commits cannot inherit the kingdom of God: and under the same name of bitter envying and strife, St. James deprecates the spirit of glorying and lying against the truth, and describes the source of confusion and of every evil work. St. Paul's notion of schism, as an infringement of ecclesiastical order, corresponds with the terms in which St. Jude refers to the gainsaying of Core, who disputed and opposed the authority of Aaron, and assumed to himself and to the congregation an equal degree of holiness". Awful was the punishment of Corah and his company, and its counterpart in the Christian Church was most severely reprobated by the Apostle expressly as a species of schism. "These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit." They are the same with the unrighteous persons, of whom St. Peter writes, that they walk in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government; presumptuous are they, self-willed; they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities 5."

By the communication of the state of particular Churches to the Apostles, and by their immediate interference in the correction of errors and abuses, an uniform order was preserved in the several Churches under their jurisdiction. The Apostolic letters were not addressed to single and detached, but to numerous congregations, under the charge of different ministers, and connected with each other by their common acknowledgment of the same Apostle or Ecclesiastical Governor. The second Epistle to the Co

James iii. 14, 16. d Jude 11. Numb. xvi. 3. Jude 19. 2 Peter ii. 10.

rinthians was addressed not only to the Church of God which was at Corinth, but to all the saints which were in all Achaia": that unto the Churches of Galatia', and probably that to the saints who were at Ephesus, and to all the faithful in Christ Jesus, were provincial, which may be the reason that no private salutations are annexed to them: that to the Colossians, and that to Laodicea, were circular, and to be read in the congregations at both places. The writer also uses a very different style in addressing the Churches, which he had himself converted, and those which had been converted by the ministry of others: in the latter the Apostolical authority is suppressed, or only insinuated; the censures and exhortations are distant and general; in the former the authority is openly asserted and maintained; ecclesiastical rules are enforced, and the neglect or observance of them is made the occasion of direct and unreserved censure or approbation. St. Paul commended the Corinthians, because they kept the ordinances which he had delivered unto them"; he exhorted the Thessalonians to be stedfast in keeping them"; and he rejoiced in beholding the order of the Colossians, and the regularity with which they celebrated the ordinances of the Church. These ordinances were delivered either by word, and by the personal ministry of the Apostle, when he was present with them; or by letter sent to them during his absence; or by the authority of persons whom he had deputed to visit them, and to set in order the things which were wanting. Of these ordinances it would be unreasonable to expect a full

h 2 Cor. i. 1. i Galat. i. 2. k Ephes. i. 1. iv. 16. m 1 Cor. xi. 2. n 2 Thess. ii. 13. iii. 6.

1 Coloss.

• Col. ii. 5.

and specific account in the relative circumstances of the Apostle, and of the Churches under his direction. It may however be collected, that they prescribed the celebration of the first day of the week, in the public congregation, with a collection for the relief of the saints '; the manner of celebrating the Supper of the Lord"; the order of the public ministrations'; the silence of women, and the dress of inen and women in the congregation'; the measure of relief which was due to widows"; the respect which was owing to ministers, and the relation which subsisted between them and the private inembers of the congregation. The instructions to Timothy concerning prayers, supplications, intercessions, and giving of thanks, compared with the Amen which followed the prophets' giving of thanks, with certain prayers of the Apostles, which they seen to have concurred in offering, and with the form in which our Saviour delivered his prayer to the Disciples ", in the entire absence of any contradictory evidence, render it not improbable that a premeditated Liturgy was in use in the Apostolic age. The few prayers which are preserved in the New Testament, are of a simple construction, resembling Collects, consisting of adoration and supplication, to which is added in one instance intercession, and occasionally a doxology. A form of baptism was certainly prescribed by the Lord, though there is no record of the Apostolical use of it and the form of administering the Eucharist was P 1 Cor. xvi. 1. q 1 Cor. xi. 23.

ii. 1.

1 Cor. xiv. 27-31.

1 Tim.

1 Cor. xiv. 34. t 1 Cor. xi. 4, 5. " 1 Tim. v. 4--10. y 1 Cor. xiv. 16. z Acts i. 24, 25. iv. 24, 30. a Luke xi. 2. b Matt. vi. 9-13. Luke xi. 2-4. Matt. xxvi. 39-42. Mark xiv. 36. Luke xxii. 42. John xi. 41, 42. xii. 27, 28. Acts i. 24, 25. iv. 24-30. c Matt. xxviii. 30,

proposed by him, and inaintained by St. Paul'. The one faith, the form of sound words, which Timothy had received, and was required to hold fast, and the stipulation of a good conscience, have been supposed to relate to a creed or summary of the Christian faith : and from the original word, in which St. Luke speaks of the instruction of Theophilus", and of Apollos', it would seem that catechising was an Apostolie institution. Such conclusions may appear to some more fanciful than solid; and it is conceded, that positive evidence is very deficient. It is however a plain record of ecclesiastical practice, that the disciples continued in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and of prayers; and it is an undoubted inference from the Apostolical Letters, that it belonged to the congregation not to make, but to observe, the ordinances of the Church, the regulation of which was the prerogative of the Apostles, which St. Paul jealously maintained even over spiritual persons, reserving to himself at some future period the disposition of ecclesiastical affairs, which required his superintendance, but of which either his absence or his other engagements would not allow an immediate determination. With the received order of the several Churches the Apostles themselves conformed; Peter during his abode at Antioch adopted the customs of the Gentiles, and ate with them '; and Paul, in his last visit at Jerusalem, followed the instruction of James and the Elders, and submitted to the Mosaic ritual, which they retainedTM.

24.

d Matt. xxvi. 27. Mark xiv. 22. Luke xxii. 19, 20. 1 Cor. xi. Eph. iv. 5. f. 2 Tim. i. 13.. 8 1 Peter iii. 21.

i. 4.

i Acts xviii. 25. k Acts ii. 42.

xxi. 18, 27.

h Luke

This uniformity, which prevailed in the several Apostolic districts, was extended throughout the whole kingdom of Christ, by the conferences of the Apostles, when they met together in an oecumenical council at Jerusalem. It has been denied, that these primitive the assemblies had the nature of a council, as persons assembled were rather ministers of a particular Church, than representatives of distinct and detached congregations. It is not necessary to invalidate this exception, so far as relates to the assembly of the Church on the election of Matthias", and the day of Pentecost, when the Church was exclusively Jewish, without any admission of Gentile converts. The complaint of the Grecians against the Hebrews P, which led to the election of the Seven Deacons, is the first regular intimation of a plurality of congregations under the Apostles, though before this period the disciples were too numerous to assemble in a single place. After the enlargement of the Ecclesiastical borders by the conversion of the Samaritans ; by Peter's commission to Cornelius', when he unlocked the gates of the kingdom of heaven to the Gentiles, and which was immediately followed by the establishment of a numerous Church at Antioch; and by the yet more comprehensive labours of St. Paul; the Apostles did not again assemble, but as a general Council; not indeed as deputies, for there was none who presumed to depute them, but as voluntary representatives of the Universal Church. The first general Council was held at Jerusalem, either on the report of the conversion of Samaria, or more probably on the reference from An