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CHAPTER II.

CHURCH GOVERNMENT.

I. As no society can subsist without some kind of government, the Church, as a society, must of necessity have the same. The Scriptures accordingly distinguish its members into superiors and inferiors, the governors and the governed,-into those who were to "feed" and "rule," and those who were to "obey," 1 Cor. xii. 28; Ephes. iv. 11; Heb. xiii. 7, 17, 24; comp. Rom. xii. 8. The like intimation is given by our Lord, when he compares his Church to the household of an absent master, in which some servants are placed in higher offices to "rule" over the rest, and to give them meat in due season, Matt. xxiv. 45., and by the injunction that "all things be done decently and in order," 1 Cor. xiv. 40; for without government the Church, so far from preserving decency and order, would become a riotous and tumultuous assembly. Every system under which the exercise of authority is dependent upon the consent

of those over whom it extends, must lead to confusion and disorder; but "God is not the author of confusion," and therefore for the sake "of peace," he has sanctioned the government of "all the churches of the saints," by a divine institution, 1 Cor. xiv. 33.

It is certain, then, that the Almighty, who has appointed a visible Church, has also appointed a government in it; yet, be it remembered, in subordination to the one supreme governor, Jesus Christ, whom all who believe in him acknowledge as their Lord, who “died for all, that they which live, should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again;" 2 Cor. v. 15. The Church" which he hath purchased with his blood," Acts xx. 28. is made subject to him; for "God hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the Church," Ephes. i. 22; he is "as a son over his own house, whose house we are," Heb. iii. 6; "and all power is given unto him, both in heaven and in earth," Matt. xxviii. 18; "and he is before all things, and by him all things consist; and he is the head of the body, the Church-that in all things he might have the pre-eminence," Col. i. 17, 18. "He hath the key of David, he openeth and no man shutteth, he shutteth and no man openeth,” Rev. iii. 7.

Hence no authority can belong to any member of the Church, except what is derived from

Christ. The Apostles received their commission from him; by virtue of which they ordained others for the work of the ministry; and no man is intitled to assume a spiritual rule over others, unless he is empowered and sent by him in whose name he acts. All spiritual authority in the Church, therefore, must be conferred, either immediately by the Saviour or by delegation from him; and the right as well as the power to govern it must be derived from Him who is the supreme Head of it.

II. 1. Our blessed Lord has declared who the persons are whom he has delegated to this office; for, before his ascension, he invested the Apostles with the power to settle and govern the Church: "Go ye, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world," Matt. xxviii. 19, 20. He conveyed to them a similar power to that which he had received from the Father: "I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me," Luke xxii. 29. my Father hath sent me, even so send I you," John xx. 21; comp. ch. xvii. 17. No grant of authority can be expressed in more full and explicit terms; and it is very observable that no allusion whatever is made to miraculous powers. All the privileges here conveyed may be possessed and exercised by the ministers of

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Christ, without any supernatural endowment. The commission is to preach the Gospel, to proselyte the nations, to admit them into the Christian covenant by baptism, to teach them to observe all its conditions, and thus to order all things requisite for the establishment of Christ's kingdom upon earth. The gift of miracles was bestowed upon the Apostles at a subsequent period, on the memorable day of Pentecost; and however necessary to insure success in laying the foundation of the evangelical religion, and in the first propagation of it throughout the world, it formed no part of their ministerial office, nor was it indissolubly attached to the Apostolate. All the powers granted by their Lord's commission might have been executed, though doubtless at that period very imperfectly, if extraordinary gifts had not been vouchsafed to them.

So clear and indubitable is the distinction between the office of the Apostolate and the miraculous powers which accompanied it. These were bestowed upon a subsequent occasion, agreeably to Christ's promise, Luke xxiv. 49; Acts ii. 1., et seq.; but the power for the execution of their Apostolic office was granted by the commission given them by Christ to erect his visible Church. Invested with this ample authority, for the exercise of which they were afterwards endued with power from on high, they not only preached the Gospel, but arranged and settled the whole government of the Church.

They gave rules and regulations to its members, 1 Cor. vii. 17; xi. 34; 2 Thess. iii. 4. 10, 12; and enforced them with suitable punishments, 1 Cor. iv. 21; v. 2, et seq.; 2 Cor. ii. 2, 6, 9, 10; x. 6, 8; xiii. 2, 10; 2 Thess. iii. 6, 14; 1 Tim. i. 20. They instituted Divine worship, directed inferior ministers in the administration of it, retained the exclusive power of ordination, rebuked the teachers of error, expelled the contumacious, and in short exercised a general and supreme control over the whole Church.

This commission cannot be meant to be limited to the Apostles individually, for Christ's promise extends to the end of the world;neither can it be meant to apply to all Christians; for, if they were to be made governors of the Church, there could be no governed. But as some kind of government will be needed while the visible Church shall exist, and as the terms of the commission delegate it to those who are chosen to instruct the people in religion, and to administer the sacraments, this government must be invested in the ministerial order, and continued to them to the end of the world.

2. This conclusion is corroborated by the nature and peculiar character of Christ's kingdom upon earth. The Church, as we have seen, is a spiritual and independent society; its officers, therefore, must be spiritual persons, independent of the secular power. If laymen have jurisdiction over it; or if human authority can

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