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 BX 9175 .R63 1858 
 Robinson, Stuart, 1814-1881. 
 The church of God as an 
 essential element of the 
 
THE 
 
 CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 Hr AS AN 
 
 AND 
 
 THE IDEA, STRUCTURE, AND FUNCTIONS THEREOF. 
 
 A DISCOURSE IN FOUR PARTS. 
 
 BY 
 
 EEV. STUART ROBmSOI^, 
 
 PROFESSOR OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT AND PASTORAL THEOLOGY IN THE THEOLOGICAL 
 SEMINARY AT DANVILLE, KY. 
 
 WITH AN APPENDIX, 
 
 CONTAINING THE MORE IMPORTANT SYMBOLS OE PRESBYTERIAN 
 
 CHURCH GOVERNMENT, HISTORICALLY ARRANGED 
 
 AND ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 JOSEPH M. WILSOX, 
 
 No. Ill SOUTH TENTH STREET, BELOW CHESTNUT STREET. 
 A. DAVIDSON, LOUISVILLE, KY. 
 
 1858. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858, by 
 
 STUART ROBINSON, 
 
 in the Clerk's OfBce of the District Court of the United States in and for the 
 Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 
 
 BTEREOTTPED BY L. JOHNSON & CO. 
 PHILADELPHIA. 
 

 r . 
 
 • » |J*J;-«*BatiU:ii,»j, i^c '^' 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The author of the following discourse on the 
 Church was requested, by the Board of Directors of 
 the Danville Theological Seminary, to publish an 
 Inaugural Discourse, on this same general subject, 
 delivered before that body during the sessions of the 
 General Assembly at Lexington, Ky., in May, 1857. 
 It occurred to him, however, that, in the present 
 state of the Church question, he might, with some 
 additional labor, render a more practical service to 
 students and other inquirers on the subject, by pre- 
 paring a brief, suggestive outline of the doctrine of 
 the Church, as presented in the inaugural discourse; 
 accompanied by the more important utterances of the 
 Presbyterian Church since the Eeformation, con- 
 cerning the Church and its government. In this 
 way students are furnished with the means of test- 
 ing the correctness of the outline, and, at the same 
 time, of rightly interpreting the received standards 
 of our Church, and tracing the development of the 
 present standards from the earliest symbols of Pres- 
 byterian Church government by the Scotch fathers. 
 That the general doctrines of the following dis- 
 
10 PREFACE. 
 
 course are no novelties will be manifest from a 
 comparison of the discourse itself with the Appendix 
 which accompanies it. Save in so far as concerns 
 the relation of the civil to the ecclesiastical ]DOwer, 
 the author is not aware of any substantial difference 
 between his views and those of the Appendix. Nor 
 is there any important difference in the form of 
 stating the doctrines, beyond the attempt made in 
 this outline to exhibit the logical relations of the 
 several parts of the doctrine of the Church to its 
 great central truth, and of the whole to the Cal- 
 vinistic theory of theology. 
 
 Whether the outline of the doctrine of the Church 
 here presented shall prove of any practical value or 
 not, no one need be informed of the practical value 
 of the republications in the Appendix, — especially 
 no one who has had occasion to refer to these early 
 symbols of Presbyterianism, and thereby has been 
 led to know something of the difficulties of pro- 
 curing them. For some cause or other, they seem 
 to have gone out of print, or at least are to be ob- 
 tained with great difficulty in this country and even 
 in Scotland. The *'Schort Somme" of the first 
 " Bulk of Discipline" is published here as exhibiting 
 the first conception of the Scotch Reformers. As a 
 clear and profound statement of the great principles 
 of Church government, the Second Book of Dis- 
 cipline is unsurpassed, perhaps, in any language. 
 
PEEFACE. 11 
 
 The letter of Robert Baillie, the " notes of proceed- 
 ing" by Gillespie, and the "votes passed in the 
 Westminster Assembly concerning discipline and 
 government," are intended to serve the double pur- 
 pose of exhibiting the process of transition from 
 the Second Book of Discipline to the Westminster 
 Form of Government, and, at the same time, the 
 process also by which the present standards of Pres- 
 byterian Church government were worked out from 
 the Scriptures, and that in the face of an opposition, 
 illustrious for its learning and ability, contesting the 
 ground step by step. 
 
 That the time is fully come for an earnest inculca- 
 tion of the truth concerning the Church of God, no 
 intelligent Presbyterian can doubt. To say nothing 
 either of the increased activity and zeal of the 
 advocates of an anti-evangelical Churchism on the 
 one hand, or of the prevalence of an anti-ecclesi- 
 astical evangelicalism on the other, it is sufficient to 
 reflect that the very growth of the Presbyterian 
 Church must speedily bring on the issue of either a 
 fuller, clearer, and more general apprehension of the 
 distinguishing principles of our Church order, or a 
 dissolution of the body itself. During the day of 
 small things, one mind, or, at most, a few individual 
 minds of great character and influence, well esta- 
 blished in these principles, may have been able to 
 
 preserve the unity and guide the progress of the 
 
 1* 
 
12 PREFACE. 
 
 body. But the Presbyterian Church is rapidly 
 becoming too vast in its extent, and too manifold 
 in its interests, for the grasp and reach of any one 
 mind, however gifted. Nothing but the inherent 
 truthfulness and power of the system itself, and 
 that truthfulness clearly perceived and intelligently 
 acted upon by the general mass of those called to 
 administer the affairs of the Church, can guarantee 
 its permanence and further progress. Not only this 
 consideration calls for special attention to the sub- 
 ject, but the still more important consideration, that 
 if the Church of God be the divinely-ordained 
 institute, through which the Holy Ghost shall call, 
 gather, and edify his elect people, then it is vital to 
 the great end of the Church that the divinely-ap- 
 pointed agency shall be clearly understood and 
 reverently administered by the entire body of those 
 who are called of God to the ministry thereof. 
 
 A period of illness during that portion of the last 
 vacation allotted to the preparation of these pages 
 for the press, together with the difficulty of pro- 
 curing and editing the articles in the Appendix, has 
 delayed the publication till now. And even now, 
 being prepared under a press of official duty and 
 of private cares, it must needs go forth with but too 
 many marks of haste upon it. "With no prospect, 
 however, of greater leisure in the future, such as it 
 is, it is sent forth with the earnest prayer that the 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Great Head of the Churcli may honor it, as the 
 means, in some humble measure, of exciting the 
 attention and directing the way of our young minis- 
 try to the great doctrine of the Church of God. 
 If the principles suggested in this outline be really 
 truths at all, then they are vital truths. And just 
 in proportion as their pervading power shall be felt 
 by the office-bearers of the Church shall they im- 
 part a higher degree of earnestness and spirituality 
 to all that pertains to the administration of the 
 affairs of Christ's kingdom. 
 
f j^^ r»»^" *-.•■! i/- 
 
 ^ A^ZaAI til aOaI 
 
 \TnEOLOGICiL 
 
 ^ 
 
 IffiTX^l 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 FAOB 
 
 5 1. Indications of a reawakening in the Presbyterian Church in 
 the United States to the importance of the doctrine of the 
 Church 25 
 
 §2. Indications of a general reawakening of the Protestant 
 Church, from the past history and present position of the 
 Church 27 
 
 1 3. From the peculiar zeal of devotees of false theories of the 
 Church 28 
 
 §4. General Division of the subject , 29 
 
 PART I. 
 
 THE EELATION OF THE IDEA OF THE CHURCH TO THE ETERNAL 
 PURPOSE OP REDEMPTION. 
 
 2 1. The intimate relation between the theory of the Church and 
 the theory of Theology proper is naturally suggested by the 
 uniform connection, as matter of fact, of particular theories 
 of Theology with corresponding views of the Church.... 32 
 
 § 2. A like intimacy of relation suggested by the general tenor 
 of Scripture 33 
 
 § 3. The prejudice against these higher and wider views of the 
 subject, as transcendental, altogether groundless 34 
 
 § 4. The four theories of Theology, — Papal, Zuinglian, Lu- 
 
 r theran and Calvinistic, and their relation to each other 35 
 
 15 
 
16 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 2 5. Of the Calviuistic Theory the Eternal Purpose of God is 
 the central truth 37 
 
 ^ G. This view of Theology naturally suggests a reference to the 
 Eternal Purpose of God for the central truth of Ecclesiology. 
 Such accordingly is found in the peculiar mode of the Divine 
 Purpose to save sinners, not as individuals merely, but 
 as an elect body of sinners of which the Mediator shall be 
 Head 38 
 
 § 7. An elementary idea of the Church, which must enter into 
 every form of the definition thereof, is this ideal body of the 
 eternal covenant 40 
 
 § 8. The Church visible is the actual development of this ideal.... 40 
 
 2 9. This view by no means exclusive of the idea of the Church, 
 either as a means of manifesting the peculiar nature of the 
 Divine purpose as contemplating an elect body of men, or 
 as an institute for the calling and edification of the elect, as a 
 means of accomplishing his purpose 42 
 
 PART II. 
 
 THE RELATION OP THE IDEA OF THE CHURCH TO THE MANIFESTA- 
 TION OF THE DIVINE PURPOSE AS REVEALED IN THE SCRIPTURES. 
 
 ^ 1. The foregoing view of the idea of the Church is confirmed 
 by the general aspect of the Scripture 45 
 
 2 2. In the first place, by the fact that the mode of Revelation is 
 thi'ough a series of covenants 46 
 
 2 3, Importance of the doctrine of the covenants, especially to 
 
 any true Ecclesiology 49 
 
 § 4. Pre-eminence of the Ecclesiological Covenant with Abraham 
 in Scripture 50 
 
 ^ 5. The Abrahamic Covenant holds forth the Church visible, not 
 only as a development of the Eternal Purpose, but also as an 
 institute, a means for the accomplishment of the Divine 
 Purpose 52 
 
 I G. Also gives prominence, in common with all the covenants, to ^ 
 
CONTENTS. 17 
 
 PAOB 
 
 the principle that the children of the covenanting people have 
 
 a birthright to the privileges of it 53 
 
 § 7. It is assumed in this argument that all the covenants have 
 primarily a spiritual significancy, since any other interpre- 
 tation is inconsistent with the divine inspiration of the word.. 55 
 
 ^ 8. The foregoing argument is cumulated by a reference to the 
 general character of the subject-matter of Scripture 57 
 
 § 9, And again by the fact that this view develops in a most 
 striking manner the unity of idea and method in the 
 Scripture 58 
 
 g 10. Still further in the fact that this view exhibits the unity 
 of the plan of salvation as administered through all ages of 
 inspiration 61 
 
 § 11. And also the unity of the Church's faith unto salvation 62 
 
 § 12. And it will be found that, with the key which this view 
 furnishes to their interpretation, the Scriptures exhibit the 
 actual visible Church as substantially the same in all ages, 
 under the same administration of the Mediatorial King 63 
 
 ^ 13. And the still more remarkable fact of the visible Church 
 as under the same external form of government in all ages.... 65 
 
 ^ 14. In harmony with all the foregoing views, according to the 
 Scriptures all the revelations, covenants, ordinances, and pro- 
 mises of God have been communicated to the Church as 
 such, and not to the race as such 67 
 
 ^ 15. General results from this argument. First, the germinal 
 idea of the Church is in the ideal body of the Covenant 
 of Redemption. Secondly, the external Church is a necessary 
 result of the manifestation of the Eternal Purpose. Third, 
 the mode of the revelation accords with this relation between 
 the ideal and the actual Church. Fourth, the visible Church 
 is essentially one in all ages, however it may vary in degree 
 of light, purity, and forms of worship : hence the comparative 
 silence of Scripture concerning its constitution of govern- 
 ment. Fifth, a proper definition of the Church, as a com- 
 
18 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 plex idea, must not only enumerate tte elementary ideas 
 thereof, but in their logical order of arrangement also. 
 Variations in the extent of meaning of the word "Church"... 68 
 
 §16. These general views accord with the definition of the 
 Church, as an article of Calvinistic doctrine, in the 25th 
 chapter of the Westminster Confession. , 73 
 
 § 17. Necessity of the preceding course of argument as pre- 
 liminary to any right understanding of what the Scriptures 
 teach concerning Church government and ordinances of 
 worship 74 
 
 PART in. 
 
 THE EELATION TO THE IDEA OF THE CHURCH OF THE PBINCIPLE3 
 OF CHFKCH GOVEENMENT SET FORTH IN SCRIPTURE. 
 
 ^ 1. General division of the subject of government twofold. 
 First, the abstract principles, underlying the structure. 
 Second, the concrete forms in which these principles are found 
 embodied. Under the first head four general classes of 
 truths , 78 
 
 g 2. The source of all Church power is primarily Jesus Christ 
 the Mediator 79 
 
 2 3. This power when delegated is vested, not in either the 
 people as such nor in the oflBcers of the Church, but in the 
 body contemplated as an organic body, consisting of rulers 
 and ruled. The call, qualification, and commission to minis- 
 ters is from the Head of the Church; the vocation to the 
 exercise of the ministry is from the people 80 
 
 § 4. The power of rule in the Church is a joint power, and to be 
 exercised through tribunals only, and only for spiritual ends. 82 
 
 2 5. The civil distinct from ecclesiastical power in five particulars, 
 viz: the source, the rule for guidance, the scope and aim, 
 the significant symbols, and the mode of exercise thereof 84 
 
 § 6. These distinctions not arbitrary or incidental, but intrinsic 
 
CONTENTS. 19 
 
 PAQB 
 
 and fundamental, and exclusive of all idea of any union of 
 the two or of any concurrent jurisdiction 86 
 
 § 7. As to the second general class of truths, the Scriptures go 
 further than the enunciation of the abstract truths. The 
 nature of the case requires the setting forth of the offices to 
 be discharged in the Church 88 
 
 ^ 8. As there is of necessity a threefold office to be discharged, 
 so the Scriptures hold forth three classes of officers 89 
 
 ^ 9. It affects not the argument for the offices as intrinsically 
 threefold, that at various periods of inspiration God hath set • 
 extraordinary officers in the Church 90 
 
 g 10. As to the courts of the Church, they are determined by 
 what has already been shown of the nature and the definition 
 of the Church 92 
 
 g 11. Accordingly, the Scriptures hold forth the government of 
 the Church, under every dispensation, as by a series of tri- 
 bunals corresponding with the various extents of signification 
 in which the Church may be defined 93 
 
 ^ 12. Summary of fundamental facts concerning the form of 
 Government of the Apostolic Church 94 
 
 PART lY. 
 
 THE EELATION TO THE IDEA OF. THE CHURCH OF THE ORDINANCES 
 OF WORSHIP SET FORTH IN SCRIPTURE. 
 
 ^ 1. The fundamental ground and the essential nature of public 
 worship, determined by the relation of worship to the idea of 
 the Church, is a communion between the body and the Head 
 thereof. 103 
 
 1 2. What are the divinely appointed ordinances of worship 105 
 
 ^ 3. In the relation of these ordinances to the idea of the Church 
 
 lies the fundamental distinction between them and all other 
 forms of thought among men 106 
 
 2 4. Still more direct and intimate is the relation of the sacra- 
 
 2 
 
20 CONTEXTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 ments to the idea of the Church, since the sacraments arise 
 from and are the seals of a covenant between God and his 
 elect people 108 
 
 § 5. The distinguishing mark of the sacraments as seals is, that 
 the seal is so constituted as to be a sign of the blessings sig- 
 nified in the covenant Ill 
 
 g/6. Circumcision and Baptism the ordinances through which the 
 visible Church is perpetuated. The Passover and the Lord's 
 Supper a perpetual attestation of His promise to be the 
 Deliverer of His covenant people 112 
 
 ^ 7. These general principles, rightly expounded and logically 
 aiTanged, constitute the science of the Church of God 114 
 
 CONCLUDINa OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 g 1. If there be such a positive doctrine of the Church revealed, 
 then there is no place for a via media ; nor can the true 
 amalgamate with any other theory 116 
 
 ^ 2. This illustrated by a parallel comparison of the theories of 
 Presbytery, Independency, and Prelacy, showing how they 
 differ in their fundamental idea, and, each being consistent 
 with itself, they differ also in every important detail 116 
 
 § 3. From the nature of the case, there is no place for human 
 traditions, expediencies, and ingenuities in respect to the 
 order and ordinances, any more than in respect to the creed, 
 of the Church 121 
 
 g 4. The current prejudice against the principle of Divine warrant 
 founded upon mere fallacy and misconception of the true idea 
 of the Church 124 
 
 g 5. Clear views of the Divine appointment of all that pertains 
 to the government and worship of the Church necessarily 
 tend to higher, more earnest and spiritual views of the 
 Church and her work ,.-. 125 
 
 I 6. Special call upon the Presbyterian Church in the United 
 
CONTENTS. 21 
 
 PAGS 
 
 States to testify for these truths, from her past history and 
 
 from her present position 126 
 
 ^ 7. The true organon of the science of the Church, — the word 
 of God 129 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Ane Schort Somme of the First Buik of Discipline T 
 
 The Second Buik of Discipline, or Headis and Conclusiones of 
 
 the Policie of the Kirk xix 
 
 Robert Baillie's Letter, 1643 1 
 
 Extracts from Gillespie's Notes of Procedure in the Westminster 
 
 Assembly Ivii 
 
 The Votes passed in the Westminster Assembly concerning 
 
 Discipline and Government Ixvii 
 
 The Form of Government agreed upon by the Westminster 
 
 Assembly Ixxvii 
 
GLOSSARY. 
 
 Though the First and Second Books of Discipline are written in 
 tlie classical English of the sixteenth century and contain few words 
 peculiar to the Scottish dialect, yet they have descended to us so 
 changed in spelling that a few directions to the reader may in some 
 cases be useful. 1. There being no w in the alphabet then, where qu 
 occurs at the beginning of words pronounce it as w. Thus, quhilk^ 
 whilk ; quhom, whom. 2. Words beginning 2 pronounce y, as zeiriSf 
 years. 8. The plural is here formed by adding is to the singular : 
 the i is now omitted. The possessive is also formed by adding is, of 
 which we now omit the i, but indicate the elision by an apostrophe. 
 We add a few words, which seem to us to be the most difficult. 
 
 Ainis Once. 
 
 Alanerly Alone, only. 
 
 Ane or mae One or more. 
 
 Aneuch Enough. 
 
 Beand Being. 
 
 Biggings Buildings. 
 
 Bruik Enjoy. 
 
 Buirdit Boarded. 
 
 Cors - present An offering of the best beast belonging to 
 
 a person deceased to the parish priest. 
 
 Consumit Consumed. 
 
 Cuir Care, cure. 
 
 Dotit Given, donated. 
 
 Exemit Exempt. 
 
 Eschewit Avoided. . 
 
 Fewes and tacks Feudal tenures and leases. 
 
 For sa meikle Forasmuch. 
 
 Foundations Donations or legacies for the support of 
 
 some institution. 
 
 Ganging Going. 
 
 2* 23 
 
24 GLOSSAET. 
 
 Geif or gif, Give, or if. 
 
 Helsome Wholesome. 
 
 Hip Hop. 
 
 Hoip Hope. 
 
 Ingyx^e To wheel into; intrude. 
 
 Intromet Intermeddle. 
 
 A landwart In the country. 
 
 Ladi% The Virgin Mary. 
 
 Lowsing Loosing. 
 
 Leveris Livers. 
 
 Man Must. 
 
 Mortifications Things bequeathed by the dead. 
 
 Noch No. 
 
 None Noon. 
 
 Oblishit Obligated. 
 
 Paip Pope. 
 
 Privie Private. 
 
 Prescryves Prescribes. 
 
 Quhilk Which. 
 
 Quhom Whom. 
 
 Rewl Rule. 
 
 Sanctis Saints. 
 
 Spulzeit Spoiled. 
 
 Taken Token. 
 
 Teinds Tjthes or rents due for ecclesiastical 
 
 purposes. 
 
 Travelling Labouring. 
 
 Voce Voice. 
 
 Wechtie Weighty. 
 
 Zeiris Years. 
 
 Zit Yet. 
 
THE 
 
 CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 § 1. Indications of a reawakening in the Presbyterian Church 
 in the United States to the importance of the doctrine of the 
 Church. ^ 2. Like indications, from the general law of develop- 
 ment, in the history of the Church at large. ^ 3. Also, from the 
 peculiar zeal, in this age, of the devotees of false theories of the 
 Church. ^ 4. General fourfold division of the subject. 
 
 It is a significant fact that, for the second time 
 within as many years, the representatives of the 
 General Assembly and of the whole Church 
 should have met to inaugurate, in a second of 
 the three theological schools of the General 
 Assembly, a teacher charged exclusively with 
 the work of training the rising ministry to scrip- 
 tural views of the nature, the functions, the or- 
 ganization and administration of the Church of 
 God. It is well known that such an arrangement 
 of the departments in our theological schools is 
 but recent among us. What is called the depart- 
 ment of Church-government and pastoral theo- 
 
 25 
 
26 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 logy has hitherto been distributed among other 
 departments of the course, as though no adequate 
 conception had been formed of the essential unity 
 of its several parts. And thus, overshadowed by 
 a connection with other more prominent subjects 
 and made to occupy a secondary position, the 
 estimate of its relative importance has generally 
 corresponded with its position in the scheme of 
 study. As a necessary consequence, the instruc- 
 tion in this branch of sacred science has been 
 confined to a f6w details touching the nature and 
 grounds of Presbyterianism, the errors of the 
 more popular forms of Church-government to 
 which it stands opposed, and a few of the more 
 obvious duties of the pastoral office. May not 
 this change of the scheme of theological study 
 be taken, therefore, as an indication of a re- 
 awakening of the Church in this day to some 
 profounder consciousness of those great truths 
 which signalized the martyr-age of our mother- 
 Church of Scotland, and especially the truth that 
 a divinely-constituted Church on earth is a funda- 
 mental fact of the revealed counsels of God? If, 
 as has so often been said, tvords are things, not 
 less truly things are ivords, — often great, eloquent 
 words, transcending any power of articulate 
 speech. Such a word is this thing, — the Church, 
 through her representatives, reaffirming at Dan- 
 ville, as her deliberate and growing conviction, 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 27 
 
 her first utterance at Princeton two years since, 
 that the great doctrines relating to the Church 
 ought to be brought prominently forward, as con- 
 stituting a distinct department of sacred science, 
 as deserving the undivided attention of one teacher 
 in four, and one-fourth of the time and attention 
 of her young men in training for the ministry. 
 
 And this indication is the more significant when 
 considered not in itself singly, but in connection 
 with all the tendencies of the Church for twenty 
 years past. Thus considered, it cannot but be 
 regarded as an evidence of the progressive ad- 
 vance in the Church toward a clearer apprehen- 
 sion of the importance of the truth concerning 
 the Church as Christ's own appointed instrumen- 
 tality, of which even the indistinct and partial 
 apprehension were sufficient to effect her wonder- 
 ful deliverance twenty years since. 
 
 § 2. It is the striking observation of a modern 
 German thinker — after arranging the entire cycle 
 of sacred knowledge into the four categories 
 (1) Theology, the science of God, (2) Anthropo- 
 logy, the science of man as related to God, 
 
 (3) Soterology, the science of salvation, and 
 
 (4) Ecclesiology, the science of the Church of 
 God — that the history of the Church since the 
 apostles seems to have been a development in 
 succession of each of these four in their order. 
 The first of these had its full development during 
 
28 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 the controversies concerning the nature of the 
 Godhead which closed with the labours of Atha- 
 nasius ; the second, during the Pelagian contro- 
 versy closing with the labours of Augustine. 
 Next, after a thousand years of repose and 
 silence in the Church, was developed the third, 
 (Soterology,) through the labours of Luther and 
 Calvin, proclaiming salvation as by grace through 
 faith; leaving the fourth, Ecclesiology, yet to be 
 developed. Do not the providences of God to- 
 ward the American Church in freeing her from 
 the civil domination which, by violence or seduc- 
 tion, silenced the martyr-voice of her Scotch mo- 
 ther when she would testify for Christ's crown 
 and covenant, and in placing the Church here in 
 a position (for the first time, perhaps, since the 
 apostles) to actualize fully and without hinder- 
 ance her true nature and functions as a spiritual 
 commonwealth, — do not all seem to indicate that 
 the time has fully come for the final develop- 
 ment of the visible Church as a governmental 
 power on earth, yet a kingdom not of this world,* 
 a people not reckoned among the nations ?f 
 
 § 3. Not the least remarkable of the indica- 
 tions of a general awakening of Protestantism to 
 a reconsideration and more perfect development 
 
 * Jolm xviii. 36. f Num. xxiii. 9. 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL.' 29 
 
 of the doctrine of the Church is the prevalent 
 movement in a portion of modern Protestantism 
 which seems to be rekindling the zeal of errorists 
 in behalf of corrupt systems of ecclesiology, — 
 and these among even the most preposterous and 
 those most thoroughly exploded by the fathers 
 of the Reformation. The overruling providence 
 of God seems to be permitting Antichrist to utter 
 great swelling words of vanity and to defy the 
 armies of the living God, as if to the very end 
 that the laggard spirit of his evangelical people 
 may be aroused once more to set up the true 
 banner of the Church against the enemy coming 
 in like a flood. 
 
 Is it too much to hope that the recent promi- 
 nence given to this branch of sacred science in 
 our schools for the training of the ministry may 
 be the actual setting up of that banner? — that 
 all this is indicative of a movement of the Holy 
 Spirit upon the mind of the Church, awakening 
 her to teach more earnestly and act more vigor- 
 ously in accordance with her glorious posture and 
 the leadings of Divine Providence? 
 
 § 4. The present would seem, therefore, to be 
 an eminently proper occasion for some discussion 
 of the fundamental jorinciples upon which a sci- 
 ence of the Church must be established. And all 
 the indications of the present temper and spirit 
 
30 THE CHUECH OF GOD 
 
 of the Church would seem to be favourable for a 
 hearing on such a subject. It is the purpose of 
 this discourse to exhibit briefly that conception 
 of the Church of God and of its relation to the 
 revealed purpose of redemption^ out of which 
 springs the idea of a positive science of the 
 Church, as a distinct and fundamental branch of 
 revealed knowledge. Of this general subject 
 there are two comprehensive branches; — the one, 
 concerning the idea of the Church in itself, and 
 as related to the theology of redemption in gene- 
 ral; — the other, the relation to the idea of the 
 Church thus settled, of what is revealed con- 
 cerning the government of the spiritual common- 
 wealth, and the ordinances thereof. 
 
 But the whole subject will, perhaps, have its 
 briefest, clearest, and, at the same time, most 
 exhaustive illustration, by an analysis thereof, 
 and a consideration in their order of the following 
 four parts : — 
 
 1. The relation of the idea of the Church to 
 the plan of redemption ideally in the eternal pur- 
 pose of God. 
 
 2. The relation of the idea of the Church to 
 the mode and structure and the subject-matter of 
 the revelation of the Divine purpose in the Scrip- 
 tures. 
 
 3. The relation to the idea of the Church thus 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 31 
 
 obtained of the principles of spiritual government 
 as set forth in the Scriptures. 
 
 4. The relation to the idea of the Church of 
 the ordinances of worship and the agencies ap- 
 pointed to the Churchy according to the Scrip- 
 tures. 
 
32 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 PART I. 
 
 OP THE RELATION OP THE IDEA OP THE CHURCH TO THE 
 PLAN OF REDEMPTION IDEALLY IN THE ETERNAL PUR- 
 POSE OF GOD. 
 
 § 1. Some intimate relation between the theory of the Church 
 and Theology proper is naturally suggested by the uniform con- 
 nection, as matter of fact, between peculiar views in theology and 
 corresponding views of the Church. § 2. A similar intimacy of 
 relation is suggested by the general tenor of Scripture. ^ 3. The 
 prejudice against these higher and wider views of the subject, 
 as transcendental, is unreasonable. |4. The four theories of 
 theology, — Papal, Zuinglian, Lutheran, and Calvinistio. ^5. Of 
 the Calvinistio theory of theology the Eternal Purpose of God 
 is the central truth, and modifies the view of all other divine 
 truth. ^ 6. This view naturally suggests a like central truth in 
 Ecclesiology: such central truth is found in the mode of the Eter- 
 nal Purpose, — ^viz.: to save sinners not merely as individuals, but 
 as constituting an elect body, of which the Mediator shall be the 
 Head. ^ 7. An elementary idea of the Church, and entering into 
 every form of the definition of it, is this ideal body of the Eternal 
 Covenant. § 8. The Church, as actual and visible, is primarily the 
 development of this ideal. §9. This statement is not exclusive 
 of the idea of the actual Church, as a means of manifesting to 
 men the peculiar mode of the purpose to save an elect body, or 
 as an institute for the accomplishment of the purpose of grace in 
 the calling, gathering and edifying of the elect. 
 
 §1. ThxVT the question of the Church has an 
 intnnate relation to the general scheme of Re- 
 demptioUj and therefore to Theology proper, would 
 naturally be inferred from the fact that so imi- 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 3 
 
 o 
 
 formly in ecclesiastical history a particular theory 
 of theology is found connected with a particular 
 theory of the Church. Making all due allowance 
 for exceptions arising out of the inconsistencies 
 of individual minds, as a general rule, it is found 
 true that bodies of men (always more consistent, 
 and more apt to be governed by the necessities of 
 an inexorable logic, than individual minds) if hold- 
 ing any special views in theology, have correspond- 
 ing views, right or wrong, of the idea and nature 
 of the Church ; and, vice versa, if peculiar views 
 of the Church, then also corresponding views of 
 theology. Thus, a Rationalistic theology is most 
 commonly found in connection with an Erastian 
 or an Independent theory of the Church. On the 
 other hand, a Prelatical theory of the Church 
 almost uniformly stands in connection with a 
 theology of mere sacramentalism. A Calvinistic 
 theology seldom remains long incorrupt except 
 as held in connection with a Presbyterian theory 
 of the Church. Such facts, whatever be the ex- 
 planation of them, seem to indicate at least so 
 much connection between theories of theology and 
 theories of the Church as to suggest an examina- 
 tion into the ideal relation between them, prelimi- 
 nary to a right understanding of the structure of 
 the Church. 
 
 § 2. Considering, moreover, the relation sug- 
 gested everywhere in the Scriptures between the 
 
34 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 Church of God and the great scheme of Redemp- 
 tion, it would seem to be the natural order of 
 thought to begin the study of the doctrine con- 
 cerning the Church with an endeavour to ascertain 
 its position in the general scheme of salvation of 
 which it forms a constituent part. And when it 
 is considered how immense is the power of a great 
 central idea, once truly fixed in its relations, in 
 aiding to evolve the details of a complex system 
 of thought, — when it is considered, furthermore, 
 that in no other system of thought is this power 
 of a central idea so great as in that revealed sys- 
 tem which is in itself the evolving of one great 
 idea that lay in the Divine Mind from eternity, 
 — there can no longer be any doubt as to the reason- 
 ableness and propriety of this method of develop- 
 ing the theory of the Church. 
 
 § 3. There is a current prejudice, indeed, against 
 any such reasoning, as transcendental and beyond 
 the sphere of practical thought. It must not be 
 forgotten, however, that by celestial observations 
 only can safe and practical terrestrial charts be 
 constructed. And whilst the mariner may indeed 
 learn to find his way over the ocean by his chart, 
 as men learn a trade, yet, in order to any true and 
 intelligent guidance by the chart, scientific obser- 
 vation, to determine the relations of the earth to 
 bodies in the heavens, becomes a prime necessity, 
 and in the highest sense is practical knowledge. 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 35 
 
 So in every departpient of revealed knowledge, 
 they alone shall succeed in obtaining adequate 
 conceptions of the significancy of the several 
 parts thereof, and the highest practical knowledge 
 of the whole, who, under the guidance of the 
 Holy Spirit, shall have studied the "pattern in 
 the heavens," as it existed in the mind of the 
 Infinite Author of salvation, 
 
 §4. Since the Reformation, four chief theories, 
 and these inclusive of all other theories of re- 
 vealed theology, have had currency in Christen- 
 dom, — the Papal, the Zuinglian, the Lutheran, 
 and the Calvinistic. Of these the first named is 
 the original error against which the last three may 
 be regarded as successive forms of just protest. 
 All three of these protests are true in their gene- 
 ral idea intrinsically, and successful in developing 
 the chief truths of the gospel, but with widely- 
 different degrees of clearness and completeness, 
 and with still more v/idely-difierent degrees of 
 success in preserving pure and incorrupt the doc- 
 trines of grace. Recurring again to the analogy 
 just . employed, these four theories may not un- 
 aptly be compared, as to their relative value, with 
 the four different theories of the visible universe 
 which have in different ages had currency in the 
 world. The Papal theory of theology, like the 
 ancient mythological theory of the universe, scarce 
 pretended to have any foundation other than in 
 
 3* 
 
36 THE CHTJECH OF GOD 
 
 mere human fancies and its general prevalence 
 among men. And just as the Ptolemaic, the 
 Copernican, and the still more modern theory of 
 the Mecanique Celeste, are successive protests 
 against the mere prejudices and dreams of men; 
 yea, just as by each of them the fundamental 
 facts of the Cosmos had in some sort their expla- 
 nation, but with different degrees of consistency, 
 clearness and beauty, so with the three Protest- 
 ant theories of theology. The Zuinglian, taking 
 as the central principle of its structure the truth 
 that the word of God alone can be any authorita- 
 tive rule to the conscience, developed from that 
 point a true, in opposition to a counterfeit gospel ; 
 yet a gospel too easily perverted by reason of its 
 tendency to exalt the rational man of earth into 
 a centre of the spiritual system, or at least, from 
 its narrowness of view, to obscure the higher 
 truths of the scheme of Redemption. The Lu- 
 theran theory, taking as its central principle the 
 justification of the sinner by grace alone through 
 faith, after the fashion of Copernicus, exhibited 
 Jesus Christ, the Sun of righteousness, as the 
 real centre, to whom the rational man of earth, 
 with all that concerns him, is attracted, and around 
 whom he revolves. Calvin, whilst perceiving 
 that the central truths of both Zuingle and Luther 
 were indeed great truths, yet, with the still wider 
 vision of La Place and the moderns, beheld not 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 37 
 
 only the rational man revolving around the media- 
 torial Sun of righteousness as his true centre, 
 but also that man and his Central Sun revolved 
 again around a still profounder centre, even the 
 Eternal Purpose of God, fixed in the counsels of 
 eternity before the world began. Such, generally, 
 is the relative 230sition to the others of that re- 
 markable theory of theology which, however 
 men have cavilled at, they must be constrained to 
 admit both its singular accordance with the very 
 language, and its logical development and eluci- 
 dation of all the great facts, of revelation. 
 
 § 5. Of this system of theology the eternal pur- 
 pose of God is, ideally, the great central truth. 
 All that has transpired under the reign of grace 
 and under the administration of Providence, since 
 the world began, is conceived of as simply the 
 gradual manifestation in time of the purpose 
 formed from eternity.* The revelation which 
 God has made of himself in his word is but 
 the record of the execution of his Eternal Decree, 
 and the publication to the world in time of the 
 proceedings had in the counsels of eternity. 
 The revelation of Himself experimentally to the 
 souls of his people is but the manifestation of the 
 love wherewith he loved them before the world 
 began. Every syllable of truth revealed in the 
 
 * Eph. i. 4-12, iii. 9-11 ; Rom. viii. 28-33; Jolin xvii. 2-5. 
 
8 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 Scriptures is conceived of as having its signifi- 
 cance and its importance determined by its rela- 
 tion to the purpose previously existing in the Di- 
 vine Mind ; so that the doctrine of the Decree and 
 Predestination of God is not so much a doctrine 
 of Calvinism — one distinct truth in a system of 
 truth — as a mode of conceiving and setting 
 forth all the doctrines which make up revealed 
 theology. 
 
 § 6. Now, pursuing the hint already suggested 
 touching the connection between the system of 
 theology and the idea of the Church, and taking 
 this theory of Calvin as correct, a sure and reli- 
 able central point will be found for the doctrine 
 of the Church, likewise, in the eternal purpose of 
 God. For the fundamental idea of the Church 
 as a separate and distinct portion of the human 
 race is found in the peculiar mode of that j)urpose 
 itself. It is set forth as a distinguishing feature 
 of the purpose of redemption, that it is to save 
 not merely myriads of men as individual 7nen, but 
 myriads of sinners, as composing a Mediatorial 
 body, of which the Mediator shall be the head ;* 
 a Mediatorial Kingdom, whose government shall 
 be upon His shoulderf forever; a Church, the 
 Lamb's Bride, of which He shall be the Husband; J 
 a bride whose beautiful portrait was graven upon 
 
 * Col. i. 18-20. t Isa. ix. 6, 7. % Eph. v. 20. 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 39 
 
 the palms of his hcancls, and whose walls were 
 continually before him,* when in the counsels of 
 eternity he undertook her redemption. 
 
 The mission of Messiah, undertaken in the 
 covenant of eternity, was not merely that of a 
 teaching Pro]3het and an atoning Priest, but of a 
 ruling King as well. His work was not to enun- 
 ciate simply a doctrine concerning God and man's 
 relations to God, as some Socrates, for the found- 
 ing of a school; nor even merely to atone for sin- 
 ners as a ministering priest at the altar : it was, 
 as the result of all, and the reward of all, to found 
 a community^ to organize a government^ and adminis- 
 ter therein as a perpetual king. 
 
 It will be perceived, therefore, that the primary 
 and fundamental conception of the Church of God 
 has its germinal source far back in the purpose of 
 God, and that the Church naturally and necessa- 
 rily grows out of the very form and mode of the 
 scheme of redemption for sinners, as it lay in the 
 Infinite Mind. As the purpose was to redeem not 
 only elect sinners, but a body of elect sinners, — 
 an organic body with all its parts related to each 
 other, and the Mediator himself the head thereof, 
 — it is manifest that in that purpose is involved 
 ideally the Church as an elect portion of the race 
 under the Headship of the Messiah, and distinct 
 
 *Isa. xlix. 16. 
 
40 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 from anotlier and reprobate portion of tlie human 
 fixmily. 
 
 § 7. The elementary conception of the Church, 
 therefore, and that conception of it which must 
 be presupposed and enter into every definition of 
 the Church, is of that elect body of men which 
 was contemplated in the covenant of redemption, 
 as constituting the mediatorial kingdom of Christ, 
 and for the sake of which body he undertook the 
 work of salvation. Other elements, as we shall 
 see, must necessaiily enter into the definition as 
 this ideal of the purpose of God becomes actual in 
 the external manifestation of the pm^pose in time ; 
 but this element must obviously be found involved 
 in any and every form which the notion of the 
 Church, as actual and external, can take. In this 
 view of the case is found the reason for the fact 
 that a Calvinistic theology cannot long retain its 
 integrity and purity save in connection with a 
 Calvinistic ecclesiology, and for the more general 
 fact, already referred to, of the intimate con- 
 nection between a wrong theology and wrong 
 views of the Church. 
 
 § 8. As the general ideal purpose of God becomes 
 actual and revealed in time, so every part of the 
 purpose hae its corresponding actual external 
 manifestation. The Mediator of the ideal eternal 
 covenant becomes the Jehovah, in various forms 
 manifesting himself to men; the Angel of the 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 41 
 
 covenant, not only the ideal covenant of redemp- 
 tion, but of the actual covenant of grace, in its 
 successive renewals and various forms ; the King 
 of Zion; the Word, speaking at sundry times and 
 in divers manners to the fathers, and in the last 
 time becoming incarnate to finish the atonement 
 for sin; the ascended Son of Man, that hath the 
 seven Spirits of God, to send forth the Holy 
 Spirit, as his Vicar, to carry on the work of re- 
 demption on earth till he shall return a second 
 time in glory. 
 
 So in like manner the ideal eJdeJdoi of the cove- 
 nant of redemption become the actual Jdetoi (called 
 ones) of the manifested purpose in time. Inas- 
 much as they are called by an external Idesis of 
 the word, they are gathered in successive genera- 
 tions to constitute the external eJcJdesia on earth. 
 In as far as they are called also by the internal 
 Jdesis of the Spirit, they are gathered to constitute 
 the invisible eJcMesia, the full and complete actual 
 of the eternal ideal. For whilst, indeed, the ef- 
 fectual call of the Spirit can alone fulfil the pro- 
 mise of the eternal covenant to Messiah, yet, as 
 that call is externally through the word and the 
 visible ordinances, the very process of calhng and 
 preparing the elect of God creates the visible 
 Church in the very image of the invisible. And 
 it is in this visible body that the Mediator carries 
 on his admmistration, works by his Spirit, gives 
 
42 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 laws and orainances for the present and exceed- 
 ing great and precious promises of that which is 
 to come ; and through this body carries on his pur- 
 poses of mercy toward a world lying in wickedness. 
 §9. This statement concerning the actual and 
 visible Church as the development of the ideal 
 elect body of the covenant of redemption is by 
 no means exclusive of all other aspects of the 
 Church in the gospel scheme. From what will 
 be shown hereafter, it will appear that the visible 
 Church is an important, if not a necessary, means 
 of revealing to men the whole counsel of God; 
 and that, for aught we know, such is the constitu- 
 tion of the human mind that by no other method 
 could have been communicated to human intelli- 
 gence that peculiar feature of the purpose of God 
 which contemplates the redeemed not as indi- 
 viduals merely, but as the mediatorial body of the 
 Redeemer. It will appear, also, that, in another 
 view, the Church is an indispensable means of ac- 
 complishing the great purpose of his love to his 
 chosen people, as an institute for the calling, 
 training, and edifying the elect. What is intended 
 in the foregoing view is to exhibit the external 
 Church in time as, primarily in the logical order 
 of thought, the development of the ideal body of 
 the covenant of redemption. Contemplated as a 
 part of the process of manifesting to men the 
 purpose of God to gather an elect people, the 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 43 
 
 Church is a means through which God makes 
 known his counsel. Contemplated as to its im- 
 mediate end, the Church is a divinely-appointed 
 institute, by which and through which to accom- 
 plish his purpose in the calling and edification of 
 his elect. But both these views, however import- 
 ant and essential, are, logically speaking, second- 
 ary and incidental to the idea of the Church 
 actual on earth as the development of the Church 
 ideal, — "the pattern in the heavens." 
 
44 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 PART II. 
 
 THE RELATION OP THE IDEA OF THE CHURCH TO THE 
 MANIFESTATION OF THE ETERNAL PURPOSE OF GOD AS 
 RECORDED IN THE SCRIPTURES. 
 
 1 1. The foregoing view of the idea of the Church in relation 
 to the purpose of God is confirmed by the revelation of that pur- 
 pose in Scripture. 1 2. In the first place, by the mode of making 
 the revelation through a series of covenants. ^ 3. Importance of 
 the doctrine of the covenants, especially in constructing a true ec- 
 clesiology. § 4. Pre-eminence given in Scripture to the covenant 
 with Abraham. ^ 5. The Abrahamic covenant holds forth the 
 Church visible as not only a development of the ideal body of the 
 eternal covenant, but also as an institute for the calling and re- 
 demption of the elect, by way of means for the accomplishment 
 of the divine purpose. ^ 6. As all other covenants, so this gives 
 prominence to the principle that the children of parties to the 
 covenant have a birthright to its privileges. ^ 7. This argument 
 assumes the spiritual significancy of all these covenants ; the con- 
 trary supposition is inconsistent with the divine inspiration of Scrip- 
 ture. I 8. The argument cumulates again when reference is made 
 to the general character of the subject-matter of Scripture. 
 ^ 9. Is still further confirmed in that by this view the wonderful 
 unity of Scripture is manifested. § 10. Still further in that it ex- 
 hibits most clearly the unity of the plan of salvation as held forth 
 in all ages. § 11. And also the unity of the faith which is unto 
 salvation as exercised in every age of the Church. ^ 12. Still 
 further in that, with this view as a key to their interpretation, the 
 Scriptures exhibit the Church as substantially the same in all ages, 
 and under the same administration of the mediatorial King. 
 ^ 13. And also the Church visible in every age as under the 
 same general form of external government, — viz., of the elders, 
 {TTpeafivTEpoi.) 1 14. It is a further confirmation of the argument 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 45 
 
 that, in conformity with all the foregoing facts, the Scriptures 
 represent all revelations, covenants, ordinances, and promises of 
 God as given to the Church as such, and not to the race at large 
 as such. §15. General results of this argument: first, the ger- 
 minal idea of the Church visible is the elect body of the covenant 
 of redemption ; second, the external Church is a necessary result 
 of the manifestation in time of God's purpose ; third, the mode of 
 the revelation of the purpose is in precise accordance w^ith the 
 conception of the relation between the ideal and the actual 
 Church; fourth, the visible Church is essentially the same in all 
 ages, however it may vary in degrees of light and purity and 
 in ordinances and modes of worship ; fifth, the proper definition 
 of the Church as a complex idea must not only enumerate the 
 elementary ideas thereof, but these in their logical order of ar- 
 rangement also. Variations in the extent of meaning in which 
 the word "Church'' is taken. § 16. These general views coincide 
 with the definition of the Church as an article of Calvinistic 
 theology, in the 25th chapter of the Westminster Confession. 
 § 17. Necessity of the previous argument touching the idea of the 
 Church as preliminary to the right interpretation of what the 
 Scriptures teach concerning the government and ordinances of 
 worship of the Church. 
 
 § 1. That the general view of the intimate re- 
 lation of the idea of the Church to the purpose 
 of redemption, and thus to theology proper, ex- 
 hibited in Part I. of this discourse, is no mere 
 theoretic conjecture, wiU be made manifest if we 
 now proceed further to an examination of the 
 question in how far this general view of the sub- 
 ject is confirmed by the Scripture account of the 
 mode in which the eternal purpose of God was 
 manifested in time, and in how far also it is con- 
 firmed by the specific teaching of the Scriptui^es 
 concerning the outworking of the plan of redemp- 
 
46 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 tion. It is plain that, if the Scriptures them- 
 selves are but the record of the manifestation of 
 God's eternal purpose, then the preceding theory 
 of the Church may easily be tested by a compa- 
 rison of its fundamental points with the Scrip- 
 tures. If the theory be unsound, nothing but 
 confusion can follow from the attempt to inter- 
 pret the revelation of the scheme of redemption 
 by it. If, on the contrary, it be true, then it will 
 be found to furnish a clue by which the great 
 truths of Scripture concerning the work of re- 
 demption may be developed from the record in 
 unity, clearness and simplicity. Accordingly, it 
 will be found that in the light of the view pre- 
 sented in Part I. the Scriptures exhibit a wonder- 
 ful unity of idea, and singular consistency and 
 harmony, from the first to the last revelation. It 
 is proposed now to consider the relation of the 
 idea of the Church to the Scriptures in a general 
 twofold aspect: first, as regards the mode of re- 
 vealing the divine purpose, and, consequently, the 
 peculiar structure of the Scriptures ; and secondly, 
 as regards the subject-matter of Scripture in detail. 
 § 2. It cannot fail to attract the attention of 
 the thoughtful student, on the first opening, of the 
 Bible, that there is something remarkable in the 
 mode by which God here undertakes to communi- 
 cate with men, from which flow the peculiarities 
 of form and structure which the revelation of 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 47 
 
 God assumes in tlie Scriptures. The mode of 
 this communication is through successive covenants, I ( 
 each one a larger development of all the pre- 
 ceding. It might readily be shown that this fact 
 involves of necessity the idea of a distinct body 
 of people with wdiom, as contracting parties with 
 God, the covenants are made. It is sufacient, 
 however, here to observe that the chief pecu- 
 liarity of Holy Scripture in its structure, and 
 that which furnishes the grand key to its inter- 
 pretation, is this fact, — that the contents thereof, 
 though given at sundry times and in divers man- 
 ners through thousands of years, may all be re- . 
 ferred to three categories. 1. Covenants, with 
 the accompanying series of revelations given in 
 connection with the making of the covenants. 
 2. Historic providences, to prepare the way for, 
 and furnish the human mind with ideas to enable 
 it to comprehend the significancy of, these cove- 
 nants and their accompanying revelation; — or per- 
 haps better expressed as laying a platform in the 
 human mind on which to construct the idea of 
 a covenant-revelation. 3. Historic dealings and 
 inspirations for the further elucidation and ex- 
 position of these covenants. Thus (to illustrate 
 this general statement) the historic transactions 
 connected with the fall of man are preparatory 
 and essential to a comprehension by man of the 
 covenant and revelation of grace. The subse- 
 
 4* 
 
48 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 quent history further elucidates this, and pre- 
 pares the necessary groundwork in the human 
 mind for the covenant and revelations through 
 Noah. The subsequent events again illustrate 
 this, and prepare the way for the covenant with 
 Abraham and its revelations concerning a land 
 of promise to the pilgrim, and a seed of promise 
 to one called out from kindred and country. 
 The subsequent events illustrate — by a pro- 
 gressive fulfilment of the promise — and prepare 
 the way for the covenant with this promised 
 seed, as a chosen people, through Moses, and the 
 fuller revelation of Messiah as the Deliverer and 
 Lawgiver of his chosen people. Then, the sub- 
 sequent events, under Providence, again develop 
 this covenant, by progressive fulfilment, till the 
 accomplishment thereof, as to the land of promise, 
 is effected under David, and thus prepare the 
 way for the last prophetic covenant and revelation 
 of Messiah, as a King in Zion, to rule and bless 
 forever his people. The succeeding providential 
 history, together wdth the inspirations in the 
 Psalms and the Prophets, are all in elucidation 
 of this covenant, and, as the full and final expo- 
 sition of all previous dispensations of God and of 
 all previous covenants and revelations, become 
 the grand preparation for the last and highest 
 covenant of the New Testament, — a covenant 
 mediated by the Son of God incarnate, and 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 49 
 
 henceforth to be ministered by the Spirit till the 
 second coming of Christ. 
 
 § 3. Chiefly from a disregard of this peculiarity 
 of revelation; and of the covenants as the key to 
 it all, have arisen the confusion and errors in 
 theology which have distracted the Church in 
 recent times. To a like disregard of the cove- 
 nants, perhaps, may be ascribed much of the con- 
 fusion of ideas which has characterized the eccle- 
 siology of recent times also. For in the very 
 nature of these covenants, with the accompanying 
 revelations and circumstances, must be laid the 
 foundation for any true conception of the Church 
 as an external visible existence on earth. Nay, 
 the idea w^hich underlies all these covenants alike 
 is of a separated portion of the race entering into 
 contract with God. Thus, the very first gospel 
 promise and covenant relates to two seeds of the 
 same race, between whom is an enmity, not natu- 
 rally, but supernaturally, engendered. " I will 
 put enmity," &c. : thus declaring prophetically, 
 anterior to the existence of any offspring, the 
 existence of a great line of separation in the 
 human family. In the revelation to Noah the 
 line is actually run between one branch and the 
 two other great branches arising from Noah. 
 The covenant with Abraham is specifically with 
 him, as representative and head of a separate so- 
 ciety. The covenant made through Moses is with 
 
50 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 this society itself, now actually existing. The co- 
 venant with David stipulates for a King, who shall 
 rule over this peculiar society as its perpetual 
 head. And when, in the fulness of time, the 
 King manifests himself, it is not claiming directly 
 the headship of the world at large, but of a king- 
 dom not of this world. His mission is to the lost 
 sheep of the house of Israel, and to sit upon the 
 throne of David. Thus, each of the successive 
 covenants in time, manifesting the eternal cove- 
 nant, follows the pattern in the heavens in hold- 
 ing forth this separated body chosen out of a 
 fallen race. 
 
 § 4. This peculiarity stands forth pre-eminently 
 in the covenant with Abraham, — which covenant 
 itself stands forth pre-eminent in Scripture. For, 
 instead of making most prominent the covenant 
 with Adam and Noah, as the first and second 
 natural fathers of the race, the Scriptures, on the 
 contrary, give tenfold prominence to Abraham 
 and the covenant with Abraham over those with 
 Adam and Noah. Now, the covenant with Abra- 
 ham, while implying, indeed, all that is involved 
 in the covenant of grace, is specially distinguished 
 in being an ecclesiological covenant. Its provi- 
 sions all have special relation to a chosen people, 
 as an organized and visible body on earth, through 
 which all nations shall be blessed. And from this 
 era in the history of redemption till the close of 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 51 
 
 that history, the promise of Messiah, the Victor 
 over Satan, takes the definite form of the De- 
 liverer, Lawgiver, and Ruler of a people; and 
 the promise of a chosen seed, at enmity with the 
 reprobate, takes the definite form of a visible 
 organic body of men. Thus, midway in the 
 great progress of the work of redemption, be- 
 tween the first promise of the gospel and the 
 glorious fulfilment thereof in the Incarnation of 
 the Son of God, stands out this peculiar covenant, 
 organizing the visible body of believers, as visibly 
 separate and apart from the rest of mankind. The 
 Church, as to its component elements, existed, in- 
 deed, from the first, and, by virtue of the enmity 
 put between the chosen and the reprobate seeds, 
 existed necessarily in some sense apart; but 
 henceforth, under special covenant, they are 
 visibly and formally set apart to become the 
 special people of Messiah, among whom the cove- 
 nant of grace shall have its administration. 
 
 As in the progress of creation the light is the 
 grand result of the first day, yet midway be- 
 tween the beginning and the end stands, as 
 the great work of the fourth day, the sun, the 
 gathered light, concentrated and organize(> under 
 a law of nature for the permanent illumination 
 of the earth, so, whilst the elements of the 
 Church began with the call of the first sinner, 
 midway in the progress of the work of redemp- 
 
52 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 tion stands the covenant with Abraham, organ- 
 izing the elements into a visible Church of God, 
 henceforth, under the law of its being, constituted 
 the agent for the diffusion of the divine light to 
 the world. All subsequent covenants are but 
 the confirmation and further elucidation of this. 
 Hence we may readily understand the promi- 
 nence given to it in the subsequent record of 
 God's revelations. Of these, however, we shall 
 have occasion to speak more fully hereafter. 
 
 § 5. It is a marked peculiarity of the Abrahamic 
 covenant that it brings into view the Church visi- 
 ble, not simply as the external manifestation and 
 development of the ideal mediatorial body of the 
 Redeemer in the eternal covenant, but at the 
 same time, also, as an actual institute for the 
 calling and training of the elect people of God. 
 From this time forward, through the entire reve- 
 lation, the visible Church is exhibited as a body 
 externally called to the privilege of receiving the 
 oracles of God, and of being specially under the 
 charge of Jehovah as his peculiar nation, the 
 special beneficiary of his promises, and enjoying 
 the special agency of his Holy Spirit. It is no 
 longer limited in extent of numbers to the true 
 xXriroi, — the called internally by the Spirit ac- 
 cording to the eternal purpose, — but also to the 
 called [;cX97rot] who are externally called by the 
 word only. It is Jehovah's vineyard, well fenced, 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 53 
 
 indeed, but oftentimes having vines therein that 
 bring forth wild grapes. It is Jehovah's garden, 
 well cared-for and well tilled, but in which many 
 of the fig-trees may be barren. It is the wheat- 
 field, which the husbandman has carefully sown, 
 yet in which tares grow up with the wheat. It 
 is the great net, as an instrument in the hand of 
 Jehovah for gathering his chosen ones out of the 
 great deeps of a world of sin ; but the very ope- 
 ration by which he gathers the good must, in the 
 nature of the case, gather the bad with them 
 also. It is a heap of choice wheat in his thresh- 
 ing-floor, from which the chaff is yet to be win- 
 nowed. It is a rich vineyard, leased out for a 
 time to husbandmen who may be wicked enough 
 to beat away the owner's servants, — yea, even to 
 slay his son and heir. It is, in short, a body 
 called out of the world, yet in which are many 
 called more than are chosen. 
 
 § 6. It may be proper to observe, in this con- 
 nection, that one feature which is common to all 
 the covenants pertaining to the work of redemp- 
 tion stands out with special prominence in the 
 great Church-covenant with Abraham. Whilst 
 everywhere in Scripture special pains is taken 
 to guard against the error that the blessings of 
 salvation, according to the covenant of grace, have 
 any respect to natural descent, and to declare that 
 the true elect are born not of blood nor of the 
 
54 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 will of man, yet, on the other hand, special pro- 
 minence is given to the principle that, as concern- 
 ing the outworking in time of the scheme of 
 redemption, the children of those who are them- 
 selves parties to the covenant have a birthright 
 to the privileges or the penalties of the covenant. 
 Thus, by virtue of the covenant of works with 
 Adam, every child born of Adam is born to die. 
 By virtue of the covenant with Christ as the 
 second Adam, every mortal that dies must rise 
 again from the dead. By virtue of the covenant 
 with Noah not to destroy again with a flood, 
 every child born of Noah, as the second father of 
 the race, has, as a birthright, the guarantee of 
 God against another flood. By reason of the co- 
 venant with David, his male offspring in every 
 generation had, as a birthright, a claim to the 
 throne: — a claim to which their unfaithfulness 
 should be no bar, for though eleven of them in 
 the line of succession proved utterly unworthy, 
 yet Jehovah would not reject them as he rejected 
 Saul, simply for David their father's sake, and the 
 oath which he sAvare to David. Now, this prin- 
 ciple stands forth with special distinctness in the 
 great Church-covenant with Abraham. His chil- 
 dren in successive generations are not only re- 
 cognised as having a birthright in its peculiar 
 privileges, but as born members of the great 
 visible community which this covenant, as a 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OP THE GOSPEL. 65 
 
 charter, founds and organizes, they are required 
 to be made formally parties thereto by affixing, 
 through their parents, their seal to the covenant. 
 And so intimate a part of the structure is this 
 principle, that, no matter what extent of signifi- 
 cancy be given to the covenant itself, or what the 
 degree of its development in subsequent eras of 
 God's revelation, this feature holds precisely the 
 same relative position in the covenant; nor can it 
 be eifaced from it without destroying the struc- 
 ture of the covenant itself. 
 
 § 7. It is assumed, in all the foregoing views 
 of the covenant, that they are interpreted through- 
 out as having primarily a spiritual, and secondarily 
 and incidentally only, any mere temporary and 
 natural significancy. This assumption has been 
 proceeded upon, first, to avoid digression, and, 
 secondly, because the contrary supposition must 
 practically make void the whole record of the 
 covenants as having any significancy in the plan 
 of salvation, — nay, in fact, make void also the re- 
 cord itself as any part of the word of God. 
 Once a spiritual significancy is given to the pro- 
 mise enfolded in the Eden curse, then, by the 
 same principle of interpretation, all follows as 
 true which has now been assumed concerning the 
 other covenants. On the contrary, if the Eden 
 curse is simply a prophetic declaration of the an- 
 tipathy of the human race to serpents, the account 
 
56 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 is unworthy the place it holds in the word of God. 
 If the promise to Abraham w^as only of a natural 
 seed as such, and a physical nation to inherit a 
 physical Canaan merely, then the promise, as im- 
 plying any high distinction of Abraham over other 
 kingdom-founders, was never fulfilled ; for many 
 other kingdom-founders were greater than he. If 
 the covenant and institutions given through Moses 
 were primarily civil and only secondarily ecclesi- 
 astical, estabhshing merely a model civil govern- 
 ment and nation, then it proved a signal failure 
 for the four hundred years of anarchy immediately 
 following its establishment. If the covenant with 
 David promised only a natural succession to a 
 national throne and temporal glories, then the 
 history records an utter failure of the promise, 
 seeing that under the immediate successor of 
 David the seeds of ruin to the civil empire were 
 sown, and under the very next in succession the 
 empire was in effect dissolved. It is needless to 
 diverge here from the argument to show, more- 
 over, that on any other interpretation these cove- 
 nants were unworthy the great Jehovah and de- 
 grading to his Word. If, however, the true sig- 
 nificance of the covenants be that assumed here, 
 then it is manifest that the Church of God, as a 
 distinct, visible, actual power on earth, forms 
 one of the two great ideas of the covenants from 
 first to last. 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 57 
 
 § 8. When we turn now from these more gene- 
 ral views, gathered from the mode of manifestmg 
 the Divine purpose, and the consequent peculiar 
 structure of revelation, to the subject-matter of the 
 Scriptures in detail, the argument culminates by 
 reason of the fact that the same idea of a cove- 
 nant-peoi)le pervades all. As a general statement, 
 it may be said that so far as the Scriptures are 
 historic they are the history of the Church, even 
 of that particular portion of mankind which has 
 been selected out of the race at large and organ- 
 ized as a body under the Mediator. In so far as 
 the Scriptures are prophetic, it is to foretell the 
 destiny of this community under the administra- 
 tion of its Founder and Eling. The key-note to 
 which the harp of prophecy attunes every other 
 strain is, "Thy throne, God, is for ever and ever; 
 a sceptre of righteousness is the scejjtre of thy 
 hingdomr In so far as they are a theology, it is 
 the revelation of a God-man Mediator, adminis- 
 tering by his Providence all things with refer- 
 ence to a Church which he hath purchased with 
 his own blood. In so far as the Scripture is a 
 gospel, strictly so called, it is the annunciation 
 of a kingdom of heaven at hand. For this is the 
 grand conception with which the series of Old 
 Testament gospel-revelations had its final culmi- 
 nation. With this the New Testament gospel 
 opens, crying, "The kingdom of heaven is at 
 
58 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 hand." This was the grand subject of the preach- 
 ing of Jesus himself during his personal ministry. 
 This was the charge on which he was condemned, 
 and the truth for which, in so far as his death 
 was a martyrdom, he died. And, finally, the 
 truth which, as his distinguishing heresy, his 
 enemies w^ould sarcastically hurl contempt upon 
 by placarding it upon his cross, was, " This is the 
 King of the JeiusT And so, too, the gospel of 
 his triumph, after his resurrection and ascension, 
 is, " Him hath God exalted to be a Pi^ince and a 
 Saviour;" and the last gospel vision of Him is as 
 the Lamb in the midst of the throne. Now, the 
 great correlative truth to Messiah as a King is 
 that of his people as a kingdom, an organic body. 
 And from these two facts arises that wonderful 
 unity of idea which j^ervades a Book whose 
 several parts belong to different ages, different 
 civilizations, and different eras of an ever-pro- 
 gressive revelation extending through thousands 
 of years. It is the history of the administration 
 of one king — Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, 
 to-day, and forever — over one community, having 
 essentially one Lord, one fliith, one baptism, 
 throughout this whole series of ages. 
 
 § 9. However the Bible, as a book of theology 
 in general, may lack sydem in the logical sense of 
 the schools, a diUgent study of its subject-matter 
 will evince that it is none the less remarkable for 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 69 
 
 its rigid method throughout. Men construct in- 
 tellectually by system, as they build their houses 
 and other structures of art. They lay truth by 
 measurement upon truth, and chapter upon chap- 
 ter, and all incomplete till the last beam is laid 
 and the whole structure jointed together into one. 
 God constructs his revelations as he constructs the 
 oak of the forest or the cedar of Lebanon, — by a 
 continual development from a germ which is per- 
 fect from the first, and a perfect tree in every 
 stage of its growth. As the oak is in the acorn, 
 so the whole gospel of God is in the first germinal 
 promise imbedded in the very curse of Eden. It 
 springs forth and develops ever in larger and 
 clearer proportions, through each successive reve- 
 lation, from the Paradise of Adam to the Paradise 
 revealed anew in the visions of the Apocalypse. 
 So, too, with the development of the Church of 
 God as an element of the first gospel-promise: 
 each, successive covenant enunciates more and 
 more clearly and largely the same one idea 
 through the entire Old Testament to the fully-re- 
 vealed Kingship of Messiah : and, so far from being 
 something distinct from the Old Testament, the 
 New Testament glories ever in being the grand 
 fulfilment of all things spoken in the Prophets and 
 in the Psalms concerning Christ. The very first 
 voice from Heaven which breaks the long silence 
 of four hundred years of suspended revelation is 
 
 6* 
 
60 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 the annunciation of Gabriel to his mother — even 
 before the angels heralded his birth — of the 
 coming of the Son of the Highest, as the fulfil- 
 ment of the coA^enant with David;* and his 
 mother, under inspiration of the Spirit, sang of 
 his coming to fulfil the covenant with Abraham 
 and his seed."}- And in like manner, at the open- 
 ing of our present dispensation of the last times 
 under the ministration of the Spirit, the Apos- 
 tles,J so far from claiming for themselves or their 
 crucified Master the honour of now originating a 
 new scheme of salvation and a new Church, ra- 
 ther (with elaborate care on all occasions) aimed 
 to prove that both the doctrine and the Church 
 now manifested to the world had their origin first 
 in the determinate counsel of God; had been first 
 manifested in a visible Church and a covenant in 
 ages of old, and developed more and more clearly 
 by successive covenants and prophetic revelations 
 afterwards ; and that they acted as the agents of 
 Jesus, their Master, who, in fulfilment of the pro-* 
 visions of all ancient covenants, was now reform- 
 ing the Church of God, with a view to carry it 
 forward to an infinitely-higher glory. 
 
 Such is uniformly the method of the apostolic 
 argument. They ever look both backward and 
 forward from the stand-point of the dispensation 
 
 * Luke i. 32. f Luke i. 55. J Acts ii., iii.; iv. 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 61 
 
 given through them. As after the method of 
 those immense triangulations of the modern trigo- 
 nometrical surveys which, from some known base- 
 line measured upon the plain, take observations 
 forward and backward of the prominent mountain- 
 tops at immense distances, from which, again, 
 other observations are extended, till the mea- 
 suring-line of their science is laid, encompassing 
 half the globe, and determining with marvellous 
 accuracy, even to a single inch, the distance : — so 
 these inspired apostles, assuming as the ground- 
 work of their argument that which they now see 
 and hear under the outpouring of the Spirit, from 
 this direct their vision back to the prominent 
 facts in the past dispensations of God and onward 
 to the prominent heights of the prophetic views 
 of the dispensations yet to come ; and from these 
 in turn they determine new points of the argu- 
 ment. With a logic at once sublime in its reach 
 and infinite in its comprehension, they determine 
 the measure, the proportions, and the relations 
 of that transcendent problem of man's salvation 
 which has its primary elements in the depths of 
 eternity past and its conclusion in the depths of 
 eternity to come. 
 
 § 10. In exact accordance with this, again, is 
 the remarkable unity of form, even, in which the 
 doctrine of salvation is presented from the first 
 to the last revelation. In the story of Abel the 
 
62 THE CHURCH Of GOD 
 
 method of salvation through an atoning Saviour 
 is held forth in his sacrificial lamb. In the story 
 of Abraham, two thousand years later, it is held 
 forth in the call for the lamb of the father's own 
 bosom. In Moses, four hundred years later, it is 
 stiU the lamb whose blood is sprinkled and the 
 lamb which figures throughout the gorgeous sacri- 
 ficial ritual of the tabernacle. In the visions of 
 Isaiah, seven hundred years later, it is the lamb 
 led to the slaughter. Again seven hundred years, 
 and John Baptist announces the opening of the 
 new dispensation with the cry, '^ Behold the Lamb 
 of God!" And in the final close of revelation, as 
 John the Evangelist catches a glimpse, through 
 the door opened in the heaven, of the glorious 
 Church of the future, it has still for its central 
 attraction the Lamb in the midst of the throne, 
 around whom are gathered the shouting myriads 
 who have washed their robes and made them 
 white in the blood of the Lamb. 
 
 § 11. And as the objective theology of the 
 Church's creed, so the exercise of the faith that 
 is unto salvation, is essentially the same in all 
 ages and expresses itself in even the very same 
 forms. The blood of the Lamb sprinkled is ever 
 the reliance ; for from first to last the promise 
 is, "When I see the blood I will pass over.'* 
 "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit." 
 ThiS; from first to last, is the condition of accept- 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 63 
 
 ance with God. And hence the subjective state 
 of the soul, which warrants a trust in the benefits 
 of the blood of atonement, is described by the 
 very same figures under every dispensation. In 
 the era of David its true utterance was, "My 
 soul longeth, yea, thirsteth, for God." In the 
 preaching of Isaiah, the gospel-offer is to every 
 one that thirsteth. As proclaimed by the Son of 
 God incarnate, seven hundred years later, it is 
 still, "If any man thirst, let him come to me and 
 drink." As proclaimed through his apostle at the 
 close of all revelation in the very last message 
 sent back to sinners from the throne of power to 
 which he had ascended, it is still, "Let him that 
 is athirst come; and whosoever will, let him take 
 of the waters of life freely." Thus the unity of 
 the gospel proclaimed and believed by the Church 
 is perfect throughout all ages. 
 
 § 12. And as with the theology of the Church, 
 both objective and subjective, so with the admi- 
 nistration of the Church. It is one and the same 
 power which rules and guides through all ages 
 alike. In the theophanies of the first period of 
 the revelations of God, it is Jesus Messiah who 
 assumes transient visible form and converses with 
 men. In the theocratic era it is still Jesus Mes- 
 siah who sits invisible upon the visible throne, 
 between the cherubim, to rule and counsel his 
 Church. In the inspirations of the theopneustio 
 
64 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 era it is the Spirit of Christ in the prophets that 
 "doth testify of the sufferings of Christ and the 
 glory that shall follow." And after the Word 
 made flesh has ascended to the throne of his 
 glory, it is still he who, in the exercise of all 
 power given to him, commissions his agents to go 
 forth, and who sends the Comforter to carry on 
 the work of salvation. And it is worthy of spe- 
 cial note, as bearing on this argument, that, so 
 far from occupying a secondary place, as in our 
 modern theology, the office of Christ as King is 
 in Scripture more prominently held forth than 
 either his office of Prophet or Priest. In the 
 series of progressive revelations prophetic of 
 Messiah to come, the doctrine of Messiah as a 
 King constitutes the last and highest develop- 
 ment of the Mediatorship, and forms the chief 
 burden of the prophets of the theopneustic era. 
 In the New Testament revelation his kingly office 
 forms the grand subject of its opening; and in its 
 closing exjiositions of the entire scheme of re- 
 demption, now fully and completely manifested to 
 men, Jesus Christ is exhibited as the Prophet 
 w^ho reveals all and the Priest who redeems all 
 in order to his being a King ruling over all. 
 The governmental aspect of the work of redemp- 
 tion, as revealed in Scripture, has a prominence 
 which fully justifies the zeal of the Scotch mar- 
 tyrs who testified to the death for Christ's Crown 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 65 
 
 and Covenant. For the doctrine of Christ as a 
 King, and the doctrine of the Church his king- 
 dom, are correlative and coextensive in the plan 
 of salvation. 
 
 § 13. And what is especially worthy of note, 
 again, in this argument is the unity of form in 
 the governmental power of the external Church 
 under all these dispensations. While yet the two 
 divine governmental institutions — the Church and 
 the State — remained embosomed in the still ear- 
 lier divine institution of the family, the power of 
 rule delegated by the Great King to men was ex- 
 ercised by the patriarchs, or natural elders of the 
 community. So soon as, under the covenant with 
 Abraham chartering a distinct community of the 
 chosen, such a community actually existed, as 
 the shortening of human life no longer permitted 
 a patriarchal rule, the elders, as the successors of 
 the patriarchs, are found intrusted with the go- 
 vernment of the Church visible. Before the na- 
 tional organization under Moses there were elders 
 in charge of the covenant-people ; and to them 
 must Moses exhibit the seals of his commission 
 as the authorized agent of the God of Abraham 
 and of Isaac and of Jacob, come to execute the 
 stipulations of the ancient covenant.* Through 
 the elders was given to the Church the ordinance 
 
 *Ex.iii.l5, 16; iv. 29-31. 
 
66 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 of the passover.* Before them, as representatives 
 of the Church, was the typical rock smitten.f To 
 the Church, through her elders, after solemn pre- 
 paration, were the revelations of Sinai made, and 
 these in form of a solemn covenant between Jeho- 
 vah and his people. J The elders partook with 
 Moses of the solemn sacrificial feast in the 
 Mount, as preparatory to the reception of the 
 ecclesiastical and ritual constitution from Jeho- 
 vah. § The elders, with the priests, constituted 
 the supreme ecclesiastical tribunal to which all 
 appeals should come.|| Even in Israel under the 
 apostasy the form of government was not lost 
 sight of, but the elders sat with Elisha.^ So, too, 
 even after the fall of the nation as such, the 
 elders met with God's prophet on the river 
 Chebar.** And in the wasted and corrupt Jerusa- 
 lem the form of Jehovah's appointed court of the 
 Church survived all regard and fear of Jehovah, 
 and a corrupt court of the priests and elders con- 
 demned to death his prophet Jeremiah for speak- 
 ing the warnings of Jehovah.*j~j* When Messiah 
 came to his own and his own received him not, 
 the regard for the divinely-appointed form of ec- 
 clesiastical government is found still surviving, 
 though men made void the divine law through 
 
 ^ Ex. xii. 3, 21. t Ex. xvii. 5, 6. J Ex.xix.7, 8; xxiv.7, 8. 
 
 § Ex. xxiv. 9, 11. II Deut. xvii. 9-12. ^ 2 Kings vi. 32. 
 ** Ezek. viii. 1. ft Jer. xxvi. 8, 17. 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 67 
 
 their traditions. Priests and elders formed the 
 council that condemned the Son of Grod. The 
 elders, under the dispensation of the Spirit, still 
 occupy their position towards the Church, ap- 
 pointed by the Holy Ghost to take oversight, as 
 in the Church of old. And again, in the pro- 
 phetic vision of the glorious Church of the fu- 
 ture, John saw the great congregation, still in 
 eternity, as in time, represented by four and 
 twenty elders, — twelve for the ancient and twelve 
 for the new dispensation, — but one body, uniting 
 together in casting their crowns, the symbol of 
 their official authority, at the feet of Him whom 
 they unite to acknowledge as Head and Source 
 of all authority in the Church in all ages. 
 
 § 14. One other observation completes this 
 view, — to wit: That every revelation ever com- 
 municated, every ordinance appointed, every pro- 
 mise and covenant made of God, has been, not 
 to and with men as men, or as constituting na- 
 tions, but to and with the Church, as such, — a 
 body organized or contemplated as the elements 
 of an organization. In the widest sense, to the 
 ancient Church were committed the Oracles of 
 God. The successive revelations come not from 
 God as Creator to men as creatures, but from 
 Messiah as Prophet and King over his Church 
 to his own peculiar people. The revelations of 
 Sinai are expressly declared to have been made 
 
 6 
 
THE CmmCH OF GOD 
 
 to the covenant-people; and when Moses wrote 
 the words of the Lord in the book, they were for- 
 mally ratified as the covenant between God and 
 the Church. After Moses, all additional records 
 of inspiration are given to the Church as the 
 depository of the Oracles of God. Here, as in all 
 other points, Rome does not invent pure false- 
 hood, but only counterfeits the truth. The 
 j Church is in truth anterior to the Scriptures, 
 the receiver of the Scripture, the guardian of the 
 Scripture. Home adroitly perverts all this to 
 mean that the Church is superior to Scripture, the 
 maker of Scripture, the infallible interpreter of 
 Scripture. Less monstrous indeed, but not less 
 deceptive, is the Rationalistic assumption that the 
 idea of the Church is something extraneous to 
 the Scripture, — having no other relation than that 
 of an expedient or even a necessity superinduced 
 upon the Scripture, simply by the outworking of 
 a system of revelation made to the world of men 
 at large, and when received by any portion thereof, 
 attracting them together to constitute a School of 
 Religious Philosophy. 
 
 § 15. From the foregoing views of the relation 
 of the idea of the Church, first to the plan of Re- 
 demption in the Purpose of God, and secondly to 
 the record of the manifestation of the Purpose of 
 God in time, we derive these general observations 
 concerning the idea and nature of the Church. 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 69 
 
 1. The primary and germinal idea of the Church 
 of God is of that elect body of men which was 
 contemplated in the covenant of Redemption as 
 constituting a mediatorial body, of which Messiah 
 is the Head, and for the sake of which he under- 
 took the work of riedemption. 
 
 2. It being an essential feature of the Plan of 
 Redemption that the purpose of God have its 
 manifestation through successive ages of time, and 
 its accomplishment through external instrumen- 
 talities, even the call {xT^r.aig) of the word, pro- 
 viding the instrumentality through which shall be 
 made the call {xXr.aig) of the Spirit, — together 
 with the other external ordinances for the edify- 
 ing and training of an elect people in external 
 covenant-relation to the Mediator, — the very out- 
 working of the purpose of God in time brings 
 into existence an actual external (sxxXyjaia), — a 
 called out and separated body of men, correspond- 
 ing to the ideal of God's Purpose. 
 
 3. In accordance with this relation between the 
 ideal and the actual, the Purpose of God is re- 
 vealed by means of covenants, as between the 
 Mediator and a separated portion of the race; and 
 in particular one covenant, as a charter, specially 
 and formally organizing into a community the 
 portion of the race to which the Mediator shall 
 specially reveal himself and give the oracles and 
 ordinances through which he will execute his 
 
70 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 mission to the race at large, over whicli he shall 
 exercise spiritual authority as its Founder, Law- 
 giver, and Head ; and in which he will set officers 
 to teach and rule, and by the Holy Spirit as his 
 Vicar carry on the work of recreating his people. 
 4. This body visible on earth is perpetual and 
 identical through all ages. It may vary in its 
 degrees of purity, down to utter apostasy ; it may 
 have its seat exclusively in one nation and run in 
 the line of natural descent, or it may have its 
 seat alike in all nations and treat as one blood all 
 kindreds of men; it may be now conspicuous be- 
 fore the world, or now humble and comparatively 
 hidden; it may vary as to the degree of Divine 
 knowledge current in it, having now only a par- 
 tial and no^w a fully-completed revelation as its 
 rule, and of course, therefore, may vary as to the 
 form of its ordinances and instrumentalities for 
 teaching Divine truth: — but, withal, it is essen- 
 tially the same body of people, organized for the 
 same purposes, administered in by the same Head 
 and Ruler, and, under him, ministered to by the 
 same sort of ministering servants, having the same 
 sort of duties to discharge, for the attainment of 
 the same great ends. And in this fact, doubtless, 
 is the true solution of the comparative silence of 
 Scripture history touching Church government. 
 There being no organic changes from the first in- 
 stitution of this government, there is no call for 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 71 
 
 any special reference to that subject in the history. 
 The events which constitute the true life and 
 glory of a nation — the natural and healthy develop- 
 ment of its organic laws — are not those which 
 find a place in history, but rather the events which 
 destroy and disorganize. Hence the saying of 
 men, "Blessed the nation whose annals are tire- 
 some." But the Divine history records no tire- 
 some annals merely to fill out in rhetorical pro- 
 portion the history of a given space of time. In 
 this history Silence takes the place of the tiresome 
 annals of other history. Hence the silence con- 
 cerning the external constitution of the kingdom 
 whose history it records is simply expressive of 
 the continued sameness of external government 
 through all its progressive' development. 
 
 5. The idea of the Church being thus a com- 
 plex idea, the proper definition of the Church 
 must not only enumerate the essential elementary 
 ideas that enter into the complex whole, but also 
 make such an enumeration as shall arrange in 
 logical order these several elements according to 
 their relative position and prominence each to the 
 other. From the foregoing views, the definition 
 of the Church — ^as simply a fact of revealea 
 theology — should describe it as that body of men, 
 taken as a whole or any part thereof, which, ac- 
 cording to God's Eternal Purpose to call out and 
 organize a part of mankind into a Kingdom, is 
 
 6^ 
 
72 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 called successively in time by his word and Spirit 
 to a confession of Christ, an engagement to his 
 covenant, and subjection to the laws of his 
 Kingdom. This general description, however, 
 while comprehending all the elementary ideas, 
 must have certain modifications, according as one 
 or another aspect of the Church is prominent in 
 the mind. But these modifications can only 
 change the relative prominence of the several 
 elements one to the other, neither adding any 
 element, nor taking any away. Thus, in defining 
 the Church as actual and visible, the constituent 
 elements of the Church are persons not only as 
 individuals but also as representing families, ac- 
 cording to the general principles of all the cove- 
 nants of God. So in' defining the Church in 
 greater or less extent by corresponding modifica- 
 tions, according as the mind has prominent before 
 it the whole or the part, the definition embraces, 
 according to Scripture usage, any variety of ex- 
 tent. As it is gravitation — involving the same 
 general idea — whether as embodied in the pheno- 
 menon of the apple falling from the tree in the 
 sight of the philosopher, or in that of the earth 
 retained in its orbit; so, by reason of its con- 
 nection with the great ideal, it is the Church of 
 God, whether it be the Society in the house of 
 Priscilla, the Church of the Saints at PhiHppi, 
 the Church of many congregations and languages 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 73 
 
 at Jerusalem or Antic ch, tlie Church at large 
 which suffered persecution, the General Assembly 
 and Church of the First-born whose names are 
 written in heaven, or the ideal Church of the 
 Purpose of Redemption, — which Christ loved be- 
 fore the world began, and for which he gave him- 
 self in the Eternal Covenant. 
 
 § 16. Such accordingly is the definition of the 
 Church, as a point of Calvinistic doctrine, in the 
 Westminster Confession. The entire article forms 
 one definition, containing, in their logical order, 
 the three elementary ideas which enter into the 
 complex whole, in three distinct paragraphs : 
 first, the Church ideal, or invisible; second, this 
 ideal as manifest and actual in the Church visible ; 
 third, this visible body as an organic body, re- 
 ceiving visible officers, laws, and ordinances from 
 her great Head. 
 
 Any definition of the Church, therefore, is doc- 
 trinally defective, which ignores either of these 
 elements, the internal call (xXriaig) of the Spirit, 
 the external Mesis of the word, or the organic 
 nature of the ekklesia. As with the peculiar ordi- 
 nances of the Church, — Baptism and the Lord's 
 Supper, — the three elements of the internal grace, 
 the external act, and the Divine appointment 
 thereof are all essential to the true definition, — 
 and that is ever a dangerous description which 
 ignores either of the three ; so with the definition 
 
74 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 of the Churcli itself, and for precisely like rea- 
 sons. And hence, as a matter of fact, defective 
 conceptions of the Church and of the sacraments 
 go ever hand in hand. "When the Church is con- 
 ceived of only as external and organized, to the 
 exclusion of the internal element of its structure, 
 then the sacraments become merely external 
 rites, and the administrator the authoritative 
 dispenser of grace through them. When, on the 
 other hand, the Church is conceived of as wholly 
 an internal thing as to its essential nature, then 
 the tendency is ever to conceive of the sacra- 
 ments, in their external character, as simply ap- 
 propriate and suggestive ceremonies, representing 
 internal acts of the soul merely, rather than as 
 the means of grace to the soul; and the adminis- 
 trator of the sacraments, not so much God's au- 
 thorized minister, as one chosen by the company 
 to preside merely in the performance of a solemn 
 ceremony. So of any other defective view of the 
 Church. The entire system of the gospel has in 
 truth all its parts so related, that error in regard 
 to any one part must in some form affect every 
 other part. Considering that the gospel hath 
 sprimg from an infinitely perfect Mind, it cannot 
 be otherwise. 
 
 § 17. The importance of the foregoing argu- 
 ment, as preliminary to an examination of Scrip- 
 ture teaching concerning the government of the 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELExMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 75 
 
 Church, will be manifest. In fact, one of the 
 chief causes of the confused and conflicting 
 interpretations of portions of the word of God, 
 pertaining to this subject, arises from the previous 
 want of a decision of the question whether there 
 be a Church at all. With the advantage of this 
 vagueness as to the general subject concerning 
 which the appeal is made to Scripture, it is obvi- 
 ously impossible to settle, from the mere words 
 of the Scriptures themselves, the true significancy 
 of their teachings on the subject. Hence error- 
 ists, though pretending to appeal to the Scriptures, 
 may give illimitable range to the imagination, and, 
 being free to give any one of all possible mean- 
 ings to the words of the Sacred Record, thereby 
 deprive them of any real significance. If, how- 
 ever, it has been established previously that a 
 visible Church, in some form or other, is an abso- 
 lute necessity of the Plan of Redemption as re- 
 vealed in the Scriptures, demanded by the nature 
 of the Plan itself; presupposed by the very mode 
 of revealing the Plan; essential as a means of 
 communicating one of its fundamental facts to the 
 world, and not less essential as a means of ac- 
 complishing the Divine Purpose; required as a 
 key to the interpretation of the Sacred History, the 
 prophetic expositions of the doctrine of Messiah, 
 and the apostolic teachings concerning his Kingly 
 office; then there are limits fixed within which 
 
76 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 the language of prophets, evangelists and apos- 
 tles concerning the Church and its ordinances is 
 to have its interpretation, and which fix the mean- 
 ing thereof with remarkable accuracy. 
 
 Having obtained this general conception of the 
 Church, we assume this as a positive standard, 
 and turn now on the other hand to consider the 
 relation to this idea of the Church, — first, of the 
 principles of government; and, second, the ordi- 
 nances of worship and agencies pertaining to the 
 Church, as exhibited in the Scriptures. 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 77 
 
 PAET III. 
 
 THE RELATION TO THE IDEA OP THE CHURCH OF THE PRIN- 
 CIPLES OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT SET FORTH IN THE 
 SCRIPTURE. 
 
 ^1. General division of the subject of government twofold: — 
 First, the abstract principles underlying the structure; second, 
 the concrete forms in vv^hich these principles are found embodied. 
 Under the first head, four general classes of truths. ^ 2. The 
 source of all Church power is primarily in Jesus Christ, the Me- 
 diator. § 3. This power, where delegated, is vested, not in either 
 the people as such, nor in the ojfficers of the Church, but in the 
 body contemplated as an organic body, consisting of rulers and 
 ruled. The call, qualification, and commission to ministers is from 
 the Head of the Church ; the vocation to the exercise of the 
 ministry is from the people. ^ 4. The power of rule in the Church 
 is a joint power, and to be exercised through tribunals only, and 
 only for spiritual ends. ^5. The civil distinct from the ecclesi- 
 astical power in five particulars, — viz.: the source, the rule for 
 guidance, the scope and aim, the significant symbols, and the 
 mode of the exercise thereof. ^ G. These distinctions not arbitrary 
 or incidental, but intrinsic and fundamental, and exclusive of all 
 idea of any union of the two, or of any concurrent jurisdiction. 
 §7. As to the second general class of truths, the Scriptures go 
 further than the enunciation of the abstract truth. The nature 
 of the case requires a setting forth of the offices to be discharged 
 in the Church. ^ 8. As there is of necessity a threefold office to 
 be discharged, so the Scriptures hold forth three classes of officers. 
 1 9. It affects not the argument for the offices, as intrinsically 
 threefold, that at various periods of inspiration God hath set ex- 
 traordinary officers in the Church. § 10. As to the courts of the 
 Church, they are determined by what has already been shown of 
 the nature and the definition of the Church. ^11. Accordingly, 
 
78 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 the Scriptures hold forth the government of the Church under 
 every dispensation, as by a series of tribunals corresponding with 
 the various extents of signification in which the word "Church" 
 is taken in Scripture. ^ 12. Summary of fundamental facts con- 
 cerning the form of government of the Apostolic Church. 
 
 § 1. As to the relation of the incidental teaching 
 of the Scriptures in detail concerning spiritual 
 government to the general doctrine of the Church 
 of God, the limits of this discourse are wholly 
 insufficient for any extensive inductions from 
 Scripture, or elaborate argumentative deductions 
 therefrom. All that is consistent with such limits 
 is a clear and comprehensive statement of the 
 more important and more obvious principles, as 
 they seem to lie upon the very surface of the 
 Scripture. These logically divide themselves into 
 two general classes : — 
 
 First, the abstract principles which underlie the 
 structure of the Church visible as a government. 
 
 Second, the concrete forms in which these prin- 
 ciples are found embodied in the structure, func- 
 tions, laws, and government of the Church, as ac- 
 tually existing. Under the first of these heads 
 are included generally four points, — the source of 
 spiritual power, the delegation and vesting of the 
 power, the mode of exercising it and the end for 
 which it is exercised, and the distinctions and 
 limits between ecclesiastical power and any civil 
 or other power over men. 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 79 
 
 § 2. The source of all Churcli power is primarily 
 Jesus Christ, the Mediator. As this is manifest 
 from all that has gone before touching the nature 
 and idea of the Church, so also it is manifest from 
 the most explicit declarations of every scripture 
 relating to the subject. Anterior to his coming 
 in the flesh, as Jehovah he administered through 
 prophets, priests, and extraordinary ministers. 
 The preamble to the apostolic commission asserts 
 this power as the foundation of their authority. 
 '^ AU power is given me, [as Mediator:] go ye, 
 therefore," &c. And, accordingly, all power in 
 the Church is exercised by him and in his name. 
 His apostles teach in the name of Jesus.* In the 
 name of the Lord Jesus the offender is cut off.*}* 
 His promise to the courts of the Church is to be 
 present when two or three are gathered together 
 in his name.X And, in like manner, all the pro- 
 phetical views of his relation to the Church de- 
 clare in effect the government shall be upon his 
 shoulder. § Nay, as actually containing in him- 
 self, by way of eminency, all the offices of the 
 Church, he is styled the Apostle, || the Shep- 
 herd,T[ the Chief Shepherd and Bishop,** the head 
 of the Church. ff 
 
 * Acts iv. 17, 18. 1 1 Cor. v. 4. % Matt, xviii. 20. 
 § Isa. ix. 6, 7, 8; Luke i. 32, 33. || Heb. iii. 1. 
 
 If John X. 11. ** 1 Peter ii. 25. 
 
 ■ft Col. i. 18; and Eph. i. 22. 
 
 1 
 
80 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 § 3. As to the delegation and vesting of this 
 power, it is expressly taught that he hath made such 
 delegation, vesting the power in men. Throughout 
 the Old Testament, such is represented to be the 
 method in which he carried on the administration 
 of his kingdom. Men ruled and administered the 
 ordinances and spake in Jehovah's name. In that 
 civil theocracy in which he ruled as local king, 
 men commissioned by him ruled as judges and 
 kings over the nation, though Jehovah was King. 
 So in the delegation of power under the last dis- 
 pensation, distinguished as the ministration of the 
 Spirit, — the vicar and representative of Messiah 
 in the Church, — to the apostles he said, "As my 
 Father sent me, even so I send you." 
 
 But in neither case, whether under the Old or 
 New Testament dispensation, was this power 
 vested in the prophets, kings, or apostles person- 
 ally, but as representative men. Not in the office- 
 bearers of the Church, either, as distinct from and 
 irrespective of the people ; nor yet in the people 
 contemplated as an aggregation of individuals. 
 In all cases the power is vested in the Church as 
 an organic body, composed of both rulers and 
 ruled. For as God hath set the members of the 
 body, so hath he set in the Church, first, apostles, 
 secondly, prophets, &c. In every inspired allu- 
 sion to the power of rule in the Church, the 
 power is represented as vested in an organic bod/, 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 81 
 
 as the human body with its several members and 
 their functions.* And as it has been shown be- 
 fore that the idea of the Church from the very- 
 first, even in the purpose of redemption, was of 
 an organic body, the reason for this peculiar view 
 of the Scripture, as to the vesting of the power 
 is very manifest. 
 
 The power vests in the body as such ; the ad- 
 ministration of the power is in office-bearing mem- 
 bers of the body whom the Great Head selects, 
 calls, qualifies, and commissions to rule ministerially 
 in his name. The Holy Ghost makes them over- 
 seers. But yet the vocation to the exercise of 
 the office is in the people, who must try the 
 spirits, and judge whether they be men full of 
 faith and of the Holy Ghost. As in the ancient 
 civil theocracy in which Jehovah reigned as local 
 king invisibly, through a visible king as his 
 minister, chosen and commissioned by himself; — 
 though Jehovah's own prophet has formally 
 anointed David king, that call and commission 
 from God did yet not actually constitute David 
 king until after long years of trouble and dark- 
 ness. Judah first, and then all Israel, called him 
 to the throne. So in this spiritual kingdom of 
 Christ, though the appointment to office, the 
 qualifications and commission, are from him, the 
 
 * Rom. xii. ; 1 Cor. xii. ; Epli. iv. 4. 
 
82 THE CHURCH OP GOD 
 
 true invisible Head of the kingdom, yet the voca- 
 tion to the actual exercise of the office so con- 
 ferred is in the people. In this sense of vocation 
 alone, and not in the sense of power delegated by 
 the people to their office-bearers, are they in any 
 case the representatives of the people. If, as has 
 been shown, the idea of the Church, as one great 
 body, is essential in the system of redemption, 
 and if in the body as such are vested the powers 
 of external government, and that in the form of 
 office-bearers provided by the Great Head and 
 given to the Church, to be called to the actual 
 exercise of these functions only by the people, 
 then they are ministers of the Church of God, 
 and hold relations to the whole Church of God 
 which preclude the idea of their being exclusively 
 the representatives of any given part of the peo- 
 ple. Hence the parallel between the Church as a 
 spiritual commonw^ealth and the civil republic is 
 wholly fanciful, or implies a theory of the idea 
 and nature of the Church fundamentally different 
 from that presented in the former part of this 
 discussion. 
 
 § 4. As to the mode in which the power of 
 government shall be exercised, there is this re- 
 markable peculiarity in the view set forth in the 
 Scripture history of every era of the Church, — 
 viz. : that whilst the office-bearers have severally 
 certain functions to discharge, as of teaching, ad- 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 83 
 
 mimstering sacraments, and oversight, yet all 
 power of jurisdiction is to be exercised only 
 through tribunals. The fundamental and only 
 office of jurisdiction alike in the Church under all 
 dispensations is the office of elders, {npsalSvrspoi.) 
 The title eTtiaxonog, occurring not over half a 
 dozen times in the New Testament, seems used 
 only in speaking to or of Gentiles unfamiliar with 
 the ancient ecclesiastical language of the Church, 
 and hence eTtiaxoTtog is really nothing more than a 
 Grecian equivalent for the Jewish ecclesiastical 
 term 7tpsa(3vrepog. From the first to the last of 
 the dispensations of God recorded in Scripture, as 
 before shown, the uniform exponent of a govern- 
 ment in the Church is the office of the elders, 
 (npealSvtspOL;) and if a name of distinction for 
 the Church visible, considered as a form of spiri- 
 tual government, is to be applied to it, ''Presbyte- 
 rian' has been the proper title from the days of 
 Israel in Egypt to the present. 
 
 Now. taking this title to be expressive of govern- 
 ment in the Church, the fact that, uniformly, 
 throughout the Scripture, a plurality of these 
 office-bearers is always indicated, whether refer- 
 ring to their existence in a particular community 
 or Church, or to the exercise of jurisdiction therein, 
 is, in itself, little short of demonstration that their 
 power is exercised only jointly and in tribunals. 
 It is ever the elders of a city or Church in any 
 
 7* 
 
84 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 locality, never the elder ; it is ever the elders who 
 sit in council, who act in the name of the people, 
 who consult together of the things pertaining to 
 the Church. Not a case can be found in all the 
 Scriptures in which an ordinary office-bearer ever 
 exercised jurisdiction alone, but always as one 
 constituting a member of a tribunal. 
 
 And whilst this power is thus limited in the 
 mode of its exercise, it also is limited as to its 
 end, which is wholly spiritual. In full accordance 
 with the idea of a kingdom not of this world, and 
 of the power of men in it as wholly ministerial, 
 is the end for which it is exercised. It is spiri- 
 tual: it is to gain our brother. It is that the 
 spirit of him against whom this poAver is exercised 
 may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. It 
 is for the edification of his peo]3le, and for the 
 Lord's business; for the peace and harmony of 
 the Church, for the extension of the Church, and 
 for Jehovah's glory. 
 
 § 5. Touching the distinction between the power 
 ecclesiastical and the civil power, — which latter 
 is ordained by God also, — the points of contrast 
 are so numerous and so fundamental that nothing 
 but the confusion of mind arising from the op- 
 pression of Csesar, and Antichrist backed by the 
 poAver of C?esar, could ever have caused the 
 obscurity and inconsistency of the Church's testi- 
 mony in modern times. For they have nothing 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 85 
 
 in common except that both powers are of divine 
 authority, both concern the race of mankind, and 
 both were instituted for the glory of God as a final 
 end. In respect to all else — their origin, nature 
 and immediate end, and in their mode of exer- 
 cising the power, — they differ fundamentally. 
 Thus, they differ : — 
 
 1. In that the civil power derives its authority 
 from God as the Author of nature, whilst the power 
 ecclesiastical comes alone from Jesus as Mediator. 
 
 2. In that the rule for the guidance of the 
 civil power in its exercise is the light of nature 
 and reason, the law which the Author of nature 
 reveals through reason to man; but the rule for 
 the guidance of ecclesiastical power in its exercise 
 is that light which, as Prophet of the Church, 
 Jesus Christ has revealed in his word. It m a 
 government under statute laws abeady enacted by 
 the King. 
 
 3. They differ in that the scope and aim of the 
 civil power are limited properly to things seen and 
 temporal; the scope and aim of ecclesiastical 
 power are things unseen and spiritual. Religious 
 is a term not predicable of the acts of the State ; 
 folitical is a term not predicable of the acts of the 
 Church. The things pertaining to the kingdom 
 of Christ are things concerning which Csesar can 
 have rightfully no cognizance, except indi/*ectly 
 and incidentally as these things palpably affect 
 
86 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 the temporal and civil concerns of men ; and even 
 then Csesar cannot be too jealously watched by the 
 Church. The things i^ertaining to the kingdom 
 of Caesar are matters of which the Church of 
 Christ as an organic government can have no 
 cognizance, except incidentally and remotely as 
 affecting the spiritual interests of men; and even 
 then the Church cannot watch herself too jea- 
 lously. 
 
 4. They differ in that the significant symbol of 
 the civil power is the sword ; its government is a 
 government of force, a terror to evil-doers; but 
 the significant symbol of Church power is the 
 keys, its government only ministerial, the func- 
 tions of its officers to open and close and have 
 a care of a house already complete as to its 
 structure externally, and internally organized and 
 provided. 
 
 5. They differ in that civil power may be exer- 
 cised as a several power by one judge, magistrate, 
 or governor; but all ecclesiastical power pertain- 
 ing to government is a joint power only, and to 
 be exercised by tribunals. The Head of the 
 government has not seen fit -to confer spiritual 
 power of jurisdiction in any form upon a single 
 man, nor authorized the exercise of the functions 
 of rule in the spiritual commonwealth as a several 
 power. 
 
 § 6. It is unnecessary to digress here into a 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 87 
 
 discussion of tlie rationale of these fundamental 
 distinctions. It would not be difficult to show, 
 however, that they are neither accidental nor ar- 
 bitrary, but spring out of those fundamental 
 truths concerning the nature of the Church itself, 
 and of its relations to the gospel, which have al- 
 ready been pointed out. These distinctions, there- 
 fore, are of a nature to forbid all idea of any con- 
 current jurisdiction, and to render certain the cor- 
 ruption and final apostasy of any part of the Church 
 which shall persist in the attempt to exist as a 
 governmental power concurrent with the State, — it 
 matters not whether as superior, inferior, or equal. 
 They are the two great powers that be, and are 
 ordained of God to serve two distinct ends in the 
 great scheme devised for man as fallen. The one 
 is set up, in the mercy and forbearance of the Au- 
 thor of nature toward the apostate race at large, 
 to hold in check the outworking of that devilish 
 nature consequent upon the apostasy, and to fur- 
 nish a platform, as it were, on which to carry on 
 another and more amazing scheme of mercy 
 toward a part of mankind. The other is de- 
 signed to constitute of the families of earth 
 that call upon his name, and into the hearts of 
 which his grace has ]put enmity toward Satan and 
 his seed, a nation of priests, a peculiar nation, not 
 reckoned among the nations, of whom Jehovah is 
 the God and they are his people. That not only 
 
88 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 the utter disregard of this distinction in the for- 
 mal union of the Church and State — either merg- 
 ing the Church in the State or the State in the 
 Church — is destructive of the Church, but that, 
 also, any degree of confusion in respect of this 
 distinction is proportionably dangerous and cor- 
 rupting, the history of the Reformed Churches 
 generally, and in particular of the Church of Scot- 
 land, is a most striking illustration. Nay, the 
 entire history of the Church, from its first organi- 
 zation, testifies that his people must render to 
 Csesar the things that are Caesar's, as distinct 
 from rendering to God the things that are God's, 
 or the Church suffers. 
 
 § 7. But, in the second place, the Scriptures, 
 in their teachings concerning spiritual government, 
 go beyond the enumeration of certain abstract 
 truths merely. They set forth with equal clear- 
 ness the specific forms in which these truths are 
 embodied in the scheme of government appointed 
 for the Church, both in reference to the officers 
 and the courts thereof. As to the offices to be 
 executed in a community whose real ruler is in- 
 visible, — Jesus Christ, — whether considered either 
 as acting personally or through the Holy Ghost 
 as his vicar, the functions are necessarily minis- 
 terial only, and are therefore readily determined 
 by the nature and design of the kingdom itself. 
 If, as we have seen, this kingdom is in its nature 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 89 
 
 the outward development, and a mode of reveal- 
 ing a purpose to gather an elect body out of the 
 race, and, considered as to its design, is an insti- 
 tute for the calling, gathering, and preparatory 
 training of the elect out of the successive ages 
 of time, then these official functions have refer- 
 ence to developing the purpose and accomplishing 
 this design, and therefore must relate to three 
 things exclusively, — viz. : the call of the elect 
 into communion and keeping up their commu- 
 nion with Christ the Head,^that is, the ministry 
 of the ordinances; the preserving the order and 
 harmony of the body, — that is, government and 
 discipline; and the provision for and care of the 
 revenues of the community. 
 
 § 8. In perfect consistency, therefore, with these 
 views of the nature and design of the Church, 
 and the corresponding functions needful for the 
 ministry of '^ doctrine, disciphne, and distribu- 
 tion," the Scriptures exhibit as the three classes 
 of divinely appointed officers, first, ministers 
 who both rule and administer the ordinances, — a 
 double office necessarily growing out of the essen- 
 tial connection between the word and the spiritual 
 government founded upon it; second, ministers 
 of rule only, and in spirituals only, — an office 
 arising out of the nature and joint power of the 
 government as, in idea, distinct from the several 
 powers of administering ordinances, both of which 
 
90 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 unite ill the first-named office; third, the minister 
 of temporal things pertaining to the community 
 for the keeping prominent that ordinance of the 
 fellowship through which is expressed the relation 
 of one to another and of one part to another part 
 of this body, even as the other ordinances and 
 government are expressive of the relation of one 
 and all to the Great Head. 
 
 § 9. It affects not the substantial correctness of 
 this view of the permanent offices in the Church 
 as growing out of the very nature and design of 
 the Church, and therefore necessarily in substance 
 the same in all ages of the Church, that under 
 the several dispensations recorded in Scripture 
 God raised up extraordinary officers at divers 
 times and of divers sorts, as judges, prophets, 
 jipostles, &c. Nor does it any more affect this ar- 
 gument and threefold classification of the officers 
 that under different dispensations any one of the 
 three offices should have been discharged by two 
 or more persons in the different aspects of it, as 
 when both priest and prophet of the Old Testa- 
 ment discharged in effect the functions of the 
 preacher of the word of the New Testament. 
 For if the offices arise out of the nature and de- 
 sign of the Church, the fundamental element of a 
 proper classification is the function itself, rather 
 than the functionary. During the era of imme- 
 diate inspiration, such changes of mere form were 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 91 
 
 made by the same great authority which first in- 
 stituted the office; and, indeed, during the pro- 
 gress of the Church under a progressive and in- 
 complete revelation, such changes must occur in 
 the nature of the case, with the changes of the 
 forms of the ordinances, according as successive 
 new revelations presented Messiah, the great ob- 
 ject of worship, in new aspects. It is only after 
 the revelation is complete and the immediate in- 
 spiration withdrawn from the Church that the 
 forms of the ordinances, government, and offices 
 of the Church must thenceforth remain stationary 
 and just at the point in which the last and highest 
 development of the revelation left them. The 
 limits of this discourse forbid, and the general 
 familiarity with this branch of the subject renders 
 unnecessary, any argument in detail to show that 
 the last and complete development of the Church 
 under the apostles exhibits, as the three ordinary 
 and permanent officers thereof, elders who rule,* 
 the fundamental office of the Church as a govern- 
 ment from the first to the last; elders who both 
 rule and labour in word and doctrine ;"j' deacons J 
 who represent the fellowship of the members of 
 the Church in each other's gifts, and who have 
 
 * Rom. xii. 8; 1 Tim. v. 17; Heb. xiii. 17. 
 t Heb. xiii. 7, 8; 1 Tim. v. 17. 
 X Acts vi. 4-7; 1 Tim. iii. 8. 
 8 
 
92 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 care of its revenues and the necessities of the 
 poor. 
 
 § 10. As to the courts of the Church, the es- 
 sential relation of these to the foregoing general 
 views of the idea and nature of the Church is 
 manifest, and, indeed, has already been pointed 
 out in what has been said touching the govern- 
 mental power in the Church as exercised always 
 jointly and by tribunals. But the other principle 
 needs here to be brought into view which also 
 has already been referred to in a preceding part 
 of this discussion as a fundamental peculiarity in 
 the definition of the Church. This is the fact 
 that the oneness of the Church is so absolute by 
 reason of the connection of the visible with the 
 invisible, as the actual development of the ideal, 
 that the definition of the Church is substantially 
 the definition, at the same time, either of the 
 whole, or of any part thereof. From this it fol- 
 lows, in coming to regard the Church as a govern- 
 mental power, that the power of the whole is over 
 the power of every part thereof, and also the 
 power of the whole in every part thereof. Hence, 
 therefore, the same power is in every tribunal that 
 is in any tribunal, whilst the power of the greater 
 part is over the power of the smaller part. As it 
 is, the Church of God, whether considered as the 
 body meeting in a single house, or the body in 
 Jerusalem, or Ephesus, or Antioch, composed of 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 93 
 
 bodies meeting in different houses and worshipping 
 in different languages, or whether considered as 
 *the whole body of the Churches in Judea, Samaria, 
 and Galilee; so tribunals, in a corresponding ex- 
 tent of jurisdiction, must of necessity exist in 
 order to the discharge of the functions which we 
 have seen are an absolute condition of the exist- 
 ence of the Church as one visible body, all the 
 parts thereof in active communion with the Head. 
 And here also is involved the consequence that in 
 all ages of the Church the tribunals thereof, as to 
 their functions, must be essentially the same, not- 
 withstanding, as in the case of the officers of the 
 Church, the progressive revelation under the ad- 
 ministration of men immediately inspired may 
 and must produce changes in the form of dis- 
 charging these functions, until the completed reve- 
 lation and the withdrawal of inspiration shall at 
 last leave them permanent in form as well as in 
 substance. 
 
 § 11. Now the Scriptures exhibit, accordingly, 
 this actual uniformity of government, by a series 
 of tribunals representing the different extents of 
 the meaning of the word Church, as existing under 
 every dispensation. Elders and ministers of the 
 word form their constituent elements, — and that 
 in tribunals having jurisdiction of various degrees 
 of extent, from a single community of worship- 
 pers up to that over the whole visible body. Such 
 
94 THE CHURCH OP GOD 
 
 was the structure of the ecclesiastical tribunals, 
 as distinct from the ci^dl, under the first general 
 organization of Moses ;* such it appears in all the. 
 subsequent history, whenever occasion calls for a 
 reference to it.f Such we find it, beyond all con- 
 troversy, at the opening of the New Testament, as 
 appears from the numerous allusions to the syna- 
 gogue with its elders and chief ruler, and to the 
 sanhedrim of chief priests, priests, and elders; 
 and such, with scarce a single important modifica- 
 tion, do we find the government of the Church 
 under the apostles,J and so left as the perpetual 
 order of government for the Church. 
 
 Thus, with remarkable consistency, the Scrip- 
 tures are found exhibiting the same great idea of 
 the Church, as pervading all the details of ofiice 
 and government embodied in the actual forms 
 which the Church assumed through all the ages 
 of inspiration. 
 
 § 12. As concerning the form finally developed 
 at the close of inspiration, and which therefore is 
 to remain the perpetual form of government for 
 the Church under the dispensation of the Spirit 
 till the second coming of Christ, these seem to 
 be the fundamental facts : — 
 
 1. That during his personal ministry as a mem- 
 ber of the Jewish Church, and in common with 
 
 * Deut. xvii. 8-12. f 2 Chron. xix. 8-11. J Acts xv. 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 95 
 
 John the Baptist preaching the "Kingdom of 
 Heaven is at hand/' Jesus ordained twelve, that 
 they should he ivitli him, and that he might send 
 them forth to preachf^ As they were ever with 
 him to be trained for their work, they are called 
 "the twelve disciples," (^aO>7rat.)f As they 
 were with him to have personal knowledge of his 
 life, works, death, resurrection, and ascension, 
 they are called his "witnesses," (ffapn'pot.)J As 
 they were "sent forth," either during his own 
 ministry to assist in spreading the announcement 
 of the approaching new dispensation, or after his 
 ascension and the descent of the Holy Ghost, to 
 disciple, baptize, reorganize, and give its last per- 
 manent form to the visible Church, they were 
 "his apostles," [anoaro'koL.) Thus alike in every 
 view of their functions as well as of the qualifica- 
 tions for the discharge of them, and of the divine 
 powers conferred for the attestation of their au- 
 thority, their office in as far as they were apostles 
 was extraordinary in the nature of the case, and 
 for a temporary purpose. The prime qualifica- 
 tions for the office were such as none but they 
 could have. They must have been a23pointed by 
 and have been with Christ personally; they must 
 be qualified by personal observations to be wit- 
 
 * Mark iii. 16. f Matt. xi. 1. 
 
 t Acts i. 8, iii. 15; 1 Pet. v. 1. 
 
 8* 
 
96 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 nesses ; they must have miraculous power whereby 
 to give the ''signs of an apostle," even "signs and 
 wonders and mighty deeds,"* especially the power 
 to confer the Holy Ghost; for, as matter of fact, 
 whilst other extraordinary ministers cotemporary 
 with the apostles had in common with them mi- 
 raculous gifts and powers, yet these apostles were 
 distinguished from all other extraordinary minis- 
 ters by the peculiar fact that apostles alone could 
 confer the Holy Ghost.f 
 
 The relation of the apostles, therefore, to the 
 Church of God and the ordinary and permanent 
 officers thereof was analogous to that of the ex- 
 traordinary civil assemblage, or convention of 
 men clothed with power to form or reform the 
 civil constitution, to the ordinary government and 
 officers of the State under the constitution. It 
 affects not the argument that in either case the 
 same persons may be found exercising at the same 
 time both the ordinary and extraordinary offices 
 of the Church or the State. 
 
 2. As recommissioned at Chris l^ti ascension to 
 "go into all nations," &c. when tJLe Holy Ghost 
 shall have been sent and power from on high 
 given them, they were clothed with plenary au- 
 thority to reorganize the revived Church with a 
 view to meet the demands of the new posture of 
 
 * 2 Cor. xii. 12. f Acts viii. 12-~21^ &o<Z s,. 44-48. 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 97 
 
 the Church as the Church of all nations. These 
 special powers, however, operated no revocation 
 of their commission as preachers of the kingdom 
 of God. In the prosecution of their work, they 
 not only appointed deacons* to whom the care of 
 temporalities should be transferred, but also asso- 
 ciated others with them in the spiritual go- 
 vernment and pastoral oversight of the con- 
 gregation. 
 
 The elders in the converted synagogues and in 
 the ncAvly-formed Christian Churches, as under 
 the former dispensation, became the compeers of 
 the apostles in the oversight of the flocks.f To 
 these elders, as men appointed like themselves by 
 the Holy Ghost to be the overseers, whenever the 
 apostolic ministry terminated in any field, they 
 formally transferred, as to their successors in office, 
 all the responsibilities which had devolved upon 
 themselves as ordinary ministers, and all the au- 
 thority to exclude from the Church false teachers, 
 and to repress schisms, which apostles themselves 
 could have.J In short, all the functions of the 
 
 * Acts vi. t -A^cts xi. 80, and xiv. 23 ; 1 Pet. v. 1-4. 
 
 J Acts XX. 17-35. Let it be noted how the illative particle 
 oyy in verse 28, " Take heed therefore/' directly connects 
 the charge to the elders with the previous recital of the apostles* 
 duties among them, and implies that in his absence all these, 
 as well as what follows, devolves upon them. He formally re- 
 cognises the elders as his successors. 
 
98 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 apostolic office, wliicli in the nature of the case 
 could be transferred and become permanent in the 
 Church, were transferred to the elders, first as 
 cotemporaries, then as successors, of the apostles. 
 3. Nor was the co-operation of the elders with 
 apostles, and their co-ordinate authority to oversee 
 the body, confined to the hmits of the particular 
 congregation of worshipping people, or even the 
 united body of congregations in one city or dis- 
 trict. With the apostles the elders were asso- 
 ciated also as members of tribunals through which 
 the general affairs of large sections, or of the en- 
 tire body of the Church, were administered. To 
 such a tribunal reports were made from the several 
 missions;* and when cases of controversy arose 
 involving general interests of the body, "the 
 apostles and elders came together to consider the 
 matter,"-)- to issue the case, and send forth their 
 decision as a decree to be observed by all the 
 Churches. J Thus it is manifest that the ordinary 
 and permanent ministry of the Church was shared 
 by the apostles with the elders as their cotempo- 
 raries, and officially their equals, in so far as con- 
 cerns all the functions of an ordinary and perma- 
 nent ministry in the Church at large, during the 
 period in which the apostles themselves laboured 
 in any of the Churches. And naturally, there- 
 
 * Acts XV. 4. f Acts XV. 6. J Acts xv. 22, 23, and xvi. 4. 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 99 
 
 fore, they left the elders to be their successors in 
 the general oversight of the Church also. 
 
 4. And when we turn now to the numerous 
 allusions to the ministry, scattered throughout the 
 apostolic epistles, the foregoing view in all its 
 parts is fully confirmed. 
 
 First, as to the apostolic idea of the Church. 
 It is the visible manifestation of the mystic body 
 of which Christ is Head, which from eternity he 
 loved, and for which he gave himself,* to which, 
 as a visible organic body, Christ hath given a 
 manifold ministry to rule over and teach for the 
 calling and edification of his people. f 
 
 Second, as to the government of the body and 
 the officers appointed to rule permanently therein. 
 The language is remarkably uniform and distinct. 
 Thus: "Let the elders that rule well be ac- 
 counted worthy of double honour, especially they 
 who labour in the word and doctrine ;"J also, 
 "remember them which have the rule over you, 
 who have spoken unto you the word of God."§ 
 " Obey them that have the rule over you, and sub- 
 mit yourselves, for they watch for your souls as 
 they that must give account, that they may do it 
 with joy and not with grief" So also, "And we 
 
 *Eph. i. 4-22, 23; Col. i. 18; Eph. v. 23, 24, 25-32. 
 t Rom. xii. 4-8; 1 Cor. xii. 27, 28; Eph. iv. 4-16. 
 X 1 Tim. V. 17. § Heb. xiii. 3-17. 
 
100 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour 
 among you and are over you in the Lord, and ad- 
 monish you."* 
 
 Now, from a comparison of these and other 
 similar passages in the epistles, it is manifest that 
 there are held forth these general truths : — 
 
 That there is established over the apostolic 
 Church a government administered by those who 
 rule and who are to be obeyed. 
 
 That it is an ecclesiastical government, since it 
 is administered not only by rulers, but rulers some 
 of whom labour in word and doctrine, and at the 
 same time it is an authority simply governmental, 
 since it is exercised in part by those whose office 
 it is to rule only. 
 
 That it is a government spiritual in its nature 
 and ends. It is of those who are over the Church 
 "m the Lord,'' and who "watch for souls," and its 
 power is spiritual, "to admonish,'' also to "7'eject."'\ 
 That it is, nevertheless, an actual authority of 
 "men" over others, {n^oeataiievovg,) as a father is 
 over his household; for the same word describes 
 the father's authority over his household,J and 
 its authority is enforced § by precisely the same 
 argument by which is enforced that of the civil 
 
 * 1 Thess. V. 12. f Titus iii. 10, 11. 
 
 1 1 Tim. iii. 4-12. § Heb. xiii. 17. 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 101 
 
 magistrate.* That the style of this government 
 is in exact accordance with the style of the govern- 
 ment of the Church under the. previous dispensa- 
 tions. It is by elders who rule only, and elders 
 who both rule and "labour in word and doc- 
 trine," "who have spoken the word of God." 
 
 Third, as to the extent of jurisdiction in the 
 government, it is not only over the members of 
 the body,-{- but also over the rulers by their peers, J 
 and to be administered according to established 
 forensic forms. And as to the nature of the 
 questions proper for this spiritual jurisdiction, 
 they are not only questions of Hfe and morals, but 
 also questions of order and doctrine. "A man 
 that is an heretic reject ;"§ "And the spirits of the 
 prophets are subject to the prophets." "Let all 
 things be done decently and in order." || 
 
 Fourth, as to the mode in which this authority 
 is conferred, it is through special ordination of 
 faithful men, called by the Holy Ghost, by the 
 laying on the hands of the presbytery.^ 
 
 Thus the facts set forth in the apostolic history 
 and writings confirm, in every point, the view 
 which has been before presented of the idea, 
 
 * Rom. xiii. 4. 1 1 Cor. v. 4-12, 13. J 1 Tim. v. 19. 
 § Titus iii. 10, 11. II 1 Cor. xiv. 32, 40. 
 
 T[l Tim. iv. 14; 2 Tim. i. 6, ii. 6. 
 
102 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 structure, and functions of the visible Church of 
 God. Nay, on the theory of the Church in Parts 
 I. and II. of this discourse, these facts have all a 
 ready and clear exposition; without it they are 
 singularly confused and of difficult interpretation. 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 103 
 
 PAUT lY. 
 
 THE RELATION TO THE IDEA OF THE CHURCH OP THE 
 ORDINANCES OF WORSHIP APPOINTED IN THE SCRIPTURES. 
 
 § 1. The fundamental ground and the essential nature of public 
 worship determined by the relation of worship to the idea of the 
 Church. "Worship is the communion of the people with the Head 
 of the body. ^ 2. What are the divinely appointed ordinances of 
 worship. 1 3. In the relation of these ordinances to the idea of 
 the Church lies the fundamental distinction between them and all 
 other forms of thought among men. § 4. Still more direct and im- 
 mediate is the relation of the sacraments to the idea of the Church, 
 eince sacraments arise from, and are the seals of, a covenant be- 
 tween God and this visible body. ^ 5. The distinguishing mark 
 of the sacraments as seals, that the seal is so constituted as to 
 be a sign of the blessing particularly specified in the covenant. 
 I 6. Circumcision and Baptism the ordinances through which the 
 visible Church is perpetuated ; the Passover and the Lord's Sup- 
 per a perpetual attestation of his promise to be the deliverer of his 
 covenant-people. § 7. These general principles, rightly expounded 
 and logically arranged, constitute the science of the Church. 
 
 § 1. It remains now to complete the whole view 
 of the subject by a brief exposition of the rela- 
 tion to the general idea of the Church developed 
 in Parts I. and II. of the several appointed ordi- 
 nances of worship by which the life of the Church 
 is to be sustained, through which that life is mani- 
 fested, and by means of which, as her instrumen- 
 tality, she is to accomplish her great design^ — the 
 
104 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 evangelization of the world, and the calling, gath- 
 ering, and edifying the people given to Christ in 
 the eternal covenant. 
 
 The primary conception of all worship in the 
 most general sense is that of an intercommunica- 
 tion between man and God. The primary con- 
 ception of all public worship in the Christian 
 Church specifically lies, manifestly, in the special 
 relation of the body to the Head. The funda- 
 mental design of worship here must be, that the 
 members of the body may communicate with the 
 Head, in whom their life is hid. The fundamental 
 characteristics of all ordinances of worship, there- 
 fore, must be that they be adapted to communi- 
 cate, first, the voice of the Great King of the 
 Church to the souls of his people; and secondly, 
 the voice of their souls responsive to the voice of 
 God. Contemplated as a book of devotion on the 
 largest scale, the entire contents of the Scriptures 
 themselves may be classed under these two cate- 
 gories. The Bible is the "word of God" indeed, 
 yet not in the sense of a record only of what God 
 hath said in every form of providence, wonders, 
 covenants, and inspirations, but what man said in 
 response also, either in the way of reverent re- 
 spect, or of angry or careless defiance. It is an 
 infinite dialogue, the voice of God speaking to the 
 great soul of humanity, and the many-toned voice 
 of the soul of humanity answering back to God. 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 105 
 
 And such is the fundamental conception of all 
 true external worship and ordinances of worship. 
 Its purpose is, on the one hand, to be the channel 
 of communication for the voice of God to the 
 soul, and, on the other, of the soul of the worship- 
 per answering back to God. 
 
 § 2. Concerning the ordinances of public wor- 
 ship, what they are in kind, and in what manner 
 to be performed, there can be little question among 
 those who agree in holding the Scriptures to 
 be the only rule of faith and worship. Reading, 
 expounding, and preaching the word, blessing the 
 people, prayer, singing praise, and the act of fel- 
 lowship in the collection ; these, together with the 
 sacraments, (which as complex ordinances are 
 best left to a separate consideration,) and disci- 
 pline, which cannot here be considered, are the 
 ordinances of scriptural authority in the public 
 worship of God. Here, then, are plainly appointed 
 the two sorts of acts of worship which express 
 the communion between the Great Head of the 
 kingdom and the citizens thereof. The minister 
 of the worship stands in the reading, expounding, 
 and preaching the word, and in the benediction 
 and pronouncing sentence of discipKne, to speak 
 for God to men, and in the prayer to speak for 
 men to God. And in addition to the prayer by 
 which the people in one form make response to 
 the voice of God through the representative voice 
 
106 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 of the minister, in the ordinance of singing praise 
 provision is made for each worshipper to make re- 
 sponse for himself, and therefore the choice of this 
 form of utterance in harmonious sounds, that the 
 voice of response from the great congregation, each 
 for himself, may, as an external act of worship, be 
 without harshness and confusion. The bearing of 
 this view of singing praise in public worship upon 
 the question whether it, like the prayer, shall be 
 done representatively by a few, or by the whole 
 congregation, is very obvious. 
 
 § 3. Once the nature of the ordinances of wor- 
 ship is properly apprehended, and their relation 
 to the idea of the Church, it at once separates them 
 in idea from every other kind of acts analogous 
 to or resembling them. The reading of the word 
 in the public worship is a solemn ofl&cial ministra- 
 tion for Christ, and the utterance of his voice to 
 the people. Hence the custom, so earnestly urged 
 as an expediency by many who hold high views 
 of the dignity and sacredness of the ministry, of 
 reading the Scriptures at public worship in alter- 
 nate portions by minister and people, originates in 
 a manifest misconception of the nature of that 
 ordinance of reading the word, and tends to ob- 
 scure in the minds of the people its true relation 
 to the worship as belonging to the class of acts in 
 which the minister speaks for God to man. The 
 expounding of the word is no mere display of 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 107 
 
 critical learning or skill, but the solemn unfolding 
 of the mind of the Spirit in the word. The 
 preaching of the word can no longer be mistaken 
 for skilful teaching, or elegant speech, or profound 
 reasoning, or labouring to convert men; all these 
 may be involved in it as incidents ; but the preach- 
 ing of the word is essentially the uttering the 
 message of Christ to men, and applying it to the 
 soul; it is the taking that word which Christ, as 
 the Prophet of the Church, hath uttered, and 
 through the usual forms operating by speech upon 
 the human soul, and by the aid of the Holy Ghost 
 making it still the voice of Christ to men now, as 
 really as it was to those to whom it was first ut- 
 tered. In this aspect of his work, and assuming 
 him to be both teacher and pastor, the preacher 
 of the new is the true successor of the prophet of 
 the old dispensation. In the one case, the reve- 
 lation not yet being completed, the prophet gath- 
 ered from direct communication with God his mes- 
 sage to be delivered, and then permanently recorded 
 it as God's voice ; in the other case, the revelation 
 being now complete, the preacher has that as the 
 permanent oracle from which, led by the Spirit, 
 he is to gather the message of God, and, by every 
 proper means of reaching the human soul, lodge it 
 there as the message of God. So the benediction 
 upon the people is the word of God to men. It 
 is not of the class with the prayer and praise 
 
 9* 
 
108 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 which it resembles in form, but belongs to the 
 other class of acts in which the minister speaks 
 for God to men, and perhaps is most nearly analo- 
 gous to the authoritative sentence of discipHne 
 which it is his office also to pronounce. The act 
 of fellowship in the collection for pious uses is 
 more complex as an act of worship, but is properly 
 reckoned also among the responsive acts of the 
 people, whereby they give expression to the com- 
 munion that exists between all the members and 
 all the parts of the one great body, through the 
 communion of each and all with Christ the Head. 
 Thus every ordinance of the Church in - detail is 
 perceived to have its significancy, its reason, and 
 its distinction from every thing else that is not an 
 ordinance of worship, on account of its relation to 
 the same fundamental idea of the Church external 
 and actual, as at once the development of the 
 great ideal, and as the instrument for the final and 
 perfect accomplishment of the great ideal of the 
 purpose of redemption. 
 
 § 4. Still more direct is the relation of the idea 
 of the sacraments to the idea of the Church visi- 
 ble as an organized spiritual community. For the 
 two sacraments of the Church, ahke under the 
 Old and New Testaments, are but the signs and 
 seals of the two special covenants in the great 
 series of covenant-revelations, by one of which the 
 Phurch visible was constituted, and by the other 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 109 
 
 of which the full and final deliverance of the 
 Church so constituted was guaranteed. It has 
 already been shown that, in revealing himself to 
 man, God was pleased not only to accommodate 
 himself to the language of men, but also to the 
 habits of thought current among men, and there- 
 fore not only to give his word, but, as it were, 
 his bond, for the promised blessings of salvation. 
 And just as men feel more secure when their 
 affairs with each other are no longer left open to 
 any uncertainties from differences of understand- 
 ing, nor dependent upon mere general promises, 
 but definitively closed by a bond, contract, or co- 
 venant, behind which they need not go for evi- 
 dence in claiming their rights and privileges, — so 
 God vouchsafed to reveal the blessings of the 
 gospel in the form of covenants for the greater 
 assurance of the faith of his people. In the case 
 of two of these covenant-revelations, — the one 
 with Abraham, constituting him and his family the 
 separate visible Church,* the other with the chil- 
 dren of Abraham, now a great community just 
 about to be deHvered, as the Lord's covenant-peo- 
 ple, from bondage,f he not only bound himself 
 in the contract, but called upon the beneficiaries 
 of the covenant, by a formal external act of his 
 own selection, to set their seals also to the instru- 
 
 * Gten. xvii. f Ex. xii. 
 
110 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 ment. In the one covenant the seal was ch'cum' 
 cision, in the other the sprinkling of the blood of the 
 lamb and eating its flesh with solemn observances. 
 This solemn affixing the seal to the covenant with 
 God was commanded in both cases to be perpetu- 
 ally observed in the Church. Hence, then, the 
 sacraments derive their origin, as ordinances of 
 worship, in both the Old and the New Testament 
 eras. As before observed in the case of other or- 
 dinances, the form changed with the progress of 
 the revelation, but the essential idea of the sacra- 
 ments remains the same. So they are regarded 
 in Scripture. The same spiritual significancy is 
 attributed to circumcision* as to baptism, and to 
 the passover as to the Lord's Supper.f The same 
 ideas are expressed by metaphors taken indiffe- 
 rently from either the Old or the New Testament 
 form of these sacraments, and even the names of 
 the one interchanged for the other. Nor does the 
 change of the form of the seal, putting the rite of 
 baptism for circumcision, at all affect the argument 
 for the identity of the covenant, and, of course, the 
 identity of the Church, under both dispensations. 
 For the great truth signified, as already shown, in 
 circumcision and baptism — the regeneration of the 
 soul by the Holy Ghost — is equally expressed in 
 
 * Deut. X. 16 and xxx. 6; Lev. xxvi. 41; Rom. ii. 29 and 
 iv. 11; Phil. iii. 3; Col. ii. 11-13. f 1 Cor. v. 7, 8. 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. Ill 
 
 Scripture by either, as a symbol. Circumcision, 
 as aU other ordinances of the Old Testament, ex- 
 pressed faith as from a prophetic stand-point, and 
 a desire for regeneration as the cutting off of the 
 filth of the flesh; baptism expresses faith from a 
 historic stand-point, and contemplates prominently 
 the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as the power 
 which alone can effect the regeneration. Thus, 
 however apparently unlike the symbol, the thing 
 signified in both is the same, — viz., the Holy 
 Ghost, as the regenerator and sanctifier of the 
 elect ones of the eternal covenant. 
 
 § 5. These observations bring into view a pecu- 
 liarity of all these seals of the covenant, alike in 
 the Old and the New Testaments, — viz. : that the 
 seal is itself of such kind and form as to signify 
 visibly the great idea contained in the instrument 
 to which it is attached. Thus, as just observed, 
 the circumcision or baptism symbolizes the renun- 
 ciation of the sin characteristic naturally of the 
 seed of the serpent, and that regeneration of the 
 nature by Divine power which puts the enmity 
 between the seeds, thus significant of a translation 
 into the body of the elect seed to become the 
 Lord's people. The passover, or the Lord's Sup- 
 per, is at once commemorative of the deliverance 
 of the elect ones from death, and at the same time 
 their spiritual life as nourished only by communion 
 with their King and Deliverer. So that in each 
 
112 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 case the seal becomes a sign also, and therefore 
 the sacraments, as external acts of worship, be- 
 come seals and signs of internal grace, and involve 
 in one and the same act both parts of the commu- 
 nion which constitute worship, — the word of God 
 to the soul, and the response of tlie soul to that 
 word, — both words made Adsible to the senses, and 
 at the same time used as the instrumentality of 
 the Holy Spirit to confer the blessings sjnnbolized. 
 § 6. As circumcision or baptism, therefore, is 
 the seal of the covenant which first constituted 
 the visible Church, so, in the very nature of the 
 case, it becomes the sacrament which continually 
 perpetuates the visible Church. It is the enter- 
 ing into solemn contract to be Jehovah's people, 
 as he contracts to be the God of all such in the 
 original instrument. As that original instrument 
 expressly provides that the family principle, which 
 had obtained in all the previous as in all subse- 
 quent covenants, shall still be recognised as fun- 
 damental under this covenant charter of the new 
 visible community, so that principle must con- 
 tinue to be recognised under all dispensations and 
 changes of the form of the seal. As the origi- 
 nal social organization out of which the Church 
 grew was the family, so the constituent elements 
 of the visible Church, from the first, were families. 
 Its members are not individual believers merely, 
 but their seed also with them. And, as we have 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 113 
 
 already shown that this community, in essential 
 idea and in fact, remains the same under all changes 
 of dispensation, so it is still constituted of the 
 same elements as at first. 
 
 And as the one sacrament is thus made the in- 
 strument of a perpetual process of creating the 
 visible Church itself, so the other sacrament is a 
 perpetual attestation of the great promise to re- 
 deem his elect coA^enant people, and on their part 
 of their simple rehance on that promise for salva- 
 tion, and their renewal of the engagement to be 
 his people, ruled and guided by him as their King 
 and Head. As, then, in the ministration of the 
 word, the minister commissioned of Christ speaks 
 for Christ to men, so in the sacraments he stands 
 as Christ's authorized attorney, to exhibit his 
 covenant and receive from men their seal to it. 
 They thus become special means of grace, ex- 
 hibiting, as they do, the whole promise of the 
 gospel in substance in the form of a solemn bond 
 closed and sealed. His peoj^le, by reason of sin 
 and manifold temptations, ever prone to doubt, un- 
 belief, and confusion of ideas as to the terms on 
 which they may receive salvation, are herein re- 
 assured in the strongest form, — even the bond of 
 Jehovah ; and they are at the same time reminded 
 that the simple terms of this covenant alone are 
 the terms of salvation, and there are no open 
 questions touching them, nor need they ever con 
 
114 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 cern themselves as to any thing behind the cove- 
 nant. 
 
 It is scarcely needful to add the inference 
 from the foregoing view that where there is no 
 Church there can be no sacraments, and, con- 
 versely, no sacraments, no Church, in the sense 
 of a visible organized body. 
 
 § 7. Such is a brief and necessarily imperfect 
 sketch of the relations conceived to exist between 
 the several fundamental truths which constitute 
 the doctrine of the Church and w^hat should be 
 the grand central idea of that doctrine. These 
 truths, if clearly stated, rightly expounded, and 
 logically arranged, having their several relations 
 to each other determined and their resulting 
 truths evolved, would constitute a positive science 
 of the Church. It may be seen, however, from 
 even this outline, that there is such a thing as 
 a positive doctrine of the Church, and that, too, 
 forming an essential part of the system of truth 
 pertaining to salvation as revealed in the Scrip- 
 tures. And therefore it is not without most 
 weighty reason that this doctrine should claim 
 very prominently the attention of those whose 
 office it may be to rule in the Church and expound 
 the word of God. The limits of this discourse 
 are utterly inadequate to the exhibition of even 
 the most important of the bearings of such a doc- 
 trine of the Church as this, and its wide range of 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 115 
 
 application to almost every one of the more pro- 
 minent subjects of agitation and controversy in 
 the modern Church. Yet, simply for the sake of 
 suggesting the general method of this application, 
 a few illustrations will here be subjoined in con- 
 clusion. 
 
 10 
 
116 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 ^ 1. If there be such a positive doctrine of the Church revealed, 
 then there is no place for a via media ; nor can the true amalga- 
 mate with any other theory. | 2. This illustrated by a parallel 
 comparison of the theories of Presbytery, Independency, and Pre- 
 lacy, showing how they differ in their fundamental idea, and each 
 consistent with itself; they differ also in every important detail. 
 ^ 3. From the nature of the case, there is no place for human tra- 
 ditions, expediencies, and ingenuities in respect to the order and 
 ordinances, any more than in respect to the creed, of the Church. 
 ^ 4. The current prejudice against the principles of Divine war- 
 rant founded upon mere fallacy and misconception of the true 
 idea of the Church. ^ 5. Clear views of the Divine appointment 
 of all that pertains to the government and worship of the Church 
 necessarily tend to higher, more earnest and spiritual views of the 
 Church and her work. ^6. Special call upon the Presbyterian 
 Church in the United States to testify for these truths from her 
 past history and from her present position. § 7. The true organon 
 of the science of the Church the word of God. 
 
 § 1. It is clear, if there be such a positive doc- 
 trine of the Church, scripturally and logically 
 developed from the very fundamentals of the 
 gospel, and pervading the entire spirit of the 
 system, then it is idle to conceive of any via media 
 between this theory and theories of the Church 
 radically different from this, and dangerous to the 
 peace and purity of the Church to endeavour to 
 amalgamate them. 
 
 § 2. If we select, for instance, the three mo- 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 117 
 
 dern theories of the Church most apt to be con- 
 sidered non-essential in their differences, and 
 therefore most frequently thought capable of being 
 thus fused together, — the theories of Presbytery, 
 of Independency, and of Prelacy, — and apply 
 the principles here set forth, tracing out each from 
 the fundamental idea of the Church, they will be 
 found radically distinct at each successive point. 
 This will appear from a parallel comparison of 
 these three theories in their radical idea, and in 
 the several secondary principles derived there- 
 from, touching the general idea, structure, and 
 functions of the Church of God. 
 
 DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH:— 
 
 According to Presby- 
 tery. 
 1. As to the idea of 
 the Church. — The 
 Church visible is that 
 organic body which 
 — as a manifestation of 
 the purpose of God to 
 redeem an elect body 
 of which the Mediator 
 is bead, as a method of 
 revealing to men that 
 purpose, and as a means 
 to the accomplishment 
 thereof — hath been by 
 special covenant or- 
 ganized in time into a 
 visible kingdom or spi- 
 ritual commonwealth, 
 with laws, ordinances, 
 and officers. 
 
 According to Indepen- 
 dency. 
 1. As to the idea of 
 the Church. — The only 
 Church visible is the 
 confederation of osten- 
 sible Christians, or- 
 ganized by mutual co- 
 venant into a society 
 complete in itself, with 
 the design of meeting 
 personally together for 
 Christian worship. 
 
 There is no actual, one 
 visible Church, be- 
 yond the ideal aggre- 
 gate of the unities of 
 Christian societies. 
 
 According to Prelacy. 
 
 1. As to the idea of the 
 Church.— The Church 
 visible is an organic 
 unity, incorporated by 
 Jesus Christ in the per- 
 sons of the apostles 
 and their successors in 
 office, through whom 
 he gathers into con- 
 nection with them- 
 selves his elect body, 
 communicates the grace 
 of salvation, and rules 
 the people as their 
 King. 
 
118 
 
 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 2. The constituent 
 elements of the Church 
 visible are not simply 
 individuals, but indivi- 
 duals also as represent- 
 ing families, through 
 them thus entering into 
 the covenant with God 
 by which the visible 
 Church is organized 
 and perpetuated. 
 
 3. The power in 
 this spiritual common- 
 wealth is from Jesus 
 Christ the Mediator; is 
 by him vested in the 
 Church, contemplated 
 as an organic body 
 composed of rulers and 
 ruled ; is to be adminis- 
 tered by office-bearers 
 whom he selects, quali- 
 fies, and commissions, 
 but to be actually ex- 
 ercised only at the vo- 
 cation of the people, 
 and after ordination by 
 a proper tribunal. 
 
 4. The visible Church 
 is an actual govern- 
 ment, perfect in all 
 its parts, distinct from 
 the civil government, 
 which is also of God. 
 It is distinct from the 
 civil government in 
 that: — (1.) The source 
 of all Church power is 
 Jesus the Mediator; of 
 civil power, God the 
 Author of nature. (2.) 
 The rule to direct 
 
 2. The constituent 
 elements of the Church 
 visible are believers 
 only, i.e. such as give 
 credible evidence of 
 saving faith, who enter 
 into mutual covenant 
 with each other to wor- 
 ship God and walk ac- 
 cording to his ordi- 
 nances. 
 
 3. The power of go- 
 vernment ecclesiastical 
 is from Jesus Christ; 
 but, like the power of 
 civil government, it is 
 vested in the people, 
 as such; is to be exer- 
 cised only by the peo- 
 ple, either in mass or 
 through delegates se- 
 lected by them, whose 
 only ordination is their 
 appointment and in- 
 stallation in office by 
 the people. 
 
 4. The visible Church 
 is a spiritual common- 
 wealth only in so far 
 as relates to the mutual 
 covenanting of a body 
 of believers who per- 
 sonally worship to- 
 gether. Nor is there 
 any other power of 
 government in the 
 Church, save such 
 power as is invested 
 in the single congrega- 
 tion for its separate 
 
 2, The constituent 
 elements of the Church 
 visible are such indi- 
 viduals, adult and in- 
 fant, as are made mem- 
 bers of the body by 
 their baptism. 
 
 3. The power of go- 
 vernment ecclesiastical 
 is vested by Jesus 
 Christ in the order of 
 men first incorporated 
 as the Church, and 
 their successors in of- 
 fice. Nor without or- 
 dination at their hands 
 can any ministry be 
 lawful or any ordi- 
 nances valid. When 
 it is expedient, the 
 apostle-bishops may 
 call in the counsel and 
 aid of others, — but as 
 advisory only. 
 
 4. The Church visi- 
 ble, considered as a 
 government, is not 
 a spiritual common- 
 wealth, but a hierarchy, 
 and in its order is su- 
 perior to the civil go- 
 vernment, or should 
 have at least concur- 
 rent jurisdiction with 
 it, except as consider- 
 ations of expediency 
 may render it proper 
 to decline any connec 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 119 
 
 the administration of 
 Church power is the 
 revealed word only, the 
 statute law of the king ; 
 the rule to direct the 
 civil power is reason 
 and the light of na- 
 ture. (3.) The scope 
 and aim of Church 
 power are things spi- 
 ritual, of civil power 
 things temporal. (4.) 
 The symbol of Church 
 power is the keys, — as 
 ministerial only ; of the 
 civil power the symbol 
 is the sword, — as coer- 
 cive. And in the ge- 
 neral exercise of this 
 power all the ends of 
 the Church, as the one 
 visible body and king- 
 dom of Christ, whether 
 contemplated as a 
 whole, or any part 
 thereof, are to be ac- 
 complished. Nor is it 
 competent to this go- 
 -vernment to legislate 
 of matters pertaining 
 to the State, or to the 
 State to legislate of ec- 
 clesiastical affairs. 
 
 5. Therefoi'e the 
 Church, considered as 
 an instrumentality, is 
 both a divinely ap- 
 pointed government 
 for the training and 
 edification of the elect, 
 and a divinely appoint- 
 ed missionary organi- 
 zation, complete in all 
 
 government. Nor is 
 there any obligation 
 to confederate together 
 several congregations, 
 except as mutual con- 
 venience may dictate. 
 It is the province of 
 the Church so con- 
 federated to guide, en- 
 lighten and rectify 
 public opinion on any 
 matters pertaining to 
 the moral, social, civil, 
 or political welfare of 
 the civil community. 
 
 tion with the civil 
 power. 
 
 5. Therefore there is 
 no provision made by 
 Divine warrant for any 
 government of the 
 Church as one body, 
 or for any concentra- 
 ting thereof as a mis- 
 sionary organization, 
 or for any agencies 
 through which the 
 10* 
 
 5. The whole govern- 
 mental authority of 
 the Church being 
 vested in this hier- 
 archy, there is herein 
 all needful provision 
 for the evangelization 
 of the world, — and 
 through this agency 
 alone can the gospel 
 
120 
 
 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 its parts, for concentra- 
 ting the strength of 
 his people on the work 
 of evangelizing the 
 world and affording 
 the agencies through 
 which to work. 
 
 6. The fundamental 
 office of government in 
 the Church is the 
 Eldership, — of two 
 classes, one that rule 
 only, the other that 
 both rule and also 
 administer ordinan- 
 ces. As rulers, in 
 either ease the power 
 is a joint power, to be 
 exercised only by them 
 as members of tribu- 
 nals. Besides this, the 
 only power of govern- 
 ment in the Church is 
 the office of the Dea- 
 cons, which concerns 
 temporalities only. 
 
 7. As to the mode 
 of administration of 
 Church government. — 
 The whole body being 
 one, yet every organic 
 part thereof having the 
 functions belonging to 
 the whole, and the 
 power of the whole 
 being over the power 
 of every part, the 
 administration is by a 
 series of tribunals re- 
 presenting the different 
 extents in which the 
 term «/cX;7<ria is taken 
 
 work shall be carried 
 on. But it is compe- 
 tent for the Christian 
 people to devise such 
 voluntary organiza- 
 tions for this or any 
 other purpose as may 
 be deemed expedient. 
 
 6. There is no officer 
 of rule in the Church 
 divinely appointed. 
 The people of the 
 Church appoint one or 
 more to administer or- 
 dinances, who are the 
 elders, and also dea- 
 cons, to be assessors 
 with them. 
 
 grace be offered to all 
 nations. 
 
 7. The administra- 
 tion of Church power, 
 as such, is confined 
 to the particular con- 
 gregation. Nor does 
 the confederation of 
 Churches give any 
 power to the greater 
 part over the smaller 
 part. All power be- 
 yond that in the par- 
 ticular congregation is 
 purely moral, unde- 
 fined, and unrestrained 
 by any limits. 
 
 6. The officers of the 
 Church are of three 
 orders, divinely ap- 
 pointed, — bishops, who 
 exercise apostolic au- 
 thority, and who ap- 
 point under them; 
 priests; and deacons, to 
 administer ordinances. 
 
 7. The administra- 
 tion of Church govern- 
 ment is ex ordine by 
 bishops, and not jointly 
 by tribunals. But it 
 is expedient to asso- 
 ciate with the bishop 
 advisory councils; and 
 also to represent the 
 unity of the whole 
 Church in a council of 
 Bishops. 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 121 
 
 in Scripture, -with well- 
 defined and limited 
 powers from the lowest 
 to the highest court. 
 
 8. The sacraments of 
 the Church are actual 
 visible seals of a cove- 
 nant between the Me- 
 diator and bis elect 
 Church, and signs to 
 them of the grace 
 guaranteed to the 
 Church in the cove- 
 nant, and conveyed to 
 all such as worthily 
 partake of them. 
 
 8. The sacraments 
 of the Church are not 
 seals of a covenant be- 
 tween the Mediator 
 and the Church, but of 
 a personal covenant 
 with the worthy par- 
 taker thereof, and sig- 
 nificant rites simply 
 expressive of inward 
 spiritual blessings. 
 
 8. The sacraments 
 of the Church are 
 the actual channels 
 through which grace is 
 conferred when admi- 
 nistered by such as are 
 lawfully authorized by 
 the successors of the 
 apostles to administer 
 them. 
 
 Nothing more is needful than this exhibit of the 
 theories side by side, as they naturally develop 
 from their fundamental idea of the Church seye- 
 rally, to demonstrate, on the one hand, what has 
 already been said of this power of a great idea 
 in controlling all the details of a system, and, on 
 the other hand, the inevitable confusion in the 
 Church that must flow from any attempt at an 
 eclecticism which shall aim to gather its parts 
 from these three theories. 
 
 § 3. It is clear that Christ has left little room 
 for the exercise of mere human ingenuities, the 
 dogmas of human tradition, or the suggestions of 
 human expediency, in respect to the order and or- 
 dinances, any more than in respect to the doctrinal 
 creed, of the Church. Such order and ordinances 
 as the very nature of the Church called for, and 
 
122 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 because such as the nature of the Church called 
 for, were ordained from the first as to their sub- 
 stance, and as to their form modified during the 
 progressive steps of the revelation, under the 
 direct administration of the King in Zion, and 
 through men immediately inspired, until their 
 forms were fixed and left to be permanent at the 
 close of the revelation. Nor is it easy to see, 
 considering the essential relation of the Church to 
 the revelation itself, even as a fundamental part 
 of it, why human traditions, expediencies, or inge- 
 nuities should be competent either to add to or 
 take away from the doctrines pertaining to the 
 Church, any more than to add to or take away 
 from any other of the things written in this Book. 
 It is difficult to perceive why any part of the 
 Church which fails in conformity to the scriptural 
 pattern of the Church is not imperfect and in 
 error, just as much — no more, no less — than if it 
 fails to conform in its creed to the teachings of 
 Scripture concerning any other doctrine. The 
 tendency of our times to underrate the importance 
 of the doctrine of Christ as a- King and the great 
 system of truths that belong to it, in comparison 
 to the doctrine of Christ as a Priest and the great 
 system of truths that belong to it, seems wholly 
 arbitrary and out of harmony with the spirit of 
 the revealed word, which certainly gives equal, if 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 123 
 
 not greater, prominence to the kingly office of the 
 Mediator and its accompanying truths. 
 
 On the other hand, it is equally plain that, as 
 the affairs of the spiritual kingdom of Christ are 
 of such a nature as to preclude any human devices 
 in the way of means and instrumentahties for ad- 
 ministration, so also the divinely appointed 
 agencies for the administration of these affairs 
 preclude the idea of the use of these agencies 
 and the power accompanying them for any other 
 purposes than the one great purpose of the king- 
 dom itself. The officers, the ordinances, the 
 courts, of the Church have, as we have seen, a 
 very definite and a single end in view, — viz. : the 
 evangelization of the world, and the calling and 
 gathering out of it the elect of God. Hence the 
 too common conception of the Church as power 
 to be used directly for the promotion of mere 
 humanly devised reforms, however desirable in 
 themselves considered, and important to men, 
 as men and citizens, to effect such reforms, or 
 the conception, of the ordinance of the word 
 preached as an instrumentality to rectify wrong 
 public opinion, wrong moral views of social and 
 civil affairs ; or the conception of the courts of the 
 Church as agencies through which to reach directly 
 and reform civil evils and to arraign the State on 
 national wrong-doing, is inconsistent with the fun- 
 damental nature of the Church itself, and must 
 
124 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 ultimately work out only confusion and corruption. 
 This kingdom, in its administration, contemplates 
 men only in relation to Jesus the Mediator. It 
 ignores all strifes and parties of the kingdom of 
 Csesar. It knows men only as friends or enemies 
 of the King, and knows no parties but the parties 
 of Christ and of Antichrist. 
 
 § 4. The too current prejudice against the doc- 
 trine of Church government, as of divine warrant, 
 as dangerous to the peace of the Church, and ge- 
 nerating a narrow sectarianism, among those who 
 yet justify at the same time the greatest ear- 
 nestness for the doctrines of the Creed as of 
 Divine Avarrant, is manifestly founded on confused 
 and indistinct views of the teaching of Scripture 
 concerning the Church. If it is true that Christ 
 has made the Church an essential part of the reve- 
 lation of himself, — that the Church visible is but 
 the manifestation of the great ideal body for which 
 he undertook to mediate, and the instrumentality 
 through which he not only manifests the purpose, 
 but also effects it ; then surely there is no pro- 
 priety in thus exalting the creed, one form of his 
 revelation, and depreciating the Church, another 
 form of it. The true secret of this prejudice is 
 doubtless the outcry, by arrogant zealots for the 
 very opposite of a true doctrine of Divine warrant, 
 of " The Church ! the Church !" " The temple of the 
 Lord are we." They have been regarded as the 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 125 
 
 special advocates of Divine warrant whose aim 
 has been to exalt human traditions as sufficient 
 w^arrant, and whose High-Churchism, popularly 
 so called, was simply TF';'(9??Y7-Churchism, ignoring 
 or setting aside the very first and most funda- 
 mental conceptions of the Church as exhibited in 
 Scripture. If the several parts of the structure 
 of the visible Church, as the whole structure 
 itself, constitute a portion of the revelations of 
 Christ, and are the agencies through which the 
 Holy Spirit shall carry on the calHng, the re- 
 creation and edification of the elect, and be the 
 testimony against the reprobate, then zeal for that 
 order, whatever it be, is the highest wisdom, and 
 the higher the Churchism the more spiritual the 
 Church. If, on the other hand, it grieve the Holy 
 Ghost when men adulterate the pure doctrines of 
 the creed with human glosses, shall it less grieve 
 the Spirit when Christ's own appointed ordinances 
 and agencies are supplanted by mere human 
 machinery ? 
 
 § 5. A clear apprehension of the divine appoint- 
 ment of aU that pertains to the Church is the 
 surest guarantee for earnest spiritual views of all 
 that pertains to the administration both of the 
 ordinances, the government, and the management 
 of the affairs of the Church. Indeed, with these 
 views, not only will the ministry of the word and 
 ordinances assume more of its truly spiritual and 
 
126 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 unworldly character in the minds both of minister 
 and people, under a consciousness of the presence 
 of the Holy Spirit, but also the courts of the 
 Church will assume more of their peculiar sacred- 
 ness as courts of Jesus Christ, in which he is tho 
 true source of authority, — though he vouchsafe to 
 speak through feeble men ; within which his Spirit 
 moves and guides to right conclusions, and by 
 which, as his own chosen instrumentality, he will 
 bless his Church just as really as by the ministra- 
 tion of the word. When such views become clear 
 and distinct matters of consciousness with the 
 members of the Church Sessions, Presbyteries, 
 Synods, and Assemblies, then shall these agencies 
 of the Church be no longer felt by any to be too 
 secular and worldly in their nature to admit of 
 high spiritual communion with the Head through 
 them; nor any longer shall the spiritual impulses 
 of the Church be found calling for other assemblies 
 of the office-bearers, distinct from the courts of the 
 Church, for semi-official conference touching spi- 
 ritual affairs of the kingdom and special prayer for 
 revival. 
 
 § 6. The providence of God seems clearly to 
 point out a high and glorious mission to the Pres- 
 byterian Church of this country in these last 
 times, — even the carrying on to its completion that 
 development of the idea of a true gospel Church 
 which he put it into the hearts of the martyr 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 127 
 
 fathers of Scotland to construct for his glory, as 
 he put it into the heart of David to build his tem- 
 ple but reserved the honour of the actual con- 
 struction thereof to another generation. To that 
 noble race of men, — too great and noble in their 
 rugged grandeur of character to be understood by 
 the dilletantism that, in his just anger, he per- 
 mitted to fall upon subsequent generations in Bri- 
 tain, — to that noble race it was given to see and 
 to comprehend, beyond all other portions of the 
 Reformed Church, those great constituent truths 
 which underlie the spiritual commonwealth of 
 Christ, as well as those truths also which underlie 
 the constitution of the civil commonwealth. But 
 it was not given them in his providence to con- 
 struct either as they listed. That was a time of 
 peril, and it seemed to human vision impossible 
 that the Church could exist without the aid of, 
 much less in direct conflict with, the civil power. 
 It was the day of the wrath of Antichrist, and of 
 his power, too, with all Caesar's legions at his 
 back. Was it wonderful, then, that in the dark- 
 ness of the impending storm their eyes were 
 holden, that they did not penetrate fully the mean- 
 ing of Jesus when he declared, "My kingdom is 
 not of this world : if so, then would my servants 
 fight"? Admitting the power of the State in 
 spirituals as in some sort co-ordinate with that of 
 the Church of God; in order to buy their peace 
 
 11 
 
128 THE CHURCH OF GOD 
 
 with the State till the Lord might open the way 
 before them, the leaven of that one dangerous 
 principle worked gradually the corruption of their 
 pure gospel theory of the Church. The truths 
 so clearly enunciated at the first seemed to become 
 obscured to the eye of the Church, and thus, gra- 
 dually, the Church of the Martyrs degenerated 
 into the Church of the Moderates, from which, as 
 from Babylon of old, her true sons had at last to 
 go out. 
 
 As the young tree exposed to the bleak storms 
 on the hills, by unwise tenderness taken and 
 planted beside the sunny wall for shelter, grows 
 on indeed, but grows deformed from lack of space 
 on the one side to spread its boughs in due pro- 
 portion as nature would have it; so that noble 
 Church, taken from the storms that threatened it 
 to shelter beside the civil power, lost the beauty 
 and symmetry of the first era of its growth. Here, 
 at the distance of centuries of time and an ocean 
 of space, is found planted its noblest scion, in a 
 free, open field, to develop as the life which is hid 
 therein may lead it. Is not the time fully come 
 for once more rallying the elect of God under the 
 banner of Christ's Crown and Covenant? The out- 
 line of the great doctrine of the Church here pre- 
 sented is no original view as to its chief matter 
 and substance, but an attempt to set forth, in their 
 full proportions and in their logical relations, that 
 
AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE GOSPEL. 129 
 
 system which the early symbols of the Scottish 
 Church held forth as her great protest against 
 Antichrist. For, while the Churches of the Con- 
 tinent raised the voice of protestation in chief 
 against the corruptions of the Creed and of the 
 Ritual, and Scotland joined in the indignant shout 
 of rebuke, yet, to the view of Scotland, over and 
 above all the abominations of the Man of Sin was 
 his impious seizing of the crown of the Saviour, 
 and by the treason annulling his covenant with his 
 visible elect Church. 
 
 § 7. Simply because of a profound conviction 
 that such a general doctrine of the Church is held 
 forth in the word of God; that all that pertains 
 or ought to pertain to the Church is therein set 
 forth ; that, in the nature of the case, nothing can 
 pertain to the Church save what is found in the 
 word; and because also of alike profound convic- 
 tion that every true seeker after his truth may 
 rely on the promise that his Spirit will guide into 
 all truth, — has this occasion been taken advantage 
 of for gathering and giving utterance to the views 
 here presented. That the presentation of them 
 is altogether imperfect and unworthy so great a 
 theme ; that with the truth much that is erroneous 
 has incidentally connected itself; that even what 
 is the truth of God in this discourse will fail of its 
 adequate impression upon the understandings and 
 the hearts of his brethren by reason of the feeble- 
 
130 THE CHURCH OF GOD, ETC. 
 
 ness with which it is stated, — the author need? 
 not the criticisms of those more learned and able 
 than himself to make him sensible of. But, having 
 made an honest attempt at an exposition of the 
 grounds and reasons of the polity and ordinances 
 of the Presbyterian Church, in grateful return for 
 her marks of confidence in him and her many 
 kindnesses towards him, as well as in gratitude 
 for the amazing mercy of her Head and King, 
 his highest ambition will have been attained, and 
 all the damages of criticism more than repaired, 
 if by this attempt he may be the instrument of 
 awakening in her young ministry an earnest desire 
 to know more perfectly the truth which Christ 
 himself hath revealed concerning his Church, and 
 of directing their attention to the great principle 
 which should constitute the organon of this 
 science, — viz. : the word of God, the whole word 
 of God, following implicitly as far as it goes, and 
 stopping wherever it stops. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
ANE SCHORT SOMME 
 
 OP THE 
 
 FIEST BUII OE DISCIPLINE, 
 
 OB THB 
 
 POLICIE AND DISCIPLINE OF THE CHUECH; 
 
 DRAWN UP BY 
 
 MH. JOHN WINRAM, MR. JOHN SPOTTISWOOD, 
 JOHN WILLOCK, MR. JOHN DOUGLASSE, 
 MR. JOHN ROW, AND JOHN KNOX, 
 
 AND 
 
 PRESENTED TO THE NOBILITIE ANNO 1560, AND AFTERWARDS 
 SUBSCRIBED BY THE KIRK AND LORDS. 
 
 FOR THE INSTRTJCnON OF MINISTERS AND REIDARIS 
 IN THAIR OFFICE. 
 
 ** According to all that I shew thee, both after the fashion of the tabernacle, and 
 after the fiishion of all the ornaments thereof, even so shall ye make it." 
 
 EXOD. XXV. 9. 
 
BOOKS OF DISCIPLINE. 
 
 PBEViousLr to the legal establishment of the Protestant religion in 
 1560, the Book of Common Order used by the English Church at 
 Geneva was generally followed as the rule of worship and discipline 
 by the Scots Reformers ; but that being found inadequate to the re- 
 gulation of a church consisting of numerous congregations, a Book of 
 Discipline adapted to the state of the Church was, soon after that 
 event, urged upon the Parliament as a necessary accompaniment to 
 the legal institution of the National Church. Parliament, however, 
 was dissolved without any thing being done on this subject. But the 
 Reformed clergy persevered, and the Privy-Council were induced to 
 grant a commission to five ministers to frame such a standard of ec- 
 clesiastical government. When they had completed their task on 29th 
 May, 1560, the ''Book of Policy," or "First Book of Discipline," was 
 submitted to the General Assembly, by whom it was approved ; and, 
 though not formally ratified by the Council, it was subscribed by a 
 great portion of the members. Many of them, however, were op- 
 posed to it; and by some it was stigmatized as a "devout imagina- 
 tion." The " First Book of Discipline," therefore, though thus sanc- 
 tioned by the Church, was never formally and fully approved by the 
 civil authorities. 
 
 After many commissions and conferences, with a view to the settle- 
 ment of the discipline of the Church, it was finally agreed on by the 
 General Assembly in 1581, and registered in the Acts of the Kirk. 
 The Confession of Faith, which had received the sanction of the civil 
 government, was also declared to be the Confession of the Professors 
 of the Reformed Doctrines of the Church of Scotland. 
 
 As the First Book of Discipline consists in large part of details of 
 measures of reform rather than a concise statement of principles, it 
 is deemed more suitable to the brief limits, as also to the purpose, of 
 this Appendix to republish the "Schort Somme" of the book, con- 
 taining all its general principles, and apparently coeval with the 
 symbol of which it is an abridgment. 
 
 iv 
 
ANE SCHORT SOMME 
 
 OP THE 
 
 FIRST BUIK OF DISCIPLINE. 
 
 I. Doctrine. — The word of God onlie, quhilk is the 
 New and Auld Testament, sal be taught in everie kirk 
 within this realme, and all contraire doctrine to the 
 same sal be impugnit and utterlie suppressit. 
 
 We affirme that to be contrarious doctrine to the 
 word, that man has inventit and imposed upon the con- 
 sciences of men be lawis, counsallis, and constitutions, 
 without the expresse command of Godis word. 
 
 Of this kynd are vowis of chastitie, disgjsit apparell, 
 superstitious observatioun of fasting dayis, difference of 
 meatis for conscience saik, prayer for the dead, calling 
 upon Sanctis, with sic uther inventiouns of men. In this 
 rank ar holie dayis inventit be men, sic as Christimes, 
 Circumcision, Epiphania, Purificatioun, and utheris fond 
 feastis of our ladie : with the feastis of the Apostillis, 
 Martyris, and Virgins, with utheris quhilk we judge 
 utterlie to be abolisheit furth of this realme, because 
 they have na assurance in Godis word. All maintein- 
 aris of sic abominatiouns suld be punishit with the civill 
 sword. 
 
 The word is sufl5cient for our salvation, and theirfoir 
 all thingis neidfull for us ar conteinit in it. The Scrip- 
 tures sal be red in privie houses for removing of this 
 gross ignorance. 
 
 V 
 
VI FIRST BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. * 
 
 II. Sacramentis. — The sacramentis of necessltie are 
 joynit with the word, quhilk are twa onlie, — baptisme 
 and the tabill of the Lord. The preaching of the word 
 man preceid the ministratioun of the sacramentis. In 
 the dew administratioun of the sacramentis all things 
 suld be done according to the word, nothing being addit, 
 nor zit diminisht. The sacramentis suld be ministerit 
 efter the order of the Kirk of Geneva. All ceremoneis 
 and reittis inventit be men suld be abolisheit, and the 
 sympill word followit in all poyntis. 
 
 The ministratioun of the sacramentis in na wayis suld 
 be gevin him in quhais mouth God has not put the word 
 of exhortatioun. In the ministration of the tabill sum 
 comfortabil places may be red of the Scriptures. 
 
 III. Idolatrie. — All kynd of idolatrie and monumen- 
 tis of idolatrie suld be abolishit, sic as places dedicat to 
 idolatrie and relickis. Idolatrie is all kynd of worship- 
 ing of God not conteinit in the word, as the mess, invo- 
 cation of sainctis, adoratioun of images, and all uther 
 sic thingis inventit be man. 
 
 IV. The Ministrie. — No man suld enter in the mi- 
 nistrie without ane lawfuU vocatioun. The lawfuU voca- 
 tioun standeth in the electioun of the peopill, examina- 
 tioun of the ministrie, and admissioun be thame baith. 
 The extraordinar vocatioun has ane uther considera- 
 tione, seing it is wrocht only be God inwartlie in menis 
 hartis. 
 
 No minister suld be intrused upon any particular kirk 
 without thair consent ; bot gif ony kirk be negligent to 
 elect, than the superintendent with his counsall suld 
 provide ane qualifeit man within fortie dayis. 
 
 Nather for raritie of men, necessity of teiching, nor 
 for any corruptione of time, suld unable personis be ad- 
 mitted to the ministrie. Better it is to have the rowme 
 vaikand than to have unqualifiet personis, to the sclan- 
 der of the ministrie and hurt of the kirk. In the raritie 
 of qualifiet men we suld call unto the Lord, that he of 
 
FIRST BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. vil 
 
 his gudnes wald send forth trew laboreris to his harvest : 
 the kirk and faithfull magistrate suld compell sic as have 
 the giftis to take the ofRce of teiching upon thame. 
 
 ^ We sould consider first quhidder God has geven the 
 giftis to him quhame we wald choise : for God callis no 
 man to the ministrie quhame he armes not with neces- 
 sarie giftis. 
 
 Personis noted with infamy, or unabill to edifie the 
 kirk be helsome doctrine, or of ane corrupt judgment, 
 suld not be admittit nor zit reteinit in the ministrie; the 
 Princeis pardon nor reconciliatioun with the kirk takis 
 not away the infamie befoir men : thairfoir public edic- 
 tis suld be set furth in all places quhair the persone is 
 knawin, and strait charge gevin to all men to reveill 
 gif thay knaw ony capital cryme committit be him, or 
 gif he be sclanderous in his life. 
 
 Personis proponed be the kirk sal be examinated pub- 
 licklie be the superintendant and brethren in the prin- 
 cipal kirk of the diocie or province. Thay sal geif pub- 
 lick declaratione of thair giftis, be the interpretationo 
 of sum places of Scripture. Thay sal be examinated 
 openlie in all the principall poyntis that now ar in con- 
 troversie. Quhen thay are approvin be the judgment 
 of the brethren, thay suld mak sindrie sermones befoir 
 thair congregations afoir they be admittit. 
 
 In thair admission, the ofiice and dewtie of ministeris 
 and peopill sould be declarit be sum godlie and learnit 
 minister. And sua publiclie befoir the people sould 
 they be placeit in thair kirk, and joinit to thair flock at 
 the desire of the samin : uther ceremonies except fast- 
 ing with prayer, sic as laying on of hands, we judge not 
 necessair in the institution of ministerie. 
 
 Ministeris sa placeit may not for their awin plesure 
 leve thair awin kirkis, nor zit thair kirkis refuse thaim, 
 without sum wechtie causis tryit and knawin : but the 
 General Assemblie for guid causes may remove minis- 
 teris from place to place without the consent of the par- 
 ticular kirkis. 
 
 Sic as ar preichers alreddie placeit, and not found 
 
Vlii FIRST BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. 
 
 qualifiet efter this forme of tryall, sal be maid reidaris : 
 and sa for no sort of men sal this rigour of examination 
 be omittit. 
 
 V. Reidaris. — Reidaris are bot for a time, till, 
 through reiding of the Scriptures, thay may come to 
 furder knawledge and exerceis of the kirk in exhorting 
 and explaining of the Scriptures. No reider sail be 
 admittit within twentie-ane zeiris of age, and unless 
 thair be ane hope that be reiding he sal schortlie com 
 to exhorting. Reiders fund unabill, efter tua zeiris' ex- 
 erceis, for the ministrie, sould be removit, and uthers 
 als lang put in thair rowme. 
 
 No reider sal attempt to minister the sacramentis un- 
 till he be abill til exhorte and perswad be helsum doc- 
 trine. Reideris a landwart sal teiche the zouth of the 
 parochinis. 
 
 Ministeris and reideris sal begin evir sum buik of the 
 Auld or New Testament, and continow upon it unto the 
 end ; and not to hip from place to place as the Papistis did. 
 
 VI. Provision for Ministeris. — The ministeris* sti- 
 pend sould be moderated that nether thei have occasion 
 to be cairfull for the warld, nor zit wanton nor insolent 
 onywise. Thair wyfis and children sould be sustenit not 
 onlie in thair time, but also after thair death. 
 
 VII. Elderis and Deaconis. — Men of the best kna^w- 
 ledge, judgement, and conversatioun sould be chosin 
 for elderis and deaconis. Thair election sal be zearlie, 
 quhair it may be convenientlie observit. How the vot- 
 tis and suffrages may be best resavit with everie manis 
 fredome in votting, we leif to the judgement of everie 
 particular kirk. Thei sal be publiclie admittit, and 
 admonished of thair office, and also the peopil of thair 
 dutie to them, at thair first admission. 
 
 Thair office is to assist the ministeris in thair execu- 
 tion of discipline in all grit and weightie matteris. The 
 elderis sal watche upon all menis maneris, religioun, and 
 
FIRST BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. IX 
 
 conversatioun, that ar within thair charge : correct all 
 licentious leveris, or else accuse them befoir the sessioun. 
 
 Thei sould tak heid to the doctrine, diligence, and 
 behavior of thair minister and his househald ; and gif 
 neid be, admonishe and correcte thame accordinglie. 
 
 It is undecent for ministeris to be buirdit in ane ail- 
 house or taverne, or to hant mekil the court, or to be 
 occupiet in counsel of civill affairis. 
 
 The office of deaconis is to gadder and distribute the 
 almes of the puire according to the directione of ses- 
 sione. The deaconis suld assist the assemblie in judge- 
 ment, and may reid publiclie gif neid requyris. 
 
 Elderis and deaconis, being judges of uther menis 
 maneris, man with thair househald leve godlilie, and be 
 subject to the censure of kirk. 
 
 It is not necessair to appoynt ane publick stipend for 
 elderis and deaconis, seing thei ar changed zearlie, and 
 may wait upon thair awin vocatioun with the charge of 
 the kirk. 
 
 VIII. Super intendentis. — The necessitie, nomina- 
 tioun, examination, and institution of superintendent's, 
 ar at large contenit in the Bulk of Discipline, and in 
 monie thingis doe agrie with the examinatioun and 
 admission of ministeris. Principall townis sal not be 
 spoilzeit of thair ministers to be appointed superinten- 
 dentis. Superintendentis ainis admittit sal not be 
 changed without grit causeis and considerationis. 
 
 Superintendentis sal have thair awin special kirkis 
 bcsyde the common charge of utheris. Thei sal not 
 remaine in ane place untill thair kirkis be provydit of 
 ministeris or reideris. Thei sal not remaine abone 
 twentie dayis in ane place in thair visitation till thei 
 pass throw thair boundis. Thei sal preiche themselfis 
 thryce in the weik at the leist. Quhan thei come hame 
 again to thair awin kirk, thei man be occupyit in preich- 
 ing and edifieing of the kirk : thei sal not remain at 
 thair cheif kirk abone thrie or four monethis, bot sal 
 pas agane to thair visitatioun. 
 
 \2 
 
X FIRST BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. 
 
 In thair visitatioun thei sal not onlie preiche, but als 
 examine the doctrine, life, diligence, and behavior of 
 the ministeris, reideris, elderis, and deaconis. They sal 
 consider the ourder of the kirk, the maneris of the 
 peopil, how the puire ar providit, how the zouth ar in- 
 structit, how the discipline and policie of the kirk ar 
 keipit, how heinous and horribil crymis ar corrected. 
 They sal admonish, and dress thingis out of ordour, 
 with thair counsel as thei may best. 
 
 Superintendentis ar subject to the censure and cor- 
 rection not onlie of the synodal conventioun, bot alse 
 of thair awin kirk and uther within thair jurisdictioun. 
 Quhatsumevir crime deservis correctione or depositione 
 in ony uther minister, the same deservis the lyke in the 
 superintendent. 
 
 Thair stipend wald be considerit and augmentit 
 abone uther ministeris, be reasone of thair gritt 
 charges and travell. 
 
 IX. Discipline. — As no common-welth can be go- 
 vernet without executione of gude lawis, na mair can 
 the kirk be reteined in puritie without discipline. Dis- 
 cipline standeth in the correctione of these thingis that 
 ar contrarie to Goddis law, for the edefieing of the kirk. 
 All estatis within the realme ar subject to the discipline 
 of the kirk, als weil reuleris and preicheris as the com- 
 mon peopill. 
 
 In secreit and privie faultis the ordour prescrived be 
 our Maister suld be observed, quhairof we neid not to 
 wryte at length, seing it is largelie declared in the Buik 
 of Excommunication.* 
 
 Befoir the sentence proceid, labour sould be takin 
 with the giltie be his freindis, and public prayer maid 
 for his conversione unto God. Quhen all is done, the 
 minister sould ask gif ony man will assuir the kirk of 
 his obedience, and gif ony man promeis, than the sen- 
 
 * The Book of Excommunication was written in the year 1567 : 
 so this Summary was not written till some time after. 
 
FIRST BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. XI 
 
 tence sal stay for that time. Gif efter publick pro- 
 clameing of thair namis they promeis obedience, that 
 sould be declarit to the kirk quha hard their former 
 rebellione. 
 
 The sentence being ainis pronounced, na member of 
 the kirk sould have companie with thame under pain of 
 exccmmunicatione, except sic personis as ar exemit be 
 the law. Thair children sould not be resavit to bap- 
 tisme in thair name, bot be sum member of the kirk 
 quha sal promeis for the children, and detaist the pa- 
 rentis impietie. 
 
 Comittaris of horribil crymis worthie of death, gif 
 the civill sword spair them, thei sould be halden as deid 
 to us, and cursed in their factis. 
 
 Gif God move thair hartis to repentance, the kirk 
 cannot deny thame conciliatione, thair repentance being 
 tryed and fund trew. Some of the elderis sould resave 
 sic personis publicklie in the kirk in taken of reconci- 
 liatione. 
 
 X. Mariage. — Personis under cuir of utheris sal not 
 mary without thair consent lauchfullie requyrit. Quhen 
 the parentis and utheris ar hard and stubburn, than the 
 kirk and magistratis sould enter in the parentis rowme, 
 and decerne upone the equitie of the caus without affec- 
 tione. The kirk and magistrat sal not sute for thame 
 that commit furnicatioun befoir thay sute the kirk. 
 
 Promeises of bairnes within aige ar null, except thay 
 be ratifeit efter thay cum to age. 
 
 Band of mariage suld be proclamit upon thrie severall 
 Sondayis, to tak away all excuse of impediment. 
 
 Commiteris of adulterie suld not be overseit be the 
 kirk, albeit the civil sword oversie thame, but suld be 
 estimit as deid and excommunicate in thair wickit fact. 
 Gif sic oflfendaris desire earnestlie to be reconceilit to 
 the kirk, we dar not refuse thame, nor excommunicat 
 them quhame God has brocht to repentance. 
 
 The pairtie that is provin to be innocent suld be ad- 
 mittit to mariage againe. As for the pairtie offending, 
 
Xil FIRST BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. 
 
 all dout of manage wald be removit if the civil sword 
 wald stryk according to Godis word. 
 
 XI. Policie. — Policie is an exerceis of the kirk serv 
 ing for instructioun of the ignorant, inflaming of the 
 learnit to gritter service, and for reteining of the kirk 
 of God in gude ordor. 
 
 Of the partis of policie sum ar necessar, and sum not 
 necessar absolutlie. Necessar is the trew preiching of 
 the word, the right ministration of the sacramentis, the 
 common prayeris, the instructioun of the zouth, the 
 support of the puir, and the punishment of vice. Bot 
 singing of psalmis, certaine dayis of the conventionis in 
 the weik, thryse or twise preiching on week-dayis, cer- 
 tain places of Scripture to be red quhen thair is na ser- 
 mone, with sic thingis, ar not necessar. 
 
 In townes we requyre everie day aither sermon or 
 publick prayeris, with sum reiding of Scriptures. Pub- 
 lick prayers ar not neidfull in the dayis of preiching, 
 leist thereby we suld nurische the peopill in supersti- 
 tioun, causing tham understand that the public prayeris 
 Bucceids to the Papistical messe. In everi notabil towne 
 we requyre that at the least anis in the weik beside the 
 Sunday the haill peopill convene to the preiching. 
 
 The Sunday man be keipit straitlie in all townis, baith 
 befoir none and efter, for heiring of the word. At after- 
 none upon the Sunday the Catechisme sal be taught, the 
 children examinated, and the baptisme ministerit. Pub- 
 lick prayeris sal be usit upon the Sunday, als weill after 
 none as befoir, quhen sermones cannot be had. 
 
 It apperteinis to the policie of everie particular kirk 
 to appoynt the time quhen the sacramentis sal be 
 ministerit. 
 
 XIL Baptisme. — Baptisme may be ministerit quhan- 
 soever the word is preichit, bot we think it maist expe- 
 dient that it be ministerit upon Sunday, or upon the 
 day of common prayeris. Thus we tak away that error 
 of the Papistis concerning the estait of the infantis de- 
 
FIRST BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. XlU 
 
 pairting without baptisme. We bring the ministratioun 
 of baptisme to the presence of the peopill, to be keipit 
 in gritter reverence, and to put everie ane in remember- 
 ance of the promesis of baptisme, in the quhilk now 
 mony wax faint and cauld. 
 
 XIII. The Tabill— The tabill of the Lord sal be 
 ministerit foure times in the zeir, and out of the times 
 of superstitione. We judge the first Sunday of March, 
 Junii, September and December, to be the meitest. Bot 
 this we leve to the judgement of the particular kirkis. 
 
 Let all ministeris be mair diligent to instruct the ig- 
 norant and to suppress superstitione, than to serve the 
 vaine appetytes of men. The ministratioun of the tabill 
 suld never be without scharp examinatioun ganging be- 
 foir ; chiefly of thame quhais life, ignorance, or reli- 
 gioun is suspectit. Quha can nocht say the Lordis 
 Praye]^, the Articles of the Faith, and declare the 
 soume of the Law, suld not be admittit. Quhoso will 
 stubburnly remaine ignorant of the principall poyntis 
 of our salvatioun suld be excommunicat, with thair 
 parentis and maisteris that keep thame in that igno- 
 rance. Everie maister of houshald suld be commandit 
 aither to instruct his children and servants, or cause 
 thame be instructit; and gif thay will not, the kirk 
 suld proceid agains thame. 
 
 It is verie neidfull that publick examinatioun of everie 
 persone be maid, at the leist anis in the zeir, be the mi- 
 nisteris and elderis. 
 
 Everie maister and maisteris of houshald suld cum 
 with thair houshald and familie to give confessioun of 
 thair faith, and answer to the principall poyntis of our 
 religioun. 
 
 We think it verie expedient that prayeris be had 
 dayly in privie houses at morne and at nicht for the 
 confort and instructioun of utheris : and this to be done 
 be the maist grave and discreit persone of the house. 
 
 XIV. The Uxerceis. — In townis quhair lernjt men 
 
 12* 
 
Xiv FIRST BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. 
 
 ar, the exerceis of the Scriptures suld be weeklie. In 
 this exerceis thre onlie sal speik to the opening of the 
 text and edefeing of the peopill. This exerceis sal be 
 upon some places of Scripture, and openlie, that all that 
 "will may heir and speik thair judgment to the edefeing 
 of the kirk. In this kynd of exerceis the text is onlie 
 openit without any digressing or exortation, following 
 the file and dependance of the text, confuting all errors 
 as occasion sal be geven. Na man suld move a questioun 
 the quhilk himself is na abill to solve. 
 
 The exerceis being endit, the ministeris and elderis 
 present suld convene apairt and correct the thingis that 
 hes bein done or spokin without ordor, and not to the 
 edefeing of the kirk. In this public exerceis all aJBTec- 
 tatioun and vain curiositie man be abone all thingis es- 
 chewit, leist for edefeing we suld slander the kirk of God. 
 
 Ministeris within sax myles about suld cum in wil- 
 linglie, and also reideris that wald profeit suld cum 
 baith to teich uthers and to lerne. Uther lernil men, 
 to quhame God has gevin the gift of interpretatioun, 
 suld be chairgit to joyn themselfis. 
 
 XV. SchuUs. — Because schulis ar the seid of the mi- 
 nistrie, diligent cair suld be taken over thame that thay 
 be orderit in religioun and conversatioun according to 
 the word. Everie town suld have ane schule-maister, 
 and a landwart the minister or reider suld teich the 
 childrein that cum to thame : Men suld be compellit be 
 the kirk and magistratis to send thair bairnes to the 
 schulis. Pure menis childrein suld be helpit. 
 
 XVI. Universities. — Thie universities suld be erectit 
 in this realme, Sanct Andros, Glasgow, and Aberdein : 
 Thair ordor of proceiding, provision, and degreis, with 
 thair reideris and officeris, ar at length declarit in the 
 Bulk of Discipline ; how mony collegis, how mony class- 
 es in everie college, and quhat suld be taucht in everie 
 class, is thair expressit. 
 
 A contributioun sal be maid at the entrie of the 
 
FIRST BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. Xf 
 
 studentis for the uphalding of the place : And ane suffi- 
 cient stipend is ordeinit for eyerie member of the uni- 
 versitie according to thair degrie. 
 
 XVII. Rentis of the Kirh. — The haill rentis of the 
 kirk abusit in Papistrie, sal be referrit againe to the 
 kirk, that thairbe the ministrie, schulis, and the puir 
 may be menteinit within this realme according to thair 
 first institutioun. 
 
 Everie man suld be sufferit to leid and use his awin 
 teithis, and nocht man suld leid ane uther manis 
 teithis. The upermest claithe, the cors-present, the 
 cleirk-meill, the pasche offeringis, teithe-ale, and haill 
 uther sic thingis, suld be dischargit. 
 
 The deaconis suld tak up the haill rentis of the kirk, 
 disponing thame to the ministrie, the schulis, and puir 
 within thair bounds, according to the appointment of 
 the kirk. 
 
 All Frearies, Noneries, Chantereis, Chapelanreis, 
 Annualrentis, and all thingis dotit to the hospitalitie, 
 sal be reducit to the help of the kirk. Merchantis and 
 craftismen in burgh suld contribute to the support of 
 the kirk. 
 
 XVI II. Buriall. — We desire that buriall be sa ho- 
 nourablie handlit that the hoip of our resurrectioun may 
 be nurischit; and all kynd of superstitione, idolatrie, 
 and quhatsumever thing proceideth of the fals opinione, 
 may be avoided. 
 
 At the buriall nether singing of psalmis nor reiding 
 sal be usit, leist the peopill sould be nurischit thairbe in 
 that auld superstitione of praying for the deid: But 
 this wo remit to the judgement of the particular kirkis 
 with advyce of the ministeris. All superstitioun being 
 removit, ministeris sal not be burdenit with funeral ser- 
 monis, seing that daylie sermonis are sufficient aneuch 
 for ministering of the living. Buriall sould be without 
 the kirk in ane fine air, and place wallit and keipit 
 honourabillie. 
 
XVI FIRST BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. 
 
 XIX. Repairing of Kirhis. — The kirk dois crave 
 maist earnestlie the Lordis thair assistance for hastie 
 prepairing of all paroch kirkis, quhair the peopill suld 
 convene for the heiring of the word and resaving of the 
 sacramentis : This reparatioun sould not onlie be in the 
 wallis and fabrick, but alse in all thingis neidfull within, 
 for the peopill and decencies of the place appoyntit for 
 Godis service. 
 
 XX. Punishment of Profaneris of the Sacramentis. 
 — We desire strait lawis to be maid for punischment of 
 thame that abuse the sacramentis, als weill the minis- 
 teris as reideris. The halie sacramentis ar abusit quhen 
 the minister is not lauchfullie callit, or quhen thay are 
 gevin to opin injurareis of the treuth or to profane 
 leiveris ; or quhen thay ar ministerit in an privie place 
 without the word preichit. The exempils of Scriptures 
 do plainlie declair that the abuseris of the sacramentis, 
 and contemneris of the word, ar worthie of deith. 
 
 This our judgment for reformatioun of the kirk sal 
 beir witnes, baith befoir God and man, quhat we have 
 cravit of the nobilitie, and how thay have obeyit our 
 leiving admonitiounis. 
 
 Thus far out of the Bulk of Discipline quhilk was 
 subscryvit be the Kirk and Lordis. 
 
THE 
 
 SECOND EUIK OF DISCIPLINE, 
 
 OR 
 
 HEIDIS AND CONCLUSIONES 
 
 •- OP 
 
 THE POLICIE OF THE KIEK, 
 
 AGREED UPON IN THE 
 
 GENEEAL ASSEMBLY, 1578; 
 
 INSERTED IN THE REGISTERS OF ASSEMBLY 1581 : 
 
 JSworn to w the National Covenant, revived and ratified hy the Assembly 1638, 
 and by many other Acts of Assembly. 
 
 AND ACCORDING TO 'WHIOfl 
 
 IS ESTABLISHED EY LAW, AN. 1592 AND 1690. 
 
 " Let all things be done honestly, and hy order."— 1 Cor. xiv. 40. 
 
N.B.— -This copy of the Second Book of Discipline, found in ''Com- 
 pendium of the Laws of the Church of Scotland," has been made to 
 conform in arrangement and in sense to the authenticated copy found 
 in the Book of the Universal Kirk, the aim being to combine the 
 accuracy of the latter with the more modern orthography of the 
 firmer. 
 
THE 
 
 SECOND BUIK OF DISCIPLINE; 
 
 OR 
 
 HEIDIS AND CONCLUSIONES OF THE POLICIE OF 
 
 THE KIRK. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Of the Kirk and Policie thereof in generall and 
 quherem it is different from the CinUl PoUcx 
 
 ne. 
 
 1. The kirk of God is sumtymes largelie takin, for 
 all them that professe the Evangill of Jesus Christ, and 
 so It is a company and fellowship not onely of the godly 
 but also of hypocrites professing alwayis outwardly aiie 
 true religion. *^ 
 
 2. Uther tymes it is takin for the godlie and elect 
 onlie, 
 
 3. And sumtymes for them that exercise the spiritual 
 tunction amongis the congregation of them that professe 
 the truth. ^ 
 
 4. The kirke in this last sense hes a certaine power 
 grantit be God, according to the quhilk it uses a proper 
 jurisdiction and governement, exerciseit to the confort 
 ot the hole kirk. 
 
 5. This power ecclesiasticall is an authoritie grantit 
 be God the Father, throw the Mediator Jesus Christ 
 unto his kirk gatherit, and having the ground in the 
 word of God ; to be put in execution be them, unto 
 quhom the spirituall government of the kirk be lawfull 
 calling is committit. 
 
 6. The policie of the kirk flowing from this power, is 
 
XX SECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. 
 
 an order or forme of vspirituall government, quhilk Is ex- 
 ercisit be the members appoyntit thereto be the word of 
 God: And therefore is gevin immediatly to the office- 
 beararis, be quhom it is exercisit to the weile of the hole 
 bodie. 
 
 7. This power is diverslie usit : For sumtyme it is 
 severally exercisit, chiefly by the teacharis, sumtyme 
 conjunctly be mutuall consent of them that beir the 
 office and charge, efter the forme of judgement. The 
 former is commonly callit potestas ordinis, and the uther 
 potestas jurisdictionis. 
 
 8. These two kinds of power have both one authority, 
 one ground, one finall cause, but are different in the 
 manner and forme of execution, as is evident be the 
 speiking of our Master in the 16 and 18 of Matthew. 
 
 9. This power and policie ecclesiasticall is different 
 and distinct in the awin nature from that power and 
 policie quhilk is callit the civill power, and appertenis 
 to the civill government of the common welth : Albeit 
 they be both of God, and tend to one end, if they be 
 rightlie usit, to wit, to advance the glorie of God, and 
 to have godlie and gud subjectis. 
 
 10. For this power ecclesiasticall flowes immediatlie 
 from God, and the Mediator Jesus Christ, and is spiri- 
 tuall, not having a temporall heid on earth, bot onlie 
 Christ, the onlie spirituall King and Governour of his 
 kirk. 
 
 11. Therefore this power and policie of the kirk 
 sould leane upon the word immediatlie, as the onlie 
 ground thereof, and sould be tane from the pure foun- 
 taines of the Scriptures, (the kirk) hearing the voyce 
 of Christ the onlie spirituall King, and being rewlit be 
 his lawes. 
 
 12. It is a title falslie usurpit be Antichrist, to call 
 himselfe heid of the kirk, and aucht not to be attribute 
 to angel nor man, of what estait that ever he be, saving 
 to Christ the onlie Heid and Monarch of the kirk. 
 
 13. It is proper to kings, princes, and magistrates 
 to be callit lordis, and dominators over their subjectis, 
 
SECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. Xxi 
 
 whom they govern civilly, hot it is proper to Christ 
 onlie to be callit Lord and Master in the spiritual! 
 government of the kirk, and all uthers that beiris ofi&ce 
 therein aucht not to usurp dominion therein, nor be 
 callit lordis, bot onlie ministeris, disciples, and ser- 
 vantis. For it is Christis proper office to command 
 and rewll his kirk universall, and every particular kirk, 
 throw his Spirit and word, be the ministrie of men. 
 
 14. Notwithstanding, as the ministeris and uthers of 
 the ecclesiasticall estait ar subject to the magistrat 
 civill, so aucht the person of the magistrat be subject to 
 the kirk spiritually, and in ecclesiasticall government. 
 
 15. And the exercise of both these jurisdictiones 
 cannot stand in one person ordinarlie. 
 
 16. The civill power is callit the power of the sword, 
 and the uther the power of the keyes. 
 
 17. The civill power sould command the spiritual to 
 exercise and doe their office according to the word of 
 God: The spiritual rewlaris sould requyre the Christian 
 magistrate to minister justice, and punish vyce, and to 
 maintaine the libertie and quietness of the kirk within 
 their boundis. 
 
 18. The magistrate commandes externall thingis for 
 externall peace and quyetnes amongis the subjects: The 
 minister handles externall thingis onlie for conscience 
 cause. 
 
 19. The magistrat handles externall things onlie, and 
 actions done befoir men: Bot the spiritual rewlar judges 
 both inward aflfectionis and externall actionis, in respect 
 of conscience, be the word of God. 
 
 20. The civill magistrat craves and gettis obedience 
 be the sword, and uther externall meanis : Bot the mi- 
 nistrie* be the spiritual sword, and spirituall meanis: 
 
 21. The magistrat neither aucht to preich, minister 
 the sacramentis, nor execute the censuris of the kirk, 
 nor yet prescryve any rewll how it sould be done ; bot 
 
 * The copie in SpottisTVOod's History hath, '<the minister." An old 
 manuscript hath, " the ministeris." 
 
 13 
 
XXU SECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. 
 
 command the mlnisteris to observe the rewll commandit 
 in the word, and punish the transgressourls be civil! 
 mcanes : The ministeris exerce not the civill jurisdic- 
 tioun, bot teich the magistrat how it sould be exercit 
 according to the word. 
 
 22. The magistrat aucht to assist, mentain and fortifie 
 the jurisdiction of the kirk. The ministeris sould assist 
 their princes in all thingis agreiable to the word, pro- 
 viding they neglect not their awin charge be involving 
 themselfis in civill affairis. 
 
 23. Finally, as ministeris are subject to the judge- 
 ment and punishment of the magistrat in externall 
 things, if they offend : So aucht the magistratis to sub- 
 mit themselfis to the discipline of the kirk, gif they 
 transgresse in matteris of conscience and religioun. 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 Of the pairtes of the Policie of the Kirh^ and Pei'sons 
 or Office-heiraris to whom the Administratioun is 
 committit. 
 
 1. As in the civill policie the haill common welth 
 consistis in them that ar governours or magistrates, and 
 them that ar governit or subjects : So in the policie of 
 the kirk sum ar appointit to be rewlaris, and the rest 
 of the members thereof to be rewlit, and obey accord- 
 ing to the word of God, and inspiratioun of his Spirit, 
 alwayis under one heid and chiefe governour, Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 2. Againe, the haill policie of the kirk consisteth in 
 three things, viz. in doctrine, discipline, and distribu- 
 tion. With doctrine is annexit the administratioun of 
 sacramentis. 
 
 3. And according to the pairtes of this division, 
 arisis a threfald sort of office-beiraris in the kirk, to 
 wit, of ministeris or preachers, eldaris or governours, 
 and deaconis or distributeris. 
 
 And all these may be callit be ane generall word, 
 ministers of the kirk. 
 
SECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. XXIU 
 
 4. For albeit the kirk of God be rewlit and governit 
 be Jesus Christ, who is the onlie King, Mi Priest, and 
 Ileid thereof, yit he useis the ministry of men, as the 
 most necessar middis* for this purpose. 
 
 5. For so he hes from tyme to tyme, befoir the law, 
 under the law, and in the tyme of the Evangell, for our 
 great comfort raisit up men indewit with the giftis of 
 his Spreit, for the spirituall government of his kirk, ex- 
 ercising be them his awin power, throw his Spreit and 
 word to the beilding of the same. 
 
 6. And to take away all occasion of tyrannic, he 
 willis that they sould rewl with mutuall consent of 
 brother, and equality of power, every one according to 
 thair functiones. 
 
 7. In the New Testament, and tyme of the Evangell, 
 he hes usit the ministry of the apostles, prophetis, evan- 
 gelistes, pastouris and doctoris in the administratioun 
 of the word : the elderschip for gude order, and admi- 
 nistratioun of discipline : the deaconschip to have the 
 cure of the ecclesiasticall gudis. 
 
 8. Sum of thir ecclesiasticall functiones ar ordinar, 
 and sum extraordinar or temporarie. 
 
 9. There be three extraordinary functiones, the office 
 of the apostle, of the evangelist, and of the prophet, 
 quhilkis ar not perpetuall, and now have ceisit in the 
 kirk of God, except quhen it pleasit God extraordinarly 
 for a tyme to steir sum of them up againe. 
 
 10. There are foure ordinarie functiones or offices in the 
 kirk of God, the office of the pastor, minister or bishop ; 
 the doctor ; the presbyter or eldar ; and the deacon. 
 
 11. Thir offices ar ordinar, and aucht to continue per- 
 petually in the kirk, as necessar for the government and 
 policie of the same, and no moe offices aucht to be re- 
 ceivit or sufferit in the trew kirk of God, establishit ac- 
 cording to his word.f 
 
 * An old manuscript hath, "as maist necessar servandis for l;ig 
 purpose." 
 
 f An old manuscript hath, "be his word." 
 
XXIV BECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. 
 
 12. Therefore all the ambitious titles inventit in tha 
 kingdome dP antichrist, and in his usurpit hierarchic, 
 quhilkis ar not of ane of these foure sorts, togither with 
 the offices depending thereupon, in ane word aucht all 
 utterlie to be rejectit. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 How the Persones that heir ^cclesiasticall Functiones 
 ar admitted to thair Office. 
 
 1. Vocation or calling is common to all that sould 
 beir office within the kirk, quhilk is a lawfuU way, bo 
 the quhilk qualifiet persones ar promotit to any spiri- 
 tual office within the kirk of God. 
 
 2. Without this lawful calling it was never leisum to 
 any person to medle with any function ecclesiasticall. 
 
 3. There are twa sorts of calling, ane extraordinar be 
 God himself immediatelie, as war of the prophetis and 
 apostiles, quhilk in kirks establishit and well already 
 reformit lies no place. 
 
 4. The uther calling is ordinar, quhilk besydes the 
 calling of God, and inward testimonie of a gude con- 
 science, hes the lawfull approbation and outward judge- 
 ment of men, according to Godis word, and order esta- 
 blishit in his kirk. 
 
 5. Nane aucht to presume to enter in any office 
 ecclesiasticall without he have this testimony of a good 
 conscience before God, who only knaws the hartis of 
 men. 
 
 6. This ordinar and outward calling hes twa parts, 
 election and ordination. 
 
 7. Election is the chusing out of a person or persons 
 maist abile to the office that vaikes, be the judgement 
 of the eldership and consent of the congregation, to 
 whom the person or persons beis appointed. 
 
 8. The qualities in gencrall requisite in all them Avha 
 Bould beir charge in the kirk, consist in soundness of 
 religion, and godlincs of lyfe, according as they ar suffi- 
 ciently set furth in the word. 
 
SECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. XXV 
 
 9. In this ordinar election* it is to be eschewit, that 
 na person be intrusit in ony of the offices of the kirk, 
 contrar to the will of the congregation to whom they ar 
 appointed, or without the voce of the elderschip. 
 
 10. Nane aucht to be intrusit, or placeitf in the 
 places alreadie plantit, or in any roume that vaikes not, 
 for any warldlie respect : and that quhilk is callit the 
 benefice aucht to be nothing else, but the stipend of the 
 ministers that ar lawfullie callit. | 
 
 11. Ordinatione is the separatione and sanctifying of 
 the persone appointit to God and his kirk5§ eftir he be 
 Weill tryit and fund qualifiet. 
 
 12. The ceremonies of ordinatione are fasting, earnest 
 prayer, and imposition of hands of the elderschip. 
 
 13. All thir, as they must be raisit up be God, and 
 be him made able for the wark quhairto they ar callit ; 
 so aucht they knaw their message to be limitit within 
 God's word, without the quhilk bounds they aucht not 
 to passe. 
 
 14. All thir sould tak these titils and names onlie 
 (leist they be exaltit and puft up in themselfis) quhilk 
 the Scriptures gevis unto them, as these quhilks import 
 labour, travell and wark ; and ar names of offices, and 
 service, and not of idleness, dignitie, warldlie honour or 
 preheminence,|| quhilk be Christ our Maister is expres- 
 lie reprovit and forbidden. 
 
 15. All these office-beararis sould have their awin 
 particular flockis amongst whom they exercise their 
 charge, 
 
 16. And sould mak residence with them, and tak the 
 
 * An old manuscript and some printed copies have, "in the order 
 o election." 
 
 ■f An old manuscript hath, "or enterit in the places;" the copie 
 ■which is in Spottiswood's History, "or placed in the ministry in 
 places." 
 
 J An old manuscript hath, " callit and electit." 
 
 I An old manuscript hath, "be God and his kirk." Spottiswood 
 hath, "by," &c. 
 
 II Some copies have, "honour or warldlie preferment," 
 
 1.3* 
 
XXVI SECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. 
 
 inspection and oversicht of them, every ane in his voca- 
 tion. 
 
 17. And generallie thir twa things aucht they all to 
 respect, the glorie of God, and edifieing of his kirk, in 
 discharging their dewties in their callings. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Of the Office-heararis in particular^ and first of the 
 JPastoris or Ministeris. 
 
 1. Pastors, bischops, or ministers, ar they wha are 
 appointit to particular congregationes, quhilk they rewll 
 be the word of God, and over the quhilk they watch. 
 In respect whairof, sumetyme they ar callit pastors, be- 
 caus they feid their congregation ; sumetyme episcojji, 
 or bischops, because they watch over their flock ; sume- 
 tymes ministers be reason of their service and office ; 
 and sumetymes also presbyters or seniors, for the gra- 
 vity in manners, quhilk they aucht to have in taking 
 cure of the spiritual! government, quhilk aucht to be 
 most deir unto them. 
 
 2. They that are callit unto the ministrie, or that 
 offer themselfis thereunto, aucht not to be electit with- 
 out ane certain flock be assignit unto them. 
 
 3. Na man aucht to ingyre himselfe, or usurpe this 
 office without lawfull calling. 
 
 4. They that ar anis callit be God, and dewlie electit 
 be man, eftir that they have anis acceptit the charge of 
 the ministrie, may not leive their functions : the desert' 
 ours sould be adraonishit, and in case of obstinacie final- 
 lie excommunicate. 
 
 5. Na pastor may leive his flock, without licence* of 
 the provinciall or nationall Assemblie, quhilk gif he do 
 eftir admonition not obeyit, let the censures of the kirk 
 stryke upon him. 
 
 6. Unto the pastors appertcinis teaching bf the word 
 of God, in season and out of season, publio ^je and pri- 
 
 * An old manuscript hath, "advyce." 
 
SECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. XXVll 
 
 vatelle, alwayes travelling to edifie and discharge his 
 conscience, as God's word prescryves to him. 
 
 7. Unto the pastors onlie apperteins the administra- 
 tion of the sacramentis, in lyke manner as the adminis- 
 tration of the word : for baith ar appointit be God as 
 meanes to teach us, the ane be the ear, and the uther be 
 the eyes and uther senses, that be baith knawledge may 
 be transferrit to the mynde. 
 
 8. It apperteinis be the same reason to the pastors to 
 pray for the people, and namely for the flock committed 
 to his charge, and to blesse them in the name of the 
 Lord, who will not suffer the blessings of his faithful! 
 servants to be frustrat. 
 
 9. He aucht also to watch over the manners of his 
 flock, that the better he may apply the doctrine to them 
 in reprehending the dissolute persons, and exhorting the 
 godlie to continue in the feir of the Lord. 
 
 10. It apperteines to the minister eftir lawfull pro- 
 ceiding* be the elderschip, to pronunce the sentence 
 of binding and lowsing upon any person, according unto 
 the power of the keyes grantit unto the kirk. 
 
 11. It belongs to him lykewyse, eftir lawfull proceid- 
 ing in the matter be the elderschip, to solemnizatef 
 mariage betwixt them that ar to bej joynit therein; and 
 to pronounce the blessing of the Lord upon them that 
 enter in that holie band in the feir of God. 
 
 12. And generallie all publick denunciations that ar 
 to be made in the kirk before the congregation, con- 
 cerning the ecclesiasticall affaires, belong to the office 
 of a minister ; for he is as a messenger and herauld 
 betwix God and the people in all these affairs. 
 
 * An old manuscript hath, '*it apperteinis to the minister be Islyi 
 full preconcluding with the eldership," &c. 
 
 f "The contract of," in Book of the Universal Kirk, 
 j "To be" is omitted in Book of the Universal Kirk. 
 
XXVIU SECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Of Doctors and tliair Office^ and of the SchooUs. 
 
 1. Ane of the twa ordinar and perpetuall functions 
 that travell in the word, is the office of the Doctor, quha 
 also may be callit Prophet, Bischop, Elder, Catechizar, 
 that is, teicher of the Catechisme, and rudiments of 
 religione. 
 
 2. His office is to open up the mynde of the Spirit 
 of God in the Scriptures simplie, without sic applica- 
 tions as the ministers usis, to the end that the faithful! 
 may be instructit, and sound doctrine teichit, and that 
 the purity of the Gospell be not corruptit throw igno- 
 rance or evill opinions. 
 
 3. He is different from the pastor not onely in name, 
 but in diversity of gifts. For to the Doctor is gine the 
 word of knawledge, to open up be simple teiching the 
 mysteries of faith ; to the Pastor the gift of wisedome, 
 to apply the same be exhortation to the manners of the 
 flock, as occasion craveth. 
 
 4. Under the name and office of a Doctor, we com- 
 prehend also the order in schooles, colledges and uni- 
 versities, quhilk hes bene from tyme to tyme carefullie 
 maintainit als weill amang the Jewes and Christians as 
 amangs the prophane nations. 
 
 5. The Doctor being an elder, as said is, sould assist 
 the pastor in the government of the kirk, and concurre 
 with the elders his brethren in all assemblies ; be reason 
 the interpretation of the word, quhilk is onlie judge in 
 ecclesiasticall matters, is committit to his charge. 
 
 6. Bot to preich unto the people, to minister the sa- 
 craments, and to celebrate mariages, perteines not to the 
 Doctor, unlesse he be utherwyse callit ordinarly ; how- 
 beit the pastor may teich in the schoolis, as he wha hes 
 also the gift of knawledge oftentimes meit therefore, as 
 the examples of Polycarpus and uthers testifie. 
 
SECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. XXlX 
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 Of Elder Sy and their Office, 
 
 1. The word Eldar in the Scripture sumetjme is the 
 name of age, sumetyme of office. 
 
 2. When it is the name of ane office, smnetyme it is 
 taken largely, comprehending als weill the Pastors and 
 Doctors, as them who ar callit seniors or elders. 
 
 3. In this our division, we call these elders, whom the 
 Apostles call Presidents or governours. 
 
 4. Their office as it is ordinar, so is it perpetuall, and 
 alwayes necessar in the kirk of God. 
 
 5. The elderschip is a spirituall function, as is the 
 ministrie. 
 
 6. Eldaris anis lawfully callit to the office, and having 
 gifts of God meit to exercise the same, may not leive it 
 again. 
 
 7. Albeit sic a number of eldars may be chosen in 
 certane congregations, that aine pairt of them may re- 
 liefe anuther for a reasonable space, as was among the 
 Levites under the law in serving of the temple. 
 
 8. The number of the eldars in every congregation 
 cannot weill be limitit, but sould be according to the 
 bounds and necessitie of the people. 
 
 9. It is not necessar that all elders be also teichars 
 of the word, albeit the chief audit to be sic,* and swa 
 ar worthie of double honour. 
 
 10. Yfhat manner of persons they aucht to be, we 
 referre it to the expresse word of God, and namely the 
 Canons written be the Apostle Paul. 
 
 11. Their office is als weill severallie as conjunctlie, 
 to watch diligently upon the flock committit to their 
 charge, baith publickly and privately, that na corrup- 
 tion of religion or manners enter therein. 
 
 12. As the Pastors and Doctors sould be diligent in 
 
 * The copie in Spottiswood's History and several manuscripts have, 
 "albeit chiefly they aucht to be sic." 
 
XXX SECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. 
 
 teiching and sawing the seid of the word, so the elders 
 sould be cairfull in seiking the fruit of the same in the 
 people. 
 
 13. It appcrteincs to them to assist the pastor in exa- 
 mination of them that cumis to the Lord's table: Item, 
 in visiting the sick. 
 
 14. Thej sould cause the actes of the Assemblies, als 
 Weill particular as generall, to be put in execution caire- 
 fullie.* 
 
 15. They sould be diligent in admonishing all men 
 of their dewtie according to the rewl of the Evangell. 
 
 16. Things that they cannot correct be privat ad- 
 monitions, they sould bring to the assemblie of the 
 elderschip. 
 
 17. Their principall office is to hald assemblies with 
 the pastors and doctors who ar also of thair number, for 
 establishing of gude ordor, and execution of discipline. 
 Unto the quhilks assemblies all persones ar subject that 
 remain within thair bounds. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Of the Eldarschips, and Assemblies, and Discipline. 
 
 1. Elderschips and assemblies are commonlie con- 
 stitute of Pastors, Doctors, and sic as we commonlie 
 call Elders, that labour not in the word and doctrine, 
 of quhom, and of whais severall power hes bene 
 spokin. 
 
 2. Assemblies ar of four sortis. For aither ar they 
 of particular kirks and congregations ane or m.a, or of 
 a province, or of ane haill nation, or of all and divers 
 nations professing one Jesus Christ. 
 
 3. All the ecclesiasticall assemblies have power to 
 convene lawfully togidder for treating of things con- 
 cerning the kirk, and perteining to thair charge. 
 
 4. They have power to appoynt tymes and places to 
 
 * An old manuscript hath, **als weill particular, as provincial or 
 generall." 
 
SECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. XXXI 
 
 tliat effect ; and at ane meiting to appojnt the dyet, 
 time and place for anuther. 
 
 5. In all assemblies ane moderator sould be chosen 
 be common consent of the haill brethren convenit, who 
 sould propone matters, gather the votes, and cause gude 
 ordor to be keipit in the assemblies. 
 
 6. Diligence sould be taken, chiefly be the moderator, 
 that onlie ecclesiasticall things be handlit in the assem- 
 blies, and that there be na medling with ony thing p^!"- 
 teining to the civill jurisdiction. 
 
 7. Every assembly hes power to send furth from them 
 of their awin number, ane or moe visitours, to sie how all 
 things beis rewlit in the bounds of thair jurisdiction. 
 
 8. Visitation of mae kirks is na ordinar office eccle- 
 siastick in the person of ane man, naither may the name 
 of a Bischop be attribute to the visitor onlie, naither 
 is it necessar to abyde alwayes in ane man's person, but 
 it is the part of the elderschip to send out qualifeit per- 
 sons to visit pro re nata. 
 
 9. The finall end of all assemblies is first to keip the 
 religion and doctrine in pnritie, without error and cor- 
 ruption. Next, to keip cumelines and gude ordor in 
 the kirk. 
 
 10. For this orders cause, they may make certane 
 rew^ls and constitutions apperteining to the gude beha- 
 viour of all the members of the kirk in thair vocation. 
 
 11. They have power also to abrogate and abolish all 
 statutes and ordinances concerning ecclesiasticall mat- 
 ters that are found noysome and unprofitable, and agrie 
 not with the tyme, or ar abusit be the people. 
 
 12. They have power to execute ecclesiastical disci- 
 pline and punishment upon all transgressors, and proud 
 contemners of the gude order and policie of the kirk, 
 and swa the haill discipline is in thair hands. 
 
 13. The first kynde and sort of assemblies, although 
 they be within particular congregations, yet they exerce 
 the power, authoritie, and jurisdiction of the kirk with 
 mutuall consent, and therefore beir sum tyme the name 
 of the kirk. 
 
XXxii SECOND 'BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. 
 
 14. When we speik of the elders of the particular 
 congregations, we mein not that every particular parish 
 kirk can, or may have their awin particular elderschips, 
 specially to landwart, bot we think thrie or four, mae or 
 fewar particular kirks, may have ane common elderschip 
 to them all, to judge thair ecclesiasticall causes. 
 
 15. Albeit this is meit that some of the elders be 
 chosen out of every particular congregation, to concurre 
 wiTh the rest of their brethren in the common assemblie, 
 and to take up the delations of offences within their awin 
 kirks, and bring them to the Assemblie. 
 
 16. This we gather of the practise of the primitive 
 kirk, where elders or colleges of seniors were constitute 
 in cities and famous places. 
 
 17. The power of thir particular elderschips, is to 
 use diligent labours in the boundis committit to thair 
 charge, that the kirks be kepit in gude order, to inquire 
 diligently of nauchtie and unruly persons, and to tra- 
 vell to bring them in the way againe, aither be admoni- 
 tion or threatening of God's judgements, or be correc- 
 tion. 
 
 18. It pertaines to the elderschip to take held, that 
 the word of God be purely preichit within their bounds, 
 the sacraments rightly ministrat, the discipline rightly 
 mantenit, and the ecclesiasticall gudes uncorruplie'dis- 
 tributit. 
 
 19. It belangs to this kynde of assembly, to cause 
 the ordinances made be the assemblies provinciall, na- 
 tionall, and generall, to be keipit, and put in execution. 
 
 20. To mak constitutions quhilk concerne rb 7rpi-ov 
 in the kirk, for the decent order of these particular 
 kirks* where they governe : Provyding they alter no 
 rewls made by the general or provinciall assemblies, 
 and that they mak the provinciall assemblies foresein 
 of these rewls that they sal mak, and abolish them that 
 tend to the hurt of the same. 
 
 21. It hes power to excommunicat the obstinat. 
 
 * An old manuscript hath, ''Paroch kirks." 
 
SECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. XXxiii 
 
 22. The power of election of them who heir ecclesl- 
 asticall charges, perteines to this kynde of assemblie, 
 within thair awin bounds, being well erectit, and con- 
 stitute of many pastors and elders of sufficient abilitie. 
 
 23. Be elderschip is meant sic as are constitute of 
 Pastouris, Doctouris, and sic as now ar callit Eldaris. 
 
 24. By the like reason their deposition also perteins to 
 this kynde of assemblie, as of them that teich erronious 
 and corrupt doctrine ; that be of sclanderous lyfe,' and 
 eftir admonition desist not ; that be gine to schisme or 
 rebellion against the kirke, manifest blasphemie, simonie, 
 corruption of brybes, falsett, perjurie, whoredome, thift, 
 drunkennes, feghting worthy of punishment be the law, 
 usurie, dancing, infamie, and all uthers that deserve se- 
 paration fra the kirk. 
 
 25. These alsowho are fund altogither unsufficient to 
 execute their charge sould be deposit. Quhairof uther 
 kirks wald be advertisit, that they receive not the per- 
 sons deposit. 
 
 ^ 26. Yet they aucht not to be deposit, wha throw age, 
 sicknes, or uther accidents, become unmeit to do thair 
 office ; in the quhilk case their honour sould remain to 
 them, their kirk sould mantein them ; and uthers aucht 
 to be provedit to do thair office. 
 
 27. Provinciall assemblies we call lawful conventions 
 of the pastors, doctors, and uther eldaris of a province, 
 gatherit for the common affaires of the kirkes thereof, 
 quhilk also may be callit the conference of the kirk and 
 brethren. 
 
 28. Thir assemblies are institute for weighty mat- 
 ters, necessar to be intreatit be mutuall consent and 
 assistance of the brethren within that province, as neid 
 requyres. 
 
 29. This assemblie hes power to handle, order, and 
 redresse all things ommittit or done amisse in the par- 
 ticular assemblies. 
 
 30. It hes power to depose the office-beirers of that 
 province for gude and just causes deserving deprivation. 
 
 31. And generallie thir assemblies have the haill 
 
 u 
 
XXXIV SECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. 
 
 power of the particular elderschips whairof tliej ar col- 
 lectit. 
 
 32. The nationall assemblie quhilk is general! to us, 
 is a lawfull convention of the haill kirks of the realm, 
 or nation, where it is usit and gatherit for the common 
 affaires of the kirk ; and may be callit the generall 
 eldership of the haill kirk within the realme. 
 
 33. Nane ar subject to repaire to this assemblie to 
 vote bot ecclesiasticall persons to sic a number as shall 
 be thocht gude be the same assemblie : Not excluding 
 uther persons that will repaire to the said assemblie to 
 propone, heir and reason. 
 
 34. This assemblie is institute, that all things aither 
 omittit, or done amisse in the provinciall assemblies, 
 may be redressit and handlit : And things generally 
 serving for the weill of the haill bodie of the kirk 
 within the realme may be foirsein, intreatit, and set 
 furth to Godis glorie. 
 
 35. It sould tak cair, that kirks be plantit in places 
 quhair they are not plantit. 
 
 36. It sould prescryve the rewll how the uther twa 
 kynds of assemblies sould proceid in all things. 
 
 37. This assemblie sould tak heid, that the spirituall 
 jurisdiction and civill be not confoundit to the hurt of 
 the kirk. 
 
 38. That the patrimonie of the kirk be not consumit* 
 nor abusit. 
 
 39. And generallie concerning all weighty affaires 
 that concerne the weill and gude order of the haill 
 kirks of the realm, it aucht to interpone authoritie 
 thairto. 
 
 40. There is besydes these, an uther mair generall 
 kynde of assemblie, quhilk is of all nations and estaits 
 of persons within the kirk, representing the universall 
 kirk of Christ : Quhilk may be callit properlie the 
 Generall Assemblie or Generall Oouncell of the haill 
 kirk of God. 
 
 * An old manuscript hath, <* diminishit or *»busit." 
 
SECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. XXXV 
 
 41. These assemblies were appoyntit and callit to- 
 gether, specially when ony great schisme or contra- 
 versie in doctrine did aryse in the kirk, and were con- 
 vocat at command of godlie emperours being for the 
 tyme, for avoiding of schismes within the universal kirk 
 of God : Quhilk because they apperteine not to the 
 particular estait of ane realme, we ceis further to speik 
 of them. 
 
 CHAPTER YIII. 
 
 Of the Deaconis ayid tliair Office, tlie last ordi7iar 
 Function in the Kirk. 
 
 1. The word dcdmvoQ sumtymes is largely takin, com- 
 prehending all them that beir office in the ministrie and 
 spirituall function in the kirk. 
 
 2. Bot now, as we speik, it is taken only for them, 
 unto whom the collection and distribution of the almes 
 of the faithfuU and ecclesiasticall gudes does belang. 
 
 3. The office of the deacons sa takin, is an ordinar 
 and perpetuall ecclesiasticall function in the kirk of 
 Christ. 
 
 4. Of what properties and dewties he oucht to be 
 that is callit to this function, we remit it to the mani- 
 fest Scriptures. 
 
 5. The deacon aucht to be callit and electit as the 
 rest of the spirituall officers, of the quilk election was 
 spoken befoir. 
 
 6. Thair office and power is to receave, and to distri- 
 bute the haill ecclesiasticall gudes unto them to whom 
 they ar appoyntit. 
 
 7. This they aucht to do according to the judgement, 
 and appoyntment of the Presbyteries or elderschips, (of 
 the quhilk the deacons ar not) that the patrimonie ot 
 the kirk and puir be not convertit to privat mens usis, 
 nor wrangfuUie distributit. 
 
XXXvi SECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Of the Patrimonie of the Kirh, and Distribution 
 
 thairof, 
 
 1. Be the patrimonie of the kirk we mein whatsura- 
 ever thing hath bene at ony tyme before, or shall be in 
 tymes coming gevin ; or be consent or universall cus- 
 toms of countries professing the Christian religion, ap- 
 plyit to the publique use and utilitie of the kirk. 
 
 2. S"vva that under the patrimonie we comprehend all 
 things gevin, or to be gevin to the kirk and service of 
 God, as lands, biggings, possessions, annual-rents, and 
 all sic lyke, wherewith the kirk is dotit, aither be dona- 
 tions, foundations, mortifications, or ony uther lawfull 
 titles, of Kings, Princes, or ony persons inferiour to 
 them ; togither with the continuall oblations of the 
 faithfull. 
 
 3. We comprehend also all sic things as be lawis or 
 custome, or use of countries, hes bene applyit to the 
 use and utilitie of the kirk ; of the quhilk sort ar 
 teinds, manses, gleibs, and sic lyke, quhilks be common 
 and municipall lawis and universall custome ar possessit 
 be the kirk. 
 
 4. To tak ony of this patrimonie be unlawfull meinis, 
 and convert it to the particular and profane use of ony 
 person, we hald it ane detestable sacriledge befoir God. 
 
 5. The gudes ecclesiasticall aucht to be collectit, and 
 dlstributit be the deacons, as the word of God appoynts, 
 that they who beir office in the kirk be providit for with- 
 out cair or solicitude. 
 
 6. In the apostolicall kirk, the deacons wer appoj^ntit 
 to collect and distribute quhatsumevir was collectit of 
 the faithfull to distribute unto the necessitie of the 
 saincts ; sa that nane lackit amang the faithfull. 
 
 7. These collections war not onlic of that quhilk was 
 collectit in manner of almes, as sume suppose ; but of 
 uther gudes, moveable and unmoveable, of lands and 
 
SECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. XXXVU 
 
 possessions, the price quhairof was brocht to tlie feit of 
 the Apostles. 
 
 8. This office continuit in the deacons hands, quha 
 intromettit with the haill gudes of the kirk, ay and 
 whil the estate therof was corruptit be Antichrist, as 
 the ancient canons beir witnes. 
 
 9. The same canons mak mention of ane fourfald 
 distribution of the patrimonie of the kirk, quhairof ane 
 part was applyit to the pastor or bischop for his sus- 
 tentation and hospitalitie ; anuther to the elders and 
 deacons, and all the clergie ; the third to the puir, 
 sick persons and strangers ; the fourth to the uphald and 
 uther affaires of the kirk, speciallie extraordinar ; We 
 adde hereunto the schules and schuile-maisters also, 
 quhilk audit and may be weill susteinit of the same 
 gudes, and ar comprehended under the clergie. To 
 wham we joyn also clerks of assemblies als weill par- 
 ticular as generall ; syndicks or procutors of the kirk 
 affaires, takers up of psalmes, and sic lyke uther ordi* 
 nar officers of the kirk, sa far as they ar necessar. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Of the Office of a Christian Magistrat in the Kirlc. 
 
 1. Altho«gh all the members of the kirk be halden 
 every ane in their vocation, and according therto to 
 advance the kingdom of Jesus Christ sa far as lyis in 
 their power ; yit chiefly Christian Princes, and uther 
 magistrates, ar halden to do the same. 
 
 2. For they ar callit in the Scripture nourishers of 
 the kirk, for sameikle as be them it is, or at least aucht 
 to be manteinit, fosterit, uphalden, and defendit agains 
 all that wald procure the hurt thereof. 
 
 3. Sua it perteinis to the office of a Christian magis- 
 trat to assist and fortifie the godly proceidings of the 
 kirk in all behalfes ; and namely to sie that the publique 
 estait and ministrie thereof be manteinit and susteinit 
 as it apperteins, according to Godis word. 
 
 4. To sie that the kirk be not invadit nor hurt be 
 
 14* 
 
XXXVlll SECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. 
 
 false teicliers and hyrelings, nor the rowmes therof he 
 occupyit be dumb dogs, or idle bellies. 
 
 5. To assist and manteine the discipline of the kirk ; 
 and punish them civilly, that will not obey the censure 
 of the same, without confounding alwayis the ane juris- 
 diction with the uther. 
 
 6. To sie that sufficient provision be made for the mi- 
 nistrie, the schules, and the puir : And if they have not 
 sufficient to awaite upon their charges, to supplie their 
 indigence even with their awin rents, if neid require. 
 To hald hand als weill to the saving of their persons 
 from injurie and opin violence ; as to their rents and 
 possessions, that they be not defraudit, robbit, nor 
 spuilziet thereof. 
 
 7. Not to suffer the patrimony of the kirk to be ap- 
 plyit to profane and unlawful uses, or to be devorit be 
 idle bellies, and sic as have na lawfull function in the 
 kirk, to the hurt of the ministry, schules, puire, and other 
 godly uses, quhairupon the same aucht to be bestowit. 
 
 8. To mak lawis and constitutions agreeable to God's 
 word, for advancement of the kirk, and policie therof; 
 without usurping ony thing that perteins not to the civil 
 sword, bot belungs to the offices that ar meirlie ecclesi- 
 asticall, as is the ministrie of the word and sacramentis, 
 using of ecclesiasticall discipline, and the apirituall ex- 
 ecution thereof, or ony part of the power of the spiri- 
 tuall keyis, quhilks our Maister gave to the Apostles, 
 and their trew successours. 
 
 9. And although Kings and Princes that be godlie, 
 sumtymes be their awin authority, whan the kirk is cor- 
 ruptit, and all things out of ordor, place ministers, and 
 restore the trew service of the Lord, efter the examples 
 of sum godly kings of Juda, and divers godly Empe^ 
 rours and Kings also in the licht of the New Testament ' 
 Yit quliair the ministrie of the kirk is anes lawfullie 
 constitute, and they that are placeit do thair office faith- 
 fuUie, all godlie princes and magistratis aucht to heir 
 and obey thair voice, and reverence the majestie of the 
 fcJon of Uod speiking be them. 
 
SECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. XXxix 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Of the present Abuses remaining in tlie Kirh, quldllcs 
 we desyre to he Reformit. 
 
 1. As it is the dewtie of the godlie magistrat to man- 
 tern the present libertie quhilk God of his mercie hes 
 grantit to the preaching of his word, and the trew ad- 
 ministration of the sacraments within this realme : sa is 
 it to provjde, that all abuses quhilks as jit remaine in 
 the kirk, be removit and utterly takin awaj. 
 
 ^ 2. Thairfoir first the admission of men to Papisticall 
 titles of benefices, sic as serve not, nor have na function 
 in the reformit kirk of Christ, as abbottis, commenda- 
 toris,_ prioris, prioressis, and uther titles of abbyis, 
 quhais places are now for the maist part be the just 
 judgement of God demolishit and purgit of idolatrie, is 
 plamlie abusion, and is not to receive the kingdom'of 
 Christ amangs us, bot rather to refuse it. 
 
 3. Of the lyke nature ar the deanes, archdeanes, chan- 
 ters, subchantors, thesaurers, chancellars, and uthers 
 having the lyke titles flowing from the Pape and canon 
 law onlie, wha heve na place in the reformit kirk. 
 
 ^ 4. Siclyke that they that of auld wer callit the cha- 
 piters and convents of abbayis, cathedrall kirks, and 
 the lyke places, serve for nathing now, bot to set fewes 
 and tacks, if ony thing be left of the kirklands and 
 temds, in hurt and prejudice thairof, as daily experience 
 teiches, and thairfoir aucht to be utterly abrogat and 
 abolishit. 
 
 5. The kirks also quhilks ar unitit together, and joy- 
 nit be annexation to thair benefices, aucht to be separa- 
 tit and dividit, and gine to qualifiet ministers, as God's 
 word craves. 
 
 6. Neither aucht sic abusers of the kirk's patrimony 
 to have vote in Parliament, nor sit in councell under the 
 name of the kirk and kirk-men, to the hurt and preju- 
 dice of the libertie thairof, and lawes of the realm made 
 in favouris of the reformit kirk. 
 
Xl SECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. 
 
 7. Melkle less is it lawfull, that ony person amang 
 these men sould have fyve, sax, ten or twenty kirks, or 
 mae, all having the charge of saules:* and bruik the 
 patrimonie thairof, either be admission of the prince, or 
 of the kirk, in this licht of the Evangell ; for it is but 
 mockage to crave reformation where sic lyke hes place. 
 
 8. fAnd albeit it was thocht gude, for avoyding of 
 greater inconvenientis, that the auld possessors of sic 
 benefices quha had imbracit the trew religion, suld injoy 
 be permission the twa pairt of the rentis quhilks they 
 possesst of befoir induring thair lyfetyme : Yit it is not 
 tolerabil to continew in the lyke abiise, to geve thaise 
 places and uthers benefices of new to als unmeit men or 
 rather unmeitar, quha ar not myndit to serve in the 
 kirk, hot leif an idle lyfe as uthers did quha bruikit 
 them in the tyme of blindnes. 
 
 9. And in sa farr as in the order takin at Lcith in 
 the zeir of our Lord 1571, it appeires that sic may be 
 admittit, being found qualifiet ; either that pretendit 
 order is agains all gude order, or else it must be under- 
 stood not of them that be qualifiet in worldly aff"aires 
 or to serve in court ; bot of sic as are qualifiet to teich 
 Godis word, having their lawfull admission of the kirk. 
 
 10. As to Bischops, if the name sTTioxo-o^ be properly 
 takin, they ar all ane with the ministers, as befoir was 
 declairit. For it is not a name of superioritie and lord- 
 schip, bot of ofiice and watching. 
 
 11. Yit because in the corruption of the kirk, this 
 name (as uthers) hes bene abusit, and yit is lykelie to 
 be ; we cannot allow the fashion of thir new chosin 
 
 ^ The copy in CaUlerwood's History, that printed anno 1621 in 4to, 
 and that piiuteil in 8vo, anno 1G82, have, "all craving the charge of 
 Bouls." An old manuscript hath, "and have the charge of tliair 
 Baules," The copy in Spottiswood's History hath, "all having the 
 cure of soules." 
 
 f This paragraph is not in the copy which is in Calderwood's His- 
 tory ; neither is it in the copy printed in 4to, anno 1G21, nor in that 
 printed in 8vo, anno 1682. But it is in the Church registers and other 
 manuscripts, and in Spottiswood's History. 
 
SECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. xli 
 
 bischops, neither of the chapiters that ar electors of 
 them to sic offices as thej ar chosen to. 
 
 12. Trew bischops souhl addict themselves to ane 
 particular flock, quhilk sindry of them refuses, neither 
 sould they usurpe lordship over their brethren and over 
 the inheritance of Christ, as these men doe. 
 
 13. Pastors, in sa far as tliey ar pastors, have not the 
 office of visitation of mae kirks joynit to the pastorship, 
 "without it be irine them. 
 
 14. It is a corruption, that bischops sould have farder 
 boundis to visit, nor they may lawfuUie.* 
 
 15. Na man aucht to have the office of visitation, bot 
 he that is lawfully chosin be the Presbytrie thereunto. 
 
 16. The elderschips being well establishit, have power 
 to send out visitors ane or mae, with commision to visit 
 the bounds within thair elderschip : And siclyke eftir 
 compt takin of them, either continew them, or remove 
 them from tyme to tyme, to the quhilks elderschips they 
 shall be alwayes subject. 
 
 17. The criminall jurisdiction joint inf the person of 
 a pastor, is a corruption. 
 
 18. It agries not with the word of God that bischops 
 sould be pastors of pastors, pastors of monie flocks ; 
 and yit without ane certaine flock, and without ordinar 
 teiching. 
 
 19. It agries not with the Scriptures, that they sould 
 be exemit fra the correction of their brethren, and dis- 
 cipline of the particular elderschip of the kirk, where 
 they shall serve ; neither that they usurpe the office of 
 visitation of uther kirks, nor ony uther function besyde 
 uther ministers, bot sa far as sail be committit to them 
 be the kirk. 
 
 20. Heirfoir we desyre the bischops that now ar, 
 either to agrie to that order that God's word requyres 
 
 * The copy in Spottiswood's History hath, "than they may conve- 
 niently overtake." 
 
 I The copy printed in 8vo, anno 1682, which is said to have beea 
 printed from the Presbytery Book of Haddiugtoun, hath, " civil juris- 
 diction." 
 
Xlii SECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. 
 
 in them, as the generall kirk will prescryve unto them 
 not passing that bounds either in ecclesiasticall or civill 
 affaires, or else to be deposit fra all function in the 
 kirk, 
 
 21. AVe deny not in the mein tyme, bot ministers may 
 and sould assist their Princes when they are requyrit, in 
 all things agreiable to the word, quhither it be in Coun- 
 cell or Parliament, or utherwayis, provyding alwayis they 
 neither neglect their awin charge, nor throw flatterie of 
 Princes, hurt the publick estait of the kirk. 
 
 22. Bot generallie, we say no person, under what- 
 sumever title of the kirk, and specially the abusit titles 
 in Papistrie, of Prelates, Convents, and Chapters, aucht 
 to attempt ony act in the kirks name, either in Councell 
 or Parliament, or out of Councell, having na commission 
 of the reformit kirk within this realme. 
 
 23. And be act of Parliament it is providit, that the 
 Papisticall kirk and jurisdiction sould have na place 
 within the same, and na bischop nor uther prelate in 
 tymes cuming sould use ony jurisdiction flowing from 
 his authoritie. 
 
 24. And again, that na uther ecclesiasticall jurisdic- 
 tion sould be acknawledged within this realm, bot that 
 quhilk is, and shall be in the reformit kirk, and flowing 
 therefra. 
 
 25. Sa we esteim balding of chapiters in Papisticall 
 manner, aither in cathedrall kirks, abbayis, colledges, 
 or uther conventuall places, usurping the name and 
 authoritie of the kirk, to hurt the patrimonie thairof, or 
 use ony uther act to the prejudice of the same, sen the 
 zeir of our Lord 1560, to be abusion and corruption, 
 contrar to the libertie of the trew kirk and lawis of the 
 realme, and thairfoir aucht to be annuUit, reducit, and 
 in all tyme cuming all utterlie dischargit. 
 
 26. The dependances also of the Papisticall jurisdic- 
 tion ar to be abolishit, of the quhilk sort is the minglit 
 jurisdiction of the commissars, in sa far as they meddle 
 with ecclesiasticall matters, and have na commission of 
 the kirk thairto, but wer erectit in tyme of our Sove- 
 
SECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. xliii 
 
 ralgnis mother, whan things wer out of order. It is an 
 absurd thing that sindry of them, having na function of 
 the kirk, sould be judgis to ministers, and depose them 
 from their roumis. Thairfoir they either wald be dis- 
 chargit to medle with ecclesiasticall matters, or it wald 
 be limitit to them in quhat matters they might be 
 judges, and not hurt the libertie of the kirk. 
 
 27. They also that befoir wer of the ecclesiasticall 
 estait in the Papis kirk, or that ar admittit of new to 
 the Papisticall titles, and now ar tollerat be the lawes 
 of the realme to possess the twa pairt of thair ecclesi- 
 asticall rents, audit not to have ony farther libertie bot 
 to intromet with the portion assignit and grantit to 
 them for thair lyfetimes : And not, under the abusit 
 titles quhiiks they had, to dispone the kirk rentis, set 
 tackes and fewes thairof at thair pleisure, to the grit 
 hurt of the kirk, and puir lawbourers that dwell upon 
 the kirk-lands, contrar to all good conscience and order. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Certain speciall Heids of Reformation quTiilk we crave, 
 
 1. Quhatsumever hes bene spokin of the offices of the 
 kirk, the severall power of the office-beirars, their con- 
 junct power also, and last of the patrimonie of the kirk; 
 we understand it to be the right reformation, which God 
 craves at our hands, that the kirk be orderit according 
 thairto, as with that order quhilk is most agreeable to 
 the word. 
 
 2. Bot because sumthing wald be touched in parti- 
 cular, concerning the estait of the countrey, and that 
 quhilk we principally seik to be reformit in the same, 
 we have collectit them in thir heids following. 
 
 3. Eirst, Seeing the haill countrey is dividit in pro- 
 vinces, and thir provinces again are dividit in parishes, 
 als Weill in landwart as in townes ; in every parish and 
 reasonable congregation there wald be placit ane or mae 
 pastors to feid the flock, and no pastor or minister al- 
 
Xliv SECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. 
 
 "Wales to be burclenit with tlie particular charge of mae 
 kirks or flockes than ane alanerly. 
 
 4. And because it will be thocht hard to finde out 
 pastors or ministers to all the paroch kirks of the 
 realm, als well in landwart as in townes, we think be 
 the advice of sic, as commission may be gine to be the 
 kirk and prince, parishes in landwart or small villages, 
 may be joyned twa or three or mae, in sum places to- 
 gether, and the principall and maist commodious kirks, 
 to stand, and be repairit sufficiently, and qualifiit minis- 
 ters placit thereat; and the uther kirks, quhilk ar not 
 fund necessar, may be sufferit to decay, their kirk- 
 yards alwaies beand kept for buriall places : And in 
 sume places where neid requyres ane parish, where the 
 congregation is owir great for ane kirk, may be dividit 
 in twa or mae. 
 
 5. Doctors wald be appointit in universities, colledges, 
 and in uther places neidfull, and sufficiently provided 
 for ; to opin up the meining of the Scriptures, and to 
 have the charge of schules, and teich the rudiments of 
 religion. 
 
 6. As for elders, there waldbe sume to be censurers 
 of the manners of the people, ane or mae in every con- 
 gregation ; bot not an assembly of eldars in every j^ar- 
 ticular kirk, bot only in townes and famous places 
 quhere resort of men of judgement and habilitie to that 
 effect may be had, 
 
 7. Quhere the eldars of the particular kirks about 
 may convene together, and have a common eldership 
 and assembly place amang them, to treat of all things 
 that concernes the congregations of which they have 
 the oversicht. 
 
 8. And as there ought to be men appointit to unite 
 and divyde the parishes, as necessity and commodity 
 requyres : Sa wald there be appointit be the generall 
 kirk, with advyce* of the prince, sic men as feir God, 
 and knaw the estait of the countries, that were able to 
 
 * Some copies have, "assent." 
 
SECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. xlv 
 
 nominate and desyne the places, quhere the particu- 
 lar elderships should convene, taking consideration of 
 the diocesses as they were dividit of auld, and of the 
 estait of the countries and provinces of the realme. 
 
 9. Lykewise concerning provinciall and synodall as- 
 semblies, consideration wer easie to be taken, how 
 mony and in quhat places they were to be halden, and 
 how oft they sould convene, audit to be referrit to the 
 libertie of the general kirk, and order to be appo^mtit 
 therein. 
 
 10. The nationall assemblies of this countrey, callit 
 commonlie the Generall Assemblies, audit alwayes to 
 be reteinit in their awin libertie, and have their awin 
 place, with power to the kirk to appoynt tymes and 
 places convenient for the same. 
 
 11. And all men, als weill magistrats as inferiours, to 
 be subject to the judgement of the same in ecclesiasti- 
 call causes, without any reclamation or appellation to 
 ony judge, civill or ecclesiasticall, within the realm. 
 
 12. The libertie of the election of persons callit to 
 the ecclesiasticall functions, and observit without in- 
 terruption swa lang as the kirk was not corruptit be 
 Antichrist, we desyre to be restorit and reteinit within 
 this realm. 
 
 13. Swa that nane be intrusit upon ony congregation, 
 either be the prince or ony inferiour person, without 
 lawfull election and the assent of the people owir quhain 
 the person is placit ; as the practise of the apostolical 
 and primitive kirk and gude order craves. 
 
 14. And because this order, quhilk God's word craves, 
 cannot stand with patronages and presentation to bene- 
 fices usit in the Paipes kirk : We desyre all them that 
 trewlie feir God earnestly to consider, that for swa meikle 
 as the names of patronages and benefices, togither with 
 the effect thairof, have flowit fra the Paip and corruption 
 of the canon law only, in sa far as thereby ony person 
 was intrusit or placit owir kirks having cui^am anima- 
 rum. And for swa meikle as that manner of proceed- 
 ing hcs na ground in the word of God, but is contrar to 
 
 15 
 
Xlvi SECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. 
 
 the same, and to the said libertie of election, they auchfc 
 not now to have place in this licht of reformation. And 
 therefore quhasumever will embrace God's word, and de- 
 syre the kingdome of his Son Christ Jesus to be advan- 
 cit, they will also embrace, and receive that policie and 
 order quhilk the word of God, and upright estait of his 
 kirk craves, otherwise it is in vaine that they have pro- 
 fcst the same. 
 
 Notwithstanding as concerning uther patronages of 
 benefices that have not curam animarum, as they 
 speak : Such as ar chaplanries, prebendaries foundit 
 upon temporall lands, annuals, and sic lyke, may be re- 
 servit unto the ancient patrones, to dispone thairupon, 
 quhan they vaike, to schulis and bursars, as they are 
 requyrit be act of Parliament.* 
 
 15. As for the kirk rents in generall, we desyre that 
 order be admittit and mentainit amangis us, that may 
 stand with the sinceritie of God's word, and practise of 
 the purity of the kirk of Christ. 
 
 16. To wit, that as was before spoken, the haill rent 
 and patrimonie of the kirk, exceptand the small patron- 
 ages before mentionat, may be dividit in four portions : 
 Ane thereof to be assignit to the pastor for his inter- 
 tainment and hospitalitie : An uther to the eldars, dea- 
 cons, and uther officers of the kirk, sic as clerks of as- 
 semblies, takers up of the psalmes, beadels and keipers 
 of the kirk, sa far as is necessar; joyning therewith also 
 the doctors of schules, to help the ancient foundations 
 Yfhere neid requires : The third portion to be bestowit 
 vpon the puir members of the faithfull, and on hospi- 
 tals : The fourth for reparation of the kirks, and uther 
 extraordinar charges as ar profitable for the kirk ; and 
 also for the common weil, if neid requyre. 
 
 17. We desyre therefore the ecclesiasticall gudes to 
 be upliftit, and distributed faithfullie to quham they 
 appertein, and that be the ministerie of the deacons, to 
 
 * Jam. VI. Pari. 1. Cap. 12. Afterward ratified Jam. VI. Pari. 12. 
 Co.D. IGl. 
 
SECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. xlvii 
 
 quhais office properlie the collection and distribution 
 tliereof belangs; that the puir may be answerit of their 
 portion thereof, and they of the ministery live without 
 care and solicitude : As also the rest of the treasurie 
 of the kirk may be reservit, and bestowit to their richt 
 uses. 
 
 18. Gif these deacons be electit with sic qualities as 
 God's word craves to be in them, there is na feir that 
 they sail abuse themselfis in their office, as the prophane 
 collectors did of before. 
 
 19. Yit because this vocation appeires to many to be 
 dangerous, let them be oblishit as they wer of auld to a 
 yeirlie count to the pastors and elderschip ; and gif the 
 kirk and prince think expedient, let cautioners be 
 oblishit for their fidelitie, that the kirk rents on na 
 wayes be dilapidat. 
 
 20. And to the effect this order may tak place, it is 
 to be provydit, that all uthers intromettors with the kirk 
 rent, collectors general or speciall, whether it be by ap- 
 pointment of the prince, or utherwaies, may be denudit 
 of farther intromission therewith ; and suffer the kirk 
 rents in tyme cumming to be haillie intromettit with be 
 the ministrie of the deacons, and distribute to the use 
 before mentionat. 
 
 21. And also to the effect, that the ecclesiasticall 
 rents may suffice to these uses, for the quhilk they ar 
 to be appointit ; we think it necessar to be desyrit, that 
 all alienations, setting of fewes or tacks of the rents of 
 the kirk, als weill lands as teinds, in hurt and diminu- 
 tion of the auld rentals, be reducit and annullit, and 
 the patrimony of the kirk restorit to the former auld 
 libertie. 
 
 22. And lykewise, that in tymes cumming the teinds 
 be set to nane hot to the labourers of the ground, or els 
 not set at all, as was agriet upon, and subscribit be the 
 nobilitie of before.* 
 
 * See Chap. 8, of the First Book of Discipline, which was sub- 
 scribed by many of the nobility. See also the Proceedings of the 
 General Assemblie about the Policie of the Kirk. 
 
Xlviii SECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 The Utilitie that sail flow fra this Reformation to all 
 
 Ustaites. 
 
 1. Seing the end of this spiritnall government and 
 policie, quhairof we speik, is that God may be glorifiet, 
 the kingdom of Jesus Christ advancit, and all who are 
 of his mysticall bodie may live pe'aceable in conscience : 
 Therfore we dar bauldlie affirme, that all these who 
 have trew respect to thir ends, will even for conscience 
 cause gladlie agrie and conforme themselfis to this order, 
 and advance the same, sa far as in them lyes, that their 
 conscience being set at rest, they may be replenishit 
 with spirituall gladnes in giving full obedience to that 
 quhilk Godis word and the testimonie of their awin con- 
 science does crave, and in refusing all corruption contrar 
 to the sam. 
 
 2. Nixt we sail becum an example and paterne of 
 gude and godly order to uther nations, countries, and 
 kirks professing the same religion with us, that as they 
 have glorified God in our continueing in the sinceritie 
 of the word hitherto, without any errours, praise .be to 
 his name : So they may have the lyke occasion in our 
 conversation, when as we conform our selfis to that dis- 
 cipline, pollicie, and gude order, quhilk the same word 
 and purity of reformation craveth at our hands ; uther- 
 wise that fearfull sentence may be justly said to us, 
 " The servant knawing the will of his maister, and not 
 doing it," &c. 
 
 3. Mairover, gif we have any pity or respect to the 
 puir members of Jesus Christ, who so greatly increase 
 and multiplie amanges us, we will not suffer them to be 
 langer defraudit of that part of the patrimonie of the 
 kirk quhilk justly belangs unto them: And by this 
 order, if it be deuly put to execution, the burden of 
 them sail be taken of us to our great confort, the streits 
 sail be cleansed of thair cryings and murmurings ; swa 
 as we sail na mair be an skandall to uther nations as 
 
SECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. xlix 
 
 we have hitherto bene for not taking order with the 
 puir amanges us, and causing the word quhilk we pro- 
 fess to be evill spoken of, giving occasion of sclander to 
 the enemies, and offending the consciences of the sempil 
 and godlj. 
 
 4. Besydes this, it sail be a great ease and commodi- 
 tie to the haiil common people, in relieving them of the 
 beilding and uphalding of thair kirks, in bigging of 
 brigges, and uther Ijke publick warks : It sail be a re- 
 lief to the labourers of the ground in payment of their 
 teinds ; and schortlie in all these things, whereinto they 
 have bene hitherto rigorously handlit be them that were 
 falslie callit kirkemen, their tacksmen, factours, chalmer- 
 lanes, and extortionars. 
 
 5. Finally, to the King's Majestic and common-weill 
 of the countrey, this profite shall redound : That the 
 uther affaires of the kirk beand sufficientlie provydit 
 according to the distribution of the quhilk hes bene 
 spokin ; the superplus beand collectit in the treasurie 
 of the kirk, may be profitablie imployit, and liberallie 
 bestowit upon the extraordinar support of the affaires 
 of the Prince and common-weill, and speciallie of that 
 part quhilk is appoyntit for reparation of kirks. 
 
 6. Sa to conclude, all beand willing to apply them- 
 selfis to this order, the people suffering themselfis to be 
 rewlit according thereto; the Princes and Magistrates 
 not beand exemit, and these that ar placit in the eccle- 
 siasticall estait richtlie rewling and governing, God sail 
 be glorifiet, the kirk edifiet, and the bounds thereof in- 
 largit, Christ Jesus and his kingdome set up, and Satan 
 and his kingdom subvertit, and God sail dwell in the 
 middis of us, to our comfort, through Jesus Christ, who, 
 togither with the Father and the Holy Ghost, abydes 
 blessit in all eternity. Amen. 
 
 ENDIS THE BUIK OF POLICIE. 
 15* 
 
LETTER OF R BAILLIE, 
 
 ONE OP THE COMMISSIONERS FROM THE CHURCH OP 
 SCOTLAND TO THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY, 
 
 DESCRIPTIVE OF 
 
 THAT BODY AND ITS METHOD OF PROCEDURE. 
 
 London, Dec. 7th, 1643. 
 FOR MR. WILLIAM SPANG. 
 
 Since my last, November ITth, there are few news here. 
 From that day to Monday, I think the 20th, we keeped 
 in, providing for caufey-clothes. On Monday morning, 
 we sent to both Houses of Parliament for a warrant for 
 our sitting in the Assemblie. This was readilie granted, 
 and by Mr. Henderson presented to the prolocutor; 
 who sent out three of their number to convey us to the 
 Assemblie. Here no mortal man may enter to see or 
 hear, let be to sitt, without ane order in wryte from both 
 Houses of Parliament. When we were brought in, Dr. 
 Twisse had ane long harangue for our welcome, after so 
 long and hazardous a voyage by sea and land, in so un- 
 seasonable a tyme of the year: when he had ended, we 
 satt down in these places which since we have keeped. 
 The like of that Assemblie I did never see, and, as we 
 hear say, the like was never in England, nor any where 
 is shortlie lyke to be. They did sit in Henry the 7th's 
 Chappell, in the place of the Convocation ; but since 
 the weather grew cold, they did go to Jerusalem Cham- 
 ber, a faire roome in the Abbey of Westminster, about 
 the bounds of the College fore-hall, but wyder. At the 
 one end nearest the doore, and both sydes are stages of 
 1 
 
LETTER OF R. BAILLIE. li 
 
 seats as in the New Assemblle-House at Eillnburgh, but 
 not so high; for there will be roome but for five or six 
 score. At the uppermost end there is a chair set on ane 
 frame, a foot from the earth, for the Mr. Prolocutor, 
 Dr. Twisse. Before it on the ground stands two chairs 
 for the two Mr. Assessors, Dr. Burgess and Mr. Whjte. 
 Before these two chairs, through the length of the 
 roome, stands a table, at which sitts the two scribes, 
 Mr. Bjfield and Mr. Roborough. The house is all well 
 hung, and hes a good fjre, which is some dainties at 
 London. Foranent the table, upon the Prolocutor's 
 right hand, there are three or four rankes of formes. 
 On the lowest we five doe sit. Upon the other, at our 
 backs, the members of Parliament deputed to the As- 
 semblie. On the formes foranent us, on the Prolocu- 
 tor's left hand, going from the upper end of the house 
 to the chimney, and at the other end of the house, and 
 back-sjde of the table, till it comes about to our seats, 
 are four or five stages of fourmes, whereupon their 
 divines sitts as they please ; albeit commonlie they keep 
 the same place. From the chimney to the door there is 
 no seats, but a voyd for passage. The Lords of Par- 
 liament uses to sit on chaires, in that voyd, about the 
 fire. We meet every day of the week, but Saturday. 
 We sit commonlie from nine to one or two afternoon. 
 The Prolocutor at the beginning and end hes a short 
 prayer. The man, as the world knows, is very learned 
 in the questions he hes studied, and very good beloved 
 of all, and highlie esteemed ; but merely bookish, and 
 not much, as it seems, acquaint with conceived prayer, 
 [and] among the unfittest of all the company for any 
 action ; so after the prayer he sitts mute. It was the 
 canny conveyance of these who guides most matters for 
 their own interest to plant such a man of purpose in the 
 chaire. The one assessour, our good friend Mr. Whyte, 
 has keeped in of the gout since our coming ; the other. 
 Dr. Burgess, a very active and sharpe man, supplies, so 
 far as is decent, the Prolocutor's place. Ordinarlie 
 there will be present above threescore of their divines. 
 
lii LETTER OF R. BAILLIE. 
 
 These are divided into three committees ; in one whereof 
 every man is a member. No man is excluded who 
 pleases to come to any of the three. Every Committee, 
 as the Parliament gives order in write to take any pur- 
 pose to consideration, takes a portion, and in their after- 
 noon meeting prepares matters for the Assemblie, setts 
 downe their minde in distinct propositions, backs their 
 propositions with texts of Scripture. After the prayer, 
 Mr. Byfield the scribe, reads the propositions and Scrip- 
 tures, whereupon the Assemblie debates in a most grave 
 and orderlie way. No man is called up to speak ; hot 
 who stands up of his own accorde, he speaks so long as 
 he will without interruption. If two or three stand up 
 at once, then the divines confusedlie call on his name 
 whom they desyre to hear first : On whom the loudest 
 and maniest voices calls, he speaks. No man speaks to 
 any hot the Prolocutor. They harangue long and very 
 learnedlie. They studie the questions well before hand, 
 and prepare their speeches ; hot withall the men are 
 exceeding prompt, and well spoken. I doe marvell at 
 the very accurate and extemporall replyes that many of 
 them usuallie doe make. When, upon every proposition 
 by itself, and on everie text of Scripture that is brought 
 to confirme it, every man who will hes said his whole 
 minde, and the replyes, and duplies, and triplies, are 
 heard ; then the most part calls. To the question. By- 
 field the scribe rises from the table, and comes to the 
 Prolocutor's chair, who, from the scribe's book, reads 
 the proposition, and says, as many as are in opinion 
 that the question is well stated in the proposition, let 
 them say 1 ; when I is heard, he says, as many as think 
 otherwise, say No. If the difference of I's and No's 
 be cleare, as usualie it is, then the question is ordered 
 by the scribes, and they go on to debate the first Scrip- 
 ture alleadged for proof of the proposition. If the 
 sound of I and no be near equall, then says the Prolo- 
 cutor, as many as say I, stand up ; while they stand, 
 the scribe and others number them in their minde ; 
 when they sitt down, the No's are bidden stand, and 
 
LETTER OF R. BAILLIE. liS 
 
 they likewise are numbered. This way is clear enough, 
 and saves a great deal of time, which we spend in read- 
 ing our catalogue. When a question is once ordered, 
 there is no more debate of that matter ; but if a man 
 will vaige, he is quicklie taken up by Mr. Assessor, or 
 many others, confusedlie crying, Speak to order, to 
 order. No man contradicts another expresslie by 
 name, bot most discreetlie speaks to the Prolocutor, 
 and at most holds on the generall. The Reverend bro- 
 ther, who latelie or last spoke, on this hand, on that 
 syde, above, or below. I thought meet once for all to 
 give you a taste of the outward form of their Assem- 
 blie. They follow the way of their Parliament. Much 
 of their way is good, and worthie of our imitation : only 
 their longsomeness is wofull at this time, when their 
 Church and Kingdome lyes under a most lamentable 
 anarchy and confusion. They see the hurt of their 
 longth, but cannot get it helped ; for being to establish 
 a new platforme of worship and discipline to their na- 
 tion for all time to come, they think they cannot be 
 answerable, if solidlie, and at leisure, they doe not exa- 
 mine every point thereof. 
 
 When our Commissioners came up they were desired 
 to sit as members of the Assemblie; but they wiselie 
 declyned to doe so : but since they came up as Commis- 
 sioners for our National Church to treat for Uniformi- 
 tie, they required a committee might be appointed from 
 the Parliament and Assemblie to treat with them ther^- 
 anent. All these, after some harsh enough debates, 
 was granted : so once a week, and whyles after, there 
 is a committee of some Lords, and Commons, and Di- 
 vines, which meets with us anent our commission. To 
 this committee a paper was given in by our brether 
 before we ca,me, as ane introduction to further treatie : 
 The double of it you may see heirwith. According to 
 it the Assemblie did debaite, and agree anent the dutie 
 of Pastors. At our first comeing, we found them in a 
 very sharp debaite, anent the office of Doctors. The 
 Independent men, whereof there are some ten or eleven 
 
liv LETTER OF R. BAILLIE. 
 
 in the synod, manie of them very able men, as Thomas 
 Goodwin, Nye, Burroughs, Bridge, Carter, Caryll, 
 Philips, Sterry, were for the divine institution of a 
 Doctor in everie congregation as well as a Pastor. To 
 these the others were extremelie opposite, and somewhat 
 bitterlie, pressing much the simple identic of Pastors 
 and Doctors. Mr. Hendersone travelled betwixt them, 
 and drew on a committee for accomodation ; in the 
 wliilk we agreed unanimouslie upon some six proposi- 
 tions, wherein the absolute necessitie of a Doctor in 
 evrie congregation, and his divine institution in formall 
 termes, was eschewed; yet where two ministers can be 
 had in one congregation, the one is allowed according 
 to his gift, to applie himself most to teacheing, and the 
 other to exhortation, according to Scripture. The next 
 poynt, whereon yet we stick, is reuling Elders. Many 
 a verie brave dispute have we had upon them these ten 
 dayes. I professe my marvelling at the great learning, 
 quickness, and eloquence, together with the great cour- 
 tesie and discretion in speaking, of these men. Sundrie 
 of the ablest were flat against the institution of any 
 such officer by divine right, such as Dr. Smith, Dr. 
 Temple, Mr. Gataker, Mr. Vines, Mr. Price, Mr. Hall, 
 and manie moe, beside the Independents, who trulie 
 spake much and exceedinglie well. The most of the 
 Synod was in our opinion, and reasoned bravelie for it ; 
 such as Mr. Seaman, Mr. Walker, Mr. Marshall, Mr. 
 Newcomen, Mr. Young, Mr. Calamy. Sundrie times Mr. 
 Hendersone, Mr. Rutherford, Mr. Gillespie, all three, 
 spoke exceeding well. When all were tired, it came to 
 the question. There was no doubt but we would have 
 carried it by far most voices : yet because the opposi- 
 tion were men verie considerable, above all gracious and 
 learned little Palmer, we agreed upon a committee to 
 satisfie if it were possible, the dissenters. For this end 
 we meet to-day; and I hope, ere all be done, we shall 
 atrree. All of them were ever willino; to admitt Elders 
 in a prudentiall way ; but this to us seemed a most dan- 
 gerous and unhappie way, and therefore was premptorile 
 
LETTER OF R. BAILLIE. Iv 
 
 rejected. We trust to carle at last, with the content- 
 ment of sundrie once opposite, and silence of all, their 
 divine and scripturall institution. This is a pojnt of 
 high consequence; and upon no other we expect so 
 great difficultie, except alone on Independencie; where- 
 with we purpose not to meddle in haste, till it please 
 God to advance our armie, which we expect will much 
 assist our arguments. However, we are not desperate 
 of some accomodation; for Goodwin, Burroughs, and 
 Bridge, are men full, as it seems yet, of grace and mo- 
 destie : If they should prove otherwise, the bodie of the 
 Assemhlie and Parliament, citie and countrie, will dis- 
 claime them. The other day a number of the citie and 
 countrie ministers gave in an earnest and well penned 
 supplication to the Assemblie, regraiting the lamentable 
 confusion of their Church under the present anarchy; 
 the increase of Anabaptists, Antinomians, and other 
 sectaries; the boldnesse of some in the citie, and about 
 it, in gathering seperate congregations ; requesting the 
 Assemblie's intercession with the Parliament for the 
 redress of these evills ; and withall for the erection at 
 London, dureing the time of these troubles, of a col- 
 lege for the youth, wdiose studies are interrupted at 
 Oxford. This was well taken by the Assemblie. The 
 Parliament promised their best endeavours for all. 
 John Goodwin, accused by Mr. Walker, and Dr. 
 Holmes of Socinianisme, and others, are appointed to 
 be admonished for their assaying to gather congrega- 
 tions. The Parliament became the other day sensible 
 of their too long neglect of wryting to the Churches 
 abroad of their condition ; so it was the matter of our 
 great committee to draw up letters in the name of the 
 Assemblie for the Protestant churches. The drawing 
 of them was committed to Mr. Palmer who yet is upon 
 them. There is a little committe also, which meets in 
 the Assemblie-house almost everie morning, for the 
 tryall of expectants ; when they have heard them 
 preach, and posed them with questions, they give in to 
 tlie Assemblie a certificate of their qualification; upon 
 
Ivi LETTER OF H. BAILLIE. 
 
 which they are sent to supply vacant churches, hut 
 ■without ordination, till some government be erected in 
 their desolate churches. Plundered ministers are ap- 
 pointed, by order of Parliament, to be put in all vacant 
 places in the citie and countrie, in their obedience, till 
 they be all provided. Concerning the affairs of the 
 Church, I need say no more at this tyme. 
 
 R. Baillie. 
 
EXTEACTS FEOM GILLESPIE'S 
 NOTES OF PROCEEDINGS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ASSEMBLY OF DIVINES AT WESTMINSTER. 
 
 Feb. 2, 1644. 
 
 THE QUESTION OE PEESBYTERY STATED. 
 
 The Letter from the commissioners of the General 
 Assembly to us, pressing a quicker dispatch of things 
 in this Assembly, was read, and my lord Warristoun 
 received. 
 
 The day before, the Assembly had voted, 1st, That 
 there is a presbytery holden forth in the New Testa- 
 ment ; 2d, That it consists of pastors and other church 
 governors. The 3d proposition brought in by the com- 
 mittee was, That the Scripture holds forth that many 
 particular congregations may be under one presbyterial 
 government. 
 
 Mr. Ney said. That the Scots commissioners had 
 given in to the grand committee a system of the whole 
 church government, which, being transmitted from that 
 committee to the Assembly, he desired that the As- 
 sembly might go on in that method, beginning at the 
 government of particular congregations ; also that the 
 proposition holds not forth what ought to be, but what 
 may be. We answered, That we were well content the 
 Assembly should take their own order, and not tie 
 
 16 Ivii 
 
Iviii NOTES OF PROCEEDINGS OF THE 
 
 themselves to ours, especially in regard of the last long 
 debate about ordaining ministers, which calls first to 
 settle a presbjterj that may ordain ministers where 
 there is need. 
 
 Mr. Goodwin and Burrowes desired to debate the 
 institution of such a government, not the warrantable- 
 ness of it. It was answered, That they who oppose 
 presbyterial government oppose it on this ground, that 
 it may not be, and that all church government is in par- 
 ticular congregations, so that the may he must be first 
 debated. 
 
 Mr. Herle desired it may stand as it is, that these 
 brethren who are for another government may get the 
 more favour in not being concluded under the opposing 
 of an institution. 
 
 Mr. Vinos said, So that must he will make each side 
 condemn other, but may he will make each side bear 
 with other. 
 
 Mr. Goodwin said. The question should be stated of 
 fixed congregations, for so we are to practise it. 
 
 Mr. Vines said. It cannot be denied that the question 
 is not of indistinct congregations as in Holland, but of 
 many congregations, that are distinct organical bodies, 
 having their proper pastors and elders. 
 
 Mr. Palmer said. It may be the Assembly shall find 
 in the word, that, in such towns as London or Cam- 
 bridge, there should be no fixed distinct congregations, 
 but only one church. 
 
 My lord Maitland testified, from his knowledge, that 
 in Geneva there are four fixed congregations which 
 have their peculiar pastors. 
 
 Mr. Ney said, When they speak of distinct congrega- 
 tions, they mean not of distinct places of meeting, but 
 of being under a distinct government and governors as 
 in Scotland. 
 
 It was in end resolved to debate the question as it 
 was brought in. 
 
ASSEMBLY OF DIVINES AT WESTMINSTER. lix 
 
 Feb. 20. 
 
 FURTHER DEBATE OF MATT. XVIIL 
 
 Mr. Calamy said, "The church," Matt, xviii., is to be 
 taken as in the Acts and other places; but there the 
 church is put, not for one congregation, but many. 
 
 Mr. Selden said, There is nothing, Matt, xviii., of 
 excommunication or jurisdiction, which could not be 
 exercised by the ancient church till the church of Rome 
 got their power from the emperor. That some late 
 men, as Dominicus Soto, and Sayrus, and Henrique, 
 say that here is some power given to the church, which 
 the church afterward did specificate to be a power of 
 excommunication. He said, Matthew's gospel w^as the 
 first that was written, about eight years after Christ's 
 ascension, the first year of Claudius. That it was 
 written in Hebrew, and translated in Greek by John. 
 That though the Hebrew that Matthew wrote be not 
 extant, yet two editions of this gospel are extant in 
 Hebrew, one by Munster, another by Tilius. That we 
 find in Tilius' edition kahal, Matt, xviii., and gnedah^ 
 Matt, xviii., though in Munster's kahal be in both 
 places. Now, there being no place of the New Testa- 
 ment written when this was written, we must expound 
 it by the custom of the Jews, which, according to the 
 law (Lev. xix. 17), was, that when one oifended his 
 brother, the offended brother required satisfaction, and 
 if he get it not, speak to him before two or three wit- 
 nesses ; and if he hear them not, to tell it to a greater 
 number, (for which he offered to show many of the 
 Hebrew authors and Talmudists.) That they had in 
 Jerusalem, beside the great Sanhedrim, two courts of 
 twenty-three, and in every city one court of twenty- 
 three. That the casting out of the synagogue was only 
 the putting of a man in that condition, that he might 
 not come within four cubits of another; that any man 
 being twelve years of age might excommunicate an- 
 other, not that he was altogether cut off from having 
 
Ix NOTES OF PROCEEDINGS OF THE 
 
 any thing to do with the synagogue. He said the con- 
 vocation was called Clerus ,Anglicanus, and the parlia- 
 ment Pojjulus Anglicanus, so here gnedah and exxAr^aca 
 signifies only a select number. That the word is used 
 in one place for women, Deut. xxiii. 3 ; " shall not enter 
 into the congregation."* That Christ, when he said 
 ecclesia, was in Capernaum, where there was a court of 
 twenty-three. That the meaning is. Tell the San- 
 hedrim, which can redress the wrong, That if the Jew- 
 ish state had continued Christian, their civil govern- 
 ment might have continued, though their ceremonies 
 were gone, so that ecclesia here would have been a civil 
 court. 
 
 Mr. Herle said. There are four things by which we 
 expound Scripture. The original tongue, the analogy 
 of faith, the coherence, and the comparing of other 
 places. That the two Hebrew copies come not to us 
 from so good a hand as the Greek. That exxXrjCna is 
 coetus evocatorum, and must be more than a company. 
 That if die eeclesice had cohered with the end of the 
 last chapter, it might have been taken to be a San- 
 hedrim, but here it coheres with spiritual duties and 
 scandals. 
 
 Mr. Marshall said. The Talmudists cited by Mr. Sel- 
 den are not older than three hundred years after the 
 Jews ceased to be the people of God; that the end in 
 the text is not to repair wrong, but to gain my brother. 
 
 Mr. Ney said. The divines of Scotland and in the 
 Netherlands acknowledge that a single congregation is 
 a true integral church with intrinsical government, so 
 that the meaning of the question must be that one pres- 
 byterial government may be under another: Except the 
 government be independent there must be a presbytery 
 under a presbytery, which language, in apostolical con- 
 sideration, cannot stand; for then there are two sorts 
 of presbyteries, formally distinct, for one power cannot 
 
 * The Jews understand it of mairyiug an Isiaelitish woman. 
 — Lightfoot, 1(36. 
 
ASSEMBLY OF DIVINES AT WESTMINSTER. 1x1 
 
 be over another except they be distinct specie in respect 
 of jurisdiction : That they are as much distinct as pas- 
 tors and deacons, or as governors and governed. 
 
 Mr. Herle said, These two presbyteries are not spe- 
 cifically but formally distinct as continens and con- 
 tentum. 
 
 He [Ney] said. The Scripture holds not forth two 
 distinct presbyteries or jurisdictions, for then w^e should 
 have in Scripture two distinct names as the two great 
 lights, Gen. i. Ans. We have two distinct powers, 
 Acts XV., and even here gnedah and Sijnhedrion were 
 common names, and the higher and lower w^as both 
 called Sanhedrim, as now the church is taken by us. 
 
 2. He said. We cannot find them distinct in their 
 nature. That the Scots discipline saith that two or 
 three landward churches may make up a presbytery, 
 that neither the materiale nor the formate can distin- 
 guish these presbyteries. 
 
 I answer to Mr. Selden,* It is a spiritual, not a civil 
 court, which is meant by the church, Matt, xviii. ; for, 
 1. Suhjecta materia is spiritual. If thy brother tres- 
 pass against thee, it is not meant of personal or civil 
 injuries, but of any scandal given to our brother, 
 whereby w^e trespass against him, inasmuch as we tres- 
 pass against the law of charity. Augustine and Tos- 
 tatus expound it of any scandal, and the coherence 
 confirmeth it, for scandals were spoken of before in 
 that chapter. 2. The end is spiritual, the gaining of 
 the offender's soul, which is not the end of a civil court. 
 3. The persons are spiritual, for Christ speaks to his 
 apostles, ver. 18. 4. The manner of proceeding spiri- 
 tual, ver. 19, 20, prayer, and doing all in the name of 
 Christ ; which places- not only our divines, but Tostatus 
 and Hugo Cardinalis expound of meetings for church 
 censures, not of meetings for worship. 5. The censure 
 is spiritual, binding of the soul, or retaining of sins, 
 ver. 18 ; compared with Matt. xvi. 19 ; John xx. 28. 
 
 * Lightfoot places this in the session of the 21st. 
 16* 
 
Ixii NOTES OF PROCEEDINGS OF THE 
 
 6. Christ would not have sent his disciples for private 
 injuries to a civil court, especially they living among 
 heathens, 1 Cor. vi. 1. 7. If we look even to the Jew- 
 ish custom, they had spiritual censures: to be held as a 
 heathen and publican, imports a restraint, a saeris, for 
 heathens were not admitted into the temple, Ezek. xliv. 
 
 7, 9 ; Acts xxi. 28. So the profane were debarred the 
 temple. Josephus, lib. xix. antiq. cap. 17, tells us that 
 one Simon, a doctor of the law of Moses, in Jerusalem, 
 did accuse king Agrippa as a wicked man that should 
 not be admitted into the temple. Philo, lib. de sacrifi- 
 cantibus, writeth, it was the custom in his own time 
 that a man-sla^^er was not admitted into the temple. 
 The Scripture also giveth light in this, for if they that 
 were ceremonially unclean might not enter into the 
 temple, how shall we think that they who were morally 
 unclean might enter. 
 
 Feb, 21. 
 
 Mr. Young cited against Mr. Selden, Cyprian, ep. b^)^ 
 where Cyprian citeth the words, " If he hear not the 
 church, let him be," &c., against fellowship with here- 
 tics. So ep. 67. That Origen expounds this place, 
 Matt, xviii., of casting out of the church, tract. 6 in 
 Matt., and hom. 7 in Jos., he tells that, after admoni- 
 tion, he was to be cut off from the body of the church, 
 tertio admonitus per ecclesice 'prcepositos debet ab ecclesice 
 corj)ore resecari. 
 
 Mr. Coleman said, That the Sanhedrim was only a 
 civil court. 
 
 He said, 1. The subject matter is only difference 
 betwixt party and party, and the party was to forgive 
 him. Ajis. The party was not to forgive him here. 
 There is no such thing in the text. 
 
 2. To gain him was to gain love and peace. Ans. No, 
 it relates to Lev. xix. 17. 
 
 3. It is not spoken to the apostles, but to any brother. 
 Ans. Ver. 18. 
 
 4. The manner of the court civil might be with 
 
ASSEMBLY OF DIVINES AT WESTMINSTER. Ixiii 
 
 prayer; Abraliam's servant prayed: That he begins a 
 new matter, ''Again, I say unto t/ou.'' Ajis. (1.) He' 
 answers not, "gathering together in the name of 
 Christ." (2.) "Again" makes rather against him, as 
 repeating the same thing. 
 
 5. That the censure is not spiritual, for binding is 
 only doctrinal. Ans. It is doctrinal, Matt, xvi., but 
 forensical here, as appears by witnesses. 
 
 6. That Christ would send his disciples to a civil 
 court. Ans. He hath not answered 1 Cor. vi. 
 
 7. To be a heathen and a publican is not to be de- 
 barred a sacris^ — that a heathen Ethiopian was at Jeru- 
 salem to worship, Acts viii. To be a publican was not 
 to be debarred a saeris, Luke-xviii. Ans. He hath not 
 answered Ezek. xliv. 7, 9; Acts xxi. 28, 29. (2.) The 
 publican (Luke xviii.) stood afar ofi*. 
 
 Mr. Ney argued again, following forth what the As- 
 sembly had judged impertinent yesterday, 1. That the 
 gathering of a vast spiritual body, to rule by their 
 laws both the outward and inward man, is inconvenient 
 to the peace of a kingdom. Ans. Retorts the argu- 
 ment : There will never be peace in the kingdom without 
 a supreme consistory in the church. 
 
 2. It hath such an extent, even as large as the civil 
 state, and, being withal jure divino, it will be taken 
 very ill. 
 
 3. Where there are two so vast bodies, civil and 
 ecclesiastical, if they agree as in times of peace, stories 
 tells us that they will practise over the whole, and the 
 ecclesiastical body will interest themselves in the civil 
 power; if they disagree it is as ill. He cited the pre- 
 face of the assertion, that the presbyterial government 
 is by an inflexible rule, and the civil by a Lesbian rule. 
 
 Ans. 1. All this anticipates the wisdom and judg- 
 ment of the parliament, who can best judge of state 
 inconveniences. 2. We are now to search the Scrip- 
 tures. 3. It contradicts his own Apologetical Narra- 
 tion, that they have no state ends to comply with, no 
 commonwealths to mould. 4. We can tell, from our 
 
Ixiv NOTES OF PROCEEDINGS OF THE 
 
 experience in Scotland, that our General Assemblies 
 and their commissioners do not weaken but strengthen 
 the state ; and malignants have been more afraid of the 
 church censures than of the civil. 5. Their own way 
 is more formidable for rupture and mischief. 
 
 Mr. Vines said, out of Thucydides, The Greek states 
 in Athens were democratical, the Roman state aristo- 
 cratical ; the former fell in confusion and rent, not the 
 latter. 
 
 Mr. Seaman said, In all human societies there is a 
 power over a power; even in a congregation the power 
 to acts of worship is subject to the power of jurisdiction. 
 
 Mr. AVhitlock said, Unless there be a power over a 
 power, there cannot be a right church government. He 
 said. In the kingdom there is a twofold power, 1. Juris- 
 dictionis — which is in courts higher and lower; the sub- 
 ject of this is meum et tuum. 2. Potestas gladii vel 
 imperii-^ihe subject whereof is malum et honum^ else 
 there would be oppression in the state; so will Indepen- 
 dency make in the church. 
 
 My Lord Say said, We must consider whether Christ 
 hath instituted a church government. If so, Christ 
 must answer the inconvenients; if not, the state must 
 judge. He said, That we who are against the con- 
 gregational way agree not, some of us holding that the 
 congregations under a presbj^tery are distinct organical 
 churches ; others hold that all these congregations are 
 but one church. 
 
 It was put to the vote and resolved. That the argu- 
 ments against the proposition (from Matt, xviii.) are 
 not proved, nor conclude against the proposition ; then 
 it was resolved to fall on proofs for the affirmative part 
 of the proposition; and first, from the church of Jeru- 
 salem. 
 
 Sept. 30. 
 
 Mr. Vines presented to the Grand Committee, from 
 the Sub-Committee, a paper of the Agreements: As for 
 
ASSEMBLY OF DIVINES AT WESTMINSTER. IxV 
 
 the differences, he said, the dissenting brethren pro- 
 mi-sed to bring it in. The Agreements were thus : 
 
 In confidence of agreement in the other three parts 
 of uniformity, we come to points of Government. 
 
 1. That a congregation having officers, according to 
 the word, is a church that hath power in all ecclesiasti- 
 cal affairs, which do only concern itself. 
 
 2. That these officers are to be so many in each con- 
 gregation, as that three, or two at least, may agree in 
 every act of government. 
 
 3. That these officers have power in those things 
 which are voted by the Assembly to be due to them, as 
 also in suspension and excommunication 7ion renitente 
 ecclesia. 
 
 4. That the elders of the congregation shall take the 
 advice of the classis in all cases of excommunication, 
 before they proceed to it. 
 
 5. That the members of a congregation do cohabit 
 within certain precincts of a parish, under the preach- 
 ing and ruling officers. 
 
 6. For associating churches, let there be a select 
 number of able godly ministers in each county, and a 
 certain number of ruling officers joined with them, to 
 determine the causes and differences in each congrega- 
 tion. — The first choice of these to be made by the Par- 
 liament, that the election of ministers or governors be- 
 longs to them. 
 
 7. The ministers and ruling governors of the con- 
 gregation within that county so associated, shall have 
 power to debate and vote in that classis in such cases 
 as pertain to that congregation, except such 
 
 8. A certain number of the foresaid ministers and 
 ruling governors as dwell together in some division, and 
 may conveniently meet together, shall have power to 
 hear and determine the causes within that precinct. 
 
 9. That the national assemblies be chosen from time 
 to time, according as shall be appointed by the Parlia- 
 ment, and as the condition of the Church from time to 
 time shall require. 
 
Ixvi NOTES OF PROCEEDINGS. 
 
 There began a debate betwixt my Lord Sey and Mr. 
 Rous, concerning the preface of these propositions, 
 which 
 
 Mr. Sollicitor said is not needful now: the present 
 work of this Committee being only for government. 
 
 Mr. Ney said. The preface is their conditional agree- 
 ment to the propositions. 
 
 Mr. Henderson desired a copy of the agreements and 
 diiferences, that we may advise with them. 
 
 The Independents assented to the 1 and 2. ; they 
 put in an exception in the 3, that excommunication be 
 suffi'agante ecclesia; to the 4 they restrained it to diffi- 
 cult cases ; to the 5 they added two limitations : 1. 
 That, in country villages, these that are in the next 
 parishes contiguously may be admitted members of 
 their churches : 2. That the consent be had of the 
 minister or major part of the congregation, which being 
 had, members may be taken out of other churches. 
 They added this explanation: That a congregation, in 
 difficult cases, may advise with whom they will, and if 
 the matter be not healed, then to have their recourse to 
 the chassis whereof they are members. 
 
 Mr. Seaman desired to know. Whether this Com- 
 mittee be to consider and debate the truth and false- 
 hood of these propositions, or whether this Committee 
 be only to consider whether it be fit to present these to 
 the Assembly. 
 
 Mr. Palmer said, The answer cannot be returned to 
 the House till it come from this Committee to the As- 
 sembly. 
 
Y T E S 
 
 PASSED IN THE 
 
 ASSEMBLY OF DIVINES IN WESTMINSTER, 
 
 CONCERNING DISCIPLINE AND GOVERNMENT. 
 
 [1643.] 
 
 Session 76, 
 
 Oct. 17. 
 
 Resolved 
 
 on the 
 
 question. 
 
 Ees.* 
 
 Res. 
 
 Sess. 79, 
 Oct. 20. 
 
 Ord.f 
 
 Ord. 
 
 Ord. 
 
 Ord. 
 
 Old. 
 
 Ord. 
 
 Ord. 
 
 Ord. 
 Ord. 
 
 That this Assembly shall first confer and treat concerning 
 Discipline and Government. 
 
 That this Assembly shall first take into considei-ation the 
 particulars in government, and, first, concerning church 
 officers and offices. 
 
 That this Assembly shall be divided into three committees 
 as before, eacii of them to consider of church officers, 
 and to make report to this Assembly. 
 
 Christ (who is the Priest, Prophet, King and Head of the 
 church) hath fulness of povrer, and contains all the 
 offices, by way of eminency, in himself, and hath many 
 of their names attributed to him in Scripture. 
 
 1. It appeareth that Christ is, 
 
 1. A Priest, Psal. ex. 4, compared with Heb. vii. 17, 27. 
 
 2. A Prophet, Deut. xviii. 18; Acts iii. 22; vii. 37. 
 
 3. A King, Zech. ix. 9 ; Matt. xxi. 5 ; Psal. ii. 6. 
 
 4. A Head, Col. i. 18, 19; Eph. i. 22. 
 
 2. The fulness of Christ's power appeareth, Isa. ix. 6, 7 ; 
 
 Luke i. 32, 33 ; x. 22 ; Matt, xxviii. 18. 
 
 3. He contains all other offices, by way of eminency, in 
 
 himself, Col. ii. 9, 10, and 19, compai-ed together. 
 
 4. The names of offices given to Christ in Scripture.. 
 
 1. Apostle, Heb. iii. 1. 
 
 2. Teacher, John iii. 2; xiii. 13. 
 
 3. Pastor and Bishop, 1 Pet. ii. 25 ; John x. 11. 
 
 * "Res.," contraction for Resolved. 
 t " Ord.," contraction for Ordered. 
 
 Ixvil 
 
Ixviii VOTES IN THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY. 
 
 [1643.] Tjj^ Preface. 
 
 Sp88. 81, Jesus Christ, upon whose shoulders the government is, 
 Oct. 23. -whose name is called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Almighty 
 God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace : of the 
 increase of whose government and peace there shall be no 
 end ; who sits upon the throne of David, and upon his 
 kingdom, to order it, and to establish it, with judgment and 
 justice, from henceforth, even forever; having all power 
 given to him, both in heaven and earth, by the Father, who 
 raised him from the dead, and set him on his own right 
 hand, far above all principalities, and power, and might, 
 and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in 
 this world but also in that which is to come ; and put all 
 things under his feet, and gave him to be the Head over all 
 things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of Him 
 that filleth all in all ; He, being ascended up far above all 
 heavens, that he might fill all things, received gifts for his 
 church, and gave all oiScers necessax'y for the edification of 
 his church and perfecting of his saints. 
 
 Sess. 82, Some wliereof are Extraordinary, and some Ordinary. 
 
 Oct. 26. 
 
 Extraordinary Officers. 
 1. Apostles. 
 
 The Characters of the Apostles. 
 
 Ord. 1. They were immediately called of Christ, Luke vi. 13 ; 
 
 Markiii. 14; Gal. L 1. 
 
 Ord. 2. ThQj were such as had seen Christ, 1 Cor. ix. 1. 
 
 Ord. 3. Their commission was to the whole world, Matt, xxviii. 
 
 19; Mark xvi. 15. 
 
 Ord. 4. They were endued with a spirit of infallibility in de- 
 
 livering the truths of doctrine to the church, John 
 xvi. 13 with John xiv. 26; Eph. ii. 20. 
 
 Ord. 5. They only, by special commission, were set apart to be 
 
 personal witnesses of Christ's resurrection, Acts i. 
 22; X. 41. 
 
 Ord 6. They had power to give the Holy Ghost, Acts viii. 
 
 14-18 ; xix. 6. 
 
 Res. 7. They were appointed to go into all the world to plant 
 
 churches, and to settle in them a new form of wor- 
 ship appointed by Christ, 1 Cor. xi. 23 ; Matt, xxviii. 
 19, 20, and had their inspection and care of all the 
 churches, 2 Cor. xi. 28. 
 Sess. 84, 8. That the ajjostles did immediately receive the keys 
 Oct. 30. from the hand of Jesus Christ, and did use and exer- 
 
 cise them in all the churches of the world upon all 
 occasions. 
 
 ^Octll' -^^^^ *®^*' ^^^^^' ^^^- 1^' ^^^^^^ ^® brought to prove 
 
 Res. ' that the apostles did immediately receive the author- 
 
VOTES IN THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY. Ixix 
 
 [1643.] itative power of the keys from the hand of Jesus 
 
 Christ. 
 Bess. 86, This text, John xx. 21-23, shall be brought to prove 
 
 ^^' that the apostles did immediately receive the author- 
 
 Bea. itative power of the keys from the hand of Jesus 
 
 Christ. 
 These texts, 
 Ord. 1 Tim. i. 20, 1 do prove that the apostles did use and 
 
 exercise the authoritative power of 
 the keys in all the churches of the 
 world upon all occasions. 
 1 Cor, iv. ult. compared with chapter v. 3-5, shall be 
 added to the former proof. 
 
 Ord. 3 John 9, 10, 
 
 Rea. 2 Cor. x. 6, 
 
 Ord. 2 Cor. xiii. 1 0, 
 
 [1644.] 
 Sess. 125, Additional Characters of the Apostles. 
 
 Jan. 2. ^ 
 
 Rea. N.C.* 9. The apostles had power to ordain officers in all 
 
 ^^^- churches, proved, Acts vi. 3, 6. 
 
 Sess. 126, Acts xiv. 23 (the whole verse) shall be added to prove 
 
 •'^^°- ^' that the apostles had power to ordain officers in all 
 
 churches. 
 ^j^^^'^/ 10. The apostles had power to appoint evangelists to or- 
 
 Kea. ' dain, proved, Tit. i. 5. 
 
 gess. 129, 11' The apostles had power to order and settle all the 
 Jan. 8. service and worship of God in all churches, so as 
 
 ^®^* _ might make most for edification, proved, 1 Cor. xi., 
 
 per totum, especially verses 23, 28, 34; 1 Tim. ii, 1, 
 2, 8, 12 ; 2 Cor. xi. 28 ; 1 Cor. xiv. 26, 37, 40 ; xvi. 
 1,2. 
 Ord. 12. The apostles had power to determine controversies of 
 faith and cases of conscience (in all churches) viva 
 voce or by writing. 
 Ordered. 1 Cor. vii. j>er totum ; Gal. v. 2, 3 ; 1 Cor. xv ; Rom. 
 
 iii., iv., V. chapters shall be brought to prove the 
 proposition. 
 
 Sess. 87 OrDINAKY AND PERPETUAL OfFICEHS. 
 
 Nov. 2.' 
 
 1. Pastor. 
 
 Res. That there is such an ordinary and perpetual office in 
 
 the church as a pastor, proved, Jer. iii. 15-17 (pro- 
 phesying of the time of the gospel), 1 Pet. v. 2-4. 
 
 Res. Eph. iv. 11-13, shall be added to prove that there is 
 
 such an office, and that it is perpetual. 
 ^Nov ?' ^^^* which the pastor is to do from God to the people. 
 
 * " N. C.," contraction for Nemine Contradicente. 
 17 
 
IXX VOTES IN THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY. 
 
 [1643.] Reading. 
 
 Ros. N. C. That the public reading of the word in the congrega- 
 
 tion is an holy ordinance in God's Church. 
 Res. That this shall be added to the former vote, "Although 
 
 there follow no immediate explication of that which 
 is read." 
 Seps.89, That the public reading of the Scripture belongs to 
 
 Nov. 6. the pastor's office. 
 
 Bess. 90 !• That the priests and Levites in the Jewish church 
 
 Nov. 7 * were trusted with the public reading of the word, as 
 
 Ord- is proved, Deut. xxxi. 9-11 ; Neh. viii. 1, 2, and 13 
 
 (18). 
 
 Ord. 2. That the ministers of the gospel have as ample a 
 
 charge and commission to dispense the word, as well 
 as other ordinances, as the priests and Levites under 
 the law, proved, Isa. Ixvi. 21; Matt, xxiii. 34, where 
 our Saviour entitleth the officers of the New Testa- 
 ment, whom he would send forth, by the same names 
 of the teachers of the Old. 
 
 Ord. These propositions shall be brought to prove, That 
 
 therefore (the duty being of a moral nature) it fol- 
 loweth by just consequence, that the public reading 
 of the Scriptures belongs to the pastor's office. 
 
 So88. 89, Preaching. 
 
 Nov. 6. 
 
 Eee. That it is the office of a pastor, to feed the flock by 
 
 preaching of the word, according to which he is to 
 teach, convince, reprove, exhort, and comfort, 1 Tim. 
 iii. 2; 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17; Tit. i. 9. 
 
 Ord. That catechizing, which is a plain laying down of the 
 
 first principles of the oracles of God, Heb. v. 12, or 
 of the doctrine of Christ, is a part of preaching per- 
 taining to the pastor's office. 
 
 Bess. 91, rpjjg dispensation of other divine mysteries. 
 
 Ord. That it is the office of a pastor to feed the flock by the 
 
 dispensation of other divine mysteries, proved by 
 1 Cor. iv. 1, 2 : the administration of the sacraments. 
 Matt, xxviii. 19, 20; Mark xvi. 16, 16; 1 Cor. xi. 
 23-25, with 1 Cor. x. 16. 
 
 Ord. That he is to bless the people from God, Num. vi. 
 
 23-26, with Rev. i. 4, 5 (where the same blessings 
 and persons from whom they came are expressly 
 mentioned), and Isa. Ixvi. 21, where, under the 
 names of priests and Levites, to be continued under 
 the gospel, are meant evangelical ! pastors, who 
 therefore are, by office, to bless the people, Deut. 
 X. 8 ; 2 Cor. xiii. 14 ; Eph. i. 2. 
 
VOTES IN THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY. Ixxi 
 
 [1643.] That wHch the pastor is to perform in the behalf and name 
 
 of the people to God is, 
 
 Ord. To pray for and with his flock, as the mouth of the 
 
 people unto God, proved, Acts vi. 2-4 ; xx. 36, 
 where preaching and praying are joined, as several 
 parts of the same of&ce. So James v. 14, 15, the 
 office of the elder, that is the pastor, is to pray for 
 the sick, even in private, to which a blessing is espe- 
 cially promised, much more, therefore, ought he to 
 perform this in the public execution of his office, as 
 a part thereof, 1 Cor. xiv. 15, 16. 
 
 Sesa. 92, 
 
 Nov. 9. Ruling. 
 
 Ord. That the pastor hath a ruling power over the flock as a 
 
 pastor, 1 Tim. v. 17 ; Acts xx. 17, 18 (28) ; 1 Thess. 
 V. 12 ; Heb. xiii. 7, 17. 
 
 Ord. That what power the pastor hath in discipline and 
 
 government, either singly and alone, or jointly with 
 others, the Assembly hath thought fit to forbear to 
 set forth at the present, until the particular parts of 
 discipline and government come into consideration ; 
 so that whatever his power therein is [,it] ought to 
 be saved unto him until the discipline itself be de- 
 bated, and his share therein distinctly set out. 
 
 Ord. That it belongs to the pastor to take care of the poor, 
 
 Acts xi. 30 ; iv. 34-37 ; vi. 2-4 ; 1 Cor. xvi. 1-4 ; 
 Gal. ii. 9, 10. 
 
 Sess. 95, Teacher or Doctor. 
 Nov. 14. 
 Ord. That the Scripture doth hold out the name and title 
 
 of teacher, as well as of the pastor, 1 Cor. xii. 28 ; 
 Eph. iv. 11. 
 Sess. 96, That pastors and teachers are both equal ministers of 
 
 Nov 15. the word. 
 
 Old. 
 Sess. 97, That pastors and teachers are both ministers of the 
 
 ''^Ord!^' word, and have power of administration of the sa- 
 
 craments. 
 Sess. 100, 1. That there be difi"erent gifts, and divers exercises 
 
 Nov. 21. according to those gifts, in the ministers of the 
 
 ^^^ word, proved, Rom. xii. 6-8 ; 1 Cor. xii. 4-7. 
 
 Ord. 2. That different gifts may meet in, and accordingly be 
 
 exercised by, one and the same minister, 1 Cor. xiv. 
 8 ; 2 Tim. iv. 2 ; Tit. i. 9. 
 Ord. 3. Where there be several ministers in the same con- 
 
 gregation, they may be designed to several employ- 
 ments, according to the diiferent gifts wherein each 
 of them doth most excel, Rom. xii. 6-8 ; 1 Pet. iv. 
 10, 11. 
 
Ixxii VOTES IN THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY. 
 
 [1643.] 4. He that doth more excel in exposition of Scripture, 
 
 Ord. in teaching sound doctrine, and in convincing gain- 
 
 sayers, than he doth in application, and is accord- 
 ingly employed therein, may be called a teacher or 
 doctor. The places alleged by the notation of the 
 word do prove the proposition. 
 
 Ord. 6. A teacher or doctor is of most excellent use in 
 
 schools and universities, as of old in the schools of 
 the prophets, and at Jerusalem, where Gamaliel and 
 others taught as doctors. 
 
 Oi"4' 6. Where there is but one minister in a particular con- 
 
 gregation, he is to pei'form, so far as he is able, the 
 whole work of the ministry, as appears 2 Tim. iv.2 ; 
 
 Ord. Tit. i. 9, before alleged ; 1 Tim. vi. 2. 
 
 Dec. 8. ' -^w^m^ Elder, or Church Governor. 
 
 Kes. N.C. 1. That Christ hath instituted a government and go- 
 
 vernors ecclesiastical in the church. 
 
 Res. N.C. 2. That Christ hath furnished some in his church with 
 
 gifts for government, and with commission to execute 
 (exercise ?) the same when called thereunto. 
 
 Res.N.O. 3. That it is agreeable to, and warranted by, the word 
 
 of God, that some others besides the ministers of the 
 word be church governors, to join with the ministers 
 in the government of the church. 
 
 _ ^^^„ Kom. xii. 7, 8 ; 1 Cor. xii. 28, do confirm all the pro- 
 
 Sess. 112, -x- 
 
 Dec. 11. positions. 
 
 Res. N.C. That there were in the Jewish church elders of the 
 
 Sess. 113, people that were joined with the priests and Levitea 
 
 '^ in the government of the church. 
 
 ^®s. That 2 Chron. xix. 8-10 shall be brought to prove this. 
 
 Sess. 108, Deacons. 
 Dec. 5. 
 
 Ord. That the Scriptures do hold out deacons as distinct 
 officers in the church, Phil. i. 1 ; 1 Tim. iii. 8. 
 
 Sess. 116, It belongs to the office of a deacon to take special care 
 
 j^^g^ * in distributing to the necessity of the poor, proved, 
 
 Res! Acts vi. 1-4. 
 Sess. 120, 
 
 Dec. 21. That the office of a deacon is perpetual. 
 
 lies. 
 Sess. 122, 
 Dec. 28. That 1 Tim. iii. 8-15 ; Acts vi. 1-4, shall be brought 
 
 to prove it. 
 
 Kes. 
 Res. 
 
 Sess. 121, That it doth not pertain to the office of a deaccoi to 
 
 ^^ ■ preach the word, or administer the sacraments. 
 
 Widows. 
 
 Seas. 123, That widows, which we read of 1 Tim. v. 3, and else- 
 
 Dec. 29. where, are included under the name deacons. 
 
VOTES IN THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY. Ixxiii 
 
 [1644.] Ordination. 
 
 lies. Ordination is the solemn setting apart of a person to 
 
 some public church office. 
 Sess.132. Num. viii. 10, 11, 14, 19, 22, shall be brought to prove 
 
 lies. • i. 
 
 Old. "• 
 
 Ord. Acts vi. 3, 5, 6, shall be added to the former proof. 
 
 Sess. 133. Ordination is always to be continued in the church, 
 
 iS: proved, 1 Tim. v. 21, 22 ; Tit. i. 5. 
 
 Ker'N^C T^^^ *^® apostles did ordain, proved. Acts vi. 6 ; xiv. 
 
 lies.* " 23, the whole verse. 
 
 Kes. 
 Res.N.C. That the evangelists did ordain, Tit. i. 5 ; 1 Tim. v. 22. 
 
 lles.N.C. 
 
 Res. N. C. That preaching presbyters did ordain. 
 
 Sess. 135. Proved, 1 Tim. iv. 14. 
 
 Sess. 179. That no man ought to take upon him the office of a 
 
 Oiii. minister of the word with [out] a lawful calling. 
 
 Res. John iii. 27, "] 
 
 Res. Rom. X. 14, 15, [shall be brought to prove "That no 
 
 Res. Jer. xiv. 14, { man," &c. 
 
 Res. Heb. V. 4, J 
 
 Sess. 181. That it is agreeable to the word of God, and very ex- 
 
 Res. pedient, that such as are to be ordained ministers be 
 
 designed to some particular church, or other minis- 
 terial charge. 
 Sess. 182. Proved Acts xiv. 23 ; Tit. i. 5; Acts xx. 17, 28. 
 
 Sess. 183. 1, That he be duly qualified, both for life and minis- 
 
 t>id- terial abilities, according to the rules of the Apostle, 
 
 1 Tim. iii. 2-6 ; Tit. i. 5-9. 
 Ord. 2. That he be examined and approved of them by 
 
 whom he is to be oi'dained, 1 Tim. iii. 7, 10 ; v. 22. 
 Ord. 3. No man shall be ordained a minister for a particular 
 
 congregation if they can show just cause of excep- 
 tion against him. 
 1 Tim. iii. 2, blameless. Tit. i. 7, shall be brought to 
 prove it. 
 Res.N.C 4. That he be ordained by imposition of hands and 
 
 prayer, with fasting, by those preaching presbyters 
 to whom it doth belong. 1 Tim. v. 22; Acts xiv. 23; 
 and xiii. 3. See the Acts of Presbytery. 
 
 Ordination for the present Ministry of the Church. 
 
 Sess. 139. That in extraordinary cases something extraordinary 
 
 Res. may be done, until a settled order can be had, yet 
 
 keeping as near as possibly may be to the riile. 
 
 Sess. 140. 2 Chron. xxix. 34-36, shall be brought to prove it. 
 
 Res. _ 
 
 Res. 2 Chron. xxx. 2-5, shall be added to the former proof. 
 
 Sess. 141. That there is at this time an extraordinary occasioa 
 
 17* 
 
Ixxiv VOTES IN THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLf. 
 
 [1644.] 
 
 Res. 
 Sess. 142. 
 lies. X. C. 
 
 for [a] way of ordination for the present supply of 
 ministers. 
 Tliat preaching presbyters may ordain ministers. 
 
 Soss. 145. 
 Bes. N. 
 
 Res. 
 
 Res. 
 
 Res. 
 
 Presbytery. 
 
 The Scripture doth hold out a presbytery in a church. 
 
 Proved, 1 Tim. iv. 14 ; Acts xv. 2, 4, 6. 
 
 A presbytery consisteth of ministers of the "word, and 
 such other public ofl&cers as have been already voted 
 to have a share in the government of the church. 
 
 That the Scripture holds forth that many particular 
 congregations may be under one presbyterial govern- 
 ment. 
 
 Proved, First, by instance of the church of Jerusalem, 
 in two branches : 
 
 1. The church of Jerusalem consisted of more congre- 
 gations than one, proved, 
 
 1. By the multi- / 1. Believers, ") before ^ the dis- 
 tude of \ 2. Teachers, j after J persion. 
 
 2. Variety of languages. 
 
 2. They were under one presbyterial government, be- 
 
 cause, 
 (1. Called one church '\ before "] .^ ■,- 
 
 2. The elders of that church men- 
 tioned 
 
 I I the dis- 
 
 J after J Persion. 
 
 1st Branch. 
 
 Sess. 160. 
 Res. 
 
 Sess. 161. 
 Res. 
 
 Sess. 163. 
 Res. 
 
 Res. 
 
 Sess. 164. 
 Res. 
 
 The members (numbers) of believers mentioned in 
 Acts i. 15 ; ii. 42 ; iv. 4 ; v. 14 ; vi. 1, 7, belonged to 
 the church of Jerusalem as members of that church. 
 
 The members (numbers) of believers in the chui'ch of 
 Jerusalem were more than could ordinarily meet in 
 one place, with (at) one time, for the performance 
 of all the acts of worship and government. 
 
 The many apostles and other teachers in the church 
 of Jerusalem shall be added to prove. That the 
 church in Jerusalem consisted of more congregations 
 than one ; for if there were but one congregation, 
 then each apostle preached but seldom, which will 
 not stand with Acts vi. 2, They would not leave the 
 word, &c. 
 
 Acts ii. 42, 46, compared together, shall be added to 
 prove that there were more congregations than one 
 in the church of Jerusalem. 
 
 The diversity of languages among the believers. Acts 
 ii. and vi. chapters shall be added to prove that 
 there were more congregatioijs than one in the 
 church of Jerusalem. 
 
VOTES IN THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY. IxxV 
 
 [1644.] These words, Acts viii. 1, They were all scattered abroad 
 
 Se^. 166. except the apostles, cloth not imply such a scattering 
 
 ^' as that there might not remain more congregations 
 
 than one in the church of Jerusalem, after the dis- 
 persion in the church of Jerusalem. 
 Sess. 167. Acts ix. 31, shall be brought to prove the multitude of 
 
 • believers after the dispersion. 
 
 Res. Acts xii. 24, shall be added to prove a further addition 
 
 of believers to the church of Jerusalem after the 
 dispersion. 
 B«8. Acts xxi. 20, shall be added to the former proof. 
 
 Sess. 165. 2d Branch. 
 
 Kes. Acts viii. 1, 1 proves that the several congre- 
 
 Res. Acts ii. ult. comp. V gations in Jerusalem were but 
 
 with chap. v. 11, J one church. 
 Sess. 168. Acts xii. 5 ; xv. 4, shall be added, to prove that the 
 
 several congregations in Jerusalem, after the disper- 
 sion, were but one church. 
 
 Res. The elders of the church of Jerusalem are mentioned 
 
 Acts xi. ult. ; XV. 4, 6, 22 ; and xxi. 17, 18. 
 Sess. 171. That the apostles did the ordinary acts of presbyters, 
 
 as presbyters in the church of Jerusalem ; and this 
 shall be brought to prove that there was a presbyte- 
 rial government in the church of Jerusalem before 
 the dispersion. 
 Sess. 174. The several congregations in Jerusalem being but one 
 
 *^®^' church, and the elders of that church being men- 
 
 tioned as meeting together for acts of government, 
 do prove that those several congregations were 
 under one presbyterial government. 
 
 Res. Acts xi. ult., and xxi. 17, 18, and the verses following, 
 
 shall be brought to prove that clause in the proposi- 
 tion, "Elders meeting together for acts of govern- 
 ment." 
 Sess. 175. Acts XV. 4, 6, 22, shall be brought to prove that clause 
 
 ^®^' in the former proposition, ''Elders meeting together 
 
 for acts of government." 
 
 Res. That the instance of the church of Jerusalem shall be 
 
 brought to prove that the Scripture holds forth that 
 many particular congregations may be under one 
 presbyterial government. 
 
 Acts of Presbttebt. 
 Sess. 184. Ordination is the act of a presbytery, 1 Tim. iv. 14. 
 
 Sess. 186. The power of ordering the whole act of ordination is 
 
 ^^®^- in the whole presbytery. 
 
Ixxvi VOTES IN THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY. 
 
 [1644.] The preaching presbyters orderly associated, either in 
 
 Kea. cities or in neighbouring villages, are those to whom 
 
 the imposition of hands doth appertain, for those 
 congregations within their bounds respectively. 
 
 Sic suhscrib. Henry RoBKoroH, Scribe. 
 Adoniram Byfield, Scribe. 
 
 [Indorsed Copied from an original copy, signed as above, among 
 
 ^ ^^y , Mr. Gillespie's papers. R. W. 
 
THE FORM 
 
 OF 
 
 PEESBYTEEIAL CHUEGH GOVEENIENT 
 
 AGREED UPON BY THE ASSEMBLY OF DIVINES AT 
 
 WESTMINSTER; EXAMINED AND APPROVED, 
 
 ANNO 1645, BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY 
 
 OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND, etc. 
 
 THE CONTENTS OF THE FORM OF PRESBYTBRIAL CHURCH 
 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 The preface. Of congregational assemblies, 
 
 Of the Church. that is, the meeting of the 
 
 Of the officers of the Church. ruling officers of a particular 
 
 Pastors. congregation for the govern- 
 
 Teacher or doctor. ment thereof. 
 
 Other Church governors. Of classical assemblies. 
 
 Deacons. Of synodical assemblies. 
 
 Of particular congregations. Of ordination of ministers. 
 
 Of the officers of a particular Touching the doctrine of ordina- 
 
 congregation. tion. 
 
 Of the ordinances in a particu- Touching the power of ordina- 
 
 lar congregation. tion. 
 
 Of Church government, and Concerning the doctrinal part 
 
 the several sorts of assem- of the ordination of minis- 
 
 blies of the same. ters. 
 
 Of the power in common of all The directory for the ordination 
 
 these assemblies. of ministers. 
 
 THE PREFACE. 
 
 Jesus Christ, upon whose shoulders the government 
 is, whose name is called Wonderful, Counsellor, the 
 mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of 
 Peace,* of the increase of whose government and peace 
 there shall be no end, who sits upon the throne of David, 
 
 * Isa. ix. 6. 
 
 IzzvU 
 
Ixxviii PRESBYTERML CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 
 
 and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establlsli it 
 with judgment and justice, from henceforth even for- 
 ever, having all power given unto him even in heaven 
 and in earth by the Father, who raised him from the dead 
 and set him at his own right hand, far above all princi- 
 palities, and power, and might, and dominion, and every 
 name that is named, not only in this world, but also in 
 that which is to come, and put all things under his feet, 
 and gave him to be the head over all things to the 
 Church, which is his body, the fulness of him that 
 filleth all in all; he being ascended up far above all 
 heavens, that he might fill all things, received gifts for 
 his Church, and gave offices necessary for the edification 
 of his Church and perfecting of his saints. 
 
 Of the Church. 
 
 There is one general Church visible held forth in the 
 New Testament, 1 Cor. xii. 12, 1 3, 28, together with the 
 rest of the chapter. 
 
 The ministry, oracles, and ordinances of the New 
 Testament, given by Jesus Christ to the general Church 
 visible for the gathering and perfecting of it in this 
 life, until his second coming, 1 Cor. xii. 28 ; Eph. iv. 4, 
 5, compared with ver. 10—16 of the same chapter. 
 
 Particular visible Churches, members of the general 
 Church, are also held forth in the New Testament, Gal. 
 i. 21, 22 ; Rev. i. 4, 20, and Rev. ii. 1. Particular 
 Churches, in the primitive times, were made up of visible 
 saints, — viz. : of such as, being of age, professed faith 
 in Christ, and obedience unto Christ, according to the 
 rules of faith and life taught by Christ and his apostles; 
 and of their children. Acts ii. 38, 41, and ver. last, com- 
 pared with V. 14 ; 1 Cor. i. 2, compared with 2 Cor. ix. 
 13; Acts ii. 39; 1 Cor. vii. 14; Rom. ix. 16, and so 
 forward ; Mark x. 14 compared with Matt. xix. 13, 14 ; 
 Luke xviii. 15, 16.* 
 
 *Matt. xxviii. 18-20; Eph. i. 20-22, compared with iv. 8-11, and 
 Psalm Ixviii. 18. 
 
PRESBYTERIAL CHURCH GOVERNMENT. Ixxix 
 
 Of the Officers of the Church. 
 
 The officers which Christ hath appointed for the edi- 
 fication of his Church and the perfecting of the saints, 
 are, 
 
 Some extraordinary, as apostles, evangelists, and 
 prophets, which are ceased. 
 
 Others ordinary and perpetual, as pastors, teachers, 
 and other Church governors and deacons. 
 
 Pastors. 
 
 . The pastor is an ordinary and perpetual officer in the 
 Church: Jer. iii. 15-17; prophesying of the time of 
 the gospel, 1 Pet. v. 2-4 ; Eph. iv. 11-13. 
 
 Pirst, it belongs to his office 
 
 To pray for and with his flock, as the mouth of the 
 people unto God, Acta vi. 2-4 ; Aets xx. 36 ; where 
 preaching and prayer are joined as several parts of the 
 same office, James v. 15. The office of the elder, that 
 is, the pastor, is to pray for the sick, even in private, to 
 which a blessing is especially promised; much more, 
 therefore, ought he to perform this in the public execu- 
 tion of his office, as a part thereof, 1 Cor. xiv. 15, 16. 
 
 To read the Scriptures publicly; for the proof of 
 which, 
 
 1. That the priests and Levites in the Jewish Church 
 were trusted with the public reading of the word, as is 
 proved Deut. xxxi. 9-11 ; Neh. viii. 1, 2, 13. 
 
 2. That the ministers of the gospel have as ample a 
 charge and commission to dispense the word, as well as 
 other ordinances, as the priests and Levites had under 
 the law, proved Isa. Ixvi. 21, and Matt, xxiii. 34, where 
 our Saviour entitleth the officers of the New Testament, 
 whom he will send forth by the same names as the 
 teachers of the old. 
 
 Which propositions prove that therefore (the duty 
 being of a moral nature) it followeth by just conse- 
 
IXXX PRESBYTERIAL CUURCH GOVERNMENT. 
 
 quence that the public reading of the Scriptures be- 
 longeth to the pastor's office. 
 
 To feed the flock by preaching of the word, according 
 to which he is to teach, convince, reprove, exhort, and 
 comfort. 1 Tim. iii. 2 ; 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17 ; Tit. i. 9. 
 
 To catechize, which is a plain laying down the first 
 principles of the oracles of God, Heb. v. 12, or of the 
 doctrine of Christ, and is a part of preaching. 
 
 To dispense other Divine mysteries, 1 Cor. iv. 1, 2. 
 
 To administer the sacraments. Matt, xxviii. 19, 20 ; 
 Mark xvi. 15, 16; 1 Cor. xi. 23-25, compared with 
 X. 16. 
 
 To bless the people from God, Num. vi. 23-26, com- 
 pared with Rev. xiv. 5, (where the same blessings, and 
 persons from whom they come, are expressly mentioned ;) 
 Isa. Ixvi. 21, where, under the names of priests and 
 Levites to be continued under the gospel, are meant 
 evangelical pastors, who, therefore, are by office to bless 
 the people, Deut. x. 8 ; 2 Cor. xiii. 14 ; Eph. i. 2. 
 
 To take care of the poor. Acts xi. 30, iv. 34-37, vi. 
 2-4; 1 Cor. xvi. 1-4; Gal. ii. 9, 10. 
 
 And he hath also a ruling power over the flock as a 
 pastor, 1 Tim. v. 17; Acts xx. 17, 28; 1 Thess. v. 12; 
 Heb. xiii. 7, 17. 
 
 Teacher or Doctor, 
 
 The Scripture doth hold out the name and title 
 of teacher as well as of pastor, 1 Cor. xii. 28; Eph. 
 iv. 11. 
 
 Who is also a minister of the word as well as the 
 pastor, and hath power of administration of the sacra- 
 ments. 
 
 The Lord having given difierent gifts and divers ex- 
 ercises according to these gifts, in the ministry of the 
 word, Rom. xii. 6-8; 1 Cor. xii. 1, 4-7, though these 
 diff'erent gifts may meet in, and accordingly be exercised 
 by, one and the same minister, 1 Cor. xiv. 3 ; 2 Tim. iv. 
 2 ; Tit. i. 9 ; yet, where be several ministers in the same 
 congregation, they may be designed to several employ- 
 
PRESBYTERIAL CHURCH GOVERNMENT. Ixxxi 
 
 ments, according to the diiFerent gifts in wliich each of 
 them doth most excel, Rom. xii. 6-8 ; 1 Pet. iv. 10, 11. 
 And he that doth more excel in exposition of Scriptures, 
 in teaching sound doctrine, and in convincing gainsayers, 
 than he doth in application, and is accordingly employed 
 therein, may be called a teacher or doctor, (the places 
 alleged by the notation of the word do prove the propo- 
 sition ;) nevertheless, where is but one minister in a 
 particular congregation, he is to perform, so far as he is 
 able, the whole work of the ministry, as appeareth in 
 2 Tim. vi. 2 ; Tit. i. 9, before alleged, 1 Tim. vi. 2, 
 
 A teacher or doctor is of most excellent use in schools 
 and universities ; as of old in the schools of the 
 prophets and at Jerusalem, where Gamaliel and others 
 taught as doctors. 
 
 Other Church Crovernors. 
 
 As there were in the Jewish Church elders of the 
 people joined with the priests and Levites in the govern- 
 ment of the Church, (as appeareth in 1 Chron. xix. 8-10,) 
 so Christ, who hath instituted a government and go- 
 vernors ecclesiastical in the Church, hath furnished 
 some in his Church, besides the ministers of the word, 
 with gifts for government and with commission to execute 
 the same when called thereunto, who are to join with 
 the minister in the government of the Church, Rom. 
 xii. 7, 8 ; 1 Cor. xii. 28, which officers Reformed Churches 
 commonly call elders. 
 
 Deacons. 
 
 The Scripture doth hold out deacons as distinct 
 officers in the Church. Phil. i. 1 ; 1 Tim. iii. 8. 
 
 Whose office is perpetual. 1 Tim. iii. 8 to verse 15 ; 
 Acts vi. 1-4. To whose office it belongs not to preach 
 the word or administer the sacraments, but to take spe- 
 cial care in distributing to the necessities of the poor. 
 Acts vi. 1-4, and the verses following. 
 
 18 
 
Ixxxii PRESBTTERIAL CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Of Particular Congregations. 
 
 It is lawful and expedient that there be fixed congre- 
 gations, that is, a certain company of Christians to meet 
 in one assembly ordinarily for public worship. When 
 believers multiply to such a number that they cannot 
 conveniently meet in one place, it is lawful and expe- 
 dient that they should be divided into distinct and fixed 
 congregations, for the better administration of such 
 ordinances as belong unto them, and the discharge of 
 mutual duties. 1 Cor. xiv. 26: "Let all things be done 
 unto edifying," and 33 and 40. 
 
 The ordinary way of dividing Christians into distinct 
 congregations, and most expedient for edification, is by 
 the respective bounds of their dwellings. 
 
 1st. Because they who dwell together, being bound to 
 all kind of moral duties one to another, have the better 
 opportunity thereby to discharge them ; which moral 
 tie is perpetual, for Christ came not to destroy the law, 
 but to fulfil it. Deut. xv. 7, 11 ; Matt. xxii. 39, v. 17. 
 
 2dly. The communion of saints must be so ordered as 
 may stand with the most convenient use of the ordinances 
 and discharge of moral duties, without respect of per- 
 sons. 1 Cor. xiv. 26 : " Let all things be done unto 
 edifying." Ileb. x. 24, 25; James ii. 1, 2. 
 
 3dly. The pastor and people must so nearly cohabit 
 together as that they may mutually perform their duties 
 each to other with most conveniency. 
 
 In this company some must be set apart to bear office. 
 
 Of the Officers of a Particular Congregation. 
 
 'For officers in a single congregation there ought to 
 be one, at the least, both to labour in the word and doc- 
 trine and to rule. Prov. xxix. 18 ; 1 Tim. v. 17 ; Heb. 
 xiii. 7. 
 
 It is also requisite that there should be others to join 
 in government. 1 Cor. xii. 28. 
 
 And likewise it is requisite that there should be 
 
PRESBYTERIAL CHURCH GOVERNMENT. Ixxxiii 
 
 Others to take special care for the relief of the poor. 
 Acts vi. 2, 3. 
 
 The number of each of which is to be proportioned 
 according to the condition of the congregation. 
 
 These officers are to meet together at convenient and 
 set times, for the well ordering the affairs of that con- 
 gregation, each according to his office. 
 
 It is most expedient that, in these meetings, one whose 
 office is to labour in the word and doctrine do moderate 
 in their proceedings. 1 Tim. v. 17. 
 
 Of the Ordiyiances m a Particular Congregation. 
 
 The ordinances in a single congregation are, prayer, 
 thanksgiving, and singing of psalms, (1 Tim. ii. 1 ; 1 Cor. 
 xiv. 15, 16,) the word read, (although there follow no 
 immediate explication of what is read,) the word ex- 
 pounded and applied, catechizing, the sacraments ad- 
 ministered, collection made for the poor, dismissing the 
 people with a blessing. 
 
 Of Church Government^ and the several sorts of As- 
 semblies for the same. 
 
 Christ hath instituted a government, and governors 
 ecclesiastical in the Church ; to that purpose the apos- 
 tles did immediately receive the keys from the hand of 
 Jesus Christ, and did use and exercise them in all the 
 Churches of the world, and upon all occasions. 
 
 And Christ hath since continually furnished some in 
 his Church with gifts of government, and with com- 
 mission to execute the same when called thereunto. 
 
 It is lawful and agreeable to the word of God that 
 the Church be governed by several sorts of assemblies, 
 which are congregational, classical, and synodical. 
 
 Of the Power in Common of all these Assemblies. 
 
 It is lawful and agreeable to the word of God that 
 the several assemblies before mentioned have power to 
 
Ixxxiv PRESBYTERIAL CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 
 
 convene and call before them any person -within their 
 several bounds whom the ecclesiastical business which is 
 before them doth concern ; proved by Matt, xviii. 
 
 They have the power to hear and determine such causes 
 and differences as do orderly come before them. 
 
 It is lawful and agreeable to the word of God that all 
 the said assemblies have some power to dispense Church 
 censures. 
 
 Of Congregational Assemblies^ that is, the 3Ieeting of 
 the ruling Officers of a particular Congregation for 
 the Crovernment thereof. 
 
 The ruling officers of a particular congregation have 
 power, authoritatively, to call before them any member 
 of the congregation, as they shall see just occasion. 
 
 To inquire into the knowledge and spiritual estate of 
 the several members of the congregation. 
 
 To admonish and rebuke. 
 
 "Which three branches are proved by Heb. xiii. 17; 
 1 Thess. V. 12, 13 ; Ezek. xxxiv. 4. 
 
 Authoritative suspension from the Lord's Table of a 
 person not yet cast out of the Church, is agreeable to 
 the Scripture : 
 
 1st. Because the ordinance itself must not be profaned. 
 
 2dly. Because we are charged to withdraw from those 
 that walk disorderly. 
 
 3dly. Because of the great sin and danger, both to 
 him that comes unworthily, and also to the whole 
 Church. Matt. vii. 6; 2 Thess. iii. 6, 14, 15 ; 1 Cor. 
 xi. 27 to the end of the chapter, compared with Jude 
 23 ; 1 Tim. v. 22. And there was power and authority, 
 under the Old Testament, to keep unclean persons from 
 holy things. Lev. xiii. 5 ; Num. ix. 7 ; 2 Chron. xxiii. 19. 
 
 The like power and authority, by way of analogy, 
 continues under the New Testament. 
 
 The ruling officers of a particular congregation have 
 power authoritatively to suspend from the Lord's Table 
 a person not yet cast out of the Church. 
 
PEESBTTERIAL CHURCH GOVERNMENT. IxxxV 
 
 1st. Because those who have authority to judge of 
 and admit such as are fit to receive the sacrament, 
 have authority to keep back such as shall be found un- 
 worthy. 
 
 2dly. Because it is an ecclesiastical business of ordi- 
 nary practice, belonging to that congregation. 
 
 When congregations are divided and fixed, they need 
 all mutual help one from another, both in regard to their 
 intrinsic weaknesses and mutual dependence, as also in 
 rcfifard of enemies from without. 
 
 ■'to" 
 
 Of Classical Asse7nhlies. 
 
 The Scripture doth hold out a presbytery in the 
 Church, both in the First Epistle to Timothy iv. 14, and 
 in Acts XV. 2, 4, 6. 
 
 A presbytery consisteth of ministers of the word, and 
 such other public officers as are agreeable to, and war- 
 ranted by, the word of God, to be Church governors, to 
 join with the ministers in the government of the Church, 
 as appeareth Rom. xii. 7, 8; 1 Cor. xii. 28. 
 
 The Scripture doth hold forth that many particular 
 congregations may be under one presbyterial govern- 
 ment. 
 
 This proposition is proved by instances : 
 
 1. First. Of the Church of Jerusalem, which consisted 
 of more congregations than one, and all these congre- 
 gations were under one presbyterial government. 
 
 This appeareth thus : 
 
 1. First. The Church of Jerusalem consisted of more 
 congregations than one, as is manifest, 
 
 1st. By the multitude of believer* mentioned in di- 
 vers places, both before the dispersion of the believers 
 there by the persecution (mentioned in the Acts of the 
 Apostles, chap. viii. ; in the beginning thereof, witness 
 chap. i. verse 11, ii. 41, 46, 47, iv. 4, v. 14, and vi. of 
 the same book of the Acts, verses 1 and 7,) and also 
 after the dispersion, ix. 31, xii. 24, and xxi. 20, of th^ 
 same book. 
 
 18* 
 
IxXXvi PRESBYTERIAL CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Sdly. By the many apostles and other preachers in 
 the Church of Jerusalem, and if there were but one 
 congregation there then each apostle preached but sel- 
 dom, which will not consist with chap. vi. verse 2 of the 
 same book of the Acts of the Apostles. 
 
 8dly. The diversity of languages among the believers, 
 mentioned both in the second and sixth chapters of the 
 Acts, doth argue more congregations than one in that 
 Church. 
 
 2. Secondly. All those congregations were under one 
 presbyterial government ; because, 1st, they were one 
 Church, Acts viii. 1, ii. 47, compared with v. 11, xii. 5, 
 and XV. 4, of the same book. 
 
 2dly. The elders of the Church are mentioned. Acts 
 xi. 30, XV. 4, 6, 22, and xxi. 17, 18, of the same book. 
 
 3dly. The apostles did the ordinary acts of pres- 
 byters, as presbyters in that kirk ; which proveth a 
 presbyterial church before the dispersion. Acts vi. 
 
 4thly. The several congregations in Jerusalem being 
 one church, the elders of that church are mentioned as 
 meeting together for acts of government, (Acts xi. 30, 
 XV. 4, 6, 22, and xxi. 17, 18, and so forward,) which 
 proves that those several congregations were under one 
 presbyterial government. 
 
 And whether these congregations were fixed or not 
 fixed in regard of officers or members, it is all one as to 
 the truth of the proposition. 
 
 Nor doth there appear any material difference be- 
 twixt the several congregations in Jerusalem and the 
 many congregations now in the ordinary condition of 
 the Church as to the point of fixedness required of 
 officers or members. 
 
 8. Thirdly. Therefore the Scripture doth hold forth 
 that many congregations may be under one presbyterial 
 government. 
 
 II. Secondly. By the instance of the Church of 
 Ephesus ; for, 
 
 1. That there were more congregations than one in 
 the Church of Ephesus appears by Acts xx. 31, where 
 
PRESBYTERIAL CHURCH GOVERNMENT. Ixxxvii 
 
 is mention of Paul's continuance at Epliesus in preach- 
 ing for the space of three years ; and Acts xix. 18-20, 
 where the special effect of the word is mentioned ; and 
 verses 10 and 17 of the same chapter, where is a dis- 
 tinction of Jews and Greeks ; and 1 Cor. xvl. 8, 9, 
 where is a reason of Paul's stay at Ephesus until Pen- 
 tecost ; and verse 19, where is mention of a particular 
 church in the house of Aquilla and Priscilla, then at 
 Ephesus, as appears Acts xviii. 19, 24, 26, — all which, 
 laid together, doth prove that the multitude of believers 
 did make more congregations than one in the Church 
 of Ephesus. 
 
 2. That there were many elders over these many 
 congregations, as one flock, appeareth Acts xx. 17, 25, 
 28, 30, 36, 37. 
 
 3. That these many congregations were one church, 
 and that the}'' were under one presbyterial government, 
 appeareth Rev. ii., the first six verses, joined with Acts 
 XX. 17, 18. 
 
 Of Synodical Assemblies. 
 
 The Scripture doth hold out another sort of assem- 
 blies for the government of the Church besides classical 
 and congregational, all which we call synodical. (Acts 
 XV.) Pastors and teachers and other church governors 
 (as also other fit persons, when it shall be deemed expe- 
 dient) are members of those assemblies which we call 
 synodical where they have a lawful calling thereunto. 
 
 Synodical assemblies may lawfully be of several 
 sorts, as provincial, national, and oecumenical. 
 
 It is lawful and agreeable to the word of God that 
 there be a subordination of congregational, classical, 
 provincial, and national assemblies, for the government 
 of the Church. 
 
 OF THE ORDINATION OF MINISTERS. 
 
 Under the head of ordination of ministers is to be 
 considered either the doctrine of ordination or the 
 power of it. 
 
Ixxxviii PRESBYTERIAL CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Touching the Doctrine of Ordination. 
 
 No man ought to take upon him the office of a mi- 
 nister of the word without a lawful calling. John iii. 
 27; Rom. x. 14, 15; Jer. xiv. 14; Heb. v. 4. 
 
 Ordination is alwa3^s to be continued in the Church. 
 Tit. i. 5 ; 1 Tim. v. 21, 22. 
 
 Ordination is the solemn setting apart of a person to 
 some public church-office. Num. viii. 10, 11, 14, 19, 
 22 ; Acts vi. 3, 5, 6. 
 
 Every minister of the word is to be ordained by im- 
 position of hands and prayer, with fasting, by those 
 preaching presbyters to whom it doth belong. 1 Tim. 
 V. 12 ; Acts iv. 23, and xiii. 3. 
 
 It is agreeable to the word of God, and very expe- 
 dient, that such as are to be ordained ministers be de- 
 signed to some particular church, or other ministerial 
 charge. Acts xiv. 23 ; Tit. i. 5 ; Acts xx. 17, 28. 
 
 He that is to be ordained minister must be duly 
 qualified, both for life and ministerial abilities, accord- 
 ing to the rules of tlie apostle. 1 Tim. iii. 2-6 ; Tit. i. 
 5-9. 
 
 He is to be examined and approved by those by whom 
 he is to be ordained. 1 Tim. iii. 7, 10, and v. 22. 
 
 No man is to be ordained a minister for a particular 
 congregation if they of that congregation can show 
 just cause of exception against him. 1 Tim. iii. 2 ; 
 Tit. i. 7. 
 
 Touching the Power of Ordination. 
 
 Ordination is the act of a presbytery. (1 Tim. iv. 14.) 
 The power of ordering the whole work of ordination is 
 in the whole presbytery, which, when it is over more 
 congregations than one, whether those congregations 
 be fixed or not fixed in regard of officers or members, 
 it is indifierent as to the point of ordination. 1 Tim. 
 iv. 14. 
 
 It is very requisite that no single congregation that 
 
PRESBYTERIAL CHURCH GOVERNMENT. Ixxxix 
 
 can conveniently associate do assume to itself all and 
 sole power in ordination. 
 
 1. Because there is no example in Scripture that any- 
 single congregation, which might conveniently associate, 
 did assume to itself all and sole power in ordination ; 
 neither is there any rule which may warrant such a 
 practice. 
 
 2. Because there is in Scripture example of an ordi- 
 nation in a presbytery over divers congregations : as in 
 the Church of Jerusalem, where were many congrega- 
 tions, these many congregations were under one pres- 
 bytery, and this presbytery did ordain. 
 
 The preaching presbyters orderly associated, either 
 in cities or neighbouring villages, are those to whom 
 the imposition of hands doth appertain for those con- 
 gregations within their bounds respectively. 
 
 CONCERNING THE DOCTRINAL PART OF ORDINATION OP 
 
 MINISTERS. 
 
 1. No man ought to take upon him the office of a 
 minister of the word without a lawful calling. John 
 iii. 27 ; Rom. x. 14, 15 ; Jer. xiv. 14 ; Heb. v. 4. 
 
 2. Ordination is always to be continued in the Church. 
 Tit. i. 5 ; 1 Tim. v. 21, 22. 
 
 3. Ordination is the solemn setting apart of a person 
 to some public church-office. Num. viii. 10, 11, 14, 19, 
 22 ; Acts vi. 3, 5, 6. 
 
 4. Every riinister of the word is to be ordained by 
 imposition of hands and prayer, with fasting, by those 
 preaching presbyters to whom it doth belong. 1 Tim. 
 V. 22 ; Acts xiv. 23, xiii. 3. 
 
 5. The power of ordering the whole work of ordina- 
 tion is in the whole presbytery, which, when it is over 
 more congregations than one, whether those congre- 
 gations be fixed or not fixed in regard of officers or 
 members, it is indifi'erent as to the point of ordination. 
 1 Tim. iv. 14. 
 
 6. It is agreeable to the word, and very expedient, 
 
XC PRESBYTERIAL CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 
 
 that sucli as are to "be ordained ministers be designed 
 to some particular church, or other ministerial charge. 
 Acts xiv. 23 ; Tit. i. 5 ; Acts xx. 17, 28. 
 
 7. He that is to be ordained minister must be duly 
 qualified, both for life and ministerial abilities, accord- 
 ing to the rules of the apostle. 1 Tim. iii. 2-6 ; Tit. i. 
 5-9. 
 
 8. He is to be examined and approved of by those 
 by whom he is to be ordained. 1 Tim. iii. 7, 10, v. 22. 
 
 9. No man is to be ordained a minister for a particu- 
 lar congregation if they of that congregation can show 
 just cause of exception against him. 1 Tim. iii. 2 ; 
 Tit. i. 7. 
 
 10. Preaching presbyters orderly associated, either 
 in cities or neighbouring villages, are those to whom 
 the imposition of hands do appertain for those congre- 
 gations within their bounds respectively. 1 Tim. iv. 14. 
 
 11. In extraordinary cases something extraordinary 
 may be done until a settled order may be had, yet 
 keeping as near as possible may be to the rule. 
 2 Chron. xxix. 34-36, xxx. 2-5. 
 
 12. There is at this time (as we humbly conceive) an 
 extraordinary occasion for a way of ordination for the 
 present supply of ministers. 
 
 The Directory for the Ordination of Ministers. 
 
 It being manifest by the word of God that no man 
 ought to take upon him the office of a m inister of the 
 gospel until he be lawfully called and oi dained there- 
 unto, and that the work of ordination is to be per- 
 formed with all due care, wisdom, gravity, and so- 
 lemnity, we humbly tender these directions as requisite 
 to be observed. 
 
 1. He that is to be ordained, being either nominated 
 by the people or otherwise commended to the presby- 
 tery for any place, must address himself to the presby- 
 tery, and bring with him a testimonial of his taking the 
 Covenant of the three kingdoms ; of his diligence and 
 
PRESBYTEBIAL CHURCH GOVERNMENT. XCl 
 
 proficiency in his studies ; what degrees he hath taken 
 in the university, and what hath been the time of his 
 abode there ; and, withal, of his age, which is to be 
 twenty-four years; but especially of his life and con- 
 versation. 
 
 2. Which being considered by the presbytery, they 
 are to proceed to inquire touching the grace of God in 
 him, and whether he be of such holiness of life as is 
 requisite in a minister of the gospel ; and to examine 
 him touching his learning and sufficiency, and touching 
 the evidences of his calling to the holy ministry, and, 
 in particular, his fair and direct calling to that place. 
 
 THE RULES FOR EXAMINATION ARE THESE. 
 
 1. That the party examined be dealt, withal, in a 
 brotherly way, with mildness of spirit, and with special 
 respect to the gravity, modesty, and quality of every 
 one. 
 
 2. He shall be examined touching his skill in the 
 original tongues, and his trial to be made by reading 
 the Hebrew and Greek Testaments, and rendering some 
 portion of some into Latin ; and if he be defective in 
 them, inquiry shall be made more strictly after his 
 other learning, and whether he hath skill in logic and 
 philosophy. 
 
 3. What authors in divinity he hath read and is best 
 acquainted with. And trial shall be made in his know- 
 ledge of the grounds of religion, and of his ability to 
 defend the orthodox doctrine contained in them against 
 all unsound and erroneous opinions, especially those of 
 the present age ; of his skill in the sense and meaning 
 of such places of Scripture as shall be proposed unto 
 him in cases of conscience, and in the chronology of the 
 Scripture, and the ecclesiastical history. 
 
 4. If he hath not before preached in public, with ap- 
 probation of such as are able to judge, he shall, at a 
 competent time assigned him, expound before the pres- 
 bytery such a place of Scripture as shall be given iiim. 
 
Xcii PRESBYTERIAL CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 
 
 5. He shall, also, within a competent time, frame a 
 discourse in Latin upon such a commonplace or contro- 
 versy in divinity as shall be assigned him, and exhibit 
 to the presbytery such theses as express the sum there- 
 of, and maintain a dispute upon them. 
 
 6. He shall preach before the people, the presbytery, 
 or some of the ministry of the word appointed by them, 
 being present. 
 
 7. The proportion of his gifts, in relation to the place 
 unto which he is called, shall be considered. 
 
 8. Besides the trial of his gifts in preaching, he shall 
 undergo an examination in the premises two several 
 days, and more, if the presbytery shall judge it ne- 
 cessary. 
 
 9. And as for him that hath formerly been ordained 
 a minister and is to be removed to another charge, he 
 shall bring a testimonial of his ordination and of his 
 abilities and conversation, whereupon his fitness for that 
 place shall be tried by his preaching there (if it shall be 
 judged necessary) by a farther examination of him. 
 
 3. In which he being approved, he is to be sent to 
 the church where he is to serve, there to preach three 
 several days, and to converse with the people, that they 
 may have trial of his gifts for their edification, and may 
 have time and occasion to inquire into, and the better 
 to know, his life and conversation. 
 
 4. In the last of these three days appointed for the 
 trial of his gifts in preaching, there shall be sent from 
 the presbytery to the congregation a public intimation 
 in writing, which shall be publicly read before the 
 people, and after affixed to the church door, to signify 
 that, such a day, a competent number of the members 
 of that congregation, nominated by themselves, shall 
 appear before the presbytery to give their consent and 
 approbation to such a man to be their minister, or 
 otherwise to put in, with all Christian discretion and 
 meekness, what exceptions they have against him ; and 
 if, upon the day appointed, there be no just exception 
 
PRESBYTERIAL CHURCH GOVERNMENT. XCIU 
 
 against him, but the people give their consent, then the 
 presbytery shall proceed to ordination. 
 
 5. Upon the day appointed for ordination, which is 
 to be performed in that church where he that is to be 
 ordained is to serve, a solemn fast shall be kept by the 
 congregation, that they may the more earnestly join in 
 prayer for a blessing upon the ordinance of Christ and 
 the labours of his servant for their good. The presby- 
 tery shall come to the place, or, at least, three or four 
 ministers of the word shall be sent thither from the 
 presbytery, of which one, appointed by the presbytery, 
 shall preach to the people concerning the office and duty 
 of ministers of Christ, and how the people ought to re- 
 ceive them for their work's sake. 
 
 6. After the sermon, the minister who hath preached 
 shall, in the face of the congregation, demand of him 
 who is now to be ordained concerning his faith in Christ 
 Jesus and his persuasion of the truth of the Reformed 
 religion according to the Scripture ; his sincere inten- 
 tions and ends in desiring to enter into this calling ; ^ his 
 diligence in prayer, reading, meditation, preaching, 
 ministering the sacraments, discipline, and doing all 
 ministerial duties towards his charge; his zeal and 
 faithfulness in maintaining the truth of the gospel and 
 unity of the Church against error and schism ; his care 
 that himself and his family may be unblamable, and 
 examples to the flock ; his willingness and humility, in 
 meekness of spirit, to submit unto the admonitions of 
 his brethren and discipline of the Church ; and his re- 
 solution to continue in his duty against all trouble and 
 persecution. 
 
 7. In all which having declared himself, professed his 
 willingness, and promised his endeavours, by the help of 
 God, the minister likewise shall demand of the people 
 concerning their willingness to receive and acknowledge 
 him as the minister of Christ, and to obey and submit 
 unto him, as having rule over them in the Lord, and to 
 maintain, encourage, and assist him in all parts of his 
 office. 
 
 19 
 
XCIV PRESBYTERIAL CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 
 
 8. Which being mutually promised by the people, the 
 presbytery, or the ministers sent from them for ordina- 
 tion, shall solemnly set him apart to the oflSce and work 
 of the ministry by laying their hands on him, which is 
 to be accompanied with a short prayer or blessing to 
 this effect : — 
 
 " Thankfully acknowledging the great mercy of God 
 in sending Jesus Christ for the redemption of his peo- 
 ple, and for his ascension to the right hand of God the 
 Father, and thence pouring out his Spirit and giving 
 gifts to men, apostles, evangelists, prophets, pastors, 
 and teachers, for the gathering and building up of his 
 Church, and for fitting and inclining this man to this 
 great work ;* to entreat him to fit him with his Holy 
 Spirit to give him (who in his name we thus set apart to 
 this holy service) to fulfil the work of his ministry in 
 all things, that he may both save himself and his people 
 committed to his charge." 
 
 9. This, or the like form of prayer and blessing 
 being ended, let the minister who preached briefly ex- 
 hort him to consider of the greatness of his office and 
 work, the danger of negligence both to himself and his 
 people, the blessing which will accompany his faithful- 
 ness in this life and that to come ; and, withal, exhort 
 the people to carry themselves to him as to their minis- 
 ter in the Lord, according to their solemn promise made 
 before ; and so by prayer commending both him and his 
 flock to the grace of God, after singing of a psalm, let 
 the assembly be dismissed with a blessing. 
 
 10. If a minister be designed to a congregation who 
 hath been formerly ordained presbyter, according to the 
 form or ordination which hath been in the Church of 
 England, which we hold for substance to be valid, and 
 not to be disclaimed by any who have received it, then, 
 there being a cautious proceeding in matters of exami- 
 nation, let him be admitted without any new ordination. 
 
 11. And in case any person already ordained minister 
 
 * Here let them impose hands ou his head. 
 
m 
 
 PRESBYTERIAL CHURCH GOVERNMENT. XCV 
 
 in Scotland or in any other Reformed Churcli, be de- 
 signed to another congregation in England, he is to 
 bring from that Church to the presbytery here, within 
 which that congregation is, a sufficient testimonial of his 
 ordination, of his life and conversation while he lived 
 with them, and of the causes of his removal ; and to 
 undergo such a trial of his fitness and sufficiency, and 
 to have the same course held with him in other particu- 
 lars as* is set down in the rule immediately going be- 
 fore, touching examination and admission. 
 
 12. That records be carefully kept in the several pres- 
 byteries of the names of the persons ordained, with 
 their testimonials, the time and place of their ordina- 
 tion, of the presbyters who did impose hands upon 
 them, and of the charge to which they are appointed. 
 
 13. That no money or gift of what kind soever shall 
 be received from the person to be ordained, or from any 
 on his behalf, for ordination, or aught else belonging to 
 it, by any of the presbytery, or any appertaining to 
 any of them, upon what pretence soever. 
 
 Thus far of Ordinary Rides and Course of Ordination 
 in the Ordinary Way ; that which concerns the Ex- 
 traordinary Way, requisite to he noiv practised, foU 
 loweth. 
 
 1. In these present exigencies, while we cannot have 
 any presbyteries formed up to their whole power and 
 work, and that many ministers are to be ordained for 
 the service of the armies and navy and to many con- 
 gregations where there is no minister at all, and where, 
 by reason of the public troubles, the people cannot 
 either themselves inquire and find out one who may be 
 a faithful minister for them, or have any with safety sent 
 unto them for such a solemn trial as was before men- 
 tioned in the ordinary rules, especially when there can 
 be no presbytery near unto them to whom they may 
 address themselves, or which may come or send to them 
 a fit man to be ordained in that congregation and for 
 
XCVl PRESBYTERIAL CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 
 
 that people; and yet, notwithstanding, it is requisite 
 that ministers be ordained for them by some who, being 
 set apart themselves for the work of the ministry, have 
 power to join in the setting apart others who are found 
 fit and worthy. In those cases, until by God's blessing 
 the aforesaid difficulties may be in some good measure 
 removed, let some godly minister in or about the city of 
 London be designed by public authority, who, being as- 
 sociated, may ordain ministers for the city and the vi- 
 cinity, keeping as near to the ordinary rules foremen- 
 tioned as possibly they may; and let this association be 
 for no other intent or purpose but only for the work of 
 ordination. 
 
 2. Let the like association be made by the same 
 authority in great towns, and the neighbouring parishes 
 in the several counties, which are at the pj at quiet 
 and undisturbed, to do the like for the parts adjacent. 
 
 3. Let such as are chosen or appointed for the service 
 of the armies or navy be ordained as aforesaid by the 
 associated ministers of London, or some others in the 
 country. 
 
 4. Let them do the like when any man shall duly and 
 lawfully be recommended to them for the ministry of 
 any congregation who cannot enjoy liberty to have a 
 trial of his parts and abilities, and desire the help of 
 such ministers so associated for the better furnishing of 
 them with such a person as by them shall be judged fit 
 for the service of that church and people. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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 PHILAUELPUIA. 
 
Princeton Theological Seminary- Speer Library 
 
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