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does not acknowledge the Lord Jesus as the Incarnate Son, who has redeemed us by dying in our stead, and who is now invested with supreme authority.

It is important to remember that the Church exists for certain great purposes, and that this fact imposes on its members corresponding duties.

1. The first of the purposes referred to is the conservation of the truth of Christ, and the holding forth of that truth to the world. To the Church of Christ, as to the Jewish Church of old, are entrusted the oracles of God' (Rom. iii. 2). What a confirmation of our faith is derived from the fact, that the Scriptures of the New Testament, as we now have them, have been read in Christian assemblies from the very first, and have been appealed to as authoritative by a succession of Christian writers, reaching from the Apostles' days to the present time! And how deep an interest attaches to the fact, that the fundamental truths recognised, as we have seen, in the baptismal formula, and in the words of the institution of the eucharist, have been proclaimed in the Church, in the administration of these sacraments, from age to age!

2. A second object for which the Church of Christ exists is the building up of its members in faith and holiness. This is one great result to which the pastoral ministration of the truth is to be subservient. The Lord Jesus has given some to be 'pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ: till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ' (Ephes. iv. 11-13). But it is not by this instrumentality only that the character of Christ's disciples is to be matured, and their spiritual oneness promoted. They are to edify one another in love.' By mutual exhortation, and union in holy exercises, they are to grow in grace and be more and more assimilated to their Lord and Head. Thus St. Paul adds to the words which we have cited, that we may be no longer children, tossed to and

fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of. error; but speaking truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him, which is the Head, even Christ; from whom all the body fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplieth, according to the working in due measure of each several part, maketh the increase of the body unto the building up of itself in love' (vers. 14-16). Thus, too, the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, after exhorting believers to maintain intimate communion with God through Christ, and to hold fast the confession of their hope' without wavering, adds, And let us consider one another, to provoke unto love and good works; not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more as ye see the day drawing nigh' (x. 24, 25).

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3. A third purpose for which the Church of Christ exists is the exhibition to the world of the true character and spirit of Christianity by the manifestation of that brotherly love which our Lord has specially enjoined on His people. In their whole deportment, indeed, Christians are to evince the purity and love which adorned the character of their Master. But the practical manifestation of their brotherly love is to be the grand evidence of their discipleship to Him. By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another' (John xiii. 35). And the intercourse of the Church, and still more the intercommunion of different branches of the visible Church, affords opportunities for the manifestation of this love. Such intercommunion, marked by sincere and heartfelt affection, will eminently contribute to the universal acknowledgment of the Redeemer's claims (John xvii. 20—23).

4. Still further, another object for which the Church of Christ exists is the recovery of the world to its allegiance to God. The commission given to the Apostles to preach the Gospel everywhere, and to make disciples of all the nations extends to all Christ's ministers in every age. But while this commission is specially binding on the ministers of Christ, it implies a duty

devolving on the members of the Church generally. They are to send forth the ambassadors of the Saviour to heathen lands, -to sustain them in their efforts to plant Christian Churches, -and to cheer them by their sympathy and their prayers. So, also, they are to help forward, and as opportunity is afforded to engage in, evangelistic work among the ignorant and unconverted around them. And their association in the Church will tend to give unity to these efforts and to render them more effective.

It will be evident that, in order to its fulfilling the high purposes for which it exists, a godly discipline must be maintained in the Church of Christ. For the exercise of that discipline Christian pastors are specially responsible to their Lord. Open and obstinate offenders against the laws of Christ are to be put away from the fellowship of the faithful. It is no part of the duty of those who watch over the Church, to deal, in the way of discipline, with sins of the heart which do not manifest themselves in overt acts. In the parable of the wheat and the tares, our Lord represents the servants of the householder as asking him, in reference to the tares, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?' and the reply was, 'Nay, lest haply while ye gather up the tares, ye root up the wheat with them.' But open and glaring sin must not be allowed in the fold of Christ. St. Paul's directions to the Corinthians respecting the incestuous person sufficiently evince this; and his charge to Titus to 'reject, after a first and second admonition,' a factious man, one who promotes strife and division in the Church, confirms it (iii. 10, 11). Indeed, throughout St. Paul's Epistles we meet with passages bearing on the maintenance of Christian discipline in the Church. To the Thessalonians he writes, 'Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which they received of us' (2 Thess. iii. 6). In closing his Epistle to the Romans he says, 'Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which are causing the divisions and occasions of

stumbling, contrary to the doctrine which ye learned, and turn away from them' (xvi. 17). In the Pastoral Epistles, too, reference is made to the reproof which should be administered to certain classes of offenders who yet are not to be altogether put away. But while the Apostles were anxious to guard the purity of the Church, and the honour of Christ before the world, they charged the ministers and members of the Church to cultivate a tender and forgiving spirit. Thus St. Paul, after saying to the Thessalonians, 'If any man obeyeth not our word by this Epistle, note that man, that ye have no company with him, to the end that he may be ashamed,' immediately adds, 'And yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother' (2 Thess. iii. 14, 15). And to the Galatians he writes, • Brethren, even if a man be overtaken in any trespass, ye which are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of meekness; looking to thyself, lest thou also be tempted' (vi. 1).

All these considerations show that there must be rule and order in the Church of Christ. The Pastoral Epistles still further evince this. But it is now generally admitted, that no particular form of Church government is enjoined as essential. General principles are laid down in the Divine word; but the application of them may vary according to peculiar circumstances. Each of the three leading forms of Church-polity, the Episcopal, the Presbyterian, and the Congregational, is admissible; and there are some religious communities which present a modification of the Episcopal and Presbyterian systems in happy combination. The exclusive claims of Diocesan Episcopacy, as set forth in what is popularly termed the doctrine of the Apostolical Succession,-claims which we regard as utterly unfounded,-will be considered in a subsequent Chapter.

CHAPTER II.

THE SACRAMENTS-BAPTISM, AS ADMINISTERED TO ADULTS.

YHRISTIANITY has two ordinances of a class peculiar to

volving an outward and visible sign of spiritual grace, and having a special relation to the covenant of grace. Of that covenant they are not only signs but seals, recognising its obligations, and assuring to every worthy recipient its blessings. These ordinances we designate the sacraments of our holy religion.

Baptism is the initiatory sacrament of the Christian covenant. It involves the solemn and formal admission of an individual to Christian discipleship, by the application of water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.' It was instituted by our Lord in the commission which He gave to His Apostles, after His resurrection from the dead, and before His ascension to His heavenly glory (Matt. xxviii. 19, 20). In obedience to His command the Apostles gathered all who embraced their message, who submitted to the authority of the Lord Jesus, and sought salvation in Him alone, into Christian Churches, by the administration of this sacrament.

The rite of Baptism was not new. It had been adopted, in certain cases, among the Jews, and especially by the sect of the Essenes. It was the distinguishing feature of the mission and ministry of John the Baptist. But baptism, as administered by him, had a different significance from the Christian sacrament. It implied, on the part of the recipient, two things,-a profession of repentance for sin, and faith in the almost immediate mani

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