THE UNION OF CHURCH AND STATE

OF. DIVINE ORIGINS,

AND OF PERPETUAL OBLIGATION.

GENESIS.

"And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (ii.. 7)..

I FIND, in the first chapter of the book of Genesis, that after the Almighty had finished the work of creation generally, he "created man in his own image;" and the mode of this creation of God's intelligent creature is fully revealed in the verse I have selected. And I think it would not be too much to affirm, that on the creation of man the union of Church and State, in purity and perfectness, was established upon this earth by God himself: this union, then, whatever objectors may say to the contrary, was, beyond all question, of divine origin, being implanted in the very nature of man. We are told that the great Architect formed, or fashioned, man of the dust of the ground; thus was the wonderful structure of man's body built up, after which it was animated and spiritualized; for God "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." Was not this, then, I ask, a most complete union of the heavenly with the earthly-of the spirit of the Most High God with the body he had formed for man out of the "dust of the ground?" Was not this an amalgamation of the celestial with the terrestrial of the divine with the human? The sublime principle of Church and State was, therefore, fully established in the body and mind of Adam, and it will continue in man's compound nature to the end of time, although not in the same state as before

the fall. Had man remained in his primitive innocence, as he came from the hands of his Maker, there would have been no sin to expiate, no atonement to be made; and, therefore, neither altars nor churches "built with hands" would have been required. Man would have been a pure Church in himself, and the Divine Spirit pervading him in all its fulness, he would have continued to "walk with God" in close and intimate communion. It is not, however, my purpose to speculate upon what would have been the case had man remained in his innocence, but to consider what was the result after his fall.

When, through the disobedience of Adam, he fell from his state of innocence and personal communion with God, being driven from the presence of his offended Maker, the necessity for altars, and sacrifices, and typical atonements, and prayers, and supplications, and priests to make expiation, commenced; then was the beginning of visible Churches, or places for sacrifices and worship. From the very time of the fall, when the promise was given that "the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head," religion, including faith in the atoning sacrifice of Christ, was the only means appointed for man's reconciliation to God. The visible Church of God, distinct from the body of man, was, in effect, established upon earth when the promise of the great atonement by the SAVIOUR CHRIST was given to Adam. It was then ordained by the Almighty that his Church, on earth, should be united with the state of man, or with his earthly affairs, as the only means of his restoration from the power of sin and death; it was graciously and mercifully ordered by the divine mind that religion should be the spirit which could alone hallow every social and political institution on this earth; and it was appointed that if man divided this union of religion with his temporal affairs, or neglected to make provision for it, punishments, tem

poral and spiritual, individual and national, should be the consequence. Such has been the consequence of a national disregard of God's Church, in all ages, since the world began. Nor was it the purpose of the Almighty that his Church should be established in union with the civil politics or worldly affairs of man for one particular age, or for what is called one particular "dispensation;" but for all ages, so long as the race of man shall continue: therefore it must not be considered that the union of Church and State, or the national establishment and support of religion, terminated, or was designed to terminate, with the first coming of our Lord.

With respect to the sort of altar, or church, that existed previous to the flood, we have no record; although, when Cain and Abel brought their offerings, there can be no doubt that they brought them to some kind of altar, however rude, since the firstling of Abel's flock was evidently intended for sacrifice as a type of "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world:" the altar, whatever it might have been, was provided and supported by the State, as it then existed-Adam, as the head of the family, being the sovereign or ruler, and also the high priest. There is hardly any room for question, that when men "first began to call upon the name of the Lord," they assembled at some particular altar for that purpose, which altar must have been a state, or an established altar, in a stated, publicly appointed, and well-known place. And this seems implied in the use of the word brought ""Cain brought of the first," &c. "Abel he also brought," &c.

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A modern author, in speaking of tithes, says, "It is a remarkable fact that the history of tithes may be traced back as far as the history of the priesthood; and there is no doubt but they are as ancient as the priesthood itself, that is, as Adam, from whom descended the knowledge of tithes, as well as of sacri

fices and priesthood, which were all equally received by the heathen world from immemorial tradition, with no other knowledge of the period of their commencement than they had of their own origin, of the world, of marriage, or of other positive institutions, which had been conveyed down to them by a sort of immemorial tradition. Melchisedec is the first of whom express mention is made that he received tithes; he is also the first whom we read of as being called by the name of priest; but who doubts as to there having been priests before? Why, then, should there be any doubt as to tithes being paid before?" The same may be said as to altars, which were the primitive churches; for, although no mention is made of them before the flood, there can be no doubt that they were erected when the necessity for them commenced, that is, immediately after the fall. We have no account of the state of God's Church on earth before the flood; but we learn that the wickedness of men had become so great as to induce the Almighty to sweep them off, in their sins, by a general deluge. Now we can easily conceive that this general corruption and wickedness occurred through the departure of the creature from the appointed service and worship of the Creator; we may assume, as a moral certainty, that men separated Church and State, entirely casting off the former; we may suppose that, like atheistical and revolutionary France in our own day, the antediluvians destroyed the national altars of religion, refused to honour and worship the God of their fathers, and set up some kind of "goddess of reason" as their idol; when, having filled up the cup of their abominations, the flood came and destroyed them all. A small remnant of true worshippers were, however, saved-Noah and his family, who preserved and continued the Established Church and worship of the one true God.

We read that, after the flood had subsided, "Noah

builded an altar unto the Lord, and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt-offerings on the altar;" which re-establishment of the national religion was accepted and recognized by the Almighty, who, having blessed the patriarch and his sons, made a covenant with Noah, and set his "bow in the clouds."

After the impious attempt to build the tower of Babel, so that it might reach heaven, by the immediate descendants of Noah, when God scattered the people abroad upon the face of the earth, and confounded their language, Abram was called, and blessed with the promise of Christ: he was commanded to go out from his own country to the land of Canaan; and we find that when he had "passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh, the Lord appeared unto Abram and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land; and here builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him." Abram was entrusted with the keeping of the visible Church of God, and the continuation of the true worship of the great Jehovah; so that, as he went on his journey, we find him at the altar "calling on the name of the Lord," just before he parted company with Lot and his followers, who went to the cities of the plain, and pitched their tent towards Sodom: "then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the Lord." In fact, it has been remarked that wherever Abram had a tent, there immediately God had an altar. And (xviii., xix.) the glorious testimony is given by God himself to Abram's careful provision for the spiritual wants of his large household, amounting almost to the number and character of a separate people or tribe: "I know him," &c. I pass over the subsequent history of Abram-his intercession for the people of Sodom-his planting a grove in Beersheba, and call