tain general principles to each particular case as it arises. Thus it is that virtuous manhood shapes its course through the shoals of life, and for the most part safely. Certain it is, that more than this general measure of guidance cannot be expected, and is not, in fact, vouchsafed.

Christianity being, as St. Paul declares, the manhood of revealed religion, the Christian has emerged from the bondage of the letter into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Consequently a mode of dealing with him may be adopted which, under the earlier dispensation, would have been unsafe. The scanty measure of religious knowledge and spiritual understanding which the Jew possessed rendered it unfit that any part of religion should be left to his discretion; and, therefore, in his case, everything, even to the minutest details of the ritual, was prescribed by law. And just as children are expected to obey without understanding the reason of what is required of them, so the Jew, in the first stages at least of his course, went through the prescribed ordinances of the law with but an imperfect apprehension of their meaning his worship of God was not to him a 20μıxǹ hargɛía, a "reasonable service," though by us it is seen to have been so. Redemption not having been actually effected, nor the way into the holiest laid open, spiritual realities were veiled under type and figure. But now, that these blessings have been purchased and vouchsafed, and "we all with open face" behold, "as in a glass, the glory of the Lord," believers are released from subjection to carnal ordinances, for they enjoy that real fellowship with God, through Christ, which the Mosaic system was intended to symbolise, and represent. Of this maturer stage of spiritual growth, an enlightened understanding in matters of religion is the natural accompaniment; and in the New Testament, Christians are always supposed to possess spiritual discernment, both as regards doctrine and practice. They are exhorted and reasoned with, as understanding in general what the will of the Lord is, though they may err in particular interpretations of it. Erroneous doctrines are refuted, and violations of order rectified, by an appeal to certain admitted general principles. "Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men;" "I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say" this is the style of apostolic exhortation. Christians are supposed capable of distinguishing between the substance and the

1 Cor. xiv. 20. Ibid. x. 15.

accidents of religion, and of assigning to each its proper degree of importance. Let a comparison, in short, be instituted between the style adopted by St. Paul in rectifying the disorders of the Corinthian Church, and that which characterises the giving of the law, and the difference between the two dispensations will be at once apparent:-the Jew is treated as a child, the Corinthian Christian

as a man.

With this view of Christianity, it was in perfect accordance that the external manifestations of the inner life of the Church should be left comparatively free and unfettered; comparatively so; for no one denies that Christ prescribed ordinances, and, indirectly, provided a polity for His church. It was to be expected that the Christian system would contain no. arbitrary or unreasonable appointments: nor does it. The two sacraments are reasonable ordinances: we understand the import and object of them. Instead of being imposed upon unrenewed human nature, they were the seals of Christ's previous fellowship with His chosen Apostles, who, in this point of view, were the representatives of believers in every age. What gives them validity is, not administration by a priestly caste, or, according to a prescribed ritual; -no such appointments are found in Scripture; -but the living faith by which the worthy recipient has already apprehended Christ. In matters of polity, what could not be safely entrusted to the spiritual imbecility of the Jew might well be left to the maturity of Christian understanding in the persons of the Apostles. Or if the supposition be not reasonable that, in so important a matter, the Apostles should be left altogether destitute of guidance, we should yet expect the directions given to be of that general kind which a sovereign furnishes to a person of presumed wisdom and experience about to undertake the administration of the affairs of some newly formed colony. In such a case a general draft of instructions would be delivered, but much would be left to the discretion of the governor. The facts of the case appear to prove that such, in the work of organising Christian societies, was the measure of assistance vouchsafed to the Apostles. In the synagogue they had a platform of polity providentially at hand, fitted, from its peculiar features, to become that of the Church: this polity the Apostles accordingly adopted, with such modifications as appeared to them necessary. But they have neither informed us that, in so doing, they acted according to an express command of Christ; nor do they make their own appointments absolutely, and for ever, binding upon the Church: they enact no law at all upon the subject.

If any such law is attributed either to them, or their divine Master, it is not upon the authority of the New Testament Scriptures.

The dispensation under which we are living is that of the Spirit; but "where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."* That is to say, since in Christianity revealed religion appears in its maturity, in it also the artificial, arbitrary, service of God, which belongs to a lower stage of spiritual progress, has given place to a free, natural, and reasonable one. They that worship God now must worship Him in spirit and in truth; in spirit as contrasted with the literal prescriptions, and in truth as opposed to the symbolism, of the ceremonial law. Christianity is, primarily, neither a dogma nor a ceremonial, but a life in Christ; and wherever there is life, its visible sphere of agency shapes and develops itself from within, and comes to perfection by a law of spontaneous action, not by the external pressure of a superinduced form.

* 2 Cor. iii. 17.

CHAPTER IV.

THE TEACHING OF THE APOSTOLIC EPISTLES, IN REFERENCE TO THE IDEA OF THE CHURCH.

THE inquiry which has occupied us so long will be fitly brought to a close with some remarks upon the structure and statements of the Apostolic Epistles, in reference to the point before us. These Epistles having been addressed to regularly constituted Christian societies, it is reasonable to suppose that they will throw light upon the question of the nature of the Church; and, moreover, supply what is wanting in previous revelation to complete the doctrine of Scripture upon the subject. For it is the peculiar province of the Apostolic Epistles to set forth fully, and in their various bearings, the doctrines, of which the outlines, or heads, are furnished by Christ himself in His discourses. The first point to be here considered is, what the language of the Epistles teaches us respecting the true idea of a Christian church: after which, some remarks will be made upon the statements of the inspired writers in reference to the mystical body of Christ, and its connexion with the aggregate of Christian societies, which constitute, collectively, the visible Church.

SECTION I.

THE APOSTOLIC CONCEPTION OF A CHRISTIAN CHURCH.

WERE the question put to a person of plain understanding, unacquainted with the controversies which have arisen on the subject; What, according to the Apostolic Epistles, is a Christian Church, or how is it to be defined? he would probably, without hesitation or difficulty, reply, that a Christian Church-as it appears, for example, in St. Paul's Epistles-is a congregation or society of faithful men or believers, whose unseen faith in Christ is visibly manifested by their profession of certain fundamental doctrines, by the preaching of the Word, by the administration

and reception of the two sacraments, and by the exercise of discipline. He would direct attention to the fact, that the ordinary greeting of St. Paul, at the beginning of each Epistle, is to the "saints and faithful brethren" constituting the Church of such a place, fellow-heirs with himself of eternal life; and that throughout these compositions, the members of the Church are presumed to be in living union with Christ, reasonings and exhortations being addressed them, the force of which cannot be supposed to be admitted, except by those who are led by the Spirit of God: in short, that the members of the Corinthian or the Ephesian Church are addressed as Christians; and a Christian is one who is in saving union with Christ.

In proportion to the apparent simplicity of the question, would be his surprise to hear it affirmed that he is mistaken, and that, in addressing a Christian society as a congregation of Christians, St. Paul merely regards it as a society of men professing the same faith, and participating outwardly in the same Sacraments (it being immaterial to the idea whether they possess saving faith or not); a society invested with spiritual privileges, but not necessarily realising those privileges; and that, consequently, we must lower the import of the terms "saints" and "faithful in Christ Jesus," to signify outwardly dedicated to God, and professing with the lips the doctrines of Christianity.

Such, in fact, is the interpretation very commonly put upon the Apostle's language; and since, if it be the true one, the Protestant definition of a Church-viz. that it is a society of true believers, where the pure Word of God is preached, and the Sacraments are rightly administered becomes untenable, it is of importance to inquire into this point a little more particularly.

That the mode of interpretation alluded to involves a deviation from the obvious meaning of the New Testament phraseology is not, indeed, sufficient reason for at once rejecting it; but it does warrant us in requiring that the necessity for such deviation shall be clearly made out. And, in the present case, this requirement is the more reasonable, from the circumstance that the Apostles uniformly identify themselves, as regards their Christian standing and hopes, with those to whom they write. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ;"*"that I may be comforted by the mutual faith both of you and me;"+-did St. Paul, when he thus