66 to the church, were instituted, and the requisite instructions given for having the former filled by spiritual men, and the latter administered under suitable sanctions. "Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you; as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.”* He that heareth you, heareth me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth me; and he that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me."† While, on the other hand, to the members of the church, as distinguished from the governing body, such injunctions as these are given: "Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls as they that must give account."‡ The right and power of self-government which the church has thus received from Christ, she is bound to exercise in subjection to his will. She is not at liberty to suffer any third party to come between herself and her Lord. One is her Master, even Christ. "Ye call me master and Lord, and ye say well, for so I am."? To maintain her allegiance, it is not enough that she say unto him, "Lord, Lord." She must do the things which he has commanded her. For as the husband is the head of the wife, even so Christ is the Head of the church. And, accordingly, the church is subject unto Christ "in everything." CHAP. L Churchbound to exercise her govern ment in sub jection to Christ. Christ im tion to His It is obvious how directly this consideration bears, both Subjection to on the supremacy of Scripture, and on the rights of con- plies subjec science. Subjection to Christ necessarily implies subjection word. to his word. That word is the lively oracle through which his voice is heard, and to that voice the church must continually and exclusively bend her ear. "Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel but not of me: and that cover with a covering, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin. That walk to go down into John xx. 21. + Luke x. 16. Heb. xiii. 17. CHAP. L Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth: to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt.' In so far as the church consents to take her directions, in matters spiritual, from any other than Christ speaking in the Scriptures, she, to that extent, ceases to be the church of Christ. She is suffering other lords to have dominion over her. And, in so far as the attempt may be made to compel her to take such extraneous directions, the rights of conscience are outraged, and submission to the unlawful authority is not a duty, but a crime. In such a case, the divinely-recorded example of the inspired apostles must be her guide. "Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye; for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard." Nor will it mend the matter, that the compelling party appeals to scripture, as sanctioning the The Church doctrine or practice which it is wished to enforce. The church must inter ture for her pret Scrip- is not only entitled, but bound, in so far as the discharge self. of her own duty and the regulation of her own conduct are concerned, to interpret scripture for herself. It is not because she is the infallible interpreter, that this becomes her right and duty, but because there is no infallible interpreter on earth, and because she must answer for herself. The principle which thus entitles her to freedom from external coercion, is the very same which secures freedom within her own pale. Christ is the Head of the church, but he is also "the Head of every man." The church has no "dominion" over the faith of its members. While it belongs to her "to teach them to observe all things whatsoever Christ has commanded," it belongs to them, at the same time, "to search the Scriptures whether these things are so:" that "every man may be fully persuaded in his * Isa, xxx. 1, 2. Acts iv. 19, 20. 1 Cor. xi. 3. own mind,"* and, proving all things, "may hold fast that CHAP. I. which is good."+ Question dis tinct from what relates to forms of Church go vernment. These views of the church as a spiritual kingdom, and as possessing inherently the right and power of self-government, in sole subjection to her divine King and Head, are evidently altogether independent of any question relating to the forms of church-government. They grow out of first principles, which belong to the very essence of the church, and are entitled, therefore, to equal consideration from every branch of the church of Christ, whether the platform of its government be prelatic, congregational, or presbyterian. The case, in this respect, is substantially the same as that of civil society. Civil government is an ordinance of God, and whether the administration of civil affairs be monarchical or republican, in no degree touches the question of its subjection to Him by whom "kings reign, and princes decree justice." And while these views, as has been shown, have a very direct and important bearing on such vital points as the supremacy of Scripture, and the rights of con- Bearing of the science; they are not less closely bound up with a variety the spiritua of other interests of fundamental importance. Among these may be specified the spirituality, purity, and prosperity of the church of Christ; and as inseparably connected therewith, the manifestation of the divine glory, and the salvation of a perishing world. The spirituality of the church is invaded and destroyed, in proportion as any secular power usurps and exercises lordship over it. It loses thereby its distinctive character as a kingdom. not of this world. Secular power is, in other words, the power of the sword; and to bring in the sword into the House of God is to introduce the grossness of earth into the kingdom of heaven. The weapons of the church's warfare are not carnal, but subject on lity, purity, and prospe Church rity of the Christ. of Rom. xiv. 5. 1 Thes. v. 21. Prov. viii. 15. CHAP. I. spiritual. Conscience and the concerns of the soul lie not within the domain which the sword can regulate. If the church herself take the sword to enforce obedience to her decrees, she becomes a tyrant. If she consent to act under its dictation, as wielded by the civil power, she becomes a slave. In either case the keys drop from her hand. The power which Christ has given her to bind and to loose, to open and to shut, is not the power of force, but the power of the truth. It is the truth alone which is mighty, through God, to subdue men to Christ. Force may subdue them to Cæsar, but it will not subdue them to the King of Zion. "If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence."'* the Church with its spi The purity of On the preservation of the church's spirituality, it must bound up be abundantly obvious that her purity depends. In so far rituality. as other than spiritual considerations are brought to bear upon either the admission or expulsion of her members, her purity is endangered. It is no doubt true, that the church may loose both spirituality and purity without being subject to any external secular control. But this fact in no degree affects the question-first, that to deny to the church the right of self-government is to attack, and, so far as this denial is enforced, to subvert her spirituality; and second, that, in proportion as her spirituality is invaded, and secular force is substituted for the authority of the truth, her purity must decline. The church is God's witness against the sins and errors of a fallen race; and for the purity of her testimony it is indispensable she should be free to take her doctrines, discipline, worship, and government, not from the commandments of men, but directly and exclusively from the word of her exalted Lord. She is the light of John xviii. 36. this benighted world; and, in so far as she is not suffered CHAP. L to lie open to receive and to reflect the full, unbroken radiance of the Sun of righteousness, by reason of some earthly power coming between, she must needs suffer, more or less, a "disastrous eclipse," and the light that is in her will be darkness. It will be remembered that what is intended here is not to frame a treatise, or to enter into elaborate investigations on the points thus briefly noticed; but rather, and simply to indicate some of the fundamental principles which lie at the bottom of the controversy about to be described. Had it been otherwise, and that a fuller exposition of these preliminary questions had consisted with the main object of this work, it would have cost little labour to present amplo evidence of the grievous injuries that have been inflicted on the church's purity, by the encroachments of the secular power. Whatever hinders the church from going freely to the law and to the testimony, and from adjusting alike her creed and her administration, according to that divine standard, must needs be adverse to her purity. Reformation is arrested, abuses are multiplied and perpetuated, and the house of prayer is often made "a den of thieves," where worldly men carry on an earthly and unholy traffic in sacred things. With the spirituality and purity of the church her prosperity is inseparably bound up. There is, indeed, a kind of prosperity that is attainable without these accompaniments, and for the sake of which they have been too often and most criminally sacrificed. The prosperity that consists in temporal aggrandizement, in political ascendancy, in outward security and ease, in the favour and countenance of the world—is not much promoted by a rigorous and uncompromising adherence to Scripture and to Christ. "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own; but and purity of Spirituality the Church indispensable to prosperity. its |