And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, On a prohe gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them gress, probably in Galilee.
pretation is supported by the harmony. For it does not appear
that our Lord was followed by the multitudes to any very consi-
derable distance from their respective cities, (Matt. ix. 36.
compared with 35, and Mark vi. 6.) but that our Saviour's
compassion was excited for the people, whom he saw to be
grieved, for want of proper instruction, and scattered abroad
as sheep having no shepherd. To remove this spiritual dearth,
he gave the first commission to his Apostles, to proceed to the
house of Israel, and declare to them that their Messiah had
come; and to preach to them the kingdom of God. Our Lord
afterwards sent out the seventy, to prepare the people for
his reception; ordaining them to preach in those cities only
which himself intended to visit, Luke x. 1. whereas the Apostles
were commanded to preach to all the lost sheep of the house of
Israel.
The ordination of the Apostles to preach the kingdom of
God, leads us to consider the manner in which the Church
which Christ had come to establish, was to be perpetuated
among mankind until his coming again. The controversies
among Christians may be divided into those which relate to
discipline, and those which relate to doctrines; as the latter,
since the apostolic age, have not been supported by miracle, we
must conclude that some system or plan was provided, to main-
tain the doctrines of Christianity in their purity. The ques-
tion, therefore, what this system might have been; or, in other
words, what plan of Church government was instituted by our
Lord and his Apostles, cannot be esteemed unimportant.
The priesthood under the Mosaic economy was so publicly instituted, that its validity and divine origin were never disputed. The rebellion of Corah, Dathan, and Abiram, proceeded from envy, at its exclusive nature only; and though the kings in after ages innovated during the prevalence of idolatry, and made priests of the lowest, or, as it would be better rendered, of the common people, the line of the succession was considered sacred; and none were admitted into the order of the priesthood, or acknowledged as priests by the people, who could not trace their descent from the sacerdotal house of Aaron.
This regular succession of the priesthood on the part of the Jews, has been sometimes supposed to form an objection to the Christian dispensation. "If the Christian religion be true," it has been argued, "its priesthood would have been divinely appointed, and its succession rigorously observed. The whole Christian world, on the contrary, is divided on this point: and it is to be presumed, therefore, that the claims of that religion are at least dubious, in which the origin of the priesthood is so uncertain, and its various pretensions and orders so jarring, that they are equally ridiculed and despised." In reply, however, to these objections, I do not hesitate to assert, from an impartial consideration of the testimony, both of Scripture and antiquity, that the origin of the Christian priesthood is as evident as that of the Levitical-that its descent can be as distinctly traced-that its regular succession has been preservedand consequently, as it was at the beginning appointed by divine authority, it is entitled to the highest veneration, and to the devoted attachment of Christians.
The essential and immutable difference between the argu
Matt.x. 1. out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of On a prodisease.
ments that are adduced for the support of the Christian religion,
and those which are brought forward in defence of other systems,
consists in this. The Christian religion is founded upon the
evidence of actions, and undeniable facts, while every other
system depends upon theory alone. The speculations of the
philosophers of antiquity, the impositions of Mahomet, the re-
veries of the schoolmen, the inconsistencies of modern infide-
lity, the inventions and strange doctrines of various sects
among Christians, are all distinguishable from the fundamental
truths of Christianity. The conclusions of uninspired men, on
subjects of a religious nature, are generally founded upon ab-
stract reasoning; the truths of the Christian religion are so
identified with some well supported facts, that the belief of the
fact compels at the same time the reception of the doctrine.
The five principal doctrines which may be said to constitute
Christianity, and to comprise all its truths, and which are alike
uniformly supported by facts, as well as by abstract reasoning,
are, the doctrine of the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Atone-
ment, the Resurrection from the Dead, and the Establishment
of the Christian Church, as the means of perpetuating the
truth of these propositions to the world. The doctrine of the
Trinity is not only supported upon the general tenor of Scrip-
ture, as it may be collected from the fact that the inspired
writers assign the attributes of the Deity to the three persons
of the Godhead; but from the fact also that the voice came from
heaven, that the Holy Spirit, as a dove, hovered over the
Messiah, and that the Son of God was distinct from either of
those which bore witness to him. The Incarnation of Christ
was declared in prophecy, and was proved by the facts which
are recorded concerning his birth. The Atonement is proved
by the concurrence of all the types, and institutions of the
Jewish law, and the fact of Christ's death fufillling them all to
the uttermost. The Resurrection of the body was verified not
only by the fact of Christ's resurrection, but by the restoration
of the widow's son, and of Lazarus. The Establishment of a
Church in the world, was demonstrated by the fact of the pe-
culiar care with which our Lord collected disciples, selected a
certain number from among them-commissioned them to go
forth and preach-added others to their number with different
powers, and promised to be with them to the end, (not of the
age, as many translate the word) but to the end of the world.
The first establishment of the Christian Church is necessarily brought before us, then, by the subject of this section. The commission given to the twelve Apostles may be called the foundation of the Christian Church. The conduct of the Apostles in their ecclesiastical government, considered as a model, ought to be adopted by all Christians nations, who desire that Christianity should be preserved among themselves, or dispersed, and permanently continued, among others.
gress, probably in Galilee.
I have already attempted to prove that Jesus, the Messiah of the New Testament, was the incarnated Jehovah of the Old Testament. He was the Lord and Guide of the Patriarchal and Jewish Churches. He has uniformly been the religious legislator of mankind. He it was who walked with our first parents in the garden of Eden, and instituted sacrifice. When the world apostatized after the deluge, it was He who selected the family of Abraham. When the remembrance of their ancient
Now the names of the twelve apostles are these: The On a profirst, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his bro- gress, probably in ther; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Galilee.
religion began to be effaced from the minds of the Israelites,
it was the same Angel Jehovah, who guided them through the
Red Sea into the wilderness, and soon after promulgated the
law from Mount Sinai. It was He who ordained those minute
laws, those rigid observances, those ordinances respecting the
priesthood, and the whole framework of the ecclesiastical and
civil polity, which distinguished the Jews from all other na-
tions; and the very remnant of which, even to this day, unites
them in their long dispersion, and are the sacred pledges of
their eventual return. Cau we, then, for a moment, suppose
that this same Almighty Being, this manifested God of mankind,
should not be equally attentive, and provide equally for a still
more glorious dispensation; of which the other was only a type
and shadow. We have every reason to expect, that in the
Christian dispensation some care would have been taken for the
continual remembrance of the great truths and observances
which the condition of man required.
The revealed religion of God was perpetuated under the
Patriarchal and Levitical dispensations by human means.
Though religion was of divine origin, mankind was appointed
the guardians of its purity. The means which God ordained
for the preservation of his religion in the Patriarchal dispensa-
tion, was the setting apart the first-born of every family to
minister in his service; and conferring on the heads of the
tribes the spirit of prophecy. Adam, Seth, Enoch, Methuse-
lah, and the other fathers of the Patriarchal Church were thus
gifted. Noah and Shem, after the deluge, obtained the same
pre-eminence. There was always a body of men set apart for
the service of God. To enter into the proofs on this part of the
subject, which might be variously collected from Scripture,
ancient history, tradition, and the customs among the early
Pagan nations, whose idolatry was but a perversion of primæval
truth, would take us far beyond the limits of a note.
The same means of perpetuating religion, which prevailed among the patriarchal families, was continued by the divine Legislator among the people of Israel, with this alteration only, that one whole tribe was set apart for the service of God, instead of the first-born of every family. The office remained the same; the first-born were redeemed, in remembrance of their original dedication to God, and it was solemnly enacted, that no stranger, not of the seed of Aaron, should offer incense in the public worship. Every individual, of every family, was required to present the sacrifice of praise and prayer to God, and to comply with all the institutions of the law; while it was left to one selected tribe to perform all the public functions required in the temple worship.
Thus did the divine Legislator first impart to fallen man a revelation, and appoint means for its preservation. The incarnated Jehovah has now granted to his creatures the most perfect form of that same religion which began at the fall in Paradise: and human means also, under the blessing of the same God, must preserve among mankind the consolations of his holy Gospel.
Four forms of Church government are, in this our age, prevalent among Christians. Episcopacy, Papacy, Presbyterianism, and Independency. From the time of the Apostles till the present day, Episcopacy has been the most general Church government: and till the fifteenth century its apostolic origin was
Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the On a propublican; James the son of Alpheus; and Lebbeus, whose gress, prosurname was Thaddeus ;
never disputed. Till the beginning also of the seventh cen-
tury the supremacy of the Pope over all Christian Bishops
was quite unknown. Boniface III. received the first title
of Universal Bishop, from the Emperor Phocas, as a reward
for his subserviency and flattery to this basest of tyrants. With
the exception of the ambitious heretic, Aerius, who, as Bishop
Hall observes, was hooted not out of the Church only, but out.
of the cities, towns, and villages, for the opinions he main-
tained; and, with the exception of a few dubious expressions
of Jerome, which are inconsistent with other parts of his works,
Episcopacy prevailed, with the usurpation of Papacy alone, with-
out the least opposition, in every Christian Church throughout
the world, till Presbyterianism began to shew itself, under the
protection of the Reformer Calvin. When the corruptions pro-
duced by the supremacy of the Church of Rome, indicated the
necessity of a change, or reformation in Church government,
the Catholic Bishop of Geneva, Peter Balma, refusing to comply
with some proposed alteration, was expelled with his clergy from
that town. After the expulsion of the bishop, the two popular
preachers, Farrel and Viret, who had greatly contributed to
this measure, assumed the ecclesiastical and civil power. In
this state of things, Calvin, in his way from France to Stras-
burg, stopped at Geneva, and remained there at the invitation
of Farrel. He then, with his two colleagues, proposed a new
form of discipline, which he had lately invented; but the
people being dissatisfied with the severity of his laws, expelled
him, with his principal associates, from their town. At the
expiration of three years he was recalled, and proposed, and
finally established a system of government, never before either
known or practised, which is now distinguished by the name of
Presbyterianism. When he first introduced this system, he ex-
pressed his highest veneration for reformed Episcopacy; and
defended his innovations upon the plea of necessity. Beza, and
his other followers, gradually discontinued that mode of argu-
ment, and have sometimes asserted, in not very courteous lan-
guage, that Presbyterianism is of divine right. It is now estab-
lished in Scotland, where it was introduced by John Knox and
his coadjutors, who were the friends of the Reformer of Geneva.
Many of the exiles, who had fled to the continent in the reign
of the persecuting Mary, adopted the same system, and en-
deavoured, on their return to England, to complete, as they
supposed, the reformation in their own country, by recom-
mending and enforcing the presbyterian discipline. The la-
bours of Cartwright and others, however, were rendered inef-
fectual, at least in England, by the exertions and vigilance of
Whitgift, then Archbishop of Canterbuy, aided by the firmness
of Elizabeth.
This great Reformer, the talented heresiarch of Geneva, did
not anticipate the possible evils of his deviation from the con-
clusions, to which his brother reformers in England had arrived.
He erred only in proceeding to an opposite extreme from that
of the Church of Rome. His error in doctrine proceeded from
a systematizing spirit, attempting to comprehend those subjects
which humble men will shrink from, till their faculties are en-
larged by the knowledge of another state of being. His bitter-
ness and intolerance were the vices of his age. In all other
respects he was both a wise and a good man. In proposing his
Simon the Cannaanite; and Judas Iscariot, who also On a probetrayed him,
views to the world, he believed he was planting the tree of life.
He would have wept to have known that he had substituted the
upas of theological hatred, and controversy, and error, be-
neath whose poisonous influence so many fair Churches have
withered away. If he could have foreseen this result, he would
have united in the powerful sentiment of a father of the Church.
"Nothing so grieves the Spirit of God, as the causing divisions
in his Church; not even the blood of martyrdom can atone for
this crime."
ὀυδὲν γὰρ ὅυτω παροξύνει τον Θεὸν, ὡς ἐκκλησίαν διαιρεθῆναι
-εδὲ μαρτύριο αιμα ταύτην δύναται ἐξαλείφειν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν.
Chrys. Hom. XI. in Ephes. See the notes to Archbishop Law-
rence's Bampton Lectures, p. 340, 341, on the character of
Calvin.
After the original form of Church government had been thus boldly infringed upon, the minds of men became gradually reconciled to the innovation; and the gradation to the next difference became in comparison easy. The Presbyterian polity had taught the world, that the presbyters of the Church were all equal in authority; the next generation introduced another innovation, and discovered that if presbyters were equal, they were also independent of each other. Mr. Robert Brown, of Northampton, in the reign of Elizabeth, was the first who invented this system of Independency, which is totally without the remotest support from either Scripture or antiquity. The opinions of the Independents obtained great popularity in the subsequent reigns of James and Charles; and were espoused by many of the more energetic spirits of that turbulent period, till they gradually superseded the newly established Presbyterianism.
From the reception which was given by the community to these innovations on the Christian Priesthood, the last stage of its degradation was easy and natural. The office of teacher, the administration of the sacraments, the interpretation of Scripture, were, and still are, assumed at pleasure, by men of all ages, ranks, characters, and classes, without adequate preparation, responsibility, obedience, or authority. The civil law affords equal protection to all; and the public repose of the community renders this necessary: but the privilege which is allowed by the civil power, is mistaken for the liberty of the Gospel of God. Mutual candour is granted to mutual error, while every term of obloquy and reproach, which the proverbial bitterness of theological hatred can suggest; is unsparingly poured forth to stigmatize the supposed bigotry and illiberality of those, who assert the ancient, uniform, universal belief of the primitive Church; that the Christian Priest is subordinate to a higher order, to which alone was committed the government of the Church, and the power of ordaining and appointing ministers. The question is not one of human polity. It rests with us to enquire whether the lawgiver of the Christian dispensation has, or has not, revealed to his creatures, a model of Church government, to which it is the duty of every Christian Society to conform.
Should such a government be laid down in Scripture, it becomes at once obligatory upon all Christians. Time cannot destroy it, fashion cannot change it, opinion cannot prevail against it, nor the apostacy of nations invalidate it. No spe
gress, pro bably in Galilee.
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