PRINCETON, N. J. BR 162 .C68 1872 Cotterill, Henry, 1812-1886. The genesis of the church Shelf m^^ '// THE GENESIS OF THE CHURCH ,. THE GENESIS OE THE CHURCH BY THE RIGHT REV. HENRY COTTERILL, D.D. BISHOP COADJUTOR OF EDINBURGH WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS EDINBURGH AND LONDON MDCCCLXXII The Right of Translation is reserved ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION, 1-24 Argument against Cliristianity from the divisions among Christians, ....... 1-4 Assumes that Christ was a legislator, ... 4 Laws of the Christian system resemble laws of the physical world, and are to be ascertained from revelation as those are from nature, . . . . . . 5, 6 Divisions arise from ignorance of the laws or from disturb- ing influences, ...... 6-9 Purpose of this work to determine these laws, and the forms wliich are their true and legitimate development, 9-12 Method of investigation somewhat differs from that of phys- ical science, because reasoning by deduction can be less freely employed, . . . . . . 12, 13 Whether there were creative acts in the Genesis of the Church must be determined from evidence, . . 14, 15 But this Genesis, like that of the universe, must follow the fundamental laws of development, . . .16, 17 Objections against the line of argument adopted in this work considered, ...... 18-24 PART I. ANTE-MESSIANIC AGE, .... 27-45 Chapter I. The Old Testament, . . . . 27-38 Original religious organisations, . . . . 27-29 Law that of succession by natural descent, ... 29 Its insufficiency and imperfection, .... 30-34 Positive law, on which these organisations rested, exhibited in the history of archaic law, .... 34, 35 Divine law not essentially different, but assumes other principles in human nature, .... 36 Inherent imperfection of all law, as the basis of religious life, ...... . 37, 38 VI Co7Ue7its. Chapter II. The Ministry op John the Baptist, . 39-45 John occuines an iiiteruiediate position between the law and the Gospel, ...... 39 Old law of succession overthrown by John's teaching, . 40, 41 He teaches the reality and spirituality of the new kingdom, 42 But also indicates that it would have a visible form, . 43 Biiptism imto repentance the rudimentary germ of the Icingdom, . . . . . . . 44, 45 PART II. ACTS AND TEACHING OF JESUS CHRIST, 49-245 Chapter I. Elementary Principles of the Kingdom OF Heaven, ...... 49-07 Jesus Christ is baptised, and receives the Holy Sjiirit, . 49 Sermon on the Mount — a sunnuary of the elementary truths of the Idngdom, . . . . . 50 Spiritual principles to be embodied in a visible polity, . 51, 52 The law to be fullilled in the kingdom, but in a higher sphere, . . . . . . . 53, 54 Antithetical propositions in the teaching of Christ, . 55 Publicity and privacy, ..... 56 Form of common prayer, . . . . . 57 General law of the relations of the kingdom, that men shall not judge one another, ..... 58 But judgment necessary in certain cases, . . . 59, 60 False teachers to be tested and avoided, . . . 61, 62 False disciples to be discovered in the last day, . . 63 Effects of Chiist's teaching in the religious life of His discijiles, ....... 64 New forms to be provided for the new life, . 65-67 Chapter II. The Twelve Apostles, . . 68-81 Different methods by which organisation possible, . 68, 69 General law already established, . . . "o This law manifest in the appointment of the Twelve, . 71-73 Functions of the new office indicated in the charge given to the Twelve, ...... 74, 75 Typical structure and internal organisation of the apostolic body, ....... 76-78 Simon Peter, ...... 79 Judas Iscai'iot, . 80, 81 Chapter III. Parables op the Kingdom, . 82-91 In the kingdom there are to be various growths, some bar- ren and some fertile, from good seed ; and a large inter- mixture of growth from evil seed, . . . 82-86 The kingdom will spread throughout the world, not merely by internal growth, but also by human agency, . . 87,88 Contents. vii Its blessings must be realised both by objective possession, and also by a subjective perception, ... 89 The labours of the apostolic ministry itself will bring into it good and evil together, who will be separated here- after, . . . . . . . 90, 91 Chapter IV. The Church of Christ, . 92-104 The word of the kingdom gradually revealed to the dis- ciples, . . . . . . . 92 Confession by Peter of Jesus as the Son of God an epoch iu the development of the kingdom, ... 93 Peter's faith personal yet representative, ... 94 "Onthisrock Willi build my Chiu-ch," . 95-98 The keys of the kingdom power of order, . . . 100 Binding and loosing of jurisdiction, . . . 101 Powers exercised jiersonally by Peter, but by others also, . 101 Principles indicated in words to Peter — (1.) Apostolic fimctions personal, . . . 102 (2.) Include powers of govermuent, . 103 Authority in the Church real, . . 104 Chapter V. Functions and Life of the Church, . 105-117 True greatness in the kingdom determined by character, not by office, ...... 105-107 Works done for Christ not vitiated by the absence of official aiithority, ...... 108-110 Offences in the Church of different kinds, . . . Ill Instance given of the exercise of Church discipline, . 112 Applies to all offences against the Church as a society, . 113 Binding and loosing a corporate act of the Church, . 114 Power of Church life derived from union of two or three in prayer and in action, . . . . .115-117 Chapter VI. Primary Organisation op the Christian Society, ....... 118-121 Organisation in the lifetime of Christ only elementary, . 118 Significance of the appointment of the seventy, . . 119-121 Chapter VII. Authority and Eesponsibilities op Apos- tolic Office, . . . . . .122-135 Directions and promises of Christ to the apostles refer to different phases of the kingdom, . . . . 122 Authority in the Church, ..... 123-125 Contrasted with that exercised in secular kingdoms, . 126, 127 And with the authority over the conscience claimed by Scribes and Pharisees, ..... 128-131 Authority in Christ's household is committed to one wlio is judged to be faithful and wise, . . . 132,133 Vlll Contents. Its purpose to cnaWe him to feed the household, . . 134 The responsibilities of office arise from its reality, . . 135 Chapter VIII. Coming of the Kingdom, . 136-142 Different senses of the coming of the kiuf^'dom, . 136 Comes not " by observation," . . . . 137 Several days of the Son of ]\lan, . . . . 138 Destruction of the Temple folhjwed 1)V a real coming of the kingdom, . . . / . . . 139-142 Chapter IX. Distinctive Teaching op the Fourth Gospel, 143-160 Differences between St John's Gospel and the synoptical Gospels accounted for, ..... 143- 14.'} St John describes — (1.) The true origin and early history of the new fimiily of God, 140, 147 The new birth by water and Spirit, . . . 148-150 (2.) The employment of others by Christ as His ministers, 151 The true social principle of the Church, . . 152 (3.) The different phases of that faith which makes men disciples, ...... 153-155 Parable of the vine, . . . . . 156 He thus supjDlies the link between the objective and subjective view of the Church, . . . 156 (4.) The pastoral office in the parable of the good shep- herd 157,158 St John's teaching as to the incarnation implies that the Church is a real himian society, . . . . 159, 160 Chapter X. Children of the Kingdom, . . . 161-164 Children to be baptised because they are qualified for ad- mission into the kingdom, .... 161-162 Christian childhood the simplest form of the "ecclesia discens," . . . . ■ • . 163, 104 Chapter XI. Institution of the Lord's Supper, 105-174 The Lord's Supper the form which embodies the Christian life, 165 The fulfibnent of the Paschal feast, . . . 160, 107 The language implies that it is a representative memorial, 108, 109 The essentials in the ordinance as regards (1) the ele- ments ; (2) the action ; and (3) the minister, . Tlie Passover not a sacrifice of the Levitical system. The ordinance not altered by developed ritual if the essen tials are preserved, .... 170, 171 172-173 174 175-192 175 176 177 178 179-183 184 185-189 Contents. ix Chapter XII. The Promises of the Gift of the Spirit, General promises of spiritual gifts in the Church, . Kenewed and expanded by Christ towards the close of His ministry, .....•• His last address to His disciples before His death, The eleven then present representatives of several classes, Analysis of the discourse, .... Classification of the several gifts and powers, Distinctions as to the persons who should receive them. The law of corporate life justifies and explains such dis- tinctions, 190-192 Chapter XIII. Last Prayer op Jesus Christ, . . 193-196 Christ, about to suffer, prays for the luiity of His people, . 193 The language only satisfied by a visible and corporate unity, 194, 195 Connection of this with faith in Him as the Son of God, . 196 Chapter XIV. The Kingdom op Heaven and the King- dom OP THIS "VVorld, ..... 197-209 Jesus before Pilate, ...... 197-199 Proof that Christ's kingdom is not of this world, . . 200 Eight of man to the sword for self-defence represented in the State, 201, 202 State the guardian of all natural rights of man, . . 203, 204 Separate spheres of the State and the Church, . . 205, 206 Principles not altered by the State becoming Christian, . 207-209 Chapter XV. The Forty Days, .... 210-245 After the resurrection Christ gave commandments pertain- ing to the kingdom of God, . . . . 210 (1.) Mission and spiritual jwrvers of the CJmrch — First appearance to all the disciples, . . 211, 212 Mission of the whole Church, . . . 213 Gift of the Spirit of ^'t/e, . . . 214,215 Enables the Church to remit and retain sins, . 216 Implies ofiices to act in behalf of the Church, . 217, 218 (2.) Church of the Future — Blessing on those who believe without seeing, . 219-221 (3.) The Pastoral Office— Miraculous draught of fishes evidently symbolical, 222 Pastoral duties assigned to the apostolic office in the threefold command to Peter, . . 223, 224 Always include both " governing " and " feeding," 225 But different degrees in the pastoral office, . 226, 227 Charge to Peter implies that the functions and responsibilities are personal, . . . 228 Peter's martyrdom to be the result of his follow- ing Christ in tliis office, . . . 229 Contents. John to continue his testimony until the Church should be completely developed, . . 230, 231 (4.) The Apostolic Comviission — Principles to be observed in comparing the dif- ferent accounts of the forty days in the seve- ral Gospels, ..... 232, 233 The last charge before the ascension given to the Eleven, ..... 234, 235 The commission twofold, and comprehends all functions of the apostolic body, including that of reproducing itself, . . . 236-240 This body to have perpetual succession to the end of the world, .... 241 But Christ's ordinances are not laws like those of the old dispensation, . . . 242-245 PART III. CHURCH OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE, . 249-538 Chapter I. Appointment of Matthias to the Apostolic Office, ....... 249-253 Significance of the first act of the disciples after the ascen- sion, ....... 249-251 A precedent in its principles though not in its circum- stances, ....... 252, 253 Chapter II. The Day op Pentecost, . . . 254-261 Descent of the Holy Ghost on the whole body of disciples, 254, 255 Meaning of the gift of tongues, .... 256, 257 The address of Peter the fulfilment of the apostolic com- mission lately given by Christ, .... 258, 259 Gathering of three thousand souls into the Church, . 260, 261 Chapter III. Life of the First Believers, . . 262-271 Value of the description of Christian life in its infancy, . 262 Continuance in the apostles' doctrine, . . 263 In tlie commxmion, ...... 264 " Breaking of bread " the sacrament of tliat communion, . 265 Public and common prayers anotlier element of it, . 266 Combination in the new society of spontaneous spiritual life with sul)mission to authority, . . . 267-270 Community of goods, ..... 271 Chapter IV, First Exercise of Discipline, . 272-276 Good and bad already in tlu; new communion, . 272 The case in which judgment must be exercised, . 273 Peter's act includes all tlic elements necessary for the exer- cise of discipline, ...... 274-276 Contents. xi Chapter V, The Church in Jerusalem, . . 277-303 (1.) Ordination of the Seven — As the Cliurch extends local organisation becomes necessary, ...... 277 This organisation not the result of a command, but a development from the principles given by Jesus Christ, 278-280 Laying on of hands illustrated from the history of Moses, ...... 281-284 The office instituted in the ordination of the Seven a spiritual office, with some of the apostolic func- tions, ...... 285 Included functions both of the diaconate and the loresbyterate, ..... 286 (2.) The Presbyters of the Church — The original Seven disappear from the history, . 287 But we find " presbyters " discharging their duties, 288 Title borrowed from the old economy, and implies a spiritual office, ..... 289, 290 Appointment, as of the Seven, by the apostles, . 291, 292 (3.) James, the Lord's brother — Importance of the principles to be considered in this section, ..... 293 Proofs of the completion of the organisation of the Church in Jerusalem by the appointment of James to preside over it in the apostolic powers, . 294-296 James, the Lord's brother, an apostle, but not one of the Twelve, ..... 297-299 Conclusion from this (1) as to the perpetuity of the apostolic office, ..... 300 (2) As to the government of each local churcli by a pastor with apostolic functions, . . 301-303 Chapter VI. Extension of the Church, . . 304-319 (1.) Conversion of the Samaritans- — First preaching of the Gospel in Samaria the result of external circumstances, . . . 304, 305 Peter and John sent by the apostles to form the disciples there into an organic body, . . 306, 307 The gifts of the Spirit followed the laying on of the apostles' hands, but not connected with this rite, as with baptism, ..... 308, 309 The rite continued after the miraculous element in the gifts passed away, .... 310 Note on Hebrews, vi. 1, 2, . . . . 311, 312 (2.) The Ethiojnan Eunuch — Conversion of the eunuch a sign that the middle wall of partition was breaking down, . . 313 xii Contents. The value of Holy Scripture for the extension of the Church, , . . . . 314 (3.) The Conversion of the Gentiles — Gospel ali'eady preached to Gentiles, but admission to the Church apparently through Judaism, . 315 Cornelius, the devout Roman, sends to Peter, whom he worships as the messenger of God, . . 316 Gift of the Spirit to the uncii'cumcised Gentiles before baptism, . . . . . 317 Necessity for this dii-ect testimony of the Spirit, . 318 The gift does not supersede the necessity for baptism, 319 Chapter VII. The Church in Antioch, . • . . 320-337 Origin of the Church in Antioch, and the mission of Bar- nabas, ....... 320, 321 A new phase of Church life in Antioch, . . . 322, 323 Christian worship developed under two influences : (1) the teaching and gifts of the Spirit ; (2) the synagogue, . 324 New use of the word " Church," .... 325 Proofs that this new develoj)ment did not impair organic unity, ....... 326-328 Ministry of " prophets and teachers," , . . 329, 330 Response of the Spirit to the prayers of the Church in Antioch, ....... 331-333 The directions given by the Spirit, and the acts of the Church, imply the necessity of formal separation and consecration for a spiritual mission by men acting under the authority of the Holy Ghost, . . . 334-337 Chapter VIII. The Apostle Paul, . . . 338-358 Paul's apostleship was co-ordinate Avith that of the Twelve, but not identical, ...... 338-342 The apostolic powers of St Paul gradually developed, . 343-345 Actually separated to the oflice of an apostle, with Bar- nabas, at Antioch, ..... 346, 347 This consistent with his claim to be an apostle in the highest sense of the word, .... 348, 349 The ordinary functions of the apostolic office illustrated from the history of Barnabas and Paul, and from the epistles of the latter, ..... 350-358 Chapter IX. The Council at Jerusalem, . . 359-389 Freedom of Christians from the law could not be eflfected by any law, ...... 359-361 The principle really asserted by Christ, but developed by His Spirit afterwards, ..... 362 Presence of the legal spirit in the Church in Jerusalem, . 363 Controversy at Antiocli as to the cii'cumcision of Gentiles, 364 Co7ttents. xui Question referred to " the apostles and presbyters," by the direction of the Spirit, ..... 365 Reasons for so referring it, when Paul was an apostle, . 366 The meeting of the apostles and the presbyters in council to consider the matter, ..... 367 Peter's judgment founded on the testimony of the Spirit at the conversion of Cornelius and the general principles of the Gospel, 368 This judgment confirmed by the testimony of Paul and Barnabas, ....... 369 James, the apostle of Jerusalem, gives his judgment on the whole question, ...... 370, 371 The three prohibitions reserved, one on moral groimds ; the second on religious ; the third on the ground of rever- ence for a divine ordinance still in force, . . 372-374 Synodical decision and ejiistle, .... 375 Constitution of the assembly at Jerusalem illustrated from archaic polity, ...... 376-379 Free discussion, and the concurrence of the Church, neces- sary elements in the corporate action, . . . 380, 381 Authority and value of the decision of the Council, . 382 But decisions of the Church are not laws, like those of the old economy, ...... 383 Proof of this from the Epistle to the Galatians, . . 384, 385 From the First Epistle to the Corinthians, . . . 386, 387 Church authority really of the highest order, because it can only be obeyed by enlightened reason, . . . 388 The legitimate sphere and purpose of Church authority, . 389 Chapter X. Apollos, ... . 390-394 Apollos the representative of the Alexandrian school of Jewish theology, .... . 390, 391 As a disciple of the Baptist, he did not possess the gifts of the Spirit, ...... 392 Proofs that he afterwards received such gifts, . . 393 His relations with St Paul illustrate the true unity of the Church, ....... 394 Chapter XI. The Church in Corinth, . . . 395-415 The condition of the Church in Corinth answers fully to the description given by Christ of the offences that must come, ....... 395-398 Two principles to be observed in dealing with such a con- dition of the Church, . . . . 398 (1.) Those who regard men's relations to Christ as only subjective would insist on this, . . 399, 400 Yet even on the principle of not judging, this insufficient, . . . . 401 xiv Co7itents. But the "judgment of cliarity" theory inadequate, unless there are real relations, . . 402 St Paul, in ^\Titing to the Corinthians, assumes without reserve the reality of the relations, and on this bases his exhortations, . . . 403, 404 (2.) A necessity however for judging had ari.scn in Corinth, ..... 405 Judgment of St Paul, to he confirmed in a solenui assembly of the Church, . . . 406, 407 Discijiline partly pro salute animce, . . 408, 409 But yet more, lest evil should infect and impart its oAni character to the body, . . 410, 411 Necessity for distinctions in the exercise of dis- cipline, . ..... 412, 413 But Christian discipline must not be by mere rule, ...... 414, 515 Chapter XII. Relation of the Spiritual Gifts to the Order of the Church, .... 416-428 Difficulty of determining the Limits between the super- natural and the natural, . . . . . 416 Definition of that which is supernatural, . . . 417 The distinctions here drawn illustrated in the history of Jesns Christ, . . . . . . 418 In the gift of tongues, ..... 418 In the gift of proiihecy, ..... 419 The really spiiitual power of the Holy Ghost co-operated with the supernatural power in the higher gifts, but was always distinct, ... . 420 Purpose of the supernatural gifts, .... 421 Could not be other than temporary without injury to the Church, and indicated a state of transition, . . 422, 423 The supernatural gifts of the Spirit co-operated with the order of the Church, and were gradually absorbed into it, ...... . 424, 425 Caution given by St John as to prophets, a lesson for all ages of the Church, ..... 426-428 Chapter XIII. The Church the Body of Christ, . 429-463 The word Body, a.s used by St Paul, not metaphorical a.s in modem language, but means a material framework, . 429, 430 Employed at iirst as an illustration, then as a legitimate symbol of the Church, ..... 431, 432 Organic life of the Church taught by that of the human body, ....... 433 But the action of an organism in which there are many personalities cannot be merely djniamical, . . 434 Contents. xv Threefold distinction of body, soul, and spirit, present to the apostle's mind, ..... 435-439 The Body of Christ a visible society, . . • 440 Not a spiritual or glorified body, but one of humiliation, . 441 Different origin of the Church and of other human socie- ties, 442,443 In the Epistle to the Ephcsians that the Church is the body of Christ is a fimdamental truth, not a mere illus- tration, ....... 444 This truth the basis of unity, .... 445 Purpose of the institution of divers ministers in the Church is a twofold unity, ..... 446 (1.) The One Faith is that on which the Church is built, ...... 447 Limitations of the form in which the one faith must be embodied, .... 448, 449 A form essential to unity, and to be defined by the authority of the Church, . . . 450 (2.) But unity in imyvaxris is also necessary, . . 451 To be attained through the ministry of the Word, but not by formal definitions of truth, . . 452, 453 Tliis unity in knowledge consistent with the free use of the human reason, the maturity of his faculties being indeed required for it, . . 454, 455 Answer to the objection that for the elucidation of truth the argrunents on both sides must be heard, 456-459 The Body of Christ is also the spouse of Christ, . 460 Note on the Creeds, .... 461-463 Chapter XIV. The Pastoral Epistles, . . . 464-509 History of the Church in Ephesus, .... 464 Force of the word enicrKonos, first used to describe the office of presbyters, ...... 465-467 The office of the presbyters not being sufficient to remedy the evils threatening that Church, St Paul places Timo- theus there with apostolic powers, . . . 468-470 This constitution of the local church necessary according to the laws of development, . . . .471, 472 The responsibilities of the chief pastor personal, but the government through the corporate action of the Church, . 472, 473 The Church is both the household of God, and the pillar and groimd of the truth, ..... 474-476 Instructions as to public worshiji, .... 477 The ministry of the Church, . . . . 477 (1.) Two orders of ministers subordinate to him who has the chief authority, . . . 478 xvi Contents. (2.) Functions of each order detennined from the qua- liticiitions required for the ollice, . . 479 Deaconesses, ..... 480 (3.) Appointment of the "faithful and wise servant" to a cliarge in the household, . . . 481 (4.) Appointment of those who have authority to cull and send others, .... 482-484 (5.) The law of succession to office in the Church now completely determined, .... 485, 486 Ditiers from succession by election, hut includes its advantages, ..... 487 (6.) Spiiritual gifts Lelong to office by A'ixtiie of the constitution of the hody of Christ, . . 488, 489 This does not deny the reality of spiritual jjowers elsewhere, ..... 490 The discipline of the Church, . . . , 491 Different methods of dealing with offences against somid doctrine, ....... 492-495 A man who joins a atpeo-ts how to be treated, . . 496, 497 Objection against the exercise of Church authority in regard to false doctrine considered, .... 498-499 Spirit of St Paul's instructions to be followed, not the letter, 5U0 The general instructions as to discipline refer chiefly to dis- cipline of the " clergy," ..... 501, 502 The pastoral epistles elementary Church law, . . 503 Necessity of law in regard to discipline, and its limitations, 504, 505 Principle of " appeals " recogmised in apostolic writings, 506 Authority of the chief pastor extended to tlie whole admin- istration of the Church, ..... 507 Extent of a " diocese," ..... 508-509 Chapter XV. The Apostle Peter, . . . 510-518 The Twelve were apostles in several senses, . . 510-511 Sjiecial office of the Twelve as witnesses to Jesus and the resurrection, . . . . . . 512 Closing testimony of the ajjos tie Peter, . . .513,514 His primacy only in the original apostolic body, and with reference to their special office, .... 515-517 But indicated jtrinciples in the permanent order of the Church, . . . . . . . 518 Chapter XVI. Relation of the Church to the Old Economy, ...... 519-538 Connection between doctrine, properly so called, and the constitution of the Church, .... 519 The kingdom of Christ really a continuation of the king- dom of David, but in a diiferent sphere of human life, not being, like that, a kingdom of the world, . . 520-524 Contents. xvii Objection that the kingdom of David was not a priesthood answered in the Epistle to the Hebrews, . . 525 True and distinctive functions of the sacerdotal office, . 52G-528 So fulfilled by Christ, as making propitiation for sin, as to be incapable of being repeated or continued, . . 529 Nevertheless His Church is a kingdom of priests, and its ministries are really sacerdotal, .... 530, 531 The personal priesthood of every Christian, and the minis- terial priesthood of those who partake of the apostolic office, illustrated in the Lord's Supper, . . . 532, 533 Comparison between the Levitical ministry and the Chris- tian as to their support, ..... 534 The question of ritual to be decided on other princijales than those which determined the ritual of the old eco- nomy, ....... 535-538 PART IV. THE REVELATION, .... 541-624 Chapter I. General Character of the Apocalypse, . 541-553 The " Revelation of Jesus Christ " distinguished from all other books of the New Testament, both by the time at which it was written and by its symbolism, . . 541-543 Connection of its symbolical teaching with the acts and teaching of Jesus Christ, ..... 544-546 Significance of its artistic structiire, . . . 547 Church life on earth the basis and the sphere of the whole Revelation, ...... 548 The various ideal types in which the conflicts and victories of the kingdom of heaven are represented, . . 549-552 Their relation to Church life, .... 553 Chapter II. The Seven Churches, . . . 554-624 (1.) Angels of the Churclies, .... 554-562 The angel of each Church a person, who at the same time is commissioned by Christ to minister for Him in that Church, and also in his office represents the Church, , 554-557 The truth that the personality of the Church is repre- sented in its ayyekos explained, . . . 558-560 The title ayyeXos only another form of anoaToko^, . 561 The ordinary ecclesiastical title would have been unsuit- able in the ideal language, .... 562 (2.) The Churches and the Church, . . . 562-582 Significance of the symbol used to represent the Church, 563 The Church system here represented is the type in which the Chiu'ch of Christ is legitimately developed from its laws of organic life, ..... 564 Distinctions between the Churches local and territorial, 565 xviii Contents. The catholicity and unity of the Church implied in the language, ...... rjOG, 567 Conclusions as to the developed organisation of the Church suggested by the laws of development, . 568-570 Agreement of these \\'\\h. the symbolical representation of the provincial organisation of the Church, . . 571 Tlie Seven Churches of Asia one chm-ch of the province of Asia, with Ephesus as its metropolis, . . 572 Church of the province the true representative of the universal Church, ..... 573 The college of bishops of a province, with one as pritnus or metropolitan, the reproduction of the original tj'pe of the apostolic body constituted by Jesus Christ, . 574 The change of structure in the developed organisation ol' the Church needs to be explained, . . . 575 The result of three principles, — 1st, That the highest functions in a spiritual kingdom are those of the ministry of souls as exercised by Jesus Christ Himself, .... 576, 577 2d, That administrative fmictions cease to be ]iersonal, and therefore to be spiritual, beyond certain limits, ... . . 578 3d, That the limits of human powers determine the limits of the sphere of office Ln the Church, . 579 Laws determined by these principles, . . . 579 The principles established imply larger combinations than 580, 581 those of the province, and particularly that by which a national church is formed, .... 582 (3.) Church Life and its Conflicts, .... 583-618 The works of the angel those of the Church in its corpo- rate life, 584,585 Discipline with regard to evil men, . . 586 Especially as to falsehood, which is at the root of all e\il, 587 Four forms of falsehood represented, viz. — {a.) Fcdse Aj^ostles. The language implies ajiulicial act on those who claim to hold the apostolic office, . . . 588-590 Conclusion as to the method of judging such persons indicated by principles abeady established, . 591 Confirmed by the language addressed to the angel of the Church in Ephesus, .... 592 (6.) False Doctrine. Meaning of " Nicolaitans " in the ideal language, . 593 History of false doctrine in apostolic times compared with the epistles to Ephesus and Pergamum, . r)!)4-5!)6 Errors of the Nicolaitans not mere licentiousness, . 597 The doctrine of Balaam, .... 598 Principles implied in " eating things sacrificed to Contents, xix idols and committing fornication" determined from St Paul's writings to be those that proceed from denying that "Jesus Christ came in the flesh," ...... 599-603 Action of the Church in regard to such principles, 604 (c.) A false Churcli. Formation of anti-Christian societies external to the Church, ...... 605-607 Force of the term (rvvayci^yr] as distinguished from iKKkrja-ia, ...... 608 {d.) Falsehood united to the organic life of the Church. Conclusions from the language of the epistle to Thyatii'a, and from the history of the Old Testa- ment Jezebel, ..... 609-61 1 Interpretation of these conclusions from the epistles of St Paul, ..... 612-616 Vitality of the Church in the midst of these evils, . 617 (4.) Relation of Church life and the i^ersonal life. Necessity of the personal spiritual life strongly asserted in these epistles, . . . . . 618 The constitution of the Church, as represented in them, arises out of this necessity, . . . . 619 Objections to this conclusion considered, . . 620-622 Indications in the epistles of the distinctness of the cor- porate and the personal life, .... 623, 624 CONCLUSION, 625-632 THE GENESIS OF THE CHURCH. INTRODUCTION. It is a strange phenomenon, one wliicli supplies to the adversaries of Christianity a formidable argument against its divine orio-in, that amonix those who believe Holy Scripture to be a revelation from God, and agree in deriving their religion from this source, the widest conceivable differences of opinion exist as to the true social form of the Christian religion ; in other words, as to the constitution, polity, functions, and authority of that which is known as the Church of Christ. In religions originating in the instincts of man such varieties of form might be expected ; but is it to be conceived possible that a perfect religion, founded by One in whom Deity and manhood are united, should be so uncertain in its teaching as to leave no sufficient guidance in practical questions, touching human life and human relations at all points, and affecting the organisation of human society for the very purposes in which Christianity was given 1 And it is no reply to this to affirm, that the true organic form of Christianity must be determined, not from Scripture alone, but by A 2 The Genesis of tJie CJiiirch. the actual existence of tins form ; that the Church is as much a fact in the history of the Christian religion as Holy Scri})ture itself. For on the one hand these two facts, if they are parts of the same divine scheme, must be in perfect agreement, so that one will witness to and confirm the other ; and further it must be re- membered that the existence of Christianity in its true social form, if we go a step beyond the present time when there are many forms claiming to bu its repre- sentatives, can only be ascertained from history ; and the only contemporaneous and authentic history that Christians possess of the original form of Christianity is the New Testament. We cannot therefore answer the objection against Christianity as defective for the pur- poses for which it is given, if the history of its original institution would justify different, and not only differ- ent but contradictory, conclusions ; — if, for example, some might fairly conclude from the records that the external form of Christianity is a matter of in- difference, and others that there is one, and only one, polity, invested with large powers over the human family. And yet these are the very questions at issue among Christians. It must be observed further, that these differences of opinion as to the visible form of Christianity are not like differences as to its doctrines, but are much less easily explained. For the doctrines of Christianity, dealing with the relations of the spiritual world, and those of the infinite God with man, can only be repre- sented to the understanding of man by comparisons, necessarily imperfect, with earthly things. They can never be legitimate subjects for the speculative reason ; and however clearly and sufficiently they may be ex- pressed, they are always liable to be obscured by the Introduction. 3 imperfect spiritual vision of the liumaii mind ; so tliat these broken and interrupted rays of truth produce many varieties of theological opinion, according as different minds perceive different aspects of truth, espe- cially as men are apt to imagine that what they them- selves see, if not the whole, is at least the most essential part of the whole. And the theological system derived from these fragmentary truths, and apparently follow- ing by necessary logical consequence, is held as if it were identical with the revealed truth itself, and all not consistent with this system is counted as a contra- diction of the truth. Thus the differences which exist among Christians as to faith and doctrine may be clearly traced to the human understanding itself ; and any objection against Christianity on this score might easily be turned into an argument in its favour. But with questions as to the Church the case is wholly different. Christian doctrine is indirectly involved in them, and the relation of man to a spiritual and super- natural world underlies them all ; yet in themselves they are of a different order from matters of faith and doctrine. If one organic form were ordained as the true representative of Christianity, this could have been as distinctly revealed by Jesus Christ as the Jewish polity was by Moses ; or if Christianity were intended to have been a doctrine without any determined form, this also might have been made perfectly intelligible to the human understanding. It is impossible therefore to explain the great variety of opinions among Christians on the subject of the Church, on the same grounds as we may account for doctrinal differences. And yet these diverse Church theories are so inti- mately connected with the practical duties and the prac- tical life of Christians, that he must have had small 4 The Genesis of the CJnireh. experience of liumaii life wlio deems them immaterial. They represent very different mental conceptions of man's relation to God and to his fellow-men, which conceptions form and modify the characters of men very largely, and enter into many other questions besides those which are expressly ecclesiastical. And although it may be admitted that differences of opinion as to the Church, leading men into widely-diverging paths, may often be originally due to difierences of mental temperament dis(|ualifying some for receiving, or at least firmly apprehending, ideas which others accept almost instinctively, and which at once exercise great power over them ; yet it must also be remem- bered that truth is necessary to a man, not in propor- tion as he is apt to receive it, but, on the contrary, in proportion as he requires it to mould his own char- acter, to supply deficiencies there, to correct opposite tendencies, and save him from that one-sidedness of mind which is the parent of innumerable falsehoods and evils. The argument therefore against Christianity as an imperfect religious system, because it seems to have left in doubt and obscurity questions practically affect- ing human interests, appears at first sight very forcible. And yet its force depends on an assumption which every thoughtful student of the New Testament must perceive to be untrue — namely, that Jesus Christ was a legislator, and that it was consistent Avith His mission to give laws, in the proper sense of the word — that is, rules to be obeyed merely because of the authority of him who imposes them. But the teaching both of Clu-ist Himself and of His apostles indicates that His Gospel was in- tended to affect and renovate human life and relations in a method far more effectual and more truly divine ; not Introduction. 5 by the force of laws acting on man from without, but by laws written on the heart— by a new life from within. This is a method more truly divine because it is more in accordance with all those manifestations of God in the natural world which are within the reach of man's understanding. The physical universe obtains its true order and form, not by some authori- tative interposition from without, but by a law mthin itself, branching out into innumerable and interminable sequences of cause and effect, and developing all the various forms, and these exact and definite, which represent and express the action of the secondary and dependent laws. It is often impossible to trace the connection and interdependence of these laws ; and yet the human mind becomes convinced, in the study of nature, that no sequence that is observed is isolated; that every law depends on another more general law ; and the result is, that a knowledge of natural laws, often materially affecting human interests, cannot be ascertained from facts which lie on the surface, but must be determined by long and patient investigation. But it is no argument against the benevolence of the Creator that the laws of health, for example, or of political economy, on Avhich the material prosperity of man depends, are but obscurely indicated, and are much misapprehended by many. Nor should we argue that they are of little value, and may be neglected, because of the difficulty which has attended their dis- covery. Those therefore who demand of Christianity definite rules as to the form in which it should be represented, claim that which is inconsistent with its own account of its divine origin, and with a really divine religion — that is, one which shall be in accordance with the 6 The Genesis of tJie CJmrch. universe of God. What we oiiglit to expect is, that we shall find in the history and teaching of its Founder the elementary principles out of which the true form of Christianity shall be evolved. We may look for such instructions as shall be sufficient to direct the action of these principles ; for such a history of their gradual development as shall enaUe us to determine into what they will grow, how they will affect, and be themselves affected by, the various conditions of human life ; what counteracting tendencies may impede or deform their proper growth ; — in short, we must be prepared to study the laws of the development of Christianity in the rela- tions and fellowships of human life, in the same manner as science investigates the laws of the natural world. The perfection of the religion will appear, not in its governing laws being patent to all — which, as far as we can judge from the analogy of nature, it is impossible that such laws should ever be — but in the adaptation of its true development to the fulfilment of its own pur- pose, the sj)iritual renovation of mankind. If this l3e a correct view of that which Holy Scrip- ture may be expected to contain as to the constitution and functions of the Church, it is evident that the great differences of external form which professing Christi- anity has assumed may be easily explained. They will simply indicate that, either from want of know- ledge and patient study, or from some moral imperfec- tion or other disturbing influences. Christians do not recognise, or are differently affected by, those laws which should determine tlie true order and the external form of Christianity. We cannot conclude that the laws themselves are insufficient or uncertain in their operation, as we should infer if in nature its order were confused and its forms devoid of regularity ; because Introduction. 7 spiritual laws do not act on man, as physical laws act on nature, by an irresistible sequence and effect, but through the concurrence of the human will, and to a great extent through the knowledge of the laws them- selves. To impute confusion and disorder in the organi- sation of Christian society to the insufficiency of Holy Scripture, and not to causes within man himself, is an assumption as gratuitous, as if we should assume that because men neglect through ignorance or wilfulness O (DO the laws of health, therefore no such laws exist. But another explanation, which has much show of a philosophical argument, is sometimes given. It is argued that Christianity being itself a living power, and not an external form, it may be expected that in its development in the world it will manifest itself in many very different types, even as the life of nature rejDre- sents itself in an endless diversity of outward forms. Such illustrations however, ornamental as they may be as flowers of rhetoric, are very misleading unless we examine them carefully. The same analogy is used by others as a proof that all the various religions of the world, however diverse and contradictory, may be dif- ferent expressions of the same fundamental truth ; and the proof is just as good in one case as in the other. But the diversity of nature is real unity, because all its forms are connected parts of the same fundamental order. In nature there is no contradiction or confu- sion ; " every seed," to use the words of an apostle, "hath its own body;" the same germ of life is evolved into its own proper form, which external conditions may somewhat modify, but cannot change into a type totally different. Or since we must assume, as it seems, in this philosophical plea for diversity, that all the various forms of nature have been evolved from the 8 The Gcjicsis of tJic CJnircJi. same original monad, yet, after all, the varieties in genus homo are confined within very narrow limits. Sometimes, w^e must allow, nature falls short of its highest aim, and only produces the siWocZ family; and among them, no doubt, many varieties of form may be found. So that if we must accept the analogy of those w^ho see in the divisions of Christendom a counterpart of the beautiful diversity of nature, we ought to follow it to its legitimate conclusion, and admit that the forms of nature are not only different, but of very different value ; and that any considerable divergence from the highest type indicates degradation or some monstrous growth. For, further, we must bear in mind, that if in the natural world irregularities are sometimes found, much more will they occur in the action of any spiri- tual laws of development ; first, because all spiritual motive powers find in the very nature of man much that resists instead of favouring their action ; and then because they are exposed to perturbing influences from without, continually tending to interrupt them, so that if in nature abnormal growths present themselves, nothing can be more certain than that they w^ill appear in the various developments in human life of the spiri- tual powers of Christianity. Indeed, had it not been for these disturbing influences wdthin and without ; if man w^ere as apt to recognise and follow the laws of spiritual life as nature is to obey its own laws ; if it were not necessary to apply corrections, so to speak, in order to insure the true and legitimate operation of spiritual principles, — much of the practical teaching of Holy Scripture would be superfluous. No directions whatever Avould be re- quired if men were wholly governed by the first motive power of the Christian life— that is, love to God and Introduction. 9 man. All results would have flowed spontaneously from this source. All secondary laws would have de- rived themselves by necessary consequence from this primary law. But human nature and human life being such as they are, revelation not only supplies motive principles, but also many practical directions, which are not laws or rules in the proper sense, but rather specimens and instances by which the legitimate results of inward principles may be tested and deter- mined. This, which is too obviously true in regard to the personal religious life to require illustration, must hold also in this development of spiritual laws in the social life of Christians — that is, in the Church of Christ, Our investigations therefore into the genesis of the Christian Church must follow this course. The elementary principles of Christian society would be of themselves suflicient to determine the forms which that society w^ould assume if only they had perfectly free play in human life ; but as they have not, we must look further for such positive instructions as may enable us to understand the action of these fundamen- tal laws, and for such examples and instances as may be trusted as true and normal growths of the vital principles ; although, indeed, even as regards these, we have to inquire whether special and temporary circum- stances may have imparted a somewhat different form from that which under other conditions would most truly represent the principles. This is certainly no short and easy method of arriv- ing at conclusions ; the method of selecting a few con- cise, emphatic texts — which, being inspired, are sup- posed to have plenary authority by themselves without any reference to their context — building up a system on them, or throwing them at opponents, whilst other lo The Genesis of iJie CJmrch. inconvenient texts are melted down in the crucil)le of a self-consistent theory, is undoubtedly a far simjJcr mode of dealing with these questions ; and it is wontler- ful what contentment some minds find in the bold and determined assumptions whicli are required for this process. But it is hardly one which can produce unity of judgment among Christians. It is indeed no exag- geration to say that in no single branch of human knowledge could anything approaching to certainty have been attained, if it had been studied as the sci- ence of ecclcsiology (if I may so use a much-abused term) is usually studied in Holy Scripture. Sentiment and preconceived opinion too often determine the inter- pretations, and supply the wanting links in the evi- dence; a favourite idea is expanded and illuminated with favourite texts, witliout any attempt to balance it by its opposite, apart from which it is only a half truth, destitute of vital energy : a serious earnest endeavour to ascertain the true principle at issue, through a careful process of induction, seems to be considered not only unnecessary, but even inadmissible in so sacred a sphere, and for questions respecting which it is supposed that some indefinable religious sentiment must determine them ; and, what is of all most fatal to a right solution of the question, because it vitiates the whole process of the inquiry, the attempt is sometimes made to construct out of the New Testament a system of law, with autho- ritative rules binding on Christians simply because they are commanded. Many indeed shrink from these modes of handling Scripture ; they will not venture, by any special pleading, to force conclusions in favour of their own opinions ; and not feeling their ground sure in Scripture, they are content witli arguing that, as a whole, the teaching of the New Testament points in such Introdiiction. 1 1 aud such directions, and tliat wbat is wanting in ex- press instructions may be supj^lemented by inference and more general principles. But no vague treatment of so important a subject can satisfy any thoughtful and impartial mind. It is evident that these general conclusions are really much modified by the habits of thought, and the preconceived judgment, of those who form them. The whole process of the argument is not exposed to view ; there is no attempt to attain the same kind of certainty as to results as may be attained in the study of the natural world. And yet we have seen that, unless this be attainable, it seems impossible to answer the objection against Christianity as an im- perfect religion, not completely adapted to the wants of man. In this work an attempt is made to lay the founda- tion of ecclesiology as a science, by investigating the development of the Christian Church out of its elemen- tary principles to the close of the apostolic age. Such an investigation need be little more than a dispassionate analysis of the teaching of Holy Scripture, the materials for which are abundantly supplied by the labours of others. I do not profess to conduct the inquiry further than may be necessary for a comprehensive view of the whole subject ; and on most points I touch briefly, that the argument may not be encumbered. For the same reason, the expositions of Scripture that are given are discussed only so far as may enable any tolerably well- informed student of the Greek Testament to form his own judgment on them. If they do not commend themselves to his mind, I fear I should not make them more clear by loading my pages with quotations and authorities. But, in truth, the argument depends on no special rendering of particular passages, but on the 1 2 7^ he Genesis of tJie CJmrch. whole tenor of the New Testament teaching ; whilst the unity of tlie scheme evolved in the argument will, I think, render some passages of Scripture intelligible, for the explanation of which little aid can be obtained from commentators. My purpose indeed in the pre- sent work is rather to indicate a more comprehensive method of dealing with this great question than to complete the proofs. The conviction that the evidence is abundantly sufficient to establish most definite and certain conclusions, as certain as any that science deduces from the observation of nature, has been strengthened immeasurably l)y the investigation itself Whether I make a right use of the evidence, others must judge ; in so extensive a field of inquiry there will certainly be many omissions, and probably not a few errors. I have already intimated that the process of such an investigation as is proposed ought in some respects to resemble those through which the laws of the physical world are determined. For although inquiries into the constitution of the Christian Church soon lead us up to truths which cannot be fully expressed in forms of human thought, and therefore are not proper subjects for the speculative reason, yet this is equally the case in the world of nature. Every scientific inquiry brings us into contact with natural forces which are in them- selves unknowable by the human understanding. But the fact of the physical forces themselves being in- comprehensible by the human mind does not make our conclusions as to the laws of their operation less certain ; both the existence and the action of these laws may be known without our approaching one step nearer the solution of the underlying mystery. The mere fact therefore of the forces which act on man in Christianity being supernatural would not of itself alter the condi- Introduction. 1 3 tions of the question. Practically, however, the method of the investigation must be somewhat different. The laws of the natural world are to l^e ascertained by induc- tion from its phenomena, and then, the laws being suf- ficiently determined, we may discover and antici^^ate by deduction what results will follow from their action in particular cases. But we cannot employ deductive reasoning as freely in this inquiry. For the problem of the development of the Christian life into its organic forms is fiir more complicated than any that can arise in the natural world, because in it is involved the twofold question of man's relation to God, and man's relation to his fellow. The problem of man's moral and social nature is of itself too intricate to be solved by our knowledge ; much more the question, How the spiritual and supernatural powers of Christianity most truly express themselves in man's social relations ? The powers that act indeed are part of the Christian revelation, and respecting these there is no dispute. That the Spirit of God works in man ; that through faith in Christ He awakens in the heart of man love to God and his brother ; that this love tends to produce fellowship among Christians, and to combine them for the purpose of extending the knowledge of Christ's truth to others ; — these are fundamental principles, which no one questions without denying Christianity alto- gether. The difficulty arises when we pass from these primary laws to those which are derived from them ; when we have to discover what forms will be developed under these influences, what will be the order and organic life of the new world. It is just as impossible for us to determine these by any a priori reasoning, as it would be to predict (supposing the hypothesis of the nebular origin of the universe to be true) into 14 TJic Genesis of tJie CJnircJi. what forms and order nature would be evolved Ly its primary laws. And another question presents itself here. The naturalistic theory of the genesis of the universe is held by some to be really identical with that which revelation presents to our faith — namely, that in the beofinning God created the heavens and the earth — because in nature, it is argued, the will and Avisdom of God work by nature. Into this question we need not enter, although certainly the evidence as yet adduced of the causes still operating in nature having been sufficient for creation can hardly satisfy any un- biassed judgment. At all events, whatever be the other side of the truth, " by faith we know that the worlds were made by the word of God." Now what is the truth as to the far higher work, the genesis of the new creation of God'? Many, Avho would reject the natural- istic view of the first creation as atheistical, yet hold that the Church of Christ was nothing more than the natural result of primary spiritual forces — that there was no interposition of the Word of God to determine its order and forms. They repudiate as unspiritual the idea that Jesus Christ, the Creator of the new universe of God, did determine by His Avill any form or order for His Church. And yet surely, if the forms of nature are the result, not of mere physical forces, but of God's creative word, much more is the exercise of the divine will required to exhibit the true order of the second creation, because in the latter there are disturbing forces to overcome. And it is no more unspiritual to believe that Jesus Christ would determine such forms, than it is doing violence to nature to hold that the types of the natural world are ordered by God. But the question before us Christians, and that which I propose to investigate, is, not what might be anticipated, but what we must con- Introduction. 1 5 elude from the acts and teacliiug of Jesus Christ and of those who under the direction of His Spirit have recorded the history of this new creation. From these we must learn what was actually the genesis of the Church, even as from the first book of sacred Scripture we learn what was the genesis of the heavens and the earth, of the human race and human society. Whether there is a normal order instituted by the divine wis- dom of Christ, and what are the true elements of that order, are questions to be solved only through a care- ful examination of the sacred record. We must not expect always to be able to trace the connection be- tween the primary spiritual laws and the forms and order which are their true result, although we may be assured that such a connection exists. In nature, who can distinguish all the processes through which the seed grows into the plant, with its own proper form, — its structure, character, colour, fragrance, being deter- mined by some peculiarities in the original germ, utterly undiscernible to our senses, yet certainly there ? Need we therefore be surprised if we are sometimes at a loss to explain why the germs of spiritual life should issue, according to the will of Christ, in one form rather than another? It is true that in the spiritual life the service is reasonable, and therefore it is our duty to examine into the reasons of the laws that are indicated, that we may obey them in the spirit, not in the letter ; and the more diligently and patiently that we examine Holy Scripture do we discover these reasons. But to assume that they must be always ajDparent, is certainly no evidence of sj)iritual perception, but rather of un- christian presumption. But further we must observe that neither the fact of the forces acting on men being spiritual and super- 1 6 TJic Genesis of iJie Church. natural, nor the exercise of the divine will and wis- dom in the creative process, must lead us to suppose that the phenomena of the genesis of the Church would be unnatural, and not according to those laws of de- velopment to which all things that are the subject of human knowledge can form. For genesis, development, evolution, or l)y whatever name it may be called, is nothing else than the fulfilment of these laws ; they are as clearly exhibited in the description given in Holy Writ of the creation of the universe, as in any of those operations of nature in which science investigates them. In the beginning, the inspired writer says, the whole w^as without form and void ; the elements existed, but were generally diffused, and without distinction. The result of the action of creative energy was twofold ; collection and concentration into coherent masses, and separation into multiform existences, which are all parts of one cosmos, one consistent whole. There is light, but at the same time a separation of the light from the darkness ; not uniform undivided day, but day and night distinguished, yet succeeding one another as parts of one whole. The waters above the firmament are divided from those beneath. Earth and sea are separated, yet in this separation there is no divorce. Again, the elementary principles in the earth and seas are gathered into manifold forms of life, vegetable and animal, all of them definite and distinct, but all of them connected parts of the great order, links in the mighty chain of nature, until the work is matured and comi)leted in man, who is not only the most complex and definitely organised of all created forms, l)ut is made in the image of God, with a new and higher life, and he is the sovereign of all earthly things. The process of all development that comes within Introduction. 1 7 the range of human knowledge, or that can be repre- sented by human thought, is similar to this and con- formable to the same laws. In the whole of the phy- sical universe, in the social and political life of man, even in the various results of the human intellect and human energies, science discovers the same laws of evolution or progress. An elementary state is one in which there is no distinction of parts or functions ; the whole is homogeneous, without definiteness or consistent order. An imperfect state is one in which the separa- tion is still proceeding or is not completely defined. Maturity is that state in which all those separations and distinctions are perfected, of which the whole is capable without injury to its unity, or to its proper action as one whole and the subordination of its parts. Again, if these separations are either confused or at variance with the order of the whole, it is an abnormal or morbid growth and no true development.'"' These principles, which modern science has established in all the order of nature, and examples of which will at once occur to every thoughtful mind, are here stated, not that we may use them in order to establish by deduc- tion what must be the process of development of the social form of Christianity, but simply that, as we determine this process by induction from the actual history of its genesis, we may compare it in our own mind with the analogies supplied in nature itself, and may thus be aided in distinguishing more accurately what is, and what cannot be, true evolution of the organic life. * " At the same time that evolution is a change from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous, it is a change from the indefinite to the definite. Along with an advance from simplicity to complexity, there is an advance from confusion to order, from undetermined an-angement to determined arrangement." — H. Spencer's First Principles, p. 362, second edition. B iS The Genesis of the CJuirch, I must however, before I conclude this Introduction, anticipate briefly some objections Avliich may be made, from different quarters, against the line of argument adopted in this work. It may be objected, from the side of free-thinkers, that this argument is destitute of a scientific basis, be- cause the Scriptures are assumed without proof to be the work of inspiration ; they cannot form the basis for investigations such as are here proposed, unless they are a real and perfect manifestation of the divine mind, such as nature is, from which conclusions may be drawn with certainty, because we are assured of the universality and permanence of the laws by which it is governed. To this it might be sufficient to reply, that when it is objected that Christianity is not a perfect religious system, because its sacred records are insufh- cient for the guidance of mankind, it is necessary in answering this objection to take the Christian records as we find them, and to suppose them to be such as they claim to be. My argument is intended, not for those who do not believe Holy Scripture to be of God, but for those who are firmly persuaded that it is the revelation of His will, whose faith is little shaken by the difficulties which " the higher criticism " has raised, but who are at times sorely perplexed by this ques- tion as to the divisions of Christianity. My earnest desire is to point out to some of these the one true method of healing the divisions, and attaining that unity which will itself effectually answer the objections and .taunts of the adversaries. And yet to this objection of a free-thinker against our argum(>nt we might further reply by asking him, whether, if the argument can be at all maintained, it does not follow that the assumption that Holy Scripture Introduction. 1 9 is the revelation of the divine mind is a legitimate assumption ? For if he were called to explain why he is convinced that the laws by which nature is governed are uniform and persistent, he would reply probably that there is an intuitive persuasion in the mind that it must be so, and also the fact is established by induc- tion, and all additional knowledge of nature is ever accumulating fresh proofs. Expressed in religious lan- guage the answer amounts to this, that the mind is intuitively conscious that the manifestations of Him from whom nature proceeds follow the same pri- mary laws, because of the unity of Him who is the first cause of all. Conversely, we are assured that certain objects and phenomena are part of the same scheme of nature, merely because we trace in them the action of the same laws. A natural production will be with certainty thus distinguished from a work of human art, or from any accidental formation. Now if Holy Scripture can be treated in this respect as nature itself is treated ; if in its history and teaching we find the same uniformity of law as we discover in the works of nature ; if, for example, in those portions of its history in which superficial thinkers only see con- fusion— as unscientific observers imagine irregularities in nature — a careful examination discovers the same uniform principles working out their results to their maturity, — have we not in this the strongest possible internal evidence that the Christian Scriptures are a real manifestation of the divine mind ? But an objection may present itself from the opposite quarter. Is it not altogether a mistake to suppose that Holy Scripture, the inspired word of God can be like the natural world a subject for human reasonings % Is not this an irreverent handling of spiritual and super- 20 TJie Genesis of the Church. natural truth ? is it not that presumptuous rationalism which leads many astray, and against which Scripture itself often warns us ? And this objection takes two forms, which, hostile as they are to each other, really involve the same fundamental principle. One urges that because, for the reception of the spiritual truth which Holy Scripture reveals, higher powers are needed than human reason, because the natural man under- stands not the things of the Spirit of God for they are spiritually received, therefore reasonings on the teaching of Scripture are not to be trusted. The other, from the premises that inferences drawn by human reason from Holy Scripture are uncertain, concludes that truth can- not be derived from Scripture except through the inter- pretation and under the guidance of the Church ; that the value of Scripture, in short, is simply to illustrate and confirm the truth which the Church itself teaches. But without discussinsc either of these forms in which the objection is presented, in the latter of which there is one fatal flaw — I mean, that we know nothing whatever of the extent or sphere of the authority of the Church except from Scripture itself — an answer may be given which will equally apply to both. It is not, I presume, intended by such an objection that conclu- sions, derived from Holy Scripture by legitimate pro- cesses of reasoning, will be opposed either to the true spiritual instincts of the enlightened mind, or to right- ful decisions of the legitimate authority of the Church. No one would seriously maintain tliis, because it would make Holy Scripture, and the teaching of the Spirit given either to individuals or to tlie whole Church, contrary one to the other, wliicli all would repudiate. The meaning of course is, that there is in Holy Scrip- ture that which is out of the range of the understand- Introduction. 2 1 ing, and wliicli cannot be measured by the same rules, or discussed and examined by the same processes, as enable us to judge of the facts of the natural world. And if we attempt to speculate on these, or reduce them to the ordinary forms of human thought, or derive from them logical consequences, we only fall into error. The mysteries of the Godhead, and of the relations of God with man and human nature, including all the results of redemption, are subjects for faith, but not for knowledge of the same kind as that by which we apprehend natural things, and conclude by comparison necessary sequences of cause and effect. When men apply the speculativ^e reason to the revealed doctrines of Trinity in Unity, of the atonement, of regeneration, or of justification; when they conclude from the unchange- ableness of God that prayer is ineffectual, or from the truth of His predestination that man is no longer re- sponsible,— they then rationalise in the bad sense of the word, because they apply the speculative reason to that to which its powers do not extend. For truth of this kind a higher faculty is required — one that judges of spiritual things, not by discourse of reason, but rather by intuitive perceptions, even as the sesthetic faculty judges of the beautiful in art or nature ; and this inward perception is the result of our minds being cleared from prejudice and passion, and enlightened by the Spirit of Christ. But that conclusions from Holy Scripture are not to be trusted on those things that are within the limits, and therefore within the legitimate exercise, of human reason ; that Scripture appears to the human mind to say one thing, and yet means another, — is either to charge God with being the author of delusion and falsehood, or else it is a playing at fast-and-loose with the faculties of man's understanding, which is fatal to 2 2 The Gaicsis of the Church. all certainty and all knowledge. We have no evidence for any truth in heaven and earth, if the powers of the human mind are not to be trusted in those things which are within their range. It is no irreverence, Ijut an act of the deepest reverence, implying entire con- fidence in the inspiration of Holy Scripture, when we examine it with the conviction that we shall discover in it laws affecting human nature in all its highest relations, if only we search God's Word as diligently as others have studied His works; and, further, that legitimate conclusions from Scripture will need no testimony from without, but will shine in the light of their own divine truth. There is one other objection — I should rather call it an antipathy — which I must expect will prevent many religiously-minded persons from even entering on the arofument discussed in this w^ork, and which I can hardly hope to remove by any preliminary remarks. There is a deeply-rooted feeling in many minds that Church questions, under any form, are unedifying ; that, though they may be necessary and true, yet they are wholly of a different order from questions of faith and Christian duty. And certainly there is much to justify this feeling. A Church question treated con- troversially, maintained by arguments from Scri})ture, defended by precedents from the history of Christianity, confirmed by authorities from Christian writers of all ages, is probably the driest and most unsatisfying food that can be conceived both for the spirit and for the intellect. Unhappy is the lot of those whose spiritual pastor has become a zealous advocate of some ecclesi- astical system, and who considers it his duty to labour in the unprofitable task of impressing his conscientious convictions on their minds. Must we not confess that Introdtiction. 23 whether it be Bellarmine De Romano Pontifice, or Bar- row on the Papal Supremacy, or Richard Baxter's Christian Ecclesiastics, or Milton on Prelatical Epis- copacy ; the most convincing proofs that " since the apostles' time there have been three orders of minis- ters in Christ's Church," or an elaborate argument for the platform of Presbyterianism ; we rise from the study of these learned treatises, perhaps with the deep impression that the evidence on our own side is unanswerable, and that those who will not receive it hardly deserve to be treated as brethren, but also with a shrewd suspicion that we ourselves are not much better Christians than we were before ? But why is this ? How can it be that truths, emanating, as we believe, from the mind of Christ, bring us no nearer to Him, but are mere notions without spiritual life in them ? Is it not because we will not study them as He Himself has revealed them ; as parts of His own living truth, as the result and expression of that divine wisdom which angels desire to look into ? Ought not the knowledge of the true principles of the Church of Christ to direct us to a fuller and better understandino; of the Gospel of Christ \ I do not presume to hope that the present imperfect attempt to trace the laws of Christ's Church from their original source will afford the same satisfaction to the minds of others as it has sup- plied to my own. I am also aware that this argument wants much of the interest which it might possess if the doctrines of Christianity were more largely and freely interwoven with it, and if the inductive method of investigation, which I have thought necessary for the present work, were less rigorously followed. But whilst I must abstain from entering on purely doctrinal questions, further than may be necessary for the com- 24 The Genesis of iJic ChurcJi. pleteness of the argument, no one can fail to observe how closely the argument borders on many of those spiritual truths which are the Jife of the Christian soul, and how largely exact conclusions as to the questions here discussed will contribute to a right apprehension of those things with which faith alone has to deal. And let those who shrink from such investiirations, beinof content with their own conclusions, althouiih they have never thoroughly tested them, on questions which seem to them at all events not vital to the soul, rouse themselves from this selfish apathy, and consider, not whether the subject is made interesting to them, not whether this book is one with which they may beguile a leisure half-hour, Ijut what are the mo- mentous issues at stake in these questions ? Does Holy Scripture supply men with sufficient guidance as to the form and polity of Christianity — whethc]- it has any true form or not — or does it not supply such guid- ance % And by sufficient, we mean such as nature supplies for the determination of its laws. If it must be answered that there is no such guidance, we have no reply whatever to offer to the objection which infi- delity urges against Christianity as an imperfect reve- lation. The theory of an infallible Church cannot help us; it only renders the objection more difficult to remove. But if it be true that there is sufficient guidance in Scripture — if we may indeed determine thence with certainty, on questions which now are separating us, the will of God and the mind of Christ, if only we will lay aside our prejudices, and not be guided by mere feeling, but will patiently and dili- gently and impartially study the Word of God as others are studying His works, — tlien what a glorious future of the true union of Christendom is o]ien before us ! FIRST PART ANTE-MESSIANIC AGE CONTENTS OF PART I. CHAP. I. THE OLD TESTAMENT. II. THE MINISTRY OF JOHN THE BAPTIST. FIRST PART. ANTE-MESSIANIC AGE. CHAPTER L THE OLD TESTAMENT. A COMPLETE inquiry into the various forms of religious life which the Old Testament presents to our view not only is unnecessary here, but could only embarrass our argument; because the questions, what relation these forms hold to Christianity, whether they were com- pletely abolished in order that a totally different condi- tion of religious life might be introduced, or whether they contained elements which should reappear in the kingdom of Jesus Christ, could not be answered accu- rately until we had investigated the principles and laws of that kingdom. It will be sufficient for our present purpose to take a cursory view of the several types of human life in which, before the coming of Jesus Christ, revealed religion was manifested and em- bodied. These will, at all events, serve as a back- ground against which the true form of the Church of Christ will appear more distinctly, whether by contrast or by comparison we cannot as yet determine. We must remember indeed that to minds educated under 28 Original Religious 0)ganisations. these ancient forms of religious life, and trained by their influences, the teaching of Christ, and afterwards of His apostles, was first addressed. But without anti- cipating our inquiry into the nature of that teaching, we may observe that, although both Cluist and His apostles appeal to the Old Testament in confirmation of their doctrine, yet in some minds the influences of the old system were certainly antagonistic to the new religious life ; so that we may conclude, generally, that whilst the old forms were the embodiment of princi- ples which were really in perfect harmony with Christ's Gospel, yet they are of a difierent order, and may ap- pear to those who cannot distinguish the principles to be discordant. The oriofinal relio-ious ororanisations were, as we o o o might expect, the simplest possible. We learn that, after the fidl of man and the promise of the seed of the woman in whom the evils of the Fall should be reme- died, the separation between the good and the evil, appearing fii'st in the descendants of Seth and those of Cain, failed to maintain or develop itself in any forms of social or national life ; it issued not in order but confusion ; a disorganised world was overwhelmed by the Flood, and the family of Noah became the seed of a new world. Distinctions among the several branches of that family soon manifested themselves, and the attempt to attain an artificial and unreal unity, which would have been no true progress, but a hindrance to God's order, was confounded by divine interposition. In course of time Abram is selected as the father of a new and divine organisation, and receives the pro- mise that in his seed all nations should be blessed. Of the sons of Abraham, Isaac is chosen ; of the twin sons of Isaac, Jacob, as inheritor of the promises and Laiu of Hereditary S^iccessioii. 29 determining the line in which the blessings should be continued and fulfilled. In the family of Jacob the organisation receives a further development. His twelve sons become the heads of twelve divisions of Israel. One, Judah, is selected as the head of the first and leading tribe. The tribe of Levi is separated with the utmost distinctness for all purposes relating to reli- gious service. In that tribe Aaron is chosen as the head and parent of the priesthood, his family being as definitely distinguished from the rest of the tribe as the tribe itself was set apart from the rest of Israel. Whilst however there were these definite distinctions, the unity of the nation was maintained by the unity of worship, the one sanctuary, the periodical festivals celebrated at one place ; the tribes intermarried, yet without confusing the tribal distinctions of their de- scendants ; and the sacerdotal tribe, scattered through the land in the Levitical cities instead of being col- lected as other tribes in one district, was a bond of religious unity to the people. The law of organic life in these and other develop- ments described in the Old Testament was succession by natural descent, which is indeed the natural princi- ple of human society. And there are certain elements in such a law which give it great force in religious, as well as in other, organisations of mankind, and these are expressly recognised in Holy Scripture. A son naturally inherits his father's likeness : Adam begets a son in his own image. Moreover, the paternal authority — the natural patria potestas — has great power in forming and determining the character and conduct of the family. This indeed is expressly stated as the reason for the promise being given to Abraham and his seed after him : " For I know him 30 Indications of the Inadequacy that he will command his children and liis household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham the thing that he hatli sj)oken of him."'" So that the succession through natural descent, both to re- ligious blessings and to religious offices, has some real foundation in human nature, and is not merely arti- ficial and arbitrary, as it is often represented. And it must be further noticed, that in the old dispensation this law is so to speak relieved, as it was in the consti- tution of archaic society, and as it still is among many uncivilised races, by the principle of selection among members of the same family being combined with that of natural descent. Setli was not the eldest son of Adam, nor Abram apparently of Terah, nor Isaac of Abraham, nor Jacol) of Isaac, nor Judah of Jacob, nor certainly in every case the high priest of the sacerdotal family. In each family there was one who succeeded to the complete status of the father, and became in his turn the 'paterfa'milias ', but this was not necessa- rily the eldest born. The law of primogeniture does not appear to have been strictly followed in any of the religious organisations of the Old Testament. We must observe further, that whilst the law of suc- cession by natural descent was the one governing prin- ciple of these organisations, there were many indica- tions of the imperfection and inadequacy of this law, which was adopted for a special jmrpose, and for a time, until the true kingdom of God should appear amongst men. Melchisedec, not of the seed of Abra- ham, was a priest of the most high God and blessed the patriarch, and in him (as is argued in the Epistle to the Hebrews) all that should come of him by natural * Gen. xviii. 19. of this Lazv for the Kingdom of God. 3 1 descent. Jethro, tlie father-in-law of Moses, " took a burnt-offering and sacrifices for God : and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God."'"" Balaam, wholly outside the religious organisation of Israel, is found offering sacrifices to the true God, who reveals Himself and the future destinies of His chosen people to this alien from the covenant. Job was of the race of Edom, of which it was said — " Jacob have I blessed, and Esau have I cursed." It is impossible therefore to suppose that the religious organisations of the Old Testament, which were founded on the natural law of succession, either did contain, or were intended to contain, or were cap- able of containing, all the religious life of man. In- deed in Israel itself there was a remarkable testimony to the inherent imperfection of the sacerdotal organisa- tion, and to its inadequacy as a representation of the true principle of a divine ministry, in the rise and progress of the order of prophets. Taken from all the tribes without distinction, the prophets asserted the spiritucil principles of the law, not only by their teach- ing, but also by their acts — for example, by offering sacrifice — thouo-h not of Aaron's seed. Anions: the prophets themselves, from the time of Samuel we find in the schools of the prophets some indications of an organisation, indistinct and interrupted indeed, but a faint foreshadowing of an organisation for the service of God on a principle different from that of natural descent. After the institution of the Levitical priesthood, the next national development, for which the judges raised up from time to time prepared the way, was the selec- tion of David of the tribe of Judali — again it must be * Exod. xviii. 12. 32 Tlicse Organisations preparatoiy observed the youngest of his owu family — as the king of the nation and the father of a royal race. This was followed hy a rapid and very extensive growth of the organic religious life of the people ; the theocratic king- dom, which even in the days of David became of great power and dimensions, in the days of his son Solomon attained its maturity, the temple built by him being at the same time the symbol and the centre of the national religious life. The extent and elaborate exact- ness of the religious organisation which David began and Solomon completed are described in detail by the writers of the books of Kings and Chronicles. No sooner however had this religious organisation been perfected than signs of decay appeared, issuing shortly in violent disruptions and disorders. The sepa- ration of the ten tribes of Israel from Judah and the house of David was no development, but was a fatal injury to the religious life of the people, which in the separated part rapidly degenerated ; whilst the divided nation, after a series of accumulated misfortunes, fell into subjection to foreign powers, from which it never recovered. But, as another proof how inadequate the religious organisation was to represent the true religious life of man, we may notice in the sacred history that separated Israel at times contained more of the true servants of God than Judah, who possessed the temple and sacerdotal services at Jerusalem, the veiy centre and heart of the system. Notwithstanding however all its imperfections, and in spite of all external assaults, and all elements of dis- solution within, this divinely-ordained organisation con- tinued until the coming of Jesus Christ, foretold by prophecy as the rod out of the stem of Jesse, the branch that should grow of his roots. Prophecy indeed, from to a more Perfect Form. 33 tlie beginning, pointed forward to a condition of man for which all these imperfect forms of religions life were making preparation. The covenant with Abraham was in its very nature national ; yet its promises and bles- sings were to be for all nations. The prophets used lanofuase, little understood indeed before the times of the Gospel, which expressly declared that in some form or other the divinely-ordained types of religious life should be perpetuated through all generations. The seed of Abraham was to possess the land for ever. The covenant with David, and with the priests and Levites, is as immutable as the covenant of day and night, the laws of the physical world. In every age they should have their true representatives and successors. And especially, and with much distinctness of detail, was it predicted that the kingdom of David should never fail, but should have dominion over the whole earth and all nations. It should be governed by the promised Mes- siah, the divine King, the Lord our Righteousness. It should be as a stone hewn without hands, a superna- tural and divine empire, which should break in pieces the kingdoms of this world, and become a great moun- tain and endure for ever. It would be out of place to discuss the interpretation of these prophecies, since this can only be determined accurately from events the nature of which, when the prophecies were delivered, were hidden in the womb of time. There is indeed one question, at the very threshold of such an inquiry, which would have to be determined — I mean whether the law of succession 1)y natural descent, of the insufficiency and inherent unspi- rituality of which so many indications are given in the Old Testament, would be the principle on which these prophecies should receive their accomplishment. It is c 34 Ilcrcditaiy Succession bclon(^s to assumed by Jews, uiid by many Christians also wlien tlicy would interpret prophecy, that this is the only true law of succession. The New Testament however, without interfering with those elements of reality which that law contains, does, we shall find, substitute for it anotlier principle of succession, and places on a very diiferent basis the religious organisation of mankind. This law of natural succession however, which deter- mined the forms of religious life in the old economy, was in reality only the expression of another larger natural principle which those forms embodied — I mean the authority of positive law. The history of archaic law among the nations of the world has been discussed in a modern work, \\\\\\ which all students of the subject are familiar. The primeval form of law, among the Greeks at least, con- sisted in isolated judgments of kings, which were sup- posed to emanate from heaven, and are therefore called by Homer tliemistes, as being suggested by Themis the assessor and messenger of Zeus. These judicial awards were not connected by any principle, or founded on any custom or usage, but were regarded simply as ex- pressions of the divine will, and by their recurrence under certain circumstances established precedents and usasfes, which then became the authoritative standard of justice. These usages gradually grew into unwritten laws, preserved in the custody of a privileged class. The next epoch in the history of law was the era of codes, of whicli the Twelve Tables of Rome were the most famous specimen, — some of tliese codes, as the Hindoo laws of Manu, l)eing regarded as composed under divine inspiration. In all, religious civil and moral ordinances were mingled together witliout dis- tinction, "the sovorancc of law from nioralitv. and the System of Positive Law. 35 religion from law belonging to the later stages of men- tal progress." In these codes law proper, vofxos, as distinguished both from Slktj and from Oejxis, began/"" The history of law among God's ancient people has several strong points of resemblance to that which has been traced anion a: other nations of mankind. But a fundamental element in the constitution of man is affirmed and expounded in Holy Writ, which is very faintly and partially recognised in other ancient records. In Scripture man is represented as having in himself the knowledge of good and evil ; this knowledge however, far from being an unmixed blessing, brings death to him instead of life, having been acquired through disobedi ence to a positive command of God. For the awakening | of conscience was both preceded and followed by the excitement of passion or concupiscence, the desire for the forbidden thing. This representation of man, which must be the foundation of all true moral philo- sophy, alone explains his condition and history, as it is | further described in the Old Testament. His consci- ousness of right and wrong, awakened in his own fall, yet obscured or perverted by passion, is at first guided, corrected, or warned by separate divine commands, in some respects answering to the Homeric idea of themistes, and by customs and usages growing out of these. But the law in its true sense began when the Ten Commandments were proclaimed to the nation from Mount Sinai by the voice of God, and written on tables of stone by the finger of God, detailed rules for the social moral and religious life of Israel being given to Moses, and recorded by him in the books of the law. The relifcious organisation of Israel was the offspring and the expression of this divine law. * Maine's Ancient Law, chap. i. 36 Law derives its Force fnmi AutJiority. Now the characteristic of law is, that it derives its force from the authority of the lawgiver. It may be obviously just and good, or the reasons for its enact- ment may be liidden in the In'cast of its autlior, but it must l)e obeyed Ijecause it is law. The law of the living and true God had His authority, and it was sufficient that He had commanded it. Its language was, " Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them." The Israelite who ventured to worship God otherwise than as He had ordained, is visited with His judgment. To obey is better than sacrifice. He who stretched out an unconsecrated hand to touch the sacred ark, though to save it from falling, is smitten for his rash- ness, and dies there before God. The distinct purpose of tlie economy is to assert the right of God to the obedience of man, not because of the apparent fitness and goodness of the command, but because the com- mandment has been given. It is the teaching of the Garden of Eden fully developed and applied to all relations of human life. And its result was the repe- tition of tlie same fall. And we must further observe, that in some import- ant respects divine law differs not essentially from human. When we pass, in the history either of the world at large or of the chosen people, from the era of isolated judgments on separate circumstances to that of fixed law, written and promulgated, we come un- doubtedly to a higher stage of man's existence. "With- out definite and permanent law, natural life caimot make progress, and law is law indeed in proportion to its definiteness, its certainty, its rigidity. And yet these very qualities in law, without wliicli it cannot attain its perfcctncss as law — because^ otherwise its re- Imperfection inherent in all Lazv. 37 suits must in part depend on its interpretation by a judge, as is the case with most human laws — are also the inherent defect of law itself, giving occasion for the saying, Siunmum jus summa injuria. For it is impossible that any fixed rules should be at all times suited to all the varying circumstances and conditions of human life, in which the self-same acts may at differ- ent times be wholly different in their true character. And laws may therefore both allow some things and command others, necessary or expedient in odc stage of human life, yet in another injurious or very inex- pedient ; so that human laws made in one age often fall into desuetude in another, and their enforcement would lead to great injustice, and they need to be from time to time reformed and adapted to the altered circumstances of men. It is therefore impossible, in the nature of things, that institutions which are the ex- pression of positive and fixed law, although that law be given by God Himself, should be perfectly adapted for man or be permanent. And those who live under such institutions are in an imperfect state for two reasons : first, because their own judgment is not exercised in their obedience, but they obey merely because it is commanded, which is the condition of an infant or a slave ; and then also because of the imperfections which are necessarily inherent in law because it is law. These imperfections of a state of law are of conse- quence, however, only as regards the moral and reli- gious life of man. In respect to his civil and political rights such defects are far more than counterbalanced by the immense advantage which man derives in all temporal matters from the definiteness and fixity of law. But for man, as a moral and spiritual being, a 38 UiLSiiitcd for Mali's Religious Life. state of law must ever ])o a state of bondage and of impcrfectncss. The evils incident to those who are under law were relieved in the old economy by a gradual and partial revelation of another and a higher economy for man. The office of the prophets was specially intended to awaken and direct the consciences of men, and teach them the justice truth and good- ness of God by argimients independent of the law, so as to place obedience to God on a better and surer foundation than that of submission to bare authority, and produce a service of a higher order, whilst it pointed forward to the coming kingdom in which all the defects of a state of law should be completely remedied. From time to time also there were signifi- cant hints of a fulfilment of the law, not in the letter but in the spirit, as when David entered into the house of God, and ate the consecrated bread which it was not lawful for any to eat except the priests only. And why was Uzzah slain, and David's breach of order quoted by Jesus Christ Himself as an argument ngainst the legalists of His day % The Avords of David himself in one of his Psalms express the principle, superior to mere law, which was subsequently to be developed under the Gospel of Jesus Christ ; " The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him." The knowledge of good and evil, which to man under the dominion of sinful passion is death, is to become a higher law than the law itself, a law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, which sets us free from the law of sin and death. 39 CHAPTER 11. THE MINISTRY OF JOHN THE BAPTIST. The position occupied by John, tlie forerunner of Jesus Christ, was one of transition between the Old Testa- ment and the New. Being of a priestly family, of parents who "walked in all the commandments and ordinances of the law blameless," he was intimately re- lated to the old ecclesiastical organisation, and he was brought up from his youth by divine command in the strictest observance of those religious ordinances which would prepare him to sympathise with the spirit of the old economy. On the other hand, he was " filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb," and was not only a priest, but a prophet, greater than any that had preceded him. And he is said to come in the spirit and power of Elijah, who, it must be re- membered, was in no way connected with the Mosaic economy, having been raised up among the ten tribes to testify against their idolatry and other sins; nor does Elijah's history or teaching contain any allusion to the priesthood, or to the Temple at Jerusalem, or to the law of Moses. Carmel was his holy mountain, where he, a Gileadite, offered sacrifice to the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob, a sacrifice kindled by fire from heaven as the proof of its acceptance. But John, though a son of the Temple, was sent to fulfil Elijah's mission far 40 Old Law of Successio7i more perfectly than the old pro})het could li;ivc ac- conn)li.shcd it, and to express more distinctly and emphatically than all the prophets the inner spirit of the divine law. To understand however the true bearing of John's ministry on the (jucstion l^efore us, we must keep in mind what was the popular belief and general expectation of the Jews as to the })roniises and prophecies of the Old Testament. The truth that the succession to the blessings of the covenant would be not by natural descent, but on some higher principle, although foreshadowed by some of the ancient prophets, yet was never realised by the Jewish mind. Proselytes indeed were admitted by certain rites, of which bap- tism was one, to some of the religious privileges of the chosen people ; in the words of one of the Old Testa- ment historians, they became Jews. They were re- ceived as adopted sons into the family to which Jews belonged as sons by birth. That the kingdom of God was the inheritance of the sons of Abraham, and that they were entitled to this kingdom because of their descent, was doubted by none. That notorious sinners, publicans and harhjts, forfeited the blessings of the covenant although they were of the seed of Israel, was only the exception that confirmed the general law that for Gentiles and Samaritans the outer darkness was prepared, for Israel the blessings and triumphs of the kingdom.. Now we must observe that John the Bap- tist, coming to publish the near approach of the 'glorious kingdom which for centuries had been the hope of the nation, proclaimed a totally different principle of admission into the kingdom from that { which before had been accepted as certain. He de- / j clared to all without exception the necessity, not merely of righteousness or holiness, but of repent- overthrown by yo/uis Teaching. 41 ance — fteravota, a cliangc of mind. The right ]jy, hereditary succession is swept away by that one: word, and a new standard, moral and spiritual, is sub-, stituted. He summons all without exception to the| baptism of repentance for the remission of sins; the I children of Abraham, Hebrews of the purest descent, the strictest observers of the law, need to be " proselytes" in order to be prepared for the kingdom, just as much, as the unclean Gentiles. He requires them also not' only to come to him and be baptised acknowdedging | their sins, but to prove the reality of their confession by bringing forth fruits meet for repentance. "And 0 think not," he adds, "to say within yourselves, We have Abraham for our father ; for I say unto you that I God is able from these stones to raise up children unto I Abraham. And now also the axe is laid to the root of I the tree ; therefore every tree, not bringing forth good } 4f. fruit, is being cut off and cast into the fire." We are now so familiar with the truths here pro- claimed, expounded as they are to us by the teaching of Jesus Christ and His apostles, that we forget how new they were to the minds of those who had been trained under the Jewish economy ; how different in their fundamental idea from the law of succession by birth- right on which the old relio;ious orofanisation was founded. They explain the words of Jesus Christ, when He said that the law and the prophets prophesied until John, but since the days of John the Baptist a violence, a new poAver not before known or thought necessary, was required for the possession of the king- dom of heaven. It was not merely that the Baptist declared more distinctly and fully than the law and the prophets that the privileges of the covenant were of no avail except men served and pleased God. This 42 He teaches Spirituality of tJie Kingdo7n, may be gathered from the Old Testament, however the unspi ritual teachers of the Jews might deny or obscure the truth, as conclusively as from the New. But the Baptist in his teaching, and yet more conspicuously by his baptism, taught much more than this, namely, that the first principle of the kingdom to be manifested on the earth, of that kingdom in which all the promises to Israel should be fulfilled, was a moral and spiritual state, summed up by him in the one word fxerdvoLa, by the fruits of which, and by no hereditary claims, the standino; of a man in that kino^dom should be deter- mined. Nor did John's testimony rest here. As the im- mediate forerunner of Jesus Christ, he directed men to Him as the promised Messiah, in whom the law and the prophets should be fulfilled, and as possessing the spiritual power to give to men that of which John himself could only teach the necessity. " I," he says, " baptise you in water unto repentance : but He that Cometh after me is more powerful than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear ; He shall baptise you in the Holy Spirit and fire. Whose winnowing-fan is in His hand, and He shall thoroughly purge His thrashing- floor, and shall gather His wheat into the garner, but the chafl" He will burn up with unquenchable fire." The force of this teaching of the Baptist is much weakened by our thinking of it as only foretelling some final judgment, instead of declaring, as it was obviously intended to declare, the immediate results of Christ's Avork. The full meaning of the language indeed, and what distinctions have to be drawn, will onlv appear when we pass on to the teaching of Christ Himself. But we must ol)scrve that John the Baptist here pro- claims truths wliich the last of the ()ld Testament but also indicates its Form. 43 prophets expressed in other language, when he foretold that the Lord should suddenly come to His temple, and should be like a refiner's fire, to purify the sons of Levi that they might offer to the Lord an offering in right- eousness. And that the offering of Judah and Jerusa- lem should then be pleasing to the Lord, as in the days of old, as in the golden age of Israel. If, I say, we apply to the language of Malachi the new principle enunciated by John, that the law of succession in the kingdom of heaven was not that of natural descent, but one of a higher order altogether, then the closing prophecy of the old economy becomes an anticipation of the minis- try of the Baptist. The office of John indeed was rather to clear away that which was old and falling to ruin, than to build up that which was new. He taught that the coming kingdom was to be a spiritual kingdom ; that the shadows should be turned into realities ; that in the kingdom of the Christ there would be the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and a process of separation of the evil from the good, which should terminate in the final elimina- tion and destruction of all that is not the real fruit of the kingdom. In what forms this kingdom should be manifested on the earth, it was not his office to declare. Whether, for the fulfilment of the divine purposes, there should be an organisation developed out of the spiritual principles of the kingdom, in which for a time the chaff should grow with the wdieat, his words do not determine. And yet this might be inferred from his language unless the final judgment should immediately follow ; for how could the wheat be produced, except by a growth in which it is not separated from the chaff, and cannot be, until it be ripened ? And what was the meaning of this outward rite of baptism, if the spiritual 44 Baptism unto Repentance principles which he taught were uot to be embodied in some outward and visible form, which should testify to those new truths wliicli the forms of the old law could not represent or contain \ A preacher of abstract truths as to righteousness and judgment to come needs not a mere ceremony. If John had been no more than an Elijah protesting against ungodliness and impenitence, and not the forerunner of a kingdom into which men should be visibly gathered, why should he confuse the minds of men by adding an outward rite to his spiritual words \ And when we consider further, that this very rite was so essential and conspicuous a part of his ministry, that from it is derived his significant and dis- tinctive title of the Baptist, and that his whole work is summed up by Christ Himself as the Baptism of John, we might conclude with some confidence, that the com- ing kingdom itself would not be a mere philosophy, or system of doctrine, in which no visible form or repre- sentation would be necessary. And such an inference would be confirmed by our observing, that the form in which repentance, the first spiritual element of the kingdom of heaven, is visibly represented, is not some ordinance of the old law, a remnant of the Mosaic economy adhering for a time to the new teaching, but a symbol selected by the greatest of the prophets to express new truths. It was indeed the symbolical act which afterwards became the elementary rite of the kingdom itself, out of which its complete bodily form should be in time developed. Do we ask, wliy this particular rite is taken as the visible representation of the new life ? why baptism together with repentance stands thus, in the ministry of the forerunner of Jesus Christ, at the entrance of the kingdom] of heaven? Undoubtedly baptism had been the Ritdhneiitary Germ of the Kingdom. 45 recognised already in the minds of men, as a suitable symbol of a complete change of state and character, and its spiritual significance was afterwards expounded both by Jesus Christ and His apostles. Yet we must not expect to be able fully to explain the relation between the outward form and the spirit which it embodies. Such a question nearly resembles that of the relation between mind and matter. Although we may seem to discern certain reasons from analogy, which at least serve to fix the connection in our minds, yet the solution of the question lies as much out of the range of human knowledge, as the causes why the bodily form of man is the appropriate and necessary expression of his mental and spiritual being. Only let us remember that tlie teaching of the Baptist also de- \ clares that the body without the spirit is dead. ' SECOND PART ACTS AND TEACHING OF JESUS CHRIST CONTENTS OF PART II. CHAP. I. ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES OF THE KINGDOM. II. THE TWELVE APOSTLES. III. PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM. IV. THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. V. FUNCTIONS AND LIFE OF THE CHURCH. VL PRIMARY ORGANISATION OF THE CHRISTIAN SOCIETY. VII. AUTHORITY AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE APOSTO- LIC OFFICE. VIII. COMING OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD. IX. DISTINCTIVE TEACHING OF THE FOURTH GOSPEL. X. CPIILDREN OF THE KINGDOM. XL INSTITUTION OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. XII. THE PROMISES OF THE GIFT OF THE SPIRIT. XIH. THE LAST PRAYER OF JESUS CHRI.ST. XIV. THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN AND THE KINGDOMS OF THE WORLD. XV. THE FORTY DAYS. (l.) Mission and Spiiitiial Pcnwrs of the Cfiurih. (2.) Church of the Fulurc. (3.) The Pastoral Office. (4. ) The Apostolic Commission. SECOND PART. ACTS AND TEACHING OF JESUS CHRIST, CHAPTER I. ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. The first act of Jesus, in entering on His public life and going forth into the world to lay the foundations of His kingdom, is to present Himself before the Baptist to receive from him that rite in which the first spiritual principle of the new kingdom was represented. The Baptist expresses his surprise that One, immeasurably his superior, from whom he a sinful man needed to receive the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, should come to him to be baptised. But Jesus comes, as the Head of His own kingdom and identified with it, the representative of those who should be gathered into it, to fulfil all righteousness. He had no sins of His own to confess and to be forgiven, but they had. And now that He is going forth to that work and ministry in which His Church shall follow Him, He must first, by His own baptism, consecrate the rite out of which the body shall grow, and be in every sense the first-born among many brethren. And when D 50 Sermon on tJie Mount He had been baptised and came up out of the water, straightway the heaven above Him is opened, and the Spirit came down in a bodily form, and rested upon Him, and " lo ! a voice from heaven saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Thus the kingdom of grace for man and the gift of the Holy Ghost begin, in Jesus Christ Himself, in an outward and visible rite with appropriate symbols. Being now consecrated and set apart for His high office by the authority of God, Jesus Christ is led into the wilderness by the Spirit whom He received in His baptism, in order that through a period of temptation He may be further qualified for the fulfilment of His office, and thenceforward the ministry to which He is appointed commences. The beginning of the ministry of Jesus Christ is described in the same words as are used of the ministry of the Baptist. He took up the theme of His forerunner, and preached saying, " Re- pent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." And He not only baptised those who came to Him, but also, as an indication from the first that His own work was not like John's temporary, but would be perpetuated in the ministry of others. He committed to His own disciples the office of baptising. His kingdom at once begins to grow and expand itself. And He further proved His superiority to John and His own indepen- dent authority, not only by the new supernatural powers which He exercises, but also in His teaching. The Sermon on the Mount, which astonished nil by the self- contained authority with wliich this new Teacher spoke, is the expansion of those spiritual principles of the king- dom, of which John only taught the first rudiments in the baptism of repentance. It is indeed still the most comprehensive and complete^ summnry of the elementary expounds the Nciv Spiritual Life. 51 truths out of wliicli the kingdom of heaven should grow from, its birth to its maturity. The necessity of the metanoia, into which John baptised, Jesus proved by showing; that all the blessinofs of the kino'dom are received by those alone who are spiritually qualified for them. Of these spiritual conditions, the first, poverty of spirit, a consciousness of spiritual destitution and helplessness, is the key-note of the really evangelical spirit under all its varied forms. The beatitudes reach their climax, not in the favour and approbation of the world, which those who are so highly qualified might be expected to win for themselves, but in per- secution, in the reproaches and misrepresentations of men. By these His disciples would be proved to be real successors of the prophets, and would gain the rewards of the kingdom of heaven. Having^ marked out the several elements of the spiritual mind which is the Spirit of the kingdom of heaven. He proceeds to describe the development of the kingdom itself in the world. His disciples are the salt of the earth, the inner spiritual life already de- scribed being obviously the savour of the salt which resists corruption. But it must be observed that the words imply a state to which qualities legitimately belong, the absence of the qualities not disannulling the state, but making it valueless for the purposes for which it is constituted. For salt without savour is still salt. The next illustration expands the truth. " Ye are the light of the world." But this cannot be except by an external manifestation of the light, and by means and agencies suited for the purpose. And that this is the meaning of our divine Master appears from the words that follow, " A city that is set on a hill can- not be hid." There is therefore a city, a ttoXis with 5 2 TJie Kingdom viiisf have a visible Polity. its polity, an organised community, and that not in some lowly valley, where the blessings and rights of the licavenly kingdom may be enjoyed in peace by its members, but built on a mountain, conspicuous to the world as the visible representation of the kingdom of heaven. And the truth here affirmed is not — as many seem to imagine — merely that Clirist's disciples ought not to conceal the truth, but that as the constitution and position of the Christian society would be such as in the nature of things to make it seen and known of all men, therefore the duty of its members would be to make the light of which it is the guardian apparent to all. And, if a lamp is lighted, it is of little use unless it be placed upon the lamp-stand to shine forth to all who are in the house. This is undoubtedly a practical lesson to the disciples of Christ, that to make their light of its full value to the world, it must be set in the framework, which should be appointed for the purpose of holding forth and manifesting the light. But it seems, from the context, that the illustration was pri- marily intended as the explanation of that which was then present to the mind of the divine Teacher. Why was there to be a city set on a hill % Why does the spiritual truth, which Jesus Christ reveals, need a pol- ity, an organised society, to manifest it to the world ? Because, having kindled the light of life. He knows that a candlestick is necessary that it may become the liglit of the world. And thence the practical conclu- sion, applicable to all His disciples, is deduced. But what relation shall this new kingdom hold to the economy which has preceded, ordained by God Himself, established Ijy His law, and expounded by His prophets ? This question, to which Jesus Christ gives all the reply that was possil)le until TTis own acts of The Polity not to be governed by Law. 53 redemption sliould supply the complete solution, occu- pies in its several ramifications almost the whole dis- course. How fundamental the question is to the argument in which we are engaged will appear as this argument proceeds. First of all, Jesus begins by asserting the true per- manency of the law, and its exact and complete fulfil- ment in the kingdom of heaven. But this fulfilment would be a righteousness far beyond any that Scribes and Pharisees had conceived in their scrupulous and rigid observances of the letter. The law is to be ac- complished by human life being brought into a higher sphere than that of law, by enabling men to serve God, not through an obedience to rules because of the autho- rity which pronounced them, but by their being the children of their Father which is in heaven, and of the same spirit with Him who gave the law. Jesus Christ proves the inherent imperfection of law by several in- stances. In some this is apparent in the insufficiency of the prohibition of an act, when words, thoughts, and even looks involve the same evil. In one case, a direc- tion in the law as to divorce, which was intended at the first not to encourage, but to restrain, the practice among the Israelites, and thus to strengthen the mar- riage-bond not to weaken it, yet sanctioning or at all events not prohibiting a liberty inconsistent with the original institution of marriage, was utterly unsuitable as a perpetual law of human life, however necessary for a certain condition of the Jewish nation. Again, as regards oaths, the law requires them on certain occa- sions, and only forbids false swearing; whereas the same spirit of reverence that would prevent a man from perjuring himself, would also restrain him from many expressions in his ordinary talk, which yet no positive 54 Christ gave not Rules, but Principles. law could reach. And generally the law demands exact justice between man and man, and yet the readi- ness to bear wrong and to submit to injustice is the true spirit of the children of God. In all this, we must observe, Jesus Christ is not sub- stitutintr another set of rules for those wliich before had been given by Moses. He is proving the insufficiency of all laws, as mere rules to be obeyed on the ground of the authority of the lawgiver. He is teaching spiritual principles, not propounding new laws, and He indicates distinctly what the living principle of all obedience must be, the love of God and of man, in which the whole law is fulfilled. This living power not only reaches further than any positive law can ex- tend, but also produces a more complete and real con- formity to those divine institutions, such as marriage, which are not of the same nature as law, but were antecedent to it, and are assumed in it, belonging to man's original constitution as created of God. The great truth here expounded by Jesus Christ, being the foundation of all Christian ethics, must therefore be also the foundation of those relations between man and man which determine the fellowship of His dis- ciples ; in other words, of that visible polity for mani- festing His truth, of which He had before spoken. Whatever the organisation shall be, which shall repre- sent His kingdom, it must not be, like the old religious organisations, the expression of positive law but of a higher principle. The new polity must be of the same order as the new moral and spiritual state ; even as the old polity embodied the old life. Yet this by no means implies, as some hastily conclude, that because the Christian polity is not governed by positive law, therefore there are no divinely-authorised institutions AntitJieses iii His Tcachmg. 55 and ordinances in the organisation. There may be, as the primeval ordinance of the union of man and woman in marriage sufficiently proves, a divine order not de- pendent on positive law, not deriving thence the reasons for its perpetuity, but arising out of the actual con- stitution of human nature, and of the necessary relations of man to God and to his brother men. That Jesus Christ enunciated principles, instead of making rules, is sufficiently obvious from one notable feature of His teaching, — I mean the boldness with which two antithetical truths are asserted without any attempt to reconcile them, or to explain the seeming contradiction. Such opposition would be fatal to the distinctness of law, which has value only as it is definite and free from uncertainty ; but for the illustration of principles, the effects of which in human life have to be isolated in order that they may be distinguished, these apparent contrarieties are expedient and indeed neces- sary. That such antinomies or antithetical propositions, having their unity in one fundamental idea, are neces- sary to the complete knowledge of all truth, and are required by the nature of thought and its laws, is well known to all students of the philosophy of the human mind ; but it would be beside our purpose to do more than notice that such antitheses occur con- tinually in the teaching of Jesus Christ, and mislead those who are spiritually dull of understanding. One opposition of this nature in the discourse serves to illustrate the whole argument. In a former pas- sage the duty of publicity had been expressly en- forced. " As men place a candle on its candlestick, that it may give light to all, so let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify God." But now, in the contrast between the evangel- 56 Privacy of the Personal Religions Life. ical and the legal service of God, the rule seems to be reversed. " Take heed not to do your righteousness before men, in order to be seen of them." Alms must be given not only without ostentation, but without self-conscious reflection on our own act, and simply as the spontaneous fruit of a merciful heart. Prayer is not for public display; it must be the hidden commun- ing with God of the soul which hungers and thirsts for His righteousness. Fasting is not to be an outward manifestation of self-denial and humiliation. On the contrary, visible signs of mortification must be avoid- ed, and those that mourn must be as though they mourned not. In all these directions, it is again obvious that Jesus Christ simply taught principles. The desire for human praise, and the desire for God's glory, may produce the same outward acts, but the one vitiates, the other en- nobles them all. There is, however, another distinction to be noticed between the publicity which He com- mands and that which He condemns. That which is to be avoided, purposely and expressly, is the bringing into the gaze of the world a man's own self; which appears to be indicated occasionally in the language : " When thou givest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth ; " " when thou prayest enter into thy closet ; " " when thou fastest, anoint thy head, and wash thy face." The personal religious life is that of which Jesus Christ here speaks ; and this is one of privacy, '' a life hid with Christ in God," shrink- ing from exposure before the eyes of men just in pro- portion as it is real. Bat the corporate religious life of Christ's disciples cannot be other than public ; for the city is set on a hill. Its ministries of mercy, its wor- ship, its seasons of humiliation, are public testimonies Publicity of the Common or Church Life. 57 to the world of the faith, love, and obedience of the saints, and in them, though the personal religious life is always the savour of the salt, yet Christ is seen not the individual. Thus what we may call by anticipa- tion church -life, and personal life, are set one over against the other, and are necessary each to the other : the former being the legitimate and suitable sphere for the publicity by which God is glorified ; the other for the privacy in which the true righteousness of the law and the prophets is fulfilled. This portion of the discourse deals chiefly, as might be expected in this stage of our Lord's teaching, with the personal religious life. Biit the form of prayer which He gave to His disciples cannot be thus limited. The address, " Our Father which art in heaven," sug- gests indeed that even in private the disciple must j^ray as a member of the family, that in his most secret re- tirement his relation to the whole body of disciples must be present to his mind as the ground for his own communion with God. The use however of the plural number throughout the prayer, and the breadth, gene- rality, and comprehensiveness of the petitions point rather to public and united worship than to private devotion. We cannot doubt that Jesus Christ here gives the elementary principles of the common worship of His Church ; for it is more consistent with the char- acter of Christ's teaching, as supplying the principles rather than the rules of Christian life, to regard this prayer as the standard and, so to speak, the parent of all Christian worship, and not merely as a form to be occasionally used. It thus authorises, even if it does not direct, the use in His Church of liturgical forms. The absence of a form indeed ever tends to make prayer personal and individual, rather than a common 58 General Law, Men mnst 7iot yudge one another. and corporate act. This form of prayer also suggests much as to the nature and purposes, the method and order, of the worship of God in the kingdom of heaven. To consider these here however would carry us out of the course of our present inquiry. The discourse then passes to another branch of the question as to the fulfilment of the law, and teaches that the unreserved uncalculating dedication of the life to God is necessary. From this Jesus Christ pro- ceeds to expound the true fulfilment of the law and the prophets in our relations with our brethren; and here, as we might confidently expect, we find principles, which are primary and fundamental laws of that fel- lowship of Christ's disciples, that corporate citizen life, by which the kingdom of heaven is to be visibly re- presented to the world. These principles, which, we shall hereafter find, per- vade the whole organic life of Christianity, are accord- ing to the manner of our Lord's teaching enunciated antithetically. Each is asserted in its fulness without reservation or exception : each must be received as a living power, not balanced one against the other, as if they were contrary one to the other. The first is necessary in order that fellowship among Christ's disciples may be possible. "Judge not, that ye be not judged." Therefore the law of union in the " city," in the corporate life of Christ's people, cannot be, and never was intended to be, our several judgments on the spiritual character of others : to make this the basis of communion would not merely be uncharitable, it would be fatal to all such fellowship. Because, as He shows, judgment is reciprocated, and each is liable to judge himself partially and others severely. Let eacli rather judge himself, and then he will be able Yet yudgment necessary in some Cases. 59 to direct and assist others in their conflicts with evil. Certain therefore as it is that the kingdom of heaven is only for those who are spiritually entitled to its blessings, yet it belongs not to us to judge who are so entitled. A society embracing all who profess faith and repentance, not confined to those who are judged by their brethren to possess them, is the true Christian society which Jesus Christ Himself contemplates as His kingdom. But over against this is set another principle, not contrary to it, though its opposite. " Give not," He says, " the holy thing to the dogs ; neither cast ye your pearls before the swine, lest they trample them with their feet, and turn and rend you." If it is necessary for the very existence of the Christian society not to judge others, it is also essential for the protection of those interests of which the society is the guardian in some cases to pass judgment. The necessity arises from two causes. First in order to avoid the profa- nation of that which is holy. " The holy thing " in the language of the law was the consecrated food which no one ceremonially defiled might eat. To give it to dogs would be the very height of profanity and impiety. Whatever might be the corresponding irreverence in Christ's new law, whoever those might be to whose charge " the holy thing " might be in- trusted, it is at all events clear that for the purpose of preventing such profanation judgment must be exercised. Further, pearls must not be cast before swine, both because the most precious jewels would be despised by the brute beasts without knowledge, only desiring to satisfy gross appetites, and because, irritated by having pearls given them instead of their natural food, they 6o Jl'^isdoni 7rquircd to apply the Tiuo Principles. would turn on us in anger instead of accepting grate- fully the precious treasure. Here the necessity for judgment arises from the injury which the kingdom would suffer, partly from the foolish waste in offering its jewels to those who are utterly unsuited for them, and partly from the angry passions of unspi ritual men, which are only excited the more by blessings unappre- ciated by the carnal mind. And here also judgment must be exercised, yet the judgment itself is the truest charity. Thus in the union of the largest charity for others with a reverential fear of God, and with the wise discrimination that seeks the good not the injury of men, the fellowship of Christ's disciples finds the standard and the limitations necessary both for its existence and for its acts of discipline. Shall it be said that principles like these are not sufficiently definite % that they do not, like the direc- tions given in the law, by which the clean and unclean might be distinguished with certainty, clearly and in- fallibly mark out the path of Christian duty ? that all this implies unusual wisdom and discretion, and that, without these, toleration will readily degenerate into profane laxity, and vigilance against evil into judging others uncharitably ? True, but in all the relations of the Christian life it must be so ; the spirit, not the letter, must be the law. Wisdom is undoubtedly neces- sary in the fellowship of Christ's disciples ; but " if any man lack wisdom, let him ask and it shall be given." God Himself gives without judging, without respect of persons ; all who call on the name of the Lord are heard of Him. And yet He does not bestow gifts that will be abused, or that wdll be useless or injurious. So then the fundamental law, the s[)irit of which Unrealities in the Ki7i' must pervade and direct all our relations with men, is simply this : " Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you; so also do ye to them." Have their interests in your view, as if they were your own. Judge them not, as you would not be judged by them. But when God's honour demands it, when the welfare of His Church makes it necessary, if to you the sanctities and treasures of the kingdom are committed in charge, then love both to God and man requires that you should judge. And this love is the sum both of the law and of the pro23liets. In conclusion this divine sermon warns against the unrealities which would shelter themselves under the shadow of the kingdom, and makes the meaning of the principles thus far enunciated yet more apparent. First, generally, however tolerant we ought to be of others, and however we may be freed in the kingdom of heaven from the bondage of law, still the truth remains, to be proved by terrible experience in the future his- tory of the kingdom, that broad is the gate and wide the road that leads to destruction, and many there be that go in thereat ; and that strait is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and few there be that find it. The comprehensiveness of Christ's Church is founded on another principle from that with which it is often confounded, an allowance of evil or falsehood. The dangers arising from the present state of the kinwlom are twofold, and demand different action. On the one hand, there would arise false prophets, teachers of falsehood, coming in sheep's clothing but inwardly ravening wolves. Here judgment must be exercised or the souls of men will be imperilled. How must the falsehood of the prophesying be detected under any garb 6 2 False Teachers to be judged now. however plausible ? Our Lord gives a comprehensive answer to this question, sufficient for the present. He supplies His disciples with one simple test, "Ye shall know them by their fruits." Such as the fruit is, such the tree must be. But how can this be a sufficient test, when the plausibleness of the false doctrine arises from the garb of sanctity in Avhicli it clothes itself, from ministers of Satan appearing in the form of ministers of righteousness % This difficulty would indeed be in- superable, did not the teaching of Jesus Christ, marking out clearly what are, and what are not, the principles of the kingdom of heaven, supply the solution. That is false teaching, however it may seem to be authenticated, which produces or tends to produce, in the lives and characters of men, results at variance with those on which in this Sermon on the Mount He has pronounced His blessing. It must be observed however, that whilst the truth or falsehood of teaching is to be determined from its fruits, and therefore this is a case in which judgment must be exercised, it does not therefore follow that every disciple is a competent judge, or that the united judgment of many has not more force than the con- clusions of one. Nor, because each man is responsible for his own judgment within the sphere of his own personal responsibilities, does that constitute him a judge for others. The only question here decided is the rule of judgment. To whom the office of judging belongs, whether in the polity of the city there shall be officers for the exercise of judgment in the several cases for which it is needed, are questions the solution of which we must seek in the subsequent teaching of Jesus Christ. To conclude from these directions ad- dressed to tlie whole l)ody of disciples, that every False Disciples to be judged hereafter. d^y member of that body has the same function of judging false doctrine, is to assume the whole question. On the other hand there will be, from the necessary- constitution of Christ's kingdom on earth, not only false prophets but false disciples, and these very many, who will deceive not others only but even themselves. These however will not be judged here but hereafter. They will confess Jesus Christ to be Lord, will prophesy in His name, — not as false prophets but as true, — in His name cast out unclean spirits from men, and do many wonderful works, they will have authority and power in His Church, and yet be rejected by Him at the last. These do not really enter into the kingdom of heaven, whatever office they may hold in the society which represents that kingdom. Jesus Christ compares the real and unreal Christian to men building a house. The one builds on a rock, the other on the shifting sands. The fio;ure of building; on a rock occurs not unfrequently in the subsequent teaching of Christ and of His apostles. As regards a man's own life — (it must be noticed that the question of teaching is not here in- troduced)— no one builds on the rock, except by doing these sayings of Jesus Christ, by practical obedience to the standard of righteousness which the Sermon on the Mount expounds. We find then, throughout this most comprehensive exposition of the principles of the kingdom of heaven, these two parts distinctly recognised, the inward spirit and the visible form : the latter necessary to embody and represent the spirit, but without the spirit useless for the purposes for which it is instituted, and only a refuge for fatal hypocrisy. That the doctrine of Jesus Christ, enunciated in the Sermon on the Mount and doubtless in many similar 64 Nciv Forms of Religions Life discourses, would soon begin to produce practical re- sults among His disci})k'S, sucli as would distinguish tliem from the devout and religious men of the Jewish economy, we might confidently predict. An incident which occurred at an early period of Christ's ministry indicates, that the new form of religious life among His disciples, a life, according to His teaching, governed not by rules Ijut by principles, soon excited comment. It was noticed that whilst not only those who were instructed by the Pharisees but also the disciples of the Baptist fasted often, the disciples of Jesus Christ observed no religious fasts. Some both of the Pharisees and of John's disciples asked Jesus the reason of this apparent laxity. It was difficult for minds trained in the discij^line of the old economy to conceive of any holiness and devotion without a strict and severe observance of rules of abstinence. Tiie answer given by Christ marks out some essential differences between the religious life of the kingdom and that which had grown up under the old law. He first justifies His disciples on the ground that their religious life was the true and legitimate expression of their present condition and feelinirs. So lonec as the Bridegroom was with them, how could they mourn who were His chosen friends and attendants? Days indeed were coming, when the Bridegroom should Ijc taken away from them, and these would be days of darkness and tribulation for those whose office it should be to prepare the Bride for His return ; then there would be just occasion for sorrow, and they would fast because there should be cause sufficient. These acts of the religious life in the kino-dom of heaven could not be of constraint, the mere result of obedience to ordinances ; they nmst be the genuine expression of spiritual sorrow and humiliation. necessary for the Nezv Spirit. 65 This however is only one part of the complete answer to the question why the religious life of the king- dom differs from that under the law. Jesus Christ gives another reason, which he explains by a twofold parable. It is useless (He says) to patch up an old garment with new cloth. He had not come to mend and restore the old garment of legal observances, to supplement its defects by incongruous additions, and thus create a system half Law and half Gospel. The effect of this would only be that, the new being stronger than the old, the heterogeneous mixture would not cohere ; better to have even the rags of Judaism, which at least were consistent throughout, than such a motley patchwork. What is necessary, we must con- clude from the parable, is a garment altogether new, a new outer garb for the new spiritual life. This is more distinctly affirmed in the second illustration. New wine, fermenting and effervescing, could not be safely kept in old stiff worn skins ; it would only burst these, so that both the wine would be spilt and the bottles destroyed. New wine requires new, strong, flexible dcTAcov?. That is, the new spiritual principles of the kingdom cannot be contained in the old legal forms of religious life ; if men endeavour to shut up the spirit of the Gospel in such unsuitable vessels, the result will be both that the forms must perish in the process, and that the spirit itself will be lost. New forms of religious life must be provided, such as may be capa- ble, both by their flexibility and by their appropriate- ness, to preserve the activity and the power of the new spirit. In St Luke's Gospel other words of Jesus Christ are recorded here, which not only indicate His wonderful insight into the feelings by which the human mind is E 66 Love for that wfiich is old \. governed, but supply some additional guidance as to the forms of the new economy. " No man," He said, "having drunk old wine, straightway desireth new, for he saith, The old is better." And why is it pre- ferred % Not merely from habit or old associations, but because the old is mellowed and ripened ; the cru- dity and harshness are subdued by age. There was some excuse therefore for those who could not at once appreciate the superiority of the new wine of the Gospel. But as the best wine improves the most by keeping, so the real virtues of its spiritual truths would become more apparent afterwards than at first. And, we must infer, the wine and the bottles in which it is kept would age together. The flexiljility and capa- bility of expansion, necessary for the raw new wine, would not be required for the same wine when it has ripened. We might expect therefore that the forms in which the new wine of the Gospel is contained would somewhat alter their character in course of time. They would acquire more fixity, would more nearly resemble in character the forms of the old law, and this not, as some imagine, because of any deterioration in the spirit of Christianity, but on the contrary because, as the novelty of the doctrine passed away, more fixed forms would be suited for the ripened wine. From the first part of the answer given by Jesus Christ, it might be hastily concluded, that the spon- taneity of the new Gospel life is inconsistent with all forms. But our divine Teacher sanctions no such half- truths. If we examine His teaching carefully and impartially, we shall always discover the other side of every truth. He teaches in tlie latter part of His reply, with equal distinctness, that forms are necessary to preserve the spiiifn;il ])rlnciplcs. Only they must natural to Man. 6^ be such as are adapted to the nature of the new life. Of these new bottles for the new wine, new forms for the neAV spirit, one, baptism, already has appeared ; and in His teaching in the Sermon on the Mount the ele- ments of others have been indicated. But one other act of Jesus Christ, which we shall have to consider in the following chapter, was necessary before there could be any further development of the organic life of the kingdom of heaven on earth. 68 CHAPTER 11. THE TWELVE APOSTLES. It will be well to consider, at this stage of our investi- gations, hy what different methods it might be con- ceived possible for the spiritual principles, which we have thus far traced in the teacliing of Jesus Christ, to be developed in human life and grow into organised and definite forms. He has spoken of spiritual powers in the mind and affections of man as the inner forces which shall form, direct, and control his outward life. Whence these powers are to be derived, what shall quicken and maintain them, as yet cannot be fully or definitely revealed, but He teaches generally that " our Father which is in heaven " is the overflowing source of every good thing, and will give His Holy Spirit to them that ask Him. Now it is possible to conceive — and indeed this is the idea which many Christians form of the society which Jesus Christ calls His Church — that its organisation would be nothing else than such as should be determined by the different measure in which different men should partake of these spiritual forces. That Christians would be distinguished and separate from other men simply by their being in spirit such as belong to the kingdom of heaven : and that among Christians those should exercise certain func- Organisation of the Kingdom not siibjective. 69 tions who should be qualified for such functions. Such an organisation would be purely subjective : every state would be created by a man's personal qualities, and be dependent on them, and have no real existence apart from them. I do not say that an organisation of this nature could sufficiently fulfil the purposes of Jesus Christ as already expounded by Him — that the spirit of the kingdom could be preserved without forms, distinct from it, containing it but not identical with it — but such a conception is at all events pos- sible. Indeed, we must admit that there is much in the teaching of Christ and His apostles, which taken by itself might seem to confirm such an idea of the organisation of Christ's Church. And more than this, we must allow that the purpose and meaning of any organisation that is derived out of the fundamental princi^^les of Christ's kingdom must be to express and maintain these spiritual distinctions. The organisation of the old economy was insufficient and wholly defec- tive, because it utterly failed to do this. What man inherits by natural descent is not good but evil ; and therefore the principle of succession by natural birth, either to the blessings of the covenant, or to offices in the Church of God, is an essentially unspiritual prin- ciple. The organisation which should represent the kingdom of heaven could not possibly be of this kind. But already we have found sufficient indications that it is not purely subjective. The disciples of Jesus, no less than those who come to John and profess repen- tance, are baptised. The separation, the first process in organisation, is not merely something internal, it is an outward and visible act ; nor is it efifected simply by those actions which prove men to possess the internal qualifications — by fruits meet for repentance. 70 Law of the Organisation necessary as these are to themselves — but by a sym- bolical rite. The doctrine of baptism, that is the truth revealed in Holy Scripture as to the mystical significance of baptism and its relation to the new life of man, is not a subject which falls within the present inquiry. Such questions lie in another sphere from those discussed in our argument, to which we apply tests unsuitable for truths which are beyond the range of human knowledge. And it is unnecessary, as I have before observed,'"' to inquire why the incipient organi- sation of the society founded by Jesus Cluist was deter- mined by the rite of baptism rather than by some other method. It is sufficient for our purpose to ob- serve, on the one hand that such was the method marked out by Christ Himself from the first, and at the close of His ministry expressly ordained ; on the other, that the use of such a rite itself distinguishes between a state and the qualities proper to the state. The funda- mental law in the organisation of the Christian society Avhicli is thus established, and which we shall find fully confirmed and unfolded as we proceed, may be thus expressed : A state in the kingdom of heaven is created by an authoritative and formal act, admitting to that state one judged to be capable, and imposing on him the responsibility of exhibitiug the spiritual cpialities proper to such a state ; such responsibility implying (we must add, although the proof of this is not yet given) that the admission entitles him to the powers by which such qualities are produced. This definition is indeed a cumbrous and circuitous mode of explaining that which might be expressed more emphatically, and in a certain sense more truly, in few words ; but that simple truth would carry us beyond * Siqn'O, p. 45, h already apparent. 71 the scope of our present argument, and the clumsy definition may at all events prevent misunderstandings hereafter. It will be observed that with some modifi- cation such a definition would apply to the primeval ordinance of marriage, out of which the order of human society according to nature is legitimately derived. In that also a state is created by some authoritative and formal act, certain qualifications for the state are presupposed, mutual afiection and recip- rocal duties are qualities proper to the state. At the same time, as has been before observed (p. 55), the state is not that of law properly so called ; it is an order in a higher sphere than that of law, being a part of the divine order of man's original constitution. Now it is difiicult to conceive that the orojanisation of the society founded by Jesus Christ would com- mence according to a certain law, and then follow one totally different. But to avoid any hasty general- isation, let us carefully consider the meaning of Jesus Christ's own acts. Among the disciples who were separ- ated from the world the Gospel history itself dis- covers to us great difierences of character, as indeed might reasonably be anticipated, especially as the new light and life that had visited them would naturally make individuality of character more distinct. These difierences very soon exhibited themselves, and were such as would of themselves have given some kind of organisation to the infant society. One with the energy and capacities of Simon Peter must have been a leader ; a Didymus must have held a subordi- nate position. If that which some imagine to be the most spiritual organisation of the Christian Church were the true and legitimate representation of the spiritual princij)les of the kingdom, we might expect to 72 Calling and Separation find the divine Founder first training His disciples by His example and teaching for future labours, and then leaving to the inherent force of their spiritual gifts and powers to determine their several functions and oflSces. But Jesus did that which was essentially different. He called out men whom He judged most capable, appointed them to a definite office, and thus organised an apostolic body separate from the rest of the dis- ciples, and these men he intrusted with the duties and functions proper to a special office, for which He pre- pared them, during His own ministry. The early history of some of the Twelve, and the process by which they were called out from secular employments to be not only disciples but companions and followers of Jesus Christ, are recorded with different details by all the evangelists. Some had been dis- ciples of John, and through his teaching were led to believe on Jesus. Simon, who from the first received the name of Peter or Cephas with special reference to his future office, Andrew the brother of Simon, and the two sons of Zebedee, were summoned from their occupation as fishermen, with the promise that they should be made fishers of men. Philip received an ex- press call at the beginning of Jesus Christ's ministry. Levi, or Matthew, the publican, after it had com- menced, w^as called from the receipt of custom. Thus Jesus gathered round Himself elements of the new society which He was establishing, until the time came for that which was the next step in its organisation in a definite form, the separation of those whom He had chosen for the office He was about to institute. The process by which this separation was effected is parti- cularly described. In going about through the towns of the Tzvelve. 73 and villages of the populous districts of Galilee, He was moved with compassion when He saw the multitudes eagerly seeking instruction and worn out with follow- ing Him from place to place, having no other spiritual food, and thus scattered about like sheep without a shepherd. He therefore urged on the discij)les the duty of prayer to the Lord of the harvest that He would send forth labourers into His harvest. This is mentioned in St Matthew's Gospel in immediate con- nection with the appointment of the Twelve ; and whether the chronological order of the events be exactly observed or not, it is evidently intended by the evangelist to exhibit the motive causes in Jesus Christ's own mind of the solemn act subsequently recorded. Other Gospels relate that He went into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God, and when it was day He sent for His disciples and out of them selected twelve, and there, on the mountain which was consecrated by the prayers of the divine Head of the Church, in the presence of that chosen company, He appointed or ordained these Twelve whom also He named apostles. No act could have more distinctly indicated an authoritative and formal separation to an office. It will be observed, with reference to the definition given above, which was suggested by the rite of bap- tism, that in this case also there is a previous judg- ment as to the capacity of those selected, after earnest prayer, for appointment to the office. There are quali- ties necessary for the duties of the office, and for the possession of these qualifications those who are ap- pointed are responsible ; and there are, as we shall find more fully hereafter, gifts and powers to enable them to fulfil all the responsibilities. 74 Functions of their Office. The functions of the office committed to the chosen Twelve "will discover themselves as the history pro- ceeds, although they were not distinctly defined till after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, nor exercised in their fulness till the day of Pentecost. At present, the apostles are sent forth to preach and to have power to heal sicknesses, and cast out unclean spirits. A charge is delivered to them by their Lord, in which directions are given as to their duties, and they are encouraged by special promises. This charge, com- mentators observe, is divisible into three portions. The first relates to the immediate duties of their mission during His own lifetime. They were to bear the same message as the Baptist and Jesus Himself delivered, of the near approach of the kingdom of heaven, not to Gentiles or Samaritans, but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Directions were given as to making no provision for their own support or pro- tection, which were applicable during the first period of their office, but were expressly reversed by Clirist at the close of that j)eriod. The second part of His charge refers to the period betw^een His being taken from them to the time of His coming in judgment to overthrow the Jewish theocratic state, and establish His kingdom in its power. That period would be one of great confiict and suffering, and He warns them beforehand that they might be prepared and not be offended. The last part of His address looks forward through all the subsequent liistory of His Church on earth, and makes general the same solemn warnings of conflict, and encouragements to perseverance, to all who should hereafter be occupied in the same labour of love. There was a work of sacrifice and self-denial before all the servants of Clirist, in \\liicli the apostles A Representative Office. 75 were to be the leaders, foremost both in labour and in suffering. But there was this mighty encourage- ment : " He that receiveth you, receiveth Me ; and he that receiveth Me, receiveth Him that sent Me." And this truth was not merely to strengthen the faith of the apostles. It is the enunciation of a general principle through which all Christians are l^ound together in a common work and common interests. " He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet," that is, as a prophet, " shall receive a prophet's reward ; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man, shall receive a righteous man's reward." It is therefore a law of the kino;dom, that throuoh sympathy and communion in spirit and in deed there is real fellowship and participation in the same bless- ings. This is the very truth of all being one body in Christ, which St Paul subsequently expounds. But we must notice how this principle co-operates with the other which we have been considering, of special offices being assigned to certain members of the society. For since one to whom an office is not assigned yet par- takes in the reward, literally the wages, of the office ; therefore the organisation by the distinction of offices is no division. The whole body is one, and that which is done by any member according to his office is not done for himself but for all, and every one by sym- pathy and fellowship has a common part and interest therein. The apostles were thus representatives of the whole body of Christ's disciples, in whose behalf their office was ordained, and who through spiritual unity partook in all their ministry, whilst their pre- eminence was conspicuous chiefly in labouring and endurinp". o Thus far then we simply find chosen men appointed 76 Typical Stnicture and Oj'dcr to a distinct office and sent forth on their mission. But there arc also noticeable points in the structure of this apostolic body, which are full of meaning as to the future organisation of the society founded by Jesus Christ. First, we must observe, the number of apostles appointed by Jesus Christ is definite, and evidently typical. He Himself connects the number with that of the twelve tribes of Israel. There are twelve heads of the organisation of the spiritual Israel. So clearly marked is this that, as we shall find afterwards when one of the number by transgression fell, the original number was completed before the gift of the Holy Ghost and the quickening of the Church into life and power by His presence. Indeed we may observe that in all those acts of Jesus Christ through which His Church was founded, we trace definite and typical numbers. Forty days He was tempted ; He appointed twelve apostles ; He sent out seventy disciples ; thi'ce days He lay in the grave ; during forty days He ap- peared to His disciples after His resurrection ; three times He prayed to His Father in Gethsemane, saying the same thing ; seven times He spoke from the cross. Other instances will occur to students of the Gospel history. Why was this "? "When we examine the Apocalypse, we shall find that in the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which completed all His previous mani- festations of Himself, the same symbolical character again appears. AVithout entering into the general question of types, we have no difficulty in concluding that these definite numbers, whether Ave may trace some meaning in them or not, are always characteristic of acts which are representative acts, sources and roots out of which a future development is to be unfolded. Jesus Christ organised the society in the process of its of the Apostolic Body. 77 formation in this typical mould, not because hereafter in the development the same numbers were to appear, but because this definite structure is suited for the compactness and completeness in itself of the seed out of which the great tree with its spreading branches was to grow. And the singular definiteness of the structure of the apostolic body is yet more apparent on closer examina- tion. Notwithstanding the varieties in the lists of the twelve apostles given by the several evangelists, cer- tain facts are common to all. In all Simon Peter stands first in order, and by St Matthew is expressly called " the first." In all the catalogues there are three quaternions, in each of which the same apostle always stands first; Peter in the first, with his brother Andrew, and the brethren James and John; Philip in the second, with Bartholomew (probably Nathanael wliom Philip brought to Jesus), and Thomas and Mat- thew ; James the son of Alphseus, with Judas or Leb- bseus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who always, whenever he is mentioned, is placed at the end of the list. Now what is the meaning of this order? Was it that into which they naturally fell from some difierences in their characters and capacities % Undoubtedly among men holding the same office there is always a tendency, in all social organisations, to a natural order being- formed amongst them, especially when there is con- siderable development of the powers of each individual. The dead level of equality is never found either in the natural or spiritual life, when it is life indeed. But it seems much more probable, from the varieties no less than the agreements of the several catalogues, as well as from other circumstances, that, whilst the office 78 Differences of CJiaracter. committed to the Twelve was one and the same, yet a certain order amongst them was recognised if not appointed by Jesus Christ from the first. Eespecting Simon Peter there can be no doubt ; he received even before his appointment the name which determined his position. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were surnamed Boanerges — sons of thunder — implying, probably, their mighty powers as proclaiming messages from heaven. These three were witnesses of some of the most notable events of Jesus Christ's life ; and on one occasion Andrew was united with them in a select comj)any. The hints which are contained in the Gospels as to the personal characters of the several apostles do not indeed enable us to discover all the differences which determined the classification ; but there are sufficient to su^i^o-est some interestiuG: materials for thought. Thougli Andrew was so zealous that, as soon as he knew Christ himself, at once he brings his brother Peter to Him, yet that zeal was not of itself sufficient qualification for the first of the apostles. Though Philip was one whom Jesus sought out and called as prepared for the kingdom — one also who at once preached Christ to Nathanael ; and though Nathanael was an Israelite indeed in whom there was no guile ; yet neither of these was classed in the first four. Again, the cjualifications wliich made Judas the best suited of all to l:)ear the common purse — those which give aptitude for secular affairs — are such as may be of value even in the apostolic office, and yet they are the very lowest of all, and most likely to be perverted. They bear the same relation to those that distinofuish a Peter and a John, as the character of Martha bore to that of her sister Mary. On tlie other Primacy of Peter. 79 Land, it must be observed that the character and ca- pacities, which most highly qualify for the apostolic office, were not those with which the human affections of Jesus most tenderly sympathised, John, not Peter, was the beloved disciple. That an order was sanctioned, if not actually ap- pointed, by Jesus Christ amongst the Twelve cannot, I think, be denied by any careful student of the Gospels. The primacy of Peter among his fellows was but one part of the structure of the apostolic body. That he was their chief and leader, that he spoke and acted for them, represented them, and that Jesus Christ spoke to him as the representative of the apostolic body, are conspicuous facts in the Gospel history. But first of all this primacy was no isolation of Peter from the rest as if he held an office superior to that of an apostle ; it was simply that in which the order amongst those who in office were equal cul- minated ; and further, whilst the principle of an order amongst those who hold the same office is thus sanc- tioned by Jesus Christ, yet how this will affect the future development of the Church, or modify its organi- sation, we can only discover by examining that de- velopment. To reason by deduction from the primacy of Peter that there must be such a form in the ultimate organisation, is a mode of dealing with the question of the development of the Church little likely to lead us to true conclusions. There might be reasons for a primacy in the typical body, which would altogether cease when the organisation should pass into a more advanced stage. Again, as Peter was nothing more than an apostle, although he was the first and the most eminent, so was 8o Case of Jtidas. Judas Iscariot nothing less than an apostle, although he was the last and the traitor. Judas had left all to follow Christ, drawn to him undoubtedly by his mighty words and works. He was appointed in the number of the Twelve, was sent forth to preach the Gospel of the kingdom with all the powers of an apostle, such as then were given, because he was counted faithful and judged capable. When others turned back offended at the teaching of Jesus he stood firm. Had he not been trusted by his brethren he would not have been made the treasurer of the common purse. Until his treachery exposed the sin which had gradually under- mined his character, and has made him an example to all generations, none suspected his unsoundness except the Lord to whom all hearts were open, who marked the growth of the fatal evil, and long before it was discovered to the rest could say, " Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil % " We must not complicate this matter with the mysterious question of the divine foreknowledge and predestination. That Judas by his fall fulfilled the Scripture, that in God's counsels of infinite wisdom even the wickedness of the reprobate is foreseen, and that all things are ordered to fulfil those counsels, no Christian can doubt. But to introduce these truths into the question of the organisation of the Church, a human society, by the Son of Man, can only lead to that pernicious confusion of thought which makes God the author of sin. The truth which is conspicuously brought out by the history of Judas Iscariot is, that a man may hold the highest ofiice in the Church of Jesus Christ, may be really an apostle, and yet be a very son of perdition. On the theory which confounds the ofiice with the spiritual qualifica- Fatal to S^ibjective Theory. 8i tions proper to the office the case of Judas Iscariot is unintelligible. I should rather say it directly contra- dicts every such theory. It is the dark foil which, by the most monstrous sin of which man was ever guilty, exhibits the truth that an ordinance of Christ is a reality whatever the receiver may be or become. 82 CHAPTER III. THE PARABLES OF THE KINGDOM. Throughout the ministry of Jesus Christ His acts and His teaching by turns expound one another. He first preaches the coming of tlie kingdom and unfolds its elementary principles, and then He appoints His apostles, the first ministers of the kingdom. After a time both the subject and the mode of His teaching un- dergo a change. He begins to speak in parables, and these parables contain the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, some profound truths, concealed from the minds of those who were unwilling to learn under the disguise of analogies in the natural world, which, when expounded to His disciples in private, open to their minds new and hitherto unexplored realms of know- ledge ; so new and unfamiliar indeed, that even after the clearest explnnation from their divine Master they understood but little. To represent the true idea of the kingdom, Jesus Christ, in a series of pictures taken from the natural life of man, sketches out its main features. A sower goes forth to sow his seed, but unlike men who are sparing of their seed and fearful of wasting it, casts it everywhere, however slight the chance may seem of a harvest. It falls on the trodden road, only to be food for fowls of the air. It falls on shallow soil, hardly New Representations of the Kingdom. 83 covering the rock, to spring up rapidly and witlier in the heat of the noonday .sun. It falls on the field uncleared of weeds, and the thorns and thistles grow faster than the corn and choke it. But it also falls on good soil, and there it brings forth fruit to perfection. Again, a man has sown his field with the best wheat, but at night a malicious enemy sows it with tares — apparently a bastard corn — a useless and noxious weed. As the wheat springs up, the tares grow up with it, but so nearly do they resemble the corn, that at first the mischief done is not discovered, and their presence only seems to indicate a more abundant crop. But when the ear is put forth, the real state of the field is appar- ent. The servants, indignant at the malicious act, ask their master whether the tares should not be at once rooted up % No, there is danger of rooting up the wheat with the tares. Some plants that seem to you to be tares may at last prove to be wheat. The very plucking up of the tares will unsettle and injure the wheat. Let both grow together till the harvest, and then I will direct the reapers first to gather together the tares to be burned, and then to collect the wheat into my barn. The view of the kingdom of heaven presented in these two parables is one which, even to the present hour, after the experience of more than eighteen cen- turies, it is difficult fully to realise. Can such scenes of very partial success, of disastrous failure as it seems to us, be really representations of the kingdom of heaven ? It is true that the actual results of Christ's Gospel in the world answer with marvellous exactness to these figurative descriptions ; but is this what was intended when the Baptist and the Saviour proclaimed the coming of the kingdom? 84 The Seed. In order to lay hold of the leading principles here expounded we must notice, that the fundamental analogy is between the fruit of the earth necessary for the sustenance of man, and the spiritual fruits in man's moral being, such as were enumerated in the Sermon on the ]\Iount. Hitherto there has been no declaration of the method throuQ-h which these fruits should be O produced and the spiritual change effected in man, beyond that which is implied in Christ's disciples being the salt of the earth, and the light of the world. The new idea is that " the word of the kingdom " is the seed out of which the plants bearing fruit should grow. The parables contemplate an agency for sowing this seed, the sower of the good seed being the Son of Man in all cases, whether He does it by His own personal ministry, or employs the ministry of the servants whom He appoints and sends, as He had already sent the Twelve. What this seed of the kingdom is, as yet is not fully revealed ; but the sowing of the whole world with the seed is now declared to be the work of the kingdom, the process through which its blessings are to be extended and realised. ISot by the authority of law, not by some mighty display of power, but by germinal truths taking root in the minds of men, and unfolding themselves into new disjDositions and affec- tions, into a new life with its corresponding fruits, is the kingdom of heaven to be established. We must remember, however, that the process, through which these results ensue, is described here only so far as is consistent with the present incomplete revelation of the mysteries of the kingdom. The deeper mysteries of the Atonement, of the work of the Holy Ghost, and gener- ally of the grace of the Gospel, are not yet disclosed. We need not import into the questions which these Tares not to be rooted tip. 85 parables suggest considerations derived from the more complete revelation. The actual facts are stated; first that, from the different conditions in which the word of the kingdom finds the hearts of men, in some the seed takes no root, in others its growth is soon checked, in others the fruit never comes to maturity, but where it falls on congenial soil, although the produce largely varies, yet it amply repays the labour of the spiritual husbandman ; the end is accomplished, much fruit is brought forth for the Son of Man to the glory of God. Again, not only are there failures arising from man's own moral condition : it is also foretold that seeds of evil would be scattered abroad by the enemy of Christ, the upgrowth from which would fill the whole field with pernicious weeds. Yet these would often so closely resemble the true results of the word of the kingdom, that although it is apparent that tares are growing with the wheat, that false disciples abound, that the righteous are a small scattered remnant, never- theless the children of the kingdom and the children of the wicked would have so much in common, that the attemjDt to pass judgment and distinguish now would endanger the true interests of the kingdom. It will be observed that this is one form of the fundamental law, " Judge not, that ye be not judged," though other reasons for this tolerance are also here assigned. This law however, as we have found before, does not imply that there may not be exceptional cases in which a noxious growth becomes so manifest that judgment must be exercised; even as no good husbandman would leave thistles growing in his field. But those things which outwardly may somewhat resemble the good, although they spring from a root of evil, and become offences (crKai^SaXa), stumbling-blocks to others, — and 86 SucJl alloivancc of Evil does not those also who work iniquity, the authors of these offences, — must for the present as a general rule remain in the kingdom, lest greater injury should ensue from their removal by any judgment of ours than is even caused by their presence. When the end of the pre- sent age shall come, then all these evils shall be taken out of the kingdom, and the offenders shall receive their merited punishment. The purpose of Christ shall still be accomplished notwithstanding all these attempts of the enemy, and at last the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. These two parables evidently contemplate a world- wide scheme for sowinsj the seed of the kinwlom. As to its results we must be assured that they will in the end fulfil the purposes of God, and meanwhile we must not be offended if the present condition of the kingdom differs much from that whicli the eacjer desires of Christ's servants would have anticipated. Impatient longings for a perfect Church are natural, but experience abun- dantly proves that our feelings are a very unsafe guide in all things that pertain to the kingdom of heaven. There is, however, another question here which the lan- guage of Jesus Christ in the second parable suggests but does not answer. If He has ordained an organisation for sowing good seed, what of those who sow evil seed ? It is sown " when men slept," which seems to imply something more than " by night ; " for if the intention of the enemy had been suspected beforehand, men would have watched. Certainly this mixing of bad seed with good is represented as an evil counteracting the true Avork of the kingdom, and not a mere accident accompanying that work in the nature of things ; and therefore it is such as calls for vigilance on the part of the Lord's servants in order to prevent it as far preclude Necessity for Discipline. 87 as possible. Tlie agents of the enemy in this parable evidently correspond with the false prophets who often come in dissjuise, and teach doctrines fatal to the souls of men. In the Sermon on the Mount these are to be judged now, being known by their fruits ; the parable intimates the difficulty of distinguishing the fruits of this false teaching, at least so as to separate completely at present the evil from the good. We have here again two antithetical truths, — on the one hand the necessity of judgment in regard to false teaching, on the other hand the difficulty and peril of judgment as to persons, in the j)resent order of the kingdom of heaven. Either of these truths used without the other leads to false conclusions ; the one is perverted by those who, deny- ing the existence of the Church as an organised body, would leave to every individual to decide between true and false teaching ; the other by those who argue for a " multitudinous " Church, without creeds, without discipline, and therefore no real representation of the kingdom of heaven. But we shall find, in the future teaching of Jesus Christ, that sufficient provision is made, in the order of His kingdom, for the free action of these opposite principles. The two next parables, in the series recorded by St Matthew, depict other aspects of the kingdom. The one represents its growth from a very small beginning into a vast world-wide system. The mustard-seed was a very proverb for the least and most insignificant of all things ; and yet when it grew up, it became not a mere herb, but a tree in which the birds of the air could find shelter. So should it be with the kingdom of heaven. The seed sown, though in human estima- tion insignificant and contemptible, should not grow up into a mere sect, one among the many results of 88 Growth of Kingdom not withoitt Hitman Agency. the teaching of men, hut shouhl overtop tliem all, and serve, as being a real kingdom on the earth, for many purposes for which these lesser growths are unsuited. Again, it is compared to leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till the whole was leavened. The comparison is here — one would say evidently if many expositors of the parable had not followed one another in a different line of interpreta- tion— not primarily with the effect of the leaven on the meal, but with its being gradually but completely mixed with the whole mass by kneading. This indeed chiefly distinguishes this parable from the preceding ; that whereas in the first the kingdom is described as growing by some internal process, in the second we are reminded that its extension is not only automatical, but in this respect differs from the growth of a plant, that there must be, for the propagation of the Gospel through the mass of mankind, a ministry in which human powers and human will shall be exercised. As leaven will not spread of itself entirely without knead- ing, so is this external agency necessary for the com- plete extension of the kingdom, and therefore j)art of its appointed order. Another pair of parables represents the kingdom of heaven from a diflerent side altogether, namely, in its relation to the motives and feelings of those who receive its blessings. In the one, a man finds a trea- sure which is buried in a field ; but the field not being his own, he keeps his discovery secret and goes and buys the field, though he has to sell all his possessions in order to purchase it. A very instructive illustration is here supplied of a truth, which for the right under- standing of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, is of paramount importance : I mean, that the possession of Objective and Siibjective Possession. 89 the blessings of the kingdom is twofold. The posses- sion of the field in which the treasure is hidden is in a certain sense the possession of the treasure ; and yet another act is necessary in order that the treasure may benefit its possessor, and be really and completely his. He might be wholly ignorant either of its existence or its value. The owner of land in which precious jewels lie hid is a rich man, if only he knows his own wealth ; but through his own ignorance, he may live and die in utter poverty. This distinction between the objective possession — or the blessings being really ours to use and enjoy, — and the subjective possession — or the blessings being really used and enjoyed by us, — is one of those fundamental principles of the kingdom of heaven which is often overlooked, and the neglect of the teaching of Christ on this subject leads to endless misunderstand- ings and errors. In the second of the parables, our Lord gives a further illustration, necessary for the com- pleteness of the truth. The kingdom is like a trader who is looking for valuable pearls. He meets with one, which he is able to distinguish as surpassing all the rest in value : and he sells all that he has to become the possessor of this most precious jewel. The comple- mentary truth which this second parable exhibits, is that to which allusion has been made already in ex- pounding the first : I mean, that for the really profit- able possession of the blessings of the kingdom the power of distinguishing their intrinsic value is neces- sary. The jewel merchant who can discern the value of a gem, which other men would overlook, answers to the man who by spiritual knowledge and discernment gains the blessings, which others with the same oppor- tunities neglect and lose. The seventh and last parable in the series given by 90 TJie Apostolic Ministry itself gathers in St Matthew, the parable of the net, not only sup})le- ments the teaching of the rest, but connects it with acts of Jesus Christ that precede and follow this teach- ing. The kingdom of heaven is now compared to a net cast into the sea, and gathering within its folds fish of every kind, bad and good together. When the net is full, the fishermen drag it up on the beach, and sit down and gather the good into vessels, and cast away the refuse and worthless. The scene here described Avas often witnessed by Jesus and His disciples on the shores of the Lake of Tiberias. Indeed the four chief disciples, the first quaternion of apostles, had been called from this very occupation to the corresponding ofiice in the kingdom of heaven. " Follow me," Jesus had said to them, " and I will make you fishers of men." The results of the apostolic ministry were also a second time, after the resurrection, illustrated by a miraculous draught of fishes. This ministry therefore is expressly marked out by the seventh parable, as being the agency, to which several of the series refer as necessary for the permanence and extension of the kingdom. And whereas, from the parable of the tares, it might be inferred — for all earthly analogies can but imperfectly represent these mysteries of the kingdom — that the evil which should be intermingled with the good, and cannot be entirely separated, would be the result only of false doctrine and hostile agency, here we are taught that the very net of the kingdom itself encloses both good and bad ; that whilst the true ministers of the kingdom endeavour by all means to gather in the souls of men, the good and the evil will be taken together, nor can the separation be made until the net is full and their work is finished. Here again Jesus Christ evi- dently expounds general principles of the kingdom, Good and Evil together. 91 leaving to His further teaching to indicate the excep- tions. That such exceptions do exist we may learn from words of an apostle of Christ. " Some men's " sins," St Paul says to Timothy, in directing him as to his conduct in the Church of God, " are open before- " hand, going before to judgment, and some men they " follow after."''' The provision made by Jesus Christ Himself for these exceptional cases will appear in our next chapter. * 1 Tim. V. 24. 92 CHAPTER IV. THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. The general purpose of the apostolic office was indi- cated by Jesus Christ from the time of its institution. It was ordained in order to supj^tlement and fulfil the work of the Kedeemer Himself, through the ministry of His disciples. The parables have expounded yet further the nature and results of this ministry. But we have seen, that both as to the word which should be the seed of the kinordom, and as to the orovernment and discipline of the kingdom, little is as yet revealed. The mighty scheme is only seen in some of its out- lines, being unfolded before the minds of the disciples as they were able to bear the light of these divine truths. And yet the word, out of which the kingdom should grow, was in truth being revealed to the disciples day by day through the ministry of their Lord to which their own was to succeed. For the great purpose of the ministry of Jesus, of His wonderful works as well as of His divine teaching, was gradually to manifest Himself to them as the Son of God, the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth. That He who was associated with them in fixmiliar intercourse, who was related to some of them by the ties of natural kindred, and whom they could perceive to be exempt Confession of Jesus as the Son of God. 93 from none of tlie ordinary conditions of humanity, was yet tlie very Son of God, was a truth which no form of words could convey to their minds ; the con- viction must gradually be established there by His words sinking into their heart, and by the manifesta- tion before their eyes both of His divine sovereignty over all creation, and of His divine knowledge, holiness, and love. Jesus Christ never put into their lips the confession of Himself; He left their faith to grow, and He tested and trained it for some years before He drew forth from them by the mouth of Peter the explicit and definite confession, which then had a force and value such as at an earlier period in His ministry it could not have possessed. That confession, when once elicited, formed a marked epoch in both the teaching of Jesus Christ and in the development of the kingdom. We are told that from that time forth He began plainly to speak to the disci- ples of His sufferings and death. But that which con- cerns us now is the revelation, which immediately fol- lowed, of new truths as to the kingdom of heaven, and of the relations of the apostolic body to this kingdom. It was apparently not very long before His last journey to Jerusalem, that Jesus formally put to His disciples the question, " Whom say ye that I am ?" You know the various opinions of men respecting me, you have now heard my words and seen my works, what is your faith ? Simon Peter, answering for all (as the language of St Luke '" expressly indicates), replies, " Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." This profession was now no mere formula, with little or no meaning attached to the words. Although Peter knew * Luke, ix. 20. 'Yfuls 8e riva ^e X/yere uvai; diroKpidfis 8e 6 Hirpos c'jrf, Ibv XpKTTov Tou Qeov. 94 Peter s Faith Personal not then what he learned afterwards from the subse- quent manifestation of Christ in His death and resur- rection and from the teaching of His Spirit, yet this was already the clear utterance of that living personal faith in the divine person of Christ out of which pro- ceeds the whole life of the Church. And Jesus at once pronounces a blessing on such a faith. *' Blessed art " thou, Simon Barjona," He said, "for flesh and blood " hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which " is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, that thou art " Peter, and on this rock will I build my Church, and " the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And " 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." The meaning of these words, so far as we can inter- pret them in the present stage of our inquiry, must be determined from the connection of the whole passage both with itself and with previous teachings of Jesus Christ. AVe must not separate the promises made to Simon Peter from the blessing pronounced on him, nor must we interpret the language from some theor}'- as to the Church, but in accordance with truths already revealed. Simon Peter then here declares, in his own behalf and in behalf of the whole apostolic body, that faith which is the root-truth of the whole revelation given to man in Jesus Christ. " He that believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God." Personally, it was a blessing to himself beyond all earthly blessings, that this faith was now established in his heart, not by carnal wisdom but by divine teaching. But the blessing pronounced on him reaches far bovond tliis. Peter had learnt the yet Representative. 95 truth not tlirougli the testimony of man, but im- mediately, without the intervention of others, in Jesus Christ Himself. He was one of those — the first and chief of those — who were chosen to be witnesses of Christ, to testify to the world that which they heard, and saw with their eyes, and looked upon, and handled of the word of life. This word is the seed out of which the kingdom of heaven should grow ; indeed the Word is, in its primary sense, Jesus Christ Himself ; but, in reference to the apostolic ministry of the word, it is that manifestation of Christ in human lanouas^e as the expression of human faith, through which the knowledge of Him is conveyed to the minds of men. And this accounts for the name Cephas or Peter, given to Simon from the first by anticipation, and now confirmed. Certainly it was not given on account of any stability of character, distinguishing Simon from the rest. His impulsive disposition — hurrying him at one time to venture on the sea at the word of Jesus, only to fail when his faith is tried, and now, im- mediately after his noble confession, to interpose his own weak feelings in a presumptuous attempt to stay the course of Him whom he owned as his Lord and God — might seem to prove him least of all the dis- ciples worthy of the name bestowed on him. But by that faith, which Simon first professed, he was incor- porated Avith Him who is the one foundation, and in that Rock he is himself a rock. We need not therefore dwell on the question, which men will decide according as their own religious feel- ings or theological views lead them in one direction or another, and the discussion of which must be intermin- able, whether the rock on which Christ builds His Church is Peter himself, or Peter's confession. In one 96 The Rock. sense it is Peter, the representative apostle, witnessing as none otlicrs but the chosen Twelve, of which he was first, could witness to the divine mission and person of Christ. In another, it is the faith thus witnessed. In a third, and that, we may say, the truest sense of all, the Rock is Christ Himself to whom witness is given by the apostolic ministry. No one who deserves the name of a Christian would argue, that the Church is so built on Peter as not ultimately to rest on Christ Himself ; and no one who deals honestly with Scripture will deny, that Christ here assigns to Peter a position immediately subordinate to Himself in that society which He calls His Church. The only question of consequence is, whether this is assigned to Peter as the representative apostle, or as distinguished from the other apostles : whether the office, the functions of which are described in this passage, is the office of the apostles among whom Peter was the first — first in order and first to confess his Lord ; or whether Jesus Christ here instituted a new office with powers and functions superior to those of an apostle. The history of the future development of the Church will abundantly answer that question. For the present it is sufficient to say, that not only is there no evidence of St Peter holding any office difierent from that of the rest of the apostles, or of his exercising any authority over them, but there is abundant evidence to the con- trary. In whatever sense he is a foundation of the Church, in the same the other apostles are, except that his name stands first. On the foundations of the walls of the new Jerusalem are the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. But what is to be understood by that, which Jesus Christ now for the first time calls His Church, and The Ecclesia or Christian Society. 97 which He declares that He will build up on a solid and permanent foundation ? Hitherto, He has only spoken of the kingdom of heaven ; now He uses another word, ecclesiay not indeed unknown, in the Old Testament language, as one term for the congregation or assembly of Israel under the law : and yet, in the language in which the evangelists wrote, more nearly associated in the minds of men with political institutions and organisations. Indeed this word connects together the religious life of Judaism and the political life of the Gentile world. And now, in this word, we must gather up those indications of a corporate Christian life, which gradually have increased and accumulated in the teach- ing and acts of Christ. The city set upon a hill ; the candlestick to set forth the light ; the fellowship among men in which judgment must not be exercised, except to prevent great injuries ; the field in which the wheat and the tares grow together till the harvest ; the mighty tree springing up from the least of all seeds ; have all pointed to a society which should be the representative on earth of the kingdom of heaven, in which the blessings of the kingdom should be enjoyed, and by which they should be communicated to men. And whereas to all corporate society amongst men, not inward principles only, but outward acts are required for organic action, already one elementary form is used and authorised by Jesus Christ, and the necessity for other forms has been indicated. Already is the polity of the body determined by the institution of the apostolate. And now Jesus Christ gives the name to this society, and represents it as a temple, or a city, which He will build — for as yet all is future — on the rock from which the first of His apostles derives his distinctive name. It must be observed also that the new term G 98 Perpetuity and Indcfectibility now introduced, represents all His disciples as one whole. Christ says not, I will build my disciples on this rock, but I will build my Church. He speaks therefore of the foundation, not merely of the faith of each disciple, but of the corporate fellowship, of that in which all the various parts of the one whole are united, on which their unity depends. The promise made to this Church which is built on the rock is that the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. The usual interpretation of these words is, that the powers of evil and darkness shall never overthrow the Church of Christ. But at all events there is another meaning yet more definite and more certain — namely, that the power of deaili shall not prevail against it. Jesus Christ subsequently, in a vision in the Apocalypse which represents His govern- ment of His Church, describes Himself as holding the keys of Death and Hades. The apostles and others, who would be pillars in this temple of God on earth, would be removed by death, but the Church of Christ, " the building of God through the Spirit," should not fail, for there never should be wanting those who by a perpetual succession should supply their place. That in one sense the indcfectibility of the Church of Christ is secured by this promise, that is, that there shall be throughout all successive generations the society instituted by Jesus Christ, confessing Him to be the Son of the living God, we may conclude with certainty from these words. But we must not add a meaning to the words beyond that which is obviously included in them. We cannot infer that this house of God will never be polluted by evils, that this temj^le of truth will never be defiled by errors, even such as virtually and by implication may deny the very fiiith of the Church of Christ. 99 on which it is built. The spiritual building shall stand tlu'oughout all ages, however for a time it may be desecrated, even though for an appointed season the Man of Sin, the Son of perdition, should seat himself in this temple of God, and only be cast out by the bright- ness of the Lord's coming. We must not allow senti- ment to be our guide in interpreting the teaching of Christ, or suppose that any meaning of His words can be more worthy of Him, or more profitable to us, than that meaning whicli is legitimately derived from them. The Church of Jesus Christ is not what our imagina- tions conceive to be the best suited for His heavenly kingdom, but such as in His divine wisdom He knows will best fulfil His own purposes. But other powers and functions in the kingdom of heaven are assigned to Peter, besides that of being, by his confession of Christ, a foundation-stone of the build- ing. In this his office could not, in the nature of things, be shared by any but those who were the original witnesses with him of "Jesus and the resurrection." But no such limitation is necessary as regards the other functions, and we shall find hereafter ample proof that these were a gift in perpetuity, needing to be contin- ually exercised in all generations. They are, as here described, two in number ; first, the gift of the keys of the kingdom of heaven; secondly, the authority to bind and loose on earth, with the assurance that such acts will be confirmed in heaven. The full meaning of these promises made to Peter must be expounded by further acts and teaching of Jesus Christ, and by the history of His Church. It will be sufficient for the present to examine the general force of these remark- able words. First, we must observe that Jesus Christ here pro- TOO The Keys, Powers of " Orders mises (for the gift is as yet future) not the key, but the keys, of the kingdom of heaven, as for many purposes. The office therefore includes not only the authority of opening the kingdom to those who believe, and of closing its door against the impenitent and unbeliev- ing, but also, and to judge from subsequent teaching of Christ especially, the charge of the treasures of the kingdom, Avhich it belongs to the steward of the mys- teries of God to dispense and distribute according to his Lord's will. It implies all functions included, to use language with which we are familiar, in the ministry of the Word and Sacraments ; and further — to antici- pate conclusions to which our argument will gradu- ally lead us — the authority to commit to others also the same ministry : which indeed is implied of neces- sity, if the keys are intrusted not temporarily, but in perpetuity, to be held and used through successive generations. These functions are a personal spiritual charge to one who holds the apostolic office ; in them he acts not as the minister of the Church, but as the minister of Christ to the Church. His responsibilities are per- sonal; his own conscience, enlightened by the word and Spirit of Christ, must be his guide for their fulfil- ment ; nor can he divide his responsibilities with others, and act merely as he obtains their consent and con- currence, or as their organ and instrument, but he " watches for souls, as one that must give account." The second class of functions is of a different char- acter, and must not be confounded with the former. In the next chapter we shall find that authority to bind and loose is attributed not only to Peter, or the apostolic body, but to the whole Cliurch. So that we must conclude that in such functions the apostle acts not merely as the minister of Christ, but as the minister Binding and Loosing of " ynrisdicfion." loi of the Church in its organic action, in behalf of the whole body, and not without their co-operation and concurrence. Yet as the authority is first of all given to Peter, the representative apostle, we must infer that although such acts as are included in binding and loos- ing are performed on behalf of the whole Church, yet in them also there must be the free exercise of the per- sonal conscience of him who holds the apostolic office, so far at least that none can constrain him either to bind or to loose except in accordance with his own judgment. But what did Christ mean by these acts of binding and loosing on earth 1 The general sense of prohibiting and allowing, which is in accordance with the Hebrew idiom, is by far the most consistent with the context. It implies all the functions of government, or, as it was called in later times, of "jurisdiction," as distinguished from those of " order." In the following chapter we shall find these powers to be connected with the exercise of discipline in the case of an ofi'ending member, which is therefore included in this class of functions, though but one part of the whole. Of the exercise of these several powers and func- tions by Peter himself, we have many instances in the history as soon as the promise of Jesus Christ was fulfilled by the gift of the Holy Ghost. He was the most prominent of all the twelve apostles, as a witness to Jesus and the resurrection. He by his ministry first opened the kingdom of heaven both to Jews and Gentiles. When judgment was necessary in the Church, he pronounced Ananias and Sapphira to have lied to the Holy Ghost, and his sentence passed on earth was confirmed in heaven. Simon Magus, though admitted into the kingdom, was judged by Peter, and declared to have no part or inheritance in its blessings. But I02 The Apostolic Functions Personal. whilst there is this precedence and prominence given to the acts of Peter in the first building of the Church, yet neither did he only, nor did he as possessing some powers peculiar to himself, exercise these functions. The rest of the apostles gave co-ordinate testimony witli Peter ; and Paul conspicuously testimony of the same nature independently of Peter. The same powers of judgment and of government were indeed exercised not only by Paul himself, but also by others to whom apostolic authority was delegated by him. The con- clusion which we should infer from the Gospel history, that the words spoken to Peter were addressed to him as the representative apostle, we shall find abundantly confirmed as the organisation of the Church develops itself. And if we ask why that which was intended for others was in the first instance spoken to one, the first obvious reply is, that to take the leading member of a class who holds a certain office as the representa- tive of the class, and in him to represent the functions and powers of the office, is not only a natural and comprehensive method of exhibiting those functions and powers, but is in accordance with the character- istic style of the teaching of Jesus Christ, who, above all other teachers, selected t}^ical facts and truths as comprehending large classes of similar facts and truths. And in this particular instance anotlier reason may be assigned, which is indeed a principle of the utmost im- portance in the constitution of His Church, and which we shall more fully consider hereafter. I mean, that all functions of office in the Church are personal, and in- volve personal responsibilities. If the charge had been given to all the apostles, and not to one singly, it might have seemed as if the functions and their respon- sibilities could be divided by distribution. By singling Include both Spiv ihial Functions and Government. 103 out one as representing every member of the same class, Jesus Christ indicates the principle of personal administration as a fundamental law of His kingdom. It would be premature here to do more than notice the first intimation of this important law, the efiect of which in the organisation of the Church will be the subject of future investigation. Another fundamental law in the constitution of Christ's Church which will determine its organisation, and distinguish it from the kingdoms of this world, is also indicated here. I mean, that, in the administra- tion of the kingdom of Christ, powers of government, and spiritual functions such as those of teaching the Word, are essentially united. In Peter indeed, as we shall also find in subsequent words addressed to him by Christ, the apostolic office was represented in its entirety, and we cannot of course infer that all the func- tions assigned to Peter belong in their fulness to every pastor and teacher of the Church. But, inasmuch as the government of the kingdom of heaven is for the fulfilment of the purposes of that kingdom, that is, to witness to the truth and person of Jesus Christ, it follows that the government of the society and the ministry of the Word are necessary parts of the same administration, although in the one a co-operation of the body corporate may be needful, which is not required for the other. The principle, intimated in these words to Peter, we shall find hereafter further exhibited in the teaching of Jesus Christ, by the authority committed to the servant in the household to give to every one his portion of food, and especially by the shepherd who governs (Trot/AatVet) the flock in order to feed {fioa-K^iv) them. All these principles will be expounded hereafter. I04 Church AiitJiorily a Reality. As yet we only learn distinctly from the teaching of Christ, that, in the constitution of His Church, there will be authority of a very high order ; high, I mean, not because of its being more peremptory or absolute than other authority in human society, but because of the sphere in which it is exercised, and of its relation to a spiritual order and heavenly kingdom. The words of Jesus Christ looked forward to a time when He Himself would no longer be on earth but in heaven, where would be the inner court and privy council of the kingdom, by which the acts of the inferior courts on earth would be confirmed and rati- fied. Whatever difference of opinion there may be as to the method according to which Church authority is legitimately exercised, there can be, or at least ought to be, none amongst Christians as to its reality and force when it is legitimate. Some indeed admit the truth of these solemn words of Jesus Christ, only if they are limited in meaning to Peter and the apostles per- sonally. As if the twelve apostles were not men of like passions with us, or as if the gates of Hades had prevailed against the Church, and prevented it, as soon as the original apostles were removed by death, from possessing the functions and powers with which Christ invested it from its foundation. J05 CHAPTER V. THE FUNCTIONS AND LIFE OF THE CHURCH. When we consider that on the words of Jesus Christ to Peter, which we examined in the last chapter, have been raised claims to the exercise of unlimited and unconditional authority over men, by one who is imagined to be the successor of Peter, we may well suppose that these words may have excited at the time some ambitious dreams in the minds of the disciples themselves. Jesus had indeed at once supplied a cor- rective by telling them of His sufferings and death to be soon accomplished at Jerusalem ; but it is evident that none of the disciples were able to realise these, until the time was at hand and their Master's repeated assertions had awakened them to some sense of the impending trial. The Transfiguration, which occurred shortly after the address to Peter, and of which the three chief apostles were witnesses, would confirm their expectations of the glory of the coming kingdom. That such feelings were working in their minds we gather from the history, and the expression of these feelings led to a further development in the teaching of Christ of the fundamental principles of His kingdom. We learn from a comparison of the several accounts ^'' in the first three Gospels, that a dispute had arisen * Compare Matt., xviii. ; Mark, ix. 33-50 ; Luke, ix. 46-50. io6 Greatness in I he Kingdom of Heaven among the disciples, wliicli of them Avas the greatest. It ajipcars, at all events, that the Lord's words to Peter were not supposed to confer on him any superiority over the rest of the Twelve. The disciples were evi- dently conscious that such disputing for precedence was inconsistent with their Master's teaching and spirit, and it w\as only when He showed them that He knew all that had passed, that they asked Him, " Who then " is o^reatest in the kino;dom of heaven % " Not the greatest, but fxei^ojv, greater ; what makes one man superior to another 1 what is the rule and standard of greatness '? To this question Jesus Christ gave a reply, in reference to the office of the Twelve, which He afterwards more fully expounded, namely, that he who would be first must be least of all and servant of all. But also to make His answer applicable univer- sally, and independently of any office or work in His Church, He takes a little child in His arms, and re- minds the disciples that unless they are converted and become as little children, — unless they have the poverty of spirit on wliich His first blessing was pronounced in the Sermon on the Mount, — they cannot enter into the kingdom : " whoever therefore," He adds, " shall " humble himself as this little child, that man is greatest f* in the kingdom of heaven." A man is great only in proportion as he possesses the same spirit as first dis- tinguishes those to whom the kingdom belongs. Tliese little ones, who have the childlike spirit of humility, are the honoured sons of the kingdom, the true repre- sentatives of Christ, for whom he cares as His own, whose angels always behold the face of His Father in heaven. J These principles at once sweep away the notion of true greatness or pre-eminence in the kingdom of heaven determined by Character, not by Office. 107 being determined by any rank or office in the Church, however real the authority and powers of that office may be. Office in the Church, as will be explained more completely afterwards, is not for self-exaltation, but only for service. But even this lesson is not suffi- cient to correct the evil tendencies generated by a false view of office in the kingdom, and we cannot avoid very serious misapprehensions as to the true constitu- tion of the Church of Christ except by following the teaching of Jesus at this period of His ministry a step further. The words of their Master, declaring that whosoever receives one of these little ones receives Christ Him- self, seem to have recalled to the minds of the apostles a promise which they considered to be peculiarly in- tended for themselves. St John, anxious, we may suppose, to elicit from Christ a confirmation of their own special rights and prerogatives, told Him of some man whom they had seen casting out devils in His name, who yet " followed not " with them. Not only was he not of the number of the Twelve, but he did not recognise their office and authority ; and " we forbad " him," John says, " because he followed not with us." It is impossible not to regard this as a very signifi- cant, indeed a representative, fact. The casting out of evil spirits was the first of the powers given to the apostles ; apparently the lowest of all their powers, and one wdiich the Jews themselves, as the ancient people of God, in some measure possessed ; yet one which was a proof of the victory of God's kingdom over Satan's, and a sign of the presence and authority of God. In later times, when Jewish exorcists took on them to cast out evil spirits in the name of the Lord Jesus, they signally failed. So that it is evident, that it was not io8 JVorks done /or Christ not vitiated only the name of Christ, but the legitimate use of that name by those who were justified in using it, which produced the result. In the present case some believer in Christ, knowing the value of the name of Jesus, took on himself without autliority or commission by that powerful name to cast out evil spirits from men. Was this man right or wrong in so doing ? Is the use of the powers inherent in the name of Jesus Christ legi- timate, when that use is not in accordance with the order in His Church appointed or authorised by Him % The conclusion, which the apostles drew from the previous acts and teaching of Christ, was one which many still infer from the proofs given in Holy Scripture of a special ministry having been ordained by Christ for such purposes ; namely, that he who departs from the appointed order, although he works in the name of Christ and by faith in that name, ought to be forbidden to assume functions not committed to him. And we must not draw inferences from the words of Jesus Christ which are not implied by it. He says not (as this reply of Jesus is often understood to mean), " It matters not whether he follows with you, so long as he uses my name." Jesus Christ would not have ap- pointed and organised the apostolic body for a special purpose, if that purpose could have been fulfilled as well without such order and office. But He did say, " Forbid him not ; for there is no man who will do " a miracle (exercise a power) in my name, and can " readily speak evil of me. For he who is not against " you, is on your part." Jesus Christ defends the man on the broad grounds that his intentions were good, that he was a friend and not an enemy, and that there- fore he is not to be opposed but recognised as a fellow- helper. This remarkable instance, occurring under the by want of Official Authority. 109 very eye of Jesus Christ Himself, on the one hand leaves the widest margin for charity in regard to all works undertaken in the name of Christ and against the power of Satan, on the other proves distinctly that labours may be well-intentioned, pious, and successful, and yet be a departure from the order appointed by Christ in His Church. It comes before us as a startling anticipa- tion, I might almost say a prophecy, of difficulties which in every age of the Church, and never more than in the present day, have perplexed those who desire to be guided by their Master's will. It answers at the same time two questions, — the one, " Can Church order be " really an ordinance of Christ, if labours not according " to that order are effectual against the power of evil ? " and the other, " Since Church order is the ordinance of " Christ, can those who do not conform to that order " be regarded as fellow-labourers for Christ % " The self-same questions under other forms have pre- sented themselves at different times. Under the old dispensation, the religious order of God's people was distinctly determined by divine law. Yet not only was the spirit of prophecy oftentimes given independ- ently of that order, but even when an order was ap- pointed by God for the administration of that spirit, its gifts did not always follow the exact course of the order. Thus Moses was directed to select seventy elders, and bring them to the tabernacle, that they might receive a portion of his spirit.'" But there were two, who, though included in the original number, yet came not to the tabernacle as Moses had appointed under divine direction. And when, notwithstanding this irregularity, the spirit rested on them and they began to prophesy, not in the sacred precincts but in * Numbers, xi. 16-29. I ro Love of CJwist for His People the camp, Joshua, zealous for \\\q, authority of Moses aud for the appointed order, with the same youthful impetuosity as St John displayed under the Gospel said, "My lord Moses, forbid them." But the reply was, " Enviest thou for my sake % Would God that all " the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord " would put His spirit upon them." This absence in Moses of the pride of office, and of jealousy in regard to the apparent neglect of his authority, if only the Lord's work was done, is even surpassed by the spirit of the great apostle Paul, who, when some preached Christ of envy and strife, seeking to add affliction to his bonds, rejoiced that whether in pretence or in truth "•' Christ was preached. There are distinctions in the several cases, which will become intelligible as our in- quiry into the order of Christ's Church proceeds. But this principle is common to all, namely, that a work, which is a deviation from a divine order, may yet be such as ought to be accepted as done for the kingdom of God. Thus then, by an analysis of this portion of Jesus Christ's teaching, we arrive at two principles, which are antithetical or counterbalancing truths to those before expounded by Him as to the powers of the apostolic office, and the divine polity of His Church ; the first, that office in His Church is not the standard of pre-eminence in the kingdom ; the second, that the reality of the divine order of the Church docs not invalidate those works which are done for Christ exter- nally to that order. The key-note of all this discourse of Jesus Christ is that, which we shall find more and more to be the one fundamental principle embodied and expressed in the * ciTf npo(pd For assurecUy, if the other miracles of Christ proved Him to Simon Peter to be the Son of the living God, much more did this crowning victory over death deter- mine Him (as the apostle Paul says '"•) to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness. The words of Jesus in reply to Thomas, while they reprove the slowness of His disciple's faith, recognise it as a true faith, a good confession of Him on whom the Church is founded ; but, as is usual with all the more solemn words of Christ, they look out beyond the present circumstances, the doubts and restored belief of Thomas, into a far wider field, " Because thou hast " seen me thou hast believed : blessed are they, who " have not seen, and yet have believed." AVho are these on whose faith Christ pronounces a special bless- ing ? Not certainly the apostolic body, whose blessing it was to be appointed to testify of that which their eyes had seen, and their ears heard, and their hands had handled of the Word of life 1 Nay more, (may we not say "?) in a certain sense, none of those who lived in apostolic times. For our Lord here evidently ex- presses a universal principle, applicable without respect of time, namely, that the faith which requires external evidences, appealing to the senses by signs and wonders and mighty works, is inferior to that faith which springs wholly out of the word and truth of Christ, and does not need this confirmation. The blessing, therefore, which the evangelist records, as the characteristic result of the second manifestation of the risen Saviour to His assembled Church, has no limited and merely tempor- ary meaning, which would render it unworthy of this solemn occasion. It looks forward into the future, and could only have its full application when the transi- * Rom. i. 4. of Christ without scei^ig the Works. 221 tional period of His Clmrcli should have ended, and the visibly supernatural powers should have passed away, and the basis for the faith of men should be only the word of Christ and the testimony of His Spirit. And certainly, if those who have not seen and yet believe are more blessed than those who believe be- cause they have seen, it is a grievous error to regard the Church of apostolic times as more highly favoured than that of subsequent ages, as possessing more of the true power of the kingdom of heaven, and more highly qualified for fulfilling the mission of the Church on earth as the representative of the Son of Man. And this conclusion is rendered yet more definite and pointed by the fact, that Thomas, to whom these words were addressed, was himself absent on that previous occasion when the infant Church of Christ received from the risen Lord its mission of mercy and truth, which His Spirit of life was to accomplish through those who are partakers of Christ's life. His faith, indeed, though it needed the confirmation of sensible evidence, made him also, no less than those who were present at the first appearance of Christ, a partaker in this great blessing of this divine mission. Yet if Thomas was a partaker, much more those, who, though absent, yet believe without seeing. ///. — Pastoral Functions of the Apostolic Office. The Gospel of St John records a third appearance of Jesus Christ to some of the disciples, to which the other evangelists do not allude, and which has charac- teristic lessons of its own, by which "the things per- " taining to the kingdom of God," taught on other occasions, are largely supplemented. Seven disciples, 222 Miracnloits DratigJit of Fishes symbolical including Simon Peter, who, as usual, is named first, were together in Galilee, and as this is called by the evangelist the third manifestation to " the disciples" these seven were, in some sense, representatives of the rest, and were probably all of them of the number of the Twelve. Simon Peter proposed to the rest to go a-fishiug. But, as on the memorable occasion at the commencement of their Lord's ministry, when He had first declared that He would make them "fishers of " men," they toiled all the night and caught nothing. Some of them must have been reminded, as they drew up their empty net through the weary watches, of the former night of toil, and of the manifestation of their Lord's power, and their calling to a high office in His kingdom that followed. As the morning dawned, some one on the shore, whom they did not recognise, hailed them, and asked if they had taken any fish. He then told them to cast their net on the right side of their boat, and that they would succeed. They cast it as he directed, still having only a dim consciousness who it was that spoke, and now they were not able to draw the net for the multitude of the fishes. At once the disciple whom Jesus loved says to Peter, It is the Lord ; and Peter, as prompt to act, as John was quick to discern, casts himself into the sea with his fisher's coat girt about him, whilst the other disciples followed in the boat, which was only a hundred yards from the shore, dragging the net full of fish, and when, with the aid of Simon Peter, they had landed the net, they found in it a hundred and fifty -three large fishes, and " for all there were so many, yet was not the net " broken." The significance of a miraculous draught of fishes havino" occurred, first at the commencement, and then of the Results of the Apostolic Ministry. 223 at the close, of the period during which the apostolic ministry was established, — especially with our Lord's own interpretation of the labours of the fisherman as representing the work of apostles and the kingdom of heaven, — leaves no doubt as to the symbolic nature of this act of Jesus Christ. It seems probable, that whilst the first, — in which the net was broken, the number indefinite, and the ships overloaded with the fish taken, — represents the gathering of men, good and bad, into the Christian Church, — the second, — in which the net remained unbroken, the number was definite, and all were brought safe to land, — is a figure of the assured success of the apostolic ministry in completing the number of God's elect, and bringing all, not one being lost, into the eternal kingdom. But without resting any argument on the symbolic meaning of the circumstances, and regarding them simply as directing the thoughts of the disciples to the truths which Jesus was about to expound, let us pass to His words that followed the miracle, with which they are closely connected. After the morning meal was finished, — fit emblem of that blessed feast on the morning of the coming of the Lord, when He shall call His faithful servants to sit down, after their labours, at meat with Himself, — Jesus, referring without doubt to Peter's former professions of devotedness beyond all other men, three times, and addressing him by his original paternal name, " Simon, son of Jonas," asks him whether he loved Him ; and three times, on Peter's appealing to the Lord's own knowledge that his love was sincere, in somewhat varied terms He charges him to feed His sheep. That this was a restoration of Peter to an ofiice which he had forfeited by his three- fold denial of Jesus Christ, cannot be said ; he never 2 24 Pastoral Functions of tJic Apostolic Office. ceased to be, what he was from the beginning, the first of the Twelve. But neitlier Peter, nor the other apostles, had as yet received that commission w^hich was the final act of Jesus Christ before He went to the Father ; and now, as the assurance that Christ's pur- poses were in no wise altered by the infirmities of His servant, and to remind both Peter and others that love to a forgiving Pedeemer is tlic only sufficient motive power of apostolic duties, the true work of the apostolic ministry is set forth in a new and yet more definite form, and, — more distinctly tlian ever it had been exhibited in the earlier teaching of Jesus Christ, — as the very counterpart and completion of the work of Him who is the minister of God to man. Hitherto, Jesus Christ has rej^resented His apostles as fishers of men, servants in the household, labourers in the vine- yard, witnesses to Himself. But one relation to sinful men He has as yet retained for Himself I, He says, am the good shepherd, my sheep hear my voice, I know my sheep and am known of mine. Yet in using tliis language of Himself, He sets Himself forth, as we have seen, as the example for those who should here- after under His authority have the- charge of His sheep. And now the time is come, when the great Shepherd being about to go to the Father, the charge of His flock should be committed into the hands of those whom He had appointed. The terms of the command thrice given to Peter are, I have observed, somewhat varied. First it is, Feed my lambs : give spiritual food to those who are children in Christ, who " have need of milk and not of strong " meat." Again it is. Be a shepherd to my sheep ; tend them, go before them, lead them, defend them. The third time it is, Feed my shoe]) ; minister spiritual include both Govei^ning and Feeding. 225 sustenance to all, wlietlier fathers or young men, or children in Christ ; speak wisdom among them that are perfect, or are going on unto perfection ; leave not this work for other functions of the office, nor let it suffice thee to intrust this to others, whilst thou art occupied with other, and, as it may seem, more exalted duties. And above all things remember, the sheep are mine not thine own. We observe therefore that in the pastoral office there is first of all the duty, common alike to all who hold it, of supplying spiritual sustenance for the souls of those committed to their charge, " to give to every one," great and small, "his food in due season." No func- tions of government, no labours in defending the fold from assaults, can exempt any pastor of souls from this primary duty of the office. The chief of the apostles is himself, if he loves Christ, to show his love by feed- ing both lambs and sheep. Well did Peter fulfil his trust, both by word and by writing putting the people of Christ " in remembrance " of the truth of Christ, and by the testimony which he left " endeavouring that *' even after his decease they might have these things in " remembrance." '"• For it cannot be in this warfare, as in an army, in which some fight the battle and others merely direct : the work of the soldier must be done by every one of Christ's servants. Yet this duty of feeding is by no means all that pertains to the pastoral office ; the word TrotjxaLve includes, besides feeding, all duties necessary for the direction, welfare, and safety of the flock, all for which gifts and powers are re- quired of a different order from those which the sheep themselves possess. And the command to exercise these powers for the benefit of the flock, implies both * See Part III. Chap. XV. P 2 26 Pastoral Office tJie same in all, a capacity for these powers in him to whom the trust is committed, and at the same time the promise that the powers shall accompany the faithful discharge of the oflftce. For who would commit a precious trust to one whom he judged not to be both capable and faith- ful, or without supplying him with all things needful for the fulfilment of his duties % That the pastoral office here committed to Peter is the same in its substance, as that which every pastor of Christ's Church receives, is evident from the fact, that the word (vrot/Aatveti/), which includes the whole func- tions of the pastor, is used of all w^ho in any degree partake of the office.'"' But the question whether there are diflferent degrees or orders in the office cannot be thus decided, although a popular commentator of the present day thinks the notion of a primatical power being given to Peter in these words too "silly" to require any wiser answer. But it may surely be asked, whether all shepherds who tend a flock have the same duties and authority in regard to it. It may also fairly be argued, that Peter himself commands pres- byters to tend the flock of God that is amongst tliem,\ which is a limited charge, but these words commit to Peter all the sheep of Christ, that is, a general and universal charge. Undouljtedly they do this, for as yet there is no limitation or definition of special spheres of labour in the Church. Of the new spiritual Israel the apostles are generally the governors, Trot/xeVeg \aov, holding with regard to all the people of Christ an office under Him of a similar nature, however different in degree, to that which He Himself exercises as the chief Shepherd. The organisation of the Church is in its * Acts, XX. 28 ; 1 Pet. vi. 2. + not/iai^arc to tv v^'iv nolfxviov tov dtov. but has different Degrees. 227 simplest form, the separation of the Twelve from the rest of the disciples being its principal feature. It would be at variance with all the laws that govern the development of existence throughout God's universe, if at this early stage there should be found the same defined and limited functions of office which will obtain in the perfected constitution of Christ's Church, But we have found marked out by Jesus Christ Himself, obviously with a view to the future constitution of His Church, elements of order and authority, of mutual interdependence and yet due subordination ; and in this elementary organisation the selection of one as the first of the ajDOstolic body stands out as a fact which no unprejudiced reader of Scripture can question. But the subsequent history of the Church in the apostolic times, when it was growing into its matured form, can alone determine for us what is, and what is not, the true and legitimate development of this principle. Thus much however is already apparent in regard to the polity of the Church of Christ. That it is no dead level of equality, of identity of functions and offices, — this Church is not to be a homogeneous mass with- out distinction of parts, — rudis indigestaque moles, non bene junctarum discordia semina rerum, — but a body having its due form and proportions. And if, as we have seen reason to suppose, there is so intimate a connection between its several parts, that the admini- strative functions of any one member belong to that member merely as the organ of the whole body, — he who holds office being the officer of the state, — which is the fundamental idea of a republic ; it is no less evi- dent, that the divinely-ordained system of the Church comprehends also that which is the characteristic idea and the peculiar power of a monarchy, that of responsi- 2 28 Administration of tJic Kingdom per sojial. bilities and authority centering in a person, for the which he is responsible to Christ only. And we must remember, as has been already observed,'"' that it would have been impossible to exhi])it tliis principle distinctly, unless Jesus Christ had singled out one, the first, and thus the representative, of the apostles, to whom a personal charge should be given. It has been often said that in Peter is set forth the truth of the unity of the Church. But we may discern yet more clearly another principle, in this personal selection by Jesus Christ of one person, in whom the responsibilities, powers, and functions of the apostolic ofiice are set forth ; I mean, that the true pastoral charge of the Church is not through some well-balanced system, by some constitution in which there are laws and rules, provisions and safeguards, checks and counter-checks to produce an equipoise of contending powers, as in a well-ordered kingdom of this world ; but through a personal administration under Christ in which the con- science of the minister is supreme. Every system which is not developed out of this principle of the personal exercise of the full powers of the pastoral office, — which does not exhibit this element of per- sonal government, — must be an irregular and abnormal growth. The opposite truth to this must be found in other teaching of Jesus Christ, as where He says to His disciples, "One is your Guide and Teacher, even " Christ ; and all ye are brethren ; and call no man ** father upon earth, for one is your Father, He who is " in heaven." What shall be the resultant, in the organisation of the Church, of these two antithetical principles, of personal administration, and brotherly equality, — what extent of pastoral functions shall be ♦ See supra, Chap. IV., ji. 102. Peter to follow Christ in His Death. 229 consistent with them, and what inconsistent, — we can only learn from the subsequent history of the Church's development. The character of the true pastoral office, as a per- sonal following of Jesus Christ, was further illustrated by Him on this occasion in two remarkable prophecies respecting the two chief apostles there present, — pro- phecies which carry us beyond the range of the New Testament, and link on the teaching of Jesus Christ with the history of the primitive Church in uninspired records. First, it was foretold to Simon Peter what manner of death he should die : having follow^ed his Lord in the ministry of the Gospel, he should in his old age follow Him also in His death, and glorify God, by his stretching forth his hands, and by another gird- ing him and carrying him whither he Avould not. Which history informs us was fulfilled in the martyr- dom of St Peter by crucifixion. But the prophetic hint given by JesusChrist of the sub- sequent history of another apostle, the beloved disciple John, although it is wrapt in mysterious language which caused it to be misinterpreted by the disciples then, and to be misunderstood by Christians of later ages, is of yet deeper significance. Peter, seeing the disciple whom Jesus loved following Him, as the sjDontaneous expression of his readiness to w^alk in all his Master's steps, asks what John's future course shall be. He too was to follow his Master in the same ministry, would he also follow Him in death % The answer was, " If I " will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee % " Undoubtedly the disciples were not mistaken in con- cluding from this, that John would tarry till his Lord should come. They were too conversant with their Master's teaching to sujjpose, that His solemn words 230 yoJin to coiit'niite his Testimony were merely a rebuke to idle curiosity. They only mis- understood what was meant by that coming of Christ which was so near at hand that it should happen in the lifetime of one of themselves. But while Peter was warned that he himself should, like his Master, be cut off by a violent deatli in the midst of his labours before the kingdom of God should come in its power, he was also reminded that he must not question the wisdom of his Lord's appointment, if another lot was ordained for his fellow - servant, the beloved John. What was it to Peter, if John was to follow Christ and glorify God, not by dying early, but by living on to a prolonged old age to witness the completion of the building which the other apostles began? AVhat if he should tarry until that kingdom of heaven, which they preached, should enter upon a new stage of its existence by the coming of one of the days of the Son of Man ; until the Gospel should have been fully testified throughout the cities of Israel, and that day of the Lord should come, which Jesus Himself had foretold, when Jerusalem should be compassed with the armies of the Gentiles, and the old Temple and polity should be finally overthrown, and out of the ruins the new spiritual temple of Christ should arise in all its fair proportions, witli its perfected order, and in its ma- tured form, with its holy ministries of mercy, and its marvellous adaptations to the life, personal and social, of reasonable man, and be now the visible sign of God's presence on earth, as the material Temple at Jerusalem had been under the imperfect and transitoiy economy of the law % It was no mean or unworthy lot, tliat was assigned to the beloved John, to labour on through trial and suffering " for the word of God " and the testimony of Jesus Christ " in order that he until the Kinodom shotild come in Power. 2^1 %i miglit set the seal of Christ, by the apostolic authority- received from his liOrd, on that perfectly-developed form of His Church, in which the acts and teaching of Jesus Christ were to have their full expression. This is the only rational explanation that can be given of the last words of Jesus respecting the beloved disciple, and its connection with the functions of the pastoral office is sufficiently apparent. The later writ- ings of St John himself afford, as we shall find, no obscure or uncertain evidence that he did thus tarry till the Lord came in His power, that he bore witness for Christ even unto that state and condition of Christ's Church which has continued, amidst all the changes of the world, to the present hour. The life of him whom Jesus loved was prolonged, by the ap- pointment of the Son of Man, to form a connecting link, of the utmost value to all ages of the Church and not least to our own, between the first revelation by Jesus Christ of the elementary principles of the king- dom of heaven, and their complete development in the one Catholic and Apostolic Church, against which the gates of hell shall never prevail. lY. — Tlu A'postolic Commission. We come now to that wdiich was the final and by far the most definite instruction of Christ respecting the offices and powers of His Church, as ecclesia docens, a society instituted by Himself to fulfil the work of mercy which He began, and to convey to men that knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ, which is life eternal. This final charge is recorded most fully and exactly by St Matthew ; the apostolic fragment at the close of St Mark's Gospel records a similar command 232 Inspiration implies not inimite Acctiracy of Christ, delivered either on the same or on another occasion ; while St Luke, in a general summary of the instructions of Jesus Christ to the disciples after His resurrection, gives the same in substance. Before however we examine these momentous words of Jesus Christ, as recorded by St Matthew, I would call attention to certain principles, affecting the histories of Christ's life, which are necessary to a right under- standing of the several records, and especially applicable to the different accounts which we possess of the period between the resurrection and ascension. It w\as a special promise of Christ to His disciples, that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, should not only teach them all things, but, particularly, should remind them of all things which He had Himself said to them. The authentic records therefore of the teaching of Jesus Christ must be considered, by every one w^ho believes in Him, as being in the highest sense inspired history. But what does this imply ? Does it mean that they differ from other history, or are any way superior to it, in such matters as the chronological order of events, and the exact accuracy of the circumstantial accidents, — that they are, so to speak, a perfect photographic reproduc- tion of the details? Very little consideration must convince us that this would be no real fulfilment of the promise, no work worthy of the divine Spirit of truth, the Comforter of the Church, the Revealer of Jesus Christ to men. St John has said, at the close of his Gospel, that if all things which Jesus did were to be related in detail (/ca^' ev), he thought the whole world would not hold the books that should be written. It was, in the nature of things, impossible that all should be recorded. Was it then the work of the Spirit merely to select some facts here, some words but a true Representation. 233 tliere, and set forth four patchwork histories, strictly accurate so far as they might extend, which, by piec- ing them toirether with ingenious and far-fetched con- jeetures, our clever harmonists might convert into something like an exact, yet after all a very incomplete, representation of the life and teaching of Christ % I think, if this had been the purpose, we should have been spared the uncertain and unprofitable labour. But was it not rather, since the whole cannot be repro- duced in its details, — far easier would it be to relate every single incident of the greatest battle ever fought on earth, or by such an enumeration of circumstances, if possible, to represent the mind and judgment of the commander, — to enable each several writer to seize on those things which shall most fully exhibit the living truth of the divine history, and so to produce it that it shall be to us the most real and distinct picture of that which it concerns us to learn and know \ If the words of Jesus Christ Himself as to the being and the power of that Holy Spirit who speaks to us through the apostles and evangelists are to be believed. His own acts and teaching are themselves not more really divine than is the form in which they are represented to us, the mould in which they are cast, by the Spirit of truth. It has been said that sometimes poetry is more true than a literally exact but unphilosophical history, because the one may exhibit the form and pressure of the times more truly than the most accurate details. The difference here, however, is not as between fiction and history ; but, we may say, as between the painting of some glorious scene, in which the exalted genius of the artist makes the details subordinate to the unity and perfection of the whole, and a servile copy, pre- cisely correct, of particular parts, in which the living 2 34 1^^^(^ ^<^^^ CJiargc before the Ascension idea is lost to the mind even in the multiplication and minuteness of the circumstances. I may now state, without fear of being misunder- stood, what I cannot doubt is the true explanation of the differences, which sorely perplex our harmonists, in the several accounts left to us of Christ's intercourse with His disciples after the resurrection. I mean, that each of them is absolutely complete in itself; that is, not as to the chronological connection of the incidents, but as representing that which the Spirit of truth pur- poses to teach. Far from the chronological order being essential to the truth, it must be often necessary for one who is giving a condensed summary of the living spirit and truth of the history to neglect that order. Bearing this in mind, we cannot escape the conclu- sion, both from the Gospel of St Matthew and from the record in St Mark's Gospel, that the commission given by Jesus Christ to teach all nations and evangelise the world was addressed to the apostles, not to the whole body of the disciples. Addressed to them, again I would say, not as isolated and separated from the rest of the Church, but as those to whom a special office and ministry was intrusted, and from whose office all the ministries of the Church, for the fulfilment of these purposes of its divine Founder, should be hereafter evolved. To argue, as some have argued, that this commission was demonstrably understood to have been given, not to apostles only, but to all that believe on Christ, because we find in the Acts that others besides apostles preached the Gospel, — is to misapprehend the question at issue. The question is first. Were the apostles appointed by Jesus Christ to an oftice, the pur- poses, functions, and powers of which were expounded to them in this solemn commission ? and then, "Was the given to Apostles, not to all Disciples. 235 office, to Avliicli these duties and defined responsibilities were committed, to cease with the death of the eleven, or was it to continue, as a permanent institution, to the end of the world ? The answer, which every unpre- judiced mind must give, cannot be affected by our find- ing, or supposing that we find, that others, not partak- ing of this office, fulfilled some of these duties. If a king commission an army to subdue a rebellious pro- vince, it does not alter the fact, or the necessity for this commission, if others have aided those who were specially sent by the sovereign. We must look a little deeper into the meaning and reasons of things, if ever we are to attain to unity of judgment on these ques- tions. And, above all, if we cannot ourselves discern such reasons, let us not substitute our own theories and notions for the conclusions to which Holy Scripture itself directs us. But these words of Jesus Christ, which are the very charter and constitution of the Church as the Teacher of the world, demand from us the very closest attention and the most exact interpretation. St Matthew, who was himself present, records that this final commission was given to the eleven in Galilee, on "a mountain " where Jesus had appointed them ; " possibly, (may we not say probably ?) the same mountain where in the presence of a chosen assembly He had first ordained them to be His witnesses to the world. He now enlarges their commission, and particularly expounds it, and He surrounds it with the assertion of His own universal authority and promises of His continual presence. His own words indicate, why before He gave them only a limited charge, with some obscure hints of a far wider mission ; why now, after His resurrection, this ori- ginal commission is changed into one, which, both as 236 The Commission twofold, regards its sphere and the period of its operation, is unlimited. First then, He declares to them, that now having finislied the work which the Father gave Him to do, all authority {i^ovaia) is given to Him, the Son of Man, both in heaven and in earth. On this universal right of Jesus Christ, as the Redeemer of men, is founded the authority delegated to the apostolic body. The work to which they are commissioned is the very continuation of that in which Jesus Himself was engaged during His three years' ministry on earth, but the field is no longer Judea and Galilee only, but all nations under heaven, and the service is not to be in- terrupted after a few brief years, but is to be extended to the end of the world. It is necessary to bear this in mind, in order to determine the full meaning of the commission here given. The exact words of Jesus Christ are of so much con- sequence, that I give them first in the original Greek, and then in a literal rendering : IIopev0evTe<; fxa6r)T€V(TaTe Travra ra eOurj, — fBaTTTitpvre'; avTOus €19 TO ovoixa tov iraTpos koL tov vlov /cat tov ayiov Trvev^xaro';, — StSacrKOi^re? aurov? rr^pelv Travra oaa iueTeLkdixTju vfjuv kol, ISov, iyo) jxeO' vp-cov naaas ras r)ix€pa<; €qj§ 7179 (rvvTe\€La<; tov atoivo?. " Go and disciple all the nations, — baptising them " into the name of the Father and of the Son and of " the Holy Ghost, — teaching them to observe all things " as many as I have commanded to you : And, lo ! I " am with you all the days unto the end of the world." The word which in our English version is rendered *' teach," and in the marginal reading, " make disciples " or Christians " (/xa^r^reuo-are) includes the whole pro- cess of " disciple-ing " or discipline, from the first initia- First, to make a7id baptise Disciples. 237 tory teaching to the more complete instruction.'"' And this twofold work, which we trace in our Lord's own ministry, is distinctly marked out in the apostolic com- mission ; first there is to be the admission to disciple- ship, by the baptism of those who, having heard the Gospel of Christ, profess faith in its fundamental truths, — by which initiatory ordinance they are brought into a state of salvation ; and secondly, there is the building up of those that believe in knowledge and practice, the complete discipline of the Christian life. It is evident therefore that this commission compre- hends much more than that, to which it is often under- stood exclusively to apply, — the evangelising of heathen or other unbelieving nations, — although this is of course included. But the work of Christ's Church would little resemble His own, if this were the whole, or even the principal part, of the labours of an apostle, or if the preliminary teaching, necessary to awaken the first beginnings of faith, were held to be a more important or profitable mission than the subsequent instruction of those who being disciples are to be led on unto per- fectness of faith and knowledge. And it must be observed that Christ said not, Make disciples out of all nations, but. Disciple all nations ; gather them into the fold by baptism, and then instruct them in the know- ledge of Christ. So that the exercise of the pastoral office among those whose national faith is Chris- tianity, is just as expressly intended in the charge of Jesus Christ, as the gathering of converts out of heathen nations. In the first parts of the process included in the word " disciple," the definite form of baptism, now given for the first time, also for the first time indicates the defin- * See Matt. xiii. 52 ; Acts, xiv. 21 ; and compare John^ iv. 1. •0 8 The Triune Name determines the Faith. ite and explicit fomi of that faith on which the Church of Christ is founded, to which it is ordained to testify, and the confession of which is necessary for admission into this divine society. The confession hy Peter, that Jesus was the Christ the Son of the living God, is the elementary form of the same faith which is now em- bodied in the more developed formula of " the Name of " the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost." Baptism into that triune Name has indeed other deeper spiritual meanings, which it would be beyond the pur- pose of this work to discuss ; but as regards the office of the ecclesia docens it obviously implies its testi- mony to the faith which that Name represents ; that is, to the faith, which in the Creed " commonly called " the Apostles' Creed " is expressed in fuller terms than in the form of baptism, but in simple language taken almost without change from apostolic teaching ; and which in the Nicene Creed is set forth more explicitly and exactly, yet also " not in words which " man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost " teacheth." """ This part of the Church's office then includes and implies its whole testimony to the funda- mental objective truths of the faith in its ordinances and ministrations. The other part has a yet wider range. " Teaching " them," that is, the baptised disciples, " to observe all " things as many as I have commanded to you." These words embrace the whole discipline of the Christian life, as well as all progress in the knowledge of spiritual truth. Jesus Christ had Himself summed up in a few words that which was the inner spirit of all His com- * I do not in this inchule llie Jiliorjue, wliicli forms no part of the Creed as hokl hy the universid Churcli. See Part III. Chaji. XIII., Note on the Creeds. Second Part of the Apostolic Commission. 239 mandments, the one master principle which in His kingdom was to supersede the carnal commandments of the old dispensation. " This is my commandment " that ye love one another, as I have loved you." This is the " law of Christ/' which must govern all the mutual relations of His disciples ; this is the test by which all must be distinguished ; this is the " spirit that *' giveth life," which in the spiritual kingdom takes the place of the " letter that killeth.'' And yet, for this very reason, because love is the law of the king- dom, are there new vessels to contain this new wine, forms to embody and represent the SjDirit, which un- doubtedly are included in this charge to teach all the commandments which Christ Himself delivered to His apostles. For example, and especially. He had given one commandment, the express purpose of which was to embody and set forth those divine mysteries of redemption which began to be spoken by the Lord Himself, and were to be expounded more fully by the Holy Ghost the Comforter. Tovro Trotetre et? r-^v ifirjv dvdiJivrjo-Lv. The disciples were to be taught in this Paschal feast of the new covenant, to show forth His death until His coming again. As the ordinance of baptism was that round which the first principles of Christian doctrine and discipline were to be gathered, so would this other sacrament of the Gospel be the central point, not only of the practical life of the Chris- tian, but also of all those mysteries of godliness, "the " wisdom for them that are perfect," which are necessary for the growth and the maturity of the Christian life. But we must observe further that in the comparison, — which is suggested in the very word " disciple," — be- tween the ministry of Jesus Christ Himself and that of the apostles whom He now sends forth into the world 240 TJiis includes Autkcn'iiy to comviission others. as He Himself was sent into the world, there is in- dicated a yet wider scope of their commission. For we must remember that the purpose of Jesus Christ's ministry was to make out of His disciples pastors and teachers ; and not mere teachers only, but apostles ; He formed, as we have found, not a mere collection of disciples, but an organised society, a body having, not only life from Christ, but also powers of reproduction and propagation, a plant, like those of the fii'st creation, having seed in itself upon the earth. And this is also involved in the terms of the com- mission given to the eleven. For if they were to teach others to observe all things which Christ had com- manded to them, this must include the charge given to them to teach and minister to others. As Jesus Christ had chosen them out of His disciples, and committed to them the ministry of His Gospel with special powers and functions, so, in order to fulfil their commission, must they in their turn select others, and commit to them the same office and ministry. As He had said to the chosen eleven, "Feed my sheep," "Go into all the *' world and preach the Gospel to every creature," so must they perpetuate the same charge by a continual succession. Before we leave these words of Jesus Christ, which refer to the second part of the apostolic commission, we must notice that they afford furtlier proof, — if in- deed any more is needed, — that the charge is intended for those who hold an office and ministry in the Church, and not primarily or directly for the whole body of disciples. Because tliose, who are to be taught the per- fect knowledge of Christ's commandments, are such as already are disciples and received into the Church by baptism. There are therefore in the Church, as in- The Commission given hi perpetuity . 241 dicated by Clirist's own words, tliose who are com- missioned by Him to instruct other disciples in the law of Christ, and those who receive instruction. To disannul this distinction, and to make it the office and duty of all disciples to teach all, is not only directly at variance with the acts and teaching of Christ Himself, but it is to make Him the author of confusion, not the God of order. Nor can it be said that the words '' as many things " as I have commanded to you " limit the distinction between the teachers and the taught in the Church to the period when the eleven themselves exercised their ministry. Because those who are addressed are sup- posed by Jesus Christ Himself to have a perpetual existence ; " Lo ! I am witli you all the days to the end " of the world." Before " the end of the world," in which, as foretold by Jesus Himself in the parable of the tares of the field, the good and the evil should be finally separated, there were to be many days, — more than the apostles themselves conceived possible, more perhaps than Christians now imagine, — days of the Son of Man, days of trial, days of judgment, days of the coming of the kingdom of heaven. But throughout all these the same apostolic body exists \ " with you ; " — the same, not in the persons of whom it is composed, but, because as a body it would never be extinct, the same in the powers, functions, and responsibilities be- longing to it; the very same, — if we are to believe the words of Jesus Christ Himself, — as He then ad- dressed. And the promise of His perpetual presence is not to be expounded as a general assurance that He would never desert His Church, which, true and certain as it is, and to be inferred from this particular promise as well as from many others, yet touches not the great Q 242 Office i?i the CJnu'ch not determined question liere. This promise is far more definite. " I *' am with youl' whom I send forth to the apostolic work and ofiice : to be fishers of men, pastors of my fiock, stewards of my household ; with you, in all ages, in the fulfilment of those duties and ministries which I intrust to you. The presence of Jesus Christ is here assured, not as elsewhere for the consolation and en- couragement of all who are disciples, but to supply strength, comfort, wisdom, authority, to those whose office it is to make and instruct disciples. It is impossible therefore, if we deduce our conclu- sions as to the constitution of Christ's Church from Holy Scriptui'c itself, and do not substitute for these some theory which we may consider either more ra- tional or more spiritual, not to arrive at the following conclusions ; that, in this last charge of Jesus Christ, He commissions, by His own sovereign and universal authority, to an office, the functions, responsibilities, and powers of which He here deffiies and describes; that this office is a permanent and perpetual institu- tion, and of perpetual authority, being the very same, in its substance, as the eleven themselves held ; and further, that the law of perpetual succession to the office should be, — not that of natural descent, as the ministry in God's house of old was perpetuated, — but through the action of those who themselves hold the office, according to the example which Christ Himself gave to His apostles in His own ministry. But whilst these truths are so clearly set forth by the acts and teaching of Jesus Christ, that it is difficult to conceive how any unprejudiced mind can fail to recog- nise them, we must notice on the other hand, that neither here nor elsewhere, in any teaching of Christ as to the apostolic office, is there that which in the by Law, but pa^'t of a Divi7ie 07'der. 243 strict and proper sense of the word is law. When Aaron and his descendants were appointed to an ever- lasting priesthood, it was forbidden that any one who was not of the seed of Aaron should exercise the functions of the priestly office. Prohibition is essential to that ivhich is truly law. But law, in that sense, has no place in the spiritual constitution of Christ's Church. Jesus Christ Himself said, we have seen, of one who, being outside the apostolic order and ministry, yet exercised some of their powers, " Forbid him not, for he that is *' not against us is on our part." Shall it be asked, What then is the meaning of office if it be not fenced in by prohibition ? We may as well ask, what is the meaning of the hand in the natural body of man, when the foot is not prevented from per- forming the office of a hand ? We see, in that case, that the question is one of organic adaptation. We know that when a man has lost his hands, or is born maimed, other members will, to a marvellous degree, supply the place of the hands ; when hearing is gone, the eye becomes preternaturally quick to distinguish the motions of the speaker's lips ; when sight has failed, the hearing is quickened ; when both hearing and eye- sight are wanting, the remaining senses are so awakened and enlarged that even one born blind and deaf, and therefore dumb, is still capable of communication with his fellows. But do we therefore doubt the necessity of the special offices of each member, or consider that one may usurp the functions of the other without in- jury or loss to the body ? We have already found, in Christ's acts and teaching, abundant evidence that His Church is intended to be an organised body, with dis- tinction of offices and functions. Are we to deny the reality of such offices, or their value to the Church, be- 244 Different Accoiints m the Three Gospels. cause some of their functions may be performed out of due order by others ? Has a king no army, because other of his subjects, who hold no commission from him, can fight bravely and loyally and successfully in his cause % Or have fathers no office in regard to their chikben, because strangers may supply the love and care of parents ? In the Church, office is determined, as we have learnt from Christ's acts and teaching, by a special call and appointment, by defined duties and functions, by corresponding responsibilities, by the gift of adequate powers to enable those, who will faithfully use them, to fulfil their responsibilities ; and further, by being a part of an organic and corporate whole, re- lated to the other parts, between all of which there is a mutual interdependence. But we must not here anti- cipate further that which we shall learn much more fully from the apostolic history and teaching. I have examined the commission given by Jesus Christ to His apostles in the words recorded by St Matthew, because in those words the complete defini- tion of the office is given, and its perpetuity is clearly manifested. That which is recorded at the close of St ]\[ark's Gospel seems to describe rather the office of the original Twelve, and it is connected with the promise of signs to follow those that believe. The very general account of the whole given by St Luke simply states, that Jesus declared that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in Christ's name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem ; and that the disciples were to be witnesses of these things. But St Luke adds one instruction of Christ which is to be noticed in connection with our argument. They were to tarry in the city of Jerusalem until they should be endued with the power from on high. The gift of that Spirit would The Divine Word is now tittered. 245 be for the whole Church without exception; but if others needed it for the office and duties of disciples, above all would aj)ostles require it for that high office and those special functions to which they are commis- sioned. The Divine Word, by which the new creation is formed, has now been completely uttered ; through the succes- sive days of the Son of Man on earth, He has declared the Divine Will in this spiritual universe of God : it only remains for the Divine Spirit to come down, on the ascension of Christ to the right hand of power, in order that the seed of the kingdom of heaven may burst forth into the new forms of life, designed by the Lord Him- self, and may develop itself, through the quickening energy of that Spirit, according to the laws of its spiri- tual growth. THIRD PART THE CHURCH OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE CONTENTS OF PART III. CHAP. I. APPOINTMENT OF MATTHIAS TO THE APOSTOLIC OFFICE. II. THE DAY OF PENTECOST. III. LIFE OF THE FIRST BELIEVERS. IV. FIRST EXERCISE OF DISCIPLINE. V. TPIE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM, (l.) Ordination of the Seven. (2.) Presbyters of the Church. (3. ) James, the Lord^s brother. VL EXTENSION OF THE CHURCH, (i.) Conversion of the Samaritans. (2.) The Ethiopian Etmuch. (3.) The Conversion of the Gentiles. VII. THE CHURCH IN ANTIOCH. VIII. THE APOSTLE PAUL. IX. COUNCIL AT JERUSALEM. X. APOLLOS. XL THE CHURCH IN CORINTH. XIL RELATION OF SPIRITUAL GIFTS TO THE ORDER OF THE CHURCH. XIH. THE CHURCH THE BODY OF CHRIST. XIV. THE PASTORAL EPISTLES. XV. THE APOSTLE PETER. XVI. RELATION OF THE CHURCH TO THE OLD ECONOMY. THIRD PART. THE CHURCH OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE. CHAPTER I. APPOINTMENT OF MATTHIAS TO THE APOSTOLIC OFFICE. During the short period that elapsed between the ascension of Jesus Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit, it was not to be expected that any event of great importance should occur. Yet there is one act recorded which is a very significant instance of the principles on which Jesus Christ constituted His Church. It was indeed the immediate exercise of the authority, which was vested in the Church, to make all necessary provi- sion for bearing testimony to Christ in this world. One of the Twelve had fallen from his high estate, and his office was vacant, and, from St Peter's address on this occasion, it seems that no positive instructions had been left by Jesus Christ Himself in regard to this office. But, if it were necessary that the number of twelve apostles should be complete, why, it may be asked, did not Christ Himself determine the question, and before delivering His last charge appoint a successor to the traitor ? Why, as He chose the rest of the eleven, did 250 Significance of the First Act of the He not now choose the twelfth \ Why, but because, on ascending into heaven, He left, not a mere number of disciples, but a living body that was to represent Him and fulfil His mission, a l)ody capable already through His teaching, and the gifts they had hitherto received, of such action as should be for the time necessary, until the full powers should be conveyed by the coming of the Holy Ghost. Already, with the instinct of the new-born infant, which, before its reasoning faculties are awakened, can put forth some powers to supply pre- sent needs, the Church, even before it is endowed with the promised Spirit, has yet discernment sufficient to provide for existing necessities. We are told that, at this time, the whole number of disciples at Jerusalem being about a hundred and twenty, they used to meet continually for prayer in a large upper room, in which some of the apostles lodged. Such was the primitive Christian Church, and accord- ing to Christ's appointment Peter is the chief and leader of this new society. He stands up among them, and the subject of his address, the first sermon in a Chris- tian church, must seem strange to those who regard the kingdom of Christ only as a system of doctrine, or as the mere expression of faith and love. He reminds them that Judas the traitor had held the same office and ministry, which belonged to himself and the other apostles : that his bloody death, evidently the judgment of God, had left his office as one of the Twelve vacant, as indeed had been foretold in the Book of Psalms, which had declared that the habitation of such an one should be empty, and that another should receive his charge and ministry. Therefore, Peter says, as if it followed by necessary consequence that they had in themselves the power to supply that wliicli was want- Disciples after the Ascension. 251 ing, it is necessary that of those men, who have been with us during the whole time of our intercourse with the Lord Jesus, from the baptism of John to the ascen- sion, some one should be made witness of His resur- rection. Shall we ask what need for this ? If such an one had seen and heard these things, why might he not, being thus qualified, give his testimony 1 The disciples did not ask this, because they had learnt from their Master, that qualifications for an office do not of themselves constitute the office. They concluded from His acts, that it was His will that there should be the complete number of twelve men, whose ofiice should be to give this testimony ; and from His teaching, that authority sufficient was given to them to co-opt into their own body one fitted to fulfil the duties of the office. That there would be something peculiar and special in the method by which this appointment should be made, so as to be unsuitable as a precedent for future action in the Church, might be confidently expected for several reasons. For first the number of those, who would be qualified to unite with the eleven in that special testimony with which tlie work of the apostolate must begin, must have been very limited indeed ; we are almost surprised to find that even two could be found who would answer in all respects to St Peter's description of the person required. Further, the apostles had not as yet received the powers from on high by which all the functions assigned to them were to be exercised. Under these circumstances, the Spirit not yet being present in the Church to declare by them the judgment of God, two men are taken, whom they find to answer to the condition, and prayer is offered that the Lord Himself, who knew the hearts 252 A Precedent iJi ifs Principles, of all men, would appoint the one whom He had chosen '"'" to succeed to the duties and authority of that apostolic office from which Judas by transgression fell. It was thus referred to the judgment of Christ Him- self, who had assured them that though absent He was still present to hear and answer their prayers. They cast lots for the two, and, as the lot fell on Matthias, the unanimous voice and suffi:age of the whole body received him as appointed by the Lord Himself to the same office as the eleven. There Avas not, it would appear, any outward sign at the time to confirm to the minds of the disciples the validity of the appointment ; but we find the Twelve together, immediately after- wards on the day of Pentecost,t claiming to be the chosen witnesses of Christ; the signs and wonders wrought by the apostles would mark Matthias as possessing the same powers with the rest, J and the Twelve all united together in the exercise of their authority in the government of the Church. But although the peculiar nature of this appoint- ment, and the absence of the spiritual powers subse- quently given to the Church, prevent this act from being a precedent for the future in all respects, yet some important principles as to succession in the apostolic office are already apparent. Especially is that principle which Christ's teaching itself distinctly indicated, of the co-operation and the mutual interdependence of all the members of the body, here clearly illustrated. Peter, the chief of the apostles, authoritatively marks out the course to be followed. The disciples set forth two, who fulfil the necessary conditions, apparently * avahti^ov w e^eXt'^o). Cf. Luke, X. 1, avihfi^iv 6 Kvpios Koi (Ttpovs t Acts, ii. 14-37. % Acts, v. 12. altho2igh not in its Circitnistances. 253 the only two who could be found, certainly the only two who were eligible on the whole : for, as the decision was to be remitted to the judgment of Jesus Christ Himself, we cannot suppose that these two would have been selected had there been any com- parison between them and others. The election and appointment, as indicated by the language of the prayer, are made by the will of the Lord expressed in answer to their prayer. And, as they were assured of His answer to that prayer, the suffrages of the whole body recognised the appointment. We have yet to learn how these principles would be applied, when the Spirit of Christ, acting in the Church itself and by the Church as His instrument, shall make this appeal to the direct interposition of Jesus Christ not only unne- cessary, but unsuitable for the spiritual kingdom. But assuredly even now there is a certain shadowing forth of that which in after-times was expressed in well- known words, as essential to appointment to the apos- tolic office in the Church, " Dei judigium, Episcopatils " consensus, omnium siiffragia." 254 CHAPTER II. THE DAY OF PENTECOST. It appears as if the disciples expected that, during the feast which followed next after the Passover when their Lord was crucified, that promise of the gift of the Spirit would be fulfilled for which they were in- structed to wait at Jerusalem, where (Jesus Christ had said) "Ye shall be baptised with the Holy Ghost not " many days hence." AVlien the day of Pentecost was fully come, — that is, exactly seven weeks from the resurrection, — all were with one consent gathered together. The language seems to imply that it was a larger gathering than usual, none were absent ; probably also, disciples from a distance had come to Jerusalem to the feast, and were assembled with their brethren. This meeting was before the third hour of the day, and undoubtedly that early assembly had been for united prayer, probably with breaking of bread according to their Lord's command. Suddenly there came from heaven a sound as of a rushing mighty Avind, which filled the whole house where they were sitting, and they saw an appearance as of fiery tongues, divided and distributed,'"' one of which rested on the * 8iafifpi(6fifvai yKoiaaai. That is, tliere was not one sheet of flame, but it was broken up into many tongues, and tlie api)earance was that of numerous small flames descending. Cf. e.g. Matt, xxvii. 35 ; Luke, xxii. 17; Acts, ii. 45. Outpouring of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. 255 liead of cacli person present. And all were filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in other tongues according as the Spirit gave them utterance. Of these signs of the coming of the Holy Ghost, the two first were evidently symbolic ; the unseen and mysterious wind was a symbol by which Jesus Christ Himself had taught the manner of the Spirit's operations; the flame of fire, resting on the head of every disciple, represented the power with which the Spirit now endowed them of being, as their Lord had declared them to be, the light of the world. But the "other tongues/' with which they were enabled to speak, were more than a mere symbol. The multitude that soon came together to witness this new and strange phenomenon heard these Galileans declaring the praises of God in the divers languages of many countries, from which these Jews of the dispersion and proselytes had come to attend the feast. The profane might mock at this as if it were nothing better than drunken excitement : but the sincere and devout must acknowledge that here was the finger of God. Peter, standing up with the rest of the twelve apostles, — now for the first time fulfilling their office of witnessing for Jesus and the resurrec- tion,—and filled with that Spirit of truth which has been now poured forth, tells the assembled multitude that this is nothing else than the fulfilment of those promises of the Spirit which God had given to their fathers by His prophets ; that the Jesus, whom they had delivered to be slain by a violent and cruel death at the hands of the heathen, God had raised from the dead ; and He, being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, had "shed forth this, which ye'' (he said) " now see and hear." 256 The Holy Spirit given to at I present. The language of the apostle/"' as well as of the history itself, shows plainly that the outpouring of the Spirit on this day was not on the Twelve only, but on the whole body of disciples. The peculiarity of the promise given by the prophet Joel, which St Peter quotes, was that in the latter days the gifts of the Spirit would not be limited to a few prophets and righteous men ; all degrees of men, all ages, both sexes, would partake of the Spirit, which should be a universal gift to the whole body, each receiving according to the measure of every part. But if this gift of the Holy Spirit thus significantly marked His presence with the Church, and was be- stowed on all its members, it becomes of the utmost consequence to determine what this gift was. For, being one common to every member, it is an essential element in any inquiry into the organic structure of the Church. That faculty, which belongs in common to every member of a body, needs no distinct organ for its exercise. If all the body were seeing, we should require no separate organ of sight. And therefore, if this gift of tongues were, what it is supposed by some to be, the power of preaching the Gospel in the different languages of the world, it would supply an argument, such as Scripture nowhere else furnishes, against the necessity of a special office for the purpose of teaching all nations. But nothing can be more certain, both from the history of the Acts, and from the description of this gift of tongues given subsequently by the apostle Paul, than that this was no preaching of the Gospel, but an outburst of praise in a language not generally understood by the speaker himself, who, thoujih conscious no doubt of the emotions of devout o . * Cf. verse 15, " These are not druiikcn." Meaning of the Gift of Tongues, 257 joy and thankfulness tlius expressed, yet was not aware, unless also lie liad the gift of interpreting, of the exact meaning of the words uttered by him under this supernatural influence. This therefore, which the multitude heard on the day of Pentecost, was on the one hand a proof to them of a supernatural presence, because they heard these Galileans speaking in languages known to the hearers and not to the speakers ; on the other hand it was the new song of praise of the infant Church, its first Te Deum Laudamus, in all the various tongues of the earth. It was a prophetic sign of the work of the Spirit in Christ's Catholic Church which was to include all nations and kindreds and people and tongues. Had it risen in one language only, — that common to all the seed of Israel, — it would not have fitly represented the voice of Christ's Church : but now it is the response to the command of Christ, Teach all nations. No sooner does the Spirit fall upon the Church, than at once, in anticipation of future triumphs, praises are given to God in all languages. This was not the ministry of the Gospel, the witness to Jesus and the resurrection, or the instructing of the disciples in the faith of Christ. That work of the Spirit of truth, one far higher than the o-ift of tongues, follows afterwards in the address of Peter. He never alludes to these tongues as other than an evidence of the Spirit's presence : had they been given to testify to a risen Saviour, we may be sure he would have appealed to such testimony. But had it been so, his own office as an apostle would have been superseded, and the order of the Spirit's opera- tions deranged. In the address of St Peter on this occasion, we have the testimony, which it was the office of the Twelve to R 258 Address of Peter ivas in fulfilment deliver, in its simplest form. The facts of the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, the gift of the Holy Ghost, the fulfilment of Scripture in all these things, the sin of the Jews in rejecting and crucifying Him who was made of God both Lord and Christ, were the sum of the apostolic testimony. But accompanied as it was by the witness of the present Spirit, it was abundantly sufficient for the purpose for which it was spoken. The hearers were pricked to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, — for here as elsewhere he was but the mouthpiece of the whole body, — " Brother men, what must we do ? " The answer was ready ; " Repent and let each of you be " baptised in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remis- " sion of sins ; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy *' Spirit. For unto you is the promise, and to your " children, and to all that are afar olf, as many as the " Lord our God shall call." The characteristic features of this brief exhortation must be noted. The corresponding words of John the Baptist had been, " Repent ye, for the kingdom of " heaven is at hand/' and he proclaimed the baptism of repentance unto the remission of sin. Jesus Christ, at the commencement of His ministry, used the same words as His forerunner, and by baptism, we have seen, admitted men to be His disciples. But now the kino-dom of heaven had come and other lanQ^uaire is used. In the summons to repentance there is a slight variation. Before, the present tense was used, jxeTavoeLTe, be penitent, as if repentance were the highest state to which they could then attain. Now, the tense is used which implies a definite act {lJL€Tavorj(TaT€), repentance being but the step towards a higher state, that of the regenerate children of God. of the Apostolic Commission lately given. 259 In all cases the baptism, being ordained for sinful men, is unto the remission of sins : but Christian baptism has a yet diviner blessing ; " Ye shall receive the free "giftof the Holy Ghost/' But what is Christian baptism ? It is here described as being baptised in the name '"' of Jesus Christ. Undoubtedly it is that baptism which Christ Himself commanded, " into the name of the Father, and of the " Son, and of the Holy Ghost." But in the Acts of the Apostles, and in their writings, baptism is always described as being " in the name of Jesus Christ," or "into the name of the Lord Jesus," or ''calling on the " name of the Lord," or " into Christ Jesus." For to their minds Jesus being the Christ, the Son of God, involved the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; nor could any one honour Christ by worship, without at the same time honouring the Father that sent Him, and the Holy Ghost who dwelt in Him without measure. But whether the apostles of Jesus Christ understood His words as prescribing a certain formula in baptism, and not rather as indicat- ing the confession of the faith necessary in baptism and the effect of that sacrament, may be questioned. The definiteness of forms, necessary for a more advanced state of the body, is not found to the same extent in its infancy ; and I notice this apparent discrepancy as to the form of baptism chiefly to call attention to the truth, that we must not conclude, because, in the par- tially-formed and undeveloped Church of the first days of Christianity, some elements are wanting which we account essential, that therefore they are unessential in a later stage of the Church's progress. The state into which Christian baptism brings those 26o Gathering of Three TJumsa7id Souis that repent is, we have seen, not only that of the for- giveness of sin, but also of receiving the Holy Ghost. " And," Peter continues, " unto you is the promise and " to your children." Not to their children l)y any law of natural descent, but because all are called to bring their children to Christ, even as they themselves come to receive the blessino-s of the kins^dom.""' The new song of praise which the Spirit would inspire the Church to raise would come from infancy as well as from manhood. And not merely for them were these promises given, but, as indicated by that praise being now uttered in all the lan2:uao;es of the nations, for the Gentiles that are afar off from God, even as many as He shall call by the preaching of His Gospel. St Luke adds, that with many other words the apostle testified {SieixapTvpeTo) and exhorted his hearers, — the word used implying complete instruction in the truths which the apostles had themselves received, t And all that received his word were baptised ; and the same day were added to the Church about three thou- sand souls. There is no need to suppose that these three thou- sand, or more than a small part of them, were among the multitude who first were gathered together by the signs and wonders attending the coming of the Holy Spirit. The conviction, awakened in the minds of men by what they saw and heard that day, would spread rapidly at such a time ; men would bring their wives, children, households, and friends ; during such excite- ment, from the mornincc to the evenins^ of that mcmor- able day, there would be a continual inpouring of new hearers and fresh inquirers. We must also remember that at the great feasts Jerusalem was filled witli ♦ See Part II. Chap. X. t Acts, xx. 21, 24 ; xxviii. 2.?. mto the Church. 261 people, — several millions being crowded into a city occupied at otlier times by not one-tenth of the num- ber,— and the denseness of the population at such a season would increase the facilities of communication. We must further observe, that the supernatural facts and powers, which on that day awakened the con- sciences of so many, do not alter the significance of the fact that all, who received the word of the apostles, were at once admitted into the Church by baptism. The apostles were not like their Master, who knew all that is in man, and would not commit Himself at first to those in Jerusalem who professed belief on Him. All, who came professing faith and repentance, they receive without delay or hesitation, seal them with His seal, baptise them into Christ unto the forgiveness of their sins and the gift of the Holy Ghost, and thus enrol them in the number of those who are being saved (ot croj^ojaevot). That many were on that day baptised who knew not their own hearts nor the mean- ing of the promises, cannot be doubted ; the net of the Gospel from the first enclosed both good and bad ; from the first the law of the kingdom was, " Judge not that " ye be not judged." 262 CHAPTER III. LIFE OF THE FIRST BELIEVERS ON CHRIST. The description of the infant Church, which is given at the close of the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, is evidently intended as a brief summary, some of the details being supplied in subsequent chap- ters. Such was the general character of tlic first Clu'is- tians immediately after the outpouring of the Holy [Spirit, We naturally turn with much interest, even with curiosity, to this picture of primitive Church life. Here, we imagine, was pure and perfect Christianity before it was defiled by contact with this sinful world ; here is the standard to which we should seek to restore the Church, secularised, if not demoralised, by the un- spiritual influences which now pervade its action, and by the large admixture of evil with the good within itself. This was indeed the one Catholic and Aj^ostolic Church, very different from all that now claims this holy name. Undoubtedly, in many respects, as Jesus Christ has taught us, the simplicity of infancy is an example to all ; and yet manhood is, or ought to be, superior to childhood. Our purpose however, in ex- amining this history, is not to consider it in connection with Christian ethics, but to deduce from it conclu- sions as to the development in the Christian society of Description of Primitive Christian Life. 263 those principles on which Jesus Christ established His Church. The brief sketch given by St Luke of these early- Christians is as follows : I give an exact rendering of the passage, adopting the text which appears to have most authority ; — " And they were continuing steadfastly in the teacli- " ing of the apostles and the communion, in the break- " ing of bread and the prayers. And fear came on " every soul ; and many wonders and signs were being " done by the apostles in Jerusalem. And all who " believed were together and had all things common ; " and their possessions and goods they w^ere selling and *' distributing to all, according as any one might have " need ; and day by day continuing steadfastly with one " accord in the temple, and breaking bread in their " houses, they partook of food with gladness and single- " ness of heart ; praising God and having favour with " all the people. And the Lord added together day by " day those who were being saved." First then we notice, that the description of these believers corresponds with that which Jesus Christ said to the Jews that believed on His word ; " If ye con- " tinue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed." The word used in the Acts to express continuance im- plies also firm and persistent adherence ; but the truth is the same, of the elementary and incipient belief in Jesus Christ, of which baptism is the appointed seal and expression, developing itself, and ripening into a more perfect faith. And this continued adherence was first of all to the teaching or doctrine of the apostles. The process of " disciple-ing " marked out by Christ in His final charge to His apostles is here exemplified ; 264 Conii?ma?ice in the Apostles Doctri7ie and the first, on a belief in tlic fundamciital truths, baptism into the name of the triune God; then, gradual instruction of the disciples in all things which Jesus had com- manded to the Twelve. But what is the meaning of the continuance of these disciples " in the communion," tt; Koivoivia. ? The English version renders this " in the apostles' doctrine " and fellowship," and many arguments have been raised on this rendering ; but such a sense of the w^ords is hardly capable of being defended.'" Indeed, indepen- dently of this, a larger sense seems the more natural, and better suited to the whole passage ; I mean, that which comprehends all that fellowship in the Church, which makes it " the communion of saints : " as Jesus Christ said, " All ye are brethren," and again, " A new " commandment give I unto you, that yc love one " another, as I have loved you : by this shall all men " know that ye are my disciples, if ye love one another." The having all things common, wdiicli is afterwards mentioned, was one expression of this principle of com- munion ; but it was only a temporary accident of the real fellowship of the saints. Indeed the communion, in which the disciples are described as continuing stead- fastly, seems primarily to refer to fellowship in religious acts, which are enumerated, " in the breaking of bread " and the prayers." Of these, unquestionably, "the breaking of bread" was the primitive form of that act of Christian communion, which afterwards acquired the technical name of the Lord's Supper, KvpiaKov helirvop. We may easily un- derstand why this act at first was known among the dis- ciples as " breaking of bread." The apostles, who taught * Fellowship with the apostles would Betui to require the preposition fifTtl. Cf. 1 John, i. 3, 6, 7. fellowship : in the B7'eaking of Bread. 265 the new believers all things that the Lord had com- manded them, would still retain the vivid recollection of this characteristic action of their Master, often repeat- ed under various circumstances, and always with some spiritual truth underlying it. Whenever He fed the multitudes. He blessed and brake the bread. We can- not indeed doubt that it was customary with Jesus Christ to do this with His disciples, even as He did it in the Last Supper. The disciples at Emmaus at once recognised the Lord in this significant and symbolical action. Although therefore the apostles without doubt obeyed their Lord's commands as to this Christian ordinance, and not only broke the bread, but blessed the cup, in this new Paschal feast, yet the principal action naturally gave the name to the whole. This Christian rite, the highest expression and symbol of communion both with Christ and with one another, was celebrated at first, like the first Passover under the law, with little of that formal observance which after- wards attended it ; not in the Temple, where the disci- ples still met for formal public worship, but at home, probably in such of their houses as were used for their gatherings. And we might infer with much probability from a following verse, in which "breaking bread in their "houses" is connected with "partaking of food with " gladness and singleness of heart," that this act of Christian communion was so interwoven in their daily life, as to be a part, probably the commencement, of the chief daily meal, of which many of them, living together as much as possible as one community, and having all things common, would partake together. In the journey ings of Israel in the wilderness, every man who wished to eat flesh brought the animal first 266 In the Prayers. to the priest, that it might be sanctified as a peace- ofFering to the Lord. And thus, at this era of the Christian Church, we may well conceive that every ordinary meal might be consecrated to Christ by this breaking of bread, the token and seal of their spiritual fellowship both with Him and witli each other. The other element in this communion was "the " prayers " (rats irpod^vyaxi), that is, the common wor- ship of the new believers. We gather from the account given in this chapter of their continuing daily in the Temple, as well as from Peter and John going to the Temple at the stated hours of prayer, that the disciples at first met there ordinarily for common prayer. As yet the ordinances of the new spiritual temple are but in their germ, nor indeed can they be fully developed, until the Temple of God at Jerusalem shall be over- thrown by the coming of Christ in judgment. But certainly if these first converts, with all the freshness and overflowing fulness of spiritual life, with such gifts and powers of prayer as were given them by the Holy Ghost, — of which we find several instances in the early chapters of this book, — yet needed the solemn fixed services of the Temple as means for maintaining spiritual communion with their Lord and with one another, we cannot but conclude that services of a similar nature would form part of the distinctive worship of Christ's Church, when its own system should be matured. It cannot be admitted that this constant fellowshi}) in *' the prayers" was but a relic of Judaism retained for a time. If it were unspiritual, and unsuited for the Church of Christ, it would not have Ijeen recorded as an effect of the presence of the Holy Ghost, and a sign of the faith and love of the first converts. We may learn indeed that spirituality does not consist, as some Church Life as yet in its Infancy. 267 seem to imagine, in a revulsion from Judaism ; it is positive not negative. The life then of these early Christians, as depicted by the sacred historian, presented these characteristic features ; — learning the word of Christ from the apostles; communion with the whole body, manifested, in tem- poral things by having all things common, in spiritual things by the breaking of bread which showed forth the Lord's death, and by daily common prayers which at that time were offered in the Temple. It was emin- ently a Church life, although pervading and penetrating their whole daily life. The undeveloped form of this Church life is evident, the seed has been planted, and has sprung up above the ground ; it is throwing out new shoots with great vigour; but the forms which the new life will hereafter assume are not yet distinctly apparent ; we trace as yet but elementary germs and immature shapes of the order which shall ultimately be evolved. However, even in this first outgrowth of spiritual life, of which spontaneity is and ever must be a distinc- tive feature, yet we discern distinctly the great prin- ciples of the order established by Jesus Christ, which were never more powerful, or more universally recog- nised, than in those days. The position which the apostles then occupied was indeed one, which became much modified as the internal powers of the whole society were developed, and as its organisation was extended. At first, it seems, every function centred in them. They alone, if we may judge from the sacred record, possessed any miraculous power beyond the gift of tongues. Peter and John heal the lame man in the Temple. Peter exercises the awful power of condemn- ing the offenders who sinned against the Holy Ghost 268 Covibination of Spoiitancojcs Spiritual " By tlie hands of tlie apostles were many signs and *' wonders Avrouglit among the people." " Insomuch " that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and " laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the *' shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some " of them." The apostles again are the sole teachers of the new society, and they alone preach the Gospel to those that are without. And it is further recorded, and to many this will seem of all the most conclusive proof of the complete and unchallenged authority of the apostles as rulers of this new society, — that those who possessed property sold it and brought the money and laid it down at the apostles' feet. So unreserved and unhesitating was the confidence reposed in them. Certainly, whatever form of polity w^e may trace in the infant society, those who would deduce from this history arguments for a democratic constitution of the Christian Church must be endowed with sinarular o powers of invention. In fact we may easily discern in this infant society two powerful principles, which soon must materially affect one another, and which being in opposite direc- tions, though not necessarily antagonistic, must counter- balance one another, and produce combined results, the exact nature of which we cannot as yet predict. One of these is the intense vitality of every part of the body ; the other, the authority, it might almost seem unlimited, of its rulers. No other human society, if we may judge from the history of the world, could contain these two principles at the same time in itself, without some violent conflict, if not disruption, being the im- mediate result. In the Church however the teaching of Jesus Christ, and the influence of the Spirit of truth, not only averted such evil consequences, but also so Life zvith Siibmission to AtitJiority. 269 directed and controlled tliese principles as, througli their mutual action and combined force, to educe gradually from them the internal relations and true constitution of the Christian body. The apostles had learnt from their Lord, that authority in the Church was not for self- exaltation but for the fulfilment of Christ's purposes ; that he that would be greatest must be least ; that they were not separate from the rest, but all were brethren, and they were but the ministers by whom the Spirit of Christ expressed His will. On the other hand the dis- ciples, in all the liberty wherewith Christ made them free, knew that by love they must serve one another, and, in the order established by Jesus Christ, they recognised the authority and the wisdom of Him in whom they believed. It may be argued indeed, that so long as the Church was under the guidance of apostles, appointed by Christ Himself, — " not of men nor by men, but by Jesus Christ " and God the Father who raised Him from the dead," — and therefore possessing plenary powers and autho- rity, which could not be challenged without denying the authority of Christ Himself, — the condition of the Church was wholly exceptional, and can form no pre- cedent for the future. That this condition was indeed one of transition from the period in which Christ Him- self was present to that in which the kingdom of heaven would be established among men, and would no longer need any exceptional interference with the ordinary laws of human life, we have already seen reason to conclude. But not only have we abundant indications that the apostolic office in its substance, and therefore the apostolic authority, (for authority is nothing more than the correlative of ofiice) would continue to the end of the world ; but we might infer 270 Authorily to contuuie in tJie Church. that such woukl be the case from the ordinary course of the operations of God. For God, as in nature so also in the government of man, does not work fer saltum, and suddenly change the laws of His dealings. So that we might expect that as the divine authority of Jesus Christ Himself, received from the Father, passed into that of the apostles, immediately appointed by Him and directly subordinate to Him, so their authority would pass into another form, not needing mu'aculous gifts to direct its exercise, and yet no less real as an element in the constitution of His Church. In the in- fant Church we might expect tliat authority would be of a somewhat different order from that which is re- quired in the matured and perfectly-developed Church ; yet manliood, as well as chiklhood, is the subject of authority, though of a different kind. AVe might there- fore conclude, even independently of those acts and teachinors of Jesus Christ which we have before con- sidered, that as in the primitive Cliurch vigorous spirit- ual life throughout the body coexisted, and was con- sistent, with the exercise of apostolic authority, the combination of these two elements would be found in every age, in all legitimate action of the Christian Church. The apostles, it must be remembered, al- though endued with extraordinary gifts, were after all not some divinities, as they are too often regarded, but men of like passions witli us. Nor must we forget, that we are studying the history of a society really human although of divine origin, a society in which human nature is not to be overlaid and stifled by some- thing superior to nature, but is to have free play in its legitimate sphere, and is, however purified and ennobled, no other human nature than that whirli is found in other communities amongst men. Comminiity of Goods. 271 One remarkable feature in this new society, namely that, (in the language of the historian) "they had " all things common," is obviously an additional proof of the rudimentary state of the mutual relations of this sacred fellowship. That it was a temporary expedient to meet a present necessity, arising from the accession of great numbers of the poorer classes at Jerusalem, — an exceptional remedy for an excep- tional evil, — no one who has studied the subsequent history of the Church in the New Testament will question. And yet we should be much mistaken if we should deny, that a permanent principle of Church life, necessary in all ages, was here embodied. It was the form, suited for that condition of the Church, in which the fundamental law of the new society, — that all are brethren in Jesus Christ, — then expressed itself. It exhibited practically the teaching of Christ Himself, when in His exposition of the elementary principles of His new kingdom He bids His disciples seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all things needful shall be added unto them. It exemplified the truth of the unity of all in Christ, that they were members one of another, and had common interests and feelings. Both as a proof of the power of the new Church life, and as supplying the surest test of the reality of Church life at all times, it is one of the most significant and important facts that the history records. We shall find continually, throughout the history of the apostolic age, that the principles which produced this action of the first disciples and underlie their com- munity of property, are essential elements in the unity of the Church and determine it. 272 CHAPTER IV. THE FIRST EXERCISE OF DISCIPLINE. That in tlie influx of many thousand converts into the Church within a short space of time, the good and the bad were gathered in together, is certain. All sub- sequent experience proves, that, as the history and teach- ing of Jesus Christ Himself would lead ns to expect, the conviction of the truth of His divine mission would powerfully influence many, and produce a belief, destitute indeed of spiritual vitality, Avhicli yet would bid defiance to much opposition from unbelievers, and, at a time of a popular movement in favour of the new faith, would acquire great strength. It is im- possible, therefore, not to believe that the apostles of Jesus Christ would soon find many indications of the tares and the wheat growing together in the kingdom, and of the unreality, or at least the want of active power, of the fjiith which many professed. For ex- ample, the unwillingness of some to do as others had done, to sell their possessions and goods that they might be distributed among their indigent Itrcthrcn, might distinctly indicate, and often no doubt did in- dicate, the absence of the true spirit of disciples. But it belonged not to them, or to the discipline of the Church, to judge in such cases. To their own Master such men must give account, and must ultimately An Offence which demmids Judgment. 273 stand or fall by His judgment. For tlie cliiefest of the apostles to assume authority over such, and dictate to them their line of duty under the penalty of exclusion from the Christian body, would have been not only to assume prerogatives belonging to Christ alone, but to substitute the law for the Gospel. No apostle might say, as his Master, to whom all hearts and all circum- stances are perfectly known, once said to the young ruler in order to test his faith : — " One thing thou lack- *' est ; sell whatsoever thou hast and give to the poor " and thou shalt have treasure in heaven." That the action of the more earnest of the believers at Jerusa- lem was no law imposed on the new society, that it was not, and could not be, other than voluntary in the fullest sense of the word, is obvious from the history. For the apostles, or for any, to have judged their brethren in such a matter, would have been a breach of the fundamental law, " Judge not that ye be " not judged." But Jesus Christ had also (we have found in examining His teaching) forewarned His dis- ciples that there would be cases in which present judg- ment would be necessary for the interests of His kingdom and tlie welfare of His people ; offences, which from their pernicious example and influence, and from the form of positive evil which they should assume, would be already ripe for judgment, and would demand the exercise of that authority in the Church which He had committed to His apostles. Such a case occurred shortly after the outpouring of the Spirit on the Church, and it is a notable example to all ages of the reality of those spiritual powers, which Christ intrusted to His Church on earth, and which were to be exercised through the apostolic ofiice. A certain man and his wife sold a possession for a cer- s 2 74 Peter s Act hicltides all Eleme^its tain price, and brought a portion of tlie sum, as if it were the whole, and laid it down at the apostles' feet. There was no obligation on them either to have sold the land, or, when it was sold, to have given the whole price, or indeed any portion of it, for the benefit of others. But it is probable that, as men are wont to do, the disciples then generally judged severely those who held back, from whatever cause, and drew invidious and uncharitable distinctions among their neighbours ; and Ananias and Sapphira yielded to the temptation of wishing to appear as zealous Christians as others, yet reserving, unknown to their brethren, a certain portion for themselves. Their act implied a positive and de- liberate disbelief in the real presence of the Spirit of truth in the Church. The guilt of it was further aggravated by the fact, that it was not done by one in a moment of temptation, but husband and wife had conspired together to try the Spirit of the Lord, to put it to the test whether He was present to whom all actions are known. An act like this, however it might be concealed for the time, would secretly spread as a gangrene throughout the body, and eat out its whole life. Moreover, it was a sin fully answering to that, which Jesus Christ Himself pronounced to be beyond forgiveness, a symptom of a spiritual apostasy from which there can be no recovery, a sin against the Holy Ghost and therefore unto death. On such a sin Peter passes public sentence, which is at once confirmed and carried into effect by the death of the offenders. That Peter alone acts in this first exercise of disci- pline, was the result of the peculiar circumstances of the case, and of his position as chief of the apostles under Jesus Christ. Prompt and immediate action essential to the Exercise of Discipline. 275 was necessary, that the judgment on the sin might be the more apparent, and the reality of the Spirit's presence more clearly demonstrated. Peter knows, by the immediate inspiration of the Holy Ghost, not by human testimony, the facts of the offence ; there is no need or indeed place for further evidence, for " two *' or three witnesses," which in other cases would be required. By the same inspiration he knows also the true character of the oflfence, for the Spirit of Christ Himself judges. The sentence, "Thou hast not lied " unto men but unto God," is at once confirmed by God's judgment, and it is proved that whatsoever, in the due exercise of his office, the apostle binds on earth shall be bound in heaven : that whosesoever sins the Church, acting as the instrument of Christ's Spirit, retains, they are retained. Shall we say that the supernatural circumstances which surround this act make it no precedent for the future % But is it not nearer the truth to say, that the knowledge of the facts, and the intuitive and unerring judgment of the true nature of the offence, and the sudden deaths that followed the apostolic sentence, are the accidents belonging to that condition of the Church; but that the substantial and permanent element is the authority at all times residing in the Church, and em- powering it, in the due exercise of its functions, to remedy such or similar evils \ We shall find, as the history advances, how the exercise of discipline becomes modified as the organic life of the Church is developed. But the fundamental principles of all Church discipline are embodied in this its first and most notable act. We trace here, without difficulty, the three essentials of Church discipline ; first, a sufficient knowledge of the 276 Three Essentials in CJmrch Discipline. facts; secondly, a discriminating judgment as to the character of the action ; thirdly, an authoritative sentence on the person.'^ All these we shall find fully illustrated as our argument proceeds. * See Chap. XI. infray on the exercise of discipline in the Corinthian Church. 277 CHAPTER V. THE CHURCH IN JERUSALEM. /. — Ordination of the. Seven, ' We have hitherto considered the history of the first Christians in Jerusalem as representing some universal principles common to the Church of all ages. At first indeed the Jerusalem Church, with the apostolic body at its head and its members coming up to the holy city at the feast, comprehended the whole Church of Christ on. earth. But Jerusalem was not the world ; the Gospel was soon to extend itself from Jerusalem throughout all nations ; before long the Church in that city would be but one Church amongst many, the mother Church indeed, and the metropolis of Christendom, during the transition period when the old Temple was still stand- ing, yet a local, not the universal, society. And in the process of development it would be necessary, that, simultaneously with the extension of the Church from its centre, its local organisation in that centre should be evolved and gradually define itself. We may expect therefore to find, in Jerusalem first of all, the true form of a local Church discovering itself, and growing into that order which would express the fundamental laws of the kingdom of Christ. We must remember however, that if the Church's 278 The Organisation not the result of Lazv, organisation is the result, — as our whole argument maintains, — not of some rules and laws like those of the old covenant, but of a development from elements and principles given by Jesus Christ, it is to be expected that the gTowth of this new society would present very different phenomena from those which would appear, if the apostles had formed the society, (as is generally imagined that they did,) as the inspired authors of its laws. We must not be surprised therefore when we find, that the first process in the organisation of the Church at Jerusalem arose, not primarily or expressly, out of any desire on the part of the apostles to commit to others some of their spiritual functions, but out of a necessity, forced upon them, of resigning to others local duties which they found unsuitable for their office. As the number of the disciples increased, it was impossible for the apostles, engaged with the higher functions of their office among many thousands of new disciples, and with the multitudes that came in at the time of the great feasts, to give the necessary personal attention to the distribution of alms or food amongst the destitute members of the body, which distribution was hitherto entirely under their authority and direc- tion. A complaint was made by the Hellenistic Jews among the converts, that their widows were overlooked, and that the Hebrew widows were favoured. So apparently trivial was the occasion which led to the first difi'erentiation of office in the Christian Church ; and yet it was no light matter, since it proved, that it was in the nature of things impossible that all the func- tions of administration could be retained, as hitherto, by apostles ; that matters touching vital interests of the Church would be neglected, without some distribution of functions ; and therefore that it must be according but a Development fro7n Priiiciples. 279 to the will of Jesus Christ that there should be an outgrowth from the apostolate. It is, I think, generally supposed by those who believe in the order of the Church as being of divine origin, and not of human invention, that the institution of the several degrees of the ministry was the result of some definite revelation to the apostles of the method according to which the Church should be ordered. But the order is no less truly divine because, as the history itself indicates, it grew in the fullest sense of the word ; it grew in the minds of the apostles themselves, and apparently at times in spite of their own reluctance to resign to others any of the functions committed to them ; even as the truth of the admission of the Gentiles into the Church on equal terms with the Jews forced its way in spite of the prejudices which some of them but slowly shook off. The final adjustment indeed of this organisa- tion of the universal Church was a work of much time, and was the result of matured experience, as well as of circumstances gradually pointing to definite conclusions and determining the fixed relations of the body. I see in no part of the process any indication of a revelation of the order to be followed ; but we may find abundant proofs of the apostles being guided, sometimes no doubt unconsciously, towards a divine order which ultimately became both definite and universal. The history on the present occasion is a very re- markable instance of the development of the Church, under the direction of the apostles indeed, yet much more by the ordering of divine Providence than by any will of theirs. It is recorded that when the apostles heard of these complaints of neglect in the daily administration, they called together the multitude of the disciples and said, — (it is difficult not to think 28o Co7iC2irrcnce of the CJmrch in this Action. there is a slight trace of annoyance in the first sen- tence),— " It is not our pleasure that we should leave *' the word of God and serve tables. Look out therefore " men from among yourselves, well reported of, seven " in number, full of the Holy Spirit and of wisdom, " whom we will appoint over this business. But we " will give ourselves constantly to prayer and the " ministry of the word." And the proposal pleased the whole multitude, and they chose seven men whom they presented to the apostles ; and when they had prayed they laid their hands upon them. Now here there are several points to be noticed. That which was proposed by the Twelve, as the solu- tion of the difiiculty, belonged undoubtedly to their office, as the rulers of the Christian society, to deter- mine, and therefore it was decided by them with full apostolic authority. Yet the history says not, " So the " people obeyed the apostles and did so and so," as it mio-ht have been said in the Old Testament of a com- mand of the Lord given through Moses ; but, " It " pleased the Avhole multitude ; " {rjpecreu 6 \6yo<; ivwiriov navTos Tov irXyjOovs) the concurrence of the whole body being the seal to those acts, even of apostles, which concerned all. Again the selection is by the people. It may indeed be argued that this was merely to a quasi secular office of distributing alms, of the qualifi- cations for which the multitude might judge as well as apostles ; but that in the case of a truly spiritual office the conditions are altered. However that the apostles considered this to be a spiritual office is evident ; it was originally part of their own office ; they directed men to be chosen full of the Spirit and of wisdom ; and further, they appoint those who are chosen with prayer and the laying on of hands, separating and consecrating Ordination. 281 them to the office by the most solemn act. What the office was, we shall consider presently : but we must notice that, while the selection and presentation were by the whole body of the disciples, the final responsi- bility of the appointment rested with the apostles alone, who by this act delegated to those who were chosen some of their own functions, and such authority as was necessary for the discharge of this subordinate ministry. The solemn act of ordination is here mentioned for the first time in the apostolic history, and as this significant rite is intimately connected with the question of the organisation of the Church, we must not pass it over without some examination of its meaning. By Jesus Christ Himself the laying on of hands seems to have been us(jd only as the sign of blessing. There is no indication in the Gospels that He laid His hands on the apostles, when committing to them their office and ministry, and we can hardly imagine that an act so significant would have passed without mention. We shall, I think, find sufficient reason to conclude, that the act would have been unsuitable to represent the relation between Christ and those whom He appointed to be His own ministers. To understand its meaning we must refer to the Old Testament. We have already, in our brief examination of the religious organisation of the older economy, observed traces of another principle of succession to office and delegation of authority be- sides that of natural descent. The most remarkable instances may be found in the history of Moses, and all of them arose out of circumstances not very dissimilar from those which we have noticed in the Acts of the Apostles. First, it will be remembered that, on the advice of his father-in-law Jethro, to relieve him of the 282 Appoint7nent by Laying on of Hands burden of judging the people a complete system of judges and magistrates was organised by him. Then, at a later time, when ]\Ioses complained of the burden of government, the Lord commanded him to gather seventy men of the elders of the people and to set them before the tabernacle ; " and I will take of the spirit " that is upon thee and will put it upon them ; and " they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, " that thou bear it not alone." And when the spirit rested on these seventy men " they prophesied and " did not cease." Thus far w^e find a striking parallel between the conduct of Moses and that of the ajDostles under similar circumstances. But there is another, towards the close of the life of the great lawgiver, which as regards the act of appointment is far more complete. When Moses was warned that his end was approaching (Num. xxvii. 1.5-23), and that he would not be permitted to lead the children of Israel into the land of promise, he prays that "the Lord, the God of the " spirits of all flesh " would set '^ a man over the con- gregation wdio might be the leader of the people, " that " the congregation of the Lord be not as sheep without " a shepherd." The resemblance here to New Testa- ment language is sufficiently remarkable, and still more so in that which follows. " And the Lord said to " Moses, Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in " whom is the spirit and lay thy hands upon him ; and '* set him before Elcazar the priest and before all the " con2:re2ration, and ^wo, him a charcfc in their siirht. ** And thou shalt put some of thine honour upon him, " that all the congregation of the children of Israel "may be obedient." "And Moses did as the Lord * fnia-Kt^aada, Sept. Cf. in the account in the Acts, iiriaKfy^taaOt dvBpas fTTTa. illustrated from the Old Testament. 283 " commanded him ; and he took Joshua and set him " before Eleazar the priest and before all the congrega- " tion. And he laid his hands upon him, and gave " him a charge as the Lord commanded Moses." Now here is a principle of succession to office, and delega- tion of a charge with authority, identical with that which has been indicated in the New Testament for the Church of Christ, so far as we have traced it hitherto. A man already tried and tested, — avi^p fjLapTvpoviJL€vo<;, — a " faithful and wise servant," in whom is the spirit, is taken, and to him an office is committed by the laying on of hands, with a charge as to the duties of the office. And the appointment to the office is followed by an increase of the spiritual gifts required for the office. " Joshua the son of Nun," it is added in the last chapter of the Book of Deuter- onomy, " was full of the spirit of wisdom ; for Moses " had laid his hands upon him." And yet, though thus succeeding to the office of Moses, it must be further observed that Joshua did not succeed to the personal powers and prerogatives of his predecessor; for it is added, " There arose not a prophet since in " Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to " face, in all the signs and wonders which the Lord " sent him to do." Surely the principle of such a succession, as is required for the Church of Christ on the removal of those apostles " whom the Lord knew *' face to face," is here not obscurely shadowed forth. And the significant act of laying on of hands is used on this occasion, — and only on this occasion, so far as we can judge from the records of the Old Testament, — where the language itself seems almost to bring us into New Testament times. Indeed " the higher criticism " must of course determine these passages to be an inter- 284 The Office of the Sez'e?i a Spiritual polation since the Christian era ; but as we are com- pelled, in these investigations, simply to accept Scrip- tui'C as received by Christians, we must consider the passage to be a most remarkable, we might almost say a prophetic, anticipation of that which from the times of the apostles to the present day has been held by the majority of Christians to be the true law of succes- sion in the Church of Christ. Whether or not the apostles had before their minds this most pertinent and instructive precedent, we may be assured that the same Spirit of God, who directed Moses, also sfuided them as to the form and manner of delegating to others "some of their honour" by an out- ward and visible sign, by which the gifts of the Spirit necessary for the oftice are conveyed to those who are ordained thereto. But what was this office ? The first occasion of the institution of the office was undoubt- edly the need of others besides the apostles to superin- tend the " daily administration," and undertake respon- sibilities which were found to Idc inconsistent with their own highest functions. But it by no means follows that the apostles would have intrusted these duties to any, whom they did not admit to a larger share of their own functions than is implied in the mere distribution of alms. We mi^ht conclude with some confidence that they would not do so ; that this ministration, having been originally part of the apostolic office, would not be committed to any who were not also intrusted with some share in the spiritual government of the Cliurch. The apostles do not make light of this portion of their own duties, or say, — as St Paul said with regard to ordinary disputes among Christians, — " If ye have judgments of " things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who " are least esteemed in the Church." They evidently Office with some of the Apostolic Functions. 285 consider that the Seven are to be admitted to a subor- dinate share of their own office and ministry, in order that they might themselves be at liberty to continue un- interruptedly (TrpocTKapTepTJaojxev) in its higher duties. And it will be observed that in the parallel case of Moses, under divine direction, constituting the body of seventy elders to share the government of the people with him- self, this was no mere secular office, but when the Spirit rested upon them " they prophesied and ceased not." Might not this very parallel have been present to the minds of the apostles ? The fact that they fixed on the typical number of seven evidently indicates, that they considered they were not merely making an appoint- ment to serve a present necessity, but instituting an office ; even as their Lord Himself took the typical number twelve, in instituting their office. And this view is entirely borne out by the history. Whilst it says nothing whatever of the ministration of the alms by the Seven, but leaves us to conclude that the com- plaints of insufficient care were removed through this subdivision of duties, it proceeds at once to record the spiritual functions discharged by some of the Seven. The result of this new institution was, that " the w^ord " of God increased, and the number of disciples multi- " plied in Jerusalem greatly." It is recorded, that after their appointment members of the Seven at once exer- cised powers which, as far as w^e can judge from the history, had been before confined exclusively to the apostles. First they wrought signs and wonders, cast- ing out unclean spirits and healing the sick (Acts, vi. 8 ; viii. 6, 7, 13). Secondly they preached Jesus and the resurrection. Thirdly they made and baptised dis- ciples (Acts, viii. iKissim). Whether or not these func- tions may be exercised in the Church by those who do 286 I)ic hided Ftmctions both of the Di neonate not partake of the apostolic office, is, as I have repeat- edly observed, uot the question ; but that they belong to the office instituted by Jesus Christ, no one will doubt who has attained to any conception of the meaning of the office as expounded by Christ's own acts and teachiner. And the functions havinfif been hitherto exercised by apostles only, and after the ordi- nation of the Seven exercised by them also, we can draw no other conclusion from the history but that the office intrusted to the Seven did include these functions of the apostolate. On the other hand that the highest powers of the apostles were not committed to the Seven is evident, first from the occasion and circum- stances of their appointment ; secondly from the fact that when Philip, one of the number, had j)reached the Gospel in Samaria and baptised the converts, it was necessary for apostles to comj)lete the work, in order that by prayer and the laying on of their hands the baptised might receive the gifts of the Holy Ghost. It has been generally held in the Christian Church that the appointment of the Seven was the institution of the order of deacons, and, inasmuch as the charge of the daily ministration was committed to them, and was the first occasion of the appointment, and as the functions assigned to them comprehended those of the lowest order of the ministry, according to the subse- quent organisation of the Church, the truth of this can- not be denied. And yet not only are the Seven never called deacons in the New Testament, but there is suf- ficient reason to conclude, as we shall find presently, that their office included that of presbyters or elders. The important fact as bearing on our argument, — and it is a fact of the utmost significance, — is this ; that the delegation of a certain portion of the apostolic functions and of the Presbyterate. 287 took place as soon as the requirements of the local Church in Jerusalem called for it, and that it followed principles indicated by the acts and teaching of Jesus Christ, and foreshadowed in the Old Testament, such delegation of office being effected by a definite symbo- lical rite, which was followed by the gift of the spiritual powers necessary for the discharge of its spiritual duties. //. — The, Preshyters or Elders of the Church. The Acts of the Apostles throw very little light on the subsequent history of the original body which was known by the name of the Seven, as the apostles were by the name of the Twelve. The most eminent of them, Stephen, was martyred shortly afterwards, and is the protomartyr of the Church. Philip, who stood second on the list, was driven from Jerusalem by the persecution that arose after the death of Stephen, and went from place to place preaching the Gospel till he came to Csesarea, where we find him some twenty-five years afterwards, and he is called " the evangelist ; " so that we must conclude that the charge committed to him at Jerusalem was administered by others. Of the remainder of the Seven we learn nothing except from very doubtful traditions. But that the office instituted in their appointment was continued in the Church in Jerusalem we have ample proof. Some six years after the ordination of the Seven, collections were made in the Gentile Church in Antioch " for the brethren that *' dwelt in Judea," and Barnabas and Saul were the bearers of these contributions to Jerusalem. But they were not to do, — what Barnabas himself had done when he sold his own possessions, — lay these gifts at the apostles' feet ; they were to deliver them to a body 288 Presbyters discharge the Duties of the Seve7i. of men, now for the first time designated elders or presbyters of the Church. Who then were these, who now took the phace of the apostles, as having the charge of the alms given for the relief of the indigent brethren in the Jerusalem Church ? The natural and obvious conclusion from the history would be, that these pres- byters held the office, the institution of which is described in a previous chapter, since we find them exercising the very duties, the necessity for which was the occasion for that institution. But unhappily most expositors of the sacred history have their minds so preoccupied by their knowledge of the subsequent developments of the Church, that they seem incapable of reasoning freely by induction from historical facts ; and we are told that the Seven, who had the min- istration of the alms, were deacons or something like deacons ; but that the elders, who also received contributions for this purpose, were a difi'erent class of men : the only conceivable reason for this capri- cious interpretation of the history being, that deacons ultimately in the Church had the ministration of alms, as the Seven had ; whilst those who are repre- sented in the history as acting for the apostles, and receiving the alms, are not called deacons but presby- ters. Is it not more reasonable to infer, that the office instituted in the ordination of the Seven was originally one, and that its subsequent division into two orders, — of which we find no express mention till some five-and- twenty years afterwards,''' — was the result of cii'cum- stances somewhat similar to those which led the apostles to assign some of their own functions to the Seven % That is, even as the apostolic office was re- lieved, and rendered more efficient for the purposes for * In Pliilip. i. 1. Title borrowed fi'oin the Old Econoviy. 289 which it was ordained, through the institution of a subordinate office which exercised some of its functions ; so again this second order, to which the general name of presbyters or elders was given, was made more efficient by a further differentiation, that is by the institution of a third order, to which the inferior min- istrations of the original office of the presbyters were assio;ned. The history of this period, during which the true organisation of the Church was developing itself, must determine what was the process and extent of this differentiation of office. But this must be observed, that the original of all these is the apostolic office as ordained by Jesus Christ ; and therefore no office can be the result of this differentiation, that is, can be a part of the apostolic ministry of the Church, the functions of which were not originally comprehended in those of the apostles themselves. For the present it is sufficient to observe, that hence- forward, in the history of the Church both in Jerusalem and elsewhere, the existence of a second order, sub- ordinate to the apostles but sharing with them the local administration of the Church, to which order the technical designation of presbyters or elders was first given, — is an indisputable fact. The title was evidently transferred to them from the Jewish organisation, — not the sacerdotal, but that which originated in the time of Moses for the government of the people, and con- tinued, amidst many changes, to the times of the New Testament. It w^as a title not necessarily, even among the Jews, implying seniority in age, but rather expres- sing the wisdom, experience, and authority which age ought to possess. In the Christian Church, although men of matured experience were naturally more fitted T 290 A Spiritual Office. for the office tban younger men, yet advanced age was certainly not a necessary qualification for an office of authority. The Lord Himself Mas only thirty years old when He began His ministry ; and it is probable that the apostle John was younger than Jesus. We find subsequently Timotheus, comparatively a young man (1 Tim. iv. 12), not only a j)rcsbyter, but set over presbyters and commissioned to ordain them. Nor is age one of the qualifications mentioned by St Paul in his pastoral epistles. In secular history we find similar changes in the use of corresponding terms, with the progress of human society. In the ancient gerusia or council of elders at Sparta no one was eligible till he was sixty years of age ; the Roman senate, as its name implies, was originally an assembly of venerable men of advanced age, but after the time of Augustus the cetas senatoria was twenty-five. The office which grew up in the Christian Church with this title was undoubtedly no mere charge of " tables," but, in the highest degree next to the apostol- ate, a spiritual charge and ministration. The apostles and presbyters united together, as participating in the same spiritual functions, in the decision at Jerusalem on the question of circumcision. In St Paul's address to the presbyters of the Church in Ephesus he re- minded them that the Holy Ghost had committed to them the pastoral charge of the flock and Church of the Lord there, which He had purchased with His own blood. St Peter charges presbyters to be faithful shep- herds of the flock of God that was amongst them ; and he speaks this, he says, as being a fellow-presbyter with them, for indeed most of the strictly spiritual functions of the pastoral office, of those that deal directly with the consciences of men, are common to Appoi7itnient of Pi'csbyters by the Apostles. 291 presbyters and apostles. We shall however examine this question of the office of the presbyter more fully at a later stage of the history, when we consider the pastoral epistles of St Paul : and we shall then see further, how, as the office threw off from itself another order of ministers, it at the same time acquired a new title indicating the more defined spiritual functions, which belonged to it in the ultimate organisation of the spiritual body. As regards the mode of appointment to the office of a presbyter, if, as we have seen reason to conclude, the ordination of the Seven was the institution of an order which included the presbyters, that act of the apostles has sufficiently indicated its nature. On the other hand, if it is still supposed that the functions of the Seven were only those of the order which was afterwards known as the diaconate, we might certainly infer, that if the solemn and significant act of ordination was necessary for the Seven, much more would it be need- ful for those, who, according to this theory, hold a much larger share of the apostolic office. And, if in the former case the ultimate appointment was by apostles, much more in the latter. Indeed of such appointment and ordination of presbyters by apostles, and by those who received full authority from apostles so to appoint and ordain, we have abundant proofs in the subsequent history. With regard to the part that the laity had in such appointments, the account which we have already examined of the first ordination, in its technical sense, in the Church of Christ affords sufficient guidance ; it being observed, that, whilst the selection and presentation (so to speak) proceeded from the whole body, the responsibility could not rest in other hands but those of the apostles, from whom the 292 Election by tJie People not essential. delegation of ofticc and consecration to its duties pro- ceeded. And therefore we need not be surprised if we find hereafter the appointment to such an office spoken of as belonging only to apostles. Thus it is recorded that Paul and Barnabas after their first missionary journey, in which the Gospel had been preached in Pisidia, visited the cities a second time shortly after- wards, and then ordained for the disciples presbyters in every church, with prayer and fasting. For the word there used (ix^LpoTovqcrav) does not imply in the New Testament language election by a show of hands, as it did originally in classical Greek. It is used of the selection and appointment of the apostles by God Himself to be witnesses of Christ ; '" so that, if we insist on the exact meaning of this word, it must imply here that the apostles chose and appointed the presbyters, even as the Twelve themselves were chosen by God. That this appointment however was made in con- currence with the judgment of the disciples over whom these presbyters were placed, we may well suppose ; and the testimony of the rest of the disciples must necessarily be, in most cases, one of the most import- ant elements in judging, who is the fjiithful and wise servant, worthy to be intrusted with the charge of the household. But that the popular voice going before, however generally expedient and even neces- sary in some instances, is an essential part of a legi- timate appointment to the pastoral office, is a theory which receives no confirmation from the New Testa- ment, and is expressly contradicted by the very word to which some have hastily appealed in its favour. * Acta X. 41. TlpoK(\npoTovt]fi(voii \mo roi Qtov. Laws of the CImrch like Laws of Nature. 293 ///. — James, the lord's Brother. We enter now upon one of the most important ques- tions in the whole history of the Church's development: important, not merely because an agreement among Christians as to the teaching of the New Testament here is absolutely essential to any visible and corporate unity, but above all because the truth of the continu- ance and perpetuity of the apostolic office, as plainly foretold by Jesus Christ before His ascension, is in- volved therein. But I would here first observe, that it must be no matter of surprise to us, that even the most essential elements of Church organisation are to be discovered, not from some command of Christ or His apostles, or from the surface of the history, but by patient analysis. For our very argument is, that these are not laws like those of the old economy ; in which case they would be described with the same exactness, and would be fenced in by the same restrictions, as the Levitical institutions in the law of Moses. But being, on the contrary, laws like those of nature, — an order to be followed if we would attain to its results, — silent but necessary outgrowths from inner and yet deeper and more universal principles, — we must expect to determine them, even as we determine those of the physical world, through a process, which, however un- satisfactory to minds which can rest only on positive dogma, is yet far more consonant with those habits of thought and feeling that are formed in the school of Christ. We have already found, in the ordination of the Seven, and in the existence of a body of presbyters in Jerusalem, proofs of important changes in the adminis- 294 J amcs presides over the yenisalem tration of the local Cliurcli in that city. But contem- poraneously with these changes we find traces of a modification in the apostolic government of the Church, which indicates yet more clearly the transition to a definite form of organisation in this metropolitical city of Christendom. At first the Church tliere, being the one Christian community, was immediately under the government of the whole apostolic body, and Peter as the chief of the twelve apostles was the most promi- nent figure in Jerusalem. But there were sufiicient reasons for some change in this respect, as the Gospel began to spread from Jerusalem among the Jews of the dispersion and the Gentiles. The sphere for the Twelve was not Jerusalem Imt the world. The charge com- mitted to them was universal ; they were not appointed to direct and administer one Church however important, but to be the witnesses for Christ, of His words and works, among all people ; to be the founders of that Catholic Church which was to be estabhshed in every nation under heaven. And besides this, even if some of them had permanently remained in Jerusalem, the administration of the Church there by a body of apos- tles, with other duties belonging to their oflice, would have been not only inexpedient, but inconsistent with a principle which we have found distinctly recognised in the acts and teaching of Jesus Christ ; I mean that every pastoral charge is a personal charge. Experience of human life abundantly proves the advantage of respon- sibilities not being divided. And the necessity for this is far stronger in the Church of Christ, since in spiritual things responsibilities act only through the conscience which is a man's personality. I do not now assume that this principle, the truth of which must be acknow- ledged by every thoughtful mind, would necessarily Church with the Powers of an Apostle. 295 produce a particular form of Church government : this we must determine from the history itself. I merely point out that, if such a principle be admitted, it would naturally lead to the apostolic charge of the Church, at Jerusalem being committed to one rather than to many. And of this we find distinct indications at this period of its history. When Saul of Tarsus first visited Jerusalem some three or four years after the ordination of the Seven, we learn from the history that the disciples were at first afraid of their former persecutor, until Barnabas took him and brought him to tliQ a]Dostles who were there, and then the disciples received him ; and he was with them " coming in and going out " at Jerusalem. But Paul himself, in his Epistle to the Galatians, tells us expressly who these apostles were. He says that he went to Jerusalem in order to make the acquaintance of Peter, with whom he remained fourteen days. But (he adds'"') "other of the apostles " saw I none, save James the Lord's brother." Now it must be observed here, that he refers to his seeinof James, both as if it were a matter of course that this James would be seen by him at Jerusalem, and also as though his intercourse with him were not of so much consequence, with reference to his argument, as if he had seen any other apostle ; and his argument is that his opportunities of conferring with those who had been the primary sources of the Christian faith were very limited. Again, shortly after, at the very time when the presbyters at Jerusalem are first mentioned, Peter, having been miraculously delivered out of prison, bids those, to whose house he first came, take the news of his deliverance to " James and the brethren," * Gal. i. 19. "Erepov 8e tup dnoaroKap ovk u8ov, tl /17 'laKwjSov top dSeX- . t .Tamos, ii. 2. and of Christian Worship. 323 ritual of Judaism. The teaching of Christ had already- affirmed the principles out of which its service would be evolved. He had taught His disciples that wherever two or three are gathered into His name, there He is in the midst of them ; united prayer has special pro- mises with reference particularly, as we have seen,'"' to all Church action. The Father must now be worshipped not at Jerusalem only, but in every place, and therefore Christian worship at Antioch is as real and valid and effectual, as the Temple service itself. Above all, Jesus Christ had instituted the Christian passover, continually to show forth His death and be the formal act of communion of all disciples both with Him and with each other. Such were the elements which would eventually, under the guidance of the Holy Ghost, be clothed in those forms which should best express tlieir spirit, and be suitable for the spiritual wants of men, and adapted to men's different conditions and circum- stances. There are no laws of divine service in the new economy, to be servilely followed in the letter : in this respect as in others, the spirit will unfold the form in which it is most suitably and effectively embodied. I would observe further, before we examine the language of the historian, that there are two opposite errors to be avoided by those, who desire to arrive at true conclusions from the records of the apostolic age, and not merely to affix to these records interpretations which may be convenient as against opponents in con- troversy. The one is the error of those, who fill up the outline given by the sacred writer, with the aid of their own imaginations, by those practices and usages of later times which they believe to be the most * Part II. Chap. V. p. 116. 324 Christian Worship developed under two infliieiices. Christian, and assume to have been apostolical. In reading some comments on the apostolic history, one is at times reminded of those medieval paintings, in which primitive saints and New Testament scenes are repre- sented with the costumes, architecture, decorations, witli which the artist himself was familiar. The op- posite error however is more common amongst us in the present day, and is equally fatal to truth ; I mean the error of imagining that because, in a brief histori- cal sketch, details are omitted, therefore they did not exist. As reofards the details of Christian worship in apostolic times, there can be no doubt that the prin- ciples of united worship, which the disciples received from Jesus Christ, would be developed under two in- fluences,— on the one hand by the Spirit's teaching enabling them to enter into the spirit of the new dis- pensation ; on the other hand, and very largely, by the religious habits in which the first disciples had been trained, and in which their Divine Master had lived Avith them during His earthly ministry. Even the exclusively Christian worship would necessarily have, from the first, somewhat of an Old Testament form, for there were no other types of divine service, except the Lord's Prayer : nor could it have been otherwise, even in a Church of Gentile converts, receiving the Gospel as they did through Jewish teachers. And although the relation to the Gospel of the Temple worship with its typical ceremonial was but gradually expounded to the minds of Christians, and this ritual would be but slowly translated into the spiritual language of the new covenant, the simple services of the synagogue would be so readily adapted to Christian worship, they would offer to Jewish converts so natural a type for their own, that Nezv use of tJie ivord " Chiirchy 325 we cannot doubt tliat the earliest Christian services would take that form, the Christian elements of worship being the foundation of them. And there is much historically to confirm this view. The titles of office-bearers in the Church have been shown to correspond with those in the synagogue. The fact also which has been already noticed, that St James of Jerusalem calls Christian assemblies synagogues, sufficiently indicates the general similarity of the services. There was how- ever one remarkable diiference, besides the distinctive Christian ordinances and the Christian teaching, and this became more marked, to judge from St Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians, as the Church was extending itself among the Gentiles ; I mean, the testimony given to the supernatural presence of the Holy Ghost in these assemblies by the spiritual gifts exercised therein, which were at times so abundant as to require distinct directions to prevent disorder. The historian, in speaking of the assemblies at Antioch at this period, indicates a new phase of Church life by a new use of the word Churcli. Hitherto it has been used for the whole body of disciples, either through the world, or in a particular place ; it is now for the first time employed, as " synagogue" was before it amongst the Jews, either for the assembly of worshippers, or the place in which the assembly was held. " It came to " pass," he says, " that for a whole year Barnabas and " Saul assembled in the Church,''"' and taught a consider- " able multitude." The Church in Antioch was not a Jewish sect, joining in the general worship of their fellow-countrymen, with a few separate practices of their own. They stand out now as a distinct people, with religious assemblies and divine ser\dce and places * avvik6r]vai iv Tjj cK/cX/^cria. 326 This new Development of worship of their own. Another sign of this is, that now the glorious name is given them, by which they are to be designated in all future history. Amongst themselves they have been known as yet, as " disciples," "the brethren," "the way:" amongst unbelieving Jews, as " Galilceans," or " the sect of the Nazarenes ;" now in the Roman and Greek world, they receive their proper title which their countrymen never would have given them, " Christians," the followers of the Christ. Antioch becomes, in a certain sense, the birthplace of Christen- dom as distino-uished from Judaism. And yet, we shall find, this new development, far from being any division or separation from the original body, was united with it by the most intimate bonds, and was subordinate to it. It affords no confirmation of the theory, that the different phases of Church life would be independent of each other, separate disunited forms, growing side by side like the varied types of nature, having only the feeble common bond of one origin, if indeed they have this. The fact of the sub- ordination will appear hereafter, the signs of the unity between Jew and Gentile are apparent from the first. The Christians at Antioch itself, whether of Jewish or Gentile origin, are not two Churches but one. Their unity with the mother Church in Jerusalem was soon brought to some practical tests, one of which is here recorded. During this period of new Church life, certain prophets came down to Antioch, — down, because Jerusalem is as yet the religious metropolis although Antioch is the political capital. This is the first occa- sion on which prophets are mentioned in the history. These prophets, as we gather from St Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians, would undoubtedly exercise their spiritual gifts in the public assembly of the does not impair organic Unity. 327 Church, for the instruction and edification of the Chris- tians. One of them, Agabus, rising up in the congrega- tion, foretells a great and general famine that was to come upon the world. This prediction of a trial which would press far more heavily on the poorer brethren in Judtea, than on the Christians at Antioch, called forth action, in principle the same as that which the first impulse of spiritual life produced at Jerusalem, though it assumed a different form. The principle that was expressed in the voluntary community of goods among the first disciples at Jerusalem was, we have seen, that in Christ, and the fellowship of His Church, there is the unity of a real brotherhood, and that the interests of the body are the interests of every member. And, whilst the community of goods was merely an accident of the first condition of the infant Church, the great principle which it embodied was inwrought into the very life of the Church, as it extended itself through- out the Roman world, by the action of the same cause, namely, by the wants of one part demanding a supply from another part. Not only were Gentile Christians called to prove their love one to another by ministering to the necessities of their own poor, and occasionally to those of apostles and others who preached the Gospel, but the poverty of the mother Church in Jerusalem remained, at all events during most of the apostolic period, as a standing claim on the charities of Christians scattered through the Roman empire. One cannot but regard it as so ordered, for the express purpose that the free circulation of brotherly love might be quickened, and the true unity of Jew and Gentile might be both confirmed and manifested. Thus whilst the unity of the Church had its instruments and seals, in one faith, one baptism, one Head, one body; all with one mind 328 Offerings a part of Christia^i Service. and one mouth glorifying the same Lord ; it had also its evidences, apparent to all men, in the interchange of brotherly aid. And the principle thus became so interwoven into the system of the Church, tliat these contributions soon formed an integral part of its service. Thus when there was the division of labour among the apostolic body, which will be subsequently described, the condition imposed on those who went to the Gentiles was that they should " remember the poor," that is, evidently the poor brethren at Jerusalem, " the veiy " thing," St Paul adds, " which I was forward to do," as indeed his epistles prove. In his First Epistle to the Corinthians he gives directions to them, such as he had given to other Churches, as to the manner of such collections ; that they should not be by some sudden impulses and special efforts to which they might be roused by his earnest appeals when he should visit them ; but by forming the habit of laying by, week by week, on each Lord's Day, according as God had prospered each. This cannot indeed fairly be used, as if it were a command to have weekly collections in the Church, because the ajjostle directs each man to lay up his store at home."" Yet undoubtedly it is sufficient proof of the advantage of such collections, and of the habit of giving not spasmodically, so to speak, but continually, little by little, according to a mans abiHty, and that on the Lord's Day, as an offering of thankful- ness and love for a risen Saviour, and not from inferior motives. It is probable indeed that in the early Chris- tian Churches there would be, as in the Jewish syna- gogues t and in the Temple itself, alms-boxes, in which '. t III tlie syjiaj,'o;^'ue.s tliure were two, one for " the poor of Jenisaloin," tlie other for local charities. Mmistry of Prophets and Teachers. 329 voluntary contributioDS would be placed, as " God's " ojOferinn^s."'"' But however the collection was made at Antioch, the historian relates that the Christians there agreed to send, each as he had the means, relief to their brethren in Judaea. Barnabas and Saul were intrusted with the charge of these contributions, which were to be given to the presbyters of the Church in those parts. On the return of Barnabas and Saul to Antioch, events of even greater import in the history of the Church there soon followed. There are however some points of consequence to be noticed before we examine this history. It must be observed that as yet we have not heard of any of the apostles visiting Antioch ; at all events it is evident that no apostle resided there. The Church in Antioch was, in some respects, in a far more rudimentary form than the Church in Jerusalem. There were there only some who are called "prophets "and teachers;" of whom five are mentioned, Barnabas being named first, and Saul, — his apostolic powers being yet latent, — the last. We can hardly suppose that Saul, to whom, as we learn from his own writings, Jesus Christ had largely revealed His truths, and who had preached Christ in Jerusalem and elsewhere, would not be classed as a prophet ; so that we must understand " prophets and teachers " as the general appellation of all ; the latter term describing their functions, the former that they were divinely inspired. In a subse- quent chapter we shall examine carefully the relation of the various spiritual gifts of the apostolic age to the order of the Church ; but meanwhile it will be neces- sary here to consider some points as to the office of the prophets who, from this time of the extension of the * Compare Luke, xxi. 4. " ra haspa rov 9eov." OJ^ Chyistian Prophets. Churcli among the Gentiles, frequently appear in the histoiy, until, as the organisation of the Church de- velops itself, they, with the other extraordinary gifts, gradually disappear. They are frequently mentioned by St Paul with apostles, and always as second to them, and to them alone, in the Church of Christ. The gift bestowed on them St Paul describes as the most excellent, and most profitable, of all spiritual gifts. For the prophet is not merely one who predicts future events, but one who has immediate communion with Him in AVhom are all things, past present and future, and possesses both a spiritual insight into divine truth, and the power of expounding this truth in the lan- guage of the children of men. These projjhets were, in fact, like those by whom the Spirit spake of old, with this immense additional advantage, that they knew through apostolic testimony the history of God made flesh and dwellinfy among us. Their office was an instance, in many cases undoubtedly, of that inde- pendent action of the Spirit which we have already noticed ; although it appears that, in some cases at least, "prophesying" followed the laying on of the hands of an apostle,'" and the subordination of prophets to the apostolic office is very distinctly marked. Not only is the rule, "first apostles, secondarily prophets," but also, " If any man think himself to be a prophet or " spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I " write unto you are the commandments of the Lord." The apostolic office is the test of the prophetical, so that, although a prophet should work no miracles in attesta- tion of his claim to speak under divine inspiration, yet the recognition of him by those of apostolic authority was the seal of his mission as a prophet of the Lord. * Acts, xi. 16. Direct Action of the Holy Spirit. 331 Thus Barnabas received tliat name from the apostles, as being " a son of exhortation," '" his name in the ori- ginal meaning " a son of prophecy," and implying that he was recognised by the apostles as having the gift of prophecy. The prophets therefore, although instances of the direct action of the Holy Ghost, were at the same time examples of the unity of the body by the consist- ency of their functions with those committed to the apostles, and by their subordination to them. I have already called attention to the fact that this direct action of the Holy Spirit is most conspicuous as the Church beo;an to extend itself amono; the Gentiles. Antioch was a signal example of this, in the Church there being at first committed to prophets, instead of apostles : it is now to afford a yet more illustrious in- stance, by the apostolical office itself being there extended through the same action. A yet more remarkable and convincing proof is to be given, that the direct testimony of the Spirit, whilst perfectly in unison with that sup- plied through the apostles, was both independent and in all respects equal in authority. At the time to which the history now refers, it is related that these prophets at Antioch were " minister- '' ing to the Lord and fasting." The addition of fast- ing here evidently implies some special object, and the nature of that object is proved by the response given by it by the Spirit of Christ, t The word used for the ministrations (Xetrov/oyovi^rcyv), from which the ecclesiastical term liturgy is derived, here for the first time describes the functions of ministers of the Chris- tian Church. It is elsewhere used both of the priestly service under the law, to which the Christian ministry t Cf. xiii. 2. ^Acf)opiaaTe Srj fioi. " Separate nae then." 332 Response of the Spirit to the was now succeeding, and also of all service for the benefit of others. To explain it, as Chrysostom does in his Homily on this portion of the Acts, of " preaching," is certainly to limit its meaning, and the union of fast- ing with it clearly indicates prayer ; to interpret it as " offering sacrifice " is to substitute one part of the functions of the priest under the law for the whole ministry of the Gospel, and to assume that sacrifice is the service of both. We must certainly understand the word here of the whole of divine service in the Church, the Supper of the Lord no doubt being the centre of such service, and teaching and preaching an important part, but the prominent idea here, as the word fasting proves, being that of prayer. And that the special object of such prayer was the extension of the Church of Christ on earth, can hardly be doubted. The Gospel had come to Antioch, why not to the rest of the world 1 What hindered tliat it should go forth to conquer all nations according to the word of Christ ? Such feelings and desires would be stimulated by the know- ledge of the Lord's own words to Saul at the time of his conversion. And it may be asked, what reason was there that it should not at once go forth from Antioch ? What need for delay, or for any further instructions ? Is not the very desire, with the knowledge of the Gos- pel and the spiritual gifts possessed by prophets and teachers, sufficient warrant for undertaking such a work without any special commission % Those who would ask such questions, however, can never have realised the meaning of those words of St Paul at a later period of his life, — "How shall they preach except they be sent." It is evident, as we shall see more distinctly when we examine the history of Paul himself, that, even at this time, he did not consider himself to have the full powers Prayers of the Church m Afitiock. 333 and authority necessary for the work of bearing the Gospel to the heathen. But we must not suppose that the time which was spent in preparing the way of the Lord was lost : there is no real gain, in prophets and teachers (to use the language of the Old Testament) runninoj when God does not send them. At last the commission comes in the form of an express direction and from the Holy Ghost. It is not a mere revelation of what may be good and expedient in such a case ; a spiritual instinct quickened to recognise the course of duty; it is a definite, specific, and (so to speak) personal command ; the command of the Holy Ghost, one God with the Father and the Son. " Separate for me then " Barnabas and Saul unto the work for which I have " been calling them." The intimations which Saul had received from the time of his conversion, that it was the will of Christ that he should preach the Gospel to Jew and Gentile, are no doubt included in the " call " to which these words refer. Barnabas may have received some inti- mations of a similar nature. But the use of the per- fect tense, ■^^' expressing the state consequent on such intimations, points especially to the consciousness of Barnabas and Saul themselves, to their desires to be engaged in this work, or, as we should express it, to the inward call of the Spirit. The conviction had probably of late been growing in their own minds that they were bound to go forth and preach Christ to the world. And why should they not ? Because, even as the apostles, after they had received Christ's command to go and teach all nations, yet waited until they should receive power from on high before their work actually began, and should be by the outpouring of the Spirit ^ * 7rpO(TKfK\Tjfiai. 334 Necessity for Consecration by Men acting consecrated for their work, — so Barnabas and Saul waited for that, which, in the action of the Church, cor- responds to this outpouring, namely, a formal separa- tion and consecration for the work under the authority of Him who is the divine Guide of the Church. The other three prophets are now therefore appointed to be the instruments, acting under the express commission of the Holy Ghost, for effecting this. Human agency is to be employed, although the Spirit Himself calls, for setting apart the chosen vessels. After fasting and prayer, they lay their hands on Barnabas and Saul, and let them depart.'"' So they, having been sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed. Man is the instrument for the separation ; the Holy Ghost first calls, and then sends. If this act of this mission of Barnabas and Saul from the Church in Antioch be regarded merely as a rule or precedent in Church action, it presents difficulties and exceptional circumstances, which must prevent it from fitting in to any conceivable theory of Church organisa- tion. But if the principles involved in it be considered, it is a most pregnant instance, full of instruction as to the true organisation of Christ's Church. It is difficult to imagine a stronger proof, — first, that no spiritual qualifications, desires, impulses, or circumstances, point- ino" ever so distinctly in one direction, — whatever in fact may be included in an inward call or vocation, — are of themselves sufficient for a true mission in the Church of God. Secondly, that to the complete ap- pointment to an office or mission the interposition of men having authority for the purpose is necessary in the Church. Thirdly, that this act, being performed * aniKvaav Hot i^attidTiCKav as niiylit be supposed from tlie English version. under the AtUhority of the Holy Ghost. 335 by those who have authority, is not a mere form or ceremony, suited to impress the mind with a sense of the responsibility of the work, or useful as a testimony to the fact of such a person being called of the Spirit, or expedient for other purposes, but it is an actual separation of the man for the Holy Ghost, a consecra- tion more real than any of holy vessels, places, or persons, under the law, for then "the Spirit was not given be- " cause that Jesus was not yet glorified/' Lastly, that a mission thus received is a real mission by the Holy Ghost. What this mission was, and what the office was which was required for the mission, we shall consider when we examine the history of Saul who is also called Paul. It may be well, however, here very briefly to review the evidence supplied thus far as to the process through which office in the Church, — which Jesus Christ's own teaching marks out as a substantive reality, not created by the fulfilment of duties, but creating responsibilities and entitling to powers, — is bestowed and committed to those who receive it. There are several steps in the process, which become apparent on a simple compari- son of the several instances given in the New Testa- ment. The Twelve were chosen by Jesus Himself, and appointed by Him. He educates them in the duties of their office, gives them His final charge and instruc- tions, and finally the Holy Spirit is poured out upon them on the day of Pentecost. In this first appointment, all is direct and immediate ; there is no human agency, except that of Christ Himself; but several distinct steps are none the less apparent. Again, Matthias is one of the two selected by the voice of the whole Church to fill the vacant place of the traitor, and he is chosen of the two, in answer to prayer, by a method 336 General Principles as to Ordination. recognised and accepted by the Churcli as the judg- ment of God ; and, lastly, as being one of the Twelve, he receives in common with the rest the full power from on liigh on the day of Pentecost. Again, the Seven, who are to receive some share of the apostolic ministry, are chosen by the whole Church, and by them presented to the apostles, who appoint them, and, by the laying on of their hands, separate and consecrate them for their work, in which the presence of the Holy Ghost with them at once manifests itself. Finally, Barnabas and Saul, though inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to undertake a work, and though the judgment of the Church would certainly point to them as suited for it, yet cannot receive their mission from prophets, — who could not of themselves commit to others their own office, much less one which they themselves held not, — without express authority from the Holy Ghost. In this case the prophets do not by the laying on of hands commit to Barnabas and Saul any of their own functions, as Moses did to Joshua and the apostles did to the Seven, but they set them apart for a work to which they themselves were not commissioned, as being instruments and agents for the Spirit Himself. The appointment is entirely the act of the Spirit. The distinctions between the several cases are as instruc- tive indications of the general laws of such appoint- ments, as are the resemblances. We have here also (as I have before observed) an example, indeed the most remarkable in all the New Testament history, of the action of the Holy Spirit, not through the apostles, but co-ordinately with their ac- tion. For here the Holy Spirit not only witnesses by spiritual gifts, but appoints men to a work and office, which as we shall find is in all respects co-ordinate Action of the Spirit cojisistent zvith Unity. 337 with that of the Twelve. The Holy Ghost being truly God, His authority is as really divine as that of Jesus C'hrist Himself. And being the Spirit of Christ, His acts are the acts of Jesus Christ. The mission of Barnabas and Saul therefore was as really a mission by Christ, as the mission of the Twelve. And this truth sufficiently shows that the act was not one of division but of unity ; as was indeed conclusively proved when these new apostles went up to Jerusalem and conferred with those who were apostles before them. There was no confu- sion of order in this act, nothing contradictory to that which had been already established in the church in Jerusalem ; it was an extension of the same order for a special purpose by a special interposition. The full meaning of it in regard to the apostle Paul we shall consider in the following chapter. That Barnabas is united with him in this mission, is also full of mean- ing. He was the appointed representative in Antioch of the Jerusalem Church ; the link between Jewish and Gentile Christianity, and at the same time the leader of this new Church life. It was, so to speak, an occa- sion worthy of the interposition of the Spirit by a spe- cific and definite command, when the first mission to the Gentile world was to be sent forth, and men pecu- liarly qualified for that special work were to be selected and commissioned. ;3S CHAPTER VIII. THE APOSTLE PAUL. The history of the selection, calling, and appointment of Paul, whose Hebrew name was Saul, to be an apostle of Jesus Christ with the same powers as the original Twelve, is of the utmost sifijnificance and weisjht in this argument of the gradual development of the Church. No portion of the apostolic history has been more fully discussed by theologians ; and yet, I think, the meaning of this new event in the Church's life is apt to be obscured by the very grandeur of the subsequent career of this great apostle, which presents such unmistakable evidence of his spiritual powers and authority, tliat we fail to observe how his apostleship was related to the orioinal constitution of the Church, and was en crafted on the permanent order which Christ had promised to bless with His presence even to the end of the world. I have already pointed out, in considering the acts and teaching of Jesus Christ, that He formed durinor His own lifetime, the type of the constitution of Ilis Church as an organised body. He appointed Twelve apostles, no more and no less ; and the typical number was completed by the disciples, after the fall and death of the traitor, before the Holy Ghost was given. Now these Twelve had one peculiarity in their functions which none could share with them, and to which none specialty of the Office of the Twelve. 339 could succeed after tliem. They had been eyewitnesses, and could give that testimony, which personal inter- course and the observation of human life alone qualify men to give, to the reality of the great facts of Redemption : and further they had been taught and trained by Jesus Christ Himself, learning from His lips and through His works the mysteries of His king- dom, and receiving from Him the promise that the Spirit of truth would bring to their remembrance all that He had taught them. They had therefore quali- fications which very few even of the original body of disciples could ever share with them, and a specialty in their office corresponding to these qualifications. All who should hereafter succeed to their ministry, in however large a measure, must testify of these things at second-hand. None would be able to say, as St John said at the beginning of his first epistle, " That " which we have heard, which we have seen with our " eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands " have handled of the Word of Life, declare we unto " you." And it must be remembered that the Gospel of Christ being human as well as divine, not a mere theology but a historical faith. His kingdom also being a real human society, this human element of the testimony of the Twelve was essential to the establish- ment of that kingdom. The special prerogative of the Twelve then was that of being the body through whom, as original witnesses and primary sources, the Revela- tion of Jesus Christ was to be manifested to the world. Others, like James the Lord's brother, might be apostles in the sense of being fully commissioned by Jesus Christ to feed and govern the flock, and for the exer- cise of these functions they might be intrusted with plenary apostolic powers, but from these the Twelve 340 Apostlcship of St Paul co-ordinate stand out by themselves, — first, as eyewitnesses of tlie Word of Life, — secondly, as having learned from Jesus Himself the truths of His kingdom, — thirdly, as having been appointed ])y tlie Lord, who formed them into a body complete and compact in itself. And it may be asked, if it were necessaiy that the Twelve should be thus selected, trained, commissioned, by Jesus Christ, if it were one of the chief purposes of His ministry on earth to lay these twelve foundation- stones of the New Jerusalem, how is it possible that any other should be an apostle, as St Paul however seems to claim to be, in all respects as they were? The answer must be that no one could fulfil precisely the same functions as the original Twelve, and that the apostleship of Paul, although, as we shall find, of equal and independent authority, and in no sense subordinate, yet was co-ordinate and supplementary rather than identical. The apostleship of St Paul holds the same relation to that of the Twelve, as the teaching of the Holy Spirit the Comforter holds to that of Jesus Him- self. The training and experience of the Twelve were necessary for the establishment, and the full manifesta- tion, of the historical elements of the faith ; but for the development, out of those historical elements, of that complete system of truth by which, as Christ promised, the Spirit should convince the world of sin, of right- eousness, and of judgment, other training and other experience w^ould be required. For this end another apostle was added, who not only exercised ordinary apostolic functions, but wdio was in nothing inferior to the chief est of the apostles, and learnt nothing from them, but was himself a primary source of the Gospel of Christ. St Paul himself, rcjieatedly and expressly in his writings, marks out these as the distinctive with that of the Twelve, not idciitical. 341 peculiarities of his own apostlesliip. First, lie was chosen, called, and appointed, by Jesus Christ Himself, as truly as the Twelve themselves were. Like them, he was an apostle, not by human authority or human agency, but by the immediate authority of Christ. Secondly, he received, not through the instruction of others, but by revelation from Jesus Christ, the know- ledge of the historical elements of the faith. Thirdly, by the teaching of the same Spirit as was given to the Twelve, he was guided into the whole truth, and into a fuller and more profound knowledge of those spiritual principlesof the Gospel, — of which the historical facts are the exponents and the proofs, — than was at first granted to the Twelve themselves. "''" And these principles, which concern the relations between the God of the spirits of all flesh and man as a spiritual and responsible being, were specially needed for preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles, with whom the preliminary teaching of the Old Testament had not the authority that it had with Jews, and with whom the arguments from the adapta- tion of the Gospel to man's spiritual life would have greater weight. Thus St Paul's apostleship was dis- tinguished from that of others besides the Twelve, in his testimony being primary and not secondary : it difiered from that of the Twelve chiefly in the method through which he attained the knowledge of that to which he bore witness. It is unnecessary here to enlarge upon the previous training through which Saul of Tarsus passed, in pre- paration for the special work in God's Church which he was hereafter to fulfil. It is sufficient to observe, that being at the same time a Hebrew of the purest Hebrew descent, and yet a Koman citizen ; having * Compare 2 Pet. iii. 15, 16 ; and Gal. ii. 342 Peculiar Qualificatmis of Paul received a liberal Greek education in a city, reputed to excel both Athens and Alexandria in its schools of philosophy, and also having been distinguished above all his contemporaries for that Rabbinical learning which he was taught in the school of Gamaliel ; a man of extraordinary natural powers, but a bigoted zealot as regards the traditions of the Jews : of unblemished moral character and yet a relentless persecutor of the Church of God ; — Saul passed through conditions of mind, became familiar with modes of human thought, and was capable of understanding and sympathising with certain phases of human life, which were strange and unintelligible to the Twelve, fishermen of Galilee, unlearned and ignorant men. As it was necessary for the blessed Saviour Himself to be tempted in all points like as we are, in order that through experience He might be qualified to feel with us as Man in all our infirmities : so in His Church, His body, it was neces- sary for the complete revelation of Christ to the whole race of mankind, that he, through whom the Holy Spirit should reveal the truth of Christ in its fulness, should have the large capacities, natural and acquired, and the large sympathies taught by experience, which so singularly qualified Paul both for communicating the truth, and for apprehending all its adaptations to human thought and life. This revelation was not to be made by men learning the facts from the teaching of the Twelve, and then expounding and applying these for themselves, according to the measure of expe- rience of human life each might possess : for in that case, the superstructure of the faith would not have equal divine authority with the foundation. But it is given, first of all, by one specially and beyond all other men qualified for the purpose, and at the same for a Special Office. 343 time commissioned and empowered, equally with the Twelve, and independently of them, for the apostolic office, that so that the whole gospel from its foundation to its topstone, might be both really human and truly divine. But was this apostolie office of St Paul at once from the first realised by himself in its full significance, as we now understand it, or was it gradually recognised both by himself and by others % Are the same or simi- lar steps apparent in the process of his appointment to the apostolate as we trace elsewhere % In the apostle- ship of the Twelve we found, that, though chosen and to a certain extent commissioned as apostles from the first, they gradually rose through long and careful training to the full knowledge and the full possession of their high office, not indeed till the day of Pentecost being endued with the powers enabling them to fulfil its duties. Was there a corresponding process in the case of St Paul, or are we to suppose that from the first he was a fully developed apostle ? The history, and St Paul's own explanations, which are very exact and full on this subject, prove beyond doubt that the former is the true statement of the case : that, notwithstanding the extraordinary and exceptional nature of his apostle- ship, there was nothing eccentric or out of due order, but, as indicated by several very significant circum- stances, it was an integral part of the organisation of the Christian society, and was governed by the same fundamental laws. From the various accounts which are given of the conversion of Saul we learn that, from the time of the first revelation to him of Jesus Christ, it was declared both to himself and to others respecting him that he was chosen to be a minister and witness of the truth of 344 Apostolic Powers of St Paul Christ both to Israel and the Gentiles, *'to whom," the Lord said, " I now send thee." Yet although there was this election and mission of Saul by Jesus Christ Himself to a work in His Church, yet first of all he was directed to be baptised and wash away his sins calling upon the name of the Lord. This new pheno- menon in the history, of a chosen vessel being called by Christ Himself without the agency of man, was not in any way to derange tlie appointed order of the Church. He is grafted into the one body as others are. In this new development, indeed, the Jewish elements adhering to the original form of the Church's life are to pass away as being merely temporary acci- dents, out of which it grows, shaking them off as dead branches, as it enters into new forms and combinations. But those parts of the organisation that are truly Chris- tian become even more distinct as the old pass away. After his conversion, Saul at once preached Christ in the synagogues, that He was the Messiah of whom the Scriptures spake, and that He is the Son of God. "I " was not disobedient to the heavenly vision," he says of himself. But he had much yet to learn. For some time subsequently he was in retirement in Arabia, and if, as his words to the Galatians seem to imply, he was there the chief part of three years, the interval, during which he was being prepared for his future work, was nearly the same as the period of the training of the Twelve through personal intercourse with Jesus Christ. After- wards he went up to Jerusalem, where Barnabas, who as a Jew of Cyprus may have been personally acquainted with Saul before his conversion, introduced him to the only two apostles then residing in the holy city, Peter, and James the Lord's brotlier, the apostle of the Churcli there. During this visit, when praying in the Temple, gradually developed. 345 he was warned by Jesus Christ that the Jews would not receive his testimony, and again he is tokl, " I will " send thee far off to the Gentiles." From Jerusalem he returned by Csesarea to Tarsus, remaining there until he was taken by Barnabas to Antioch. In that city he laboured with Barnabas a whole year, again visited Jerusalem, and on his return we find Saul ministering in the Church, still with no apostolic powers or authority, but only as one of certain prophets and preachers, amongst whom he is named the last. It is indeed impossible not to believe, that some of the singular endowments, which afterwards distinguished him, would not manifest themselves in a measure dur- ing this period of his life, or that men, capable of appreciating these, would not discern in this compara- tively new convert signs of his future greatness. But to suppose that at this time he either was recognised as an apostle, or was an apostle in the full sense of the word, would be to substitute our own imagination for the facts of the history. And now follows the remarkable event, Avhich we considered at the close of the preceding chapter, the formal consecration of Barnabas and Saul under the authority of the Holy Ghost to the work to which He had been calling them : Saul, it will be observed, in this revelation from heaven being not only classed with Barnabas but placed after him. But what was the office for which these two men were thus solemnly separated ? The history, and the writings of St Paul, leave no doubt whatever as to this question. In the account of their first missionary journey, Barnabas and Paul, who before were prophets, are twice called apostles, nor are they ever afterwards distinguished by any other title. Now to argue that both are called 346 Actually separated to Apostolic Work apostles, because one was, or that Paul was an apostle in the true sense of the word, and Ijarnabas only a quasi-apostle, when they are both said to have been " sent forth by the Holy Ghost," is a method of dealing with Holy Scripture which cannot lead to any satis- factory conclusions. St Paul indeed, in the account which he gives in the second chapter of the Epistle to the Galatians of his visit to Jerusalem after this mis- sionary journey, expressly unites Barnabas with him- self as a partaker of the same office and ministry, and says that the apostles there, James, Peter, and John, recognised them both as their fellow-labourers, giving to him and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, " that we," he says, " should go to the Gentiles, and " they to the circumcision." And in wTiting after- wards to the Corinthians (1 Cor. ix. 5, 6), he again classes Barnabas with himself, in comparing their work and responsibilities with those of other apostles. This of course does not mean that Barnabas had, co-ordinately with the Twelve or with St Paul himself, the specialty in his apostolic office which belonged to them of being a primary source of independent testimony to the truths of Christ. But the permanent functions of the office are the same in all who hold it. What is meant is without doubt, that Barnabas was made, under the authority of the Spirit of Christ, one of those of whom St Paul says to the Corinthians, "God hath set some " in the Church, first apostles." And when Christ ascended on high and bestowed spiritual gifts to men. He gave, first of all, some to be apostles. And if we ask what were the functions of this apostolic office which Barnabas and Paul exercised in common, the history supplies a very distinct answer. It explains to us, that these two went about from city to city and with Barnabas at Antioch. 347 coimtiy to country, not only preacliing the Gospel, working miracles, making disciples and baptising tliem, but founding and organising Churches, ordaining pres- byters in every city, and doing by their own apostolic authority all things necessary for the establishment and extension of the kingdom of Christ, not needing that their work should be supplemented, as the work of Philip at Samaria was, by any action of those who were apostles before them. That Paul, having the more abundant spiritual gifts and natural powers, would soon almost of necessity take the lead is pro- bable : and yet the incidents at Lystra, where the people would have worshipped them as gods, show that Barnabas, whom they called by the name of the superior divinity, appeared to them greater than Paul, although the latter was the chief speaker. At all events there is nothing in the history to indicate, that Paul held any other office and ministry than that which Barnabas shared with him. When at last they separated, al- though the labours of Paul are recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, and his powers and his work mark him as the very mightiest of the glorious company of apostles, and whilst the labours of Barnabas are only casually referred to in the passage from St Paul's Epistle to the Corinthians already quoted, yet we must not suppose that the office, to which the Holy Ghost called and appointed Barnabas together with Paul, remained un- fulfilled by him. We must then, it seems, draw from the history of St Paul's life thus far the following conclusions as to the apostolic office with which he was intrusted. First, that he was called and, in a certain sense, commissioned to that office even from the time of his conversion, and that in obedience to that call, after he was baptised, he 34^ The gradtial Developvioit oj his Poiucrs at once preached Christ to the Jews. Secondly, that during a period of scchision he received further prepar- ation for his ministry, tlie mystery of the Gospel being made known to him by express revelation from Jesus Christ ;' after which period he is classed, with Barnabas, among prophets and teachers. Thirdly, that his separ- ation at Antioch under the authority of the Holy Ghost first formally constituted him an apostle ; power and authority being now given him, as to the Twelve on the day of Pentecost, to execute all the functions of this office to which Barnabas together with him was consecrated by the same authority. Lastly, that those specialties of his office, which distinguished him from Barnabas, James the Lord's brother, and others, making him a channel for the direct revelation of divine truth from Christ, so that his testimony had in all respects the same primary authority as that of the Twelve, — were gradually developed and acknowledged in the Church. This view of the gradual development of the apostle- ship of St Paul is confirmed by his own explanations in the Epistle to the Galatians, which was written some ten or twelve years after his mission from Antioch. He commences his argument against the Judaising teachers in those parts by proving, that he is an apostle, not merely as being sufficiently commissioned to be a minister of the Church, as others might be, — of whom he speaks as made apostles by human agency, — but as having received immediately from Jesus Christ the same powers as the Twelve themselves received. His apostolic office did not depend on the mission wdiich was given at Antioch, although that defined the time when he was formally sej)arated for the work. He de- clares that the Gospel which he preached he knew, not, consiste7it with his ow7i language. 349 as others had learnt it, from the teaching of man, but by revelation from Christ Himself. God, not man, had called him and revealed Christ in him, that he might preach Him among the Gentiles. He had had no com- munication whatever with any of the Twelve till three years after his conversion, and then only for a fortnight with Peter at Jerusalem. And yet when, fourteen years after his conversion, he went up to Jerusalem, and con- ferred with the apostles there, he found that the Gospel, which in the meanwhile he had been preaching among the Gentiles, agreed in all respects with that which the leaders of the Church there had received and tauo^ht. He did indeed first communicate to them the substance of his own teaching, that there might be no possibility of his being on any point mistaken, or of his having taught defective or partial truths as if they were the complete Gospel of Jesus Christ ; — as he expresses it, " lest anyhow, from whatever cause, I should run " or had run in vain." But he found that even the most eminent of the apostles, — it mattered not how distinguished, — the very pillars of the Church, — had nothing whatever to add to that which he himself had taught ; so that the leaders, James, Cephas, and John, acknowledged that he was as truly and as fully an apostle of Christ as they themselves were. Now here we must observe that it is distinctly implied that, at the time of his first visit to Jerusalem, apostolic powers were neither claimed by him nor recognised in him by others. It is impossible of course to conceive that during his intercourse with Peter he would not inform him of the revelation, which he had received from Jesus Christ, of the great facts of the Christian faith, and of the intimation, given to him from the first, that he was to witness for Christ both to Jews and Gentiles. 350 The ordinary Ftinctioiis But to suppose that he was then known, as one equal in office witli tlie Twelve, Avould be to contradict that which follows : for, eleven years afterwards, for the first time he received complete assurance himself of the fulness of his own powers, and was then first definitely and pub- licly acknowledged by the other apostles as holding the same office with themselves. This is perfectly con- sistent with that which we concluded from the history; namely, that between his first intercourse with Peter and James, and the conference at Jerusalem, he had received at Antioch his formal mission as an apostle, and that, though at first appointed merely as holding the same office with Barnabas, his apostolic powers became strengthened and enlarged as they were exercised, so that he became gradually more conscious himself, and gave more evidence to others, that he was not only set apart for a great mission, but that he was able to speak with the authority of one who, through the revelations he had received and the abundance of the Spirit dwel- ling in him, was an independent and additional witness to the Gospel of God. It is however of more consequence to our argument to notice, what were the powers exercised by St Paul by virtue of his separation with Barnabas to the apos- tolic office, than to consider the special powers which were assigned to him personally. And there is little difficulty in determining these, because the only dif- ference between the acts of St Paul, and those of others holding the same office, is that he was a primary wit- ness to divine truth, while the others are but secondary ; and therefore all acts, in which this primary witness is not needed, must be common to the office. We have already observed, that in their missionary journey- ings Barnabas and Paul not only preached Clu'ist but of the Apostolic Office, 351 founded Churches and ordained presl)yters in every city. The second journey of St Paul was taken in company with Silas. On this journey he carried the Gospel into Phrygia and Galatia, and thence through Troas to the shores of Europe, where he preached Christ and made and baptised disciples in Philippi, Thessalonica, and other towns of Macedonia, thence pro- ceeding to Athens and Corinth, where he remained a year and six months, — and passing thence to Ephesus, he sailed to Csesarea, and having visited Jerusalem at the feast of Pentecost, and saluted the Church there, he again returns to Antioch. In the brief outline which the history gives of this missionary journey there is nothing, beyond the assurance we might have that what was done in one case would also be done in others, to indicate that anything was done by Paul beyond preaching the Gospel of Christ to Jews and Gentiles. But we have collateral evidence which proves distinctly that Churches, organised societies of Christians, were formed by him in all places where men believed on Christ. The epistles to the Thessalonians were apparently written by him during his eighteen months' residence in Corinth. They are addressed to " the Church of " the .Thessalonians," and he writes to them largely of their mutual duties as members of one body, and especially prays them to recognise those " that labour " among them, and are over them in the Lord, and ad- " monish them, and to esteem them very highly indeed " in love for their work's sake." That these were pres- byters appointed by Paul himself, during his residence at Thessalonica, where few of the Jews believed but a laro-e number of devout Greeks, will hardly be doubted. It has been hastily concluded indeed, that, because the 352 Exercised by Paul on his Missionary Jo^trneys. history (Acts, xvii. 2) states that Paul went into tlie synagogue of the Thessalonian Jews and reasoned with them three Sabbath-days, he remained at Thessalonica only three weeks. However the language of his epis- tles to the Christians there (cf. e.g. 1 Thess. ii. 9-12 ; 2 Thess. iii. 7-10) certainly seems to imply a much longer residence in Thessalonica. Again the Epistle to the Galatians, who first received the Gospel during this journey of St Paul, also con- tains indications of the exercise of his apostolic powers amongst them. They received the Spirit " from the " hearing of faith," that is subsequently to, and as the consequence of, his preaching the Gospel among them. How this would ordinarily be communicated, is evident from the instance at Ephesus, — which is recorded in the history, and to which we have already referred, — where some disciples of John were baptised and, on Paul's laying his hands upon them, received gifts of the Holy Spirit and spake with tongues and pro- phesied. In this epistle, also, he distinctly recognises two classes in the Churches of Galatia, the teachers and the taught:'"' the first of whom must have held a definite office, because they are to be supported by those to whom they ministered the Word. We shall have studied the previous teaching of the New Testa- ment to little purpose if we imagine that these pastors of the flock were self-appointed, or exercised their office as stewards of the household without authority from Christ. This epistle however was written undoubtedly after a second visit of the apostle to the Churches of Galatia, * Koiv-to^tiTci) o K(iTr]^()Vfi€voi Tov \6yov tw Kurrjf^oiivTi fv nuaiv ayadnli. — vi. 6. Apostolic Work in Corinth. 353 durinof which he "' confirmed the hearts of all the disci- pies by further instruction. It will not be necessary to refer to other journeyings of St Paul at present except to notice the evidence afforded of the apostolic authority exercised by him over the presbyters of the Churches which he planted. He summons the presbyters of the Church in Ephesus to meet him at Miletus, a distance of some fifty miles, and charges them to follow the example of his own labours amongst them, and to be faithful shepherds of the flock. For his apostolic office included, as indeed his epistles suf- ficiently show, the charge of all the Churches founded by himself, which, as he himself says, became, as the "^ Churches increased in number and in importance, a daily and almost insupportable burden. The apostolic writings however which exhibit most distinctly the various functions of the apostolic office are St Paul's Epistles to the Corinthians. These we shall have to examine in a following chapter some- what minutely, in order to discover some of the charac- teristics of the internal life of the Church. I refer to them now merely to illustrate the apostolic work of St Paul himself. The First Epistle to the Corinthians seems to have been written about three years after the apostle's first visit to Corinth, and it is probable that in the interval a second visit to Corinth had taken place, which is not recorded in the history. These epistles exhibit a somewhat different scene from any which we have hitherto witnessed, and an amount of religious activity and Church life, with which, except * eniaTr]pi^a>v Trdvras rovs fia6r)Tas. Tliis word is used for that super- added instruction for the confirmation of the faith, which the apostles gave on their second or subsequent visits to the Cliurches which they founded. Acts, xiv. 22 ; xv. 41 ; and xviii. 23. It answers to the second part of the charge given by Christ to the Eleven. Z 354 Gifts of the Spirit bcstoivcd thro7igh him. for this collateral testimony, we should not certainly have ventured to fill up the fragmentary sketch of the labours of the apostle which the history supplies. In regard to the question before us, of his own apostolic work, he is the more explicit because he is arguing against some who disparaged his apostolic powers. As recrards himself he reminds the Corinthians that " the " signs of an apostle were wrought among them in all " patience and signs and wonders and powers ;"'"' and undoubtedly the sign of an apostle was not merely that he worked miracles himself, but also that through him those gifts were bestowed which were for the edifi- cation of the Church. Indeed that which especially marked the preaching of the Gospel at Corinth by St Paul was, that it was followed by an outpouring, larger than usual, of the supernatural gifts of the Spirit upon those who believed. St Paul (1 Cor. i. G) thanked his God that the testimony of Christ was so confirmed.t He further reminds the Corinthians that his own simple testimony to Christ crucified was " in demonstration of " the Spirit and of power," which, although it includes the spiritual power of the Gospel on the conscience, certainly does not exclude the external proofs of its divine authority afibrded by the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit. Thus, in writing to the Komans about the same time, he refers to those things which Christ wrought in him, for the obedience of the Gentiles, during his journeys : " by word and by deed, in the " power of signs and wonders, in the power of the " Spirit of God." It will be instructive however to gather together some of the notices, contained in the epistles and also * 2 Cor. xii 12. t t8(^ui(a6r). TIk' use of the aorist tense here must be noticed. Apostolic Commissio7i fulfilled by him. 355 in the history, of the apostolic work of St Paul in this city, as they afford altogether a complete illustration of the fulfilment by him of the charge given by Jesus Christ to the Eleven before His ascension. We learn, that, in accordance with the command of the Lord, Paul preached there first to the Jews, and, when they opposed and blasphemed, he turned to the Gentiles. The substance of his preaching was Christ crucified. He sums it up in one passage (1 Cor. xv. 1-8) which contains the principal articles of the Chris- tian faith. These he had himself received by direct reve- lation from Jesus Christ ; these first of all he delivered to them as the Gospel, by which they would be saved if they kept in memory what he preached unto them, unless indeed their faith was wholly in vain. Those who believed were baptised; but even as Jesus Himself baptised not, but His disciples, so the apostle in most cases committed the office of baptising to others, thus indicating from the first, as his Master did, the distri- bution of offices in the Church. But besides preaching the first principles of the Gospel, and bringing men into the fold of Christ, he taught those who were baptised all things that the Lord had commanded him. He praises the Corinthians that they remembered him in all things, and kept the " ordinances," — or it ought to be translated the " traditions," '"'' — as he had de- livered these to them. This word is twice used by him in his Second Epistle to the Thessalonians,t and in all cases evidently means certain instructions as to the order and discipline of the Church, which were so called, because, having himself derived them from the teaching of Christ's Spirit, he transmitted them to those whom he taught. Those which he mentions refer to * 7rapa8d(r«f. t iJ. 15 5 iii- 6. 356 He speaks and acts with AtUhority. such tilings as the relations between the sexes, the administration of the Lord's Supper, the support of the ministry, the exercise of spiritual gifts in the puhlic assemljlies, when the Church is gathered together in one place, — and generally to all things being done decently and in order. He claims that all, however eminent as proplicts or endued with spiritual gifts, should recognise the directions he gave as having the authority of Christ ; although, in some cases, he ex- pressly distinguishes between those things for which there were the express commands of Christ, — such as the law of marriage, — and those respecting which he himself exercised a judgment enlightened by the Spuit, as a faithful steward of God's house. But above and beyond all these directions for the general edification of the Church, he spoke wisdom among them that are perfect, — as indeed all his epistles abundantly testify — the profound spiritual truths of the kingdom suited for those whose spiritual faculties were exercised to discern between good and evil. Another very import- ant part of his apostolic work consisted in the exercise of discipline, in its ecclesiastical sense, among the members of the Church. This question will be con- sidered in a following chapter when we examine the internal state of the Church in Corinth. For the pi'csent it is sufficient to observe, that the apostle claimed for himself authority subordinate to Christ alone, and he assumes the whole personal responsibility in regard to the exercise of discipline, whilst he seeks tlieir concurrence and co-operation in this necessary work. In all things, he appeals to their intelligence and their own sense of what is right and consistent with the Christian life, and bids them judge themselves whether his words are not in accordance witli enlight- Governs the Churches which he founds. 357 encd Christian reason ; lie declares that his only power is for the truth, he has none in ojDposition to Christ's truth ; that this power is for edification, not for de- struction ; he will in all things proceed, not by arbi- trary authority, but according to recognised principles of justice and equity, — requiring (for instance) two or three witnesses, as the law required, in judging of those cases which demanded judgment ; yet he asserts with- out hesitation his own apostolic authority, in the full assurance that Christ was with him according to His promise, and that whatever he should bind on earth would be bound in heaven, and whatever he should loose on earth should be loosed in heaven. Comparing these notices of the apostle's work con- tained in his epistles, with those which the history supplies, we have no difficulty in determining what are the functions of the apostolic office exercised by St Paul, as he went about from place to place in fulfilment of the mission he had received under the authority of the Spirit. He preached the Gospel, he made disciples, he communicated spiritual gifts, he appointed the pas- tors and teachers of the newly-planted Church, he gave instructions as to its order, he exercised authority in cases of discipline ; in short under Christ, he was the governor of the Churches which he had founded. And we may ask, — apart from the miraculous nature of the spiritual gifts, which as we shall see more fully after- wards was but a temporary accident — apart also from the specialty belonging to St Paul's apostleship, in common with that of the Twelve, that he was a primary witness to divine truth, whilst others are secondary, — have we not, in the labours of St Paul, an office corresponding with that which was marked out by the acts and teaching of Jesus Christ as neces- "358 Snch an Office always necessary. sary in His Church, in order that all pastoral functions may be concentrated in a person, and may thus be personal responsibilities under the government of the conscience ; and therefore necessary in order that the last charge of Jesus Christ may have its complete ful- filment, and the promise of His divine presence to the end of the world be to its full extent realised ? We shall have hereafter to consider the evidence which St Paul's later epistles supply, that this same oJ0fice with the same pastoral functions he committed to others. 359 CHAPTER IX. THE COUNCIL AT JERUSALEM. Between the first and second missionary journey of St Paul an event took place, tlie significance of which in all its bearings on Church questions is not surpassed by any in the apostolic history. In order however that we may not be misled by any inapplicable precedents, or use any precedents servilely as merely supplying rules, it will be necessary to pay much attention to all the governing principles of that action which resulted in the first council of the Christian Church. That, Christianity being an outgrowth from Judaism, the old organisation supplied certain materials for the new at first, but then, though itself of divine origin and authority, died away entirely, even as the original seed dies, out of which the plant is evolved from its hidden germ, — is now to us not only obviously true, as a matter of fact, but is seen to be the necessary consequence of the fundamental principles of the Gospel. But we find in the New Testament that the struggles, through which the Church emancipated itself from the bondage of the law, — the birth-throes of the truly Christian sys- tem,— were both severe and prolonged. We might ask, Why did not Jesus Christ expressly abrogate the old system 1 why did He, on the contrary, not only Himself observe the ordinances of the law, which may J 60 Freedom of Christians from the Laio be explained on other grounds, — but leave His disciples without ever teaching them that the perpetual observ- ance of these ordinances was unnecessary ? He recog- nises the law, ceremonial as well as moral, as of divine authority, and though from time to time He asserts His own superiority to legal ordinances, as being the Son of God, yet the inference that His disciples were in Him delivered from the bondage of the old law could hardly have been gathered by them from His teaching. We cannot have a more convincing proof that Jesus Christ was not a leo-islator, but the revealer and the author of a new life. Indeed we may say, with all reverence, that He could not have made new laws to rescind the old law, which God gave. For a law, that is really of God, cannot be abrogated or cancelled. But it may, through the action of a principle in a sphere higher than its own, have its spirit so fulfilled that its letter becomes unnecessary. And the spiritual life which Jesus taught, — for example in the Sermon on the Mount, — and which the Spirit of the risen Redeemer imparted to His disciples, is in its fundamental prin- ciples identical with the holiness, righteousness, and truth which the old law embodied, and is the complete fulfilment of these principles. Yet not in the letter, for Jesus Christ also taught that the vigour and intensity of this new spiritual life were such that it could not be confined in the old forms, which would burst and be destroyed by its action. But we must proceed a little further in order to understand the question. The old forms were given to contain a religious life which, though in its origin and elementary principles it in no wise differed from the Christian life, — for the righteous men under the law, as St Paul frequently argues, in many things anticipated the Gospel, — yet in its mode could not be effected by AtUhority. 36 1 was very diverse : so to sj^eak, there are tlie same ele- ments in each but they are differently combined. The old system was the external embodiment of law. The Gospel, through faith in Jesus Christ, was to raise men out of the domain of law, as He Himself expounded, into a more truly spiritual sphere, in which obedience would be rendered in the truth and freedom of the spirit, not in the bondage of the letter. This great principle of the Gospel, at first but dimly apprehended by the disciples of Christ, even after the Holy Ghost was given, it was the special office of St Paul, " accord- " ing to the wisdom given to him," to exhibit distinctly and completely in all its relations to divine law. But we must not suppose that he taught any really new doctrine, or did more than bring forth into the clear light of day that which the Son of Man Himself had taught, though in hidden sayings and parables. In order that we may perceive this more distinctly, we must remember, that there were two classes of persons, who in our Lord's days religiously observed the ordi- nances of the law, but from very different motives. There were humble and godly souls, like Zacharias and Elizabeth, like Simeon and Anna, who loved God's law and ordinances, because in them they saw, as David saw, though but imperfectly and dimly, the glory of God in His sanctuary. Such persons might have, and often had at first, strong prejudices against all that was new ; they naturally said, " the old is better : " but the light of the Gospel gradually dispelled their prejudices, and brought them at last to Jesus Christ. Such an one, if we may judge from all that is related of him, not only in Scripture but elsewhere, was James, the Lord's brother. But on the other hand there were many men, — including almost all the Pharisees, and indeed the o 62 Gradually tatight majority of the Jewish nation, — who loved the ordinances of the law, not because they saw God therein, nor merely because of religious habits or national associa- tions,— though these gave additional strength to their convictions, — but because — as St Paul in his Epistle to the Komans traces the spirit to its origin — the prin- ciple of law in the ordinances fostered in them a self- complacent confidence in their own righteousness. They loved the law as being law : simply because it gave rules to be obeyed on the ground of authority, and not be- cause it was holy, just, and good. And the result of this unspiritual use of the law and its ordinances was, that the spirit was to such men wholly lost in the letter. Kighteousness with them was the scrupulous observ- ance of rules, and the more the rules were multiplied and made rigorous, the more righteous did they seem to themselves and to others to become. And thus the very authority of the ordinances of the law became in them the source of the worst and most hopeless form of spiritual evd. Now it is unnecessary to show that the distinctive characteristic of Jesus Christ's ministry was His opposition to this form of spiritual evil, which at last avenged itself, as it seemed, in His crucifixion. Our Lord Jesus Christ therefore did, in His life and death, most emphatically aftii-m the same truth as to the law, which St Paul afterwards expounded ; and it was through the truth, which was set forth in Christ, being received spiritually by His disci})les, and becoming under the teaching of His Spirit a vital energy in His Church, — and not in consequence of any express direc- tions,— that the law of ordinances was to be gradually superseded by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus which is not law in the proper sense of the word. by the Spirit of Christ. 363 But it is evident, as has been already observed, that the consequences, which must flow from the truths re- vealed in Christ, were very imperfectly apprehended by all His disciples at first. The admission of uncircum- cised persons into fellowship with Jesus Christ and His Church seemed, even to Peter and the rest of the apostles, a strange and unholy thing. The gift of the Holy Spirit to such persons, on the occasion of the conversion of Cornelius, first proved to the apostles that their admis- sion was in accordance with the will of Christ, and they accepted it as such on the testimony of the Holy Spirit. Then gradually the consistency of this with the prin- ciples of that Gospel, which they had received from Jesus Christ and the Spirit of truth, became more and more apparent to them, and to the Church generally. But, as Jesus Christ foretold would be the case, there were already those within the Church, whose characters were the result, not of the spiritual principles of His truth, but of false and unspiritual principles ; tares sown by the enemy ; or as St Paul describes such persons, with reference to the very question of the relation of the law to the Gospel, " pseudo-disciples " admitted under false pretences, who entered the " Church as it were by a side door to spy out our " liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they *' might bring us into bondage ; " ^^ men whose hearts had never been set free by the Spirit of life from the bondage of law, — and therefore no real disciples of Christ, — but who brought into the Church all the old spirit of dependence on law, and who not only did not under- stand the true liberty of the Gospel, — that was the case with many, — but watched and opposed everything that tended to its development. To them the Gospel was * Gal. ii. 4. 364 Question as to t/ie nothing more than a snpcradcled Law, something to make it more possible for tliem to be righteous in their own estimation. That sucli persons were a very small minority in the Cliiirch at this tiino, and tliat much of the strong attachment to the old ordinances among the early Jewish Christians was, like that of Peter and James, perfectly consistent with genuine faith in Christ, is abundantly evident. Yet it is also evident that this pseudo-Christian body within the Church, exercised con- siderable influence even over genuine Christians, by "working on their prejudices, and on their fears of the consequence of uncontrolled lil)erty. Some men of this class came down from Jerusalem to Antioch, after the return of Paul and Barnabas from their first missionary journey, when the Church there "was filled with joy at the good tidings of the conversion of the Gentiles. We may well conceive that the scene presented in the Church in Antioch, and the reports of the extension of Christ's kingdom among the uncircum- cised, would awaken in such men strone^ feelincjs of jealousy and alarm. The privileged standing of God's ancient people was assailed. All the bonds of righteous- ness and holiness were, in their judgment, being dis- annulled. They did not indeed represent the mind of the apostles in Jerusalem, and they must have known they did not, because the conversion of Cornelius and other Gentiles was a notorious fact there : but relying on the strong Jewish feeling of many of their fellow- Christians, they maintained that this new liberty was unholy and evil, and that, unless the Christians gathered from the Gentiles were, after their conversion, circum- cised and made subject to the Mosaical law, they could not be saved. It is easy to imagine with what argu- ments from the Old Testament they would confirm this Circtimcisioii of Gentile Converts, 365 assertion ; liow clearly they would prove, that the law being of divine institution, and never having been abrogated, must still be binding ; how they would adduce the example of Jesus Christ Himself in suj^port of their opinion. Could men expect to be saved without obedience to these divine laws when the Lord Him- self conformed to them \ There was, the historian says, no small dissension and disputation between these men and the two apostles of the Gentiles : and we must infer, that they were not silenced by the argu- ments of the latter, but probably their specious reason- ings influenced the minds of some at Antioch who were weak in faith and knowledge. It was therefore decided, that Paul and Barnabas, with certain others of the brethren at Antioch, should go up to the apostles and presljyters at Jerusalem about this question. St Paul, in the second chapter of his Epistle to the Galatians (which I assume to refer to the same occasion, for the difficulties attending any other view are tpite insu- perable) tells us that this decision was arrived at in consequence of a revelation made to himself or to some prophet, and indicating, by the authority of the Spirit, this method of solving the difficulty. We must there- fore regard this course of referring a cjuestion to a central authority, not merely as a convenient method of meeting a present difficulty, but one in its principle having the express sanction of the Divine Head of the Church. It was indeed a new feature in Church life, though by no means new in its principle, for Christ Himself had expressly taught the value and power of united action in His Church. But considering the immense consequence of the result that ensued, not merely as regards the question then at issue, but as sup- plying principles for the organic and corporate action 366 IV/iy referred to the Apostles and Elders. of the Church in all ages, we cannot ho, surprised that it was a case in which an express revelation was given for the direction of the Church. But we must look a little further into this prin- ciple, which reaches into the whole subject of the authority of the Church corporate, and inquire why such action was necessary and expressly directed in this particular instance. We cannot of course suppose that in such a question as this of the circumcision of the Gentiles, in which the apostle Paul had learnt the truth of the Gospel directly from Christ, he was liable to error or needed some further certainty. And that the Gentile Church generally was assured that these Judaising teachers were in error is evident. But there were several reasons for the course adopted, which we may at once infer. First, and most obviously, in order to strengthen the weak and prevent, as far as possible, their minds from being perverted by this false doctrine. But also, — and this reason is at least as w^eighty as the preceding, — for the preservation and the manifestation of the unity of the Church ; that the Churches in Antioch and in Jerusalem might be demonstrated to be one in Christ. It was the response in the Church's life to Jesus Christ's own prayer, that all who believe on Him through the word of His apostles may be one in Him, and thus prove to the world that the Head of the Church is indeed of God. And this action would tend, and as it proved did actually tend, to unity in several ways. First, by the agreement of all in one faith being established ; secondly, by the knowledge of the truth being more catholic, through tlic different aspects of truth presented to different minds and to Christians differently circumstanced ; lastly by the common recognition of the diflerent adaptations of the Assembling of the Cotmcil. 367 Christian life to tlie difFerent circumstances of men, with such limitations as might be necessary for the practical maintenance of unity. The history informs us that Paul and Barnabas, with the others sent with them to represent the Antioch Church, — one of whom we learn from St Paul, was Titus a Greek convert, — left for Jerusalem on this very important mission, accompanied '"'' by the prayers and earnest sympathies of their brethren. As they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, and reported the con- version of the Gentiles, they caused great joy to all the brethren. The seeds of evil had not been sown in those parts, and Samaria, we may well suppose, would not be a congenial soil for this form of error. On arriving at Jerusalem, they were publicly received by the Church, and by the apostles and the presbyters, and they gave an account of the wonderful thinos God had wrouo^ht by their ministry. This account of the conversion of Gentiles being publicly given, at once the adversaries entered their protest. The Judaisers from Antioch do not appear to have come to Jerusalem, but there were some there already of the sect of the Pharisees, men in whom the old leaven of Pharisaism still worked although they belonged outwardly to the Christian body, who thoroughly sympathised with the Judaising doctrine. " It was necessary," they maintained, '' to circumcise " these Gentile converts, and to charge them to observe " the law of Moses." This at once brought the question to an issue, and the apostles and the presbyters met together in solemn council to consider the matter. We must also conclude that the whole Church was present, since the historian speaks of " tlie whole multitude " as listening to Paul and Barnabas, which is the expression * TTpoTreficpdevTfs vno Trjs iK.Kkr]. 2G8, t 1 Tim. iii. 15. TJie Pillar and Ground of Ihe TriitJi. 475 not that of mere justice as the law of the kingdoms of this world must be, — and therefore in its being ad- ministered in the freedom of the spirit and not in the bondage of the letter, — there is a close resemblance between the relations of a family and those in the Church of Christ. In the latter all are servants as regards their duties, but they are also children of the house, and brethren one of another, as regards their mutual relations. But the second of these titles of God's Church requires more consideration. It is "the pillar and " ground of the truth." That this is predicated of the Church, and not of Timotheus himself or of the mystery of godliness that follows, must be admitted by every one who is content to take the words of the apostle in their simple and obvious meaning. They evidently mean that the Church is instituted to main- tain, establish, and set forth the truth ; which we have found St Paul affirming as expressly in other language, for example in the Epistle to the Ephesians. But it is important to notice what is in the apostle's mind when he speaks of the truth. It is not of truth generally, even of spiritual truth, of which the Church is the witness ; but definitely of tlie truth,"''" of that which it is ordained to keep and uphold. And he explains this by proceeding to say that " confessedly," that is as all confess in the Church, " great," of vast importance to the Christian life, " is the mystery of godliness ; " and this is defined by him, in language which has at least the rhythm and the comprehensiveness of a liturgical confession of faith, — as " He who was manifested in " the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, * fTTvKo^ Kill eS/joico/xa t^s a\r]6fias. It will be observed that while the uoniiuatives are anarthrous, the genitive retains the article. 47^ The Truth is the One Faith. " preaclied among the Gentiles, believed on in the " world, taken up in glory." It is impossible not to recognise here the one faith in another form : the words are nothing else than an expansion of the radical truth that "Jesus Christ has come in the flesh." This faith therefore, — as we have also seen in consider- ing the teaching of St Paul as to the body of Christ in his Epistle to the Ephesians, — is the truth of which the Church is ordained to be both the pillar and the basement. This it has to testify and to expound by all its ministries, ordinances, and discipline. Against de- partures from this one faith, however disguised, — such as the Spirit foretold should come in the latter days, — the Church is to watch and to protest. And it is un- doubtedly of this same faith that St Paul speaks, when he solemnly charges Timotheus, more than once, to guard the sacred deposit committed to his trust, by the Holy Ghost given to us. We must observe, how- ever, that the office both of the Church and of all its ministers is to guard, maintain, exhibit truth com- mitted to them, not to add explanations, or develop doctrines into forms of thought and language that may be more logically consistent and complete than those which are revealed. It is one thinc^ to condemn false conclusions, which by implication deny the faith, or any part of it ; another, ourselves to deduce conclu- sions, and, because they appear to us not to deny but to confirm the faith, to teach and affirm them as part of that faith. The former is the office of the Church : the latter is not. Its duty as the guardian of the truth is simply conservative ; the gi-owth of the Church in knowledge is, we have found, subjective, and not through an accession of objective truth. Let us now turn to invcstiirate the functions of the Ministry of the ClmrcJi. 47 7 office received by Timotliy in their details. The truth was to be maintained by him, not only by word and example, but by his whole administration. The apostle gives him instructions as to the public prayers of the Church, to be offered now in every place, and not merely in a temple at Jerusalem. These prayers were to contain intercessions for all men, for kings and all in authority. Both men and women were to unite in these common prayers, (for this seems to be the force of the word oxravrw? in 1 Tim. ii. 9), but women were commanded to keep silence in the Church, so that the command to pray does not imply of necessity any public ministration. Of those who are to be the public ministers and teachers he then proceeds to speak at length ; and this portion of the apostle's in- structions is so pertinent to our argument, and so illus- trative of principles which we concluded from acts and words of Jesus Christ, that we must examine the sub- ject from all sides. (1.) We learn then that now there are two dis- tinctly recognised orders of the Christian ministry, subordinate to the apostles and to others endowed with apostolic powers. The first of these are called some- times irpecr^vTepoi, which title, we have seen, was derived from the Jewish organisation, and indeed originally from the patriarchal idea of seniority giving precedence in religious matters; at other times, eVt- cTKOTTOL, to dcuotc that the cure of souls is committed to them. The second class has the title of Stct/cot'ot, implying active service. It must be remembered, however, that all these terms are used in the New Tes- tament, not merely as descriptive of different grades in the ministry, but of the apostles themselves, in whom all those functions were originally vested which in 4/8 Two Orders under tJie Chief Pastor. the process of development became distributed in several offices. These offices gradually assume the several titles according to their several functions. The fact that the first of these two classes, after being at first always called presbyters, has acquired, at all events in St Paul's language and in Geutile Churches, the other title of inicTKOTroL, indicates, it would seem, a certain growth of idea as to the nature and functions of the office. The original title of presbyters or elders was taken naturally in the Jerusalem Church, where it first appears, from the Jewish title ; the root idea in it being a certain share in the government of the body. During the period in which the supernatural gifts abounded, and the prophets and others spiritually endowed took a large share in the edification of the Church, the functions of the presbyters as spiritual pastors would be less apparent. But as the super- natural gifts were gradually absorbed into the per- manent order of the Church, the Jewish idea of elders was felt to be insufficient to express the highest and most distinct functions of the office. Moreover we have seen reason to suppose that the original office of the elders included that of the deacons, and it must be observed that in the New Testament we never read of " presbyters and deacons," but only of " eVtcTAcoTrot " and deacons." At all events, the use of the term inicTKOTroL to describe the presbyters of the Church, indicates a transition state, when the spiritual office of the presbyters had become more prominent, and when the title of apostle was still given to men in- vested with apostolical functions, a title which was afterwards reserved for the Twelve and for St Paul, whilst that of eVto-KOTro? was assigned to one who had not a charge in a Church, but the pastoral charge of F2mclio7ts of ike Presbytei^. 479 the Church. But however the technical titles may be changed, it still remains as certainly true as in the times of the New Testament, that those, who from the time of the complete organisation of the Church have been called " bishops," exercise apostolical functions, and that those who are (as from the first) called " presbyters " have that charge of souls, of which St Paul says, that he who seeks after an l-mcrKOTTr] desires an honourable office, (2.) The several functions of the two offices may be determined to some extent by the qualifications required for them in the apostle's instructions to Timotheus and to Titus. The TTpea^vrepos or eTTi(TKOTroostolic times, out of grievous defects in the Cliurch itself, and perhaps as a protest against some corruptions of the truth. A very large margin must be left for Christian forbearance and charity ; for the rule given by Christ Himself, *' Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace one with *' another." And yet, however this may affect our conduct towards persons, it must not be forgotten that Discipline of the Clergy. 501 every such sect is itself an at/)ea-t9, and therefore an offence in the kingdom of heaven ; first, because it dis- turbs the unity of the body, and secondly, and not least, because a selected portion of divine truth, — whether it be mixed with erroneous teaching or not, — is substituted for that which is Catholic and all-com- prehensive. With regard to the other branch of Church dis- cipline, that which deals with offences against moral- ity, very few remarks will be necessary, as it has been discussed at length in a former chapter. The apostle again gives Timotheus directions which imply that the responsibility of such discipline rested with him. He is instructed not to receive a charge against a presbyter, except on the evidence of two or three witnesses ; that is, he is to proceed legally, as required by the old law. The same rule, it will be remembered, the apostle im- posed on himself in reference to the scandals in the Corinthian Church. The office of Timotheus therefore, like that of St Paul, involved judicial functions to be administered formally and regularly, as those in author- ity under the law of Moses were required to admin- ister them. And the language of St Paul implies that these judicial functions in the Church would prim- arily and chiefly affect those who hold office therein ; for he cannot mean that legal evidence would be re- quired for a charge against a presbyter, and would not be necessary if a layman were accused. But, in fact, offences may be just cause for censure, or deposition from office, in the one, which the teaching of Christ proves must be tolerated in the other. The apostle gives the further rule, which seems also to apply to presbyters, " Them that sin rebuke before all, that the " rest also may fear." Such discipline Timothy is 502 For this the Bishop specially responsible. solemnly adjured to exercise both without prejudice against an accused person and without partiality in his favour. That the apostle has in his mind chiefly the exercise of discipline over those who hold office appears from his adding, "Lay hands suddenly on no man, " neither be a partaker in other men's sins." Some suppose that this refers to the absolution of penitents, their readmission to the communion of the Church being in early times by the imposition of hands ; but as St Paul speaks in these epistles of laying on of hands in ordination, and not for other purposes, it is safer to be guided by the apostle's use of the words. We must understand them therefore as warning Timothy, on the one hand against the hasty appointment of men to office, lest afterwards they prove unworthy, on the other against participation in other men's sins by fail- ing to exercise discipline on those in office who offend. For Timotheus would be responsible if such should continue in the ministry, whereas many offences in the Church at large have to be tolerated. " Keep your- " self pure," the apostle says, in all the exercise of your office ; and as you are of infirm constitution, and need vigour of body and mind for your work, drink a little wine, and do not risk your health by always drink- ing water. And, he adds, you must exercise a sound and healthy judgment, remembering that in the case of some men their sins are open beforehand, leading the way to judgment ; and some men they follow after : and even so the good works of some are manifest beforehand, and those good works that are of a diftcrcnt kind come to light sooner or later. The whole of this appears to refer, primarily and especially, to what in modern eccle- siastical language we should call a bishop's government of liis clerg}^ and to the kind of discipline that would Elementary Church Law. 503 be necessary in their case. At all events it is obviously and directly applicable to this. We cannot but observe generally how much, at the present stage of the Church's development, was left in regard to discipline to the judgment of him whom we should call the bishop of each Church, and how little was defined and determined by any fixed laws. But we must not therefore conclude that such is the health- iest and most perfect state of the Church in regard to discipline. Indeed the very pastoral epistles themselves were a step in the direction of Church Law. The in- structions in them tended, as far as they went, to control autocratic government, and to teach Timotheus and Titus that they were to rule the Churches com- mitted to them, not according to their own will, but on fixed, and, as far as possible, definite principles. The canons of discipline, which rapidly grew up in the post-apostolic Church, were, many of them, the legiti- mate development of such principles; and great as the evils were that subsequently arose from the multi- plication of such rules, and yet more from the mis- application of them, the condition of the Church without them would have been far more intolerable. Discipline, — for of that I am now speaking as distin- guished from the purely spiritual functions of the episcopate, — is an action of the Church for its own protection, from which it is impossible, as the experience of centuries has proved, to eliminate altogether the temporal interests of men, and therefore whilst law is unsuitable, as we have concluded from Christ's teaching, either to govern the personal life of the Christian or to direct the functions of the ministers of Christ, yet in the exercise of discipline law is not only expedient, but even necessary for such organisation as shall be suitable 504 Law in the Church not the same for man. It is in this action of the Church therefore, especially, that the State may legitimately afford its aid, not by adding temporal penalties to spiritual cen- sures, but as being the ordained representative of law. But even the experience of eighteen centuries has not yet solved the difficult question how such aid may be Tendered without some injury to the Church itself, either in one direction or the other. A comparison of the instructions given in these pas- toral epistles on the subject of discipline, with those which we find in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, indicates some distinctions, necessary to a solution of this difficult problem, which I shall suggest without attempting to discuss them fully. We have seen that every sentence on ecclesiastical offences is truly " dis- " cipline^' cra><^povto-/xo9, having for its end, on the one hand, the awakening of the conscience of the offender, on the other, the protection of the body from infection. There is in it nothing strictly penal, nothing of the principle which is the foundation of justice, " an eye " for an eye and a tooth for a tooth." Its object is not, as the object of penal law is, to deter from offences by the fear of temporal punishment. Repentance is no satisfaction for the breach of penal law : whereas even the incestuous person at Corinth was restored at once on repentance. The administration of law in the Church therefore, even in matters of discipline, must be governed by different principles from those of criminal law, or of any law in the true and proper sense of the word. Church law is law so completely subordinate to higher principles than those of law, that nothing can be more fatal to the purposes for which it is required, than any attempt to blend and confound them. If the Chui'ch is to represent its Lord and as Laiv in the State. 505 Master in the exercise of its discipline, it must be by such a combination of mercy and holiness, of jealousy for God's word and the largest charity, as has no place in law human or even divine, — such indeed as in all ages, and not without apparent cause, scandalises those who like the scribes and lawyers of the New Testament believe that law is the highest and best standard for human life. Church laws then are nothing else than instructions, such as St Paul gave to Timotheus and Titus, only more definite and more fully developed : the object of them being, through such directions as may inform the conscience of the Church, to prevent unnecessary harsh- ness on the one side and dangerous laxity on the other. But, as I have before observed, since the Church is a human society in the world, using worldly things for the purposes of the kingdom of heaven, it is quite im- possible to separate its action from the temporal interests of men, of which the State is the appointed guardian. It is true that the ejffect of its sentences is simply to disqualify a man as a member of the Christian society, — to render him art/Ao^ in this society, — and such drtjuta, when the Church was unknown and unrecog- nised, would little affect men's social rights in the world. And yet, even in St Paul's days, the Ttja-*) due to a Christian minister was something more than the mere respect and affection due to him from other Chris- tians : and just in proportion as national and social life becomes pervaded with Christian elements, disquali- fications in the Christian society must touch on the temporal life of man ; and, in proportion as this is the case, the State must interpose. For the State, God's appointed guardian of men's secular interests, to sur- render to the Church its own proper office, would be a 5o6 Principle of Ecclesiastical Appeals fatal injury to both. The harmony of the different principles, on which the State and the Church must severally act, cannot be obtained satisfactorily by any compromise on either side. And however wisely and carefully the relations may be adjusted, it seems im- possible that sometimes, in exceptional cases, the dif- ferent principles on which the State protects man's temporal interests, and the Church maintains those which are spiritual, should not lead to different con- clusions. The only remedy against such a danger is that, wherever the conclusions are different, they should hold good each in their legitimate sphere and no further : and if this principle were once fully admitted on both sides, the difficulty of solving the problem would at all events be much diminished. The attempt to solve it, by allowing either the Church to override the State, or the State the Church, in the proper sphere of each, is tyranny or worse. There is also another safeguard against arbitrary action in the matter of discipline, the elementary prin- ciple of which at least is suggested by the pastoral epistles, I mean what is understood by the right of appeal. For the fact in itself of St Paul, by virtue of those plenary apostolic powers which he received from Jesus Christ Himself, giving such instructions, as we have examined, to those who presided over the Churches in Ephesus and Crete, proves of itself that the bishops of those Churches were not autonomous or independent, but that abuses of their authority would have been overruled by the apostle. An actual instance of such interposition by one of the apostles of Jesus Christ occurs in a later apostolic \\Titing, the third epistle of St John. That apostle mentions an ambitious man, Diotrephcs, who having the pre-eminence in some recognised in Apostolic Writings. 507 Church, not only refused to receive the brethren who went forth as evangelists amongst the heathen with letters of commendation from the apostle, but even prohibited others from receiving them, and cast out of the Church those who disobeyed his order. That such authority could have been exercised in the Church by any one to whom an office of authority had not been intrusted, the whole history forbids us to suppose. It is utterly inconceivable, that the words Ik Trju, as if the two belonged to the same class though of different orders. But lastly the Twelve were the apostles of Jesus Christ in a sense quite peculiar to themselves, and in which not even Paul shared their office ; that is, as having been taught and trained in personal intercourse with the Lord Jesus during the days of His flesh, and having been eye- witnesses of the great facts of His life and death. On their testimony, given by men to historical events, the One Faith of the Christian Church rests. And in this sense they alone are, next to Jesus Christ Himself, the foundation of the Church : which is symboli- cally represented by St John when he says, that the wall of the New Jerusalem has twelve foundations, and on them the names of the Twelve apostles of the Lamb. Now the history of the Twelve was, as it were, mapped out beforehand for them in the definite instruc- tions which they received from Jesus Christ. " Ye " shall be," He said to them, "witnesses to me in " Jerusalem, and in the whole of Judaea and Samaria, " and unto the end of the earth." This special office of giving witness to the things which they had seen 5 1 2 Their Special Office as witnesses to and heard appears continually in their teaching/'^ and it was because Matthias was qualified to fulfil this function of the apostolic office that he was enrolled with them. For some seven years after the ascension of Jesus Christ the Twelve fulfilled this office at Jerusalem, according to their Lord's command. Then we find Peter and John sent to Samaria by the other apostles, who must soon after have gone forth to their labours, for when Saul first visits Jerusalem, some three years afterwards, he finds there, of the original Twelve, only Peter ; and the apostolic journeys of Peter himself through Judoea and all those parts are recorded in the history. Then follows the extension of the Chm'ch to the Gentiles, and from that time the notices of the original Twelve become very few and interrupted. One of them, James the brother of John, was put to death by Herod Agrippa ; Peter and J ohn still appear from time to time ; but the rest entirely disappear from the history and from the other apostolic records ; for that the James and Jude, the Lord's brethren, who wrote the epistles, were not of the Twelve, we have already concluded. That all the rest of the Twelve were actually scattered about the world because their names are not mentioned, we need not suppose. The Gospel written by one of them, St Matthew, wherever WTitten, is evidently intended for Jews. Some of them, perhaps all, were at the council at Jerusalem : but we only ascertain the names of Peter and John there. St Peter is also mentioned in the Epistle to the Galatians as visiting Antioch, and of him as well as of St John we hear further from their own writings, but of the rest our assurance that the Lord's commission was fulfilled by them is their history. It is important to notice also * E.g., Acts, iii. 15 ; iv. 20, .33 ; v. 32 ; x. 39-42. yesiis and the Rcstir7^cction. 5 1 3 the indications that the particular office intrusted to them of beinsr witnesses of " Jesus and tlie resurrec- " tion " was ever prominent in tlieir teacliing. St John begins his first epistle by that special testimony which he and others of the Twelve were able to give, through personal intercourse with the Word of life manifest in the flesh, which testimony is the foundation of the faith. St Peter also in his first epistle, written from Babylon to Christians in Asia Minor, describes himself as not only a fellow-presbyter with the pres- byters of those Churches, a pastor of souls in common with them, but also as being, what none of them were or could become, " a witness of the sufferings of Christ." In the second epistle, addressed to Christians generally, he dwells on this yet more fully. The time was then drawing nigh (he reminds them) when he should lay aside his mortal tabernacle, according as the Lord Jesus Christ had shown him, warning him that he should be in his old age bound and led to execution. The knowledge of this speedy termination of the min- istry he had received made him anxious while he yet lived to write and remind Christians of the great truths of their common faith. " And," he adds, " I will " endeavour that also at all times ye may be able after " my departure to keep a memory of these things." It is evident from what follows, that by the things of which memory was to be kept St Peter meant primaril}^ the facts of Jesus Christ's life and death, for he proceeds to remind them that "we" (that is the original apostles) " did not follow artfully devised fables, when we made " known to you the power and presence of our Lord " Jesus Christ, but we did so as having been admitted " to be eyewitnesses" (eTroTTTat, initiated spectators) '' of " His Majesty." And of tliis he gives an instance — 2 K 514 Closing Testimony of namely, when tliey were with Him in the holy mount, and witnessed His transfiguration, and heard the voice from heaven declarincj Him to be the Son of God. St Peter evidently therefore regarded it as specially his own office, with the rest of the Twelve, to give testi- mony of this nature,- — that is, testimony derived from the evidence of the senses, — to the gospel of Jesus Christ. But what did he mean when he used the words, " But I will endeavour that also at all times ye " may have it in your power after my departure to " exercise the memory of these things " (o-TrovSacrco Se /cat eKacTTore e^etz^ v/xas /xera jy)v eixrjv e^oSop tyju tovtcdv fiurjixr^u TTotetcr^at) ? It is evident that we cannot in- terpret this of his writing the epistle, because it is something additional. Nor can it refer to something that he would do after his death ; for the argument is. My work is nearly ended, therefore I now write this epistle to you, and I will take other measures to secure that after my death the remembrance of these things shall not pass away. Whatever other meaning these words may have, — for indeed the purpose of all the ministries and ordinances of the Church is, first of all, to enable Christians in all ages to keep the memory of these things, — I cannot but think that the apostle had chiefly in mind that Gospel, in wdiich, according both to the tradition of the early Church and to the strong- est internal evidence, we have recorded by " Marcus *' my son," as St Peter calls him, the testimony of the leader of the Twelve to the facts of the life and death of Jesus Christ. And this view of the apostle's mean- ing is confirmed by his proceeding at once to speak of " the word of prophecy," the prophetical Scriptures of the Old Testament, as a light preliminary to the full dawning of the Gospel day. The inspired records of S^ Peter, the First of the Twelve. 5 1 5 the Old Testament are of great value, but the whole glory of the GosjdcI must be kept in memory in the Church by records, yet more precious, of the facts which confirm, and which are necessary to expound, what prophets of old have taught of the sufferings of Christ and of the glory that should follow."^^ But now let us turn from considering the general fulfilment of their Lord's instructions by the chosen Twelve, to that, of which we found so many indications in the acts and teaching of Jesus Christ ; I mean the organisation of the select and divinely endowed body. In this the only question that requires to be examined is that of the primacy of Peter. For we know too little of the history of the rest, to trace other results of the organisation after the Ascension, beyond the facts that James, one of the first four, soon was baptised with Christ's baptism of blood as the Lord foretold, and that John, also one of the leaders of the Twelve, appears several times with Peter in prominent action, and ulti- mately, after Peter's death and at the close of the apostolic period, shines forth with the glory of a new and final Revelation of Jesus Christ. The leadership of Peter however among the Twelve, which was assigned to him by the Lord Himself, was, we have found, very conspicuous in the early history of the Church. That Peter was the chief and leader among all those whom the Lord had ordained to be His witnesses is a fact which no impartial reader of the first eleven chapters of the Acts of the Apostles will * That the only possible meaning of i'xofiev ^e^aiorepov tov TrpocpriTiKov Xoyov is that which is implied in the explanation above, is I think evident from the fact that the word (Se'jSatoj with its cognate forms is in the New Testament used in the sense of confirming evidence by additional acts. See e.g., Mark, xvi. 20 ; Rom. xv. 8 ; Heb. ii. 3. And the New Testa- ment is also the eVtAvcns of the Old Testament prophets. 5i6 Primacy of Peter among the Twelve only question. And at the close of bis life, in his Second Epistle, as we have seen, lie comes forth to deliver his closing testimony, almost as if none but he, the chosen leader of the chosen Twelve, could fully deliver that witness. In fact, on the death of Peter, the Twelve ceased to exist as a body, though individual members, as St John, remained. Thus the primacy of Peter, as established by Jesus Christ, in that body which was originally constituted by the Lord is historically evi- dent : and the immense importance of that leadership, and also, we cannot doubt, of the general organisation of the Twelve, during the seven years when they were labouring together at Jerusalem and laying the founda- tions of the New Jerusalem, we may well understand. But the question which we have to consider is this, Did the primacy of Peter among the Twelve give him any authority, or even precedence, amongst those who in the other senses of the word were apostles % The nega- tive is proved by repeated, distinct, and conclusive instances, — conclusive, that is, to all who use Scripture, not to establish a preconceived theory, but as supplying the evidence from which the true constitution of the Church must be determined. It is evident for example from accumulated proofs that the apostleship of St Paul was in no respect inferior to that of the Twelve gene- rally, and of St Peter in particular, although he did not partake of their oflSce so far as it consisted in being an eyewitness of the great facts of Redemption. He dis- tinctly asserts his own independence of the Twelve, and his being of co-ordinate authority with them, as an immediate source of the Pevelation of Jesus Christ — however great other apostles were, " in conference," he says, " they added nothing to me." He founded, organ- ised, and superintended Churches, without any autliority in regard to their Special Ftcnctions. 517 from Peter or tlic Twelve. When Peter came to Antioch, Paul rebuked him publicly for unworthy con- duct in reerard to the Gentile converts. He declares that Peter himself, and the other apostles at Jerusalem, acknowledged that, even as Peter had received from Christ the apostleship of the circumcision, so had he received the apostleship of the Gentiles. And, as we have already seen, not only was Peter's work, as apostle of the circumcision, overshadowed by the greater labours of the apostle of the Gentiles, but his primacy among the Twelve gave him no priority even amongst those who not being of the Twelve, and not being apostles in the sense in which St Paul was, were the chief pastors of the Church. That James had the pre- cedence in the Church action at Jerusalem, that he then spoke as the representative apostle, can be denied by no one who has not to maintain the theory that Peter's primacy was universal. And if we are to con- clude that the fact of Peter's name always standing first among the Twelve, indicates, as it does, his primacy among them — we must also conclude, when James is named by St Paul first of the pillars of the Church at Jerusalem, that Peter had no primacy in regard to him. And if we infer that Peter was the representative leader of the Twelve from the fact, con- spicuous in the Gospel history, that he spoke and acted in their behalf; we must also infer, from St James at Jerusalem taking on himself to pronounce the decision on the question there discussed, that he held, with regard to that assembly of apostles and presbyters, a position of the same kind as was assigned to Peter amongst the Twelve. As soon therefore as Ave draw the distinctions neces- sary to be observed as to the apostolic office, and the 5 1 8 But indicated certain peniianciit Laws. special functions of the Twelve, \\'e have no difficulty in distinguisliing the true limitations of the primacy of St Peter. But we must not forget that, (as we have already concluded in considering the Gospel history), there were certain principles indicated in that primacy, which concern the permanent order and constitution of the Church, and which are very apparent as that order develops itself. One is a fundamental law of the kingdom, which, as we have seen in the apostolic history, determines the organisation of each Churcli ; namely, that the responsibilities of the pastoral office are a personal charge, and cannot be distributed. The other is, that, in the organisation of the Church, a certain order among those who hold the same pastoral office in its completeness is as necessary to its action as is a distinction of offices. James, the Lord's brother, presiding at Jerusalem the mother Church, stands out distinctly as first among many avIio held the same office with him. Paul, Barnabas, Timothy, and Titus, were all invested with the same pastoral office in its integrity, yet they did not hold the same rank. The importance of this principle however in the constitution of the Church cannot fully appear until its organisation is matured. 519 CHAPTER XVI. RELATION OF THE CHURCH TO THE OLD ECONOMY. The questions to be discussed in this chapter will bring us again to the border, if not within the limits, of the sphere of doctrinal truths, into which our argument it- self does not enter. But although the Church is con- stituted, as we have seen, for the development of the knowledge of truth, and not as the result of the de- velopment, and therefore its functions and order must be capable of being determined independently of doc- trine as distinguished from the one faith, — yet doctrines will so powerfully react upon the constituted order of the Church, that the very same order becomes modified in practice, and certainly assumes in the mind a very different character, according to the doctrine with which it is associated. It is therefore hardly possible to represent fully and correctly the evolution of the Church out of its primary laws, without occasionally touching on some doctrinal questions, respecting which the minds of Christians are much divided. It will be well however briefly to notice what is the origin, and what are the necessary limitations, of such differences amongst those who hold the one faith and profess to derive their doctrine, that is the exposition of the faith, from Holy Scripture. They originate in the very na- ture of spiritual truth, and the inherent incapacity of 520 T/ic Kmgdoni of Christ tlie liuniaii understanding to deal with it as with sub- jects that are strictly knowable by the human mind. We have seen that the faculty by which it is appre- hended is rather an iiesthetic perception than a logical process ; and the consequence is that the same truth, even when expressed in identically the same form, calls forth in the mind of one very different senti- ments from those with which it is associated in the mind of another ; and the same original truth also leads to different forms of exj)ression. The results will be legitimate consequences of the original underlying truth, or otherwise, according as the atcr^T^crts is true and rightly cultivated, or according as it is defective or vitiated. In dealing however with questions into the application of which Christian sentiment enters, as it does very largely into some on which we must now touch, it will be absolutely necessary to the complete- ness, and indeed to the very purpose, of our argument, to avoid drawing any inference from such sentiment, — whether we consider it legitimate or illegitimate, — be- cause it cannot be made the subject of reasoning, and therefore there can be no termination to discussions founded upon it. We must exclude all those influ- ences arising from the temperaments of men, whether common or personal — whether idola trihus or idola spe- cus, in Bacon's language — which hinder them from regarding the matter before them in a " dry light," antl lead them to determine theological questions not accord- ing to the evidence, but from religious feeling, which, although the surest of all guides when it is itself true, is by no means to be trusted in proportion to the vehe- mence of its own self-assertion. The necessity for these precautions will appear as we proceed. We have akcady noticed that the Idngdom of Christ, really the Kingdom of David. 521 of wliicli His Clmrcli is the present pliase and tlie re- presentative on earth, is not merely prefigured by the kingdom of David, but is the actual continuation and fulfilment of David's kingdom. Not only was David a figure of Christ, but Jesus was the Son of David. The theocratic kingdom is indeed the only organisation of the old economy that is perpetuated in Jesus Christ ; for the Levitical priesthood was but a foreshadowing of a higher office, and passed away, having fulfilled its purpose. But the kingdom, though it died down to its root, so as to be as to its organic life wholly con- tained in Jesus Christ, sprang up from Him in a new organic form, and in a higher sphere of human life, yet still the selfsame kingdom, even as man rising from the dead is identically the same man. It is therefore no mere metaphor that the Church is the kingdom of David. In it are already fulfilled the words of the angel to Mary, " The Lord God will give unto Him the " throne of His father David, and He shall reign over " the house of Jacob for ever, and of His kingdom " there shall be no end." The religious organisation, which proceeded from Christ as the Sovereign of this kingdom, we have traced from its first elements until it has grown into forms definite in their type, though not as yet wholly matured, or capable of being so, until the supernatural action which aided and determined their development shall have passed away. Some essential differences between this organisation of the kingdom of heaven and all which belonged to the old economy we have already examined. A new and spiritual law of succes- sion has superseded that of natural descent. Generally, in the kingdom of heaven we pass out of the sphere of law, determining by rules and what apostolic writers 522 But 710 1 like David's Kingdom call '' a carnal commandment," fenced in by prohibi- tions and penalties, into that of a divine order which is the expression and outgrowth of principles. And further inasmuch as this kingdom of heaven, although in the world, is yet not of the world, as its sphere of authority is in the spiritual life of man and not in those things which directly concern his temporal inte- rests, it differs from the original kingdom of David in leaving its own subjects also members of those earthly kingdoms which were ordained of God to be the min- isters of law, and subjects to law and to the authority of the State, even as other men are. Before passing to other questions, we may observe here how irrelevant certain arguments are, which are sometimes drawn from the Old Testament history, in which it is assumed that Christian sovereigns hold the same relation to jthe Church as David and Solomon, for example, held to the religious organisation of their day. For the kingdom of David was ordained for other pur- poses, and therefore with other functions, besides those which belong to the civil magistrate, as indeed the lan- guage of the Old Testament itself indicates. The earthly elements in the kingdom were" but temporary, and, as it is continued in Jesus Christ, it is not coinci- dent with the dominion of the civil magistrate at all, nor is it exercised in the same sphere of human life, nor has it the power of the sword. We must not confound together organisations which are essentially distinct, instituted for different purposes and on different princi- ples. Such confusion has led, at one time to tlie Cliurch claiming authority in temporal matters, at another to the State exercising power in spiritual things, and it is difficult to say which of these is more fatal to the liber- ties and best interests of men. For a divine ordinance. a Kingdom of this World. 523 when used for other purposes than those for which it is given, is in such use far from divine. There is indeed another view of the relation of the kingdom of David to the kingdom of Jesus Christ, which appears to be held in a general way by many C'hristians, and which deserves some consideration. While they allow that the Christian ministry and the civil power are distinct organisations, and that it is unchristian for the one to assume the functions of the other, yet they regard both as being parts of the same kingdom of Christ, at least when the civil power is Christian ; the kingdom of David being differentiated, under the new economy, into the Christian State and the Christian Church. But this theory, although it has much to recommend it to the mind, and is in some form or other peculiarly acceptable to English theologians, receives no confirmation from the teaching of Christ and His apostles. The fact that He has redeemed all earthly things, and that He is set as " Head over all " things," including all the kingdoms of the world, " to " His Church," does not make these co-ordinate with the Church or a part of the kingdom of heaven. The blessings and powers of that kingdom lie in a wholly different sphere, and it is instituted for different ends from those which are contemplated in the State. An earthly kingdom is the empire of law, the kingdom of Christ is the dominion of the Spirit, of life, truth, and love. The kingdoms of the world could become the kingdom of heaven only through a process in which their own distinctive functions should melt away and disappear ; in which love should be substituted for jus- tice, life for law, an inward spirit for outward rules. That such is to be the ultimate result of the Gospel dispensation we may conclude both from prophecy and 524 Christ's Kingdom, tmlike David's, from otlier considerations; but "we see not yet all things " put under Him." Whilst therefore all " the powers that be " are the ordinance of God and His ministers, in their own sphere, no less certainly than the apostles themselves were, and whilst we learn from the Old Testament that it belonsfs to sovereio;ns to " rule all estates and desrees " committed to their charge by God, whether they be " ecclesiastical or temporal, and to restrain with the " civil sword the stubborn and evildoers,"^' yet we must conclude that those only, who bear office in the Church according to its spiritual order, are the administrators of the kingdom of the Son of David, the purpose of which kingdom in its present phase is, as we have seen, to bear witness to the Truth, that is to Jesus Christ come in the flesh, the mystery of godliness. But here a question arises which the previous conside- rations do not enable us to solve. The Old Testa- ment teaches us that David and his son Solomon ordered the service of God, built the temple, and exer- cised a general authority in religious matters, their highest personal functions also being conspicuously reli- gious,— that of David as the Psalmist of Israel, of Solomon as the Preacher. But the distinctive religious organisation of the law, — the Aaronic priesthood, — was neitlier abrogated nor altered by the establishment of the kingdom of David ; nor had David or any of his successors authority to exercise any of the peculiar functions of this priesthood. Uzziah, presuming on his royal office to burn incense in the sanctuary, was pun- ished for his disobedience to the law. The services of the sanctuary were administered exclusively by priests of the family of Aaron. So that at first sight it would * Art. 37. possesses Sacerdotal Functions. 525 appear, that there could be no relation whatever be- tween the ministry of Christ's kingdom and a sacer- dotal economy. For, if the King of the seed of David were not by his office a priest, it would seem to follow that the kingdom of David cannot have priestly functions. This question is discussed and determined in the Epistle to tlie Hebrews. Jesus Christ was not a priest, in the sense in which the sons of Aaron were priests. He did not succeed to their office, as He succeeded to the throne of David. He came of a different tribe, " of which no man gave attendance at the altar." In- deed the law, under which they served, had no power by the sacrifices, that were offered continually, to make those who used it perfect. The repetition of the sacri- fices proved that there was no real propitiation for sin, nothing which could cleanse the conscience. A High Priest therefore, to be suitable and sufficient for man, must be of a different order. Such was Jesus Christ, who was consecrated for us, — according to the ever- lasting covenant, which preceded that on which Aaron's priesthood was founded, — to offer the sacrifice of Him- self once for all, through which sacrifice we are cleansed and sanctified to God. Of this the ceremonial offerings were faint adumbrations, but they had nothing what- ever of the reality. The Levitical priesthood could not be the seed out of which that of Jesus Christ was to be developed, but it must wholly pass away with all that appertained to it, in order that this new priesthood might be founded on other principles, and with higher promises, and by a different law. In Christ then the regal and sacerdotal office is united as it could not be in David himself. That in His Church also functions properly belonging to 526 Sacerdotal Acts tmder the Law. the priestly office are exercised, we might infer from the fact of His being the High or Chief Priest, which title implies a subordinate priesthood of the same order. And of this we are expressly assured by apostolic teaching. St Peter reminds Christians that they are " being built up, as a spiritual house, into an " holy priesthood, to ofler up spiritual sacrifices accept- " able to God through Jesus Christ;" and again that they are a "royal priesthood." St John says, "He *' hath made us a kingdom, priests to God and His " Father." '"' In order however to discern the force of such language, it will be necessary to examine with some care into the true and distinctive functions of the sacerdotal office. These are briefly summed up by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews in the following words ; t — " Every high priest, being taken from among men, is " ordained on behalf of men in those things that relate " to God, in order that he may offer both gifts, and " sacrifices for sins ; " that is, both offerings generally, and specially, under the Law to which the apostle is referring, sin - offerings. The office of the dp;)(te/3ev9 differed from that of the lepevs in some important particulars, but the writer's description applies generally to the sacerdotal office under the law. Now the Scriptural history of sacrifice sufficiently proves that the first idea in sacrifice, as is confirmed by the etymology and use by heathen antiquity of the word Ovoi, was that of an off"ering made to God, although the fact, that the highest offerings were eff'ected through the death of a victim, indicated even from the time of * Rev. i. 6. ^aaiXfluv, Upfls T Off fai Trtirpi aiiTov is the reading ot all the earliest MSS. ami versions. t Heb. V. 1. First, Expiatory ; secondly, Offerings. 527 Abel another truth underlying this, namely, the neces- sity of a propitiation for sin. This truth, which the consciousness of sin, deepening with every advancing age, in heathenism perverted into monstrous and un- holy forms, — it was the special office of the Mosaical law to unfold and expound. And it must be observed that the complete exhibition in the Mosaical economy of the propitiatory nature of sacrifice was simultaneous with two other developments, which were intimately connected with it and with one another. The first of these was the revelation of law properly so called, — by which the whole economy was governed, and which made the necessity for propitiation more apparent ; the second was the establishment of the Levitical priesthood, which was ordained with special reference to this expiatory purpose of sacrifice. " We may almost say " (the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews observes), *' that with blood all things are purified according to " the law, and that without pouring forth of blood " there can come no remission of sins." There was however another truth expressed in sacrifice, which appears before the law, and which heathenism also either inherited from primeval tradition, or learnt from religious instincts common to the human race, — ^that of communion with Him, to whom the sacrifice is ofi^ered, by eating of the sacrifice. So that, without entering into details, we gather that the office of the Levitical priesthood was instituted with reference to the three following elements in sacrificial actions. First, to the expiation for sin, made typically and ceremonially by the death of the victim and the shedding of blood. To this the Law gave new meaning and emphasis, especially, — as the Epistle to the Hebrews reminds us, — by the sin-off'erings for the whole people on the great day of 528 TJiirdly, Eating of the Sacrifice. atonement, when tlic liigh priest entered into tlie holy of holies with the blood of the sacrifice ; by which it was intimated, that the way into the presence of God must be opened for sinful man by an atonement offered and presented by one consecrated by God Himself to the office of high priest. Secondly, to the priestly office it belonged to present to God the free-will offer- ings of men ; through the ministry of the priest the people offered their gifts on the altar : and, especially, the daily and other periodical burnt-offerings through priestly ministration represented the dedication of the whole people to the service of the Lord, and the smoke of the sacrifices ever rose up as a testimony before God. Thirdly, the priests who ministered in the sanc- tuary ate of all the sacrifices for sin \\A\\i one solitary exception, namely, that sin-offering the blood of which was carried in within the veil. The words with which Moses rebuked the sons of Aaron for neglecting this part of the priestly office, are instructive ; " Wherefore," he said, "have ye not eaten the sin-offering in the " holy place, seeing it is most holy, and God hath " given it to you to bear the iniquity of the congrega- " tion, to make atonement for them before the Lord \ " '"' There were indeed some sacrifices of which others besides priests partook, such as the peace-offerings and the paschal lamb. But neither of these were offerings for sin, and the latter (as we have seen t) was not a sacrifice in the true sense of the word, inasmuch as no offering was made to God therein. It is unnecessary here to discuss the teaching of the New Testament as to the fulfilment of the functions of the office of high priest by Christ Himself. It is sufficient to observe that in one respect they arc so ♦ Lev. X. 17. t I'arl II. Chap. XL, p. 172. Propitiation for Sin completed by Christ. 529 fulfilled, as in the nature of things to be wholly incapable of being either continued or renewed. The inadequacy of the Levitical sacrifices as an expiation for sin was proved by their repetition : the reality and sufficiency of Christ's one propitiatory sacrifice of Himself by its being offered once for all. Human language indeed cannot explain, nor human thought compass, what atonement for sin is ; every attempt to render it intelligible to the human mind on the theory of com- pensation, or of the self-sacrifice of love, or any other, must utterly fail, even as every attempt to explain the mystery of sin itself fails. It is a spiritual fact, the nature of which it transcends the powers of finite minds to explain further. But whilst the meaning of the truth transcends human thought, yet the truth itself, as a spiritual reality, is so fundamental to the Gospel of Christ, that it must necessarily determine all development both in Christian doctrine and in Church life, and also must affect and modify all Christian language. The office of the priest and the act of sacrifice, under the law, were so intimately and in- separably connected with the idea of propitiation, that we might expect that these terms would not be trans- ferred to Christian ministries and ministerial acts, without considerable modification, and without such explanation as should secure against a misinterpretation which would be contradictory of Christianity itself; namely, that the sacrifice of Christ, once offered, was not a sufficient atonement for sin. If this is borne in mind, we have very little real diffi- culty in discovering the relation between the organi- sation of Christ's Church through its ministerial offices, and that of the Jewish economy through the Levitical priesthood. For, first of all, the fact that Jesus Christ 2 L 530 Nroerthelcss the Chiwch has made, once for all, complete satisfaction for sin has completely put an end to the distinctive feature of the Levitical system, which was to exhibit the necessity for some further sacerdotal act to enable man to have access into the presence of God : as regards the atone- ment for sin all Christians are equally priests, and the offerings of each disciple need no priestly act beyond that of Jesus Christ to make them acceptable to God. But we must remember that the truth, that Christians are " a royal priesthood," no more hinders that sacer- dotal functions should belong to certain members through whom the priesthood of the whole body should be exercised, than the promise, made to the children of IsraeP^' before the Sinaitic covenant, that if they obeyed God's voice they should be unto Him " a kingdom of " priests," was affected by the institution of the Levit- ical priesthood for its peculiar functions. The argu- ment often drawn from St Peter's language, as if it contradicted the priestly character of the Christian ministry, proceeds on the false assumption that all Christians hold the same office : when we once admit that there is one body but many members, the sacer- dotal character of the kingdom of Christ must be allowed to afford the strongest conceivable proof that the ministerial functions exercised in the body must be sacerdotal functions. For the priesthood of each Chris- tian concerns only his own relations to God through Jesus Christ : it gives him no functions with regai'd to others. But office in the Church implies, as we have found, authority to act as the representative of others, and as the instrument of the organic acts of the body of Christ : and to deny that such acts are sacerdotal is to deny that Christians are a priesthood. This essential * Exod. xix. 5. 75 a Kingdom of Priests. 531 character of tlie apostolic ministry was evidently in St Paul's mind, when he used strictly sacerdotal language to describe his labours. He reminds the Eomans,'"' that the grace of God was given him, in " order," (he says) " that I should be the minister" {keirovpyov) " of Jesus " Christ to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest" (tep- ovpyovvra) " the Gospel of God, in order that the offering {npoacfyopa) " of the Gentiles may be acceptable, being " sanctified in the Holy Ghost." And when elsewhere t he speaks of the preaching of the Gospel by him as a " sweet savour" to God, it is an allusion either to in- cense, which it was the office of the priests to ofier, or, as is much more probable, to the sweet-smelling savour of the sacrifice of Christ which the knowledge of Him, communicated by His ministers, causes to rise up to heaven. Further, as the prayers and praises of all Christians are really sacrifices, being ofiered through Jesus Christ, therefore the ministerial act of him, who according to his office is the voice of the Christian con- gregation, is a real sacrifice : and, as we present our bodies to God as a living sacrifice, therefore the minis- terial act by which our bodies are consecrated to God in baptism must be in some sense a sacerdotal act. The oflice of the Christian priest indeed, as we have seen, is not based on law nor fenced in with prohibi- tions, yet it is part of a holy order for the fulfilment of the purposes of that kingdom, which is sacerdotal in its very nature. And St Paul therefore, without reserve, compares the ministry of the Gospel with that under the law. " Do ye not know," he asks the Corinthians, " that they who ofier the sacrifices" (ra lepa epyalpixevoi) " eat of the things of the temple : that they who wait " at the altar are partakers with the altar ? Even so * Rom. xiv. 15, 16. t 2 Cor. ii. 14-16. 532 TJiis Priesthood both Personal and Ministerial : " hath the Lord ordained that they who preach the *' Gospel should live of the Gospel." '"' The argument from the analogy would have no force, unless the offices compared were the same in kind, however great the change may have been in passing from the ministry of the letter and of condemnation to the ministry of the Sj)irit and of righteousness.t The personal priesthood of all Christians, and at the same time the ministerial priesthood of those who are ordained to bear office in the Church, are in no act of the Christian life so distinctly exhibited as in the Lord's Supper, which is indeed the most complete image and expression of that life. AVe have already seen that this rite was instituted by Christ as the actual continuation in the kinodom of lieaven of the Passover. That ordinance was not so much a sacrifice as a participation with a sacrifice, and it was antecedent to the Aaronic priesthood and to the giving of the law. But the idea of expiation was undoubtedly included in the Passover, and was represented by the blood sprinkled on the lintels in its original institution. Its very name, Pesacli, expresses the effect of the expiation in the passing over of the destroying angel. And although the Paschal rite, and not any Levitical sacrifice, was the root out of Avhich the Lord's Supper sprang, yet the analogy between tlic Christian ordi- nance and the Mosaical rites is distinctly marked in apostolic writings. St Paul \ expressly compares our participation of the bread which we break, and the cup which we bless, — of the Lord's table and tlie Lord's cup, ■ — witli the act of those in " Israel after the fiesh,' wlio eat of the sacrifice, and thus partake of the altar. * 1 Cor. ix. 13, 14. t CI". 2 Cor. iii. 9. i 1 Cor. X. 17, 18. as illustrated in the Lord's Supper. 533 Indeed the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews carries the argument still further, and reminds us that, whilst under the law even priests were forbidden to eat of that sin-offering the blood of which was taken within the veil, we all partake of the body and blood of Him whose blood is taken into the true sanctuary, and who bore the curse upon sin, suffering on the cross without the gate."' It will be observed however that these passages, in which no impartial mind can fail to recog- nise a parallel between the Lord's Supper and the Jewish sacrifices, refer to those acts in the Christian ordinance in which all alike partake. But whilst all expiatory acts have been once for all accomplished by Jesus Christ, the one High Priest, and whilst those acts of eating and drinking, by which the sacrifice of the death of Christ is represented, are com- mon to all Christians, who are therefore more truly priests than any who served under the law ; yet when the Lord's Supper is regarded as being, what it certainly is, an organic act of the body, the ministerial functions, which in the nature of things must be performed by one for all, are undoubtedly sacerdotal. These func- tions consist, we have seen in considering the institu- tion,! in blessing, breaking the bread, and giving to all the bread and cup as the body and blood of Christ. And evyapicnia is of itself a sacrifice ; breaking the bread, and distributing the bread and wine, were acts of Jesus Christ Himself, our High Priest, in regard to His own sacrifice of Himself, and therefore are far more truly sacerdotal than any performed by the Levit- ical priesthood. There is no necessity for imagining that of which Scripture contains not the remotest trace, the institution by Christ of a distinct sacerdotal * Heb. xiii. 10-12. t Part 11. Chap. XI., p. 170. 534 Christian Ministry compared luith Lcvitical. order to perform sacrificial functions, as the law made priests; the Christian ministry derives its sacerdotal functions on different principles altogether. The min- ister of the Gospel possesses tliem because, on the one hand, he is appointed to act in behalf of Him who is our High Priest, and who by His one sacrifice of Him- self has taken away our sins ; on the other, because he is ordained to be the organ by which the corporate action of the Church, which is a kingdom of priests, is exercised. In this question, which I have endeavoured to state in all its breadth as Scripture itself represents it, the spiritual truths, which pervade and quicken the sub- ject, are regarded by different minds in very different aspects, and give rise to the widest conceivable differ- ences among Christians. To discuss these differences would be wholly beside the present argument. I would only observe that all questions, both as to modes of expression, and as to contrasts or analogies with the Mosaical economy, must be governed and determined by two principles ; first, the sufficiency of the one sacri- fice of Christ as the propitiation for sin ; secondly, the reality of the ministry of reconciliation ordained by Christ. These two principles are often brought into contradiction witli one another in human teach in jr. The Church of Christ is constituted on both. There is another point of comparison between the Levitical and Christian ministry on which St Paul touches in a passage which has been already quoted,'' as proving that the analogy was, in the mind of the apostle, more than a figure of speech. The Levitical min- isters, he reminds the Corintliians, lived of the Temple ; they were supported from the various sources of rev- * See p. 531, supra. Christian Ritual. 535 enue that came in to the Temple ; and it is Christ's ordinance that the ministers of the Gospel should in a similar manner live of the Gospel. The latter expres- sion is one of large import ; there is nothing whatever to limit it to the free-will offerings of individuals, called forth by preaching the Gospel to them. It represents the whole effect whicli the Gospel produces on man, which is as truly expressed in endowments for the sup- port of the ministry, and in the action of Christian States, as in the voluntary gifts which from time to time are cast by individuals into the treasury of God. Another subject, which in the opinion of many be- longs to this question of the relation between the two economies, is that of the ritual of the Church. It ap- pears to me however a mistake to place the cjuestion of Christian ritual on this ground. In fact from the first we have seen that new forms would be needed for the new life, and the nature of these cannot be determined by that of the old forms. There is no need to compli- cate the question by comparisons which can only lead to uncertain or false results. But I may here make all the remarks on the subject which our argument re- quires. We have already found the fundamental ele- ments of Christian ritual in the acts and teaching of Christ and His apostles. They consist first in the Lord's Prayer and the ordinances of Baptism and of the Lord's Supper, instituted by Christ Himself ; then in the apos- tolic lajdng on of hands ; in a form embodying the one faith contained in "the name of the Father and of " the Son and of the Holy Ghost ; " and in the obser- vance of the first day of the week as the memorial of the resurrection. Out of these all true Christian ritual must be developed, and it is merely suitable clothing for these elementary types. But as we are examining 53^ Foimdcd 0)1 different Principles into the true constitution of the Church, and not into any variable or accidental forms which may he evolved out of this constitution, no ritual beyond that which is essentially a part of this constitution belongs to our present subject. Eitual, in its ordinary sense, bears the same relation to its fundamental elements men- tioned above, as the whole system of Cliristian doctrine bears to the one faith. In each case, it is the Christian aLcr$rj(TL7 (jycovavTa avverol(Tiv, intelligible only to those who had a heart to understand. But this reason for using em- blematical language in His public teaching is evidently not intended as the complete explanation of the pur- pose of Christ in adopting it. He undoubtedly knew that this class of truths could be represented to the disciples themselves more fully and suitably in this form, than in any other : the relations of His kingdom indeed have much in common with those of the natural life of man ; and the images used, being more perfect representations of the realities than any such images can be of those things that are purely spiritual and heavenly, are therefore more prolific of truth and less liable to be misused. At all events, whatever reason may be assigned for the fact, it cannot be disputed that Jesus Christ did, both in His teaching as to His Church and in the acts by which it was founded, express by symbolism principles which when developed by His apostles assumed a different form. AYe need not be surprised therefore when we find, in the final Revela- tion given by Jesus Christ to His servant John, the mysteries of the kingdom again embodied in syml^olic forms. And it would be well if those, who question completed in the Revelation. 547 the value to the Church of the symbolism of the Apocalypse, would ponder on the answer given by Jesus Christ to His disciples, when they asked why He spoke to the multitude in parables. Is it not equally true, — we might even say more emphatically true, — of the Apocalyptic teaching, that to the humble and reverent disciple it is the revelation of heavenly mysteries, whilst to others it is only a veil that conceals them from their view ; " seeing they perceive not, and " hearing they do not understand " \ We may notice a further resemblance between the teaching of Jesus Christ by parables, and that which we find in the Apocalypse ; I mean, that sufficient explanation of the symbolical language is at first given, as is given of the parables of the sower and of the tares in the field, and we are then left to apply to the rest similar principles of interpretation. It is indeed from that portion of the book in which most of the symbols are translated into other language, that our conclusions will be drawn. Another peculiarity in the book, besides its symbo- lical language, is the symmetrical and so to speak artistic structure of the whole. It is indeed the per- fection of symbolism to use natural forms and images artificially, and not, as in a picture, to group them naturally ; for thus the emblematic meaning of the whole is more apparent. And for the same reason, in all such representation, the symbols are often incon- gruous, and more or less unlike the natural objects themselves, in order that the mind may not lose the idea itself in the form that represents it. But the artistic structure of the book answers also another purpose. It corresponds with a philosophical classifi- cation in any branch of natural history, which classi- 54B C/uirck Life the Basis and Sphere fication is not merely an artificial aid to the memory, but gathers together under several heads with due arrangement and subordination those objects or phe- nomena which are most truly related to each other, by the aid of resemblances such as ordinary observers perhaps may not notice, but which really connect together things externally very different. When we proceed to examine the Apocalypse care- fully, we are met by the very notable and significant fact, that its basis and its sphere are Church life. It opens with an address to *' the seven churches which " are in Asia." These are symbolised in a vision, in which the Son of Man appears walking in the midst of seven golden candlesticks, or lampstands, and holding in His hand the seven stars ; and the stars are ex- plained to be the angels of the seven churches, and the candlesticks to be the seven churches. This final Re- velation of Jesus Christ therefore presents Him to our view as the Royal Priest superintending and ordering a Church system. The seven Asiatic churches are evi- dentl)^ taken as a microcosm and miniature representa- tion of the Church universal, a specimen selected as the type of the whole. To these the whole book is addressed. In reference to them the Spirit of God is represented in the symbols of the book as sevenfold, as seven lamps of fire burning before the throne of God, and seven eyes of the Lamb in the midst of the throne. And at the conclusion of the book, the divine Revealer says that those thino[s which are revealed are testified in the churches (eVl rat? e/c/cXr^crtat?), the churches on earth being the sphere in which the things would come to pass. AVe need not here dweU on the emblematical de- scription of these representative churches, and of the of the whole Revelation. 549 portraitures of Church life given in the seven epistles addressed to them. These pictures of the Church sys- tem as fully developed at the close of the apostolic age, and recognised by the testimony of Christ himself as the legitimate representation of His kingdom, will require a separate and most careful examination, for here, if anywhere, Ave shall find the crown and top- stone of our argument. From earth, when all Church life had been thus portrayed, and the sentence of Jesus Christ had been passed on its several features of good or evil, the Seer is taken up in Spirit to heaven, and there he beholds a very different scene. On earth the Church had been exhibited as a human organisa- tion, blessed with the presence, and governed by the authority, of the Son of Man, its Lord and High Priest. But in heaven the manifestation of Christ in His Church appears free from all sin, infirmity, or error, in those typal forms in which only the Spirit of Christ is embodied, and His mind only reflected. In the in- nermost court of heaven is seen the eternal and self- supporting Throne, from which spring the seven foun- tains of the Holy Ghost and of fire, by which the Church is baptised, and which kindle the light of its seven stars. Eound the divine Throne are seated on subordinate and dependent thrones the four-and- twenty Elders, the senate of heaven, the heads and representatives of the whole family of the redeemed, of that General Assembly and Church of the first-born whose names are enrolled in heaven, unto which Chris- tians have come.^^' In the midst of the Throne, which is also the seat and source of life in all its forms, is a Form which in visions of prophets had never before * Heb. xii. 22, 23. 550 Ideal Representatio7is of the appeared : " A Lamb as it had been slain, having seven " horns and seven eyes whicli arc the seven Spirits *' of God sent forth into all the earth." He receives divine honour and worship from the heavenly host, from the redeemed, and from all creation, and alone is able and worthy to open the book of the divine pur- poses and read them. This emblem of the Redeemer exalted to the right hand of power has in its main features been reflected in Christian thought to the present day. But it ought to be noticed that it represents not simply Jesus Christ Himself, but Christ in His kingdom which is personi- fied and contained in its sovereign. In the prophecies of the Old Testament the kings or kingdoms of this world, — for a kingdom can only be personified in its king, — were symbolically represented, as different king- doms still are in modern language, by emblems taken from the animal creation. Babylon was a winged lion ; Persia a bear ; Greece a leopard ; Rome a monster with teeth of iron. And Judah was a lion, and, as the kingdom of David is perpetuated in Jesus Christ, He is " the lion of the tribe of Judah." But His emblem as sovereign of the kingdom of heaven is a Lamb, not like the emblems of worldly power standing on the earth, or coming up out of the sea of men's tumultuous passions, but standing in the throne of God. The fundamental truths of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the actual subsistence of the whole kingdom of heaven in His sacrifice, are represented in this emblem far more^vividly and more completely than mere words could express them. And while the Paschal Laml) is entlironcd in heaven, on earth the Passover is kept in His Kingdom. To this Sovereign of the kingdom of heaven it Conjlicts and Triumphs of the Church. 551 belongs to open tlie sealed book, and in successive symbolic scenes the divine purposes and their results arc gradually" unfolded. In these scenes different typical forms, the correspondence of which with the teaching of Christ and His apostles is sufficiently obvious, represent the various conditions, and the con- flicts and principles, of His Church. Out of the twelve tribes of Israel, a typical number, 144,000, are sealed with the seal of the living God. They are preserved through aU the severest trials, and at last aj^pear as a great multitude that no man can number, gathered out of every nation and tribe and people and tongue, and clothed in robes washed in the blood of the Lamb, with the palms of victory in their hands, and praising God and the Lamb for their salvation. In another scene the Temple of God with the altar and those that worship therein is measured by divine authority. The outer court is left unmeasured and rejected, being given to the Gentiles, who, during a typical period, tread the holy city under foot. Mean- while, during the same period, God's two witnesses prophesy, clothed in sackcloth; and although put to death, even as their Lord and Master was, dm^ing a brief symbolical period, they rise from the dead and ascend to heaven in the presence of their enemies. Again, a woman is seen clothed with the sun, and with the moon under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars upon her head. She is " the mother of all them " who keep the commandments of God and the testi- " mony of Jesus Christ." She is persecuted by a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, each of its heads being crowned with a diadem. Her son, who is hereafter to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. 552 Relation between the Heavenly is cauglit up to God and His throne. The woman, who flies into the wilderness, is persecuted with her chiklren through a typical period, but is preserved by the providence of God, who makes the earth itself to aid her against the enemies. Meanwhile, during all these conflicts in which the several t}q3es of evil which assail the Church appear under various symbols, the Lamb stands on Mount Sion, and with Him the 144,000, the redeemed of the Lord, without any stain of earthly pollution, praising Him in spiritual songs which none but they can learn. Lastly, when all conflicts are accomplished, New Jerusalem, the city of God, the mother of us all, is seen coming down from God out of heaven, as a bride adorned for her husband. The glory of the city is as the glory of God ; on her twelve gates are the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, and on the twelve foun- dations of her walls those of the twelve apostles. In the city are all spiritual blessings proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb, and into it nothing can enter that defileth, but only they who wash their robes."' I have already intimated that the interpretation of these symbolical scenes is unnecessary for the purposes of our argument. Indeed, the more we meditate upon them, and contemplate the realities here revealed, the more deeply must we feel that no human interpreta- tion can be adequate to exhaust their meaning. But two points will be noticed by every thoughtful stu- dent— first, tluit there are many indications that tlie * Rev. xxii. 14. "^aKapioi ot liKvvovm ras erroXar airwv. Tlie restor- ation of tliis readinfj, which is that of the Sinaitic and Alexandrian MSS., is one of the many advantages which would be derived from a revised text of the New Testament. and the Earthly Types. 553 Church is, notwithstanding the infirmities of its mem- bers and the mixture of good and evil in its elements, the earthly representative of the heavenly realities ; secondly, that those in the Church, who are in spirit that which they profess to be, alone in the divine mind are the substance of the Church. Thus, whilst the twelve apostles are the foundations of the New Jeru- salem, as of the Church on earth, and the seven stars of the Churches correspond with the seven fountains of fire before the throne, and the city here set on a hill is the earnest of that which is to come, and the temple of God built up by the ministry of the word is the counterpart of the true sanctuary, — yet there is no mingling of good and evil in the heavenly ideals. A comparison of the epistles to the seven churches with the vision described in the seventh chapter sufiiciently illustrates both the connection, and the distinction, between the earthly and the heavenly types. In the former, the Israel of the New Testament is exhibited in its earthly form, with its trials, imperfections, and sins ; and promises of spiritual and eternal blessings are given to each one who overcomes. In the latter, those out of this Israel, who are indeed the elect of God and sealed with His seal, are prophetically repre- sented as having gained the victory and enjoying the blessings. We must now return to that with which our argu- ment is concerned in this book of divine symbols, the representation which is here given of the Church of Jesus Christ on earth, the scene of all those conflicts which are to issue in a universal reign of truth, right- eousness, and peace. 554 CHAPTER II. THE SEVEN CHURCHES. /. — TJie Angels of the Churches. The symbols which are employed in the opening vision of the Apocalypse to represent the Church system there portrayed arc explained by the divine Revealer Himself, and we ought therefore to be able to determine their meaning without having recourse to any doubtful conjecture. But one part of the explanation itself is at first sight ambiguous. In the vision seven stars are seen in the right hand of the Son of Man, and the interpretation given is that "the seven stars are the " angels of the seven churches." Now the word ayyeXo?, though used ordinarily in Holy Scripture of those celestial spirits who are the messengers of heaven, yet of itself implies nothing more than one to whom a message is intrusted, and in that sense is used of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ."^ The correspond- ing word in the Hebrew is used by the prophet Malachi, — whose own name means "INIy angel," — of tlie priests of the old dispensation, and of Jesus Clu'ist Himself, as the messenger of the new covenant.! To ascertain therefore whether here we are to understand heavenly spirits, or men to whom, as to John the Bap- * Matt. xi. 10 ; Mark, i. 2. f Mai. ii. 7; iii. 1. The Stars Instr^iments for stipplyiiig Light. 555 tist and the priests under the law, this title is given as the ministers and messengers of God, we must look a little further both into the emblematical representation and into the interpretation which is supplied in the epistles to the churches, each of which epistles is ad- dressed, it will be observed, to the angel of the church. In the symbolical imagery, it is not at once obvious what is the connection between the stars in the right hand of the Son of Man, and the seven candlesticks. We must not indeed be surprised at the apparent in- congruity between stars and candlesticks : such incon- gruities are, as I have observed, necessary to the very perfection of symbolism. But the incongruity must be in the natural forms, not in the ideas they symbolise ; and the purport of the vision being to exhibit the Son of Man superintending and ministering to the golden candlesticks, — as Aaron ordered the lamps on the candle- stick in the sanctuary,^'' — and the stars being not a mere accessory and incidental detail, but a main ele- ment in the representation, how do these subserve the purpose of the vision \ The only answer that can be given, as it appears to me, is that the stars are the in- termediates between the Son of Man who holds them in His right hand, and the light in the golden candlesticks to which He ministers. That is, they represent the means tlu'ough which He supplies and maintains the light. We have already observed also that they are evidently related in the imagery of the book with the seven lamps of fire before the throne, which are the seven spirits. They are indeed expressly associated with them in the epistles : " These things saith He that " hath the seven spirits of God and the seven stars." Again, when we turn to the epistles to the churches, * Levit. xxiv. 3, 4. 556 The Angel the Persona EcclesicE, we find that the angel in each church, who is one re- lated to it as the star is to the candlestick in the symbols, is addressed as being j^ersona ecclesicc, one in whom the personality of the Cliurch is represented, even as in the prophecies of Daniel, and elsewhere, the kingdoms of the world are represented and personified in their kings. The angel is not the Church, nor is the Church the angel. Yet the epistle to the Church is addressed to its angel. In him its character, its excellencies, its sins are so reflected, that all the responsibility centres in him. His acts and the acts of the Church itself, — that is, not of some members but of the Church corporate, — are so identified that they cannot be sepa- rated. The angel is to the Church what the head is to o the body, of which it is the chief member, but one with the other members in all corporate acts. Now we may safely aftirm, that neither in the sym- bolical representation, nor in the exposition of the sym- bol in the epistles, is there a single point which is con- sistent with the angels of the churches being heavenly spirits, or which is not satisfied by understanding them to be men who are sent of God to be His min- isters in the Church. Indeed that they are not the angels of heaven is sufficiently indicated, one would think, by the direction given to St John to luj^ite to them. A written revelation, — and it must be observed that throughout the Apocalypse much stress is laid on the book being a written record,"*' that is, Scrii^ture, — is intended for men, not for heavenly spirits. But far more fatal objections lie behind this. The idea of angels, in the ordinary sense of the word, being inter- posed between Jesus Christ and the Church, as the * Cf. i. 3, 11, 19 ; ii. iii. (rtp ayye'Xw ypa^ov) ; x. 4 ; xiv, 13 j xix. 9 ; xii. 6 ; xxii. 18, 19. Not a Heavenly Spirit. 557 medium for communicating the light of His truth, as those through whom He teaches and governs His Church, and whom He addresses as one with the Church in a common corporate life, is not only destitute of any support from the New Testament, but is directly at vari- ance with its teaching. The angels of heaven are indeed ministering spirits sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation ; but not in the sphere of the spiritual life of man. The dispensation of the law was by the ministry of angels ; the economy of the Gospel, in which the man Jesus Christ is Lord, is through the ministry of men.'"" Besides which, these angels of the churches are subjects of the responsibilities and duties, the infirmities and sins, the trials, temptations, and pun- ishments, of which men are subjects ; they are in a state of probation, hearers and receivers of Christ's word, liable to self-deceit as to their spiritual condition, and capable of repentance. They are therefore men of like passions with us, redeemed by Christ, and living under the dispensation of His Gospel ; indeed it is a contradiction and absurdity to suppose that any but men could be identified, in regard to their works, with the churches, which are human societies. It is hardly ne- cessary to add anything else to these conclusive proofs ; but I may observe further that only on the supposition of the angels of the churches being men, are the epistles addressed to them of the slightest ethical value to our- selves. Indeed the theory of a " guardian angel " of each church, responsible for the spiritual condition of the church, and therefore in some sense determining that condition, and yet out of the reach of our human- ity, with no common ties and relations, is a demoralis- ing theory ; far worse than fatalism, because the being, * Cf. e.g., Heb. ii. 2, 5, 16 ; Gal. iii. 19 ; Acts, vii. 53. 558 The Personality of the CJnirch who is supposed thus to form the spiritual character of the Church althougli it is not in corporate union with him, is both fallible and sinful. The whole Gospel would have to be rewritten on such a theory, and all the promises made to Christ's Church to be reversed. On the other supposition of the angels of the churches being men sent of God, as were John the Baptist and the priests of old, the whole is consistent with the rest of the New Testament and with itself. We must however examine carefully into the truth which is here represented, and trace its connection with the funda- mental laws of the oro-anic life of the Church. The question has been often raised, whether, and how far, a body corporate, a nation, a church, can be said to have a conscience, and the attributes of personality, when it is composed of distinct personalities."^' It is certain however that both in Holy Scripture, and in the common language of men, we find this personifica- tion of human societies, with the assumption that moral responsibilities belong to them, — in other words, that there is a common and corporate will by which corpo- rate acts are determined. Such a common will may be considered as being, in mathematical language, the resultant of the wills of the various members of the society, according to the force which each possesses. But the will is not a mere mechanical force ; a public will is not merely a result ; it reacts powerfully on the wills of individuals, and directs and modifies these, as if it had a separate existence of its own. In fact, it is in a society as the truest philosophy teaches us that it is in every individual ; the will is not merely the re- sultant of all subordinate motives, but it controls and regulates these, and ultimately is self-determined. * See Part III. Chap. XIII., p. 434. truly represented in its Bishop. 559 Now tlie angel of tlie Cliurch is that person who holds such a relation to the Church that he truly re- presents its personality, being by his office the personal exponent of its common will, and thus determining its corporate acts. In the State, the king is the personifi- cation of his kingdom, in such a sense that all corpo- rate acts of the State are acts of the sovereign ; and this is true not only in a despotism, in which arbitrary caprice takes the place of public will, but much more really in those governments in which the personal will of the sovereign, and the will of the community, are brought into harmonious concurrence by reason and law. But in the Church the relations of the members of the body corporate are more intimate, and the repre- sentation therefore of the Church's acts in one person is more complete. To understand this we must revert to principles as to the organisation of the Church which we have before concluded from the teaching of Christ and His apostles. We have found, from the first reve- lation of the Church as a society in the words of Jesus Christ,"^^ to the last acts and instructions of St Paul in his pastoral epistles, that the true organisation of the Church is by the responsibilities of the apostolic office being personal, and by each person who is invested with its functions becoming a centre of organic life, his action, however affected by the action of other mem- bers, being ultimately self-determined. The one person to whom, as to James in Jerusalem, to Timotheus in Ephesus, to Titus in Crete, the pastoral charge of the local church is committed imder Christ, both possesses in their entirety the functions of the ministry ordained by Jesus Christ, and is empowered to convey them to others. All the functional and administrative action * See Pai-t II. Cliap. III., p. 102. 560 He and the CJmrch have comjuon Responsibilities. centres in liim, as that of the State does in the sove- reign, however the positive exercise of powers of government may be limited in certain directions by the laws, that is the fixed order, of the Church. The cor- porate acts of the Church are his acts, and he is far more really responsible than any ruler of the State can be, because the first purpose of his office is to inform and to direct, by the Word of God, the consciences of those who are intrusted to his charge. For that end he is also endowed with powers and gifts of the Holy Spirit, which, unless he suffers them to lie dormant, cannot fail to exercise a mighty influence for good over the conscience, the extent of this influence indeed being only limited by his own faith and by the objects for which his office is instituted. So that he is really, and not by some fiction, responsible for the spiritual condition of the church intrusted to his charge, and his own char- acter will necessarily be reflected in the acts and state of that church. And there is this immense difi'erence between the relations of such an one to the other mem- bers of the Church, and that of the " guardian angel " of which some dream ; that whereas, in the latter case, the influences would be something behind the scenes and beyond our reach, in that relation which really exists in the Church the influences are such as act on the minds of men Ijy moral and reasonable motives, in accordance with the principles of man's rational being ; exercised by one who is subject to the same sins and temptations with ourselves, and a partaker of the same salvation ; who is also himself really a member of the body, and therefore as certainly influenced by the other members as he influences them. The relation being mutual, the responsibilities which grow out of that rela- tion are necessarily common. '' Angehis" another form of '' Apostolus!' 561 An analysis of the principles underlying the lan- guage of the Apocalypse, leads us then to the conclu- sion that in each church being addressed through one person, who is responsible for its acts, it is implied that, according to the true organic structure of the Christian Church, each local church which forms an in- tegral unit of the whole body has one who, by virtue of his office, personifies and represents that Church. To this hio'h office in the Church the title of " ana^el " is given in the mystical language of the Apocalypse — not as if such were the technical title of the office — Reve- lation deals not with names but with realities ; but be- cause it expresses the fundamental idea of the office. The word ayyeXo? diffijrs from aTrocrroXo? only in the idea of the mission being more prominent in the latter, that of the message to be delivered in the former. The latter term was more appropriate, therefore, for those whose mission was received directly from Christ, and whose testimony to the faith needed the confirmation of signs and wonders, as proofs that they were sent by God; the former more suitably describes those who, though no less truly commissioned by Jesus Christ, yet are conspicuous rather by their message of mercy, than by any visible proofs of their divine mission. The symbolism of the vision is entirely in accord- ance with this office of the messenger of God to man. For it is through the ministry of those to whom the Gospel is given in trust as the message of truth and love, that the Church is enabled to be the light of the world. Through these stars, who are appointed to be like their prototype John the Baptist " burning and shining lights," Jesus Christ replenishes the flame on the candlestick of His Church, the light in tlie stars being itself derived from the seven lamps before the 2 N 562 Ecclesiastical Title unsuitable here. throne, the seven Spirits of God. We need not inquire what else may be implied in the emblem : in the in- terpretation of symbolism the one thing needful is to lay liold of the leading idea which is represented. I would only observe in conclusion that the ordinary ecclesiastical designation of the office symbolised in this vision would have been unsuitable and insufficient as the interpretation of the emblem. An epistle to the Bishop of the Church in Ephesus would have been a personal address to the individual, as St Paul's epistles to Timotheus were ;'"' the epistles to the angels of the churches address them as the representative persons of the Church. And although the ayyeXos is emphatically a person, and to explain it as a body of pastors would be not only to do violence to the language, but to contra- dict a fundamental law of the Church's organic life, yet so far as others partake, in their several measures, of the functions of the apostolic ministry which one holds in their entirety, so far are they also included. In- deed, so far as every member of the Church contributes, according to his office and spiritual gifts, to the com- mon work of the Church, so far that which Christ says to one He says to all — " He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." II. — Tlic Clmrclics and tlu Cliurcli. In examining the spnbolical representation of the Cliristian Cliurcli in the vision of the seven golden can- * It may be observed, however, that the identification of the Bisliop with the Church is an idea which the Christian mind soon recognised. Thus tlie epistle of Clement, Bishop of Rome, to the Corinthian Church, is entitled, " From the Cliurch of Cod which is in Rojue." The epistle of Ignatius to Polycarp, " Ijishoji of tlie Church of Smyrna," contiins in- structions to the whole Ciiurch, as well as to the bishop himself. But it is only in idoal huigunge that llie iilentification can be complete. TJic CJmrch a Caiidiestick. 5^3 dlesticks, the first question which presents itself is obvi- ously this, AVliat is the purport of the particular symbol which is here taken to represent the Church \ Elsewhere the Church is a temple, a body, a city, a kingdom : and each of these forms points to certain purposes, rela- tions, or conditions of the Church. The temple, for example, represents it as that in which God is present to be worshipped; the body, as the fellowship of Christians with Christ and with one another. But the golden candlestick (I use this word for Xv^via in default of any other at all suitable) evidently exhibits the Church in a different aspect from all these, as a divine ordinance for holding forth the light of life. The symbol carries us back to the elementary teaching of Jesus Christ as to the first principles of His kingdom. " Ye," He said to His disciples, " are the light of the world. A " city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither " do men light a candle Q\.v)(yov) and place it under " the bushel, but on the candlestick {\v)(yiav) : and " it giveth light to all that are in the house. So '* let your light shine before men, that they may see " your good works, and glorify your Father which is " in heaven." Thus the first teaching of Jesus Christ as to the ofiice of the Church as a visible body, and the last revelation of His mind are the same. The Apocalypse only exhibits the original truth in its com- plete development. This office of the Church, to be the framework on which the light is set, evidently includes that which St Paul describes, when he speaks of the Church as " the pillar and gi'ound of the truth." But the light, both in Jesus Christ's teaching, and in the Apocalyptic vision, is more than faith and doctrine. In the Sermon on the Mount it is to shine forth in good works, which 564 The true Type of the Church given here. men may see, and glorify God. In tlic Apocalypse every epistle from Him who watches over the light in the golden candlesticks commences with the words, *' I know thy works." These works, however, it will be found on examining the epistles, include all acts by which the faith of Christ is asserted, and purity of doc- trine maintained, or the contrary. Indeed, in the life of the Church, whose office it is to witness for Christ, such acts are pre-eminently its works. Another question, which naturally arises as to this portraiture of Church life, our previous investigations will also enable us to answer completely. It may be asked whether this portion of Holy Scripture merely describes the actual Church system which existed in Eoman Asia at the time when the epistles were ad- dressed to the Christians there, or whether it exhibits the true normal type of the Church's organisation. If the former were the case, we could merely conclude that such a form of Church life was possible and legitimate, but that it might be only one form amongst many. But all the conclusions which we have deduced from the acts and teaching both of Christ Himself and of His apostles have pointed in one direction ; they have indicated fundamental principles of organisation, which have gradually developed themselves into forms, becoming more definite as we proceed, in perfect ac- cordance with those laws of development which science itself determines. We have also found that Christ Himself directed His disciples to a time not far dis- tant, within the lifetime of some of them, — for wliich He specially intimated that the life of St John would be prolonged, — when the kingdom of God would come with power, and His Church would take on earth the place of the Old Testament polity. We have also in Distinctions in the CkiLrck only Territorial. 565 the Apocalypse itself the most emphatic indications, that the scene portrayed, however true historically, is typical, a representation of typal forms of Church life. We cannot therefore but conclude, that we have here depicted the very forms into which the elementary principles of Church life must necessarily grow, unless they are hindered by some counteracting influences ; that here are revealed by Him, without whom nothing was made that is made, the true results of that Genesis of His Church which began in His incarnation and was completed in His revelation. During those days of the new creation all things were being constituted in due order, until the work was accomplished. When we now turn to contemplate the scene pre- sented to our view, in order to discover the true normal type of the Church's constitution, one conspicuous fea- ture of this Church life at once strikes us, as being in- timately related to principles which we have already examined ; I mean that the several churches are local or territorial. The practice of distinguishing each sepa- rate portion of the universal Church by the city or country in which it was planted, is common in the writings of St Paul ; indeed his rebuke of the Corin- thian Christians for calling themselves by party names is a condemnation of the principle which any other dis- tinguishing title would imply. Diff'erent modes how- ever of describing the local churches are found in the New Testament. We find, " the church in Jerusalem;" " the church through the whole of Judoea ; " " the *' church of God that is in Corinth ; " " the churches of " Galatia," " of Judsea," " of Asia," " of Macedonia ; " " the church of Thessalonians," " of Laodiceans." In the Apocalypse we find "the churches in Asia," and (according to the best MSS.) each of the local churches 566 Catholicity and U)iity is the church in the city in wliich it is planted. It appears therefore that when the churches in a country are spoken of as a whole, they are often called the churches of that country ; otherwise the preposition is generally used which implies local habitation. The force of one of the other forms we shall consider here- after. But all the titles equally imply, that in the same place there is but one community which is the Church ; one golden candlestick of the Lord ; one star in His right hand. And the identity of the society in every place is expressed by its having everywhere the one name common to the whole and to every part, " The Church.'' This latter peculiarity in the consti- tution of Christ's kingdom is one with which we are so familiar that we do not observe its significance ; but there is nothing analogous to it in an earthly kingdom, and it evidently indicates a fundamental diiierence be- tween the organisation of the Church and the State, which we shall have to consider. The principles which are most obviously implied in this description of the Church are its catholicity and its unity, which indeed, as we have observed in another part of our argument, are but different forms of the same principle.'"' The conclusions, which we then drew from the truth that there is one body and one faith, follow e(|ually from the Apocalyptic language. For, in order that a society, — in Ephesus, for example, — might be truly called " the Church in Ephesus," two condi- tions are essential : first, that all things necessary in order to be a Christian shall be required of a man to be a member of that society ; secondly, that nothing shall be required for this beyond that which is neces- sary f(jr a Christian. For without the first, the society * Tart III. Cliiip. XTTT., p. 450. of the Church. 567 might include those who are not Christians ; without the second, it would not comprehend all who are Chris- tians. And by " Christians/' — or in the language of the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, " disciples," — are meant all who are brought into the state of sal- vation by baptism and the confession of the faith, and are not authoritatively excluded from that state for open and notorious sin, or do not separate themselves from the communion. No community, fellowship in which is not open to all men on the common basis of Christianity, can claim the title of tlie Church in such and such a place. This question, it will be observed, is distinct from that of the organisation and order of the Church, although it is intimately connected with it, because the Church as an organised body is the ap- pointed witness to the faith, and the guardian of it. And the stars in Christ's right hand are His angels or messengers in the Church and in them the Church is personified. But we must not encumber the simple idea of the Church, as the communion of those who are consecrated to Christ, with the question to whom the spiritual charge and the government of the flock are committed by Christ. We must however examine the principle of the unity and catholicity of the Christian Church from another point of view, to which the Apocalyptic description directs us. We have observed that whilst, in the lan- guage both of Christ Himself and of the apostles, the whole body of disciples or Christians everywhere is spoken of as "the Church," yet apostolic writers speak of Christians in a particular country as " the Churches " in that country. But whenever they would describe the body of Christians in a single city, — even in Jeru- salem where, shortly after the day of Pentecost, there 568 Developed Organisatio7t of the Church were five tliousaucl disciples, — it is always " the " Church," never " the Churches," in that city : the use of the singular indicating that common corporate life of Christians dwelling in the same place, which is represented in the office of one possessing all the per- manent functions of the apostolate. Every part of the universal Church, when thus completely organised, be- comes itself a Church, one of the units of which the whole is composed, even as every world in the univer- sal cosmos of nature is itself a cosmos. And, we must observe, this combination of the Christians in one city into a definite body, and the distinction of the several bodies, — the diff'erentiation of the Church into the Churches, — was a process necessary according to the fundamental laws of all development of organic life. At the same time the separation was no division, — which would be dissolution not development, — because the Churches still were the Church, the several bodies were one body, and through the apostles all these several local societies, — each being comj^lete in itself, — were mutually related and interdependent one on the other. But as the original apostles, whose functions were not limited to any portion of the Church but uni- versal, passed away, how was this connection and mu- tual relation of the Churches to be maintained ? One answer is obvious; I mean, by all being under one Lord, Jesus Christ, by all partaking of one Spirit. But those, who have followed our investigation of this sub- ject in the teaching of Jesus Christ and His apostles, will want no additional proof, that the Son of ]Man exercises His authority and produces results in His kingdom through human instrumentalities and agen- cies, in a manner suitable to the nature of man as a social being. Those who imagine eftccts in Christ's as suggested by Laws of EvohUion. 569 Church without means adapted to produce them ima- gine a monstrous and unnatural condition of the Church, not the body of Him who was made man. But have we not, in the Apocalyptic representation of the Church, indications of that developed organi- sation, which would be the result according to the laws of the Church's organic life of the original apos- tolic body passing away, and would take the place of that body in its constitution 1 Undoubtedly we have ; and however obscure such indications may seem to many, — even as to superficial observers of nature its most certain laws appear but indistinctly indicated, — yet to those who have carefully followed the argument from Scripture they will be perfectly clear and sufii- cient. It may be added, that they are entirely in con- formity with those conclusions to which w^e should be led by deduction, if to this question we should apply those laws of evolution which are necessary in all exist- ences that fall within the range of human knowledge. Indeed it will be useful to consider what these conclu- sions would be, before we examine farther into the meaning of the apocalyptic language. The first law that is necessary, in the evolution or development of any such existence, is that it shall be effected through processes of concentration. For ex- ample, the progress of the human race in civilisation has been by families — the family being the true natural unit of human society — being united in the local community ; civil communities in the state ; petty states in the empire. And the mode by which these several processes are effected, and the forms in which they result, are decided by external circum- stances, under the influence of which the principles in human nature, which tend to such unifications, de- 5 70 DdcrDiincd by Social and Political Relations. vclop liuman society. Our argument throughout is, that those powers acting on man which tend to unite him in Christian fellowship, although in their source they are supernatural, yet affect him in no unnatural manner, but must issue in processes subject to the same fundamental laws of development, as those which govern the results of forces which are strictly natural. Let us observe then how far we have traced in the history of the Church the operation of these spiritual forces. We have seen that their result has been to produce in every city a Church united under one head, — the Church being there the representative of the universal Church, the presiding pastor of the apostolate. But what has determined this definition and limitation % Not merely the local proximity, but also, undoubtedly, the social relations of those who are united in the same civil community. It is the Church, not only " in Thessalonica," but " of Thessalonians ; " not only " in Laodicea," but " of Laodiceans." That is, the relations of civil society, though in themselves external to those of the Church, yet being part of that human life the whole of which is redeemed by the Son of Man, do so far direct the processes of the Church's development, that a completely organised Church, composed of the citizens of one city, is their first result. Now, as soon as the next process in the development commences, that is, when the same tendencies to Christian fellowship as have formed these local Churches go on to produce combinations amongst these Churches and to gather them into groups for the purposes of Christian society, we should expect to find the civil and political relations of men similarly directing the process, and determining the particular combination This Organisation represented Symbolically. 571 which Avould be assumed in this next stage of de- velopment. This conclusion, to which we are led by deduction from principles already established, is confirmed so distinctly and emphatically in the Eevelation of Jesus Christ, that it could not have been overlooked, as it is by most expositors, if the question of the true organisa- tion of the Church had been examined by them scien- tifically. The seven Apocalyptic Churches, though recognised by all thoughtful students of Scripture as representative Churches, are generally treated as if they had been taken at random from all parts of the world; and yet, if the only object had been to repre- sent in them the universal Church, it would have been much more distinctly eff'ected by such Churches as Rome and Corinth, Antioch and Babylon, Jerusalem and Alexandria, being united with Ephesus. But the Churches grouped together in the Revelation of Jesus Christ are not Churches scattered here and there over the world, but the Churches in Asia, that is, in the Roman provincial division, united under the government of one proconsul, to which the name of Asia was given by the Romans. Of this Roman province Ephesus was the first and greatest city, the metropolis of Asia ; and, as such, Ephesus has also a priority among the seven Churches. In other words, the provincial organisa- tion of the Church, — the province and its metropolitical city being determined by civil and political relations, — is here recognised by Christ's own authority as the true and legitimate development of the kingdom of heaven. There are, however, other considerations, necessary to the complete exhibition of this truth, which the Apoca- lyptic language very distinctly suggests. For the Apocalyptic Churches, although they are designated "the 572 The Church of the Province is the *' seven Churches that arc in Asia,"'"" were assuredly not the only Churches in that populous province, in which, in the first century of the Christian era, there were some five hundred cities and towns. But the num- ber seven was necessary for the symbolism ; and these seven are therefore taken as representatives of all the Churches in Asia. The full significance of this mystical number in the symbolism of Scripture it is unnecessary here to discuss ; but one peculiarity in it bears directly on our argument, and it is so distinctly indicated, that nothing is left to conjecture; — I mean, that a sevenfold division is not only consistent with unity but in this case expressly implies it. For in the Apocalyptic language the Holy Spirit, who is personally one, and expressly and emphatically One Spirit in the One Body, the Church, is yet united with the Father and with Jesus Christ as 'Hhe seven spirits before the " Throne ; " and is symbolised by seven lamps burning there, and by the seven eyes of the Lamb, " which are " the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth." The seven Churches in Asia therefore answering to this sevenfold Spirit, — the seven candlesticks to the seven lamps, — are the one Church of the province of Asia, even as the seven spirits are the one Holy Ghost. And similarly the seven angels, the seven stars in the right hand of the Son of Man, are not seven indepen- dent bishops, but one episcoj^orumi collegium. We are thus led alike by deductive reasoning, and by the suggestive symbolism of the Apocalypse, to this larger unification in the Church's organic life, namely of the Churches of the cities in the Church of the province. And it is now evident that this Church, the Church of the province, and not the local Church, — the Church * Tiiii iirra (KKkr^aUin Tan tv Tij Aaia. co7nplete Type of iJic U}iiversal CJmrch. 573 of tlie diocese in our language, — is the true and complete microcosm of tlie universal Church. For though the com- munity of Christians in one place, with its bishop and presbyters, is in itself a complete organism, so as to be really the Church in that place, yet by itself it can neither maintain its own organic life nor fulfil all the ends for which the Church is ordained. Jesus Christ's own acts and teaching indicated the necessity of united action ; He constituted not isolated apostles, but an apostolic body; the sphere of spiritual power is enlarged, He teaches us, in union. In the apostolic history the necessity for united action on a larger scale than is possible in each local Church has been exemplified in the assembly of apostles and presbyters in Jerusalem, and other facts and principles, established in our investiga- tion of the history, have pointed in the same direction."^^ And, whilst the local Church by itself is incapable of fulfilling these conditions, the Church of the province contains all the elements necessary for this united action, and is therefore a complete type of the whole body. The federal union however of the local Churches must be such as not to enfeeble their internal organisa- tion, but such as to strengthen it and render it more distinct and definite; for otherwise it would be no true development ; besides which, each local Church having as its representative head one with all the permanent functions of the apostolic ofiice, and there being no ofiice, under Christ Himself, higher than that of the apostle, no new combination can create any new func- tions, however it may extend the sphere of action. These conclusions are in entire accordance with the symbolical representation. The seven stars, which are the angels of the seven Churches, are in the right hand * See, e.g., Part III., Chap. XIV., p. 483, 506. 574 College of Bishops in a Provi)ice. of tlie Son of Man. No office is interposed l)ctwccn Him and them. He addresses each of them singly and personally. And yet He holds them in His right hand, not as isolated individuals, but as a body corporate, " the seven." As being an organic body, there is an order amongst them as among the original twelve apostles, and one, the angel of the metropolitical Church, stands first. But there is no angel, or representative head, of the Church of the province, as of the local Church. And further it must be noticed, that in this representation the organic life of the Church is com- plete quite independently of John the representative of the original Twelve. He appears nowhere in the sym- bolism : his office has now become exclusively that of the medium through which the Revelation is made, and the instrument by which it is recorded for the instruc- tion of the Church. It would be impossible for words to express, as gra- phically and accurately as is here represented under symbols, the transition from the original constitution of the Church under the twelve apostles to the per- manent form, in which the same office and order continue, whilst the results of the special functions of the Twelve are perpetuated in the records of Holy Scripture. The original typal form of the apostolic body, with Peter always first and chief yet holding no office different from the rest, now, when the organisa- tion is matured, reappears in the " angels" of the Churches in one province, with one 'primus inter jxtres, the bishop of the Church in the metropolitical city.''^ * It is not the purpose of this work to examine the actual fulfilment, in the history of the Church, of the principles (letemiined from the New Testament ; l)ut I cannot help oljsorvin^' that the laTif,'uage of primitive Christianity reflects with wondrrful accuracy not only llio other principles which we are examinin.i^, l>ut especially that of civil and political circuin- The Change of Strticture needs Explanation. 575 But before we leave this subject of " the Churches and " the Church," as illustrated in the Apocalypse, there is one question, of vital importance to the organic life of the Christian Church, which we must carefully con- sider. It is evident, that, in the extension of the Church's organisation beyond a certain limit, that is, beyond the sphere of the local Church which is the unit in the general organisation, there is a change of structure, for which we ought to ])e able to account from the fundamental principles of the kingdom of Christ, Up to a certain point, the administration is in the strictest sense personal ; the proof of this, and the principles which establish it as a fundamental law of the kingdom, have become more apparent and have accumulated, as we have proceeded, and they have culminated in the Apocalyptic portraiture of each local Church, represented in its angel. But as soon as we pass from the smaller organism to the Church of the province, the personal element in the administration disappears, and we find confederate Churches with a certain primacy (it seems) recognisable in one, yet with no representative head of the whole body except the Son of Man Himself How is it then, that whilst the personal element is essential in the local administra- tion, in the larger combination it is no longer neces- sary or admissible % We might indeed content ourselves with saying that as Jesus Christ instituted the aposto- late, and no office superior to that of an apostle, but merely a primacy of order among apostles, it was there- fore impossible that the corporate union of Churches, the representative heads of which all hold the same apostolic office, should resemble the corporate union of stances determining the form Avhich the organisation of the Clinrch would assume. See, e.g., Canon Apost. xxvii. ; Can. Antioch. ix. 5/6 TJic Jiighcst Mi7iistry in tJic Kingdo7n is tJiat those, who are members of the same body but with different functions. We cannot indeed reason from the one case to the other. And yet the answer, though it may seem sufficient, is not really sufficient, because it makes the constitution of Christ's kingdom rest on that, which unless it were required by the fundamental prin- ciples of that kingdom would be an arbitrary appoint- ment. We must ever bear in mind that the kingdom of the Son of Man is no artificial system, nor need we suppose that the form which it assumes is determined by mysterious and unapproachable counsels of an un- fathomable Will. The laws of the constitution of the Church are derived from the nature of man and the spiritual principles of the Gospel of Christ; and to obey those laws aright, we must not regard them as mere rules, but must apprehend their spirit and meaning. Indeed, the necessity of the law in the organisation of the Church, which produces this change of structure, is very apparent when we examine into its meaning. Some simple and yet very sufficient reasons at once pre- sent themselves. The law, however complicated and artificial its action may seem, — even as the operation of some law of nature appears to the unscientific mind in- tricate and inconsistent with itself, — is nothing but the expression of very obvious and very necessary principles. Of these the first is, that, in the kingdom of Him who is the Saviour of men, the highest function is, from the very nature of the kingdom, the pastoral care of the souls of men. The faithful servant, as described l)y Jesus Christ, is one to Avhom authority is committed in the household, for the purpose of giving to each his portion in due season. Greatness in Christ's kingdom can only be in proportion to the spiritual service ad- ministered to others. So distinctly and emphatically exercised by Christ Himself on Earth. 577 is this truth asserted, both by Christ and by His apostles, — for example by St Paul, who, when he would magnify his office, describes it as the ministry of reconciliation, and who declares that the one work for which he was sent was to preach the Gospel, — that some have con- cluded that there can be no office in the Church higher than that of the presbyter, or eVto-AcoTros of the second order ; because, they imagine, all the functions neces- sary for the ministry of souls are possessed by him. But such a conclusion is entirely at variance with those which follow from the history and teaching of the New Testament. Jesus Christ called on His apostles to fol- low Him in the ministry of souls, and taught them by His own example that this ministry includes the calling, appointing, sending forth, and overseeing, of those who are themselves pastors of souls. He, who is the Shep- herd and Bishop of our souls, proved that these are really spiritual functions, directly bearing on the salva- tion of men, and necessary to the complete ministry of the kingdom. But Jesus Christ's example proved also that there can be no higher office, because He Himself when on earth exercised none other in His own ministry. Dur- ing His lifetime the Twelve did not themselves possess the power of calling, sending, overseeing other pastors. After His ascension, their functions were those which He exercised during His earthly ministry, no less and no more. We are thus led to the two conclusions, which, however they may be obscured by misapprehen- sions and false reasonings, follow inevitably from the New Testament, — first, that the office of the bishop, in the ecclesiastical sense of the word, is necessary in the Cliurch in order that the example of Christ may be followed, and all the functions of His ministry exer- 2 0 578 Government when extended not Spiritual. cised ; secondly, that this office includes all the func- tions which can be vested in one man. And, if we require a further reason for this law, we may observe that whatever functions of the apostolic office are of an administrative nature, such as the exer- cise of discipline, " setting in order the things that are wanting," and the general government of the Church, these cease to be spiiitual functions, because they cease to be personal, when they exceed a certain limit. The government of a family by the father of the family is in the highest sense personal ; his personal influence is, or ought to be, exercised on every member of the family. The archaic king, whose government was truly pater- nal, and whose personal judgments were instead of law, were kings on a very small scale indeed. But when the sphere of administration is extended, it can no longer be really exercised by a person, although it may be the expression of a personal will : it becomes a government through a curia, a bureau ; or, if the liber- ties of those who are governed are to be preserved, a government by law, and therefore not personal. In the Church, the only government that is really spiritual is personal. Although law is necessary wherever tem- poral interests are involved, yet the government ceases to be spiritual in proportion as it is a government by law. On the other hand ecclesiastical authority, without law, degenerates into the worst form of tyranny, unless it is the result of the conscience of those who are governed being brought into harmony with the conscience of him who governs, for which personal in- fluence and intercourse are necessary. In short, that which limits the sphere of office in the Church, and renders it impossible that there should be Limits determined by Maris Natural Powers. 579 a higher spiritual office than that of the bishop of a local church, is the simple fact that there are certain limits to those human powers which have to be exer- cised in the cure of souls, and in administrative func- tions. Not only do the latter become unspiritual when their sphere is enlarged, but they soon encroach upon the higher and more purely spiritual sphere, until he who ought to be in the hio-hest deo;ree a minister of the Gospel of Christ has neither time nor spiritual energy left for those functions which are really apostolical. Unhappily we are in modern times so familiar with overgrown dioceses, that when the time of a bishop is almost wholly occupied with the accidents of govern- ment, instead of his being able to give himself contin- ually to prayer and the ministry of the word, we seem to consider this the natural result of his being raised to high office in the Church ; whereas, unless there were some departure from the true apostolical consti- tution of the Church, the very contrary would be the case. But, if this is the result of merely increasing the size of an eVtcr/coTrrJ, how much more injurious to the spiritual life must be an extension of the sphere of the functions of government ? The evils arising from an overgrown diocese may be remedied, at all events, by subdivision ; but the ecclesiastical government of a province, much more of a larger sphere, is false in prin- ciple, and destructive of the true character of the apos- tolical office. The complaint of him, who lamented that his spiritual life became more impeded and en- feebled, as he rose from one dignity in the Church to another till as Pope he had, as he supposed, charge of the whole Church, argued no doubt his own spiritual consciousness ; but it proved also that the system, the 580 Polity within these Li^nits Monarchical. tendency of which was to produce this effect, could not really represent the kingdom of heaven, but is in the nature of thincjs unchristian. It may be objected to these arguments for the neces- sity of a limited sphere for the pastoral office, that the original apostles had no limited charge of souls, but their commission extended over the whole flock of Jesus Christ. The sufficient answer is, that this peculiarity in the exercise of their apostolic functions was required for the first establishment of the Church, and in the infancy of the Church did not involve the same danger of the ministry of souls being absorbed in the functions of government. The peculiarity was limited by the lives of the first apostles, who possessed special quali- fications as the eyewitnesses of Jesus Christ, and supernatural powers, in which those who succeeded them did not participate. How completely St Paul fulfilled the true ministry of souls by personal inter- course with all, is evident from his address to the Ephesian presbyters and from his epistles. '' Ye know," he says to the Thessalonians, "how we exhorted and " comforted and charged every one of you, as a father " his children." But even St Paul, with all his gifts and powers, speaks of " the care of all the churches " * as a burden too heavy for him to bear, although the churches then founded by him were but a few in Asia Minor and Greece. And the fact, that, as the churches increased in number so that the apostle could not him- self frequently visit them and hold personal intercourse with all, the cliarge of each was intrusted to one eVio-KOTTos, is of itself sufficient proof of the necessity * 2 Cor. xi. 28, fj (TriaxxTTaaU fiov rj Ka&' rjfitpnv, Tj Hfpifiva naaiov tuv (kkXtj- aruov. Observe it is not, fj firuTKnitr] naawy r. i. Even St Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles, did not claim this, nuicli less St Peter. Beyond than that of Confederate States. 581 for such limitations in the permanent organisation of the Church. The general conclusion then to be drawn from this argument, — and it is a conclusion of the highest value, — is this ; that the development of the Church of Christ must follow a different line from that which determines the development of any earthly polity, on account of the spiritual functions of the highest office possible under Christ in His kingdom. In a *' kingdom of this world " it is not only consistent with its interests, but expedient for its government, that there should be throughout a subordination of its parts, and a corre- sponding gradation of offices, each being dependent on the one superior to itself, until they all culminate in the sovereign. But, in the true constitution of the kingdom of Christ, office, for the reasons which we have investigated, cannot exceed the limit which the Apo- calyptic portraiture of the Church indicates, — that is, the kma-KOTTy] of a local church. Beyond that limit the law, expressly marked out by Jesus Christ Himself in the apostolic body, is a primacy among those who hold the same office, not giving to one any spiritual charge over his brethren, but necessary for the organic action of the Church in those legislative or administra- tive functions which cannot be, consistently with the principles of the kingdom, exercised by one person. Within the limits determined by the natural powers of man, the polity has the form of a monarchy ; beyond those limits, there can be no sovereign but One who is God as well as man, and the administration on earth must be through the union of confederate states, with such organisation as may be necessary for the purpose of united action. One further question here I would rather suggest 582 Larger" Combinations indicated, than attempt fully to discuss. The Apocalypse carries us as far as provincial organisation, and no further. Are \vc therefore to conclude that each province ought to be in all matters independent and self-contained ; that there can be no larger combinations because this is the largest that the Revelation describes? This would be a very rash conclusion, and to adopt it would be to interpret the Revelation as one of mere facts, not of principles. For the same principles which produce organisation in one province not only may, but must, tend to other and higher combinations. And in exam- ining the structure of the typal apostolic body,''" we found it to be not merely one body with one primus, but a body with three divisions, in each of which one apostle stands always first. That is, there was both a lesser and a greater combination of those who form the units of the Church system. But it must be remem- bered that the larger combination, that is any that is larger than the provincial, cannot alter the units which are to be combined; for there is no represen- tative person of a province as there is of a diocese. And, further, there is not the same kind of necessity for the larger combination, which there is for that of the churches in one province, because the primary com- bination of churches in one province supplies all the united action necessary for the maintenance of the organic life. There is however one form of unification to which the principles we have investigated very distinctly point. If the civil and political relations of men deter- mined the dioceses and provinces of the primitive Church, as indicated in the Apocalyptic language, we may be well assured that the relations of national life, * Part II. Chap. II., p. 77. especially that of a National Church. 583 which, especially in modern society, arc the most pow- erful of all except those of the family, would legiti- mately produce an association of the churches in that nation or kingdom in one national Church. And any attempt to produce unifications, in which national relations shall be neglected or violated, indeed which shall not be directed and determined by national relations, is an attempt to constitute the Church on other principles than those of the kingdom of the Son of Man. But this question, and especially the modifi- cations which would be necessary in the application of the principles indicated, open a large field of inquiry upon which I cannot enter. ///. — Church Life and its Gonfiids. We must now return from the larger combinations in the organisation of the Church to its primary organism, the unit in all combinations, namely, the local church symbolised by a golden candlestick with its star in Christ's right hand, which is the angel of the Church. And we pass now from the emblematical re- presentation to the seven epistles, which, though clothed in typical or ideal language such as Jesus Christ often employed in His earthly ministry, yet describe actual scenes of Church life, the real actions and characters of men. They bring us also into the sphere of personal responsibilities, and really spiritual functions, that is, such as deal directly with the consciences of men. But, although Church life and the personal spiritual life are intimately related, yet they are not identical ; and for the present we must confine our attention to the former of these, reserving for future consideration the question, undoubtedly an important one to our argument, of the relation between them. 584 Church Life represented in tJic Epistles. We have already observed that these epistles are addressed to the auf^jel, Christ's messenorer and minister in each church, as the representative head of the local church which is actually personified in him. They are not merely pastoral epistles, although the duties of the pastoral oftice are nowhere more completely ex- pounded : but this is done indirectly, being the obvious conclusion from the j^i'inciple assumed in the epistle, which is that the works of the angel and of the church, the state of the ano-cl in the sig-lit of Clu:ist and that of the church, are identical. For this is not merely a convenient device for representing the cor- porate acts of a church ; the unity in the body of Christ is not a fiction but a reality with the most solemn responsibilities underlying it. The identifica- tion by Him who is the Truth means that, according to the true organisation of His kingdom, the relations between the bishop and those committed to his .charge are such, that the church is responsible for what its ayyeXo? is and does, and he is responsible for that which it is and does. The exceptions to this rule, when, from the want of suflicient time and opportunity, or from some defect in the organic action, the one has not so afi'ected the other that they are brought into har- mony, really prove the general principle ; and, as I have observed, the language of the epistles is ideal ; that is, it is the exponent of the laws of the organic life, not of eff'ects due to obstacles to the action of these laws. The main elements of that Church life, in which, through the action of all the members of Christ's body according to their several offices and functions, the Church as a whole is truly represented, have been largely illustrated in the history of the apostolic Church even from the days when the Holy Spirit Described in the Acts of the Apostles. 585 was first given. In those days we found this life in vigorous action, manifesting itself in earnest adherence to apostolic teaching and by a loving fellowship of saints, on the one hand in the breaking of bread and the prayers, — the spiritual sacrifices of God's sanctuary, — on the other in ministering freely of their worldly goods to the necessities of brethren. The discipline, by which those Avho lied to the Holy Ghost were cut off from the Church, awakened in the rest a holy con- sciousness of the sacredness of their calling in Christ ; whilst the appointment by apostolic authority of faithful men, full of the Holy Ghost and qualified to labour in the word and doctrine, strengthened and en- larged the Church. The quickening gifts of the Spirit, ordinarily bestowed through prayer and the laying on of the apostles' hands, filled the body with energy. We observed also, in examining the life of the first Christians after the day of Pentecost, that two powerful principles were in combination ; first, the vitality of every part of the body, secondly, the authority of those to whom the apostolic ofiice was intrusted. The sub- sequent history of the Church, and the epistles of St Paul, especially the pastoral epistles, have exhibited Church life gradually developing itself under the in- fluence of these two antithetical principles into a more distinctly organic and corporate life, which the seven epistles to the churches now represent in its ideal completeness, as the action of one body in him who is the persona ecclesice. In this corporate Church life, the concurrence of the whole body is more evidently neces- sary for some action than for other; yet there is none for which co-operation and reciprocity of action among the members are not required, so that the responsibility, though never ceasing to be personal to him to whom 586 CI lurch Discipline. the charge of the Church is intrusted, is yet always common to all. The several results of the faithful or the defective exercise of the powers committed to the angel, and of their neglect, — in other words the moral and spiritual state of the several churches, — it would be beside our present purpose to investigate. But there are some points which directly affect our argument, and which we must carefully examine by the aid of those prin- cijDles which have been determined from the teaching of Jesus Christ and His apostles. 1. The angel of the Church in Ephesus is commended " for that," Jesus Christ says, " thou canst not bear evil " men." The word here rendered " bear" (/Sacrrao-at) does not mean to "tolerate" or " endure ;" which in one sense is a Christian duty. It implies that evil men were a burden, an incubus, which the Ephesian Church by its angel cast off from itself. This indicates that the commendation refers especially to the exercise of Church discipline, by which they put away from themselves the wicked person, as the Corinthians were directed to do by St Paul. And this, as we have seen, involves the exercise of judgment to distinguish between differing cases ; to determine when an offender may be restored in the spirit of meekness ; when tares must be left to grow with the wheat until the harvest, and when stumbling-blocks must be removed. And then what amount of separation is expedient both for the offenders and for the Church. In this exercise of judgment, and in the sentence that sliould follow, we have also found that whilst the ultimate responsil^ility rests with one, the co-operation of all is required. Indeed, in nothing is the reality of the union between the several members of the Church more strongly illustrated tlian in regard Especially as regai^ds Falsehood, 587 to the exercise of discipline. However deeply the pastors and rulers of the Church may be convinced of the value and necessity of discipline, yet, if they would exercise it effectually, it must not be by issuing autho- ritative judgments from a solitary throne, but through awakening the consciences of Christians by God's truth to a sense of their responsibility in regard to other men's sins. The commendation of Jesus Christ can only be obtained by the united action of the body, to the whole of whicli, as St Paul reminds the Corinthians, these responsibilities belong. 2. These evil men are, as we gather from the epis- tles, not only those whose presence in the Church is injurious through the evil example of immoral lives, but also and especially those who by false teaching cor- rupt the Gospel of Christ. This false doctrine may be what is commonly known as immoral doctrine ; that is such as openly allows or even stimulates licentious- ness : and such possibly was much of the false teaching of this apostolic age. But to argue that the false doc- trine against which Jesus Christ and His apostles warned the Church is merely such as avows its own demoralising tendencies, is to affirm that all the warn- ings as to the insidious disguises, the " sheep's clothing," in which false prophets conceal themselves and appear as ministers of righteousness, are needless and not to be regarded. False doctrine may indeed be discerned by its fruits : but fruits are sometimes long in ripening ; and the standard (given by Christ in His Sermon on the Mount), by which these good and evil fruits may be distinguished, is a far higher standard than that by which man measures morality, — higher than the very letter of the law itself. It would be easy to show, for example, from St Paul's Epistle to the Galatians, that 588 Different forms of Falsehood. false doctrines may be very moral in tlicir apparent tendency, whilst tlieir true fruits are breaches of the whole spirit of the law of love. The fact of their hav- ino[ a show of riahteousness does not make them less false or less pernicious, but on the contrary more dan- gerous and more really subversive of truth. Indeed all unholiness has its root in falsehood. — The several forms of falsehood, under which all principles antagonistic to the life of the Church may be classified, are very dis- tinctly marked out in these epistles. (a.) The first of these is to be seen in " those who " say that they are apostles and are not," whom the angel of the Ephesian Church had tried and found to be false. The falsehood here consists in the claim to be, what they are not, apostles of Christ. St Paul, in his Second Epistle to the Corinthians,"' speaks of those whom he calls sham apostles, i/zevSaTro- y(i\ ywi- aQaifxav (c iv.) would prove that the word Wiis not yet disused among Christians. See Suicer on the word. external to the Church. 607 among tlie Jews, becomes a separate society without it, with its false prophets if not its false apostles, its leaders and representative men, around whom it oro^anises itself more or less in the semblance of the Church of Jesus Christ. It thus forms itself into what we may call an anti-Ecclesia, a false church which is the contradictory opposite of the Church, as Antichrist is of Christ. I have already observed that there is no evidence, either in the history or writings of the apostles, that during their lifetime such communities were formed ; and from the testimony of Clement of Alex- andria, and of Hegesippus as quoted by Eusebius,"^* it appears to have been the belief of Christians, that not until the death of the original Twelve were " the com- " biuations of impious error " openly manifested. It was not, according to ecclesiastical historians, till the commencement of the second century that " they as- sumed for themselves a regular determinate form, under certain acknowledged leaders, and subject to a system of laws peculiarly their own," But that such anti- Christian societies, founded either on the express denial of the incarnation, or on doctrines that implied the denial, were a source of trial to the Church and of peril to Christians, all must acknowledge. And the very parallel which is implied in the Apocalyptic language was used by Christian writers. t Thus when Trypho the Jew objects that there were many who were called Christians, who ate things sacrificed to idols, and blasphemed the God of the Old Testament, and denied the resurrection, Justin reminds him that there were many sects who called themselves Jews, * Clem. Alex, Strom., vii, p. 764 (Paris, 1629) ; Euseb. Eccles. His,,iii, 32; iv, 7. t See for example Justin Dial, cum Tryplione, c. xxxv. and Ixxx. 6o8 Every Voluntary Society a " Synagoger wliom Tryplio would not acknowledge to be really Jews. AVe cannot of course infer from this language of the Apocalypse that every sect external to the Church is a "synagogue of Satan:" for those who are here so designated are such as have no claim to the name of Christian, which we are not justified in withholding from any who are baptised into the one faith,, and do not deny this faith. But it is important to notice the force of the word (Tvv(x.y(jiyr\ as distinguished from iKK\r}(TLa. Although the former word is used occasion- ally of the assemblies of Christians, and its cognate form of crvva^i^; became the ecclesiastical term for such assemblies and specially for the Eucharistic com- munion,— the verb from which it is derived embody- ing the fundamental idea of Christian communion,"'' — yet a-vvaycoyrj is unsuitable to represent the Church of Christ as a society, because it does not include the idea., contained in iKKXyjaua, of a superior authority calling and constituting the society. The difference between the words is the difference between a voluntary society and one which is a divine institution. The whole history of the Church, from its first foundation to its complete development in the Revelation of Jesus Christ, has proved that its organic life was not the result of man's will or choice, although the enlightened reason of man has its free play in the development : it is therefore not an at/oecrtg, nor is it merely a crvvayoiyy] ; it is also an iKKXrjcria. On the other hand, a society that is merely voluntary cannot be an eKKky^oria ; in its origin it is an aipecns, in its constitution a crvuaycoyij. ((/.) In the preceding case, the Church has kept itself * Matt, xviii. 20. A yd more fatal Form of Falsehood. 609 free from the pollutions of Antichrist, and suffers only through his assaults from without. But the fourth and last form in which falsehood can exhibit itself is one far more fatal to the life of the Church, a form indeed which we should hardly conceive to be possible, were it not for the express warnings of Holy Scripture. We have already found that it is possible that doctrine, virtually and by implication denying the primary truth on which the Church is founded, may gTow up in the very bosom of the Church, and be harboured there in ignorance of its true character. From connivance with acts which are the result of falsehood, the transi- tion is easy to the allowance, and then to the actual recognition, of the teaching itself In fact, this is only an exaggerated form of the presence of evil in the com- munion of the Church. But it does seem impossible, that this should be anything more than a superficial derangement of the body politic, or that any real and intimate alliance could be formed between the Church of Christ and a system of anti- Christian falsehood. In- deed if anti-Christian error were only such as directly and expressly denies the foundation, such as refuses to confess the one faith on which the Church is built, then it would be in the nature of things impossible, because the Church is the communion of those who confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. But the whole tenor of the apostolic teaching warns us that there may be a denial of the faith where there is no open contradiction ; that Satan may be disguised as an angel of light, and his ministers as ministers of righteousness. And this alone can explain the extraordinary scene depicted to us, by this Revelation of Jesus Christ, in one of the seven representative churches. The angel of the Church in Thyatira is highly commended for his love, 2 Q 6io " Thy Wifejezebeir and service, and his patience, and his L'lst works as more abundant than his first. " But," the divine voice continues, " I have against thee, that thou permittest "''''" " thy wife Jezebel, who calleth herself a prophetess ; " and she teaclietli and seducetli my servants to commit " fornication and eat things sacrificed to idols." t I have assumed, for reasons given in the note, that this remarkable passage indicates a strange and un- natural relation between Jezebel and the Church as represented and personified in its angel. Not indeed tliat the difficulty is removed by the rendering in tlie English Bible, which still represents the Church as sanctioning perilous anti-Christian errors, and allowing them to be taught under the pretensions of a divine com- mission and of spiritual gifts. But when the prophetess is marked out as " thy wife Jezebel " the warning be- comes far more definite and instructive. What may have been the actual facts in Thyatira itself, here disguised under a thin veil of symbolical language, it is unnecessary to inquire. The history of heresy, both ancient and modern, contains many singu- lar extravagancies; and Montanus and his prophetesses, through whom he deceived many churches and ser- vants of Christ, — among them the famous Tertullian, — possibly had a parallel in Thyatira. But the words, * It must l)e observed that d(^etf not fay is the true readinfr. Tlie latter woiihl be simply, let alone: the former implies more positive saiiclion. t I have adojjted the rendering, " Tliy wife Jezehel," not oidy because there is sufiicient if not preponderating evidence for the reailing, and be- cause it is incredible tliat such a reading would' have been introduced, — describing Jezebel as the wife of the angel, — whilst there would be the strongest reasons for erasing the word : but also because t^v ywaiKa 'UCc^tX is a meaningless phrase, unless it means the wife of the jK-rson wlio is the subject of the verb. There is no reason for laying such stress on the sex of Jezebel ; but abundant reason for marking her relation to the angel of the Church. The yezebel of the Old Testaj7tenL 6 1 1 " thy wife Jezebel," carry us at once into the region of symbols, and remind us that we must look below the external facts to the underlying principles, so that the lesson may be applicable to all ages. Jezebel the heathenish wife of the king of Israel, introducing the worship of Baal among the people of the Lord, and stirring up her weak husband to do evil in Israel, is obviously the type of usurped authority in the Church used for anti -Christian purposes. And as the true Church is the spouse of Christ, so this Jezebel would represent in ideal language a pseudo-Church, — as the great whore, the mother of harlots and abomi- nations of the earth, undoubtedly does in Apocalyptic language, whatever that pseudo-Church may be. This Jezebel also, who claims prophetic powers and teaches as if by the spirit of prophecy the anti-Christian doc- trines of the Nicolaitans, is represented as committing adultery and having children of her fornications, on whom God's judgments shall fall, and convince all the churches that, notwithstanding all spurious sanctity and claims to spiritual gifts, the Son of Man, the divine Governor of the Church, " searcheth the hearts " and reins." The description is evidently that of an anti-Christian body teaching authoritatively doctrines which by implication deny that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, whilst she, in whom this mystery of iniquity is personified, is united with him in whom the person- ality of the Church is represented, even as the heathen Jezebel was united to the king of Israel. It would be out of place in this work to inquire whether, and in what manner, this monstrous form of evil and falsehood, which at first would seem in the nature of things an impossibility, has been actually fulfilled in the history of the Christian Church. It is 6i2 Comparison of the Apocalyptic Language evident, however, that if, as we have been led to con- clude, these seven churches are representations of the Church Catholic, we must suppose that the state of the Church licre described was not merely a theoretical possibility, but was before the mind of Him, who in this book revealed to His servants the things that were coming, as a real and most portentous danger. Let us then, as if we knew nothing of the subsequent history of the Church, endeavour, by a comparison of St Paul's teaching with this Apocalyptic portraiture, to ascertain what would be the lineaments of this monstrous form of falsehood. In the Epistle to the Colossians, — Colossse, be it observed, was in this same province of Asia so prolific of all forms of religious life, — the apostle warns Christians against certain philosophical perversions of the Gospel, " after the elements of the world, and not " after Christ," all which he traces to not holding the head, Jesus Christ, " in whom dwelleth all the fulness " of the Godhead bodily," and of whose fulness we receive in His Church. These perversions consisted on the one hand in a cultus of angels, under the plea of humility, as if the one Intercessor and Mediator be- tween God and man were not sufficient, and men needed some subordinate intercessors ; a doctrine (the apostle says) in which the imagination and vain specu- lations as to the supernatural world are substituted for faith, and feelings are excited which, however religi- ous and devout and self-abasing they may seem, are really unspiritual and carnal. Again, from the same unbelief in the perfection of Christ and in our complete- ness in Him, proceed dogmatical rules as to the use of outward things, — " Touch not, taste not, handle not," — as if the law of ordinances were not entirely fulfilled and disannulled in the cross of Christ; such rules with the Warnings given by St Paul. 6 1 3 having a show of spiritual wisdom in the superior sanc- tity and self-abasement and neglect of the body (in- stead of respect to it), which they promote ; but really being nothing more than a gratifying of the carnal mind, — ^just as truly so as the opposite errors in the direction of licentiousness. Again, in the First Epistle to Timotheus (Asia is still the scene to which the warnings refer), St Paul recurs to the same subject, and warns his spiritual son that the Spirit expressly foretold that there would be an apostasy from the faith through false doctrine, a mystery of iniquity contra- dicting the mystery of godliness, which is the manifes- tation of Jesus Christ in the flesh. And among these subtle and most fatal deceits, he mentions specially rules as to celibacy and abstaining from meats. It is not, of course, celibacy in itself, or fasting in itself, that the apostle condemns as anti-Christian. The former of these he elsewhere declares to be honourable and often expedient, if a man has the gift of continency. The latter is necessary to bring under the body and keep it in subjection, and is taught by Christ Himself. But when laws and prohibitions are made to bring the con- science under bondage in such matters, and a standard of spurious sanctity is thus set up, " doctrines and com- " mandments of men" instead of the Gospel of God, then Christ's perfection and ours in Him are denied. And these doctrines being, nevertheless, veiled under the appearance of a very holy and mortified life, are in the highest degree calculated to deceive and seduce the servants of Christ, who would turn with abhorrence from all that directly fostered profaneness and licentious in- dulgence. Indeed, so subtle is the falsehood, so easily confounded with the truth, so difficult, or rather im- possible, is it to distinguish completely, and draw the 6 1 4 The Matured Form exact line, between such holiness and victory over the fleshly appetites as are necessary for the Christian, and such as proceed from anti-Christian principles, — for it is the spirit and not the mere outward act that alone distinguishes them, — that we may well understand the warning, emphatically given and reiterated by the apostle Paul, that these would form of all the most peril- ous temptations to the Church. We are, therefore, con- strained, in interpreting the Apocalyptic language so as to be applicable generally, to look in this particular direction for any errors which could enter at all deeply into Church life. But we must observe, that the mere prevalence of such errors amongst Christians Avould not satisfy the ideal representation in the epistle to Thya- tira, even with the rendering of the English version. We must consider further how it is possible for a fel- lowship, really anti-Christian, to be formed actually within the communion of the Church of Christ. This is at all events represented in the epistle, as Jezebel with her adherents and children, and those that com- mit adultery with her, do undoubtedly all together represent some kind of unholy fellowship, and they are more or less sanctioned by the Church oflicially, and certainly are not cast out of its communion. This anti-Christian fellowship then, being in the Church, must confess the one faith; but its own peculiar creed, that is the anti-Christian doctrine, is something super- added. Even as the atpeo-ts of the Pharisees, whilst professing the common faith of Judaism in Moses and the prophets, were not Pharisees because of that com- mon faith, but because of the peculiar tenets of the sect, which were therefore its bond of fellowship, — so must it be in the Church. Even if all the Jews sliould have become Pharisees, still the Jewish nation and the of anti-Christia7i Falsehood. 615 sect of the Pharisees would be two different fellowships. In the Christian Church, the alpecns symbolised as Jezebel might so extend in any particular Church as practically to be conterminous; still the fellowship based on the one faith, and the fellowship based on some doc- trine which by implication denies that faith, must not only not be confounded in our mind, but, however they may seem to meet in the same persons, they are really as contrary one to another as light and darkness. And now we are able to proceed a step further, to which both the actual history of Jezebel, and the words *' thy wife Jezebel," distinctly point. For these indi- cate not only that the anti- Christian fellowship has spread its noxious influence through the Church, but that its organisation is intimately allied with the organisation of the Church. It is true that such a rela- tion seems, at first, in the highest degree improbable ; but it is not more so than that anti-Christian doctrine should be at all countenanced in the Church, which the Epistles to the Churches plainly describe, and which we have seen is not only possible but a certain danger, when those doctrines are clothed in the garb of superior sanctity. And St Paul, we must remember, not only contemplates the possibility of a very close relation between an anti- Christian system and the Church, but expressly predicts it. In his Second Epistle to the Thessalonians he foretells that, before the final coming of Christ in judgment, a strange mystery would be re- vealed. The man of sin, the son of perdition, — a title given by Christ to an apostate apostle, — the impersona- tion of anti-Christian doctrine and practice, would seat himself in the temple of God, and there would assert a supereminent and indeed divine authority. And the temple of God can be nothing else than the 6 1 6 Vitality of the CJmrch Church of Christ ; a temple erected by Jews at Jerusa- lem would be no temple of God but a house of Satan. We must imagine therefore, it seems, a power with these impious claims, — claiming, for example, an infallible authority in the Church, — actually enthroned in the organisation of the Church, so that bishops of Christ's Church, instead of acknowledging Him alone as the Head of the body, are deceived into recognising this Power as their one centre of unity, on whose throne also must de- pend, in order to fulfil the description, the false doctrines incorporated into a system, and taught by pseudo- divine authority : these false doctrines being really a denial of Christ, although we must suppose further, that the one faith is still professed and taught, and doubt- less by many humble and simple souls held spiritually. For otherwise the body possessed by this anti-Christian power would not be the temple of God and the Church of Jesus Christ, which l3oth the words of St Paul and the Apocalyptic description necessarily require. Whether the form of falsehood thus portrayed has already appeared in the Christian Church in its most matured type, it does not fall within the limits of this argument to inquire. Our only concern is with the meaning of the Apocalyptic language. We have thus determined, by a careful analysis, the four distinct forms, distinct though nearly related, under which falsehood would present itself and have to be overcome. They exhibit altogether a complete kingdom of evil contrasting with, and antagonistic to, the king- dom of heaven. There are false apostles instead of apostles of Christ ; a mystery of iniquity in doctrine and works, opposed to the mystery of godliness ; there is the synagogue of Satan, external to the Church of Christ and in open opposition to it ; and, lastly, strangest in the midst of these Evils. 617 mystery of all, the fellowship of Antichrist within the communion of the Church, and in unnatural alliance with it. But there is one very remarkable fact which we must not overlook, and which is a singular proof of the power of the Spirit and truth of Christ : I mean that even those evils which are most serious, and which we might have supposed to be absolutely fatal, are re- presented as affecting very little the vitality of the Church life, much less as being able to destroy the Church. The gates of hell cannot prevail against it. Although in the Church in Pergamum there were those who held the abominable doctrine of the Nicolaitans, yet that Church receives a higher commendation than any other for holding fast tlie name and faith of Christ in a time of trial. Not even the intimate relation of the Church in Thyatira with an anti-Christian system can prevent it from being earnest in love and fruitful in good works ; and whilst the Ephesian Church, which hated the works of the Nicolaitans, had declined in love, this Church, where Satan seemed to have gained the victory, had increased in zeal and active service. On the other hand, in Sardis where the life of the Church was almost extinct, and in Laodicea the state of which was most offensive to Christ, we hear neither of doctrines of the Nicolaitans nor of the arts of Jeze- bel. Whilst therefore it is impossible to exaggerate the evil of anti- Christian doctrine and of an anti-Christian polity, however these may be disguised under a cloak of religion and sanctity, yet it is well to remember that there is an extraordinary power and divine virtue in the faith on which the Church is founded, which can- not be brought into contact, even with the mystery of iniquity itself, without proving its own superiority and neutralising much of the pernicious tendency of evil. 6 1 8 Necessity of Personal Spiritual Life The strongest abhorrence of that which is anti-Christian must not lead us to forget, that the Church of Thyatira was one of the seven candlesticks to which the Son of Man ministered, and the angel of that Church a star in His right hand. IV. — Relation of Church Life and the Personal Life. The epistles to the seven Churches, combined with the vision of the Son of Man walking in tlie midst of the golden candlesticks, are, we have seen, a complete synopsis and miniature representation of all Church life. Of Church life, I say, and not of the sj^iritual life of individual Christians : for this Revelation of Jesus Christ is conclusive against the theory that makes the Church the mere aggregate of those who believe on Christ, that counts the personal spiritual life as every- thing in the kingdom of heaven, and the corporate life as of little consequence. Yet, although the subject of the epistles is the corporate life of the Church, in no part of the New Testament, not even in the epistles of St Paul, is life through personal faith more distinctly recognised as that which cannot be absorbed into the corporate life, and for which Church life is no substi- tute : nowhere are we more completely taught, that, whilst in the organisation of the Church as a human society the unit is tlic local Church, man's relation to Christ and his responsibilities can never be other than personal. Indeed we have found that this fundamental law of personal responsibility in all duties undertaken for Christ, in other words of the supremacy of the personal conscience in man, itself determines the true form which the organisation of the Church must assume. And the asserted in the Apocalyptic Epistles. 6 1 9 Apocalyptic language in these epistles, exhibiting Church life in the person of the angel, most emphatically asserts the truth of the corporate life needing the personal spiritual life as its sustaining power, being indeed no- thino^ else than that life in action and combination. The fact that the corporate life of a Church is so linked to the spiritual life of a person, that they flourish or decay together, is a proof of the necessity and value of the personal life of faith such as we cannot elsewhere find. There is no Christian who does not recognise this truth in regard to the lower functions of the pas- toral office. No cure of souls can be exercised aright except by one who has personal faith in Christ, and in this ministry the spiritual life of the minister is sure to be reflected in his charge ; and the immense value of a relation of this nature, when rightly used, in educing and cultivating spiritual life in every member, is ac- knowledged by all Christians. The prominence given to the personal spiritual life in one emphasises it in every other person with whom he stands in this rela- tion. No reader of St Paul's epistles indeed is igno- rant how powerful an element in his ministry was his own personal spiritual life, and even the distinctive pe- culiarities of his personal history. In him who laboured more abundantly than all the apostles, the personal element is most distinct ; even as in Peter, the chief and representative of the original Twelve, all the elements of personal character are far more conspicuous than in any other of the apostles. And the instance of St Paul proves, not indeed that apostolic functions should have now the same extended sphere of action as his, but that as far as apostolic functions can extend, so as to be really spiritual, — that is, so as to deal with the consciences of men, — they cannot cease to be personal without a 620 Episcopacy expresses this Necessity. loss to real spiritual life throughout the body. And the very purpose of the true constitution of the Church is to develop to the utmost both personal and corporate life among Christians, to give to both free play, and thus harmonise those two powerful elements, which we found co-existing from the first in the Church of Christ, the spontaneousness and freedom of spiritual life, and the force of authority. This conclusion as to the value of personal administra- tion,— that is, of Episcopacy in the true sense of the word, — to the development of personal spiritual life in the Church, is, I am of course aware, questioned by many. They imagine that experience proves it to have a directly contrary effect ; that it tends to exaggerate Church life at the expense of the personal life, and is even hostile to the free action of that life. But Ave may be assured that wherever such results may appear they are due to other causes, and to some departure from the true constitution of the Church, and not to the constitu- tion itself. AVhatever has increased the distance be- tween the chief pastor and the flock committed to his charge, so that his personal life is not in contact with theirs ; whatever makes him the mere minister of a system, an important functionary to act according to fixed laws of government and not an apostle and pastor to his people ; — is a departure from the personal prin- ciple on which the true organisation of the kingdom of heaven is founded, and is therefore injurious to personal spiritual life in the Church. It is the immediate per- sonal relations of the angel, to the Son of Man on the one hand, and to the Church intrusted to him on the other, that alone can satisfy the principle. But, per- haps, the objection which weighs most, though often unconsciously, in the minds of many religious persons This Truth not disproved by Exceptions. 621 against such an episcopacy as sliall really represent now the apostolic office, is that it makes so much to depend on the spiritual life of one. If we could insure bishops being always men full of the Holy Ghost, with real spiritual discernment, undoubtedly they would exercise a very large influence for good ; but considering what men commonly are, they think that it is better that we should not risk, so to speak, so much in one person. And this is the substance of the answer by which they satisfy their own judgments at least, when the examples of the apostles and apostolic men are urged as prov- ing how much larger was their eTna-Koiryj than that of an ordinary presbyter. If we could have Pauls and Timothys and Tituses now, it would be very well to have real bishops. But, as it is, some kind of Congregation- alism or Presbyterianism, even if the shadow of the superior office be retained to satisfy the apostolic form, is safer (they think) as regards the spiritual life of the Church. And we must remember that it is not sufficient to reply to this objection, that Episcopacy is the ordinance of Christ and therefore we ought to content ourselves with the belief that what He instituted is the safest for the life of the Church. For, as we have seen through- out our argument, Christ's ordinances in His Church are not law in the strict sense of the word, but v6fjLo<; Xoyt/co9, an order resting not on bare authority but on reasonable and spiritual principles. However, to one who has real faith in Christ and in His kingdom, the objection answers itself. For if there is an office which has great power in stimulating the spiritual life of the Church when exercised by one who is himself spiritual, and the sphere of which is not too large for the ordinary powers of man, then we might conclude at once that this would be an office in the kingdom of heaven ; 62 2 Indications of the Distinctness otherwise all the agencies would not be employed in that kingdom, which are naturally most adapted to promote its highest interests. If there were anything in the office itself which tended to make a man un- spiritual, this indeed would be an objection against its being an institution of Christ ; luit this ^vill hardly be asserted of the apostolic office, and is not the objection raised. The possibility of its being abused by unspiri- tual and unfaithful men is no argument whatever against its existence. The Gospel is the dispensation of the Spirit, and its economy proceeds on the assump- tion, not indeed that men will be free from imperfec- tions, infirmities, and sins, but that the Spirit is given, and will abide with the Church for ever, to enable it through all its offices to fulfil the purposes of the kingdom. An apostle betrayed Christ as none but an apostle could have done ; but that was no argument against the office of an apostle. But whilst Church life is, by the very constitution of the Church, in near relation with the personal spiritual life, there are also, on the other hand, indications in the epistles of the necessity of the latter, as distinct from the Church life and not to be confounded with it. At the close of each epistle a special promise is given by the Son of Man to " him that overcometh ; " and that we may not dream that such promises, or even the warnings and exhortations to the angel, concern only official duties and responsibilities, the solemn summons rings out each time as with the sound of a trumpet, " He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit " saith unto the churches." Indeed the promise, when compared Avitli the address to the Church through its angel, is singularly instruc- tive as to the distinctness of the personal life. It of the Personal and the Corporate Life. 623 teaches us that all real victory for tlie Christian must be personal. Profoundly as his own spiritual life must be affected by the corporate life of the body, yet he can neither gain the victory for himself by the victory of the Church, nor need he participate in the defeats of the Church. Every man must bear his own burden and fight his own battle. It is fatal to isolate himself from the body, but it is equally fatal to confound him- self with the body. And, although the first purpose of Church life, next to glorifying Christ before men, is to cherish and aid the spiritual life in the soul and con- science of every man, yet at times it may act in a totally different manner, and supply the very trials and temptations w^hich the individual Christian has to over- come in order to gain his own reward. This is remark- ably illustrated in the epistle to Thyatira. The cor- porate Church life, though vigorous and fervent, was in alliance with anti- Christian principles, acts, and power. The complete victory could only be gained by resisting these evil tendencies of the Church life, by men becom- ing exceptions to it in this respect. And this is very clearly marked in the epistle. After the address to the angel the divine voice continues, " But to you I say, "' " the rest who are in Thyatira, as many as have not " this doctrine, such as have not known the depths of " Satan (as they say), I will not lay on you any other " burden ; only what ye have, hold until I shall come." That is, although the Church was really a Church, and its angel really a star in Christ's right hand, neverthe- less it was by their being exceptions, by being a remnant * The Kai of the received version is not found in any of the most ancient MSS. or versions, except in the Vulgate. It has been observed that the absence of the kox is fatal to some Presbyterian speculations ; it is equally fatal to those Church theories which substitute Church life for the per sonal life. 624 Pcrso7ial Life and CJuirch Life both real. who had resisted the Church tendencies around them, that the victory was gained. This truth is yet more conspicuous in the epistle to Sardis. The general Church life only deserved the name of death ; " But," the Lord says to the angel of the Church, " thou hast a ** few names in Sardis, which have not defiled their " garments ; and they shall walk with me in white for " they are worthy. He that overcometh, he shall be " clothed in white garments.'"' The exceptions here are individualised by the expression " a few names." They are in the communion of the Church, but they have gained the victory, not with the Church, but in spite of the pollutions, whatever these were, with which it was filled and which destroyed the value of all its works. Without pursuing these considerations further, it is sufiicient for our argument to observe, that neither must the profound conviction of the necessity to every soul of man of personal life in Christ weaken our sense of the value of the organic life of the Church, nor must our firm belief in the reality of that organic life be allowed to obscure the truth that our spiritual life is only through personal faith and communion with Him. The Church life is not merely for the advantage of the personal life ; nor the personal life merely for the sus- tenance of Church life ; but they react mutually one on the other ; and that which God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. 625 CONCLUSION. The argument, whicli it was proposed to investigate out of those sacred records from which the Christian faith is derived, is now completed. The question was, whether these records would enable us to ascertain the laws which must govern the formation of Christian society, and whether we could trace in them the action of these laws until those types of Christian social life, which are their legitimate and true development, should be determined. We had also to inquire whether this Genesis of the Christian society was simply the result of the operation of the laws ; or whether Jesus Christ Himself, as the Creator of this new world, interposed His own acts of authority in order to determine more definitely its form and constitution. The conclusions, to which our investigations have led us, are far too numerous to be here recapitulated. But, numerous as they are, they are connected by great general laws, and are therefore both complete and intelligible. We have found, that whilst law, — in its original sense of a com- mand fenced in by prohibitions and penalties, — has no place in the kingdom of Christ, being unsuitable for the spiritual or religious life of man, a divine order has developed itself out of the fundamental principles of love to God and man and of the supremacy of con- science, which are law in a higher sense, the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. But we also found that 2 R 626 The Genesis of the Church. the divine Teacher of men did not leave this order to evolve itself indefinitely and uncertainly, but in His teaching expressly indicated what would be the laws of Christian fellowship ; whilst by His acts, — especially by the appointment and mission of the Twelve, and by the institution of baptism and the Lord's Supper, — He created the elementary forms out of which, through the action of these laws, His Church should be com- pletely developed. And for this purpose. He gave after His ascension the Holy Spirit, not only by a moral and spiritual influence to direct His disciples and guide them into all the truth, but also by an external testimony to establish and aid them, fixing here and there certain landmarks of the truth, and stimulating the spiritual principles by authoritative confirmations. But this external testimony was only for a time, until the whole truth necessary should be revealed, and until the form of the kingdom of Christ on earth should have attained its maturity. We have also traced, in the history and the writings of the apostles of Jesus Christ, the gradual operation of the fundamental laws of the kingdom, and their results becoming more and more definite, so that before the death of the apostles Peter and Paul the structure of the Church w^as complete in all its main portions, and nothing was needed except that final development of its permanent form which could not take place until two events should have occurred. The first of these was the overthrow of the Old Testament polity by the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple. The second was the cessation of the extraordinary powers and peculiar prerogatives of the original apostolic body, which were to pass into the ordinary gifts and autho- rity belonging to the permanent order of the Churcli. Conchtsion. 627 What that ultimate development would be we arc not left merely to infer from the principles previously established. A final Kevclation from Jesus Christ is given through the last of the apostles, who forms a link between the transitional and the permanent state of the kingdom ; and in this Revelation the order of the Church is represented in its matured and developed form, independent of the original apostles, except as those from whom it sprang, and through whom the truth was revealed. And in this Revelation, although it addresses us in ideal and symbolical language, we trace without difficulty, with the aid of the apostolical teaching which has preceded, a constitution of Christ's Holy Catholic Church suited for all ages and for all the varying conditions of human life and society. It would of course supply an important confirmation to these conclusions, if we should discover from post- apostolic records that the organic forms, the growth of which we have traced in the New Testament, were actually in existence in the age immediately following that of the apostles, if not universally, at all events generally, and especially in that part of the Christian Church which is selected in the final Revelation as a representation of the universal Church. Any inquiry, however, which should extend beyond the limits of the Holy Scriptures themselves, would require a different process of investigation from that which is adopted in this argument. For in this we have assumed not only the authenticity and genuineness of the several books of the New Testament, but also their authority ; that is, not only that their testimony to historical facts is to be trusted, but also that the principles, by which Christians ought to be guided, are there authoritatively revealed. No Christian supposes this of the writings 628 The Genesis of the Church. of Polycarp and Ignatius, however valuable he may consider them as a witness to the faith and discipline of the primitive Church. Our argument therefore rests entirely on the records of the New Testament, and its purpose is to prove that Christians, who receive these as the source and standard of their religion, differ as to the true external form of Christianity not because it may not be ascertained from these records, but because they do not recognise or investigate the evi- dence which the sacred Scripture supplies. That this argument will satisfy all who accept the authority of the New Testament, is not of course sup- posed ; it is more probable, that many of the conclu- sions would be challenged not only by one school of religious opinion, but in turn by all. But this at least may be claimed for the argument, that it is complete and consistent with itself ; and that, not by any theory being propounded to which the evidence is bound to agree, but simply by carrying forward the several laws of Christian society, as they are established, to aid us in understanding the fresh evidence afforded in the acts and teaching of Jesus Christ and His apostles ; such evidence however being allowed to speak for itself, and not constrained by some forced interpreta- tion to conform to the principles. One who is investi- gating the laws of the natural world must proceed by such a method ; and his success will dejDcnd on the fearlessness and the skill with which he discusses the evidence, and on his al)ility to discern the general laws by which the several facts are connected. If the argument, in some part of this work, fails from the want of these qu;dities, let such errors be corrected. But the main conclusions to which it points will not be affected by many such errors or omissions. These Conclusion. 629 conclusions arc determined from Holy Scripture by evidence and reasonings as complete, in their own sphere, as those by which, for instance, the main principles of the science of ];)olitical economy are estab- lished. And we do not admit that the proofs of scientific laws are insufficient, merely because many persons are found who will not be convinced of the truth of these laws. But there are other obstacles besides those of an uninformed judgment, or an unscientific habit of mind, which will always interfere with con- clusions as to the religious life of man ; we must ex- pect that, so long as the world lasts in its present state, there will be those who will substitute some theory of their own, or some traditional system inherited from their forefathers, or some monstrous growth of the ages, for tlie divine constitution of the Church as it is revealed in the New Testament. Truth, powerful as it is, rarely wins its victories in those minds in which the feelinors o are preoccupied. But, if any one is dissatisfied with the conclusions to which this argument has led us, let me pray him, in the name of our common Lord and Master, and for the sake of that Church which He pur- chased with His blood, not to content himself with objecting to certain parts of the argument, or to some of the expositions of Scripture ; but let him patiently and honestly grapple wdth the whole question, and endeavour to construct for himself an argument of the same kind as is here presented. Only let him not begin by assuming that which has to be proved. When we proceed by assuming, for example, that because St Peter held a primacy among the Twelve, therefore this must be part of the permanent order of the Church ; or that the office of apostles cannot be permanent, because the Twelve and St Paul had special functions ; or that 630 The Genesis of the Church. because apostles and presbyters had many functions in common, therefore there is but one degree in the pastoral oliice ; or that because presbyters were called bishops, therefore they were bishops in the ecclesiasti- cal sense of the word ; or that the body of Christ must be " the invisible Church ; " or that the order of the Church cannot be of much consequence to the interests of Christianity, if only we follow our own conscientious convictions ; — we must not be surprised if we fail in either convincing others, or attaining any certainty in our conclusions. It is as if we should commence the study of astronomy by assuming that the earth must be stationary, or that the moon must be larger than the planets, or anything else that may at first sight seem obviously true. Nor will it be a less fatal obstacle to the discovery of truth, if we assume, as many do, that nothing can be of great importance in religion, which is not plainly and expressly set down in Holy Scripture ; in other words, which requires continued thought and patient investigation for its complete determination. Such per- sons forget that that which has rendered Holy Scripture intelligible to ordinary Christians is the thought and the investigations of its translators. Indeed, although Revelation as a whole appeals directly to the conscience even of the most illiterate, yet much of the New Testament, — notably much of the argumentative writ- ings of St Paul, — presumes in its readers an amount of intellectual training which probably not one in a hundi'cd, at least in England, has received, whatever may have been the case in Corinth and Rome. The question of plainness or obscurity is one of degree, respecting which different minds will judge very dif- ferently, and which therefore cannot be taken as a stan- Conchision. 631 clard of the relative importance of truths. Some per- sons will deny that the divinity of Jesus Christ is ex- pressly set down in Holy Scripture ; others, that the constitution of the Church is clearly revealed. In fact the objection against conclusions from Revelation, because they are not plainly taught, is in spirit the ob- jection urged by the Jews against Jesus Himself; " How long dost Thou make us to doubt ? If Thou " be the Christy teU us plainly." There is one caution however as to the conclusions to which this argument has led us, which it may be expedi- ent to repeat here, although it has been already more than once suggested. Our argument is, that the true form and constitution of the Church of Christ may be ascer- tained from the New Testament, with as much certainty as the laws of the physical world from nature, or those of the social and economical life of man from experience and observation. But it must be noticed that in those subordinate branches of human knowledge, although conclusions may be certainly true in themselves, yet they are often complicated by others in some wider sphere, which affect very materially the general and complete result. For example, the conclusions which are determined by the science of chemistry as to food, may be practically modified or completely altered by discoveries in physiology ; results, which may be estab- lished with the utmost certainty by the science of political economy, may be so affected by other causes, such as the moral influences indirectly resulting from some measure, as to make any given problem indeter- minate. But the higher we advance in the scale of knowledge, the more general do the laws become, and the greater is our certainty as to the iiltimate results. Now if we believe Holy Scripture to be the revelation of 632 The Genesis of the Chureh. / the mind of God to man, we must ho assured that tlie conclusions thence drawn as to human life are not some inferior and limited laws, but truths of the highest order, to which all other truths must be subordinate, universal laws for man. But we must observe, also, that among the conclusions drawn from Scripture itself there are both primary and secondary laws. Those as to the constitution of the Christian Church result, we have found, from yet more profound and universal principles ; from the love of Christ to man, and from the constitution of human nature itself. Whilst, there- fore, we maintain our conclusions to be as certain as those which can be attained in any science, we must not forget, on the other hand, that the laws established are secondary, not primary laws. If from them we should draw any practical inferences, or if we should impose on them any interpretation, at variance with the higher laws of the Christian life, with the first prin- ciples of the law of love, or again with those of the true constitution of man ; we may be persuaded that our inferences and interpretations are not to be trusted. 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