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in spirit and in truth;"* and would turn religion into a mechanical process, the effect of impressions on the senses and the imagination. They forget that it is spiritual; that it is produced by the contemplation of spiritual objects; that the medium by which these affect the mind is faith, which "is the evidence of things not seen, and the substance of things hoped for;" and that the excitement of the natural passions has nothing of the nature of piety, in the estimation of Him who dwells with the humble and the contrite that tremble at his word.

The church assumes a power which does not belong to her, when she makes any addition to the institutions of Christ; and still more when she exacts the observance of these on pain of censure and excommunication. In this case, she claims an authority co-ordinate with that of our exalted Redeemer. Were the church simply to recommend certain ceremonies, leaving it free to every man to observe them or not, according to the dictates of his conscience, her conduct, although it could not be justified, would be less reprehensible. But when she issues her mandate, that all should conform, she assumes the tone of an usurper and a tyrant; and it is a duty which every man owes to the Head of the church, to resist her impositions. Besides other instances of will-worship in the Church of England, she has appended two human rites to the sacraments, the sign of the cross in baptism, and kneeling at the Lord's Supper. For the first, there is not a shadow of authority in the practice of the Apostles; and the reason which she gives for it is imaginary;-that "it is a token that the baptized person shall not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified, and manfully to fight under his banners against sin, the world, and the devil; and to continue Christ's faithful soldier and servant unto his life's end." Men are the authors both of the sign and of the interpretation of it. Faith, which rests solely upon revelation, sees nothing in it but an idle motion of the hand. Kneeling at the Lord's table is enjoined as expressive of reverence; but by what authority is this posture required? Not surely by that of Jesus Christ, who administered the ordinance to his disciples placed at table in the same manner as when they received their ordinary meals. How then comes it to pass that the symbols of his body and blood must be received with a sign of external reverence, which was not given when he himself was corporeally present? This is rather a puzzling question even to Papists, who believe transubstantiation; and still more so to Protestants, who do not believe it: but the truth is, that the rite is derived from Papists, who maintain that the elements are changed into the body, blood, and divinity of Christ; and is therefore, among Protestants, a childish and absurd imitation of a practice founded on a doctrine which they hold in abhorrence. There is not much encouragement to recognize in the church this power of ordaining ceremonies, when we see that one of its fruits is symbolizing with idolaters. The ordinances were given by Jesus Christ in a perfect state, and are as sufficient to promote all the ends of their institution now, as they were in the primitive times, when they subsisted in their original simplicity.

Lastly, There are several matters respecting external order, to which the power of the church does extend. These do not relate to the essence or form of the ordinances of religion, or to the moral conduct of the members; but to circumstances which are connected with the regular proceedings of any society, and which human prudence is competent to settle. Thus, it belongs to the church to appoint the times of public worship; not to make holidays, but to determine at what hours Christians shall assemble on the Sabbath, and on what other occasions they shall come together to join in the solemn exercises of religion, according to the calls of Providence. It is also her province, o point out the order in which the public ministrations should be conducted, that † Heb. xi. 1.

• John iv. 24.

uniformity may be established within her pale; to fix the bounds of congregations, presbyteries, and synods, that there may be no interference of interests and claims, and that each may confine itself to its own jurisdiction; to make regulations respecting their intercourse, and the transference of members from one place to another; to lay down rules for conducting judicial processes, that nothing may be done rashly or unfairly, but the ends of justice may be attained; to prescribe the education of candidates for the ministry, and the steps which are to be taken with a view to ascertain their qualifications, and to introduce them into office. With regard to such matters, it is evident that they imply no legislative authority, but merely the power of arrangement; that uniformity is not necessary throughout the whole Christian church, but only in particular divisions of it; and that the order may be varied, without impeding the general purpose of edification, according to the judgment of the church, founded upon the customs and circumstances of different nations and times.

Let us proceed to consider the last part of ecclesiastical power, which is called potestas diaxpirin, or potestas judicialis vel disciplinaris, and consists in the exercise of discipline. Erastus and his followers, who denied the power of the church in toto, necessarily controverted the power of discipline, and maintained, that she had no right to exclude any from her communion; and that, in doing so, she encroached upon the prerogative of the civil magistrate, to whom alone it belongs to punish the guilty.

The abettors of this opinion place the church in more disadvantageous circumstances than any other society. A state has power to protect itself from disorder and dishonour, by the restraint and expulsion of the lawless and unruly. Every other association lays down rules to be observed by the members, the infraction of which subjects them to censure, and it may be, to the loss of their privileges. It would be strange to suppose that the church alone is exposed, without defence, to have her peace disturbed, her laws violated, her reputation injured, by conduct inconsistent with her holy profession. To say that the civil magistrate ought to interpose to remedy such disorders, is to annihilate the church, or to make it exist only in name. In this case, the church and the state are the same; the privileges of the church belong to men as members of the state; and the state punishes them, not as unworthy disciples of Christ, but as disobedient subjects.

To every person who has read and understood the Scriptures, it will appear that the church is a society specifically different from the state, and instituted solely for spiritual purposes. A person has a right of admission into it, not be cause he was born in the country where it is established, nor simply because he was baptized in his infancy, but because he makes a credible profession of faith. On this ground only can he claim the enjoyment of its privileges, which from their nature appear not to be intended for all promiscuously, but for those who in the judgment of charity are disciples of Christ. It is evident, that it is only on the same ground that he can retain them; and that, if he has forfeited his title by conduct which impeaches the sincerity of his profession, they may be justly suspended or withdrawn. If this be granted to be true,—and it is not conceivable that it can be disputed by any man of common sense,—the inference is obvious, that there must be a power lodged in the church to enforce the observance of her laws by censures and excommunication.

When our Lord gave Peter" the keys of the kingdom of heaven," we do not conceive that he conferred upon him a peculiar privilege, unless the words refer simply to the fact, that he was the person who opened the new dispensation to the Jews, by preaching to them on the day of Pentecost, and to the Gentiles by preaching to Cornelius. Whatever power is implied in these words, "Whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, shall be bound in heaven, and

whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven,"* was common to him and the other Apostles, to whom the same words were addressed on another occasion.† Binding and loosing are expressive of authority, not only to declare doctrinally what are the obligations of Christians, and in what respects they are free, but to inflict and remove censures. The offender is bound when the church pronounces sentence upon him, and is loosed when he is restored to privileges upon repentance; and the proceedings are ratified in heaven, when they are conducted in conformity to Scripture.

It appears that discipline was exercised in the primitive church. The case of the incestuous man is an example. He had committed a sin aggravated in itself, and highly discreditable to the Christian profession; and Paul commanded the Corinthians, "when they were gathered together, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver him unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord." He told them at the same time, that although they could not avoid all intercourse with the wicked men of the world; yet, "if any man that was called a brother was a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner," they were not to keep company, nor even to eat with him;§ and as we might have expected, he plainly signified that they were not to sit down with him at the table of the Lord. He directs a heretic to be rejected after the first and second admonition; and he calls upon Christians to withdraw from every brother that walked disorderly, and not after the tradition which they had received. Some of the Asiatic churches are reproved, because they had neglected the exercise of discipline. The charge brought against them is, that "they had them that held the doctrine of the Nicolaitans," and "that held the doctrine of Balaam;" "that they suffered that woman Jezebel, who called herself a prophetess;" and the obvious meaning is, that, instead of employing the authority which they had received from Jesus Christ against such persons, they permitted them to remain in the church.

***

The rulers of the church have authority over the members. As it is their province to judge who should be admitted, and to inspect their conduct when they have been received into fellowship, so they have power to censure and to expel such as prove themselves to be unworthy. This is the natural right of every society, and it is given to the church by the special appointment of her Sovereign:Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine." "Exhort and rebuke with all authority; let no man despise thee."tt

The objects of the censures of the church are offences or scandals; by which are meant, parts of conduct which are contrary to the law of Christ, and are calculated to lead others into sin by the force of example, as well as to expose religion to reproach. They are public offences known to the church, or to some part of the members; for, with respect to those of a private nature, they ought not to be brought to light, unless the guilty person persist in them after private admonition; and to tell them in the first instance to the church, is to create a scandal, under the pretext of removing it.

Offences are to be treated differently, according to the difference of their degrees. When they are of a lighter kind, and discover rather inadvertence than bad intention, a simple admonition will suffice: "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted." A greater degree of guilt will call for a more severe expression of disapprobation, or a rebuke solemnly administered in the name of Jesus Christ, of which it is the design to affect more deeply the conscience of the offender, and to excite him to

Matth. xvi. 19.

§ 1 Cor. v. 11.
** Rev. ii. 14, 15. 20.

† Ib. xviii. 18.

Titus iii. 10.

tt 2 Tim. iv. 2. Tit. ii. 15.

+1 Cor. v. 4, 5.

2 Thess. iii. 6. ++ Gal. vi. 1.

prayer for pardon and sanctifying grace. There are cases which require that the church should proceed still farther. Individuals sometimes commit flagrant and aggravated sins, which, although they do not necessarily infer the total want of religious principle, bring the sincerity of their profession into doubt. Such offenders are suspended from sealing ordinances, as they are called, till they have given evidence of repentance, and then they are restored to their privileges. This sentence is called the lesser excommunication, and the removal of it is termed absolution. They are not absolved from their sin,—for it is the prerogative of God alone to forgive it, but from the sentence of excommunication. The highest censure which the church has power to inflict, is called the greater excommunication, and consists in expelling the person from the communion of the faithful. The grounds of it are contumacy or the obstinate refusal to submit to admonition and rebuke, and perseverance in sin in defiance of all endeavours to reclaim him. We have an example in the case of the incestuous man, who was delivered "unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord."* Commentators generally suppose that these words imply something miraculous, and that the man was smitten with some bodily disease, through the agency of Satan, in consequence of which his health and strength declined. His spirit would be saved in the day of the Lord, if, through the Divine blessing, his experience of the painful effects of sin in this life, proved the means of leading him to repentance. But even in the present times, this highest censure may be still considered as the delivering of the excommunicated person to Satan. The world is the kingdom of Satan, and the church is the kingdom of Christ. Excommunication is the returning of a professed subject of Christ, who has proved himself to be a traitor and a rebel, to the kingdom to which he originally belonged. It declares that Christ is not his Lord, for he has refused to obey him, and that he is under the dominion of the prince of this world. He is sent back to him as an alien, who has no right to remain in the kingdom of Christ; because he has violated its laws, and is determined not to submit to them. Hence it appears that this sentence is very awful; since, when pronounced upon just grounds, it involves the eternal perdition of the person, if he continue impenitent.

But the effects of the censures of the church extend only to the soul. It is a gross perversion of their design, to accompany them with civil pains, confiscation of goods, imprisonment, exile, or death; to deliver up the excommunicated person to the secular arm, as the Church of Rome does, with a hypocritical prayer that he may be mercifully treated, while it is her secret intention that he should expire at a stake. "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but spiritual." Power is given to the church, not for destruction, but for edification; and its object is the good even of those who fall under the severest censures. Like him whom she acknowledges as her Head, she has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live; and her arms are opened to receive the penitent, and to restore them to a place among her children.

* 1 Cor. v. 5.

LECTURE CII.

ON THE LAW OF GOD.

Connexion of the Practical and Doctrinal Parts of Theology.-The Moral Law-Remarks on the Ground of Moral Obligation; and the Source of Morality.-The Decalogue.— Rules for Interpreting It.

THE System of Theology consists of two parts, the doctrinal and the practical. The former is the foundation of the latter. The natural order of things, therefore, requires that we should first consider the doctrines and then proceed to explain the duties which spring out of them. It is because God is our Creator, that he has a right to give law to us; and the relation in which he stands to us as creatures and as sinners, the dispensations of which we are the objects, and the privileges and blessings which he has bestowed upon us, supply the motives by which we should be excited to obey. In a course of ministerial instructions, these two parts are usually blended together. It may sometimes, indeed, be deemed expedient to go over the system in regular order, and, in this case, a separate illustration will be given of doctrines and precepts; but even then they ought not to be kept entirely distinct. No doctrine of religion should be expounded, without some statement of the duties to which it leads, and the motives which it furnishes; for all our discourses should be of a practical tendency. On the other hand, no duty should be inculcated, without a reference more or less explicit, to the doctrine or doctrines with which it is connected, and by the belief of which the heart is purified, and its powers are engaged in the service of God. The gospel is represented to be the doctrine according to godliness, or, the doctrine which inspires piety towards God, and respect for his authority.

In the Scriptures, doctrines and precepts are often mixed; but sometimes they are exhibited separately. In the Old Testament, besides the precepts of the law of Moses which are delivered at great length in the Pentateuch, we have the Book of Proverbs, which is almost wholly composed of moral maxims and rules of life. In the New Testament, we have our Saviour's Sermon on the Mount, besides parables and discourses of the same nature in the Gospels; and of the Epistles, those of which the first part is devoted to doctrinal discussions, commonly conclude with a detail of duties which believers are bound to maintain. Some of the Epistles are the models upon which our systems are formed; and the similarity of arrangement is particularly observable in the Epistle to the Romans.

The law of God, which is binding upon Christians, is contained in the Decalogue, or the Ten Words, as the Jews call it, because it consists of ten precepts, which were originally written on two tablets of stone; the first, comprehending the four precepts which enjoin our duty to God; and the second, the six which prescribe our duty to men. It is called the Moral Law, because the subject of its injunctions is not ceremonial observances, but moral actions; and to distinguish it from the positive laws, which were only of temporary obligation. Of this description was the ceremonial law, which prescribed the ritual of worship under the former economy, and the judicial law, which regulated the civil and political affairs of the Jews. The ceremonial law was abrogated when its typical institutions were fulfilled in Jesus Christ; and the judicial law was repealed when the Jews ceased to exist in a national capacity. The moral law, however, has no relation to times and places, or to one nation VOL. II.-65

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