are necessary for men's admission into the Church, they must be so for their continuance in it. For no reason can be shown why men should be obliged to promise faith and obedience in order to their becoming members of the Church, which does not equally hold for their exclusion from it when they notoriously break their vow. So that the power of excommunication is a manifest consequence of the baptismal covenant, and committed to the governors of the Church, who have the dispensation of the sacraments. Q. Did not the Church receive this power from our Lord's institution? A. The Church has received this power from our Lord's institution. Upon Peter's confessing our Lord to be the Son of God, he declared, first, that upon this rock he would build his Church, against which the gates of hell should never prevail; and then added, I will give unto thee (that is, to Peter, and with him to the rest of the Apostles) the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven." The meaning of this promise manifestly is, that the Apostles and their successors should be chief governors of the Church under Christ, and, as such, should have authority to admit persons into it, or exclude them from it; to condemn or absolve its members. This is certain from another passage, where our Lord, having cautioned his disciples that they should not offend others, proceeds to instruct them how to behave themselves when others should offend them. That, first, they should privately admonish the offender; if this did not bring him to repentance, they should then reprove him before two or three witnesses; but if this also proved unsuccessful, their last remedy should be to tell it to the Church; and if the offender still neglected to hear, as their authority was wholly spiritual, and they could not inflict any civil punishment on him, all that our Lord directs them to do is, that they should account the obstinate offender as an heathen or a publican; they should look upon him no longer as a member of the Church, but place him among infidels, and other profligate men, whose conversation they used to shun. Q. Was not this authority exercised, and held to be of divine right by the Apostles and their successors, the Bishops of the primitive Church? A That this authority was exercised, and held to be of divine right by the Apostles and their successors, the Bishops of the primitive Church, is clear; from the case of Ananias and Sapphira, when it pleased God to attest the apostolic authority of retaining sins, by enabling Peter to strike both the offenders with present death;' and from the case of the incestuous Corinthian," whom St. Paul delivered to Satan, excluded from the Church of Christ, for the crime of incest, and afterwards received again to communion upon repentance. And this power was not confined to the Apostles, but was to be continued to their successors. We find it was committed to Timothy and Titus, whom St. Paul set over the Churches of Ephesus and Crete: for he writes thus to Timothy: Against an Elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses; and if he had power to receive accusations and hear witnesses, he must have authority to pass some censure upon them, if they were found guilty. The same Apostle writes thus to Titus: A man that is an heretic, after the first and second admonition, reject." The like power had the angels of the seven Churches in the Revelation. For the Bishop of Pergamus was severely reproved for having the Nicolaitanes in his communion, and the Bishop of Thyatira for suffering that woman Jezebel." Which manifestly implies, they had authority to exclude them from the Chuich, for otherwise they could not have been blamed for permitting them to remain in it. Q. Have not the Clergy a right to demand a competent and honourable maintenance from the people committed to their charge? A. The Clergy have an undoubted right to demand a competent and honourable maintenance from the people committed to their charge. It is certain that God has an absolute right to dispose of all we have in the world; and since it has appeared, that he has appointed an order of men to attend continually on his worship and service, we cannot doubt but that he requires so much of our worldly substance to be set apart for their support, as may enable them to discharge the duties of their function, and such as may express the just respect which is borne to their office and character. Our Lord himself, with his retinue of Apostles and Disciples, was maintained by charitable contributions; for we read tha t Acts v. 10 20 T'it iii. 10. u 1 Cor. v. 1. v 1 Tim. v. 19. y Rev. ii. 20 many ministered unto him of their substance. When he sent forth his Apostles to preach, he gave them this instruction, Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass, in your purses, for the workman is worthy of his meat." Whence it is manifest, that our Lord accounted it the duty of those to whom the Gospel was preached, to give a competent maintenance to them that preached it. When the apostle St. Paul puts the Thessalonians in mind that he had maintained himself, he at the same time asserts his right to require maintenance of them: Not (says he) because we have not power. And to the Corinthians he says, That as they who wait at the altar are partakers with the altar, even so hath the Lord ordained, that they who preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel. Q. What other considerations may be urged to establish the duty of affording the clergy a comfortable and honourable subsistence? A. The clergy, in order to devote themselves entirely to their spiritual functions, renounce all ordinary means of advancing their fortunes; and, therefore, it is highly fit that their laborious and difficult employment, the important and disinterested objects of which are God's glory and the salvation of men, should receive from us the encouragement of a comfortable and honourable subsistence. Their maintenance should bear some proportion to the dignity of their character, as ambassadors for Christ; and should raise them above the contempt of those who are too apt to be influenced by outward appearances. It should be sufficient to enable them not only to provide for their families, a duty incumbent upon them as well as the rest of mankind, but to be examples to their flock in charity and in doing good. Q. Do not all lay-christians owe some obedience to their spiritual rulers? A. That all lay-christians do owe some obedience to their spiritual rulers, is evident from our Lord's command to hear the Church, and the injunction of the Apostle, Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls, as they that must give an account. The Church which we are to hear is to be known from the foregoing description of it; and the rulers to whom we are to yield obedience, and submit ourselves, are they who derive their commission by an uninterrupted succession from Christ and his apostles. z Luke viii. 2, 3. c 1 Cor. ix. 13, 14. a Matt. x. 9, 10. b 2 Thess. iii. 9. • Heb. xiii 17. Q. Wherein does this obedience consist, and what are the limits of it? A. Wherein this obedience to our spiritual rulers consists, and what are the limits of it, we may learn from the nature and extent of their power; for so far as they have a right to command, so far are we bound to obey. Now all things that are in the world may be divided into good, bad, and indifferent. The good oblige by their own nature, and the command of God: in these things the authority of our governors is of no force; for whatever is enjoined by the positive command of God, we are bound to do, whether they require it or not. The evil are by the same forbidden, and we are obliged not to obey our governors, if they should command them. So that it is the indifferent only whereto their authority reaches; and the things which are indifferent in themselves are all those which relate to the outward peace and order of the Church; which are not enjoined by the express word of God, but yet are in no respect contrary to it, in no wise forbidden by it. And as is their authority, such is to be our submission. So that the obedience we owe to our spiritual governors consists in observing all their injunctions, that are contained within these bounds of their commission; in submitting to that discipline which they shall inflict, either to recover us from a state of folly, or to preserve us from falling into it; in attending their public administrations at such times and places as they shall appoint, and upon such occasions as they shall judge proper, to increase our piety and devotion; and in submitting to such regulations as they shall think conducive towards the edifying of the body of Christ. This is our duty. For things which are indifferent in their nature, when commanded by lawful authority, are no longer indifferent to us, but become binding upon us. In disobeying them that have the rule over us, we disobey God, who has commanded us to be subject for conscience sake; and, therefore, we are to obey our spiritual rulers, from a sense of that right which they have to command, intrusted to them by God our Saviour, and of that great penalty to which we are liable by our contempt; for he that despiseth them, despiseth him that sent them. Q. Wherein consists the dignity of the Christian ministry? A. The dignity of the Christian Ministry consists in its divine institution, and in the nature of those affairs abou which it treats, it being ordained for men in things pertaining to God. It is an employment, in its own nature the most honourable and the most happy, and in its effects the most beneficial to mankind. Q. How doth it appear to be the most honourable employment? A. No man can be employed in any work more honourable than what immediately relates to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and to the salvation of souls, immortal in their nature, and redeemed by the blood of God. It is the same work in kind, and in the main end and design of it, with that of the blessed angels, who are ministering spirits for those who shall be heirs of salvation. It is the same the Son of God discharged, when he condescended to dwell among men. The business of the ministry is, the increase and maintenance of that building whereof Christ laid the foundation when upon earth, the promotion of his glorious design for the salvation of souls. Q. Wherein consists the happiness of this employment? A. It fixes the mind upon the best and noblest objects; upon God, a being infinite in all perfections, upon that happiness which is placed in the eternal enjoyment of him, and upon those methods which are established for attaining this happiness. It engages men in the greatest acts of doing good, turning sinners from the error of their ways, and by all wise and prudent means gaining souls unto God. It exalts men above the low and mean concerns of this life; and engages them in the most noble and delightful employment, the improvement of the mind and the heart. The faithful and diligent discharge of the ministerial function gives a title to a higher degree of glory in the next world; for they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever." Q. What are the benefits of the ministry? A. It is by the execution of the office of the ministry that men are made members of the Church of Christ by baptism; and without being born of water and of the spirit, we cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven: that our spiritual life is maintained by the holy eucharist; for the cup of blessing which they bless is the communion of the blood of Christ; the bread which they break, the communion of the ƒ Heb. v. 1. g Heb. i. 14. h Dan xii. 3 i John iii. 5. |