Tertul

even to us by means of the successions of those bishops, (to whom that Church has been committed) we confound all these heretics."* lian argues against heretics in a similar way, where he says, "that the true knowledge of the Apostolic doctrine of the ancient state of the Church, together with that of the character of the body of Christ, was preserved in the whole world by the succession of bishops, to whom the Church in every place had been committed."+ And numberless are the testimonies to be produced from the ancient fathers, particularly the writings of St. Augustine against the Donatists, to prove the principle of the Church being in their days considered as the foundation of the true faith, though it be inconsistent with the nature of a preface to bring them forward.

From hence it appears that the Church, under its appointed governors, is to be considered as a faithful register, or notary, whose office it is to preserve the original records of its charter from corruption. It is called in Scripture, as we have already observed, and for the reason above given, "the pillar of the truth." In the book of Revelations it is called a candlestick, whose office it is to *"Eam quam habet ab Apostolis traditionem, et annunciatam hominibus fidem per successiones Episcoporum pervenientem usque ad nos, indicantes confundimus omnes eos," &c.

-IREN. lib. iii. c. 3.

+ "Agnitio ecclesiæ status in universo mundo, et character corporis Christi vera est Apostolorum doctrina, et antiquus secundum successiones Episcoporum, quibus illi eam quæ in unoquoque loco est, ecclesiam tradiderent, quæ pervenit usque ad nos."-Lib. iv. c. 63.

hold and preserve the light.

Now, remove the pillar, the building falls into ruins; throw down the candlestick, the light will be thrown down with it, and most probably extinguished.

may

This Apostolic government of the Church, then, however lightly it may be now esteemed by persons who have formed their judgment on this subject more from the opinions of men than from the revelations of God, appears to be of most essential importance in the preservation of those very essentials, which many of those, who erroneously consider Church government to be a matter of indifference, would be thought most anxious to secure; because it is the only sure standard by which the authenticity of those essentials is to be ascertained. For remove this standard, which the regular derivation of Apostolic truth through the continued channel of the Church has set up, and it be asked, what criterion will remain of authority competent to determine between the contending opinions of different sects, all of which will not fail to be equally confident in their respective tenets? In such case, the conclusion drawn will not fail to be to the disadvantage of religion in general. "Ye dissent among yourselves, (said Clemens Alexandrinus, speaking of the objections thrown out against the Christian religion by the infidels of his day) and maintain so many sects; which sects, notwithstanding they all claim the title of Christian religion, yet one of them curseth and condemneth another. And therefore your religion is not true, nor hath its beginning or ground from God."* In

* "Vos Christiani dissidetis inter vos, et tot sectas habetis;

fact, however distant the event may be, the consequence of removing the standard of Church authority, by which the genuine doctrine committed to the Apostles is capable of being ascertained, and thereby giving countenance to the wild notion that every man is left at liberty to form his own Church, and make his own creed, must ultimately terminate in that general indifference which is but one degree removed from downright infidelity. An indifference, which the enemies of Christianity have been enabled to recommend with too much success, on the ground of that uncertainty which must apparently attach to a subject concerning which men are so infinitely divided among themselves in opinion. And "when," (as a sound Divine of our Church has observed) "through our own weakness we have thus given an opportunity to artful and unworthy men to sow the seeds of confusion, and every evil work, are we to wonder that God should at length be provoked to suffer those who cannot agree with one another to be destroyed of one another?”* Since, then, (as St. Augustinet has observed) "where que licet omnes Christianismi titulum sibi vindicent, tamen alia aliam execratur et condemnat. Quare vestra religió vera non est, nec a Deo originem ducit."-Clemen. Stromat. lib. vii.

* Boucher's Discourses, p. 67.

"When Satan" (saith Augustine, in another part of his writings) "saw his temples forsaken, and that his oracles were all put to silence, he cunningly devised a new supply, to have always his ministers in or about the Church: qui sub vocabulo Christiano doctrinæ resisterent Christianæ-who under a Christian name might resist the Christian doctrine.”—AUGUST.

de Civit. DEI; lib. xviii. c. 51.

VOL. I.

D

God doth build his city, the Devil will have another hard by to confront it," or, in the language of Luther, "Where Christ erecteth his Church, the Devil will have his chapel," it becomes matter for most serious consideration with those who seem indifferent to the divisions prevailing among Christians, whether any state of things in the Christian world can be more desirable to the grand enemy of the Church, whose continued object it is to counteract, and thereby destroy, its gracious design, than to see the increasing growth of heresy and schism; and Christians seeking to know the truth, at the same time that, in consequence of the distraction of men's minds on the subject, they are at a loss where to find it. And these persons who, by their loose conduct, are instrumental in removing the government of the Church from its Apostolic foundation, and placing it on the waves -in other words, on the fluctuating opinion of the people would do well to consider, further, that however sincere their zeal may be for the essentials of Christianity, they are setting up their judgment against that of God, by seeking to preserve them in a way different from that which has been in wisdom appointed for the purpose; in which case it is to be feared, that whilst they think themselves promoting the cause of God in the world, it will ultimately be found that they have been, alas! unconsciously employed in a very different service.

The foregoing reasoning stands sufficiently confirmed by the history of facts, to claim the attention of every considerate man. It was (we are told)

in those days when there was no king in Israel, and every man did what was right in his own eyes, that Micah introduced a separate house, a separate priesthood, and a separate religion, from his country. And when the ten tribes, in consequence of their revolt, separated from the established worship at Jerusalem, they fell into those numberless idolatries, which at length led to their captivity and dispersion. It was, also, when there was no king in our Israel; and when, in consequence of the Apostolic government of the Church being superseded among us by an overbearing faction, every man did what was right in his own eyes; that sixty different sects prevailed in this land, presenting such a motley religion, as left the greater part of its inhabitants without any sound notions on the subject. It stands, moreover, upon record, that Dury, one of the leading and most zealous patrons of presbytery, and Melvill's principal instrument in establishing that form of Church government in Scotland, (as if twenty years' experience had furnished him with full conviction of the truth of Jerom's assertion, that

bishops

were originally placed at the head of the Church, that the seeds of schism might be taken away, "ut schismaticum semina tollerentur,") left the following testimony on his death-bed in favour of the original Apostolic government.—When some brethren came to visit him, he requested them to tell the Assembly, as from him, "that there was necessity of restoring the ancient government of the Church, because of the unruliness of the young ministers, who would not be advised by the elder