CHAP. I.]

rights of control over Ministers, which shall prevent | the just exercise of their office in these respects. They have a right to such regulations and checks as shall secure, in the best possible way, the just and faithful exercise of that office, and the honest and impartial use of that power; but this is the limit of their right; and every system of suffrages, or popular concurrence, which, under pretence of guarding against abuse of ministerial authority, makes its exercise absolutely and in all cases dependent upon the consent of those over whom it extends, goes beyond that limit, and invades the right of pastoral government, which the New Testament has established. It brings, in a word, the laws of Christ into debate, which yet the members profess to have received as their rule; and it claims to put into commission those duties which Pastors are charged by Christ personally to exercise. The Apostle Paul, had the incestuous person at Corinth denied the crime, and there had been any doubtfulness as to the fact, would unquestionably have taken the opinion of the Elders of that Church and others upon that fact; but when it became a question whether the laws of Christ's discipline should be exercised or not, he did not feel himself concluded by the sense of the whole Corinthian Church, which was in favour of the offender continuing in communion with them; but he instantly reproved them for their laxity, and issued the sentence of excision, thereby showing that an obvious law of Christ was not to be subjected to the decision of a majority. This view, indeed, supposes, that such a society, like almost all the Churches ever known, has admitted, in the first instance, that the power of admission into the Church, of reproof, of exhortation, and of excision from it, subject to various guards against abuses, is in the Pastors of a Church. There are some who have adopted a different opinion, supposing that the power of administering the discipline of Christ must be conveyed by them to their Ministers, and is to be wholly controlled by their suffrages; so that there is in these systems, not a provision of counsel against possible errors in the exercise of authority; not a guard against human infirmity or viciousness; not a reservation of right to determine upon the fitness of the cases to which the laws of Christ are applied; but a claim of co-administration as to these laws themselves, or rather an entire administration of them through the Pastor, as a passive agent of their will. Those who adopt these views are bound to show that this is the state of things established in the New Testament. That it is not, appears plain from the very term "Pastors," which imports both care and government; mild and affectionate government indeed, but still government. Hence the office of Shepherd is applied to describe the government of God, and the government of kings. It appears, too, from other titles given, not merely to Apostles, but to the Presbyters they ordained and placed over the Churches. They are called nyovμevoi, rulers; ETOKоTOι, overseers; TOOεOTWTES, those who preside. They are commended for "ruling well;" and they are directed" to charge," "to reprove," " to rebuke," "to "to put away." The very " acwatch," "to silence, count" they must give to God, in connexion with the discharge of these duties, shows that their office and responsibility was peculiar and personal, and much greater than that of any private member of the Church, which it could not be if they were the passive agents only in matters of doctrine and discipline of the will of the whole. To the double duty of feeding and exercising the oversight of the flock, a special reward is also promised when the" Chief Shepherd shall appear," -a title of Christ, which shows that as the pastoral office of feeding and ruling is exercised by Christ supremely, so it is exercised by his Ministers in both branches subordinately. Finally, the exhortations to Christians to "obey them that have the rule over them," and to "submit" to them, and "to esteem them very highly for their works' sake," and to "remember them; -all show that the ministerial office is not one of mere agency, under the absolute direction of the votes of the collected Church.

3. With respect to other disciplinary regulations supposed by any religious society to be subsidiary to the great and scriptural ends of Church communion, these appear to be matters of mutual agreement, and are capable of modification by the mutual consent of Ministers and people, under their common responsibility to Christ, that they are done advisedly, with prayer, with

423

reference to the edification of the Church, and so as
not to infringe upon, but to promote the influence of the
doctrines, duties, and spirit of the Gospel. The con-
sent of the people to all such regulations, either tacitly
by their adoption of them, or more expressly through
any regular meetings of different officers, who may be
regarded as acquainted with, and representing the sen-
timents of the whole; as also by the approval of those
aged, wise, and, from different causes, influential per-
sons, who are to be found in all societies, and who are
always, whether in office or not, their natural guar-
dians, guides, and representatives; is necessary to con-
fidence and harmony, and a proper security for good
and orderly government. It is thus that those to whom
the government or well ordering of the Church is com-
mitted, and those upon whom their influence and scrip-
tural authority exert themselves, appear to be best
brought into a state of harmony and mutual confidence;
and that abundant security is afforded against all mis-
rule, seeing that in a voluntary communion, and where
perfect liberty exists for any member to unite himself
to other Churches, or for any number of them to
arrange themselves into a new community, subject,
however, to the moral cautions of the New Testament
against the schismatic spirit, it can never be the interest
of those with whom the regulations of the affairs of a
Church is lodged, voluntarily to adopt measures which
can be generally felt to be onerous and injurious, nor
is it practicable to persevere in them. In this method
of bringing in the concurrence of the people, all assem-
blages of whole societies, or very large portions of them,
are avoided,-a popular form of Church government,
which, however it were modified so as best to accord
with the scriptural authority of Ministers, could only
be tolerable in very small isolated societies, and that
raise into legislators and censors all the members of a
in the times of their greatest simplieity and love. To
Church, the young, the ignorant, and the inexperienced,
is to do them great injury. It is the sure way to fos-
ter debates, contentions, and self-confidence, to open
the door to intrigue and policy, to tempt forward and
conceited men to become a kind of religious dema-
gogues, and entirely to destroy the salutary influence
of the aged, experienced, and gifted members, by re-
ferring every decision to members and suffrages, and
placing all that is good, and venerable, and influential
among the members themselves, at the feet of a demo-
cracy.

4. As to the power of admission into the Church,
that is clearly with Ministers, to whom the office of
baptism is committed, by which the door is opened into
the Church universal; and as there can be no visible
communion kept up with the universal Church, except
by communion with some particular Church, the
admission into that particular communion must be
in the hands of Ministers, because it is one of the du-
ties of their office, made such by the Scripture itself,
to enjoin this mode of confessing Christ, by assembling
with his saints in worship, by submitting to disci-
pline, and by "showing forth his death" at the Lord's
Supper. We have, however, already said, that the
members of a Church, although they have no right
to obstruct the just exercise of this power, have the
right to prevent its being unworthily exercised; and
their concurrence with the admission, tacit or de-
clared, according to their usages, is an arrangement
supported by analogies drawn from the New Testa-
ment and from primitive antiquity. The expulsion of
unworthy members, after admonition, devolves upon
those to whom the administration of the sacraments,
the signs of communion, is intrusted, and, therefore,
upon Ministers, for this reason, that as "Shepherds"
of the flock under the "Chief Shepherd," they are
charged to carry his laws into effect. These laws, it
is neither with them nor with the people to modify;
they are already declared by superior authority; but
the determination of the facts of the case to which
they are to be applied, is matter of mutual investiga-
tion and decision, in order to prevent an erring or an
improper exercise of authority. That such investiga-
tions should take place, not before the assembled mem-
bers of a society, but before proper and select tribunals,
appears not only an obviously proper, but, in many
respects, a necessary regulation.

The trial of unworthy Ministers remains to be noticed, which wherever a number of religious societies exist as one Church, having therefore many Pastors,

is manifestly most safely placed in the hands of those Protestant principle, that the Holy Scriptures are the Pastors themselves; and that not only because the offi- only standard of doctrine; that the doctrines of every cial acts of censure and exclusion lie with them, but Church must be proved out of them; and that to this for other reasons also. It can scarcely happen that a standard every individual member has the right of Minister should be under accusation, except in some bringing them, in order to the confirmation of his own very particular cases, but that, from his former influ- faith; must be held inviolate, if we would not see Dience, at least with a part of the people, some faction vine authority displaced by human. Since, however, would be found to support him. In proportion to the men may come to different conclusions upon the meanardour of this feeling, the other party would be excited ing of Scripture, it has been the practice from primi to undue severity and bitterness. To try such a case tive times to declare the sense in which Scripture is before a whole society, there would not only be the understood by collective assemblies of Ministers, and same objection as in the case of private members; but by the churches united with them, in order to the en the additional one, that parties would be more certainly forcement of such interpretations upon Christians ge. formed, and be still more violent. If he must be ar- nerally, by the influence of learning, piety, numbers, raigned then before some special tribunal, the most fit- and solemn deliberation. The reference of the questing is that of his brethren, provided that the parties tion respecting circumcision by the Church at Antioch accusing have the right to bring on such a trial upon "to the Apostles and Elders at Jerusalem," is the first exhibition of probable evidence, and to prosecute it instance of this, though with this peculiarity, that, in without obstruction. In Churches whose Ministers this case, the decision was given under plenary inspiare thrown solely upon the public opinion of the so- ration. While one of the Apostles lived, an appeal ciety, and exist as such only by their character, this could be made to him in like manner when any docis ordinarily a sufficient guard against the toleration trinal novelty sprung up in the Church. After their of improper conduct; while it removes the trial from death, smaller or larger Councils, composed of the pubthose whose excitement for or against the accused lic Teachers of the Churches, were resorted to, that might on either side be unfavourable to fair and equita- they might pronounce upon these differences of opible decision, and to the peace of the Church. nion, and by their authority confirm the faithful, and abash the propagators of error. Still later, four Councils, called General, from the number of persons assembled in them from various parts of Christendom, have peculiar eminence. The Council of Nice, in the fourth century, which condemned the Arian heresy, and formed that scriptural and important formulary called the Nicene Creed; the Council of Constantinople, held at the end of the same century, which condemned the errors of Macedonius, and asserted the divinity and personality of the Holy Ghost; and the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon, about the middle of the fifth century, which censured the opinions of Nestorius and Eutyches. At Nice it was declared that the Son is truly God, of the same substance with the Father; at Constantinople, that the Holy Ghost is also truly God; at Ephesus, that the Divine nature was truly united to the human in Christ, in one person; at Chalcedon, that both natures remained distinct, and that the human nature was not lost or absorbed in the Divine. The decisions of these Councils, both from their antiquity and from the manifest conformity of their decisions on these points to the Holy Scriptures, have been received to this day in what have been called the Orthodox Churches, throughout the world. On General Councils, the Romish Church has been divided as to the questions, whether infallibility resides in them, or in the Pope, or in the Pope when at their head. Protestants cut this matter short by acknowledging that they have erred, and may err, being composed of fallible men, and that they have no authority but as they manifestly agree with the Scriptures. To the above-mentioned Councils, they have in general always paid great deference, as affording confirmation of the plain and literal sense of Scripture on the points in question; but on no other ground. "Things ordained by General Councils as necessary to salvation, have neither strength nor authority, unless it may be declared they be taken out of Holy Scripture."(6) The manner in which the respective Churches of the Reformation declared their doctrinal interpretation of the Scriptures on the leading points of theology, was by Confessions and Articles of Faith, and by the adoption of ancient or primitive Creeds. With reference to this practice, no doubt it is, that the Church of England declares in her twentieth Article, that "the Church hath authority in controversies of faith;" but qualifies the tenet, by adding, "and yet it is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing that is contrary to God's word written;" in which there is a manifest recognition of the right of all who have God's word in their hands, to make use of it in order to try what any Church "ordains," as necessary to be believed. This authority of a Church in matters of doctrine appears then to be reduced to the following particulars, which, although directly opposed to the assumptions of the Church of Rome, are of great importance:-1. To declare the sense in which it interprets the language of Scripture on all the leading doctrines of the Christian revelation; for to contend, as some have done, that no Creeds or Árticles of Faith are

The above remarks contain but a sketch of those principles of Church government, which appear to be contained in, or to be suggested by, the New Testament. They still leave much liberty to Christians to adapt them in detail to the circumstances in which they are placed. The offices to be created; the meetings necessary for the management of the various affairs of the Church, spiritual and financial; the assembling of Ministers in larger or smaller numbers for counsel, and for oversight of each other, and of the Churches to which they belong; are all matters of this kind, and are left to the suggestions of wisdom and piety. The extent to which distinct societies of Christians shall associate in one Church, under a common government, appears also to be a matter of prudence and of circumstances. In the primitive Church we see different societies in a city and its neighbourhood under the common government of the assembly of Presbyters; and afterward these grew into provincial Churches, of greater or smaller extent. In modern times, we have similar associations in the form of national Churches, Episcopal or Presbyterian; and of Churches existing without any recognition of the State at all, and forming smaller or larger communities, from the union of a few societies, to the union of societies throughout a whole country; holding the same doctrines, practising the same modes of worship, and placing themselves under a common code of laws and a common government. But whatever be the form they take, they are bound to respect, and to model themthemselves by, the principles of Church communion and of Church discipline which are contained in the New Testament; and they will be fruitful in holiness and usefulness, so long as they conform to them, and so long as those forms of administration are conscientiously preferred which appear best adapted to preserve and to diffuse sound doctrine, Christian practice, spirituality, and charity. That discipline is defective and bad in itself, or it is ill administered, which does not accomplish these ends; and that is best which best promotes them.

The ENDS to which Church authority is legitimately directed remain to be briefly considered.

The first is, the preservation and the publication of "sound doctrine." Against false doctrines, and the men "of corrupt minds" who taught them, the sermons of Christ, and the writings of the Apostles, abound in cautions; and since St. Paul lays it down as a rule, as to erring teachers, that their "mouths must be stopped," this implies, that the power of declaring what sound doctrine is, and of silencing false teachers, was confided by the Apostles to the future Church. By systematic writers this has been called potestas doyμatikη; which, abused by the ambition of man, forms no small part of that antichristian usurpation which characterizes the Church of Rome. Extravagant as are her claims, so that she brings in her traditions as of equal authority with the inspired writings, and denies to men the right of private judgment, and of trying her dogmas by the test of the Holy Scriptures; there is a sober sense in which this power may be taken. The great

(6) Art. 21st of the Church of England.

inculcation of particular truths, and moral duties, and for the special excitement of grateful affections. For although they are not particularly prescribed in Scripture, they are in manifest accordance with its spirit, and are sanctioned by many of the examples which it exhibits. Days of fasting and humiliation, for the same reasons, may be the subject of appointment: and besides the regular acts of public worship, private meetings of the members for mutual prayer and religious converse may also be found necessary. To these may be added, various plans for the instruction of children, the visitation and relief of the sick, and the introduction of the Gospel into neglected neighbourhoods, and its promotion in foreign lands. A considerable number of other regulations touching order, contributions, the repressing of particular vices which may mark the spirit of the times, and the practice of particular duties, will also be found necessary.

proper, but that belief in the Scriptures only ought to tice. Special festivals of commemoration and thanks be required, would be to destroy all doctrinal distinc-givings may also be appointed, as fit occasions for the tions, since the most perverse interpreters of Scripture profess to believe the words of Scripture. 2. To require from all its members, with whom the right of private judgment is by all Protestant Churches left inviolate, to examine such declarations of faith, professing to convey the sense of Scripture, with modesty and proper respect to those grave and learned assemblies in which all these points have been weighed with deliberation; receiving them as guides to truth, not implicitly, it is true, but still with docility and humility. "Great weight and deference is due to such decisions, and every man that finds his own thoughts differ from them, ought to examine the matter over again with much attention and care, freeing himself all he can from prejudice and obstinacy, with a just distrust of his own understanding, and an humble respect to the judgment of his superiors. This is due to the consideration of peace and union, and to that authority which the Church has to maintain it; but if, after all possible methods of inquiry, a man cannot master his thoughts, or make them agree with the public decisions, his conscience is not under bonds, since this authority is not absolute, nor grounded upon a promise of infallibility."(7) 3. To silence within its own pale the preaching of all doctrines contrary to the received standards. On this every Church has a right to insist which sincerely believes that contrary doctrines to its own are fundamental or dangerous errors, and which is thereby bound both to keep its members from their contamination, and also to preserve them from those distractions and controversies to which the preaching of diverse doctrines by its Ministers would inevitably lead. Nor is there any thing in the exercise of this authority contrary to Christian liberty, since the members of any communion, and especially the Ministers, know beforehand the terms of fellowship with the Churches whose confessions of faith are thus made public; and because also, where conscience is unfettered by public law, they are neither prevented from enjoying their own opinions in peace, nor from propagating them in other assemblies.

The only legitimate ends, however, of all these directions and rules, are, the edification of the Church, the preservation of its practical purity; the establishment of an influential order and decorum in its services; and the promotion of its usefulness to the worldThe general principles by which they are to be controlled are, the spirituality, simplicity, and practical character of Christianity; and the authority with which they are invested is derived from piety, wisdom, and singleness of heart, in those who originate them, and from that docility and submissiveness of Christians to each other, which is enforced upon them in the New Testament. For although every Christian is ex'ted to "try all things," to "search the Scriptures," and to exercise his best judgment in matters which relate to doctrine, discipline, and practice, yet he is to do this in the spirit of a Christian; not with self-willedness, and self-confidence; not contemning the opinion and authority of others; not factiously and censoriously. This is his duty even where the most important subjects are in question; how much more then in things comparatively indifferent ought he to practise the Apostolic rule:-"Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder; yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility."

The third end of Church government is the infliction and removal of censures, a power (potestas diakρitikη) the abuse of which, and the extravagant lengths to which it has been carried, have led some wholly to deny it, or to treat it slightly; but which is, nevertheless, deposited with every Scriptural Church. Even associations, much less solemn and spiritual in their character, have the power to put away their members, and to receive again, upon certain conditions, those who offend against their rules; and if the offence which called forth this expulsion be of a moral nature, the censure of a whole society, inflicted after due examination, comes with much greater weight, and is a much greater reproach and misfortune to the person who falls under it, than that of a private individual. In the case of a Christian Church, however, the proceeding connects itself with a higher than human authority. The members have separated from the world, and have placed themselves under the laws of Christ. They stand in a special relation to him, so long as they are faithful; they are objects of his care and love, as members of his own body; and to them, as such, great and numerous promises are made. To preserve them in this state of fidelity, to guard them from errors of doctrine and viciousness of practice, and thus to prevent their separation from Christ, the Church with its ministry, its ordinances, and its discipline, was established. He who becomes unfaithful in opposition to the influence of those edifying and conservatory means, forfeits the favour of Christ, even before he is deservedly separated from the Church; but when he is sepa rated, put away, denied communion with the Church, he loses also the benefit of all those peculiar means of grace and salvation, and of those special influences and promises which Christ bestows upon the Church. He is not only thrown back upon common society with

The second end is, the forming of such regulations for the conduct of its Ministers, officers, and members, as shall establish a common order for worship; facilitate the management of the affairs of the community. iritual, economical, and financial; and give a rigut direction to the general conduct of the whole society. This in technical language is called potestas diaTaкTIKη, and consists in making canons, or rules, for those particular matters which are not provided for in detail by the directions of Scripture. This power also, like the former, has been carried to a culpable excess in many Churches, so as to fill them with superstition, and in many respects to introduce an onerous system of observances, like that of Judaism, the yoke from which the Gospel has set us free. The simplicity of Christianity has thus been often destroyed, and the "doctrines of men" set up "as commandments of God." At the same time, there is a sound sense in which this power in a Church must be admitted, and a deference to it bound upon the members. For, when the laws of Christ are both rightly understood and cordially admitted, the application of them to particular cases is still necessary; many regulations also are dictated by inference and by analogies, and often appear to be required by the spirit of the Gospel, for which there is no provision in the letter of Scripture. The obligation of public worship, for instance, is plainly stated; but the seasons of its observance, its frequency, and the mode in which it is to be conducted, must be matter of special regulation, in order that all things may be done "decently and in order." The observance of the Sabbath is binding; but particular rules guarding against such acts as, in the judgment of a Church, are violations of the law of the Sabbath, are often necessary to direct the judgment and consciences of the body of the people. Baptism is to be administered; but the manner of this service may be prescribed by a Church, since the Scriptures have not determined it. So also as to the mode and the times of receiving the Lord's Sup-shame, stigmatized as an "evil-worker," by the solemn per, in the same absence of inspired directions regulations must be agreed upon, that there may be, as nearly as edification requires, an undistracted uniformity of prac(7) Burnet,

sentence of a religious tribunal; but becomes, so to speak, again a member of that incorporated and hostile society, THE WORLD, against which the exclusive and penal sentences of the word of God are directed. Where the sentence of excision by a Church is erring

or vicious, as it may be in some cases, it cannot affect |
an innocent individual; he would remain, notwith-
standing the sentence of men, a member of Christ's
invisible universal Church; but when it proceeds upon
a just application of the laws of Christ, there can be
no doubt of its ratification in heaven, although the door
is left open to penitence and restoration.

In proportion, however, as a sober and serious Christian, having those views, wishes to keep up in his own mind, and in the minds of others, a proper sense of the weight and solemnity of Church censures, when rightly administered, he will feel disgusted at those assumptions of control over the mercy and justice of God, which fallible men have in some Churches endeavoured to establish, and have too often exercised for the gratification of the worst passions. So, because our Lord said to Peter, "I will give unto thee 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," which is also said Matt. xviii. 18, to all the apostles, "it came to be understood that the sentence of excommunication, by its own intrinsic authority, condemned to eternal punishment; that the excommunicated person could not be delivered from this condemnation, unless the Church gave him absolution; and that the Church had the power of absolving him, upon the private confession of his fault, either by prescribing to him certain acts of penance, and works of charity, the performance of which was considered as a satisfaction for the sin which he had committed, or by applying to him the merits of some other person. And as in the progress of corruption, the whole power of the Church was supposed to be lodged in the Pope, there flowed from him, at his pleasure, indulgences or remissions of some parts of the penance, absolutions, and pardons, the possession of which was represented to Christians as essential to salvation, and the sale of which formed a most gainful traffic."

ceive ye the Holy Ghost: whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted to them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained," John xx. 22, 23. To qualify them for this authoritative declaration of what was obligatory upon men, or otherwise; and of the terms upon which sins are "remitted," and the circumstances under which they are "retained," they previously received the Holy Ghost,-a sufficient proof that this power was connected with the plenary inspiration of the Apostles; and beyond those inspired men it could not extend, unless equally strong miraculous evidence of the same degree of inspiration were afforded by any others. The manner also in which the Apostles exercised this power elucidates the subject. We have no instance at all of their forgiving the sins of any individuals; they merely proclaimed the terms of pardon. And we have no instance of their "retaining" the sins of any one, except by declaring them condemned by the laws of the Gospel, of which they were the preachers. They authoritatively explain in their writings the terms of forgiveness; they state, as to duty, what is obligatory and what is not obligatory upon Christians; they pronounce sinners of various kinds, impenitent and unbelieving, to be under God's wrath; and they declare certain apostates to be put beyond forgiveness by their own act, not by Apostolic excommunication; and thus they bind and loose, remit sins and retain them. The meaning of these passages is in this manner explained by the practice of the Apostles themselves, and we may also see the reason why, in Matt. xviii., a similar declaration stands connected with the censures of a Church: "Moreover, if thy brother trespass against thec, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone; if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the Church; but if he neglect to hear the Church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and as a publican; verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

As to the passage respecting the gift of the KEYS of the kingdom of heaven to Peter, from which these views affect to be derived, it is most naturally explained by the very apposite and obviously explanatory fact, that this Apostle was the first preacher of the Gospel dispensation in its perfected form, both to the Jews at the day of Pentecost, and afterward to the Gentiles. Bishop Horsley applies it only to the latter of these events, to which indeed it may principally, but not ex-ward to the establishment of his own Church, which clusively refer.

"St. Peter's custody of the keys was a temporary, not a perpetual, authority; its object was not individuals, but the whole human race. The kingdom of heaven upon earth is the true Church of God. It is now, therefore, the Christian Church: formerly the Jewish Church was that kingdom. The true Church is represented in this text, as in many passages of Holy Writ, under the image of a walled city, to be entered only at the gates. Under the Mosaic economy, these gates were shut, and particular persons only could obfain admittance-Israelites by birth, or by legal incorporation. The locks of these gates were the rites of the Mosaic law, which obstructed the entrance of aliens. But after our Lord's ascension, and the descent of the Holy Ghost, the keys of the city were given to St. Peter by that vision which taught him, and authorized him to teach others, that all distinctions of one nation from another were at an end. By virtue of this special commission, the great Apostle applied the key, pushed back the bolt of the lock, and threw the gates of the city open for the admission of the whole Gentile world, in the instance of Cornelius and his family."(8)

When the same learned prelate would also refer the binding and loosing power mentioned in the above texts exclusively to Peter, he forgets that in the passage above referred to, Matt. xviii. 18, it is given to all the Apostles: "Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." These expressions manifestly refer to the authoritative declaration of any thing to be obligatory, and its infraction to be sinful, and therefore subject to punishment, or the contrary; and the passage receives sufficient illustration from the words of our Lord to his Apostles, after his resurrection, when, after breathing upon them, he said, "Re

(8) HORSLEY'S Sermons.

That here there may be a reference to a provision made among the Jews for settling questions of accusation and dispute by the Elders of their synagogues, is probable; but it is also clear that our Lord looked for

was to displace the synagogue; and that there might be infallible rules to guide that Church in its judgment on moral cases, he turns to the disciples, to whom the discourse is addressed, and says to them, "Whatsoever YE," not the Church, "shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever YE shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Of the disciples then present, the subsequent history leads us to conclude, that he principally meant that the Apostles should be endued with this power, and that they were to be the inspired persons who were to furnish "the Church" with infallible rules of judgment, in all such cases of dispute and accusation. When, therefore, any Church rightly interprets these Apostolic rules, and rightly applies them to particular cases, it then exercises a discipline which is not only approved, but is also confirmed, in heaven, by the concurring dispensations of God, who respects his own inspirations in his Apostles. The whole shows the careful and solemn manner in which all such investigations are to be conducted, and the serious effect of them. It is by the admonishing and putting away of offenders, that the Church bears its testimony against all sin before the world; and it is thus that she maintains a salutary influence over her members, by the well-grounded fear of those censures which, when scripturally administered, are sanctioned by Christ, its Head; and which, when they extend to excision from the body, and no error of judgment, or sinister intention, vitiates the proceeding, separates the offenders from that special grace of Christ, which is promised to the faithful collected into a Church state, -a loss, an evil, and a danger, which nothing but repentance, humiliation, and a return to God and his people, can repair. For it is to be observed, that this part of discipline is an ordinance of Christ, not only for the maintenance of the character of his churches and the preservation of their influence in the world, but for the spiritual benefit of the offenders themselves. To this effect are the words of the apostle Paul, as to

INSTITUTIONS OF CHRISTIANITY.-THE SACRAMENTS. THE number of Sacraments is held by all ProtestIt is this view of the two sacraments, as federal acts, ants to be but two,-Baptism, and the Lord's Supper; which sweeps away the five superstitious additions because they find no other instituted in the New Tes- that the temerity of the Church of Rome has dared to tament, or practised in the early Church. The super-elevate to the same rank of sacredness and importance. stition of the Church of Rome has added no fewer than