil was exhausted, and needed to lie fallow for ages still unspent, before it could again become the theatre of a vigorous and progressive life. The monas- ticism of the extravagant, filthy, and prurient monks of the Thebaid, though not without grand and noble pas- sages, was one thing ; the monasticism of the rule of St. Benedict among the vigorous, laborious, and progressive Western peoples was another. Eastern Christianity died with its monasticism, perhaps died of it ; Western Chris- tianity lived through its monasticism, perhaps lived by it ; and it has laid up in the inner cells of its life that vital force which will one day restore the mother lands of the Gospel to the visible kingdom of the Lord. It is a mere truism to say that the origin of monachism lies deep In the constitution of our nature. Far from being the outgrowth of Christianity, the Christian monks are but as It were the upper ten thousand of the vast tribe. Every religion which has aimed at the solution of the problems of human life and destiny in the interests not of a caste but of humanity at large, has developed Itself strongly in this direction. Wherever the conditions of human existence have been faced with tolerable courage, there has been a strong tendency to attempt their solution on the ascetic principle. Buddhism, the And Christian Society. 143 great Pagan faith which has humanity at its core — I should call Islam by a nobler name — counts its monks by millions. In truth, the Christian monks have but wrought out to the fullest form and the highest use the institu- tion which has, in all countries and in all ages, strangely attracted the thoughtful and earnest among mankind. Its origin is identical in all the religious systems which have cherished it, though its features have been as various as those of the peoples and civilisations through which it has held its career. At the root of the institution lies the idea which enters very easily into the Asiatic mind, that the soul needs its special gymnastic culture as well as the body ; and that just as athletes submit themselves to special and severe discipline, that they m.ay contend successfully in the arena, so the spiritual faculties need to be drawn forth and strained to their highest tension by some special culture, which should be quite apart from the common duties and burdens of life. Beneath this view there lies the devil's own suggestion, that man's body and spirit, the earthly and the heavenly life, are mutually repugnant, are under different and conflicting lords, and that a high care for the one involves bitter contempt and mortification of the other. I call this the devil's own suggestion. Schism is of the devil, unity is of God ; and it is this Divine idea of unity which it is so hard for man to grasp and be at rest. He easily believes in antagonisms, and adopts proscriptions. But, evil as the idea is in its origin and in its fruits, there is enough in our consciousness and in the obvious aspect of things to suggest it. That which is most profoundly of the evil one does not wear the acknowledged livery of evil. The worst tempters wear the angelic dress. Satan is transformed into an angel of light. And so the ascetic finds the reason for his austerities in the apparent con- 144 '^^^ ''Religious Life'' ditions of his own existence, and in a colourable inter- pretation of the Word of God. For let us do the ascetics the justice to confess that it is difficult to see how, with a nature like ours, in a world like this, earnest men, men not afraid of strife and pain, could avoid the attempt to solve the dark problems of life in the ascetic "way." Some such endeavour seemed to lie, like the Fall, inevitably in man's path. The history of the infant Church, even before the Apostles had passed away, reveals the genesis of the movement. The later epistles of St. Paul are full of sad previsions of its malignant work. As matter of history, men appeared even in the Apostolic Church, and won con- siderable influence, to whom the life of the busy, sinful world around them did not offer a training-school severe enough for the discipline of their spiritual life. They invented exercises and austerities which should supply a loftier training ; they aimed at making themselves the skilled professors of the art of holy living, the Pharisees — and I use the word in no invidious sense — of the kingdom of the Lord. I must pass by the question as to how far the ascetic discipline in Christendom was invented or imitated. There can be no doubt that Asiatic monachism had passed through all the stages through which Christian monachism was about to pass, and that the relation between the purely Asiatic and the Romano-Oriental world was much closer than has been popularly supposed. It is really marvellous to see how the mediaeval and Roman development of Christianity was prefigured in poorer, weaker forms in the heart of Asia. Even the Mariolatry which burst forth in Europe with so intense a flame in the thirteenth century, and which has the closest connection with some of the noblest features of chivalry, has its parallel in the very farthest East. But we shall And Christian Society. 145 only complicate matters by taking Into consideration the possible origin of special forms of asceticism. It is enough that the tendency lies very deep in our nature ; and that in the nature of things, the human conditions being every where so much alike, it must take kindredforms in various countries, ages, and states of religious society. In the earlier stages of the ascetic dispensation these exercises were carried on in connection with the ordinary scenes and activities of life. But after awhile, partly through the growing sadness and degradation of secular life, but chiefly, we may be sure, through the growing fascination of the object, the ascetic aspirants found that they could not bear the presence of their fellow-men, and betook themselves to desert places, the wilder the better, where they could carry on more freely what they not unnaturally mistook for the culture of their souls. The ascetic became an anchorite, one retired from the world, or an Eremite, a dweller, like the Baptist, in the deserts ; and there, drunk with the wine of his fanaticism, and far from the sobering influence of his fellows, he gave himself up to exercises and austerities, which fill us alternately with amazement and disgust. There were wide districts, especially in the Egyptian and Syrian deserts, which in the fourth century literally swarmed with ascetics. They burrowed in the hill-sides like rabbits in a warren, and studiously lowered the pitch of their lives, as far as food and shelter were concerned, to the level of that of the brutes. The next step in the development of the monastic system was the association of these isolated anchorites in communities, for the purposes of fellowship and strength. How the transition was accomplished it is not easy to trace. Much, no doubt, was due to the influence of powerful and celebrated men like Anthony and Pachomius, who drew, by the magnet of their attrac- L 146 The '^Religious Life'' tion, crowds of anchorites to their neighbourhood, over whom it became necessary to estabHsh some kind of rule. But the main cause of the organization of the ascetic Hfe was, I imagine, the sense of its growing power. It began to make itself felt as a very powerful factor in the life of the Church. It began to act mightily on society at large, and, being a power, it tended, by a natural and irresistible law, to take form and to become an institution capable of acting systematically on the world. The need of organization soon became impera- tive. That ascetic spirit which had been floating in a vaporous form about the Oriental Church, must condense, take shape, and enter the congress of life. The Eremites became Coenobites, men living in common, under a com- mon rule, with a common head ; and then the development of the monastic institution fairly began. The organiza- tion of the scattered solitaries was attended by an im- mense increase of numbers. We may accept Jerome's authority for the vast concourse which attended a con- gregation of an order in the fifth century, without trusting too implicitly to the numeration of even so distinguished a father of the Church. In truth, a com- petent judge of numbers on a great scale is rare even at the present day. But there were enough of them swarming about the deserts and established about the cities of Egypt, to revive in another form the ancient sneer, that in Egypt it was far easier to meet with a god than with a man. There is little that is noble or beautiful in a high sense in Oriental monachism. The Manichaean taint runs through it strongly and poisons all its springs. A bitter and savage hatred to the body as the organ of the flesh was its most pronounced feature. War against the body, with a view to mastery and use, was, in the maiii, the key to Western monachism ; war against the body, for And Christian Society. 147 hatred and revenge, was the key to that of the Orientals. But it will readily be understood that these broad statements are susceptible of many qualifying touches. Indeed it is well to bear this in mind in reading broad statements in any history. There is no lack of flowers of rare and exquisite grace scattered over this monkish waste. Touches of beautiful affection, acts of heroic courage and constancy, begem what were else a nauseous history. The monks of the Thebaid were, at any rate, not afraid of the worst which the world could inflict on them. Athanasius found in them the most constant and courageous champions of the truth of the Incarnation; and it was mainly by their help that he won the greatest and most pregnant of doctrinal victories. And always there is the grand spectacle of a moral force which was recognized as superior to their own, by those who wielded all the forces of this world at their will. It lent dignity even to the withered form of Simeon on his pillar, and was most significant in an age of brutal violence and lust. It would be simply impossible to measure the worth to the world, durinor those stormv and contentious ' <_> ^ ages, of the reverence which a man, by mere moral force, could exact from its chief leaders, and of the ruling influence which he could exert over those who shaped its destinies. Still, on the whole, it is a dark, sad history. Viewing and handling the body as a beast, begets, insensibly, a beast-like habit of mind and spirit. The man who sets himself to expel the beast by tormenting his body, in the end simply transfers it to the soul. But the institu- tion grew mightily. It had a strong fascination for the weary, worn-out world, this life which seemed to draw its inspiration from a new and heavenly spring. As the world's misery deepened, the fascination became more resistless. But there was a rottenness at the core of this Eastern monachism, and growth but developed it ; L 2 148 The ^^ Religious Life" it went with Its eyes and organs Inward , and self- enfolded nothing can live. Age by age the Eastern institution grew more boneless and bloodless, and now, if Oriental travellers are to be trusted, the dullest and dirtiest sloths that are slinking about Christendom must yield the palm to these monks of the Eastern Church. The monachism of the West looked out of itself and lived. There is a clear, bold, working aspect about It from the very first. Its origin is naturally obscure. All great things spring, like the corn, " one knoweth not how." The seeds of it were in the air, and the constant intercourse of the West with the East transported them somehow and dropped them in congenial soil. Towards the close of the fourth century it began to attract atten- tion. Perhaps Athanasius, who owed much to the monks, and who was at Rome in a.d. 340, with some monks in his train, introduced it. More important to us is the fact that the Romans, with their clear, strong sense, took to it with difficulty. At the funeral of Blesilla, a young Roman nun, who was said to have died through excessive fasting, they were for throwing the *' detestable monks " into the river. Monkery, we see, needed to be baptized with a new spirit before It could root itself deeply in the West. From the first, however, it may be noted that in the Western monasteries, communion was the leadlno- Idea, not isolation. No doubt the hermit's cell was the core of the Institution, as In the East ; but In the West it tended rapidly to organization, and long before Benedict of Nursia arose, the leading Western monasteries, espe- cially in the south of France, were exercising very powerful Influence on the culture and the social and political life of their times. They made a stern fight, too, against over rigid fasting. " Much eating is gor- mandizing among the Greeks, but it Is natural among the Gauls," they pleaded, in mitigation of Oriental And Christiaii Society, 149 severities. There was no lack of even excessive asceticism, but the genius of the people and the set of the current of thought was in favour of a more robust and fruitful life than the Easterns aimed at. From the first it was clear that monachism in the West would enter more fully into the public life of mankind. V Still, until the beginning of the sixth century, it is difficult to speak of it as an institution in Western Europe. It had little form and method ; it was liable to great lapses and swift decay. The organizing power was wanting. The units were there, but there was little unity. Each monastery did what was right in its own eyes ; many of them grew rich and wanton, and in the general decay of everything in the Empire, in those dark days which were at once the death-bed of the Roman and the cradle of the modern world, there was no little danger that monachism would be swept down with the wreck. Then arose Benedict of Nursia, and settled, by his celebrated rule, the character of Western monachism, for all time. Like all great captains of men, he had the eye to see and the strength to grasp the special need and longing of his times. He gave the permanent form to what was already the instinctive tendency of the mona- chism of the West. His power, like that of all great masters, lay in interpreting to itself that spirit which was abroad in society around him, and giving it a wider and freer range. The facts of his life cannot here be dwelt upon. His struggles, sufferings, and stern endurance during thirty- five years at Subiaco we cannot even glance at. Then he took up his pilgrim-staff again, and settled himself at Monte Cassino, near the head waters of the Liris, and there founded the monastery which was destined to exercise a mighty, we might almost say a supreme influence on the development of the Christian I50 The ''Religious Life'' world. There he thought out and pubHshed the cele- brated rule which bears his name, which simply brought out into clear form and order the ideas which were floating in the powerful and practical minds of the founders of monachism in the West. For powerful they were, as well as practical. We do not need M. de Montalembert's brilliant rhetoric to teach us that the cloister was, on the whole, no shelter for the weak- lings of society, men easily dashed and bruised by the rough world around them, and safer in a cell than in a battle-field or on a throne. The great monks bear full comparison with the greatest soldiers, statesmen, and kings. We may lament or condemn the form of life which they elected, and see clearly whitherward it tends But we must bear in mind that it was for ages the chosen field of action of some of the very strongest, ablest men, and the noblest, purest women whom God sent forth into the world. One is tempted to some Impatience when our divines and scholars, to whom '' sitting under their own vine and fig-tree, no man daring to make them afraid," is the ideal of a social state, speak with lofty superiority of a mode of life which men like Benedict, Severinus^ Columba, Columbanus,* Bede, the two great Gregories, Boniface, Anselm and Bernard deliberately elected, and loved with a devotion so passionate that they were ready at every moment to seal their vows with their blood. We speak with compassion of the superstition which drove such "good men" to bury themselves in a living grave. I can fancy St. Bernard passing with a smile of yet loftier com- passion through our city streets, reading our leading * The great Celtic Missionary monks followed a different and rival rule with strong peculiarities of its own, though based on the same ideas as the Benedictine, and aim.ing at the same results. The rule of Columbanus is more in the key of the Asiatic monastic system than that of St. Benedict. Several features of Buddhist monachism seem to be recalled by the Celtic missionary from the far West — a likeness which it might be interesting further to expbre And Christiaji Society, 151 journals, visiting our Exchange, looking into our banks and assurance offices, our pauper infirmaries, and our casual wards, or the gold room in New York. Perhaps the superstition which we pity would not be the saddest thing in his srght, fresh from the visions of the celestial world. At least let us be sure that there is nothing which calls mainly for pity in a life which had a strong attraction for some of the ablest and bravest spirits whom the world nursed for ages ; and that, however monks might grovel and sin, and make their profession a bye-word of scorn through Europe, a high and noble inspiration was at the heart of a movement which occupied such splendid ener- gies, and left such marks on the higher development of mankind. There can be no doubt that the rule included a vast crowd of weak, dr^dimy faineani devotees ; but, on the other hand, it would be hard to find, in any other sphere of human activity during the Middle Ages, a grander com- pany of clear, strong, firm, and far-sighted men. We are bound to believe in this life as one which had a specific rightness of adaptation in its times, or its secret will remain veiled. Benedict drew up and promulgated a rule of monastic living, which may be regarded as the complete expression of the Western mind with regard to the nature and the aims of the religious life, for it met with immediate and almost universal acceptance, and has ruled the monastic world for 1300 years. It is well known to the most casual students of monastic history that its three ruling ideas are self-abnegation, obedience, and labour. Perhaps, next to the novitiate, on which I shall touch presently, the great distinctive feature of the Benedictine as compared with the Oriental rules, is the importance attached to manual and agricultural labour. Incidentally this became a matter of large importance to Europe, and it reveals the clear, practical direction of the institution from the 152 The ''Religious Life' first. Not that it was at all a new thing in monastic history. Even the most self-enfolded of the Oriental monks had some notion of a duty to scratch the ground around his cell, and raise the herbs which he needed for his daily food — that is, if he was so far from the true perfec- tion as to prefer salads to grass. In the rule of St. Basil and generally in the ideas of the leaders of the move- ment, labour is duly honoured. But it never assumecl in the Eastern system the dignity and importance to which it from the first attained in the West. Benedict and his followers went to work with axe and spade, and cleared the wilderness where they were resolved to settle. Order, culture, fertility, a land smiling under their tillage, the wilderness and the solitary place made glad by them, the desert rejoicing and blooming as the rose — these were the fruits of the institution which delighted them ; these were the outward and visible symbols of the inner culture, the clearing of the moral wilderness, and the rearing of the flowers of patience, charity, and hope on the bosom of the waste, at which they aimed, for which they pined, but which a nobler and wider discip- line alone could assure. The hours allotted to labour, as compared with the hours devoted to reading, under the rule, were as seven to two. And at a time when the culture of a great part of the Roman world was car- ried on by slaves, this rule of Benedict was the resurrec- tion of industry. For the want of this industry mainly the Empire was dying, or indeed dead, but the monastic rule lifted it from the dust again, and restored it to its throne as the mother and queen of all the arts and graces of life. Not that this monastic influence was the only power at work in the sixth century to raise industry from its degradation, and to restore to the weary, wasted, slave-crushed soil that energy of free hearts and hands which alone could draw forth its gifts and smiles. Great And Christian Society, 153 forces never work alone. The revolution which in the main transferred the possession of the soil of the West from the effete city-haunting Roman, to the free, robust, country-loving German, was like the baptism, of a new life on the exhausted hills and plains. The conquerors became the free cultivators of the fields of Britain, Gaul, and Italy; and the land broke forth into singing under the tillage of their sinewy hands. But the rule of St. Benedict began the reformation within the bosom of the Empire. He commenced the regeneration of an industry which it needed a nobler humanity than the Empire could furnish, to establish and to crown. The invading races were the willing agents of this great industrial reformation. They wrought through broad provinces, as the monastic institution wrought in select centres, to renew the physical beauty and fertility of Western Europe. We wander among the graceful and splendid ruins of the great Benedictine houses, with which in time our country and Europe generally was begemmed ; and we are prone to indulge in a sarcastic reflection on the keen appreciation of natural charms which the choice of the sites exhibits. The taunt is somewhat thread- bare, but we meet with it still even among those who ought to know the truth. T intern, Bolton, Kirkstall, Fountains, and Melrose, are familiar names to most of us. They are the fairest scenes even in this fair land. The great abbeys abroad occupy mainly kindred sites. They seem to claim the softest vallies, the greenest pastures, the most fruitful hill slopes, the most teeming rivers, as their own. These gardens of Europe are the Benedic- tine eulogies. Fountains Abbey stands In a Yorkshire valley, of which one is tempted to complain that it is too exquisite, too suggestive of luxurious plenty, security, and repose. But turn to the picture which the valley presented to the first monks who invaded It in search of 154 The ''Religious Life'' a dreary wilderness, where they might be sure of finding hardship, hunger, and toil. They came out of a wealthy and luxurious abbey, to search for these ; and they settled in the valley where in time they reared their splendid fane, because they found there a dismal marsh, and a thick forest, with no clearing big enough to grow them even a few sheaves of corn. Search the records of the settle- ment of Benedict at Sublaco or Monte Cassino ; Colum- banus at Luxeull, or Bobbio, his chief disciple, at St. Gall; Abelard at the Paraclete ; Bernard at Clarivaulx, — andyou will find substantially the same history. These scenes, which seem so fit to be the homes of a soft and indolent quietude, were chosen because of their wild and desolate sternness; and they were tamed to their present beauty by the strenuous toil of a peasantry, the like of which no other history reveals. Perhaps the followers of Joe Smith present to us the fairest Image of it in point of methodical and disciplined industry, in these modern days. These men believed that each fen which they drained, each copse which they cleared, each acre which they brought under the ploughshare, was an acceptable offering of pious hands and hearts to God. At least this belief animated the leaders ; the mass of the followers, at any rate, caught the habit, and to catch a good habit is some- thing for the great mass of men in such a world as this. It would be idle, of course, to contend that this was the clear character of monastic labour through the Middle Ages. Monasteries grew fearfully rich, and cultivated vast estates by the labour of a peasantry bound to the soil, like the secular lords around them. But the primal ;;/^/^y* never wholly failed them : agriculture was always a main concern with the great religious communities ; and the quasi-consecration of all that belonged to them, secured for them some share of immunity from the horrors and devastations of war ; though the protection And Christian Society. 155 was more imperfect than is generally supposed. Some- thing of the noble motive to labour which inspired the first founders, continued to animate their relation to their labourers and dependents, and a long book would be needed to set forth even in outline, the debt which European agriculture owes to the monks of the Middle Age. Up to the time of St. Benedict the monastic vow re- mained under the power of the man who made it. He was simply a layman who chose to do certain things, and when he was tired of doing them he might depart and do what else he pleased. St. Benedict established the perpetuity of the vow, under the most solemn and awful obligations ; at the same time he provided a long and severe novitiate. But from that time " Once a monk, always a monk," became the law ; and it is easy to see how immensely this perpetuity of the vow increased the power of the system as an influence on European society. The novice being received at length and with difficulty into the brotherhood, made it his supreme concern to offer up, in every possible form, the sacrifice of himself. Self-denial is one thing, A man may deny himself in the free exer- cise of his loftiest faculty, and realize an inner freedom of the personal will and fulness of personal life in the effort. But the real aim of the monastic discipline was to leave a man no self to deny. There was its essential weakness. The Buddhist is the only monk who grasps the whole meaning of the institution, and dares to set clearly before himself the idea which is behind every high form of the ascetic life. It is a perpetual draining of the springs of the personal being; it strikes a death-blow at that which makes man worth redeeming, in the hope of making his redemption more complete. Could it have run its course unchecked, unmastered by other and yet higher human forces, it would have killed at the very 156 The ''Religious Life' root the development of society, by leaving for develop- ment nothing but machines. But in saying this I am far from disposing of the institution as a thing of virtue and power in its times. Our most powerful medicines untempered are poisons, — nay, our most choice and stimulating food. And it is quite possible that there may be a high use of teaching and influence in an institution, which if allowed to run its whole course would be fatal to society. I suppose that we are most of us doing the world some service by institutions and methods, which, if they had the whole field to themselves, would be fatal to its life. A dark thought sometimes crosses one, as to how things might go, if the whole world were suddenly turned into a huge Independent Church. I am compelled in this brief Essay to abstain from quotations or reference to authorities. But I should be glad if any of my readers, who may feel interest in the subject, will look into this rule of St. Benedict, or even such portions of it as M. Guizot or M. Montalembert will give them, and see how absolute was this self-abne- gation, this individual suicide. The obedience which the monk was to render to his abbot was of the most abject and unquestioning kind. Pure, passive, lifeless obedi- ence ; except that it was by an act of high and pure volition, under circumstances which secured its perfect freedom, that the man made himself a slave. Slave was the title they gloried in, and servile punishments for breaches of rule were willingly and even joyfully endured. Here was the central core of the institution, in the West at any rate — the complete surrender of the self to one who seemed to stand to the monk in the place of God. M. Guizot traces the abject submission to the habits of the Empire. It is unsafe to question the dictum of such a master ; but it seems to us to come from a much higher spring. We must try to do justice on both sides to this And Christian Society, 157 Benedictine rule. Nothing can be more suicidal in the long run than this idea of self-surrender ; but it is import- ant to understand how earnestly Benedict sought to secure that it should be voluntary in the very highest degree. He established the perpetuity of vows. But he balanced it, as he believed, by the length and the severity of the novitiate. In that severity there is no sign of distrust or weakness, no doubt of the attraction of the religious life, to the men and the w^omen who were fitted to do honour to it. In truth the difficulty was to exclude them. So intense was the passion for this life that there were times when it seemed to threaten the destruction of society. The rule spread with marvel- lous rapidity through Europe. Placidus carried it to Sicily, Maurus to France, Augustine probably to Eng- land ; and towards the close of the eighth century it was so universal as to cause Charlemagne to inquire whether any other rule existed throughout the vast dominions which he had subjected to his sway. The monks at first were simply laymen. The pro- cess by which, almost in spite of themselves, they became not clerics only, but the elect of the clerical order, it may be interesting briefly to trace. Primarily the monastic instinct tended to seclusion from the world, and from all offices of natural, political, or ecclesiastical duty. For many generations the monks, as a class, retained their lay character ; and the most earnest of them kept themselves rigidly aloof from the offices and services of the Church. In truth the ascetic would be likely to hold himself superior to ordinances of all sorts. He worshipped in an inner sanctuary, and his priesthood refused the imposi- tion of an earthly hand. To him. Church officers and offices would appear in the light of worldly tempters and distractions, drawing him away from the rapt contempla- tion of things spiritual and divine, wherein was his life. 158 The ''Religious Life'' The well-known sentence of Casslan, who had been In the East, and knew Eastern monachism well, ranks bishops with women as among the monk's most formidable foes. Still, from the first, complications, sometimes of a serious kind, arose. Monks of a certain class, covetous of power, pressed into the priesthood ; and able monks were coveted, and sometimes caught with guile by scheming bishops, of which curious tales may be read in the literature of the times. But, on the whole, the lay character was for a time successfully maintained. To escape the bishop's crook, which tended terribly to become a claw, was a far harder matter. The fifth century was an age in which the episcopal order consolidated and extended the power which It had been gaining — usurping, some of us would say, but it grew so entirely out of the tendencies of the times, and the set of the currents over which man had no control, that the word usurpation but partially applies — and which the peace of the Church assured. The fifth century records are full of legislation which had for its direct object the subjection of the monks, both in the establish- ment and conduct of their monasterlesV to episcopal control. In the fifth century monachism was establishing Itself In the West with little method or uniformity, and naturally, having no point d'appui, the monks in the vari- ous districts fell under episcopal sway. But as It grew in influence, power and wealth, the monks bore with growing Impatience the supervision of an official whose grade in holiness they regarded as lower than their own. Material considerations, too, soon complicated the matter. The monasteries gathered treasure ; the bishops of the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries had itching palms. The monks, as the ecclesiastical legislation amply proves, suffered grievous spoliation, and even violence at their hands. The clergy had already utterly lost their Aftd Christian Society. 159 Independence, and were held in servile, and often brutal subjection. But the monks fought hard for freedom. They had a standing ground of their own, which the clergy lacked, and they offered an organized and some- times armed resistance. The struggle lasted with more or less vehemence through three centuries, — on the whole, perhaps the darkest ages of human history. The tenth century was dark enough, and may seem to dispute the palm. But it had the memory of Charlemagne, and an organizing idea in the Holy Roman Empire, with Otto the Great to give it substance, to lighten its darkness ; while it is hard to see what was shaping itself amid the confusion and demoralization of those earlier times. The struggle terminated at last in favour of the monks, by the intervention of the Papal See, from which in those ages many deliverances sprang. But while the monks were battling with the bishops for some measure of independence, a great change was passing over their relations to the Church. As they felt their power, honour, and authority increase, they lost something of the primal ascetic inspiration, and began to aspire to official functions. The way would be opened by practical difficulties which would constantly occur. A numerous company of monks, settled at a distance from the church where the ordinances and sacraments were celebrated, would be in some perplexity ; partly from distance, and partly from the feeling of superiority to the common mass of the faithful, they would strive to get what came to be called a chapel consecrated in their monastery, in which, at intervals, a priest might officiate. But this intrusion of a ghostly man, of an inferior order of ghostliness, would cause some soreness in the monas- tery, especially as the clerical jealousy of the monks increased. Then they would naturally seek to have one of their own order consecrated as their priest, to minister i6o The '^Religious Life'' to them in holy things. And thus It actually befell. But this would Introduce a distinction, an Inequality where equality was fundamental ; and so it came about that the whole body of the monks began to aspire to the clerica loffice, and gradually, by the sheer force of the virtues which, whatever we may think of them, were most honoured in those times, they made their way into the front rank of the ministers of the Church. It is impossible to fix the dates of the various steps of the transition. Early in the seventh century, Boniface IV. proclaimed them '' more than fit " for the clerical office, and from that time we may regard them as on the high way to supreme clerical power. They conquered their position by the sheer weight of their intellectual and spiritual superiority to the priesthood, in those points which struck the imagination of that rough but ideolatrous age. It was, however a long, stern battle with which we Nonconform- ists may have some sympathy, though we denounce vehehemently monastic ideas ; under very different forms there Is something essentially like it in our history. A notable era In the development of Western mona- chism may be marked by the name of Boniface, the great Anglo-Saxon missionary to Germany, and on the whole probably one of the ablest and most far-sighted states- men of the eighth century. He had the eye to discern and comprehend the bearings of two rising powers which were destined to play a prominent part in European history. He saw that the true cure for the miseries of the Merovingian kingdom was the assumption of the regal power by Pepin, the founder of the Carolingian empire, and he attached himself with zeal to the fortunes of that powerful family, with very important results, which we cannot stay to trace. And at the same time he saw that a principle of order, not of the purest or most perfect kind — Boniface knew that full sadly — but still powerful, prac- And Chj'istian Society. i6i tical, and full of promise for the future, was to be found in the extension of the power of the Papal See ; and he lent the whole weight of his remarkable character and influence to strengthen and enlarge the rising authority of the Popes, which, the art of the forger being as yet in the bud, had still in it some original spiritual force and life. It was in devout submission to the Papal See that he carried on his missionary labours ; the bishoprics which he founded, after the fashion of his own See of Mainz, were placed solemnly under Papal control, and It was as the representative of Pope Zachary that he anointed Pepin king. In fact, Boniface was the leading statesman in Northern Europe during the whole of that era of transition, and the institutions which he mainly helped to found were destined to a mighty success. But we must not linger over the political interest of the times, though we may note in passing — and it may help us to estimate the motherly Influence of the Papacy on the Churches of the West during the earlier ages of her supremacy— that the two Western Churches which were most under Papal Influence, which were founded and nursed by the Popes, not only developed themselves most rapidly, and became distinguished for culture and missionary zeal, but were the first In their full maturity to cast off the Papal yoke, when the mother had degene- rated Into the tyrant and plague. But the career of Boniface had In many remarkable ways a powerful Influ- ence on monastlcism, as his copious correspondence reveals ; and In founding the monastery of Fulda In 744 he placed It directly under Papal protection. Thence- forth the monks began to see in the Papacy the power which would uphold them against the tyrrany both of the bishops and of the secular lords. From that time the monks and the Papacy begin to draw together in closer relations, and in the end the whole army of the monks, M i62 The ''Religious Life'' during the palmy days of the Institution, whether for good or for evil we shall enquire in due course, became the army of the Papal Church. But it is time for us to enquire a little more closely into the natural history of this Institution, which, though it connects itself with the whole ascetic movement which plays so distinguished a part in the history of all the great world religions, has a distinct and powerful indi- viduality, which is Christian alone. Whence did it spring ? M. Gulzot — and no student of these times can mention his name without profound deference to his judgment — holds that " it was not to any ecclesiastical combination, nor even to the movement and the particular direction that Christianity might impress on men's imaginations, that the monastic life owed its origin. The general state of society at this epoch was its true source. Itwas tainted with three vices, idleness, corruption, and unhappiness. Men were unoccupied, perverted, and a prey to all kinds of miseries. This is the reason why we find so many turning monks. A laborious, honest, or happy people would never have entered into this life." '* Of the absolute submission of the monk to his abbot, which St. Benedict enjoined," he says, " of a surety Europe received it neither from Greece, ancient Rome, the Germans, nor from Christianity, properly so called. It began to appear under the Roman Empire, and arose out of the worship of the Imperial Majesty." More recent writers trace the institution largely at any rate to the same spring. But the mainspring of all great human movements is attraction and not repulsion. To understand them we must search for the force which attracts, and be sure that the repellent stands much lower in the scale. And it will be needful to seek in some deeper and diviner inspiration the origin of an institution, which not only wielded for ten centuries a And Christian Society, 163 tremendous power, but also maintained the spring of its strength unimpaired so long. It cannot be doubted that the utter wretchedness of life under the decaying Empire, the weariness and heart-sickness to which Pilate gave such dread expression, helped the movement mightily. But nothing on this scale and of this force is primarily a refuge. Nor do the annals of asceticism in Central Asia, under Islam, or in Western Europe, tend to prove that the attraction of the monastic life is in Inverse proportion to the Industry, security, and prosperity of the secular life of the times. We may live to see a powerful monastic movement, under new forms but with the old spirit, developed out of the intense activity, the restless liberty, and the splendid prosperity of our nineteenth century life. There are some very startling sentences In the New Testament. '' Nowhere," says Hegel, " are there to be found such revolutionary utterances as In the Gospels." " And behold, one came, and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal hfe ? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good ? there is none good but one, that is, God : but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments The young man saith unto him. All these things have I kept from my youth up : what lack I yet ? Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven ; and come and follow me. ' — Matt. xix. 16, 17 ; .... 20, 21. " Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother, and my brethren ! For whosover shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother."— Matt xii. 47-50. "And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain : and when he was set, his disciples came unto him : And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit .... Blessed are they that mourn .... Blessed are the meek .... Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness .... Blessed are the M 2 164 The ''Religious Life'' pure in heart .... Blessed are the peacemakers .... Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake : for their's is the king- dom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad : for great is your reward in heaven : for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you." — Matt. v. 1-12. "And he said to them all. If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life, shall lose it : but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it." — Luke ix. 23, 24. " Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours ; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompense be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind : And thou shalt be blessed ; for they cannot recompense thee : for thou shalt be recompensed at the resur- rection of the just.'' — Luke xiv. 12-14. '*If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." — Luke xiv. 26. *' And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him. Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests : but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head. And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said. Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead ; but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And another also said. Lord, I will follow thee ; but let me first go bid them farewell which are at home at my house. And Jesus said unto him. No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.'' — Luke ix. 57, 62. " And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellow- ship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul : and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that believed were together, and had all things common ; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved." — Acts ii. 42, 47. Nor are these vague words. They are sustained to their uttermost literal meaning by the life of the Lord. And Christian Society. 165 We are familiar with their purport ; alas ! so familiar that we can hardly realize the startling emphasis with which they would fall on the unaccustomed but eager ears, which were listening in those days to the Word of Eternal Life. Men believed profoundly that those words were spoken on earth by the Lord of ever- lasting glory, and they were taught by inspired lips that this Life was the Light of the world. Was it not most natural, and indeed inevitable, that those on whom the power of the higher life descended should take these words in what seemed to be their simplest sense, and try what would come of an honest endeavour to work them out as literally in the life. It would be hard to attach too much importance to the miserable condition of the times, which yet we may realize more clearly than the average men and women who lived In them. To us, for instance, the life of a city Arab would seem less tolerable than death, and yet multitudes contrive to live it, age after age, without being driven to any desperate effort to escape from it. Still it was miserable enough to make the cloister look heaven-like in contrast. The pages of a writer like Salvian (though he wrote with a purpose, and, what is still more ensnaring to writers, a theological one) contain sufficient to explain how dear was the vision of a refuge In his days. The storm of bloody and brutal war was abroad ; no home was sacred, no treasure was sure. Each spring of domestic or social pleasure was polluted ; the darkness deepened as the Empire staggered on In its blind misery; and the gather- ing night seemed to be unlit by one ray of hope. Quiet souls needed a shelter from the storm ; the tender-hearted needed some security against the dread vicissitudes of life ; the thoughtful needed a retreat where they could carry on their peaceful labours ; the highmlnded a life which could give free play to nobler energies than could 1 66 The ''Religious Life'' occupy themselves with battle, avarice, or lust. But beneath all these, at the heart of all these, the living germ which all these helped mightily to stimulate and develop, we must place — the imitation of the Lord Jesus. When Epictetus urged his disciples to set before them some man of supreme excellence, and to imagine them- selves always in his presence, had he quite forgotten how bitterly he had complained that no true Stoic could be found, no man in whom he could discern the realization of his ideal. But myriads, nay millions of his fellowmen had found One whom they could at once worship with the profoundest reverence, and love with the most pas- sionate devotion ; One who had laid hold on all which they believed to be the higher element of their nature, as the magnet lays hold on steel dust, and drew them by a resistless spell into the path of self-abnegation, self- devotion, and ministry to mankind, which He had trodden himself to the last extremity of shame and death. The great mass of mankind, the ignorant, the poor, the en- slaved — shut out inevitably, not by the jealousy of the philosophers in any wise, but by the very nature of things, from the wisdom of the schools — had found, or as Paul says had been found by, a Being who stirred and swayed them with a force and absoluteness till then unknown ; and who inspired them with a love so passionate and absorb- ing that poverty, bonds, wounds and death were no longer terrible, but beautiful and glorious, if they might but express the depth of their devotion to their Saviour, and translate them more swiftly to His sphere. This passionate personal love to Christ is a feature of the Christian life of the early centuries, which no wise student of their history will underrate. And it manifested itself in forms of imitation often very wildly extravagant, but not altogether marvellous, to those who know to its And Christian Society. 167 depths the passion of human love. The stigmata of St. Francis, whatever may be the truth of that marvellously attested phenomenon, are really but the culmination of what the higher class of monastics — and these are the men to be studied — were pining and panting after through all the monastic ages. To imitate Christ in the form of His life, while they drank inwardly its inspiration, was their highest thought and hope. And it was inevitable surely, that the Christian life should, in the most earnest, take the form of a studious outward imitation under the con- straint of an absorbing passion, before the world could rise to the comprehension, partly through this experi- ment, of the inner meaning of the life of Jesus, and the true character of its influence on mankind. The poverty of Christ, His simple trust, like that of the birds and the lilies. His homeless lot. His virgin life, were all made the objects of eager and passionate imitation. To live as He lived, poor, homeless, wayfaring, and apart from domestic bonds and joys, was the ideal of the Christian life which the first ages cherished ; and it would be easy to show, from the writings and sermons of the great monks through the whole monastic period, how this remained the supreme inspiration — nay, it is vivid in many a great heart among the " religious" to this day. We are tempted to think that the larger spirit of Christ's teaching, His miracle at the marriage feast and the like, might have taught them a nobler lesson about life, than that which they drew from the study of some outward forms of the life of the Lord. But it is wonderful how purblind the best of us are. How many thousands of earnest intelligent Christians in this nineteenth century, with this tale of the marriage of Cana open before them, stigmatize wine as the unholy thing, and denounce it as the devil's gift to the world. So we must be patient with those monks if they saw i68 The ''Religious Life'' but one thing at a time, and that the most outward and visible thing. It was needful to the true unfolding of the life of humanity, under the influence of Christian ideas, that this experiment should be fully tried, and that the world should see what would grow out of that form of the imitation of the Lord Jesus. Let any one study the history of the conversion of St. Anthony at one end of the scale, and of St Francis of Assisi at the other, and he will see in the almost identity of the two narra- tives, how profoundly this idea of the imitation ruled the noblest minds through the monastic ages, and was the real root of many of the wild fantastic movements of those intense, thorough, and ideal times. To this root, too, must be referred that profound submission of the monk to his abbot, which has been traced to the slavish habits of Imperial Rome. The abbot was to the monk as Christ. That entire obedience to the Father's will, which is so conspicuous a feature in the life and discourses of the Lord, they delighted to imitate in their submision to the man whom Christ had set over them — who was to them as a present God. Men pined, in the confusion and darkness of their intellectual sphere, and in an age when the constructive instinct was strong, for visible, tangible manifestations of unseen spiritual powers. The abbot was this to the monk, the Pope became this to the Catholic world. In both spheres the submission was abject and destructive ; though ennobled for a time by the vision of some more awful form behind both abbot and Pope. But it was simply idolatrous — the endeavour to grasp within some form which could come within the cognizance of the understanding, the substance of the unseen but ever-present Lord. As with all idolatries when young, an intense fervour and energy attended its earlier developments ; but, as with all idolatries when old, it fell inevitably as the generation A?id Christian Society, 169 ran on, into miserable riot, impotence and despair. In the earlier Christian ages, it is not too much to say that Christendom was fairly drunk with the new wine of the Spirit. A new power from heaven had fallen upon men, and filled them with rapture. Nothing is more notable, in the comparison of the Christian and the pagan literatures of the first and second centuries, than the tone of exhilaration which breathes through the one, and the sadness, the hopelessness, which breathes through the other. This probably, quite as much as the ''non eloquimur magna, sed vivimus^' explains the power which Christianity wielded from the first over the mass of man- kind. But the spirits of the prophets, the men into whom this new wine of the Gospel entered, broke loose from the prophets. All the wild antics of the Stylites and their kindred were just the effect of untutored passionate souls to work off the excitement. The fine frenzy prolonged itself through the Middle Ages; and it was not till the dawn of the Reformation that the fermentation was ended, and the pure clear wine of Christian thought could be oftered to the world. It took Christendom 1500 years fairly to master its position, to attain to the rule of its own spirit ; and then it began characteristically enough to fortify and instruct itself for the higher and calmer stages of its growth, by opening afresh the writings of St. Paul. These considerations suggest the most strongly-marked feature .of the influence of " the religious " on Christian society. They were from the first the distinctly Evan- gelical element in the Church. Some of my readers may shrink from the association of a term so sacred, with the ideas and habits of life which we are now considering. But I call that Evangelical in religion, in the true sense, w^hich lives by vital personal fellowship with the living Christ, and which utters its innermost experience in the 170 The ''Religio7is Life'' words, " The love of Christ constraineth me!' This has been the secret spring of power in the leaders of all Evangelical reformations and revivals. I believe that Mr. Matthew Arnold is quite right, and that their doctrinal ideas were nothing in the account, compared with their vivid sense of the love of the living Saviour, and their faith in His work for them and for mankind. The word Evangelical has just now an evil savour in the nostrils of the Philosophers. To speak frankly, looking at our little world, I do not wonder at it. But I do wonder that men of culture can lift their eyes and range over the wider world of Christendom, without seeing that the great force which has lifted that world and moved forward its progress at the critical eras, has been the hold of the living per- sonal Saviour on the hearts both of the great leaders and the great masses of men. God forbid that we should ignore the mighty influence of culture, of the sweetness and light which rain down from the intellectual sphere. If the Evangelical spirit could have succeeded in play- ing the Cain to this gentle Abel of thought, which is its chronic temptation, it would have left itself but a barren humanity for its kingdom. But could culture succeed in dispensing with the Gospel, as it is striving to ignore it now, the humanity which it would have left to rule over would be simply — dead. The two movements are in truth as closely related and as needful to each other as the two hemispheres. If we set the Evangelical foremost, it is simply on the principle that *' the life is more than meat, and the body than raiment." And we hold that during the ages in which the conditions of human life and thought made it des- perately difficult for men to hold clearly in view the essential truth of the Gospel, "the religious," by the passionate earnestness of their devotion to the Saviour, by their studious imitation of the form of His example, And Christian Society. 171 by their vivid preachings, writings, and biographies, did keep some warm though distorted image of Him who is the very core of Christian doctrine, before the world. And again I urge, that the age is coming, nay Is already come, which will be as startled at the image of Christ which we have been presenting during the doctrinal era which is closing, as we are at the image which was pre- sented in a monastic life. We judge these men as if the pure form of the truth were ours at last. We shall live to be as ashamed of the impurities which we have mixed with it, as Boniface was of Pope Zachary, Bernard of his friend Eugenlus III., Catherine of Siena of Gregory XL, or Luther of what he saw under Julius IL at Rome. We have not yet reached the point which might justify us in judging the monastic life by our standard. If we compare it with the standard of Christ, let us place ourselves beside the monks as we judge them, and own for them and for ourselves a double shame. It would be easy to quote from the writings of the great monks down to quite recent times, a series of pas- sages full of intense and passionate devotion to the person of the Saviour ; and those at all acquainted with the sermons of modern monastic preachers, will know how deep a strain of Evangelical thought and passion breathes through their words. The question of course arises how far their principle helped or hindered their witness for the living Christ. We can see how much it distorted ; we can measure the shame which the inevitable degradation of the Order brought upon His name. But we find some- thing similar In all Churches and Church movements. And when we see a certain tone of thought and feeling conspicuous in the great leaders of a school through successive ages, and tinging the whole current of its life, we are bound to believe that there was something in the principle of the school which fostered it. Nor Is it difficult 172 The ''Religious Life'' to see how their m6de of Hfe and their special abnegations made the Hving Saviour very real and very dear to them ; though the same habit of life might as easily lead men away from Him in these more instructed days. Fearful as were the evils which the monks wrought in Christendom, we cannot question that in the formative ages of its growth this witness to the Lord Jesus left a large balance of blessing to be placed to the account of the '' religious life." Having glanced thus at the most vital element of their influence, we may perhaps best take a rapid survey of the whole field, by considering : 1. The part which they played in relation to the visible body — the Church. 2. Their relation to the inward and outward life of men^ — the human affections, interests, and duties. 3. The service which they rendered incidentally to the culture of Christendom, and the unfolding of the life of secular society. We may safely speak of the monks as on the whole the devoted soldiers of the Roman Church. For good or for evil they served her with singular fidelity ; and our estimate of their influence will largely depend on the value which we attach to the influence of Rome. A very noble idea was at the root of this devotion to the Papal chair. It was as the Roman See rose to be representa- tive of the unity of Christendom, that the monks devoted themselves to her service. The homage of so many noble minds was really an aspiration ; they would realize through Rome the visible kingdom of the Lord. That Christianity was the World- Religion, was a fixed idea in the Church. The Roman Empire inevitably suggested a world-empire as its sphere. The conversion of Con- stantine was a vast step towards its realization. A temporal Prince at once stepped into a headship of the Church-State, which was regarded as a kind of vice- And Christian Society. 173 gerency of Christ in the world. We must not suppose that the one form in which the unity of Christendom presented itself to the ablest minds through the Middle Ages, was the kind of theocracy which floated before the vision of Gregory VII., Innocent III., or Boniface VIII. The position which Constantine assumed, and which the Church continued to recognize, — Gregory the Great wrote to Maurice as to his master, and Leo bent before Charle- magne as he crowned him at Rome, — made the Emperor the unquestioned head of the Christian world. The ser- vility of the Church is often commented on, — in a measure unjustly. The conception of a complete Christian State, a visible political body, which should yet be the kingdom of the Lord — a body of which the Emperor under Christ should be the head, and of which the Church should be the Inspiring soul — is the key to the aim and effort of Christendom through the Middle Ages, In which, from Charlemagne to Frederic II., the Empire plays such a distinguished part. The Holy Roman Empire floated before the minds of men as a vision of a complete, peace- ful, blessed society. Churchmen slowly entertained the idea of a united Christendom under the rule of a Priest As a spiritual society, they had no desire to "be unclothed, but clothed upon" with a body, a great world- empire, in which the Church, as a spirit, might dwell, and by which it might work. Aquinas sums up the deepest thinking of the Middle Age In the sentence, '' Potestas scEcularis subordinatur spirituali, sicut coi^pus animcs' But this recognized the necessity of a body with organs and a head. And the Imperial power, during the early stages of its growth, had no stronger support than the ablest minds of the Church. How passionately a great layman could cling to the idea the ** De Monarchia " of Dante reveals. But the dream was palpably a dream. Not in that way could a kingdom of Christ be realized in the world. 174 The ''Religious Life'' The Papal power rose on the wreck of the Empire of the West. The Popes became heirs of the name and influence of Rome. Their spiritual sway over the Western nations was a more mighty thing than the Roman sword. With them was the new power which was organizing the West, and they grew naturally with it. But how far did the higher pretensions and aims of the Papal imperium grow out of, or at any rate by, the palpable inability of the me- diaeval Empire to serve any high Christian purpose to the world ? If we contrast Dante's dream of the Empire with its history under all but the ablest rulers, — nay under the ablest, for the splendid reign of Frederic Barbarossa is among the saddest of all, — we shall see that the Empire, complicated with German politics, was palpably unequal to its mission ; and that there was ample room for the preten- sions of the purely spiritual power to grow. Charle- magne, whose favourite reading, Eginhard tells us, was in the works of St. Augustine, prcEciptieque his qui De Civitate Dei prcetitulati su7tt, had left a great ground- plan, which was full of promise. But the times were against it ; the very outlines of it were quickly obliterated ; it was but a mutilated image which Otto the Great, Henry III., or Frederic I. restored. On the wreck of the temporal unity of Christendom rose the idea of the Imperial power of the Church. The steps by which the Church rose to supremacy, we cannot even in outline trace. A terrible history of usurpation, fraud and shameless forgery may be gathered from the records of Church history. " Janus " parades them in one startling chapter ; dealing too tenderly with Nicholas I., who laid the foundation on which Hildebrand built the Empire of the Church. But forgery does not explain a power which was wielded with such tremendous force for ages; and which M. Comte — who considers that the positive philosophy, '* being as free from monotheistic as And Christian Society, 175 from polytheistic or fetish belief," is singularly able to form a calm judgment — regards as " formant jusqu'ici le chef d'oeuvre politique de la sagesse humaine." There must have been a great preparation in the public mind of Europe for the usurpation ; there must have been a sense that the advancing power would fill a vacant throne, and restore a lapsed idea ; and these must be fairly taken Into the account, when we would estimate the work of the Papacy in its times. Nothing is so difficult to deal with in brief as the Influ- ence of the Papacy on Europe ; for nothing can be more multiform than the phases which it assumed. This Papal power is really a variable quantity, like the pre- rogative of the monarch during the formative ages of a constitutional state. But it is easy to trace a steady growth of pretension and power, from the days when Gregory the Great wrote humbly to Maurice, and worse than humbly to Phocas, to the day when Boniface VIII. issued the bull, Aiisctilta, fili ; or when seizing a sword he declared, " It is I who am Caesar ; It is I who am Emperor; It is I who will defend the rights of the Empire." But this was the first stage of the decline. When the emissary of Philip le Bel struck the old man with his mailed hand, he marked an era in the history of the Church. Philip le Bel, one of the most unbeautiful figures in history, was yet a national monarch, with a nation behind him ; and with the rise of the national spirit the Papacy began to decay. The death of Boni- face was followed speedily by the seventy years Captivity; then came the councils of Constance and Basle, and then things ripened rapidly for the Reformation. But the growth up to the fourteenth century was constant, powerful, and sure. Its relation to the true progress of Christianity is not easy to trace. We must first recognize as a fundamental fact that 1 "j^ The ''Religious Life' Christianity was at work equally on secular and on spiritual society. But the main visible instrument of influence — the invisible we cannot measure — was in the hand of the Church, and during the central period the Church was represented by Rome. During these ages it would seem that some vast organized system was needful to keep before the eye of secular society, however imperfectly, those great Christian ideas which would ultimately render it independent of Church-systems external to it, for all time. We are growing to this in England, we have not reached it yet. The transition from the Church- system of the Apostolic age to the establishment of Con- stantine, must be regarded as in the strictest sense a Fall. Christianity fell as man fell, and like man, to rise again. God makes the Fall a stage in the unfolding of a larger, richer life. The question is how far during the stormy Middle Age could pure spiritual ideas find room and air to breathe in our world ? Of old, because they could not live here in their pureness, God enclosed them in the ark of the system of the Jewish Church. Then came an era of peace and culture. They stepped forth, and in their naked power and beauty moved through the world. The age of peace and culture closed. The world plunged into wilder confusion ; the fertile communion of men and peoples became difficult and rare. Then the pure truth of the Gospel buried itself again, this time in humanity, and through a vast, powerful, authoritative system wrought with what freedom and force it might on man- kind. The Roman Church during the Middle Age was just a rude battery of force, the main-current of which was Christian, which had to act on a state of society too hard and gross to be acted upon by more subtle and spiritual means. The Gospel sheltered itself within this citadel, and thence it strove to stir the sluggish spirit of the A7id Christian Society. 177 timtis, and to bear such witness as was possible, through the organs at its command, against the more crying evils which were desolating society, and for justice, temperance, mercy, and charity, as graces which were still dear to God and blessed for man. And when, as again and again occurred, this great institution fell into more deadly evils than those against which it was set to witness, and repeated the vices and miseries of the Empire on a more tremendous scale, how dense then, how awful became the darkness of the world ! But one thing the Church accomplished, though at a cost morally, which makes it difficult to strike the balance of gain : she wrought the facts and truths of Christianity into the very texture of the intellectual, the social, and the political life of humanity, and impressed that Chris- tian character on our civilisation which, poor and imper- fect as it is, may be its distinguishing glory, and which, once inwrought, abides for all time. In the conflict of the Church with the secular power, the Christian spirit seems often on the side of the prince ; and the principles for which our Henry II., or the Emperors Henry IV. or Frederic I., contended, were of vital importance to the freedom and progress of Christian society. Still, on the whole, the things which were of supreme Importance were in the custody of the Church ; and, despite Mr. Lecky's able argument, we must conclude, that though the ages of her sway were little fruitful in a high Chris- tian sense, yet they were the parents of a great future ; they were ages in which ideas and habits of action were being wrought into the very heart of European society, which will Christianize humanity to the end of time. Without the monks, this work of the Church would probably have been impossible. They were, as a body, an army devoted to her service. Celibates — after the manner of all standing armies — they were at the dis- N 178 The ''Religious Life'' posal of the Church to maintain her pretensions, to fight her battles, and to do her work. The triumph of the principle of celibacy, under Gregory VII., threw into the hands of the Church a power of enormous magni- tude. It kept the whole spiritual force of Christendom in hand, as it were, and under one head. And terrible as were the evils of Church pretensions and assumptions, and of the wrongs and outrages which were perpetrated in the most sacred Name, we hold that it was better, not for those ages but for humanity at large, through all time, that that form of the kingdom of Christ should be wrought to the fullest possible perfection. It has charged humanity with precious experience, which will remain its KTr]yua €9 ah, when the pains and struggles of its acquisi- tion are forgot. The monastic orders, mighty helpers in the great work, share fully in whatever glory or what- ever shame attaches to the rule of the Church through the Middle Age. They were its most consistent and powerful champions ; it completed its organization by adopting their principle, and without them it could never have accomplished its work. The development which we have traced is like a series of supports, each rising higher and looming larger than those in front, to bear up the body of Christian truth and influence against the pressure of the times. First, we have the clergy with their sacraments — their's distinctly, not Christ's ; they go down before the pressure, and, in the fifth century, are in rapid decay. Then behind them rise up " the religious," to reinforce them, and both, for a time, hold on their mission with new power. Then the monks get rich and corrupt, and fall into the hands of spoilers. Behind them rise up the Popes, who sustain awhile and revivify the spiritual movement. Behind the Popes rises up the whole structure of the Mediaeval Church, in which the Pope is the organ of the thought And Christian Society, 179 and influence of the whole clerical world. Then the Papacy grows magnificent and wanton, rich in possession and prerogative, but poor in honour and love. Behind it, in the hour of its chief splendour, rise up the Mendi- cant orders to sustain it. Little dreamed Innocent III., as he walked that evening on the terrace of the Lateran Palace, when Francis of Assisi with his tattered troop of disciples drew near, that the men were before him who should restore the faith of Christendom for awhile in the ideas which the Papacy was dishonouring, and renew thereby for awhile its lease of power and the very springs of its life. When these failed, and they failed soon, though we must not take all that Matthew Paris and other Benedictine champions write about them for gospel, there was nothing behind to rise up as a fresh support — at least, nothing " of this building." The next great movement would begin with the Reformation, with a fresh reading of the Word of the Gospel, and a new baptism of the Spirit of the Lord. The points which remain to be considered I can touch but lightly ; though they are full of interest, the space at my command allows but a few words on each. And first, it is clear that the missionary work of the monks would have been impossible under other conditions. As monks alone could the missionaries of the West in the early Christian ages have done their work. We do full justice to the influence of the married missionaries' home. But the married missionary must have a missionary society, on which he can draw bills, behind him. Severinus, Columbanus, Boniface were in quite other case. Doubtless a holy and loving human home is the fairest thing under the sun. But it needs culture to appreciate it. In the rude, coarse, lustful life of those times the stern contrast of monastic continence, frugality, and industry alone could have arrested the N 2 ] 8o The ''Religious Life'' attention and compelled the homage of the pagans among whom the missionaries cast their lot. We con- stantly err in supposing that the virtues and graces which we are educated to appreciate, have the same hold on the uncultured which they have on us. There are broad tracts of pagandom within the very heart of this Christian country which seem to mock our lofty spiritual methods of culture. We may have to stoop to rougher and stronger means of influence to lay hold on them ; and monastic missions to the pagans of our great Chris- tian cities may not be among the impossible things of these modern days, Nor was the daring courage with which, for instance, the young monk Telemachus descended into the arena, and by the sacrifice of him- self abolished the gladiatorial spectacles for ever, un- connected with his monastic culture and habits of life. The independence, too, of the Christian teacher needed in those days some such strong entrenchment. Spiritual men needed a vantage-ground which was recognized by the mass of the uncultured laity, whence they could stoop to lift them to a higher life. But at what cost was the vantage-ground won ? Was not the monastic instinct intensely selfish in its origin and working ? Was not every principle of our constitu- tion violated ? Were not all the dearest and most sacred interests of society trampled in the mire by these wild fanatics ? Were not all the tender affections and sym- pathies, all that makes life beautiful and blessed, blasted by those ruthless devotees of the idol of their own imagination, who, if they could have wrought out their will, would have made life a purgatory and the world a waste ? There is this side of the question to be looked at; and the truth which lies in the charge is simply fatal to the "religious life" as a wholesome and permanent Christian institution, but by no means And Christian Society, i8i conclusive against it as a thing of virtue and use in its times. Let us consider a strong case. Simeon Stylites sternly repulsing his mother, refusing to listen to her or even to look at her, though she urged him with the most pathetic supplications, and in the last extremity, is a most un- lovely spectacle. It is easy to pronounce stern judgment on a system which wrought tender hearts to an unnatural hardness like this. But instead of judging, we will try to understand it. There are some startling words about a man " hating father and mother " for Christ's sake in the Gospel ; and '' Woman, what have I to do with thee ?" in substance fell more than once from the Saviour's lips. These ascetics tried to lift themselves into the sphere of a ^Divine experience, and to think and speak after the fashion of the Lord. I have heard the story told, with high approbation, of a Scotch divine, who, when his wife asked him if they should recognize each other in heaven, answered, that for the first thousand years he should be so occupied with the contemplation of Christ that he would have no thought for meaner things. These men, in the first fine frenzy of the new-born spiritual life, endeavoured to anticipate that experience ; and so sought to attach themselves to Christ and to heavenly things that the earthly might pass beneath their sphere. And we venture to think that some such isolation and sublimation of the domestic affections was essential to the realization, after the struggles and self-mortifications of ages, of that purity, delicacy, and spiritual beauty, which in modern life lends a holy charm to the perfection of wedded and kindred love. In other words, so ensnaring, so debasing was the influence of the flesh on the domestic, social and political life of men, that the new spiritual life had to draw itself off from them, and nourish itself on what it took to be pure celestial aliment as the condition 1 82 The ''Religious Life'' of its blending with them nobly at last, so as to purify and save them, instead of being, as was threatened in those days, buried in them and lost.* The new power which had entered into the world had, like the Baptist, to draw itself off to the desert, and nurse itself there, before it could enter the circle of life, and rule the whole sphere as lord. And ages are but as days in this great history. For ten centuries the spiritual element in the Church, as far as man could detach it, passed through this narrow, stern, but intense discipline — there is eternity before humanity in which to reap its fruit. It is noteworthy, too, that, though monkery brought apparently a most potent battery to bear against every- thing by which secular society could increase and prosper, Society yet increased and prospered miightily. In the age, too, of supreme monastic influence, even when the greatest of monks wielded imperial power in Europe, woman rose to a position of dignity, and developed a power and beauty, which we cannot refuse to connect largely with the elevating and purifying influence of monastic life and thought, on the thought and the life of society. The monks did more to help society upwards by the spirit which they breathed, than to crush it down- wards by the maxims which they promulgated. Their theory would have destroyed the civilisation which they themselves helped mightily to purify and to save. And this connects itself with another question which has been much agitated of late. How far did Europe suffer from the withdrawal of such a vast army of capable men from her fields of activity and toil ? The same question occurred in another form in an earlier age. The Emperor Maurice found that the army was suf- fering from the withdrawal of those who desired to de- vote themselves to " religion." He was for taking strong * See a very able Paper on this subject in the Spectator of May 8, i86q. And Christian Society. 183 steps to check It. Gregory the Great wrote to him : *' The armies of my sovereign will be strengthened against their enemies, in proportion as the armies of God, whose warfare is by prayer, is increased." And Gregory was right. Industry draws strength from the spirit of man as well as from his sinews. Those who put new life and hope into humanity are preparing for the fields the noblest tillage. Population, agriculture, in- dustry, grew mightily through the monastic ages ; and no- thing was lost, but much was gained in the long run by the anti-secular action and influence of the Church. Our own Great Alfred understood the matter thoroughly. ** These are the materials," he says, " of a king's work, and his tools to govern with, that he should have prayer- men, and army-men, and workmen. What ! thou knowest that without these tools no monarch can shew his skill." It has been said of Christianity that it is deficient in stimulus to the patriotic virtues. It individualizes men, and places each one under such tremendous pressure, that the State vanishes, the individual and his individual belongings are all. But it is noteworthy that before the Advent this individualizing process had been in full play. The patriotic sentiment in Greece had been greatly weakened by the cosmopolitan Empire of Alexander. The philosophical ideas both of Zeno and Epicurus, which, like our Arminianism and Calvinism, are really stems out of one root, are remarkable for the earnestness with which they deal with individual interests, and let the grander range of the elder philosophy pass out of sight. To bear up the man against the ills of life was their main problem ; and it stated itself yet more strongly in the stoical philosophy of Rome. Cicero, Seneca, Plutarch, had dawning visions of a wider patriotism, of man's citizenship, of a larger than a national world. " Humanity " came visibly to the front under the world- 184 The ''Religious Life'' empire of Rome. At this critical era the world-religion tvas born. Christianity, cultivating the individual, and making him the conscious citizen of a wider, even a celestial commonwealth, left him to work at his mundane duties with the new earnestness which it inspired. But the mundane at first suffered some harm and loss. The monks may be regarded as carrying to dark ex- tremes this isolating tendency ; country, kindred, was nothing to them, spiritual brotherhood was all in all. Plato, too, had dreamed this dream of the subli- mation of all earthly relationships, and he, too, like the monks, believed that it was the condition of a heavenly rather than an earthly world. He says of his form of the spiritual republic : '' AKk! , eV ovpavw tawq TrapaSelyfJia avaKeirat rw PovKofxevw opav Kai optbvTi eavrov KarooKi^eLv.'' But the world was immensely richer for this idea of spiritual fellowship ; and as M. Ozanam points out, in the break-up of the Empire, this universal monastic brotherhood was a strong nexus of society, and helped to keep the unity of Christendom before the minds of men. No doubt it would have been a blessed thing if the monks had had an open eye for this world as well as for the world to come. But men, on the whole, see but one thing thoroughly at a time. Any great principle which has entered largely into the life of humanity, has held for generations, and even ages, almost exclusive posses- sion of some powerful people or section of society. The march of humanity has been a march en zigzag. Each masterful principle which has possessed society and swayed It powerfully in one direction, has never failed to find some equally powerful principle which has seized it In time and swayed It towards the opposite ; and thus, the world swaying now In one direction now in another, but ever onwards, a clear progress through the ages has been gained. And Christian Society, 185 It has been urged, too, not without force, that the virtues and graces which Christianity holds in the highest esteem are of the gentler and more patient order, and that if they had all the field to themselves they would empty humanity of strength and heroism, and lower grievously the pitch of life. It might be true, if these graces could be cut off from the inspiration which Christ brought to man, and which, lifting these humbler virtues from the dust in which they had long been trodden, quickened with new energy the whole circle of the manly qualities and powers. And yet we may allow that there was no little danger that society might fall into a languid passive temper, through that idolatry of the patient virtues which was almost inevitable during the ages of persecution. It was mainly saved by the monastics.* They, specially during the earlier ages, revealed the heroic side of Christi- anity. Their lives were full charged with the illustration of ' the dignity of labour, the nobility of simplicity, the beauty of humility, the heroism of gentleness, the vigour of patience, the regal power of love. We owe it to them in \ large measure that the heroic virtues have lived on under the Christian discipline, and have wrought themselves into the texture of Christian society. It is well worthy of note how, as the ages passed on, monachism refined and softened its features. It lived in full communion with the life of society, hard as it strove to isolate itself. In- deed it rather anticipated than followed its development, inasmuch as during the Middle Ages the springs of all great movements were within what went by the name of the spiritual sphere. The gulf between St. Anthony and St. Anselm, for instance, is a very wide one. Anselm has already caught the spirit of the modern world. In truth the great monastics seem to rise like snow peaks in the upper * I am not unmindful of the martyrs. But the monastic and the martyr spirit were very closely in:ertwined. 1 86 \\ The ^^ Religious Life^^ air, and are the first to catch the glow of the advancing sun. And nothing can be a greater mistake than to suppose that their stern repression of the natural affections, issued in hardness and poverty of nature. Sternly as they strove to indurate themselves quoad world and natural affection, they lived in their monasteries lives full of human gentlenesss and tenderness, and in their best days not without some pure gaiety and gladness of heart. Sim- plicitas^ denignitas, hilarHtas, were no idle words upon their lips. Some of the most tender and passionate effusions which have come down to us from the records of the past, are contained in monastic chronicles and correspondences. Though there is something sad in those tender and apparently satisfying friendships of the cloister, they are unnaturally strained, and therefore in the long run weakening ; nor can it be doubted, that from that side sore temptations pressed them, and a flood of evil at length broke in. But the reason why this hardening process did not harden, but left men with tender hearts and vivid affections, is not far to seek. The love which they denied their kindred was not wasted, they spent it with passionate fervour on the Saints and on the Lord. A grand feature of their influence on society, to which M. Comte does full justice in his critique on the Middle Age, is the career which they opened to power of every kind, and the practical illustration which they offered of the Christian doctrine of the brotherhood of mankind. '^ La carrih^e ouverte aux lalens,'' was the gospel of the French Revolution, according to Mr. Carlyle. As regards the secular sphere, he is quite right. But ''the career" had always been open in the monastic. One of the noblest features of our English society, and one main source of its unity, is the career which is open to men of high capacity, through the law and the legislature, to the peer- And Christian Society. 187 age, and the highest offices of the state. What that element of our Hfe does for England, the monastic orders did for Europe during the formative ages of its history. They made a spiritual bond really and visibly more powerful than any secular nexus of society, and kept alive in the world some dim faith in the truth of the fundamental principle of Christian society: '' All are 07ie in Christ yesiisr Of the service which they rendered to the literature of Europe, I feel the less need to speak at length, in that it has been so often and so ably treated, and is on the whole so fairly recognized. I only say that those who have never looked into the subject, would be simply amazed at the vast apparatus for literary work, and for the instruction of children, and that not for ecclesiastical purposes only, which was maintained by all the great Benedictine houses. They had their outlying schools and preaching stations in the most obscure villages, as the Methodists distribute their local preachers in these days. In truth, a fair picture of a day's work at such monas- teries as Corby under Paschasius, Fulda under Rabanus, St. Gall under the Ekkehards, or Glastonbury under Dunstan, would reveal an earnest, loving and energetic activity in the work of the world's culture, which would have put the sluggish ways of our modern universities, even ten years ago, to open shame. Taking even the tenth century, — "which," Baronius says, " for its sterility of every ex- cellence may be denominated iron ; for its luxuriant growth of vice, leaden ; and for its dearth of writers, dark," — a diligent study of its records would reveal that the decay of learning and of zeal for scholarship, was the fruit of war and political misery ; while it is as full as any age of the noble devotion of the harried and miserable monks to literature, and sorrow over its inevitable decline. The universal lamentations of the monks when their 1 88 The ''Religious Life'' houses were laid In ruins, was over their books, as well as their relics; and a multitude of touching stories might be recited, of the cost at which even the fragments which survived were saved. The question, too, has to be con- sidered by those who would understand those times, how far much of this literary work, especially the wearisome transcription, would have been possible, except under the constraint which the monastic law brought to bear on men. The poor transcriber of St. Gall, who scratched on his MS., " Libro completo Sal tat scriptor pede laeto," was but a specimen of a vast class. Nothing but their conception of the virtue of monastic obedience could have borne them through the wearying toil. We owe them a bitter grudge for the treasures which they des- troyed ; but we accept that as the inevitable counterpoise to the grand literary service which they rendered to the world. Not for themselves, but for us, they did minister ; they laboured, we have entered into their labours. Very significant, too, are the beginnings of history under the monastic roof. Would it have been possible for Bede under any other conditions to have written his wonderful history, and to have carried on and recorded those quiet, keen observations of physical phenomena, which make him the real founder of the English physical school ? The monks were the chroniclers of Mediaeval society, we say. Why ? Distinctly because they were able to grasp, as no other ^ men grasped, the idea of God's interest in human history ; because they saw that man's history in Its wholeness was a Divine work. Each little chronicle of an obscure monastery must weave itself In with the history of the Creation, and the Deluge, and the Advent of the Lord. This is a tempting theme ; how the beginnings of secular art, literature and science rose Aftd Christian Society. 189 from the monastic root. But we must forbear. It would be hard to measure the influence of a man Hke Benedict Biscop, for instance, on English civilisation. Out of his monastic vocation, for all such purposes in such an age, he might as well have been dead. Very deeply, too, the kind of literature which they loved and fostered touched the heart and lightened the burdens of the great mass of the poor. Monkish and saintly biographies are full of grotesque images and childish miracles. But they turn mainly on the suffering of truth, purity, and charity in a world like this; on the God who watches it, and the heaven which will bring to it the recompense at last. How deeply the central Christian ideas laid hold on the great human heart, the enthusiasm of the poorest, as well as the richest, for the Crusade exhibits. The poor peasant families who left their homes and their all, and wandered forth in search of Jerusalem, were surely not far from the kingdom of God. There is a large element of bane in this literature, and in its influence on the multitude, but in such times as those the blessing over-abounds. Two subjects remain for notice, — each of them worthy of a treatise, while on each I can allow myself but a word. They are, the sphere which monachism opened to woman, and the principle and fruits of monastic ministry to the poor. On the first point we may say with truth, that when we have found for woman in the secular sphere, a position and a work which may mate with that which the Middle Ages offered to her in the monastic, we shall have solved successfully one of the most pressing and perplexing problems of modern society. Their work for the poor is open to greater question. In the later monastic ages it was vicious and demoralizing in the extreme. But nothing can be more unjust than to argue from this, that the influence of the large and lavish I go The ''Religious Life'' monastic charity was on the whole baneful, in the ages when misery was abundant through war and tyranny, when pilgrims were many, and when the great monastic houses were the only hostelries and almonries of the poor. They made as much poverty as they cured, is the charge of the economists. Quite possibly. But have we found xki^JMste milieu ? The monastery erred grievously on the side of indiscriminate lavishness. The modern system, which has now touched its nadir at St. Pancras,— where niggard charity leaves dying paupers to fight with rats, and stifles them with the stench of sewers, — does not look beautiful beside the tender courage of St. Francis in a hospital of lepers, or even the gentler ministries of the sisters of St. Vincent de Paul. It is easy, however, to indulge in sharp and bitter remarks on what is con- fessedly a profoundly difficult and intricate subject. It may be enough to indicate here that the tendency of the best thinking as well as feeling on the subject in England is at present not in the direction of St. Pancras, but in the direction of that personal, intimate and considerate ministry of Christian intelligence and charity to poverty, which the monks made illustrious throughout the earlier Middle Age. In closing this Essay I am, of course, not unmindful of the fearful picture of corruption, of the tales of unutter- able abominations and horrors, which I might draw from authentic monastic history. A life of such high tension, kept at full pitch so long, inevitably, when the tension relaxed, sank into dark, sad depths. Great spiritual movements are powerful for a time only ; their lees are always noxious, though there is little in history so foul as the lees of the monastic. Very noble, beautiful, heroic, much of it was while the red blood of its youth was in it ; very pallid, foul, and base it became when it dragged on a dull mechanical existence after its work in the world And Christian Society, 191 was done. But to judge it, I think that we must look at it in its prime ; in the Hght of its aims, aspirations, and hopes. It is the true judgment; it is the key, perhaps, to the merciful judgments of God. It would be easy to show what dragged monachism to the dust ; it is more profit- able to consider what enabled it, in spite of this constant human proneness to corruption, to regenerate itself so often, and to endure so long. On the whole, we must say, to sum up the matter, that nothing in the long run and on a large scale succeeds in God's world but God's law. Extremes on either hand are ultimately fatal. ''In the beginning God made them male and female," body and soul, man and the world. All rebellion against His institution is in the end futile and ruinous. The man who stands open all round him to the influences, and bound with the bonds of both worlds, — that is, the man who stands in Christ at the point where they are one, — is the religious man, and his life alone is the "religious life." To bring forth this man is the great problem of Christian history ; and I often think that humanity has to be shaped for it much as a sculptor moulds his clay. Much has to be taken into the first rude shape, which will be pared off and toned down into the harmony of the form as the development pro- ceeds. Masses have to be added here and there to make an organ or a muscle, which are destined to vanish and yet to leave an invaluable line as a legacy. Were the monastic orders attached thus to the great body of Christian society not to be permanently wrought into it in their integrity, but to leave, as Time pares them away, some clear line, some essential feature, in the living body which shall survive the process, and shall stand up as the complete humanity in the day of the manifestation of the sons of God ? THE RELATION CHURCH TO THE STATE, REV. EUSTACE ROGERS CONDER, M.A., Lond, THE RELATION CHURCH TO THE STATE, Steadily though slowly through long years, marked but by few observers, yet of late with a rapidity that has attracted all eyes, the great question of the relation of the Church to the State has been coming to the fore, until even the careless and reluctant have to confess that it has become the question of the day. It is likely to continue such for many a day to come. It refuses to be remanded to the domain of intellectual controversy, among the shadowy crowd of abstract speculations. It comes into court as a practical, real, living problem, putting in a claim which can no longer be evaded, to be earnestly dealt with, and wisely, justly, finally settled. Men see — some with hope, as the mariner who sights from the mast-head the white cliffs within whose sheltering embrace lie his haven and his home ; others with terror, as one whose vessel feels the outer curve of the whirl- pool — that changes are at hand in England, whether wise or foolish, for good or for evil, the sum total of which will amount to an ecclesiastical revolution, greater, it may be, than the Reformation itself. But no man can foresee o 2 196 Church and State. in what shape or condition any of the religious commu- nities now existing in England will emerge, when that deluge of change shall have reached its height and again subsided. It behoves every thoughtful Christian Eng- lishman therefore to labour with whatever ability God gives him, towards the formation of those just views from which alone right action can spring. " Truth is great," but she can prevail only upon condition that men see her face and hear her voice. Three main aspects of this inquiry demand to be carefully discriminated and distinctly considered^ The relation of the Christian Church, and consequently of Christian Churches, to the Civil Government ; the re- lation of Christianity to national life ; and the relation of the kingdom of Christ to the kingdoms of this world. These three sub-questions I propose to discuss in the order in which they are here stated. What relations is the Christian Church — or ARE Christian Churches severally and collectively CAPABLE OF SUSTAINING TO THE CiVIL GOVERNMENT ; AND WHICH OF THESE IS THE TRUE RELATION ? This word '' Church " is perhaps the most remarkable word in the New Testament. Etymologically, indeed, '/ Church" (kirk, kirche), is supposed to mean simply "• the Lord's house," and to have been transferred from the building, to the assembly convened in it. But the meaning of words depends not on etymology but on usage. Usage has made " Church " the authorised representative in our language of the Greek word '' E celesta' (Sglise); and in discussing its meaning, it is of the meaning of this Greek word that we are really speaking. What renders this word so extremely remarkable, as used in the New Testament, is its double parentage. By birth it is heathen : by adoption it is Jewish. The same thing (it may be said) is true of other Jewish-Greek words Church and State. 197 — '* synagogue " for example. But no instance, I think, can be found in which heathen and Jewish usage have so remarkably combined, along wholly different lines of thought, to train and educate a word for Christian use. To the ear of the Greek, Ecclesia was a classic and noble word, calling up the image of those popular assem- blies of citizens (as distinguished from aliens, sojourners, and slaves) which in the old days of republican liberty wielded sovereign power, and were to the body politic what the heart is to the human frame. Noble though this meaning was, had the word borne merely this heathen political sense, and carried to Jewish ears no sacred asso- ciations, it is incredible that it could have been employed as we find it, without comment or explanation, in the early chapters of the Acts of the Apostles, or have been accepted at once and for ever, not simply as one name among others, but as the appropriate and distinctive name of the brotherhood of Christian believers. The familiar term Synagogue, hallowed by long religious use, would seem to have preferred a far more natural claim to this honour. But Ecclesia was already a consecrated word. It had been employed to express one of the highest conceptions which the Jewish mind could entertain ; not merely that of the religious assembly of the families of a certain neighbourhood, with their civil and spiritual rulers — the local synagogue ; but that of the representative assembly of the holy nation — the Congregation of Israel. The Septuagint version of the Hebrew Scriptures, regarded by Greek-speaking Jews in our Saviour's day with reverence hardly inferior to that paid to the original text, employs the term Ecclesia in this sense ; not indeed as the exclusive or even most frequent rendering, but with such frequency, and in passages of such importance, as to make it a familiar and sacred word.* Stephen, in his * Three Hebrew words occur in the Pentateuch, indifferently rendered in our Authorised 198 Church and State. defence before the Sanhedrim, was using no strange newly-coined expression, as an English reader may naturally imagine, when he spoke of Moses as the leader of '' the Church in the wilderness ;" or, if Stephen spoke in Aramaic, the writer of the Acts was not borrowing a Christian phrase in translating his speech, but was employ- ing a word familiar to all readers of the Greek Scriptures. The term ''synagogue" would naturally be applied by Jewish believers, as St. James actually applies it (James ii. 2) to their local congregations. But in assuming, doubtless under Divine inspiration, from its earliest be- ginning this name Ecclesia without qualification or limita- tion (Acts ii. 47), THE Church not only^ claimed the pro- mise of Him who had said, " On this rock I will build my Church," but also seemed to assert its claim to be indeed the true *' Congregation of Israel ;" Abraham's spiritual progeny ; not a novel community, nor an upstart temporary conventicle, but that very communion of saints and body of the faithful which had received God's promises from the elder times in the same unbroken succession in which they should hand them down to the latest age. If such and so weighty were the reasons for adopt- ing this name as the distinctive title of the Christian community, while It was still composed only of Jews, and ytvAoxi^''^ congregation" and ^^ asiembly." viz., bilpj ni3?^ "T^i^, the first from a root signifying to call ; the second and third from a root signifying to appoint, keep an appoint- ment (in time or place), meet together. It is only the first of these words which the Seventy render by Ecclesia, though for this also in many passages they give avvayioyi]. The following is a selection of the most important passages in which EccUsia occurs : - Deut. ix. 10; xviii. 16; xxiii. 1-35 xxxi. 30. Jud. xxi. 5. Neh.xiii.i. Ps. xxii. 22; Ixxxix. <;. If the reader will make the experiment of reading the word " Church ' in these passages, he will perceive the new light which is thus shed on its use in the New Testament. In Ps. xxvi. 12 ; Ixviii. 26, the cognate word T\^T\71^^ in the plural, is rendered by the plural of Ecciesia. In Lev. viil. 3, Deut,Hcxxi. 28, the derived verb from Ecckiia is used for the summoning of the assembly. At first sight, the three Hebrew words seem to be used indiscriminately. See, e.g.^ Num. X. 1-7. But the question arises, even on this passage, whether the assembly of verse 7 is the same with that of verse 8, or, rather, with the select assembly of chiefs appointed in verse 4. Space for an exhaustive examination of all the passages is not at my command } but I believe such an examination would confirm the view that while the other terms signify the whole multitude of Israel as assembled by Divine appointment in their encampment, or gathered for worship before the Tabernacle, that term which the Seventy saw fit to repre- sent by Ecclesia, signifies an assembly specially and legally convened, more especially such a select representative assembly as that described in Deut. xxxi. 28-30. Chtirch and State. 199 confined to Jerusalem ; the Gentile meaning of the word, breathing of freedom, order, law and privilege, had a noble and beautiful fitness to designate those innumer- able brotherhoods of disciples which sprang up every- where, as Christianity, bursting the ripe shell of Judaism, flung its living seed far and wide through the Gentile world. The "mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known," which at first was concealed even from the Apostles themselves, was revealed (as God is wont to reveal His secrets) not by verbal teaching, but by the interpretation of fact, — " that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the Gospel." In these Churches, in some of which Jewish and Gentile believers were united in equal numbers as well as on equal terms ; others of which were composed mainly — and some, perhaps, exclusively — of Gentile converts, men learned that in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek ; that the middle wall of partition is broken down in Christ ; and that he who is Christ's is '' Abraham's seed," and an heir of that promise in which *' the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the na- tions through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham." The very name indicated that a Christian Ecclesia was not a chance mob, or mere voluntary club ; but a society ruled by laws, to which each believer yielded a perfectly free and willing obedience, but which no earthly power had enacted or could repeal. Its mem- bers were invested with privileges and dignities com- pared with which even Roman citizenship was despicable ; they were citizens of the heavenly city, members of the commonwealth of Israel, fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God ; a royal priesthood, a holy nation. Out of this secondary application grew, in the lapse of a few years, a new and nobler meaning, expressing 200 Church and State. an idea the germ of which indeed as of all other Christian truth, lay in the Hebrew Scriptures, but which in its clearness and completeness was one of the newest as well as grandest ideas ever presented to the human mind. For a brief space the Christian Church had been visibly and locally one. The church at Jerusalem was the Catholic Church. No sooner was a second church formed, outside Jerusalem ; or no sooner had one believer "fallen asleep in Jesus," and gone up to join the ancient fellowship of saints and prophets, than this visible local unity was broken, never to' be restored until the coming of the Lord. In the first chapters of the Acts " the Church" is the Christian society in Jerusalem. We have not read far before we are told of other local churches (chap. xili. i ; xiv. 23). A few more years, and the churches of the Gentiles were to be found in all the great cities, and not a few lesser ones, of Asia Minor, Southern Europe, Northern Africa, and we know not how far away to the East beyond the limits of the Roman world. The visible unity being thus dislocated by the twofold agency of distance and of death, and to some extent also by the divergent influence of national customs, feeling, and speech, the sublime idea developed itself — an idea, if I might use such a phrase, of the heart rather than of the intellect — of the Church as a spiritual unity, bounded by no limits of space or time, language or usage, life or death — of one body. Into which all who believe in Christ are baptized by one Spirit ; one family in earth and heaven, comprehending all those (and none else) of whom it is written, " as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." This is the idea of the Church which we find in St. Paul's Epistles, and which is symbolized in the closing visions of St. John by the Holy City, New Jerusalem, and by the Bride, the Lamb's wife. It is one of those stupendous Bible ideas, alike Church and State. 201 simple and sublime, which are manifestly of super-human origin ; for the human mind has not yet grown up to them, and spiritual enlightenment is needed even to ap- prehend them. Life always produces organization. The new-born Christian societies, full of fresh intense life, were on that very account organized communities. Regarding them from their human side, we perceive four elements at work, tending to modify their constitution — the Jewish and the Gentile ; the popular and the authoritative. The genius for practical order and organization, which power- fully marked the Jewish mind, wonderfully combined re- spect for individual liberty and personal dignity with deep reverence for authority. The earliest Churches, composed of Jews, naturally adopted the simple but efficient type of church government ready to their hand in the syna- gogue. When this primitive model came to be applied to Gentile churches, two opposite tendencies must very soon have begun to struggle for mastery. The Greek could understand monarchy (or, as he called it, tyranny), and he could understand democracy ; but this fine balance of authority and liberty which the Jew both understood and loved, because it rested on a deep reli- gious foundation, was to the Greek, for lack of such foundation, incomprehensible and impossible. If the practical and devout Roman mind had seemed to ap- proach this balance, it was due to the fact that in the earlier and better ages, Roman life and polity were also based on a religious foundation. But it was an un- stable equilibrium. Roman history exhibits the record of a prolonged struggle, in which empire at length triumphed and liberty expired. Humanly speaking, the like struggle was inevitable in the Christian churches, viewed as communities of men requiring and recognizing some kind of government. In the highest sense, each 202 Church and State. church acknowledged the Risen Lord Himself as Its Chief Pastor and Only Lawgiver. But, In Its Internal management, was It to be a monarchy or a democracy ? For although It might be an aristocracy at the outset, It could scarcely remain so. The conflict was long ; but in the end, the result was as decisive in the Church as in the Empire. Partly (we can hardly doubt) from the strong reaction caused by such anarchical tendencies as early came into play at Corinth — and not there only; partly from the exigencies of times of persecution, which made a wise, brave, strong bishop such a tower of strength and comfort to his church, that men neither grudged nor envied a power so full of care and peril ; partly from other causes, amongst which the human infirmity of the love of rule cannot be Ignored ; the power of the clergy, and above all, of the bishops, grew continually, until at length the popular element was not merely subjugated but absorbed. " The Church" no longer signified the body of Christian believers, but the bishops and clergy. Monarchy was victorious, and liberty perished. Thus, the word " Church" slowly acquired a mean- ing wholly new, and utterly different from any which it was capable of suggesting In Apostolic times. The idea was developed, — so familiar to us in ecclesiastical history, — of the Catholic Church, as a divinely-ordered and Inspired body, authorized to declare and Interpret Divine truth ; universal and indivisible by virtue not of spiritual unity in faith, love, and holiness, but of uni- formity of creed, rite, and visible polity ; In which, there- fore, the form is as essential as the spirit, and severed from which, no Christian or body of Christians can be accounted In communion with the Church of Christ. A majestic idea ! One of the most imposing that ever ruled the Imaginations of men ; yet Impossible and Church and State. 203 historically untrue. Impossible, because involving a theory of perpetual inspiration at variance with all the facts of church history, and practically set aside as often as one bishop excommunicated another, or one General Council reversed the decrees of another, or decided any controversy by the vote of a majority, against an adverse and angry minority. Untrue historically, be- cause as the theory approached its full development in the growing supremacy of the Roman See, the great schism between the East and the West gave the death- blow to visible catholicity. It is the romance of religion. In our own time and country, we see it re- duced to practical absurdity, by the inconsistent claims of Anglo-Catholics and Roman Catholics, who reason from identical premises to contradictory conclusions. To sober reason, any theory of the Christian Church which excommunicates from Christ's holy Catholic Church John Bunyan and John Wesley, John Milton and Isaac Watts; and unchurches the great Protestant communities of America, Scotland, France, Switzerland, and Germany, as well as the English and Welch Nonconformists, stands self-condemned. Nevertheless, we need not wonder that this imposing idea inspires the imagination and subdues the understanding of very many fervent and sincere Christians ; that it seems to them as bright with the dawn of promise as it is hoary with the moss of antiquity ; and that amid the visible disunity of Protestant churches, and the bewilderments and disap- pointments of our distracted age, they yearn for the restoration of visible Catholic unity as the only means of fulfilling our Lord's prayer— "/^^/ they all may deoneJ' There is in truth but one grander idea ; one infinitely higher, but on that very account far more difficult to grasp— that of ''The Church which is His Body." In any argument touching the relation of the 204 Church and State. Church to the State, or to civil government, it is of vital importance that we settle what we mean by " The Church." What Church ? In which of the three mean- ings whose history we have been tracing in outline do we employ the term ? Do we mean some distinct body of Christians, separated from others, whether as in the first age by locality, or as in later times by rite, govern- ment, or doctrinal formula ? Do we mean all true Christians, regarded as spiritually one — spite of outward diversities — through personal union with Christ, and par- ticipation of His Spirit ? Do we mean some body of Christians, in a given country, or in many countries, firmly compacted like the Roman Catholic Church, or loosely held together by outward ties, like the Epis- copal Church of England, or the various Protestant Episcopal churches regarded (in some sense not easy to define) as " branches " of one Catholic Church ? We ought, above all, to take care that we do not allow these three different meanings secretly to interchange, or confusedly to intermingle ; using the word "Church" now in this sense, now in that, and again with no definite meaning at all. Fatal as such confusion must be to all clear and true thought, it is to be feared that chains of argument have often been constructed and applauded which depended on it as their main strength. Dismissing, for the present, the post-apostolic idea of the visible Catholic Church, and going back to the two aspects of the Christian Church presented in the New Testament, we find their point of union in this fact, that the primitive and formative idea of a local Chris- tian church was, that it consisted of and contained the true Christians, or members of the Body of Christ, dwelling in that locality. There might be — perhaps in every case were — false brethren unawares brought in ; inconsistent members, denying in deeds the faith which Church and State, 205 they professed and intellectually held ; and secret believers who, from timidity and other causes, had not openly joined the Church. No idea is practically worked out in this world without failure and imperfection. But these draw- backs did not alter the fact that the design and model- idea of '' the church of God" in any one place — Corinth, for example — was, that it should be composed of those who, in that place, were '' sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints :" of all such, and of none else. The Church, on the other hand, in the sense in which it is spoken of, for example, in the Epistle to the Ephesians, so far as it existed on earth (exclusive of the great and ever-growing'' General Assembly" above) could come into contact and relation with civil government only as repre- sented by local churches, or in the persons of their members. As long, therefore, as we are on the Scripture ground, no confusion can arise from our speaking of the relation of the Church to the State, and to the laws and rulers of the State. Thus explained, the possible relations of the Church and the State to one another appear to be four : Hos- tility ; Alliance ; Identity ; Friendly independence. The simplest moral relation in which any two men, or bodies of men, can stand to each other, seems to be that of direct hostility : that one should say '' No" to the other s *' Yes," and that whichever happens to be the stronger should knock the other down and conquer him. Historically, this disregarding temporary abatements or intermissions was the actual relation of the Church to the State for three hundred years. The battle was fairly fought on the broad field of the Roman empire. Persecution sometimes raged indiscriminately against Christians of whatever rank, age, or sex. At other times it sought to disorganize the Christian societies by destroy- ing their bishops and presbyters. Then again, with more 2o6 Church and State. subtle malignity, it struck at the very root of Christianity, in the fierce endeavour to extirpate the Christian Scrip- tures. The Divine Head of the Church, rejected by the blind multitude, condemned by priest and procurator, bound, scourged, crucified, yet rising unharmed from the grave on the third day, while the keepers did shake and became as dead men, is the type of His Church's history through those three ages of deadly conflict and of strength made perfect in weakness. The result was decisive. Christianity, matched against the strongest government the world has seen, proved stronger than it. It is a settled question, that if a State in which Christianity exists, is to be peaceful and prosperous, its relation to the Church must be other than that of direct hostility. The State must then make peace with the Church. But on what terms 1 The idea of friendly independence would have been as unattractive in the eyes of a Christian bishop of the fourth century as it was impos- sible to the mind of a Roman statesman. The imperial government had to deal with an imperium in imperio^ the attempt to crush which by force had proved a hope- less failure. Divided empire was intolerable. Nothing remained, looking at the problem from a Roman point of view, but that the Church's right to govern her own members by her own laws should be conceded ; but linked on in due subordination to the civil authority. Sub- stituting protection and patronage for persecution, the State claimed the corresponding right of paternal control. So the great experiment was entered on, which has con- tinued for nearly fifteen centuries and a half, through manifold phases, but not with satisfactory results. With results so very far from satisfactory, that at the present moment the cry ** a free Church in a free Stated' is be- ginning to be heard even among the Latin nations, as Church and State. 207 a watchword of progress. The EstabHshment principle is disowned, both in theory and practice, in the United States of America and in the British Colonies. In Ire- land, by the deliberate verdict of the British people, it has been abandoned, on grounds at once of justice and of policy. In Scotland it has but a feeble root. Even in England, where in one form or other the alliance of Church and State is older than Parliament, older than the Courts of Justice, older than trial by jury, older than the monarchy itself; and in its modern form, as framed by the Tudors and Stuarts, has so twined its roots round our laws and institutions that it has been said that not one but a hundred Acts of Parliament will be required for its abolition, it is beginning to be counted among things which wax old, and are ready to vanish away. The most keen-eyed watchman of the future will not insure its life for another generation. This state of things affords no positive proof, though it does afford a powerful presumption, that the prin- ciple is false. All change is not progress. Institu- tions may fail, not through inherent defect, but through the folly or dishonesty of those who make them ; as a leaky ship with a brave captain and crew may come safe into harbour, while the best ship ever launched, lubberly and cowardly handled, founders in the storm. Nations may decay, and dream that they are growing. If we do not inquire wisely, when we assume that the former times were better than these, we have inquired to little purpose if we take for granted that in all respects they were worse. But the principle of State patronage and control of Christianity contains within itself this inevitable and fatal flaw : it necessarily involves either persecution or immorality. Either the State, assuming to be the supreme judge of religious truth, must make a selection of the church or churches 2o8 Church and State, to be established, and must in so doing discountenance and injure other churches, in proportion to the favour shown to the members of the selected communion ; which is unjust : or else, assuming that all doctrines and rites are of equal value, it must patronise all alike, which is immoral. For if this means that the State confesses its incapacity to judge between truth and error, then it is a grave immorality to assume an office for which it is confessedly unfit, and to perpetuate an evil whose exist- ence is certain and its amount unknown, for the sake of a good whose amount and existence are alike ques- tionable. But if it means that the State, being able to judge, affirms that one creed and form of worship is as good or as worthless as another, then this is not simply immoral : it strikes at the very root of morality. If there be no vital difference and eternal enmity between truth and falsehood, even on the highest questions, then neither can there be any between right and wrong. Church history furnishes but too abundant illustra- tion of the former half of this dilemma ; to wit, that the establishment by the State of Christianity as true^ and of one form of the Christian Church as the ti^ue Churchy involves persecution. The worst persecutions of the worst pagan persecutors have not been comparable in blood-thirsty ferocity with those which have been waged by professedly Christian governments, in the name of Christ, against Christians whose only crime was that they sought to follow Christ according to what they believed to be a purer model than the Church with which the State was in alliance. In milder forms, but with equal clearness, the injustice inseparable from the maintenance of a dominant Church is illustrated by the history of England during the last three centuries. The intellectual and social, as well as moral and religious injury and injustice wrought in this nation by the one Church and State. 209 fact of the exclusion of Nonconformists from the national Universities, have been immeasurable, and cannot be contemplated without a burning sense of wrong and shame. In proportion as legal and social disabilities are removed from the adherents of other churches, the posi- tion of the one established church becomes logically un- tenable ; and sooner or later the logic of ascertained truth becomes the irresistible logic of fact. Practical contradictions can last a long time in England ; but here, also, they are doomed. With regard to the second horn of the dilemma, the advocate of establishments may concede that it would be immoral for the State to establish other religions — as Mohammedanism, Hinduism, and Buddhism — side by side with Christianity, because this would be a public profes- sion of scepticism, under the disguise of homage done to religion ; and under the pretence of aiding Christianity would in fact declare open war against the very object with which it was set up amongst mankind — to '' bear WITNESS UNTO THE TRUTH." But he may urge with seeming justice that whereas the Church of Christ, not- withstanding the unhappy divisions among its members, is still one, and Christianity is a greater thing than our creeds and controversies, there is nothing immoral in the State recognizing this higher unity, accepting Christianity as true without regard to the controversies and sects ex- isting among Christians, and establishing all Christian churches indifferently, on the basis of what is common to all. There are those who would eagerly welcome this policy, troubling themselves very little about its morality. But its morality is what we are here concerned with. My reply then is, first, that since persons holding any creed or no creed might call themselves Christians in order to claim the aid of the State, it would in this case be neces- sary for the State authoritatively to define what is or is p 2 1 o Church and State. not Christianity, selecting from the creeds and customs of all churches vital points of agreement, and drawing the boundary line between essential and non-essential differences. The State must, in fact, assume the highest prerogative ever claimed by the Church — that of au- thority in matters of faith. If it be granted (as it must) that this is wholly impossible, and that the State must simply accept the creeds and rites of the bodies styling themselves churches, passing no judgment on their truth, simply because they are believed and prac- tised ; then the whole basis of the acceptance of Chris- tianity as true, in opposition to other human creeds, is abandoned ; all other religions m.ay put in an equal claim," and the immorality returns on us in all its monstrosity. But, further, that which all true Christians and churches have in common, and which the New Testament lays down as essential and distinctive, is in its nature in- capable of being recognized by the State. Love to Christ ; love to the brethren ; holiness, without which no man can see the Lord ; the possession of the Spirit of Christ, without which a man is none of His ; righteous- ness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost ; are not things touching which either the House of Lords or the Privy Council can pass judgment, or which can be supported out of glebe lands, or charges on the consolidated fund. What the State pays for, if it pay at all, must be precisely those things in which churches and Christian men differ, viz : — public teaching and wor- ship ; and in regard to which, though a man may profess and support this form or that, this belief or that, and yet be a true Christian, he cannot, without compromising his honesty, support and profess all alike. There is yet another form of alliance between the Church and the State in which the Church is the sove- * As the chinamen have actually done in Australia. ' - Church and State. 2 1 1 reign authority, and the civil government rules in its name and as its vassal. This needs no discussion here. It is practicable only on the Papal theory of the Catholic Church. Applied to a national Church, — still more to a Church comprising only a portion of the nation, — it is not merely visionary but manifestly absurd. The noblest form in which the establishment prin- ciple can be maintained, is unquestionably that set forth by Hooker, in the last book of his '' Ecclesiastical Polity," and familiarly and inseparably associated in the mind of the present generation of Englishmen with the name of its noble-minded and thorough-going advocate, Dr. Arnold. The true relation of Church and State, on this view, is neither alliance nor separation, but identity. The body politic and the body ecclesiastical are regarded as distinguishable in idea and nature, but composed in fact of the same persons ; so that (in Hooker's words), "there is not any man of the Church of England but the same man is also a member of the Commonwealth, nor any member of the Commonwealth which is not also of the Church of England." This grand and simple theory, receiving strong apparent support from the analogy of the Jewish nation, requires to be dealt with on a broader ground than that of the relation of the Church to the civil government : it obliges us to investigate the true relation of Christianity to national life. But meantime, looking practically at its application to our own nation and time, the fatal flaw is at once evident, — unreality. Dr. Arnold maintains that the present order of things in England was settled on this assumption. What- ever the assumption was, clearly the fact was not so. When the present constitution of Church and State was framed, under Henry VHL, Edward VI., and Elizabeth, a large portion of the nation, including most of the heads of the Church of England, were strongly p 2 2 12 Church and State. opposed to the new order of things, and continued in heart and conscience attached to the Church of Rome.* Those on the other hand, who considered the Reforma- tion incomplete, and the re-modelled Church of England but half- Protestant, were driven off in the contrary direc- tion. By the time the new Church of England was a century old, Presbyterians and Independents had grown up to be the strongest party in the State ; and for a few years it seemed as though the Church and the Commonwealth of England were riven asunder for ever. The rent was too violent to last ; but it was also too wide and deep to be healed except by the wisest, most cautious, and most generous measures. The Act of Uni- formity, destroying the last hope of such a course, ren- dered it impossible that the schism ever should be healed ; and condemned the Church on whose behalf it was framed, to be henceforth the Church of a part only, and that, a constantly diminishing proportion, of the nation. During the two following centuries, through successive phases of persecution, toleration, emancipation, and grow- ing claims to equality ; patiently fighting their way up to the level standing-ground, out of those valleys of humi- liation and of the shadow of death which the dominant Church deemed their proper abodes, never losing a foot of ground so gained ; several distinct powerful Protestant communities have grown up outside the Church of Eng- land. The Roman Church has risen from the very dust of oppression to a position in which, in open contempt of law, its prelates assume territorial titles ; and it now num- bers among its hundreds of recent converts some of the ablest of the clergy and wealthiest of the nobility. Even if we could stretch our liberality so as broadly to include all these churches and sects under the one name of Christian, * See Professor Boiiamy Price's remarkable paper in the Contemporary Review for February, 1869 j p. 167. Church and State. 213 and could say, ** These all together compose the Church of the nation," — alas ! how large a portion of the nation would still refuse to be included : worshipping in none of our sanctuaries, holding none of our creeds, feeling neither love nor reverence for the Christian name ! A recent exposition and defence of the theory which identifies the Church with the State, from the pen of one of its ablest living advocates — the Dean of Westminster — is so outspoken and thorough in its following out of the principle, so confident in tone, and — whatever may be thought of its depth — so clear and broad in statement, that it seems impossible to leave it unnoticed ; although any full criticism would be quite beyond the aim and limit of this Essay.* The Dean deals with the matter not theoretically, but practically. Principles are taken for granted, or serenely ignored, and attention is turned to results and advantages, objections and practical an- swers. The general effect is dazzling, but on careful inspection it appears that the surface only of this great argument has been handled, its vital core being hardly touched. The union of Church and State is made to appear easy, advantageous, and splendid, but at the cost of everything real and spiritual in the Church. The existence, and even the possibility of the Church as a supernatural institution, of local churches as spiritual societies, divinely constituted and guided, is frankly denied. '' Every society by the mere fact of its being a human society, must be temporal, must be guided by mixed motives, must have a temporal government" (p. 11). The distinction (marked enough, certainly, in the New Testament) between the godly and ungodly, the Christian and unchristian portions of the nation, is treated as non-existent, or unimportant. The claim for * An address on the Connection of Church and State, delivered at Sion College on February 15, 1868. By Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, D.D., Dean of Westminster. Macmillan and Co., 1868. 2 14 Chmxh and State, the freedom of the Church from State control, and the separation of what is spiritual from what is secular, is thus made to appear as a claim on the behalf of the clergy to the exclusive management of ecclesiastical affairs. The Church, in fact, disappears from view, nothing being left but the State and the clergy; and the national government (including the legislature and the courts of law) becomes by an astonishing metamorphosis the representative of that *' multitude of them that be- lieved," of whom we read in the New Testament that they were " of one heart, and of one soul." If this be not a reductio ad absurdum of the theory of which it is the legitimate development, it is a reductio ad nudum. The theory, through the merciless consistency and can- dour of its gifted advocate, stands before us in its bare stark destitution of all spiritual reality, power, and gran- deur. What is here called the connection of the Church with the State is, in fact, the absorption of the Church by the State. It is a union like the union of the clear, living stream with the turbid lake, in which the stream loses its life and purity, but imparts neither to the lake. The Church loses its spirituality, but the State remains as worldly as before. One possible relation remains — that of friendly in- dependence. Abstaining from all hostile control, the State may equally abstain from all patronage, favour, or support, all intermeddling with the creed, worship, or order of the Christian Church in any of its societies, great or small. I have said friendly independence ; not unfriendly — a mere suspension of relations : not the pretended ignorance and real enmity of two old friends who, having quarrelled, pass in the street without recognition : not the sullen irritation of a broken partnership, dissolved through the incapacity of one partner and the obstinacy of the other : not the loathing estrangement of divorce, Church and State. 215 over their children's graves, between those who had pro- mised to be faithful to each other until death : none of these but the full, frank, religious recognition on both hands that it is best for both Church and State — best for Christianity, and for the nation — that religion be free. Free, not because a nation can do as well without religion as with it ; nor yet because one religion is as good as an- other ; but because the One Religion which can save either a man or a nation, can develop its true genius and full might only in freedom. Nonconformist champions have sometimes presented their main thesis in the form of the crude and barren negi:- tion, that civil government and religion have nothing to do with each other. It is not wonderful that such a doctrine should arouse indignant opposition. The object of Chris- tianity is to make men good and happy. That of civil government is to restrain their wickedness and misery within the narrowest practicable bounds. The work of the Church is to diffuse charity ; that of the civil govern- ment to maintain justice. Is it rationally conceivable, that whereas charity and justice are but two sides of one Divine law, the State and religion can have no interest in each other's work, no mutual obligations and relations ? Since the obligations of Christianity (the sole authoritative form of religion) bind every man, even in the humblest duties of daily life, is it not an absurdity to suppose that any number of men associated in that highest form of merely human partnership which we call civil govern- ment, for the performance of the weightiest duties, are released from those obligations ? The true ground on which the religious — not irreligious — separation of Church and State is to be advocated, and must at last be accepted, alike by Christian statesmen and Christian churches, is, that since a government can no more be justified than an individual in assuming 2 1 6 Church and State. duties which God has not imposed and for which He has bestowed no capacity ; since the alliance of Church and State, under various forms of both, has produced results disastrous to liberty, religion, justice, and peace, during more than fifteen hundred years, adding the commentary of experience to the silence of the New Testament ; and since the Lord of the Church and Governor of the nations has assigned not to states or governments but to His Church the work of spreading His truth and kingdom amongst mankind, which work demands freedom as one of its most needful conditions : therefore it is the religious duty of the State to leave the Church perfectly free. The relation of the Church (or the Churches) to civil government, though the most familiar and most immediately practical, is after all not the deepest, most vital form of this great problem. Its true solution must depend on the answer to a deeper and larger question — What is the relation of Christianity to National Life ? To not a few Christians, I am well aware, such an inquiry will appear mis-directed, and even unmeaning. Among the many currents and counter-currents of modern Christianity, is one remarkable and powerful side eddy — sufficiently powerful to have drawn in many intelligent minds and devout hearts — which, were it strong enough, would not simply separate all Church institutions from civil government, but would draw aside the whole body of really spiritual Christians from all share in public life, national, international, municipal, and social; and would leave legislation, administration, and public reformation in the hands of those who are either insincerely and but nominally Christians, or avowedly worldly and ungodly. According to this school of doctrine the message of the Gospel to the individual is regarded as its whole scope ; and its only business is the gathering, one Church and State. 217 by one, of believers Into the Church, sundering, at the same time, all the ties of love and duty that bound them to those earthly communities which are re- garded as Irredeemably profane and hopelessly doomed. With the greatest personal respect for many who hold these views, I frankly avow that they appear to me as much out of harmony with the teaching of Scripture as at variance with the lessons of God's providence. Excel- lent as are the motives with which these views are advocated. If they were to be generally accepted as sound — if worldly men as well as Christians were to be unani- mously persuaded that such Is Indeed the teaching of the Gospel — a heavier blow would be struck against Chris- tianity, and In favour of the cause of unbelief, than is ever to be dreaded from the assaults of a rationalistic dogmatism which mistakes itself for science, or a " higher criticism/' so uncritical as to believe itself infallible. In this matter, as always, God's word is at one with His works, if both be read fairly and humbly. The Bible takes great account of nations. The fundamental com- mission of the Christian Church — the only recorded word of our Lord and Master to the whole body of His dis- ciples, so far as as they could be assembled in one congregation — Is this: '' All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and make disciples of ALL NATIONS." The distinctive title of the most honoured and successful preacher of the Gospel whom the Lord ever sent forth was " the Apostle of the nations." Principally through his unrivalled labours, his preaching, and his writings, God gave the nations of Europe that Christianity, which, perverted and enfeebled as it has been, nevertheless constitutes the mainspring of all modern history. It is he who — conscious that his work was a far greater one than that of merely ministering to individual penitence and faith, and gathering a small 2i8 Church and State, Church out of the wreck of humanity — tells us that '' God, that made the world and all things therein .... hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth ; and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation, that they should seek the Lord." It is he who seems never weary of repeating those glorious promises of the ancient Scrip- tures which call on the nations to rejoice with God's people, and tell of the root of Jesse who should " rise to reign over the nations: i^i Him shall the nations trust!' It is the same great teacher of Divine truth who shows us in the promise to Abraham the primal Gospel for man- kind : — " The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the nations through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all the nations be blessed."* The Old Testament Scriptures are here, as elsewhere, in accord with the New. The Psalms and Prophets con- tain the freest Invitations to all nations, the most glowing predictions of the blessings in store for them. Even in their heathen condition they are seen filling most im- portant places in the scheme of God's providence, and dealt with as nations, both in judgment and in mercy ; while the future is as bright for them as for the Chosen People. For the kingdom is the Lord's, and He is the Governor among the nations. The nations are the in- heritance of the Messiah, who is a light to lighten the nations as well as the glory of His people Israel. All * The employment in many places of our Authorised Version of the terms " Gentiles" and " heathen " for the Hebrew D'^'12 and Greek t^vr\^ although perhaps we may gain by it more than we lose, disguises the bieadrh of Scripture teaching and promise, and puts the English reader under a serious disadvantage. He scarcely suspects that these words mean simply '* natkns,^' still less that in the singular they are applied to Israel (Gen. xii. 2), and imagines a distinction without foundation. How entirely different, e.g.., would be the impression if in Gen. xxxv. 11, instead of "a company of nations," we translate J "a congregation (or chmch) of Gentiles r' The term " heathen " is perhaps still more questionable, because, like the analogous word "pagan" (rejecting as manifestly false the etymology which would connect it with t^i.'os), it conveys the idea of an idol-worshipping people, a meaning which lodged itself in these words in that transition period when the cities of the empire were Christian, but the " peasants " or " heath -people " still clave to the old gods. Church and State. 219 nations shall serve Him. All nations shall call Him blessed. The entire scope and spirit of the Old Testa- ment references to the nations generally is in such powerful contrast with the bitter contemptuous spirit cherished as part of their religion by the Jews towards all other nations, that it forms one of the many unobtrusive but unanswerable internal proofs which taken together furnish a moral demonstration of the inspiration of the Hebrew Scriptures. As, in speaking of '* Church and State," people are apt by the Church to mean only the clergy, or at most the ecclesiastical organization ; so by the State they com- monly mean, not the nation, but merely its Government. But the real greatness and force of a State lie not in the head, but in the body ; not in the sovereign power, but in the people over whom and on whose behalf that power is wielded. The nation does not exist for the Govern- ment, but the Government for the nation. And as the life is more than meat, and the body than raiment, so the life of a nation — those common beliefs, sentiments, standards of right and wrong, attachments, hatreds, and pursuits, which mould the nation's character, and deter- mine its conduct and place among other nations, are of immensely greater moment than the Industry and wealth by which it is fed, and the forms and customs in which it clothes itself. In like manner it is true that not only is the Christian Church something very much greater than either its clergy or its organization, but Christianity is a far greater thing than the Christian Church. Christianity — the living power of Christ's truth and God's Spirit in the mind of men, might exist without being embodied in a Church; that is to say, with- out any organized society of Christians ; and though its power would be incalculably diminished, It might yet be the greatest power among mankind. But a Church 2 20 Church and State. without Christianity ^the form of doctrine, worship, and ecclesiastical government, with no living voice of God's truth, and inspiration of His Spirit, is a dead thing, which rhay be artificially embalmed, and painted, and bedizened into a mockery of life, but the sooner It is burled out of sight the better. The Inquiry as to the influence of Christianity on national life, assumes that a nation has a common life, a life of its own, as truly as a family or an individual. A nation is not a mere multitude of men, women, and children, collected within certain geographical bound- aries. Place a million, or twenty millions of persons, gathered from various lands and races, on a territory ample, fruitful, and In all ways fitted to be the home of a great people : they would not be a nation, any more than a dozen persons taking lodgings in the same house are a family, or a bundle of branches a tree. A nation must grow. It must possess the unity which Is given by public law ; government to maintain that law and to represent the nation in the great commonwealth of nations ; and, if it is to be worthy the name, that reverence for its own laws and for the rights of other nations, which Is to a nation what conscience is to the individual. Then it must have time to grow ; time to strike root in the soil ; time for new genera- tions to be born and grow up to whom that soil shall be fatherland, and the wind of heaven that blows over it native air, and the language spoken upon It mother-tongue ; time, not only for graves to be dug (for In a few months there will be thousands), but for the grass to grow on them, and the trees planted by them to overshadow them, and the moss to clothe their tomb- stones. Then, when the soil has been printed far and near with the footsteps of the dead, and watered with the sweat of toil and the tears of sorrow and the blood Church and State. 221 of patriots and martyrs ; when the shores have been strewn with wreck by the storms of many a winter, and tender, or beautiful, or glorious memories have begun to haunt the hills and streams, and cling round the homes touched with Time's hallowing finger; and the nation has begun to make its mark, and write its history in works that endure and deeds that men will not let die ; then it is found that one great heart beats in the bosoms of the children of the land. They have their national peculiarities, ways of thinking, prejudices, weaknesses, virtues ; and alas! their national follies, vices, and crimes. Scatter them over the world ; let the strong arm of foreign conquest dispossess, crush, drag them into captivity, or drive them into exile; still one heart will beat in the scattered members, and even the exile's children will feel the pulse of it when their parent's eyes grow wet at the name of ** the old country." Therefore, does the Bible take great account of na- tions, because God takes great account of nations. In the chosen people He has given us the most perfect type of national life the world has seen. The Hebrew people were bound together by the mighty triple bond of blood, of the land, and of the Divine law and covenant. Each Israelite was a son of Abraham, and could trace his pedigree up to the national progenitor. Each family had a direct inheritance in the soil, which, if alien- ated, reverted in the year of jubilee ; and the soil be- longed to the nation not merely by right of the con- quest under Joshua, but by the ancient gift of God to Abraham. Each Israelite was in sacred covenant with Jehovah, and ruled by laws of God's own making. To all this God added the powerful links of sympath}^, supplied by the memory of a history such as no other nation could boast, and the glory of a hope such as no other nation has dreamed of. 222 Church and State. Different nations evidently possess national life in wonderfully varied measure ; in some it is feeble, in others mighty. In any case, these two are the great- est things belonging to a nation (as to an individual) — its history, and its character ; what it does, and what it is ; and these together constitute its national life. Hence it is manifest that all the institutions of a nation must be ruled by this supreme law : they ought in no way to stunt, mutilate, starve, poison, or fetter the national life, but in the highest degree to favour its full development and perfect activity; whether by wise guid- ance, stern restraint, bountiful protection and patronage, or by wise abstinence from all these, leaving both growth and action free. It follows from these facts that we may look at the great question of the mutual influence of Christianity and national life from either side — the religious or the national. The argument for thp state establishment of religion from the religious side is, that whether it be for the national good or not, it is necessary for the main- tenance of Christianity and the welfare of the Church, that Christianity be accepted as the state creed, and the Church be established by law. This argument is refuted by the history of Christianity and of the Church for the first three centuries, and by the whole history of Chris- tian missions. If it were not false it would be suicidal, for it would follow that Christianity is not the greatest power in the world ; and if so, then not true, not Divine, not worth upholding. But the argument from the other side deserves respectful and candid attention. It is this : that although the Church can well dispense with the alliance of Church and State, the State cannot. National life, like individual life, to attain its true pitch of noble- ness, energy, and happiness, must be religious, must be Christian. This, it is urged, implies a national recogni- Church and State. 223 tlon of Christianity, and this, again, implies an estab- lished national Church. No one who believes that the Creator and Governor of nations is likewise the Author of the Bible, can doubt that, from whichever side we approach the question, our conclusions, if true, must coincide. What is best for Christianity and for the Church must also be best for the nation. Let us then make two suppositions, both, indeed, imaginary, yet so founded on fact as to be capable of shedding real light on the argument. Suppose, on the one hand, a nation in which the principle of an estab- lishment of religion is perfectly carried out, yet where the bulk of the people are irreligious ; on the other hand, a nation in which there is no established Church, or legal bond between the Church and the State, yet in which the main body of all classes of the nation are religious. Let it be observed that although in England we have an Established Church, no attempt is made or dreamed of to carry out the principle in its integrity. The bis- hops are appointed by the Prime Minister,' and certain livings are in the gift of the Crown, but the bulk of livings (to use the legal phrase, which always sounds as if an occult irony lurked in it, reminding one rather of sheep- shearing than of sheep-tending) are in private hands, and the right to appoint the ministers of the Church is publicly put up to auction like any other private pro- perty. The State asserts no effective control over either the doctrine or the discipline of the Church. The Act of Uniformity is totally powerless to prevent the widest diversities both in teaching and in ritual, and the au- thority of law, civil and ecclesiastical, is vainly invoked ; the schism widens, and the scandal grows from day to day. A very large proportion of the buildings and the clergy of the Established Church have long been main- tained entirely on the voluntary principle, and the com- 2 24 Church and State. pulsory rate for maintaining those fabrics which, till recently, the law thus provided for, has now been finally surrendered. Moreover, about half that portion of the nation which attends public worship at all belongs to other Churches unconnected with the State. Now, in place of this anomalous condition of things, suppose every minister appointed by Government, in proportion to population, say, one for every 1,500 souls, and paid from taxation or endowments under State control. Sup- pose a rigid construction and strict enforcement of the compact between the Church and the State as to the doc- trines taught and the rites practised. Finally, let there be no Dissenters. Yet does not all history show that you might have all this, and that every act of State might be performed in the name of Christianity and blessed by the clergy, and yet the people might be irreligious? The clergy might be moral, benevolent, and conscientious in the fulfilment of their duties, yet the benumbing in- fluence of State officialism might combine with the pride of priestly exclusiveness to cut asunder the golden links of sympathy between them and their people, and rob their ministry of all unction and life. The national homage to religion might be but a stately civility, a stone-cold courtesy. The church-tax might be produc- tive, but the churches empty. Christianity might lose its hold on the heart and thought of the nation, and the whole current of the nation's real life flow in channels which it neither guided nor blessed. Now, let us be permitted to imagine a nation in which the Christian Church in all its various forms is recognized as a purely spiritual institution. Not a penny is ever paid by the State for the support or encouragement of Christian worship. The office of the Christian ministry neither entitles nor forbids a single citizen to hold a seat in the legislature, or any other public office. Each man's Church and State. 225 status in society is determined by his character, abiUties, and wealth or calling, irrespective of religious views. Christianity is alike unaided and unhindered. Then suppose that in every household — or but with rare ex- ceptions — there is daily reading of the Scriptures, and family prayer ; that in every school — the State neither en- joining nor prohibiting — the training of conscience and character is regarded as the necessary foundation of edu- cation, and every scholar is taught to think of Christ as his Model and his Master. Judges and magistrates, counsel and jurymen, come into court believing that the judgment is the Lord's. Capitalists acknowledge the supreme claim of Him who says, "the silver is mine, and the gold is mine." Merchants believe that the bles- sing of the Lord maketh rich ; tradesmen, that a just balance is the Lord's ; workmen, that what our hand findeth to do, must be done with our might, as unto the Lord. On the Lord's-day, by common consent, and force of public opinion, every wheel of the vast machine of worldly business rests, and the levity even of innocent amusement is sobered by the presence of a higher joy ; and rich and poor meet together in the house of God, to seek His blessing on their earthly life, and to be re- minded of the better country. Who does not see, that the former nation, with all its forms Christianized, would be thoroughly unchristian, and that the latter — if such there were — would be in truth a Christian nation, not by force of laws and insti- tutions, but by the free action of Christianity; by the power of the truth and Spirit of Christ on the hearts and homes of its citizens, and thus of necessity on the whole breadth and depth of national life ? Imaginary cases, it may be said, prove nothing. If fairly drawn they may prove much, at least negatively ; or, if they do not prove, they may teach. The two pictures just Q 226 Church and State, sketched prove, at all events, that there Is nothing diffi- cult or contradictory in the conception of a Christian nation without any establishment of religion, or of an un- christian nation with an elaborate state church ; and they do but exhibit the complete development of prin- ciples" and tendencies actually at work. On a small but instructive scale the second picture, or no very faint outline of it, has been realized (though not in any of the so-called great Christian nations) in some of those islands of the Pacific, peopled a generation ago with naked, idolatrous cannibals, where — with religious avoid- ance of the Establishment principle — Christianity has been the parent of civilization and literature, and the nurse of law, freedom, and commerce. On the other hand, the working of the establishment principle, both in our rough inconsistent English fashion, and in those countries in which it has been tried more systematically, has been such as to warrant the conclusion, that the more completely it is worked, the more complete is its failure in regard to the real Christianization of the na- tional life. This seems the place to revert to the theory already glanced at as the noblest form of the establishment prin- ciple, according to which the nation and the Church are identical, and to inquire into the supposed counten- ance it derives from the example of Judaism. With- out question, under the old covenant, the Nation and the Church were identical. The original foundation, on which not only all the laws and institutions of the nation, but its very existence as a people, rested, was religion. That unique series of events, partly miracu- lous, partly providential, by which the family of Abra- ham was built up into a people, and trained to become the typical nation — the most national of the nations of mankind-: -had its starting-point in the Diyine revelation Church and State. 227- to Abraham, and its reason In the promise that from him should descend the Saviour of mankind. The vulgar notion of modern rationalistic criticism, that the Jews regarded Jehovah as their national God, just as the Syrians regarded Baal, or the Athenians Pallas, or the Romans Mars, Is (like many views of kindred parent- age) a prodigious instance of learned Ignorance. It bespeaks entire misconception of the whole history and position of the Hebrew nation, as given in their own scrip- tures. The Israelites were a holy people, a consecrated na- tion, not because of their separation from other nations, but because of that work and purpose for the sake of which they were separated ; to be God's witnesses, the treasure-keepers of His truth for all mankind, and, in the fulness of time, the religious teachers o f all other na- tions.* To this great destiny all was subordinated. The nation accepted Jehovah as Its King, and was acknow- ledged by Him as His people in a public covenant of transcendent solemnity. Membership In the sacred na- tion was strictly defined, and sealed with an indelible personal mark. The code, civil and ecclesiastical, from the fundamental constitutional laws of morality, property, citizenship, to those which regulated the shaving of a whisker, or the hem of a garment, was of express Divine enactment, and could be neither repealed, modified, nor added to, except by the same authority. The king (when in compliance with the popular wish, a king was ap- pointed), like the inferior magistrates — heads of tribes or elders of cities — possessed only executive and judicial ^ not legislative authority. His highest title—** the Lord's Anointed"— which in modern times has served to gild despotism with a burnish of religion, In fact reminded him, and reminded others, that he was no despot. His high office, as supreme judge and military dictator, presented * See Deut. vii. 6 j Isa. xli. 8, 95 xliii. 10, 21 j Rom. iii. a j^ ix. 4, 5. Q 2 2 28 Church and State, the semblance of oriental absolutism, but it was at his peril if he mistook this semblance for reality, or for- got that he was the viceroy of Jehovah over the people of Jehovah. Even the people were not slow to remind him if he presumed too far, though they loved to be ruled ivith a strong hand, that their liberties were as sacred as his authority. The Lord was their Judge; the Lord was their Lawgiver ; the Lord was their King. If both king and people forgot this, a supernatural, yet regular constitutional check was provided in the ministry of the prophets. The prophets were not mere inspired teachers ; they were great state officers, independent alike of the throne and of the priesthood, holding their commission direct from Jehovah, and authorized to declare God's will on all great public questions, for- eign or domestic, and to require implicit obedience from king, priest, and people. If the Jewish model of Church and State is to be revived in any modern nation, repre- sentative government must, if retained at all, be limited to taxation and administration ; legislative authority must be renounced ; the opposite theories of Divine right and popular sovereignty must alike be exploded ; a body of inspired laws must be provided, and an order of prophets must be raised up to settle every disputed point of law or policy, with the decision which admits no appeal — ''Thus saith the Lord!' Even were this conceivable, practicable, actually at- tained, it would be going back, not going forward. The image of ancient Israel would be reproduced, with its bondage of the letter, its adaptation to spiritual, social and political infancy, its essential incapacity for expan- sion and progress. But no step would be made towards realizing the idea of a Christian nation. No field would be provided for the exercise, on a national scale, of that union of law, liberty, and personal obedience, which Church and State, 229 forms the distinguishing character, the unique glory, of Christianity considered as a system of morals — in other words, a practical theory of life, A Christian nation, if such there were, would not be Israel over again, but something as much better and nobler than even the golden age of the Theocracy, as Christianity excels Judaism, or a true Christian surpasses an ** Israelite indeed." What makes any one a true Christian ? Personal obedience to Christ : the obedience not of fear, or of expediency, but of faith working by love. He has accepted his relation to Christ as the cen- tral, guiding relation of life, to which all others, the most precious and the most powerful, must be held subordinate. Christ's truth is his oracle, Christ's will his law, Christ's glory his highest aim. This supreme reference colours more or less vividly all his thought, speech, and action. Christ is the sun of his orbit, and all creatures are but fellow-planets, or satellites, or comets, or fixed stars. Sc, a Christian nation should be a nation with which lo}'al obedience to Christ, as the actual Lawgiver and Ruler of men, is the law of all its laws, the spirit of all Its institutions, the key to all its politics; in which the relation to Christ is accepted as fundamental and cen- tral to all other relations, internal or external. Hither- to (and strange it seems to me that this is so little considered) national life has had to develop itself as best It might under two prodigious, if not fatal, draw- backs : the absence of any recognized law of intercourse between nation and nation, and the absence of any discovered principle for regulating a nation's internal constitution. Hence, war has been the normal con- dition of nations externally, and revolution internally. No political Copernlcan system has yet been received by the nations of mankind. Each nation wishes to be the immoveable centre of the universe, round which all the 230 . Church and State. rest shall revolve. A common centre for all has not been so much as dreamed of, if we except the attempt of the Roman Church to frame the governments of Christendom Into an orrery, of which the Papal chair was the artificial sun : an attempt pitiable indeed, when regarded as a realization of the Kingdom of Christ ; but majestic and noble when contrasted with the helpless anarchy of human history. Within, nations have been bodies perpetually engaged in trying to fix their own centres of gravity. In the great empires the point of rest has been found in military force or in policy — the might of an iron hand or the craft of a subtle brain ; soon to be lost in the strife of feebler hands and brains. In our own country, during several centuries, repre- sentative institutions have secured — with one or two violent swings of revolution — a slow rate of change, often mistaken for equilibrium. The centre of gravity has slowly shifted downwards ; whether at this moment the strongest attraction is in the mass of gold or in the mass of population, is a difficult problem. But the most powerful tendency of society discerned by the keenest observers, in the nominally Christian nations — the move- ment towards pure and simple democracy — is a ten- dency destructive to representative as well as aristo- cratic ©r democratic government. If thoroughly worked out, uncontrolled by any higher law of national life, it will at last substitute delegates for representatives, retaining the form of government merely as the ma- chinery for executing the will of the numerical majority of both sexes. For the will, passions, and interests of a despot, will be substituted the will, passions, and interest of the multitude ; and the nation which commands the largest amount of labour and capital available for war by land and sea, will rule the world. Powerful conservative tendencies, especially in old countries, may. Church a7id Stat^. 231 indefinitely retard this destructive force. Ancient insti- tutions may form a breakwater not easily undermined or overflowed. The very speed and conflict of the current may produce a backwater of reaction, on the surface of which (as in France) despotism may for a season float. War may produce unforeseen eddies and counter-cur- rents. But the student of history and of human nature can discern no counteracting tendency strong enough to make the ultimate result doubtful, except as to time unless such tendency be found in Christianity. If the promise is to be fulfilled, that all nations are to be blessed in Christ ; and that not believing souls merely but nations are to become His inheritance; it surely fol- lows that He must hold in His hands the remedy for these two grand hindrances to the development of na- tional life. He must be able to furnish the central authority to which all nations will bow, thenceforth laying aside their selfish, foolish, impious strife, and learning to seek, not every land its own, but every land the welfare of others : " neither shall they learn war any more." He must be no less able to furnish the missing principle, the regulating law, for the internal order of each commonwealth ; so that its legislation, . and the growth and permanence of its constitution shall thence- forth be settled, not by the strife of class with class, by party tactics, personal following, and the uncontrollable force of circumstances ; but by the intelligent brotherly co-operation of each with all. Now let any one, able to comprehend and weigh these considerations, gravely ask himself whether any form of union between Church and State — in other words, any union of the organization in which men combine as Christians for spiritual purposes with the organization In which they combine as citizens for civil purposes — can possibly have the slightest power to heal these rooted 232 Church and State. evils, or bring about these blessed results, national and international. Divesting our minds of all unmeaning verbiage and misleading sentiment ; and also assuming that even the advocates of a state-church renounce the right and duty of persecution ; what do we really mean by the establishment of religion, but simply these two things : Money (including money's worth, as land and buildings), and a. certain position and prestige for the clergy, — whether of one church or sect, or of all ? A dead ma- chinery, which, according as it is worked, may do much, or little, or nothing, to promote true religion, or may even become an engine for repressing it, and a social leverage, dangerous to its possessors, and as capable of being used for mischief as for good. What can these things do, or what have they ever done, to make a nation really a Christian people, so that its foreign policy, legislation, administration, public opinion, business, amusements, education, production and expenditure of wealth, should all be supremely guided by the word of Christ, and ruled by His will ? If a state-church be indeed God's chosen means for thus blessing, ennobling, sanctifying the national life, let us have not an incongruous, frag- mentary system, in which antiquated inefficiency is eked out with the earnestness of voluntary effort ; and huge masses of population are untouched with even that faint varnish of outward Christianity which would make them put on Sunday clothes and come to church once on a Sunday ; but give us a real complete thorough-going establishment ; paying the worker for his work, and taking care that he does it ; paying no one a sixpence who has no real work to do ; and leaving no part of the work undone, but bringing home the Gospel to every door in England. If no one wants this, or dreams of it,. and men are only quarrelling about money and social position, then, in the name of all truth and honesty, let Church and State, 233 us cease to profane sacred words, and try to name things truly, and look facts in the face. A nation can become truly Christian in no other way than by being composed of real Christians, if not exclusively, yet in such proportion that the whole tone and course of its national life and manners shall be Christian. No action of government can effect this ; no institutions, votes of majorities, endowment of clergy or of schoolmasters ; nothing but the enlightened faith and free obedience of individual minds and consciences. If truth free cannot do it, still less will truth fettered. If a ministry who live by the Gospel because they preach the Gospel cannot do it, still less can a ministry who live by their office whether they preach the Gospel or not. It must be the work not of man's will, but of God*s own free Spirit, " Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty"; and spiritual liberty and establish- ment of religion by civil authority (which is at the back- bone the power of the sword) are so irreconcilably in- compatible, that they can co-exist only by the mutilation of one or both. In Religion as in Art, in Science, in Literature, freedom is but a condition, not a cause, of excellence. But it is a condition so favourable that where it exists religion penetrates as naturally as air and sunlight pass through open windows ; and it is a condi- tion so necessary, that we are warranted in predicting that for any nation to become a truly Christian nation, religion must be free. Our line of thought inevitably brings before us the third '* sub-question," started at the outset. Sup- posing a nation, or supposing many nations, to become thus Christian, not in mere name but in reality, what new bearing would religion — the religion of Christ — acquire on civil institutions and national governments ? In other words, what is the legitimate, divinely-in- 234 Church and State. TENDED RELATION BETWEEN THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST AND THE KINGDOMS OF THIS WORLD ? Refraining from any attempt to discuss adequately this deep and wide question, I shall venture as briefly as possible to lay down certain main positions on which the answer (as it appears to me) must de- pend. Nothing is easier than to draw very partial and therefore false conclusions here from a limited examina- tion of Scripture teaching. The statements of Scrip- ture are so varied concerning the kingdom of Christ (called also the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, or simply the kingdom), that a reader who is content with a certain selection of passages may form conclusions utterly discordant from those of another reader, content with a different set of texts ; and (as always happens in such cases) each will seem to the other to be deny- ing the plain sense of Scripture. It is but one ex- ample of these seeming paradoxes, that while we find Our Saviour expressly saying that His kingdom is not of this world ; other passages (as in one of the chief prophecies of Christ, Ps. xxii. 28) as expressly declare that He shall reign over the Gentiles, that the kingdom is the Lord's, that He is the Governor among the nations, and that the time approaches when it shall be proclaimed with thunder-songs of praise that* the kingdoms of this world are become Our Lord's and His Christ's. (Com- pare Dan. vii. 14.) Whatever else it is or is not, the kingdom of Christ, His reign or dominion is His supreme claim to the absolute personal obedience of every human being. He is Lord of all. The head of every man is Christ. To this end Christ both died and rose, that He might be Lord both of the dead and living. Unbelievers reject this claim ; believers recognize it ; but our recognition * In the oldest copies, *^ the kingdom of this world is become;" Rev. xi. 15. Church and State, 235 does not create it. We acknowledge It because it already exists, and binds all men. Jesus Christ is the Judge of men because He is the King of men. Here is one broad line of contrast to all the king- doms of this world. No earthly government, absolute or popular, claims unlimited obedience. Souls are free.. The greatest despot in the world is but a limited monarch. Christ alone claims the allegiance of faith and conscience, the loyalty of hearts, the obedience of love. The kingdom of Christ, being thus a dominion over the whole nature- of every man, is, by the very terms of the statement, a moral and spiritual rule. Mere outward obedience to Christ is not simply defective, it counts for nothing. A man may be a faithful citizen under a form of government which he dislikes and in his conscience condemns ; a republican under a monarchy, a monarchist under a republic ; but no one can be a subject of this kingdom who does not in his inmost soul prefer Christ's rule and service to every other. Hence the kingdom of Christ differs essentially from the kingdoms of this world, both in its subjects and in its methods. Except a man be born again, he cannot enter it, or even see it. Truth and love, personal persuasion and spiritual in- fluence, which have no place in earthly states, are the weapons by which His kingdom conquers, the forces by which it is ruled. Not that the Divine King renounces the right (inseparable from sovereignty) to use the strong arm, and wield the rod of iron as well as the golden sceptre. But when the time comes for this, His word to His ministers will be not ''Compel them to come in," but '' Gather out of my kingdom all things which offend, and them who do iniquity." ** The children of the kingdom " are '* the just." We must distinguish the Kingdom of Christ from the Church of Christ. The same persons, it is true, com- 236 Church and State, pose them, and therefore we may without inconvenience often speak of them as Identical. Yet a single phrase Is sufficient to show that the distinction Is both real and important. " The gospel of the kingdom " is a familiar New Testament phrase ; but no one can imagine an apostle talking of "the gospel of the church." The vital principle, the formative idea, of the Church is union with Christ ; of the Kingdom, obedience to Christ. The Christian Church on earth is in fact an association for the promotion of the kingdom of Christ. Lastly, while the perfect development and right ac- tion of the Church require complete independence of all governments, corporate bodies, and associations of men in any other capacity than as Christians banded together for spiritual objects ; the kingdom of Christ, on the con- trary, demands for its complete realization the submission of every form of human government and society, national or other, to Christ's supreme authority. " For In that he put all In subjection under him, he left nothing not put under him." If this be granted in reference to states, or govern- ments, it will scarcely be denied of any other form of human society. It can be denied In reference to governments or states only on one of two assumptions : either that these possess an authority Independent of — equal or superior to — that of Christ ; or else that they are incapable of obedience. The first supposition is absurd. Take whichever view of government you choose, either that under whatever political form it is administered, civil government is God's ordinance, and the magistrate, as such, God's minister ; or else that the government of a country is the embodiment of the popular will, and the magistrate the minister of the sovereign pleasure of the majority. In the first case, it Is certain that God has ordained no authority which He has not placed In sub- Church and State. 237 jection (de jure, though not yet de facto) to the Lord Jesus. In the second case, the stream cannot rise higher than the fountain. Men cannot create an authority superior to that by which every man is bound. The second supposition is equally absurd. Nations with their governments are composed of men. Men cannot be free collectively from laws which bind each man individually. By entrusting fifteen men with great public offices and calling them a Cabinet, or choosing 658 men to make laws and calling them a House, you cannot destroy the obligation every one of them is under to act, speak, and think as a Christian. A prime minister or legislator may be much more bound, but cannot be less bound, than a household servant to do whatsoever he does " unto the Lord " Unless it can be maintained that right and wrong belong to human conduct on a small scale only, not on a grand scale ; that collective action is neither moral nor immoral ; that it is wicked for one man to steal another man's purse or garotte the owner, but not for twenty millions of men to steal the territory of other ten millions, and slaughter thousands of inhabitants ; that it is virtuous and pleasing to God for a man to give honest measure, and- to deal his bread to the hungry, but not for a nation to make and maintain just laws and practice a generous policy ; — it must be allowed that the claim of the Divine King of men to the obedience of nations and governments, is as real, direct, and supreme, as His claim on the personal obedience of every separate human being The practical universal recognition of this sovereignty implies not the union or confusion of Church and State, but, on the contrary, their clear and complete separa- tion, as an instalment and earnest of the obedience which both owe to Christ, who has ordained for the welfare of both that they be separate. Best is it for both that the Church be left, unhelped and unhindered, 238 Church and State. to pursue her proper work ; no splendid illusions, no dazzling, distracting ambitions, coming between her and the humble, painful reality of this work, as a work not upon masses or upon classes, but on the soul and con- science of each human being. Thus, not otherwise, can the Church bless and re- generate the State. God works ever from the root upwards, from the hidden centre to the surface, from the little life-cell to the complex organism. No number of ungodly men, place them under what institutions you will, can possibly make a Christian nation. To call them such is to deceive ourselves with fair words. Even though all the members of the government were personally true Christians, this would go a very little way if the bulk of the people were unchristian. The moral power of the strongest government is very limited if it is not in sym- pathy with the nation. Of what use is it to talk of establishing religion, when a government cannot so much as establish truth and honesty ? As well talk of estab- lishing the west wind, the sunshine, or the dew. But, were that promise accomplished, " Thy people shall be all righteous'' ; were the bulk of the nation such that in every business from the polling-booth and the market up to the Cabinet, in every company from the Court down to the cottage and the workshop, the first question were not, '* What is politic, customary, for the interest of the party, for the gain of the few ?" but '' What is right ?" — then it will be seen that the Gospel is as able to bless a nation as ever was the Law. The Lord Jesus will take the helm of that nation into His own hand. Such a nation will not dream of '' establishing religion," but re- ligion will establish the nation, and righteousness will exalt it. Its officers will be peace and its exactors righteousness. Violence will no more be heard in its land, wasting nor destruction within its borders. The day Church and State. 239 will have dawned, whose glory is indeed dim compared with the far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory beyond ; but the promise of which is, nevertheless, the most precious inheritance and only hope of the nations of mankind. THE FORGIVENESS ABSOLUTION OF SINS. REV. HENRY ROBERT REYNOLDS, B.A. LoND., D.D. Edinb. THE FORGIVENESS ABSOLUTION OF SINS. The ambiguity of language is a fruitful source of theolo- gical controversy. If all disputants were in a position to use words in precisely the same sense, if they could thoroughly understand one another, and had grace to reason fairly, the antagonisms of Christian theology would be to a considerable extent reduced. In physical science, or historical research, when a fact is once ascertained, a generalization made, and a nomen- clature adopted, there is no further scope for passion. Interest or prejudice may be enlisted in favour of the establishment of a phenomenon, of a law, or of a name, and the progress of discovery or classification may be retarded by it ; but sooner or later, either prejudice gives way, or the new generation silently embraces the unquestionable. It is otherwise with metaphysics and theology. Here there are grave difficulties that w^e cannot hide from ourselves, which have a tendency to perpetuate strife, and which suffer very little modification in the succession of generations. Every human being is born into our world with capacity and temptation to ask many unanswerable R 2 244 ^'-^^ Forgiveness questions about itself, its origin and destiny. These force the thinkers of every period to grapple with problems which mere science perpetually proves itself incompetent to solve. Each generation takes up the scientific problem at the point where the previous generation has left it. Many of the questions once asked with mystery and fear are now answered, yet every generation, and in some measure every individual, feels the burden of existence afresh, and with an ever-augmenting sensibility. Every thoughtful man is driven inwards and Godwards in a restless search after Cause, and is compelled to pos- tulate for himself the fundamental theses of metaphysics and theology. There is no fear that these will ever lose their interest for beings who are conscious of self, and who know that they must die. These studies are moreover, exposed to the additional difficulty, that there are no terms belonging to them perfectly current and mutually understood, and hence men of different ages and nations cannot fully comprehend each others' views on these most momentous of all discussions. It is true that philosophers and theologians have tried to define terms, and the sense in which they use them, and here and there a group of men have maintained that they do most perfectly agree in the judgment they form on transcen- dental facts. The agreement is, however, illusory, so far as it concerns the permanence of theologic or philosophic ideas. Those who do not belong to such fellowships often cannot understand the commonest terms used within them, and often condemn each other for holding opinions that are identical. The difficulty is increased by thefact that, in order to attain sympathy with the moral and religious expe- rience of our fellow-men, we are compelled to translate from one language into another the recondite thoughts of different ages and peoples. It is still further aggravated in consequence of the figurative element in all metaphysical And Absolution of Sins. 245 speech, in which sounds that in their primary use con- noted broadly the external and physical correspon- dence to some internal reality, have first utterly lost their phenomenal force, and afterwards in their passage from one language to another have been stereotyped into some conventional metaphysical signification. Thus the words '* spirit," ** mind," "idea," 'Maw," ''sin," " iniquity," " pardon," with many others, have passed through periods of confusing change in their signification. Words that in different languages are equivalent to each other necessarily cover different ground and overlap each other in various directions ; consequently, in passing from one language to another, subordinate ideas are often dropped unconsciously, and are as often incremented by foreign and perhaps incompatible notions. This is a necessity of our present condition, in which there is no inherent relation between words and thought. That rela- tion is entirely arbitrary or conventional, and language is a function of the hearer's as well as of the speaker's mind : therefore, when a word is used to convey ideas mutually understood among any people, it may approach in signification a corresponding word adopted by other people ; but there is hardly an instance where the equi- valence is exact, and thousands of instances will occur to every attentive reader, which show that the meanings of a word in one language are profoundly different from those of its nearest equivalent in another. Moreover, many words that deal with themes of high importance, have had to be thus transferred from Hebrew to Aramaic, from Aramaic to Greek, from Greek to Latin, from Latin to English, from early to modern English. It would be in- teresting to take any of the terms which are needed in the discussion of the question of this Essay, and to exhibit the variations of meaning which have accompanied their translation and tradition from people to people, and 246 The Forgiveness from age to age. A single illustration may be of service, and may teach us charity In our theological conflict. Take a Hebrew* word, the fundamental notion of which is raising upwards, or lifting a thing or a part of the per- son, from a lower to a higher position. This word acquires a multitude of subordinate meanings, such as" to swear" by lifting the hand to Heaven, " to cry aloud" by lifting up the voice, and many similar combinations. As applied to life, It means " to take It away" ; as applied to sin, It signifies to *' carry off, or expiate It," and with a certain grammatical construction, it means "to procure for- giveness of sin for another.'' When applied to sin and calamity, it means " vicarious endurance of these for another." For each of these applications of one Hebrew word, we have a corresponding Greek word used in the Septuagint to translate its shifting signi- fications ;t but each of these words Is charged with meanings distinct from the rest, In some cases wider, in others more restricted In signification than in its Latin or English synonyms. We must beware, therefore, that we do not make men offenders for a word when we are so far from any rigid defini- tion of the precise meaning of the terms we use. We do not say that it Is Impossible to approximate the thoughts of Moses or David, of Isaiah or Paul ; but it is obvious that when we use the terms " forgiveness," "atonemqnt," "vicarious suffering," "deliverance from sin," " endurance of the punishment of sin," and draw Import- ant distinctions between these Ideas, we may be using the translation of only one word In the Hebrew Scriptures. An etymological disquisition of some length is needed to interpret the Greek, Latin, or English terms that are used to limit the connotation of the # «b3 T T f Some of these become of importance to us j such are d