THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND 
 
 MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID 
 
THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH 
 
 IX r?:lation to 
 
 HITMAN EXPEDIENCE. 
 
I'CBLi-SHKU BV 
 
 :lehose and sons, cjlas 
 
 MACMILLAN AXD CO., LONDON AND NKW YORK. 
 London, .... Hamilton, Admns and Co. 
 Cambridge, . . . Macmillan and Boiiffs. 
 Edinburgh,. . . Douglas and Foulis. 
 
 MDCCCLXXXV, 
 
THE CHRISTIAN CHUECH 
 
 IN RELATIOX TO 
 
 HUMAN EXPERIENCE: 
 
 A TREATISE ON SOME ECCLESIASTICAL SUBJECTS, 
 
 VIEWED CHIEFLY WITH REFERENCE TO THE 
 
 FACTS OF HUMAN NATURE AND HISTORY. 
 
 BY 
 
 THOMAS DYKES, D.D. 
 
 GLASGOW : 
 
 JAMES MACLEHOSE & SONS, 
 
 ^ttbUskcrs ta thi ©ntberssitii. 
 
 1885. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Arciiive 
 
 in 2007 with funding from 
 
 IVIicrosoft Corporation 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/christianchurchiOOdykerich 
 

 PKEFACE. 
 
 The history of ecclesiastical opinion is largely that 
 of the maintenance of certain theories. The aim 
 of the ecclesiastic has very generally been, not 
 so much to ascertain what is in conformity with 
 the wants and experience of man, as to uphold 
 this or the other church-system. There is now, 
 however, a considerable change of opinion in this 
 respect. The view is widely and increasingly 
 held that matters belonging to the outward 
 manifestation of the religious life are to be con- 
 sidered rather in the light of their adaptation to 
 actual circumstances than in accordance with 
 theories. Instead of the belief, which was for- 
 merly prevalent, that all things relating to the 
 Christian Church have been fixed by express 
 divine appointment, it is a growing conviction 
 
 M813888 
 
vi Preface, 
 
 that ecclesiastical matters are to be judged of by 
 their tendency to fulfil the practical ends of reli- 
 gion, and to promote the good of man. 
 
 That this view of the principle which should 
 be applied to the determination of church ques- 
 tions is the true one is attempted to be shown in 
 some of the following pages. It is here men- 
 tioned, because it serves to explain the mode of 
 treatment which has been employed in reference 
 to the subjects which are discussed in this work. 
 The purpose of the wTiter has been to consider 
 these subjects mainly in relation to human na- 
 ture and human experience. For this reason, 
 the facts and views which belong to the past 
 times of the Church's history have, so far as 
 this could be done, been referred to. Ecclesi- 
 astical questions and difficulties form no excep- 
 tion to the truth of the wise man's saying, " The 
 thing that hath been, it is that which shall be." 
 The same problems which arise for solution in 
 the present have been dealt with in the past. 
 The tendencies which now run their course in 
 the Christian Church, and produce certain effects, 
 have appeared before, and with precisely the 
 same results. The forms of ecclesiastical corrup- 
 
Preface, vii 
 
 tion or error, which characterize the existing 
 state of Christianity, have been substantially 
 manifested in previous ages. It is obvious, 
 therefore, that the most reliable grounds for 
 forming a judgment in regard to points con- 
 nected with the Churcli are furnished by a 
 careful attention to the opinions and experiences 
 of former periods of history. 
 
 The writer is indeed aware that elements of 
 considerable difficulty are involved in not a few 
 of the points which he has discussed, and that, 
 notwithstanding all that may be said on them, 
 their determination must be left in large mea- 
 sure to the exercise of enlightened judgment ; 
 but he hopes that the following contributions to 
 the study of some important ecclesiastical sub- 
 jects may have the effect of putting some things 
 in a clearer light, and of affording aid to those 
 desirous of arriving at just conclusions. 
 
 Ayr, May, 1885. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 I>AGK 
 
 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH, - . . . 3 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 SACKRDOTALISM AND PURITANISM, - . . 41 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE SCRIPTURES AND ECCLESIASTICAL MATTERS, - 81 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 CHANGE AS AN ELEMENT IN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, 121 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 WORDS AND PHBASES CONNECTED WITH THE CHURCH, 157 
 
X Contents. 
 
 CHAPTEK VI. 
 
 CREEDS, 
 
 PAGE 
 
 197 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE PURITY OF THE CHURCH, 
 
 236 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 CONCLUSION, 
 
 271 
 
THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH 
 
 IN RELATION TO 
 
 HUMAN EXPERIENCE. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 THE UNITY OF THE CHUECH. 
 
" It is good we return unto the ancient bounds of unity iu 
 the Church of God, which was one faith, one baptism ; aiul 
 not one hierarchy, one discipline." — Lord Bacon. 
 
THE UNITY OF THE CHUECH. 
 
 The prayer of Christ in re<]:ar(l to His followers common 
 
 ^ -^ ^ view of 
 
 that they all might be one, and the various Suityf*" 
 references in the New Testament to the unity 
 of the Church, are very often understood as 
 implying that Christians are intended to be 
 united in one system of ecclesiastical polity. It 
 is believed by those who take this view that the 
 fact that there are differences among Christians 
 as regards their modes of government and wor- 
 ship is in direct opposition to the will of Christ. 
 That such a state of things exists is due, they 
 hold, entirely to the sinfulness of human nature. 
 Christ, it is argued, has authorized one, and 
 only one, system of church-order; but men, in 
 their wilfulness and perversity, have in many 
 instances forsaken the only divine ecclesiastical 
 
4 The Unity of the Church. 
 
 fold ; and never, until they return to it, can the 
 unity of the Church be realized, 
 itsimprac- When, howcver, the question is asked, ivhich 
 
 ticability. 
 
 system of ecclesiastical order is it that Christ 
 has sanctioned by His authority ? to vjhat form 
 of church polity does He give His exclusive 
 approval ? we find that those who maintain 
 the opinion that a uniform mode of government 
 and ritual is binding on all Christians are hope- 
 lessly at variance. While the uncompromising 
 upholder of Episcopacy tells us that the saving 
 influences of religion are to be enjoyed only 
 under the ministration of duly ordained bishops, 
 the Presbyterian and Congregationalist have often 
 insisted quite as strongly on the exclusive title of 
 their respective forms of government to the favour 
 of Heaven. Throughout all the divisions and 
 subdivisions which separate Christians ecclesias- 
 tically, the same high ground has been assumed 
 by every party in turn. For every mode of 
 religious organization it has been contended 
 that it, and it alone, is the type of polity which 
 possesses the divine sanction, and to which, 
 therefore, all believers in Christ are bound to 
 conform. 
 
The Unity of the Church. 5 
 
 Amidst this conflict of claims in support of t?»« o^^^^r 
 
 ^ ^ view. 
 
 the various forms of Church government, it has 
 been, on the other hand, maintained by not a 
 few that the controversy involves essential mis- 
 take ; that there is, in point of fact, no one mode 
 of ecclesiastical polity invested with the authority 
 of Christ, but that men may differ in their judg- 
 ment on this subject without transgressing any 
 Christian law. Those who hold this opinion take 
 the view which was expressed by one who, 
 after hearing a debate on the question whether 
 Presbytery or Episcopacy is the only divinely 
 authorized system, remarked that, in his judg- 
 ment, both sides claimed what neither possessed.^ 
 It is unreasonable to expect, say the maintainers 
 of this view, that all Christians throughout the 
 world should hold precisely the same forms of 
 government and ritual. In no other department 
 
 1 " In the beginning of 1645, commissioners from the 
 king (Charles I) met commissioners from the parliament 
 at Uxbridge, to try if it were possible to arrange a peace. 
 The competing claims of Episcopacy and Presbytery to a 
 divine right were debated till the nobles were heartily 
 tired ; and the Marquis of Hertford put an end to the 
 squabble by remarking that both claimed what he believed 
 neither possessed." Cunningham's Church History of 
 Scotland, vol. II. chap. iv. 
 
6 The Unity of the Church. 
 
 of social life is rigid uniformity regarded as 
 essential. There is no such thing in the ordinary- 
 experience of the world as unity without a large 
 measure of external variety. When men associ- 
 ate for the maintenance of any object of common 
 interest, they have their individual preferences as 
 to the means which should be employed, and the 
 modes in which expression should be given to 
 their design. Varieties of temperament, differ- 
 ences of intellectual tendency, local influences, 
 and such causes of diversified opinion, are so 
 fully recognized in the ordinary relations of 
 society that no one imagines that he will find 
 in the sphere of common life exact identity of 
 sentiment. We cannot with reason expect, it is 
 argued, that it should be otherwise as regards 
 religwus matters, and that there should be ab- 
 solute uniformity of judgment and usage in 
 respect to them, any more than with reference to 
 other subjects, 
 oniyliew While this, as it seems to us, is the only view 
 with human cousistcut cithcr With Scripturc or with reason, 
 
 nature. *■ 
 
 and while we believe that tliose who maintain 
 that there is only one type of church polity, to 
 which all Christians must adhere, advocate a 
 
 This the 
 
The Unity of the Church. 7 
 
 doctrine opposed to the teachings of Christianity 
 and the conditions of human nature, we by no 
 means assert that all the differences which 
 prevail in reference to ecclesiastical matters are 
 justifiable. On the contrary, there can be no 
 doubt that human sinfulness has had much to 
 do with them. The influence of party spirit, 
 and of extreme and unreasonable notions, has 
 had a large share in producing the divisions 
 which exist among Christian people. But, ad- 
 mitting this, it is a great mistake to ignore the 
 fact that there are, independently altogether of 
 such causes, those natural diversities of taste and 
 disposition which make it impossible that the 
 same mode of polity or worship can be suitable 
 to all minds. As men are not cast in the 
 same spiritual mould, nor exposed to the influ- 
 ence of the same circumstances and habits, there 
 are sources of diversity which cannot but operate 
 in reference to religion, quite apart from the 
 differences that are traceable to infirmity of 
 character. 
 
 In saying that the unity of the Christian J"ou/uuity 
 
 . Ill preaupposoH 
 
 Church can be rationally understood only when voluntari- 
 ness, 
 
 we regard it as consistent with a large measure 
 
8 The Unity of the Church. 
 
 of variety in matters of form and detail, it is of 
 course presupposed that Christians are left free 
 from external constraint ; for it is a necessary 
 condition of all real unity that it should be 
 voluntary. The forcible exercise of outward 
 authority, or the influence of spiritual despotism, 
 may have sufficient power within the circle over 
 which they rule to suppress liberty of thought, 
 and by this means to create an almost entire 
 sameness of religious belief and form. But this 
 is not religious unity in the true sense of the 
 term. Christians cannot be made " one " in the 
 sense in which Christ intended His followers to 
 be one, by surrendering their right to think, and 
 giving themselves up blindly to the control of a 
 human authority, who dictates to them whatever 
 they are to believe and do. The effect, no doubt, 
 when a multitude of persons all agree to accept 
 such an authority as an absolute guide, is to 
 produce identity of opinion. But it is identity 
 of opinion arising from the fact that they do not 
 exercise their own judgment. When the Churcli 
 of Eome points to the unity which binds her 
 communion together as presenting a contrast to 
 the condition of Protestantism, the obvious reply 
 
The Unity of the Church. 9 
 
 is that a Church whicli prevents the exercise of 
 freedom of thought among her members must 
 always be more united after a sort than a religi- 
 ous society which permits inquiry and discussion ; 
 but that the agreement which is brought about 
 by such means is not true unity. If concord is 
 secured at the expense of mental life and freedom, 
 it is the reverse of a benefit. Division of opinion 
 is infinitely better than extinction of spiritual 
 liberty. 
 
 The principle, then, for which we contend as Therefore 
 
 diversity 
 
 furnishing the true idea of Christian unity is even wwe 
 that of agreement as regards all that is essential substantial 
 
 agreement, 
 
 in religion ; while, on the other hand, many and 
 wide differences must be expected among Christian 
 people as respects non-essential matters. And 
 in the latter class must be placed distinctions 
 which relate to forms of government and worship. 
 Questions connected with these subjects have 
 been, and often are, discussed with as much 
 keenness as if the existence of Christianity de- 
 pended on them. But there can be no mistake 
 more subversive of the true design of Christianity 
 than to confound with the essence of faith and 
 truth those things which have to do merely with 
 
10 The Unity of the Church. 
 
 external order. Nothing, perhaps, was ever more 
 forcibly and truly expressed on this subject than 
 the following words which were written by one 
 who lived amidst the fierce ecclesiastical strife of 
 the seventeenth century, but whose statement is 
 A statement not inapplicable to later times : — " As for the 
 
 regarding ^ ^ 
 
 cSdiffS'" Popish clergymen, hold what you will, if you 
 
 ences. 
 
 hold not the supremacy of the Pope, all the rest 
 of your religion is not worth a rush. Come to 
 the Episcopal clergy ; if you acknowledge not 
 episcopal government, if you submit not to the 
 liturgy, and ceremonies, and vestments, and 
 music used in the Church, you are at best a 
 schismatic. Again, come to the Presbyterian 
 clergy ; they will tell you that episcopal govern- 
 ment is Eomish and superstitious, and their 
 ceremonies and usages anti-christian usurpation ; 
 but, if you mean to be of a warrantable religion, 
 you must submit to the presbyterian government 
 as truly apostolical. Come to the Independent ; 
 he declaims against both the former, and tells 
 you that the true conformity to apostolical order 
 is the congregational way. Take the Anabaptist ; 
 and he tells you that all the former are vain and 
 irreligious, iniless you will be rebaptized and 
 
The Uniity of the Church. 11 
 
 listed in his Church. It is a pitiful thing to 
 see men run upon this mistake. Every man 
 measures the religion or iiTeligion of another by 
 their agreeing or dissenting with them in these 
 or the like matters ; and at best, while we 
 scramble and wrangle about the pieces of the 
 shell, the kernel is lost. Believe it, rehgion is 
 quite another thing from all these matters. He 
 that fears the Lord of heaven and earth, walks 
 humbly before Him, thankfully lays hold of the 
 message of redemption by Christ Jesus, strives to 
 express his thankfulness by the sincerity of his 
 obedience, is true in his promise, just in his 
 actions, charitable to the poor, sincere in his 
 devotions, that will not deliberately dishonour 
 God, that hath his hope in heaven, and his 
 conversation in heaven : such a man, whether 
 he be an Episcopalian, or a Presbyterian, or an 
 Independent, or an Anabaptist ; wiiether he 
 wears a surplice, or wears none ; whether he 
 hears organs, or hears none ; whether he kneels 
 at the communion, or for conscience' sake stands, 
 or sits, he hath the life of religion in him. On 
 the other side, if a man fears not the eternal 
 God, dares commit any sin witli presumption. 
 
12 The Unity of the Church. 
 
 can drink excessively, swear vainly or falsely, 
 commit adultery, lie, cheat, break his promises, 
 live loosely ; though he practise every ceremony 
 never so curiously, or as stubbornly oppose them ; 
 though he cry down bishops, or cry down pres- 
 bytery ; though he be rebaptized every day, or 
 declaim against it as heresy ; though he fast all 
 the Lent, or feast out of pretence of avoiding 
 superstition, yet, notwithstanding all these, he 
 wants the life of religion." ^ 
 rS^lfsfor -"-^ ^^^^ preface to this testimony, Eichard 
 <3iurch^"^ Baxter tells us, from personal knowledge of its 
 author, that he preferred episcopacy before all 
 other forms of church government, but without 
 superstitious attachment to it. The truth is that 
 the sentiments expressed in the above words are 
 only such as those wlio hold moderate ecclesiasti- 
 cal views may consistently subscribe to, whatever 
 
 * The Judgement of tlie late Lord Chief Justice, Sir 
 Mattliew Hale, of the Nature of True Religion, the Causes 
 of its Corruption, and the Churches' calamity, by Men's 
 Additions and Violences, with the Desired Cure. Humbly 
 dedicated to the Honourable Judges, and Learned Law- 
 yers, who knew and honoured the Author, by the faithful 
 publislier Richard Baxter. London, 1684. Printed forB. 
 Simmons, at the Three Cocks, near the West End of St. 
 Paul's Church. 
 
 matters. 
 
The Unity of the Church. 13 
 
 their personal preferences in respect of church 
 polity. Wliile one holds that this or the other 
 form of ecclesiastical government or worship is, 
 for him at least, the best, there is no reason why 
 he should insist on its being the only form to be 
 adopted by others. There are the strongest possi- 
 ble reasons for the widest latitude in regard to 
 these matters. They do not involve the substance 
 of Christianity. Unity in everything that is fund- 
 amental in religion may co-exist with a large 
 measure of variety in the external details of order 
 and ritual ; and any attempt that can be made to 
 prevent the divergent tendencies of human nature 
 from having reasonable scope in respect to such 
 things can only end in injury to religion itself. 
 And, while the history of the Christian Church 
 presents us with a terrible record of conflict be- 
 tween opposing ecclesiastical parties ; Prelate and 
 Presbyter, Nonconformist and Churchman, and 
 supporters of each various system, denouncing as 
 fatally in error those who differ from them ; there 
 have always been, as we have said, men adhering 
 to the different modes of polity, who, like the 
 writer whom we have quoted, have pled for wider 
 views, — who have urged that, in relation to mat- 
 
14 The Unity of the Church. 
 
 ters of form, and of subordinate importance, there 
 
 ought to be every allowance in the Church of 
 
 Th.is.*" Christ for diversity of opinion. It was to this 
 
 opinion sup- "^ ^ 
 
 many^of all liberal vicw that the judgment of the Protestant 
 
 parties. 
 
 Eeformers consistently led, imperfectly as they 
 sometimes carried out its spirit.^ It is the 
 opinion set forth by Lord Bacon as the fruit of 
 lengthened study of Scripture. ^ The greatest 
 English writer on ecclesiastical polity supplies, 
 as we shall afterwards see, when we come to 
 treat of his opinions, much powerful argument in 
 support of liberty in matters of church order.^ 
 Richard Baxter sought to unite the contending 
 ecclesiastical parties of his day on a basis of 
 mutual toleration. Archbishop Leigh ton, who 
 also vainly attempted the same task in a different 
 sphere, expressed the guiding principle of his life 
 in the words — '■ The mode of church govern- 
 
 ^ The opinions of tlie leading Reformers in regard to 
 the grounds of ecclesiastical polity will be found in Chapter 
 III. 
 
 ^ Tlie Pacification of the Church of England. The 
 passage is quoted in Chapter III. 
 
 3 Hooker's Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity. His views 
 as bearing on the foundation of ecclesiastical order, will 
 also be found in Chapter III. 
 
I 
 
 The Unity of the Church. 15 
 
 ment is immaterial ; but peace and concord, kind- 
 ness and goodwill are indispensable." ^ The 
 leading Independents of the time of the Conmion- 
 wealth advocated latitude in regard to church 
 matters. " I hope for a time," says John Howe, 
 " when Christianity will be the religion of the 
 world. While it is cramped, it will never grow. 
 I do not hope it will prevail in the world by having 
 all the world reduced to the model of this or that 
 party. How absurdly arrogant would he be that 
 should pray that all the world might be of one 
 mind by being all brought to be precisely of his 
 mind ! When I see truly catholic Christianity 
 coming into repute ; when the great things of re- 
 ligion do more engage men's minds, and they cease 
 to magnify trifles ; when the love of God comes 
 to govern the Christian Church, and reign in the 
 hearts of men; then will the Kingdom of God 
 come with power." ^ 
 
 Such are some instances — instances which 
 might easily be multiplied — of prominent and 
 thoughtful men belonging to different ecclesiasti- 
 
 ^ Pearson's Life of Archbishop Leighton. 
 2 Some Consideration of a Preface to an Enquiry con- 
 cerning the Occasional Conformity of Dissenters. 
 
16 The Unity of the Church. 
 
 cal parties, who have been ready to recognize the 
 principle of freedom as an element of true re- 
 ligious unity, 
 scriptur^on ^hc qucstion which has next to be considered 
 is, how far this view accords with the representa- 
 tions of Scripture on the subject of the unity of 
 the Church ? Now, when we refer to the teach- 
 ings of Christ himself, we find that he never en- 
 joins any one form of ecclesiastical government, or 
 any fixed mode of worship, as the means of secur- 
 ing unity among his followers. His prayer in be- 
 half of those who believe in Him, that " they all 
 may be one, as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in 
 Thee, that they also may be one in Us ; that the 
 world may believe that Thou hast sent Me," ^ 
 manifestly contemplates a spiritual, rather than a 
 formal, bond of union. It is a prayer which far 
 transcends the mere outward and mechanical con- 
 ception of unity. The nature of the agreement to 
 which it refers is such as consists in mutual love, 
 and in fellowship of spirit and character. ^ Nor 
 
 ^ John xvii. 21. 
 
 2 As regards our Lord's declaration in John x. 16, 
 which is given in the Authorized Version as, " There shall 
 be one fold, and one shepherd," an important change is 
 made by the true translation, which is supplied by the 
 
The Unity of the Church. 17 
 
 are the statements of the Apostles on the subject 
 of Christian unity less clearly distinguished by 
 the same large and spiritual views. In thosc3 
 figurative representations which they employ to 
 illustrate this subject; in which the Church is 
 compared to a building joined together by the con- 
 nection of its various parts with one foundation,^ 
 to a body the members of which are united by 
 a common principle of life,^ to a family of which 
 God is the Father;^ the meaning evidently in- 
 tended to be conveyed is that all Christians are 
 one in virtue of their vital relationship to Christ. 
 That is the view which these representations give 
 of the unity of Christians ; and not that it con- 
 sists in their being combined in a uniform system 
 of organization. And, moreover, the spirituality 
 of the terms which are constantly used in the 
 Apostolic writings, when the subject of the union 
 of believers in Christ is spoken of, emphatically 
 indicates the same thing. Thus the unity which 
 
 Revised Version — "They shall become one Jlock, one shep- 
 lierd." What is meant, says Alford, is " not one fold, but 
 one flock; no one exclusive enclosure of an outward Church, 
 but one flock, all knowing the one Shepherd, and known 
 of Him." 
 
 1 Eph. ii. 20 ; 1 Pet. ii. 4. 2 j Q^r. xii. 12 ; Col. ii. 19. 
 
 » Eph. ii. 19 ; Gal. vi. 10. 
 B 
 
18 Tlce Unity of the Church. 
 
 Christians are exhorted to keep is described as 
 " unity of the Spirit," ^ and as " the unity of the 
 faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God." ^ 
 " In one Spirit," it is said, "were we all baptised 
 into one body, and were all made to drink of one 
 Spirit." ^ " Ye are all one," it is also declared, 
 "in Christ Jesus."* When St. Paul particular- 
 izes the elements which he regards as constituting 
 the unity of Christians, he does not represent uni- 
 formity of external order and government as the 
 bond of connection. His words have a much 
 more wide and comprehensive scope. He says : 
 " There is one body, and one Spirit, even as also ye 
 were called in one hope of your calling ; one 
 Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father 
 of all, who is over all, and through all, and in 
 aU." 5 
 Thctesti- Wc are very far from arguing that the teach- 
 
 mony of 
 
 advera^^^to ^^o ^^ Christ and the Apostles affords any en- 
 reiigion to a couragcmcnt to the view of those who are 
 
 single out- 
 ward typo, inclined to disparage the importance of the 
 
 external institutions and ordinances of the Cliris- 
 
 tian Church. So far as these minister to the 
 
 » Eph. iv. 3. 2 Eph. iv. 13. M Cor xii. 13. 
 
 ■»Gal. iii.28. = Eph. iv. 4-6. 
 
The Unity of the Church. 19 
 
 preservation of the order and seemliness which 
 should characterize Christian work and worship, 
 they fulfil an office of essential moment. We 
 cannot do without government and discipline 
 in the Church any more than we can dispense 
 with them in the regulation of the every-day 
 affairs of social life. But our argument from 
 the teaching of Christ and the Apostles is, that 
 it is opposed to the ecclesiastical exclusiveness 
 that would confine religion to one type of 
 polity. It gives supreme prominence to the 
 spiritual and moral elements of religion, and not 
 to the outward mode in which these are mani- 
 fested. It inculcates as all-important that men 
 should believe the truth and live a Christian 
 life, while to external matters it assigns a 
 place altogether subordinate. " The holy Church 
 throughout all the world" is not, according to 
 the descriptions of the New Testament, this or the 
 other outward organization. Its distinguishing 
 features are faith, and love, and goodness. Where 
 these exist Christianity exists, whatever may be 
 the ecclesiastical distinctions with which it is 
 connected. And thus, important as external 
 systems and institutions are, the Scriptural idea 
 
20 The Unity of the Church. 
 
 of the Christian society is wider than any of 
 them. It is wide enough to embrace all faithful 
 ser\'ants of Christ everywhere. 
 Protestant- \% may bc lustlv claimed for this view of 
 
 ism also ad- «' tj o 
 
 eldusive*"^ the Unity of the Christian Church, which is 
 
 type of 
 
 polity. opposed to identifying it exclusively with any 
 special form of ecclesiastical order, that it alone 
 is in accordance with the principle of spiritual 
 freedom asserted in Protestantism. For, if 
 liberty of judgment in matters of religion is 
 to be allowed for as an element in the existence 
 of the Christian Church, it is manifest that di- 
 versity must be expected in the modes in which 
 ecclesiastical life is developed. It is inconsistent 
 and absurd to suppose that men are to exercise 
 freedom of thought and conscience, and, at the 
 same time, are to be confined within the limits 
 of a uniform system. Eeligious liberty cannot 
 be had without varieties of religious form. The 
 Reformers themselves realized this only in part. 
 It happened with them, as commonly happens with 
 men who bring newly to light a truth which 
 is generally unrecognized. They saw clearl}' 
 enough the unspeakable value of religious liberty ; 
 but they failed to apprehend with equal clear- 
 
The Unity of the Church. 21 
 
 ness the results which their claim to its possession 
 legitimately involved. They looked at it from 
 the point of view of their relation to the Church 
 of Kome, without sufficiently remembering that 
 it had a much more general bearing, — that the 
 freedom of judgment which Protestants con- 
 tended for in relation to that Church, they were 
 also bound to concede to it, and to each other. 
 But, however much of failure there was practi- 
 cally on the part of the Reformers to maintain 
 the liberality of view in regard to ecclesiastical 
 matters, which was the proper result of their 
 position, the early confessions of Protestantism 
 express conceptions of the Church of Christ 
 which are characterized by great breadth and 
 spirituality. The following are some of their Testimony 
 
 ^ "^ o . of the early 
 
 representations — " The Church is the congrega- confSSns. 
 tion of saints, the assembly of all believers, in 
 which the gospel is rightly taught, and the sacra- 
 ments are rightly administered. And unto the 
 true unity of the Church it is sufficient to agree 
 concerning the gospel and the administration 
 of the sacraments. Nor is it necessary that 
 human traditions, rites, or ceremonies instituted 
 by man should be alike everywhere ; as St. Paul 
 
22 The Unity of the Church. 
 
 saith, There is one faith, one baptism, one God 
 and Father of all." ^ " The Church is not merely 
 a society of external matters and ceremonies, 
 like other communities ; but it is chiefly a society 
 of faith, and of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of 
 men ; which, however, has outward marks by 
 which it can be recognized, namely, the pure 
 teaching of the gospel, and the administration of 
 the sacraments in accordance with the gospel of 
 Christ." 2 "We believe in one holy Christian 
 Church, that is, the fellowship of the saints, the 
 congTegation of spiritual believers, which is holy, 
 and the bride of Christ, in which all are citizens 
 who confess truly that Jesus Christ is the Lamb 
 of God, and approve that faith by works." ^ "We 
 believe in one catholic or universal Church, which 
 
 1 The Augsburg Confession, 1530. This confession 
 was prepared by Melanchthon. In quoting from this and 
 other creeds, both here and in subsequent chapters, refer- 
 ence has been made to the texts of Niemeyer, Winer, and 
 Schaff. 
 
 2 The Apology of the Augsburg Confession, 1530 ; 
 also the work of Melanchthon. 
 
 * The Confession of Basle, 1534, which was among the 
 earliest of the Swiss confessions, and was prepared by 
 Qi^colompadius and Myconius, who were associated with 
 Zwingle hi the Reformation movement. 
 
The Unity of the Church. 23 
 
 is a holy congregation or assembly of all truly 
 faithful Christians, who expect their whole salva- 
 tion in Jesus Christ alone, having been washed 
 in His blood, and sanctified and sealed through 
 His Spirit. This holy Church is not situated 
 or confined in a certain place, neither is it bound 
 to certain and special persons, but is spread and 
 diffused throughout the whole world ; and yet is 
 joined and united with heart and will by the 
 power of faith in one and the same spirit." ^ 
 " The truth and unity of the Church consists, 
 not in ceremonies and external rites, but rather 
 in the truth and unity of the catholic faith. The 
 catholic faith has not been delivered to us in 
 human laws, but in Divine Scripture, and its 
 compendium is the Apostles' Creed." ^ 
 
 These truly catholic declarations of early causes of 
 
 the depar- 
 
 Protestantism are in singular contrast to the Jiu^o^Pro- 
 condition of things which became prevalent later ^riiest* 
 
 views. 
 
 on in the history of Protestantism. At a later 
 
 1 The Belgic Confession, 1561. This was the original 
 Protestant symbol of the Netherlands, and is still recog- 
 nized by the Keformed Churches in Holland and Belgium. 
 
 2 The Second Helvetic Confession, 1566 ; a Swiss confes- 
 sion of a somewhat later period than that of Basle ; the work 
 of BuUinger, the pupil, friend, and successor, of Zwingle. 
 
 i 
 
24 The Unity of the Church. 
 
 period, as we have seen, so far from the Church 
 being regarded as, in the language of the Apology 
 for the Confession of Augsburg, " chiefly a society 
 of faith and of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of 
 men, and not of external matters," it was dealt 
 with as involving questions of outward polity 
 most of all. Supreme prominence came to be 
 given to distinctions of form. The divine stand- 
 ing of a Christian society came to be discussed 
 as depending mainly or entirely on the nature 
 of its government and the ritual which it used. 
 This growth of narrower views affords an instance 
 of what is not at all exceptional in the history 
 of religion. Wide and spiritual ideas of truth 
 often become contracted with lapse of time. The 
 effect of tradition frequently is to render more 
 prominent the merely literal and outward ele- 
 ments of truth, while its living spirit is less and 
 less regarded. But, while the change from the 
 wider views, which were characteristic of the 
 earliest age of Protestantism, to those contracted 
 and exclusive notions of church matters that 
 belong to a later time, is to be explained mainly 
 by this general cause, there is also reason, we 
 think, to connect it with a distinction which was 
 
The Unity of the Church, 25 
 
 introduced by Protestant theologians at an early 
 date. We refer to the distinction between the 
 Church " visible," and the Church " invisible." 
 When understood in a certain sense these terms 
 serve to indicate a fact relating to the Christian 
 Church, which is of mucli practical importance.^ 
 The phraseology does not seem, however, very 
 well-chosen, even for the purpose of representing 
 this fact ; and it is certainly liable to convey 
 a false impression. For, when the Church of 
 Christ, in the largest and fullest sense of the 
 term, — the Church which includes all true ser- 
 vants of Christ, and whose bond of union is of 
 a spiritual nature, consisting in faith and the 
 Christian life, — is described as "invisible," the 
 natural effect of the epithet is to convey the 
 idea that it belongs to the region of dim abstrac- 
 tion, and has little or nothing to do with the 
 practical purposes of religion. And, on the 
 other hand, when the Church as an external 
 organization, constituted of outward forms and 
 ordinances, is designated as the " visible " em- 
 
 iThe true and original sense of this distinction will 
 be found in the remarks on ecclesiastical phraseology in 
 Chapter V. 
 
26 The Unity of the Church. 
 
 bodiment of religion, the equally natural result 
 is to give the impression that it alone is of 
 practical interest or importance. Such we be- 
 lieve to have been the false idea which this 
 phraseology encouraged. It helped to bring the 
 merely external matters of religion too promi- 
 nently into the foreground, while it tended to 
 depreciate its spiritual elements. Its tendency 
 in this respect is precisely the opposite of what 
 the representations of the New Testament con- 
 vey. For these emphatically describe the Church 
 of Christ as first of aU, and supremely based on 
 common principles of faith and righteousness ; 
 and only subordinately, and in a far inferior 
 degree, as depending on external order. The 
 language of the distinction to which we are re- 
 ferring has tended to foster an opinion the very 
 reverse of this. 
 
 Prominence It mav bc thought that, in attributing the pro- 
 given to the '' & ' o r 
 
 thfJisiWe duction of those narrower views which became 
 
 Church sub- 
 sequent to developed in the history of Protestantism to the 
 
 the Refor- ^ •' 
 
 mation age. j^fluence, in somc measure, of this phrase, we are 
 assigning more than its due importance to the 
 effect of a verbal distinction. It is, however, a 
 historical fact that, in the age succeeding the 
 
The Unity of the Church. 27 
 
 Reformation, the merely external conception of 
 the Church gradually acquired a prominence 
 which endea in its overshadowing those more 
 wide and spiritual views which had been held in 
 the earliest period of Protestantism; and that 
 this departure connected itself with the import- 
 ance given to the dogma of the "Visible Church." 
 It became the all-absorbing ecclesiastical idea to 
 establish a Kingdom of Christ on earth, which 
 was to be the embodiment of religious truth and 
 life — to set up a visible society of Christians, to 
 which all believers in Christ must belong. Under 
 the influence of this idea, such larger and more 
 tolerant sentiments in regard to the Church as 
 had been entertained at first receded into the 
 background, and it became the great object with 
 each ecclesiastical party to prove that it was the 
 sole heaven -appointed communion. Hence the 
 most narrow and exclusive claims were advanced 
 on every side. 
 
 Let us now briefly recall the conclusions 
 to which the preceding observations have led 
 us regarding the unity of the Christian 
 Church : — 
 
 We have, first of all, seen that the theory of gJ^P^^"^- 
 
28 The Unity of the Church. 
 
 Christian unity, which accepts it as essential 
 that all Christians should be united in one ex- 
 ternal form of polity, is not in accordance with 
 human nature. There are, we have endeavoured 
 to point out, such marked diversities inherent in 
 human nature that nothing else can reasonably 
 be expected than that the religious life should 
 assume a variety of outward modes. We liave 
 also argued that questions affecting ecclesiastical 
 order and forms of worship, though they have 
 been largely treated as if they are of transcendent 
 importance, do not really belong to the essence of 
 Christianity ; and that, therefore, it is well that 
 they should be judged of in a spirit of freedom, 
 and that it should not be attempted to bind men 
 down to uniformity in reference to them. This, 
 we have shown, is the view which has been main- 
 tained by many leading men of different ecclesias- 
 tical parties. It has also been pointed out that 
 the testimony of Scripture is in the same direction 
 — that the idea of unity which Christ and the 
 Apostles describe is not that of identity of polity 
 and form, but that of fellowship in faith and 
 righteousness. And we have argued further 
 that the principle of spiritual liberty asserted 
 
The Unity of the Church. 29 
 
 in Protestantism is necessarily adverse to rigid 
 uniformity in religious matters. 
 
 To the view of Christian unity, which we have objection 
 
 •' ' that forego- 
 
 thus endeavoured to advocate, an objection is lend^it^ 
 
 encourage 
 
 made, which will now have to be considered. It division, 
 is argued that the latitude which this view would 
 give to diversities of opinion in religious things, 
 and the non-essential character which it attri- 
 butes to matters of church government and ritual, 
 must tend to encourage division in the Christian 
 Church. Once admit, it is said, that differences 
 may exist as regards forms of ecclesiastical polity 
 and external observances without any violation of 
 the divine will, and you must be prepared to 
 expect all sorts of religious separations to be 
 defended as legitimate. But there is a two -fold 
 answer to this objection. In the first place, no 
 principle, however true in itself, can be secured 
 against the possibility of abuse. The possession 
 of freedom, whatever may be the sphere of human 
 action in which it is enjoyed, will always lead, 
 more or less, to extremes. And, therefore, it is 
 not a just objection to the opinion of those who 
 are in favour of latitude as respects church 
 matters, to urge that it may be carried to excess. 
 
30 The Unity of the Church. 
 
 But there is another and more conclusive reply 
 to this objection. Instead of a liberal view of 
 differences of Christian opinion tending to pro- 
 duce divisions in the Christian Church, it is from 
 the opposite cause, in great measure, that separa- 
 tion and dissension have resulted. Those who 
 have produced the worst excesses of ecclesiastical 
 disunion are those who have insisted on an im- 
 practicable exactness of agreement, not those who 
 have been disposed to allow freedom. The stern 
 denouncer of all deviations from a single type of 
 church polity as sinful is really — while he sup- 
 poses that he is conserving the unity of the 
 Church — doing the very thing which produces 
 Division and embitters division. When the endeavour is 
 
 largely pro- 
 
 mlrei^J- niade to limit religion within too narrow boun- 
 tionto daries, and to deny to it that liberty to differ, 
 
 religious 
 
 differences, ^^ich is but reasonable, the necessary result is 
 to cause separation and conflict. Thus; to revert 
 once more to a period in the history of the 
 Church, which is memorable for the intensity of 
 its ecclesiastical differences ; the state of matters 
 in the seventeenth century is strikingly illustra- 
 tive of the tendency of too rigid notions of the 
 unity of Christians to create division. The idea 
 
The Unity of the Church. 31 
 
 of the age was that all Christians are bound to 
 conform to one mode of church polity. There 
 is but one ecclesiastical system, it was held, 
 which has the divine sanction ; and, unless men 
 adhere to it, they are guilty of heinous sin. 
 What was the effect ? Not certainly to prevent 
 religious divisions. The result, on tlie contrary, 
 was to multiply them. The author of the 
 " Liberty of Prophesying " gives us a picture of 
 this age, which is coloured to a certain extent, no 
 doubt, by satirical humour ; but which may be 
 taken, at the same time, as representing with 
 only too much truth the religious condition of 
 things. He describes 500 sects as all condemn- 
 ing each other — each one denouncing all the 
 rest, and itself treated in the same manner by 
 the remaining 499.^ Thus it is that the narrow- 
 ness which seeks to prevent the existence of 
 differences within the limits of the Christian 
 Church only leads to division and discord. 
 And, on the other hand, nothing can tend 
 more effectually to produce reasonableness and 
 moderation in regard to the things in which 
 
 1 Jeremy Tayloi-'s Liberty of Prophesying. The 
 Epistle Dedicatory. 
 
32 The Unity of the Church. 
 
 Christians differ than the recognition of the fact 
 that the existence of diversity of opinion is 
 inevitable, and that there is room enough 
 for it without sacrificing anything of essential 
 unity. 
 Advantages Thcsc obscrvatlons serve to indicate in what 
 
 of an exter- 
 
 rsHcaruuity dircctiou a remedy is to be sought for the evils 
 oveiTatcd. w^hich are connected with ecclesiastical divisions. 
 The cure lies rather in the growth of a spirit of 
 moderation than in any re-arrangement of the 
 outward conditions of Christianity. There are 
 many who think that the greatest possible efforts 
 should be made to bring men of different com- 
 munions to abandon their position of separation 
 from each other, and become united in one or- 
 ganization. Their view is that this would con- 
 stitute, if it could be accomplished, the most 
 desirable and delightful of all consummations. 
 But the worth of a movement of this kind is 
 often greatly overrated. The real value of an 
 amalgamation of the divided elements of the 
 ecclesiastical world depends mainly on the nature 
 of the causes which bring it about. If it is the 
 natural growth of larger and truer Christian feel- 
 ing, and is produced by wider views and synipa- 
 
The Unity of the Church. 33 
 
 tides, well and good. But, if it is the result of 
 ({uite other causes, if it arises from motives 
 which partake rather of policy than of Christian- 
 ity, it can hardly be said to be a gain to the 
 interests of religion. Schemes of ecclesiastical 
 comprehension have been often tried, but they 
 have not yielded the fruits which were expected 
 by their enthusiastic supporters. The principle 
 involved in them is not one that is adequate to 
 meet the state of the case. For the mere ex- 
 ternal unification of Christians — unification which 
 does not arise from the religious spirit, but is due 
 to agencies and influences operating from without 
 — instead of being of service to the promotion of 
 Christianity, may be the reverse. It may be 
 attended with effects more undesirable than the 
 separations which it professes to heal ; because it 
 involves other motives than those by which 
 Christian union should be inspired. Therefore, 
 there is reason, we think, to look with much 
 distrust on all artificial projects and arrange- 
 ments for doing away with ecclesiastical disunion, 
 and effecting a combination of the separate 
 sections of the Christian Church. Any spon- 
 taneous movement towards the manifestation of a 
 c 
 
34 The Unity of the Church. 
 
 freer and larger religious spirit is of value ; but 
 
 not an artificially-created unity. 
 Diversity of Bcsidcs, it sliould be remembered that the 
 afteided differences which exist in the Christian world are 
 
 with good as 
 
 weUasevu. fr^^ from being an unqualified evil. While there 
 are acknowledged elements of sin attendant on 
 the separations which prevail in the Church, 
 there is a considerable element of good mingled 
 with them. The interests of truth are pro- 
 moted by diversity of views. This is over- 
 looked by those who imagine that, if only 
 Christians could become united in one external 
 system of polity and belief, it would be an 
 inestimable blessing. Unanimity and uniformity 
 in matters of religion are not, in point of fact, the 
 desirable things they are often taken to be. It is 
 only when there is mental stagnation that there is 
 absolute sameness of opinion. Wherever, on the 
 contrary, there is spiritual life, distinctions of 
 individual tendency and thought are certain to 
 come prominently out. And, therefore, it is not 
 to be wished, in the interests of intelligent and 
 living Christianity, that there should be a 
 cessation of the element of diversity in re- 
 ligious matters. However ardently it is to be 
 
The Unity of tJie Church. 85 
 
 desired that the spmt of strife might be ex- 
 chided from the Christian Church, variety of 
 opinion and form is in itself beneficial. It tends 
 ultimately in the direction of truer conviction and 
 fuller life. We are dependent on differences of 
 thought for the maintenance of healthful re- 
 ligious views, just as we are dependent on the 
 same source for just and wise conclusions as 
 regards the affairs of life generally. 
 
 And, on the other hand, it should also be External 
 
 unity does 
 
 borne in mind that, were all Christians united in not preclude 
 
 dissension. 
 
 one outward organization, it would not necessarily 
 have the effect of removing that which is the 
 great evil of disunion — party strife. Within a 
 body externally united there may exist, and there 
 often do exist, the worst forms of dissension. 
 There are frequently far more opposition of 
 sentiment and bitterness of feeling between those 
 who are members of the same community than 
 exist between separate communities. The ardent 
 maintainer of the idea that the evils of Christen- 
 dom are to be cured by the uniting of all Chris- 
 tians in one body, forgets this. He loses sight of 
 the fact that beneath the surface of a union which 
 is outward there may be the most discordant 
 
3G Tlie Unity of the CJturch. 
 
 conditions. The use of the term " schism " b}' 
 St. Paul affords a striking ilhistration of this fact. 
 That term has come to be applied solely to the 
 case of ecclesiastical separation, in conformity 
 with tlie notion that an external unity of 
 Christians fulfils the purpose of Christ in regard 
 to His Church. But that is not the sense in 
 which the Apostle makes use of the word. When 
 he accused the Corinthian believers of " schism," 
 he meant by it dissensions which existed inter- 
 nally in their communion. ^ This apostolic 
 application of the word is important as showing 
 that nothing may be gained, so far as the creation 
 of real spiritual agreement is concerned, by the 
 fact of Christians being combined in one outward 
 society. That may be the actual state of things 
 where there is an absence of true unit}', 
 tiaifuility' To look, tliercforc, on the mere union of 
 
 that of / <i • • • • • • r> • 1 
 
 spirit, not (Jhnstians ni one organization as satisiyuig the 
 
 of fonn. 
 
 design of Christ, when He referred to the unity of 
 His followers, is an entirely inadequate view of 
 the subject. Nor is it less a misapprehension to 
 suppose that the real unity of Christians involves 
 
 ^ Some observations on the apostoHc use of the term 
 " schism" are contained in Chapter V. 
 
The Unity of the Ohurch. 37 
 
 the extinction of diversities of opinion. We take 
 a far higher and more reasonable view of tlie 
 nature of that oneness which is designed to 
 characterize the Christian Churcli, when we re- 
 gard it as in no way superseding natural differ- 
 ences of temperament and tendency, but as ])eing 
 in full accordance with the manifestation of such 
 differences. And the remedy to which this view- 
 points for the evils which are attendant on 
 religious division, is, as we have said, the growth 
 of a spirit of moderation and tolerance. Varieties 
 of thought and of external system are l)y no 
 means in themselves an evil ; but, on the con- 
 trary, the most important services to the cause of 
 truth are rendered by them. It is in the excesses 
 with which diversity of opinion is accompanied, 
 and the violence of feeling by which it is so often 
 embittered, that the evil connected with it lies. 
 Instead, therefore, of vainly endeavouring after a 
 unity of the church whicli is to obliterate all 
 distinctions, the truer and wiser view of the 
 subject is to accept the element of variety as 
 having its place and purpose in the sphere of 
 religion. And, in thus claiming that Christianity 
 is wide enough to embrace different views and 
 
38 
 
 Tlie Unity of the Church. 
 
 phases of ecclesiastical order, we claim for it that 
 it makes men one in the highest of all senses, — 
 that its unity is unity with freedom, — that the 
 oneness it seeks to create is that of spirit and 
 life, not of form. 
 
CHAPTEE II. 
 SACEEDOTALISM AND PUEITANISM. 
 
" They that are against superstition oftentimes run into it 
 on the wrong side."— Selden. 
 
SACERDOTALISM AND PUKITANISM. 
 
 The tendency to identify religion with lofty views Nature of 
 of the clerical office and elaborate ceremonial has extremes. 
 been manifested in every period of the history . 
 of the Church On the other hand, there has 
 been very frequently exhibited a. tendency to the 
 opposite extreme of excessive rigour as regards 
 religious observances. The one movement has 
 been characterized by fondness for ornate ritual, 
 and the disposition to invest the ministerial offic6 
 with attributes of mysterious spiritual power; the 
 other by antipathy to ceremonies, and an austere 
 abstinence from everything externally attractive 
 in the service of God. We propose to consider 
 some of the main features of these two forms of 
 religious feeling. The opposite influences of 
 Sacerdotalism and Puritanism have not only 
 
42 Sacerdotalism and Puritanism. 
 
 entered largely into the ecclesiastical contests 
 of the past, but they are still active ecclesias- 
 tical forces. 
 
 The Sacerdotal view of religion — the view 
 which is in the direction of assigning a priestly 
 character to the Christian ministry and invest- 
 ing matters of ceremonial with extreme impor- 
 tance — while it is foreign to the spirit and 
 teaching of the New Testament, is a form of 
 opinion, the development of which out of primi- 
 tive Christianity is distinctly traceable. 
 Rise and In the primitive period of the history of the 
 
 growth of r 1 j 
 
 i^^n^eariy Christian Church, the office of the ministry 
 times. was nothing more than that of religious over- 
 seer and teacher. Its position and functions 
 were not regarded as involving mysterious ele- 
 ments of spiritual power. The language of the 
 New Testament in reference to the Christian 
 ministry does not suggest that there was any- 
 thing essentially different in their standing from 
 that of other Christians. On the contrary, it is 
 the doctrine of the New Testament that Christ, 
 by the sacrifice which He offered' once for all. 
 
Sacerdotalism and Puritanism. 43 
 
 brought the Jewish ceremonies and priestly 
 system to an end, and constituted all His 
 followers, without exception, a spiritual priest- 
 hood.^ But this moderate estimate of the 
 position of the ministry gave place, as early as 
 the close of the second century, to more ele- 
 vated notions. The language which denotes 
 priesthood — applied at first to tlie Christian 
 minister without perhaps any intention of at- 
 tributing extraordinary prerogatives to him — 
 came to be used in its literal and sacrificial 
 sense. The ministerial office became invested 
 in common opinion^with a sacred and authori- 
 tative character, which raised it far above the 
 sphere of the members of the Church. The 
 ministry were increasingly regarded as form- 
 ing a class essentially distinct from the Christian 
 people. They were looked on as endowed with 
 special divine power, and as the only appointed 
 channel of saving grace. Side by side with these 
 lofty ideas of the ministerial office there arose, as 
 might be expected, increasing devotion to cere- 
 monies and greater elaboration of the forms of 
 religious worship. The simplicity which had 
 1 ] Peter ii. 5 ; Rev. i. 6. 
 
44 
 
 Sacerdotalism and Puritanism. 
 
 Iliflc and 
 
 j^owth of 
 .sacerdotil- 
 ism in the 
 Church of 
 England. 
 
 characterized the ritual of the primitive age of 
 the Church was superseded by a profuse external 
 symbolism. Christian devotion lost in multi- 
 plied rites its original spirituality.^ 
 
 Such was the process by which sacerdotalism 
 rose into power in the early Christian centur- 
 ies,, and the result of that change is represented 
 in the Church of Kome and the Greek Church, 
 which are historically the development of the in- 
 fluences in the direction of priestly rule and 
 ceremonial that characterized this epoch. 
 
 But, althougli this is the most extensive ex- 
 ample in Christian history of the rise and growth 
 of sacerdotal ideas, movements of essentially the 
 same character have often occurred in the 
 Christian Church. And one instance, in parti- 
 cular, is so important and so illustrative of the 
 process to which we are referring that it may 
 be also appropriately stated as exemplifying the 
 development of sacerdotalism : — 
 
 The Reformation in England was attended by 
 
 a return to the New Testament conception of the 
 
 ^ Dissertation on the Christian Ministry by Lightfoot 
 (Bishop of Durham). Neander's Church History, vol. i. 
 
 244, etc. (Clark's Translation), 
 of Christianity. 
 
 Pressense's Early Years 
 
Sacerdotalism and Pumtanism. 45 
 
 ministerial office as being nothing more than 
 that of pastor and teacher. When the founders 
 of the Church of England adopted the episcopal 
 mode of government they chose it as the best ami 
 wisest system of church-order in the circumstan- 
 ces for which they were called to provide. But 
 they had no exclusive views of church govern- 
 ment, or of the Christian ministrv. Cranmer, 
 Ptidley, Latimer, and the other representatives of 
 English Episcopacy in its earliest age, had no 
 faith in the divine right of bishops. They re- 
 garded the office of bishop as not originally 
 different from that of presbyter. They were 
 utterly hostile to all priestly claims on the part 
 of the clergy. The basis, in short, on which 
 the English Episcopal system was originally 
 founded was moderate and liberal. Before the 
 end of the reign of Elizabeth, however, the same 
 tendency towards investing the clergy and the 
 ritual of the Church with excessive importance 
 began to manifest itself, wliich we have described 
 as having characterized the period following the 
 apostolic age. What have since become known 
 as " high-church " views acquired increasing in- 
 fluence. The bishops of the Church of England 
 
46 Sacerdotalism and Puritanism. 
 
 possessed, it was now alleged, certain special 
 elements of spiritual power and prerogative 
 through derivation of their orders from the 
 Apostles, while Presbyterian ordination began to 
 be assailed as invalid. And, with the growth of 
 these lofty views in reference to the position and 
 functions of the clergy, there was a corresponding 
 development of religious ceremonial. The rites 
 of divine worship were multiplied, and were in- 
 vested with increasing show. The result was 
 that, when Archbishop Laud carried out to its 
 consummation this change in the views and 
 usages of the Church of England, it was almost 
 entirely under the domination of sacerdotal 
 ideas.^ 
 d^taUeS- These instances from church-history show the 
 itefounda- nature of the sacerdotal tendency, as well as the 
 
 tion in 
 
 human fr^^Q^ ^j^^t it bclougs to tlic common susceptibilities 
 of religious feeling. The disposition to attribute 
 to the clergy extraordinary spiritual authority and 
 power, and to assign pre-eminent importance to 
 ceremonial, is evidently — however we may account 
 
 ^ Hallam's Constitutional History of England, Chapters 
 ii., iv., and vii. Hunt's Keligious Thought in England, 
 Chapters i. ii. 
 
Sacerdotalism and Puritanism. 47 
 
 for it — a deeply-rooted propensity of human na- 
 ture. The two examples whicli we have given 
 were both departures from pre-existing views ; the 
 priestly systems of the Greek and Eoman Churches 
 having little in common with the primitive con- 
 ceptions of Christianity, to which they succeeded; 
 wliile the transcendental claims of Anglicanism 
 are an entire change from the opinions of the 
 founders of the Church of England. But the 
 very circumstance that such departures occurred ; 
 the very fact of the disposition towards priestly 
 ideas of religion being strong enough to establish 
 itself in opposition to existing modes of belief ; is 
 itself a striking testimony to the power of this 
 feeling. It show^s clearly that there must be 
 strong elements of support and encouragement 
 in human nature for the priestly view of the 
 ministry and of divine worship. And any one 
 who looks at the state of Christendom generally, 
 and contemplates the extent to which it is under 
 the influence of such forms of faith and devotion 
 as make a human priesthood the centre of religion, 
 must arrive at the same conclusion. 
 
 The question then arises, To what causes are 
 we to trace the prevalence of sacerdotalism ? 
 
48 Sacerdotalism and Puritanism. 
 
 External Now, it is Undeniable that, as in most cases in 
 
 causes 
 
 ^^dJvl^op-^ which change of opinion is introduced and de- 
 
 ment. 
 
 veloped, external circumstances have had to do 
 with the rise and growth of this phase of religion. 
 Thus, when we revert to the post-apostolic period 
 in the history of the Christian Church, it is ob- 
 vious that the outward influences amidst which 
 Christianity existed in that age were strongly in 
 favour of excessive ceremonialism, as well as ex- 
 aggerated views of the office of the ministry. 
 The system of Judaism, though properly belong- 
 ing to a state of things which had passed away, 
 continued still to leaven the institutions of Chris- 
 tianity. St. Paul had foreseen the evils which 
 were likely to arise from the Judaizing element, 
 and had striven against it with the intense 
 earnestness which was characteristic of his nature. 
 But we know from the history of the early 
 Christian era that this influence remained to 
 mould, in no small degree, the ordinances of the 
 Christian Church ; and that Jewish ideas and 
 rites passed over into the new system of faith. 
 And, on the other hand, the elements of heathen 
 superstition, amidst which Christianity was found- 
 ed, were not less favourable to the growth of ex- 
 
Sacerdotalism and Puritanism. 49 
 
 ternal usages in connection with the Church, 
 which were entirely foreign to the spirituality of 
 the gospel of Christ. From this source, as well 
 as from Judaism, early Christianity became in- 
 fected with false views in reference to the office 
 of the ministry, and the nature and forms of 
 religious worship. It is also apparent that the 
 outward circumstances with which the existence 
 of Protestantism was connected subsequent to the 
 Reformation were such as powerfully tended to- 
 wards the same result. Though the Englisli 
 Church had avowedly thrown off the system of 
 Rome, the traditions of the past were still of 
 sufficient influence to favour a reaction, and to 
 make a return to the priestly ceremonialism of 
 the older state of things a by no means unlikely 
 event. 
 
 But, independently altogether of external in- 
 fluences, there are predisposing tendencies in 
 human nature itself, which operate strongly in 
 favour of sacerdotalism. 
 
 And, first of all, the belief that the ministers SSerdotai- 
 
 ism in 
 
 of religion are possessed of mysterious spiritual ^"^^^^ 
 power, and that certain rites and forms convey dSo'sitio.i 
 
 to a religion 
 
 supernatural influence, is in accordance with the of outward 
 
 ■^ ' observances, 
 
50 Sacerdotalism and Puritanism. 
 
 disposition to regard religion as consisting in mere 
 outward observances. This is one of the strong- 
 est and most widely prevailing tendencies of 
 human feeling. There is always an inclination to 
 trust for the favour of God to external means and 
 powers, instead of assigning supreme importance 
 to the condition of the heart and life. Hence a 
 system wliich gives special prominence to ritual, 
 and which holds forth to the worshipper the 
 liope of obtaining divine grace through the ex- 
 traordinary virtue of outward ordinances, is neces- 
 sarily a system which possesses powerful attrac- 
 tions. It appeals to the fondness which a large 
 class of persons have for the notion that religion 
 <jperates as a sort of charm. To believe that 
 there is an occult spiritjial force exerted by the 
 official attributes of the ministry, that certain 
 forms have an inherent mysterious power to con- 
 fer the favour of Heaven, and that within the 
 sphere of some priestly influence the light of 
 truth and the love of God are with certainty en- 
 Joyed, is to view Christian faith and devotion as 
 having the nature of a mystic spell. And this 
 very fact constitutes the reason of the gratifica- 
 tion which is afforded by such a mode of religious 
 
Sacerdotalism and PuHtanism. 51 
 
 belief. There is an obvious source of satisfaction 
 in the thought that our relation to God is made 
 right by ceremonial influences that act in some 
 inscrutable fashion ; and that, when we observe 
 a certain ritual, and possess a certain order of 
 ministry, we stand well for the world to come. 
 Nor should it be overlooked that a system which 
 thus assigns pre-eminent value to the merely out- 
 ward elements of religion, draws much of the 
 power with which it appeals to the sympathy of 
 common opinion from the circumstance that it 
 Dfifers a comparatively easy solution of the re- 
 quirements of Christian service. The great prac- 
 tical difficulty which Christianity involves is that 
 it demands moral reformation, and a life of purity 
 and good works, as its absolutely essential results. 
 The teaching of the New Testament is empha- 
 tically to the effect that the only true manifesta- 
 tion of Christian earnestness lies in sanctity of 
 life. But a ceremonial mode of religion presents 
 a way to the attainment of divine grace which 
 sets aside, or at least relaxes, the imperative 
 obligations of practical duty. It proposes to 
 secure the favour of God in large measure by 
 mere formal observances. 
 
52 Sacerdotalism and Puritanism. 
 
 fnSation^ AnotliGT, and a not less powerful disposition 
 
 vicarious of human nature, to which sacerdotalism corn- 
 service of 
 
 ^^^ mends itself, is the inclination to a mode of faith 
 
 which promises relief from individual respons- 
 ibility. The notion is readily embraced that God 
 may be served by us in some other way than by 
 our personal repentance and righteousness. We 
 find a sense of satisfaction and rest in the belief 
 that the burden of religious obligation may be 
 borne by others on our behalf. And a system 
 of faith which consists mainly in external rites 
 accords with this belief. Because it makes the 
 functions of the ministry all-important, it lessens 
 correspondingly the sphere of the individual con- 
 science. The principle of sacerdotalism is, that 
 whatever needs to be done in the province of 
 religion is to be mainly done by " the Church," ^ 
 not by the individual. The tenets of " the 
 Church" and the rules of "the Church" are to 
 decide everything ; while the same body is re- 
 garded as holding a mediatory position in refer- 
 ence to the offering up of divine worship. Thus, 
 
 ^ That is, by the clergy. The misuse of the term church 
 to signify the clergy is made the subject of some observa- 
 tions in Chapter V. 
 
Sacerdotalism and Puritanism. 53 
 
 the limits of personal obligation and accounta- 
 bility are reduced to the smallest possible dimen- 
 sions. The individual Christian does not require 
 to think for himself, or to feel that his acceptance 
 with God depends on his own spiritual condition. 
 He must trust to his religious directors for his 
 belief, and for the intercessory influences which 
 are to secure divine forgiveness and help. It is 
 evident that such a system appeals to human 
 feelings which are of the most powerful character. 
 The desire to be saved from personal anxiety in 
 regard to matters of faith, and to avoid doubts 
 and speculative difficulties, predisposes the devout 
 mind to accept with only too great readiness the 
 offers of a spiritual guide, who promises relief 
 from the task of having to think and inquire. 
 To relinquish freedom of judgment, to end our 
 fears and uncertainties by ceasing to have any 
 convictions of our own, affords a certain kind of 
 mental repose, the very accessibility of which 
 commends it to devout sentiment. The earnest 
 spirit distracted by religious perplexities is tempted 
 to embrace a system, however unsubstantial its 
 claims, which offers such a simple and speedy 
 deliverance from spiritual trials. And, on the 
 
54 Sacerdotalisvi and PuHtanism. 
 
 other hand, to those who are undisturbed by 
 religious doubts, and whose chief wish is to render 
 the service of God as free from effort and difficulty 
 as possible, the notion that the ministry possess 
 a vicarious character, and that "the Church"" 
 relieves us of a responsibility which would other- 
 wise have to be borne by ourselves, presents at- 
 tractions not less strong. 
 Third, the Amonf]^ the elements of human nature which 
 
 tendency to o 
 
 encTdily are appealed to by the sacerdotal type of religion 
 
 the sensxi- 
 
 o"-^- must also be included our tendency to be influ- 
 
 enced by material sources of attraction. While 
 art has legitimate functions to fulfil in connection 
 with religion, it may also be employed in an ex- 
 cessive degree. Used as an aid to intelligent 
 devotion, it serves a high and beneficent purpose; 
 but, when allowed to encroach on the province of 
 spiritual worship, and to engi'oss the attention 
 which should be given to truth itself, it becomes 
 a source of evil. There is therefore a danger 
 of material adornment and imposing ceremonies 
 being so profusely and extravagantly employed in 
 Christian worship as to lead to bad results. They 
 may be made so prominent as to overshadow tlie 
 essential verities of Christianity. The sentiment 
 
Sacerdotalism and Puritanism. 55 
 
 of admiration for external display, or of reverential 
 regard for what is outwardly solemn, may assume 
 the place of true devotion. Now, the excessive 
 development of such elements of worship is a 
 natural feature of a priestly system. The very 
 nature of the views which it embodies inevitabl}' 
 leads to this result. The notions of mysterious 
 sanctity and power with whicli it invests the 
 clerical office, and the importance which it as- 
 signs to matters of ceremonial, tend to a lavish 
 use of material show and form. And this very 
 fact, while it constitutes a source of evil, is also a 
 powerful means of attraction. A Church which 
 surrounds itself and its services with ritualistic 
 accessories, though it maintains an untrue idea of 
 worship, maintains an idea which commends it- 
 self very strongly to a natural tendency of human 
 feeling. It appeals to the imaginative and emo- 
 tional susceptibilities of our nature. It readily 
 affects those whose minds are open to the influ- 
 ence of external things, while they have not im- 
 pressions of a deeper kind. Sensuous and ornate 
 elements of worship, such as peculiarly characterize 
 the sacerdotal type of religion, have thus a power- 
 ful effect in giving it ascendancy over the mind. 
 
56 Sacerdotalisra and Puritanism. 
 
 Such are some of the cliief causes in human 
 nature, which serve to account for the existence 
 of sacerdotal views, and for the extent to which 
 they have been manifested in the history of 
 Christianity. These views are rather the result 
 of certain strong natural feelings than of any 
 special religious conditions. Their early rise and 
 growth in the Christian Church, their long domin- 
 ation of Christian faith, their reappearance in Pro- 
 testantism after they had been expressly abjured, 
 and their prevalence even now over so large a 
 part of Christendom, all testify to the affinity 
 whicli they possess to some of the most powerful 
 human dispositions. The inclination to make the 
 minister of religion a priest, and to hand over to 
 him the transaction of spiritual concerns ; and, at 
 the same time, to regard the forms of religious 
 worship as mystic sources of divine influence ; is 
 indeed one of the strongest, as it has been one of 
 the most disastrous, of religious tendencies. 
 
 II. 
 
 the"<J*"^Sti -^^^ object of Puritanism, on the other hand, has 
 
 ex reme. y^^^^ ^q meet and counteract this tendency. It 
 
 is the form of opinion most utterly and literally 
 
Sacerdotalism and PuHtanism. 57 
 
 opposed to Sacerdotalism. We use the term 
 Puritanism in these remarks with a general mean- 
 ing, as designating a mode of ecclesiastical thought 
 and feeling, which has not been limited to one 
 period alone, but which belongs to the general 
 liistory of religion. ^ It is the severe and ascetic 
 type of ecclesiastical opinion, as Sacerdotalism is 
 the type which is characterized by the extreme 
 development of ceremony. Each school of thought 
 has exercised a powerful influence on religion. 
 The conflict between them has left many import- 
 ant traces in the past, and both forms of opinion 
 are still active elements of religious thought. We 
 have endeavoured to point out, in the previous 
 part of this chapter, that Sacerdotalism, though it 
 has grown out of Christian truth, and involves 
 
 1 The term "Puritan " was first applied after the Kefor- 
 mation to those who refused to conform to the ceremonies 
 of the Church of England on the ground that the change 
 effected in it from the usages of the Church of Rome had 
 not been sufficiently thorough. The word, however, came 
 to be employed to designate this party on account also of 
 the extremely rigorous principles according to which they 
 sought to regulate everything relating to human conduct, 
 and the austere habits of life which they cultivated . It 
 is in the former signification that we at present make use 
 of the term. Puritanism is referred to in this chapter as 
 representing a tendency relating to ecclesiastical matters 
 and forms. 
 
58 Sacerdotalism and Puritanism. 
 
 important facts of Christianity, is, nevertheless, a 
 perversion of the genuine doctrine and spirit of 
 the religion of Christ. The result of our consid- 
 eration of Puritanism will be to show that, ear- 
 nest and faithful though its contentions against 
 ceremonialism and priesthood have been, its prin- 
 ciples have erred by extravagance on the opposite 
 side. As the Sacerdotal view of religion errs in 
 the one direction by overestimating the ritual 
 and official elements of the Church of Christ, 
 Puritanism errs by excess in the direction of aus- 
 terity and rigour. 
 pSitLism. The Puritan theory may be stated thus: — 
 * The corruptions of Christianity represented by 
 sacerdotalism are the result of the growth of 
 sensuous elements in connection with worship. 
 When the use of art and external adornment is 
 once permitted in the worship of God, men ad- 
 vance to greater and greater license in this direc- 
 tion. It is therefore necessary, in order to the 
 preservation of the Church of Christ from priestly 
 and ritualistic influences, that there should be a 
 studied and severe abstinence in connection witli 
 religion from everything which tends to please 
 the senses. All elements of external attraction 
 
Sacerdotalism and Purltaniani. 59 
 
 therefore, whether as regards the edifice in which 
 worship is offered, or the manner and forms of de- 
 votion, ought to be exchided from the service of 
 God. Thus, and thus alone, can the worship of 
 the Christian Church be kept pure. Only in this 
 way is superstition to be avoided.' 
 
 This ascetic view of divine worship has its ori- Puritanism 
 
 a form of 
 
 ('in in the same sources as serve to explain the ^^^. ascetic 
 
 o r religious 
 
 existence of religious asceticism generally. In ^^ ^^°^' 
 all ages of the history of the Church there have 
 been those who have been disposed to assign ex- 
 treme prominence to the sterner aspects of piety, 
 who have been less influenced by the love and 
 hope of Christianity than by the demands of the 
 divine law, who have been inclined to contem- 
 plate rather the evils of life than its advantages 
 and enjoyments. This fact is due, no doubt, in 
 some measure, to natural temperament. Modes 
 of religious feeling reflect, to a certain extent, the 
 constitutional tendencies with which they are con- 
 nected. The severe form of Christian earnestness,, 
 which would exclude from the sphere of Christi- 
 anity whatever is joyous and beautiful, is often 
 the result of a disposition of mind which is by 
 nature unjoyous and stern. But there is another 
 
60 Sacerdotalism and Puritanism. 
 
 cause which operates at times very powerfully in 
 the same direction — a cause lying outside our 
 spiritual nature. When error and evil assume 
 specially alarming proportions, they call forth on 
 the part of those who are zealous for truth oppo- 
 sition so keen and uncompromising, that it is 
 often tinged with a rigour and severity of spirit 
 far beyond what the circumstances of the case 
 really justify. In their enthusiastic detestation 
 of the abuses which they condemn, they assume 
 a position of the most extreme contrariety to 
 them. Thus it has been a common event in the 
 history of Christianity for those who are devout 
 and earnest to proclaim their disapproval of the 
 excesses and follies of social enjoyment by a 
 course of austere self-mortification. The ancho- 
 rites, whose piety took the form of seclusion in 
 desert places and self-inflicted suffering, were but 
 an example of this mode of religious feeling. The 
 system of monachism rests mainly on the same 
 principle. So do all those cynical and gloomy 
 forms of religious thought and usage, which woidd 
 make Christian faith essentially antagonistic to 
 social pleasure. The idea which underlies them 
 all is, that, in order to cure the evils which are 
 
Sacerdotalism and Puritanism. 61 
 
 connected with what is attractive and pleasing in 
 the things of the world, we must go to the oppo- 
 site extreme from them, and cultivate a spirit of 
 severity. Asceticism, in short, is to be explained 
 to a great extent by the recoil of religious feeling 
 from the evils of what is joyous and attractive in 
 human life ; and, while it involves serious error, 
 it is, at the same time, an obviously natural ten- 
 dency of religion. 
 
 Now, the puritan theory of worship is merely, 
 as we have said, a particular instance of this fact 
 — it is the principle of asceticism applied to the 
 forms and circumstances of worship. When, 
 shortly after the Eeformation, a feeling of violent 
 hostility to ceremonies became widely developed, 
 and the doctrine came to be extensively main- 
 tained that the rites and external accompaniments 
 of devotion must be cut down to the most meagre 
 dimensions, in order to provide an effectual cure 
 of superstition, this was only the principle which 
 the ascetic school had, in one form or another, 
 held in former ages. The Puritan of Eeformation 
 times was but the successor to an idea, which had 
 been maintained in every period of the Church's 
 history — the idea that austere rigour in the oppo- 
 
62 Sacerdotalism and Puritanism. 
 
 site direction from an evil is the true way to 
 remedy it. 
 Develop- It is unnecessarv to enlarge on the part which 
 
 mentofthis ^ o r 
 
 Si^fous was sustained by the puritan movement after the 
 
 feeling after _, _ . , ^ ■ n i • i • t 
 
 theRefor- Kcformation, and on the influence which it has 
 
 mation. 
 
 exercised on the subsequent history of Protestant- 
 ism. We have already described the rise and 
 growth of sacerdotal views, which followed the 
 Reformation. The development of puritanism 
 was a natural concomitant of that change. While 
 the one tendency was in the direction of increased 
 ceremonial, the other was in favour of extirpating 
 everything attractive from the services of the 
 Church. While one party had substantially for 
 its object the assimilation of Protestantism to the 
 system of the Church of Eome, the other insisted 
 that the only safety of Protestantism was to be 
 found in making its forms and usages as utterly 
 different as possible from those of that Church. 
 The stern opposition of puritanism to the employ- 
 ment in worship of what is outwardly pleasing 
 was defended as an absolute necessity. Nothing 
 but this, it was argued, could save the Protestant 
 Church from relapsing into the worst errors of the 
 faith of llome. So long as an attractive ritual 
 
Sacerdotalism and Puritanism. G3 
 
 was maintained, so long as there was anything to 
 gratify the senses in connection with religious 
 services, the danger of apostatizing from Christian 
 purity was imminent. There must be an abso- 
 lute exclusion of all such things from religion, if 
 it was to be kept free from corruption. Such 
 were the arguments which were employed by the 
 Puritans when, subsequently to the Eeformation, 
 they became a great ecclesiastical power. The 
 principle, as we have seen, was by no means a 
 new one ; but was in substance the same as that 
 involved in the ascetic views of religion, which, 
 from the earliest times in the history of Christi- 
 anity, had existed in various forms. And, while 
 the idea of puritanism thus belongs to times long 
 anterior to those in which the name appears in 
 history, while it is a religious tendency that has 
 been manifested in every age, it continues still to 
 be extensively maintained. The very arguments its present 
 
 6X1S tCUCC • 
 
 which were used by this school in the reign of 
 Elizabeth are still familiar arguments. It is still 
 urged by many that the only safety from super- 
 stition is an austere opposition to everything of 
 the nature of external attraction in the service of 
 God. The zealous antagonist of Popery often de- 
 
64 Sacerdotalism and Puritanism. 
 
 claims now, as he declaimed then, against the 
 least resemblance to its forms as being the certain 
 forerunner of the direst spiritual corruption. It 
 is still many a time maintained that to depart 
 from a meagre ritual, and to associate divine 
 worship with material beauty or seemliness, is to 
 open the way to the greatest possible evils. 
 oWeSn-'" 3jut, though it is unquestionable that these 
 
 able because ,..,. , iii-i^ 
 
 extreme, austcrc ecclcsiastical Views have had their lofty 
 and noble aspects ; not a few of those who have 
 held them having been distinguished by the 
 purity of their purpose, and the vigour and 
 power with which they have striven for great 
 and worthy ends ; they are yet liable to the 
 objection which holds against all religious ascet- 
 icism. Extreme rigour in regard to ecclesiastical 
 observances, like extreme rigour in all other 
 things, is apt to produce the very evils it is 
 designed to prevent. The ascetic principle — 
 the principle that, by the exercise of severe 
 stringency in the opposite direction from an e\'il, 
 we cure that evil — is not supported by facts. The 
 effect is commonly the very reverse of this. Thus 
 let us take the case of a Church in which the 
 mode of worship is that of the most extreme and 
 
SacerdotalisTYi and PuHtanism. 65 
 
 studied meagreness. Let us suppose that, ani- 
 mated with the desire of avoiding the dangers 
 of ritualism, it goes as far as may be to the 
 other side, — that it makes its forms as bald as 
 possible ; that it refrains from introducing the 
 least element of attractiveness into the appear- 
 ance of the place in which its services are held ; 
 that instruments of music, and painted windows, 
 and all other things that could minister to the 
 gratification of the senses are carefully excluded. 
 Such are the conditions which puritanism accepts 
 as those of uncorrupted devotion. We escape 
 in this way, it is argued, all danger of super- 
 stitious practices, for the simple and decisive 
 reason that we are as far away from them as 
 can be. But the argument is utterly fallacious. 
 The truth is that, so far from necessarily escaping 
 superstition in this way, we may only change, — 
 and the probability is that we do only change, — 
 one form of it for another. Lord Bacon has it leads to 
 
 supersti- 
 
 truly remarked, " There is a superstition in *^°"* 
 avoiding superstition, when men think to do 
 best by going farthest from the superstition 
 formerly received."^ There can be no doubt 
 
 ^ Essay on Superstition. 
 E 
 
66 Sacerdotalismi and PuAtanism. 
 
 that this observation expresses an accurate esti- 
 mate of liuman nature. The fanatical zeal, 
 which leads a man to cultivate puritanic 
 austerity of observance as the one thing needful, 
 is quite as much superstition as the feeling 
 which identifies religion with the extravagances 
 of ritualism. The spirit is the same in botli 
 cases. The only difference is in mode. If one 
 man clings with bigoted devotedness to his bald 
 and severe forms, under the belief that they 
 commend him to the divine favour; while another 
 assigns supreme importance to elaborate cere- 
 monial ; the distinction between the two is only 
 in manner, not in essential feeling. There is 
 superstition in both instances, opposite as they 
 are in external manifestation. 
 Similarity And thus there is, in point of fact, a strikin*' 
 
 between the ^ 
 
 trlmes. auiouut of similarity oftentimes between extreme 
 rigour in ecclesiastical matters, and the contrary 
 extreme of sacerdotalism. Milton's well-known 
 sarcasm, " new * presbyter ' is but old ' priest ' 
 writ large," has been, times without number, 
 illustrated in the history of the Church. Under 
 an exterior of the utmost plainness of religious 
 usage there frequently exists as bigoted a belief 
 
Sacerdotalism and Puritanism. 67 
 
 ill forms as could be manifested by the most 
 devoted ceremonialist. The stern denouncer of 
 l*opish ritual is often as exclusive in his ecclesi- 
 astical ideas, and as much wedded to his own 
 religious rites, as the warmest adherent of the 
 Church of Home could be. It would seem that, 
 when opposition to error is carried to an un- 
 reasonable excess, the effect is that human nature 
 arrives at a false state of opinion precisely 
 analogous to that against which its violence is 
 directed. Extravagant severity against an evil 
 ends very commonly in what is much the same 
 as the abuse that is unsparingly condemned. 
 And so Puritanism and sacerdotalism have often 
 shown strong points of likeness. The demure- 
 ness and strictness of the former have frequently 
 been inspired by all the pretension and priestly 
 intolerance of the latter. The religion of the 
 conventicle, with its careful disregard of art, 
 and its contempt of ceremony, has often pre- 
 sented much of the same spirit as the religion 
 of ceremonialism and the cloister. 
 
 Such then is the error committed by those The reason 
 
 •^ of the fail- 
 
 who would impose a too strict and austere rule "anisnu""* 
 as regards the rites and usages of Christian 
 
68 Sacerdotalism and Puritanism. 
 
 worship. They deal with tlie subject too much 
 on narrow, mechanical principles. They over- 
 look the fact that the influence of art may be 
 quite legitimately employed as a means of 
 aiding and expressing the religious spirit ; that 
 it is by the excessive use of elements of outward 
 attraction, and not by their use, that harm is 
 done ; and that consequently to attempt to keep 
 men in a safe course by means of extreme 
 strictness in this respect is an entire mistake. 
 There is a very curious, and at the same time 
 a most suggestive, illustration given by one of 
 the most prominent Puritan writers of the 
 Elizabethan age, which he intends as a defence 
 of the exercise of rigorous sternness in correcting 
 the superstitious tendencies of our nature ; but 
 which really shows very forcibly the absurdity 
 of this mode of dealing with them. He is 
 arguing that, to cure men of their propensity 
 to corruptions of religious worship, it is necessary 
 to go as far as possible to the opposite extreme 
 from these corruptions. This he calls "the 
 cure of contraries by their contraries." And 
 the following is his illustration : — " To bring a 
 stick which is crooked to be straight, we do not 
 
Sacerdotalism and Puritanism. 69 
 
 only bow it so far until it come to be straight, 
 but we bend it so far until we make it to be 
 as crooked on the other side as it was before 
 on the first side; to this end that, at the last, 
 it may stand straight, and, as it were, in the 
 midway between both the crooks."^ This, he 
 argues, is the course to be adopted with erring 
 humanity. Its errors are to be corrected by an 
 analogous process to that which is applied to 
 straighten a crooked stick. Its evil propensities 
 must be treated by bending it back to the other 
 extreme ; and then, by a kind of reactive force, 
 it will become right in the end. This is an 
 exceedingly apt representation of the remedial 
 agency which the extreme rigorist approves of 
 applying to human nature. He is disposed to 
 deal with the faults and infirmities of men very 
 much in the same way as we might deal with 
 a crooked stick, which we want to make straight. 
 
 ^ The book which contains this curious illustration is 
 entitled, " A Eeplye to an Answere made of M. Doctor 
 Whitgifte againste the Admonition to the Parhament, by 
 T. C." Thomas Cartwright, who is the person designated 
 by the initials, was one of the most noted of the early 
 Puritans ; but is now chiefly known on account of the fact 
 that it was against his writings that Hooker directed 
 many of the arguments of his Ecclesiastical Polity. 
 
70 Sacerdotalism and Pwritanisvi. 
 
 His method of cure is simply that of utter 
 antagonism to tendencies that may result in evil. 
 His favourite appliances are repression and re- 
 striction. It is the essential defect of all ascetic 
 forms of religious thought and feeling that they 
 deal with humanity in this way. They do not 
 recognize those higher and far more powerful 
 springs of action, which consist in living intelli- 
 gence and unconstrained spiritual life. Puri- 
 tanism, because it loses sight of these sources 
 of human action, and trusts to the employment 
 of mere rigour, is fundamentally defective. The 
 remedy which it seeks to apply to ecclesiastical 
 abuses is only too correctly illustrated by tlie 
 comparison of the old divine, to which we have 
 referred. It endeavours to cure one extreme 
 by substituting another. The austerity whicli 
 it would maintain in the observances of divine 
 worship, if it is a less evil than the excesses 
 of ceremonialism, is still a real evil, and is not 
 infrequently attended, as we have seen, witli 
 much of tlie same spirit. 
 
 STs^cri?-^^ While our survey of these two opposite ex- 
 
 tures on this .. iif,-i • ^ 
 
 subject. tremes oi opinion shows that both oi them involve 
 
Sacerdotalism and Puritanism. 71 
 
 elements of serious error, it is important to ob- 
 serve how the Scriptures deal with those matters 
 in regard to which there has been so much con- 
 troversy. We must reserve, however, to another 
 chapter the consideration of the general subject of 
 the relation of Scripture to ecclesiastical questions. 
 All that we propose to do now is briefly to indi- 
 cate the difference between the ground assumed 
 by both of the parties whose views we have 
 described, and the teaching, on the other hand, 
 of Christ and the Apostles. 
 
 The entire current of Christ's teaching is dia- christsown 
 
 teaching. 
 
 metrically opposed to sacerdotal views and modes 
 of thought. It was one of the chief purposes of 
 His teaching to show that true religion does not 
 consist in external observances. He stood in a 
 position of uncompromising antagonism to Jewish 
 opinion on this subject. He inculcated the prac- 
 tice of the ordinary duties of life as being of 
 infinitely more importance than a regard to re- 
 ligious ceremonies ; and He denounced tlie folly 
 of imagining that God can be pleased with scru- 
 pulous attention to matters of ritual.^ Instead 
 of assigning supreme importance to the office and 
 ^Matt. xxiii. 23-25 ; Luke xiii. 15 ; Matt. xii. 7. 
 
72 Sacerdotalism and Puritanism. 
 
 functions of the ministers of religion, the whole 
 purpose of the instructions of Christ was to illus- 
 trate the supreme value of truth and goodness. 
 Ipo^stouf ^ Nor is the doctrine of the New Testament writ- 
 ings as a whole less strongly opposed than the 
 words of Christ Himself to the sacerdotal tend- 
 ency. They uniformly declare the need of faith, 
 and prayer, and holiness ; but matters relating to 
 rites and forms they always treat as subordinate. 
 They proclaim Christ as the only true Priest and 
 Mediator, and His death on the cross as the only 
 sacrifice for sin.^ The office of the ministry is 
 described as deriving its sacredness and power, 
 not from mystic spiritual attributes, but from its 
 manifestation of the truth.^ The Church, so far 
 from being identified with the clergy, is repre- 
 sented as consisting of "all them that love our 
 Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity," and of " all that 
 in every place call upon the name of Jesus 
 Christ." 3 
 
 Sacerdotal- The ffTOUud of objection to sacerdotalism, 
 
 ism opposed *=* *' ' 
 
 JTatSroand which ariscs from comparing it with the teach- 
 
 spirit of 
 
 Christian- ings of Christ, and of the New Testament gene- 
 
 ^ 1 Tim. ii. 5 ; Heb. vii. 23-24 and 26-28 ; x. 12. 
 
 =* 1 Cor. iii. 5; 2 Cor. iv. 1-2. 3 Eph. vi. 24; 1 Cor. i. 2. 
 
Sacerdotalism and Puritanism. 73 
 
 rally, is thus not merely its contrariety to certain 
 texts, but its inconsistency with the nature and 
 spirit of Christianity itself. It amounts to a 
 departure from the fundamental characteristics 
 of the religion which Christ and the Apostles 
 taught. The exaltation of the Christian ministry 
 into a priesthood, the elaborate multiplication of 
 ceremonies, and the ascription of mysterious 
 sanctity and saving influence to the external 
 elements of worship, involve an idea of divine 
 service essentially different from that which is 
 represented by the New Testament. Christianity, 
 according to it, is supremely the consecration of 
 the heart and life in the practical duties of 
 human existence. But, on the contrary, the 
 effect of the sacerdotal view of religion is to 
 make it mainly consist in the observance of cer- 
 tain ritual acts. While the view enforced in the 
 Christian Scriptures is, that everything, as regards 
 the attainment of the divine favour, depends on 
 the state of the spirit and life ; the principle 
 involved, on the other hand, in a ceremonial 
 system is, that everything is dependent on ex- 
 ternal conditions. Wliile the announcement of 
 the sacred writers is to the effect that divine grace 
 
74 Sacerdotalism and Purita,nison, 
 
 is accessible directly and equally to all ; the idea 
 of sacerdotalism is, on the contrary, that it is 
 concentrated in the hands of the clergy, and can 
 flow to us only through them. While the entire 
 domain of life is described in the New Testament 
 as being embraced within the scope of Christian- 
 ity, and the holy discharge of daily duty is repre- 
 sented as the true Christian service ; the result 
 of the priestly and ritualistic conception of re- 
 ligion is to exalt the ceremonies of the sanctuary 
 above the duties of the world. 
 T^s^temrnt ^^^» although the teaching of the New Testa- 
 fiipp^ort to ment is thus diametrically opposed to the claims 
 
 Puritanism. 
 
 and views of those who would make Christianity 
 a system of priestly power and ceremonial, it 
 gives no support, on the other hand, to the 
 opinion that superstition is to be avoided by the 
 introduction of an austere asceticism into the 
 observances of religion. The views maintained 
 by St. Paul present a remarkable contrast in this 
 respect to the extreme tenets of puritanism. 
 We find him treating questions of religious form 
 with a clear perception of the danger involved in 
 fanatical hostility to rites, not less than of the 
 evils arising from their being held in too great 
 
Sacerdotalism and Puritanimi. 75 
 
 esteem ; and he argues with as iiiuch earnestness 
 against the one error as against tlie other. Ho 
 saw that, in their headlong zeal in op])osition to 
 ceremonies, the party in his day who desired their 
 abolition were losing sight quite as much of the 
 spirituality of true religion as those who too 
 keenly advocated their maintenance. And, 
 therefore, he was careful to point out just what 
 the ecclesiastical rigorist has always overlooked, 
 — that the non-observance of outward forms is 
 not in itself genuine Christianity, any more than 
 tlie practice of them. According to St. Paul, 
 neither circumcision, nor uncircumcision ; neither 
 the keeping of certain days, nor the neglect of 
 them ; neither the partaking of certain kinds of 
 food, nor abstinence from them ; constitutes true 
 Christian service ; but a life consecrated by 
 faith in Christ, and love to Him.^ 
 
 Thus St. Paul discerned, with a wise insi^i^ht ^t- I'aui's 
 
 *^ teaching ad- 
 
 that has often been wanting in the Church since purita*? as^ 
 
 well as to 
 
 his day, that error finds a footin<:ij for itself quite t^iesaccr- 
 
 •'' o i dotal view. 
 
 as naturally in the false feeling which makes the 
 
 absence of certain religious forms all-important, as 
 
 it does in the contrary mistake of regarding their 
 
 1 Eom. xiv. 2-6 ; 1 Cor, vii. 18-19 ; Gal. vi. 15. 
 
76 Sacerdotalism and Puritanism. 
 
 presence as of surpassing moment. In his \dew 
 the spirit of extravagant antipathy to ceremonies 
 is to be deprecated as truly as the feehng of 
 inordinate veneration for them. The position 
 which St. Paul thus assumes is equally opposed 
 to the pretensions of a priestly and ceremonial 
 system of religion, and to the narrowness of ex- 
 cessive rigour, 
 msprin- And the principle which he has laid down as 
 
 ciple of 
 
 liber?^^^ tlic truc principle for the guidance of Christians 
 in reference to the outward matters and obser- 
 vances of the Church is, that they are proper 
 subjects for the exercise of a wise liberty. His 
 counsel to believers in Christ is that, in respect 
 to such things, they should " stand fast in the 
 liberty with which Christ has made them free, 
 and not be entangled in a yoke of bondage."^ 
 While the rites and external accompaniments of 
 religion constitute a source of most serious evil, 
 if they are elevated to a position of supreme im- 
 portance ; they fulfil certain high and good pur- 
 poses, when kept in subordination to spiritual 
 truth. Exalted to a place of chief power over 
 our faith, they are essentially bad ; employed in 
 
 ^Gal. V. 1. 
 
Sacerdotalism and Puritanisru. 77 
 
 a secondary relation as expressions of faith, and 
 helps to its exercise, they are full of benefit. 
 Tlierefore the great rule which St. Paul enunciates 
 with reference to them is, that they should be 
 used in a spirit of freedom. Ceremonies and 
 outward matters are, he teaches, nothing in them- 
 selves. They are not Christianity. Christianity 
 is the renewal of heart and life, while forms are 
 but the external appendages of spiritual conse- 
 cration, — the outward dress which it assumes. 
 And so the true attitude of the Christian in 
 relation to the ceremonial and outward elements 
 pertaining to religious worship is, according to 
 the Apostle's view, earnestly to beware of giving 
 them the chief place in religion ; and, at the same 
 time, to employ them in such ways that all 
 things shall be done to edifying. He refrains 
 from inculcating anything on the subject beyond 
 this great general rule. He advocates Christian 
 liberty as regards things outward, with the con- 
 dition that it is to be used wisely, and so as to 
 promote our own good and the good of others. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE SCRIPTURES AND ECCLESIASTICAL 
 MATTERS. 
 
" Men have often built up on one or two passages of 
 Scripture an ingenious and consistent scheme, of which the 
 far greater part is a tissue of their own reasonings and con- 
 jectures." — Archbishop Whately. 
 
THE SCRIPTUEES AND ECCLESIASTICAL 
 MATTEIIS. 
 
 It was the opinion of the Puritans, and it is xo specific 
 
 rules in 
 
 still a very common belief, that express Scripture ^^"^^"5^ "' 
 authority must be produced for every ecclesias- Si mStcVs. 
 tical rule and observance. But a fatal ground 
 of objection to this view is that, in point of fact, 
 the New Testament contains no specific commands 
 on these subjects. It does not expressly enjoin 
 on the Christian Church any one mode of govern- 
 ment ; it does not prescribe a fixed order of 
 worship ; and it does not enact the forms and 
 accompaniments with which worship is to be 
 offered. It is true that the supporters of con- 
 flicting ecclesiastical systems often appeal to 
 the New Testament in proof of their claims. 
 They argue that the views and practices which 
 
82 The Scriptures and 
 
 they maintain are in consonance with what can 
 be gathered from the New Testament as having 
 been recognized in the primitive Church, and 
 that consequently they have divine authority on 
 their side. But, even supposing that their in- 
 ferences from the Apostolic writings as to the 
 polity of the primitive Church could be relied on • 
 — and opinion differs widely as to what its polity 
 really was^ — the argument is insufficient. For, 
 as we have said, the New Testament does not 
 contain such specific and positive rules on mat- 
 ters connected with Church order as can alone be 
 regarded as constituting express authority. 
 LordBlcon. The abscucc from the New Testament of pre- 
 cise commands with reference to ecclesiastical 
 matters leads naturally to the conclusion that 
 it was not the design of Christ or the Apostles 
 to enjoin an exact and unchanging system of 
 polity on the Christian church ; but that, on 
 the contrary, it is a subject which is left to 
 be judged of by the discretion of Christians 
 
 1 Whately's view aeems the correct one that, in point of 
 fact, tliere is no Church now existing whose institutions 
 and practices are not in some respects different from those 
 of the earliest Churches. Kingdom of Christ, p. 128. 
 
Ecclesiastical Matters. 83 
 
 themselves. Lord Bacon expresses this as his 
 opinion — " That there should be but one form of 
 discipline" — that is, government — " in all 
 churches, and that imposed by necessity of a 
 commandment and prescript, out of the Word 
 of God, it is a matter volumes have been com- 
 piled of. I, for my part, do confess that, in 
 revolving the Scriptures, I could never find any 
 such thing; but that God had left the like liberty 
 to the church government as He hath done to the 
 civil government, to be varied according to time, 
 place, and accidents, which, nevertheless. His 
 high and divine providence doth order and dis- 
 pose. For all civil governments are restrained 
 from God under the general grounds of justice 
 and manners ; but the policies and forms of them 
 are left free. So likewise, in church matters, the 
 substance of doctrine is immutable, and so arc 
 the general rules of government ; but for rites 
 and ceremonies, and for the particular hierarchies, 
 policies, and disciplines of churches, they be left 
 at large." ^ 
 
 1 Certain Considerations touching the Better Pacification 
 and Edification of the Church of England. Vol. II. of 
 Works (Ed. 1803), p. 529. 
 
84 The Scriftures and 
 
 R?for^eref This, wliicli is the broad and common-sense 
 view of the ground on which ecclesiastical ques- 
 tions should be judged, accords with the moderate 
 spirit in which the Eeformers dealt with matters 
 of church-polity. Luther asserted in energetic 
 terms the liberty of Christians as regards the 
 formal elements of religion.^ The English Ee- 
 formers maintained, as we have seen, liberal 
 views of church-government.^ Calvin, sterner 
 though his system was than that of the English 
 Eeformers, did not attribute exclusive value to 
 
 ^For a specimen of Luther's freedom of sentiment in 
 regard to forms, see Chapter IV. 
 
 2 "When King Edward died, Cranmer was endeavour- 
 ing to bring all the Reformed Churches into one com- 
 munion, each national or provincial Church to retain its 
 own forms and formularies." — Hunt's Religious Thought in 
 England, vol. I., 14. His successors, Archbishop Parker 
 and Archbishop Whitgift, held the same wide ecclesias- 
 tical sentiments. Lord Macaulay thus describes the 
 view of the Anglican Reformers in reference to church- 
 govenmient : — " They retained Episcopacy, but they 
 did not declare it to be an institution essential to the 
 welfare of a Christian society, or to the efficacy of the 
 sacraments. Cranmer, indeed, on one important occasion, 
 plainly avowed his conviction that, in the primitive times, 
 there was no distinction between bishops and priests, and 
 that the laying on of hands was altogether superfluous." — 
 History of England, chapter i. 
 
Ecclesiastical Matters. 85 
 
 any one mode of ecclesiastical polity.^ Knox 
 attached more importance to having a mode of 
 church - government practically suited to the 
 exigencies of the age than to the maintenance 
 of a rigid theory. Hence the polity which he 
 adopted was really a combination of Presbytery 
 and Episcopacy, the office of " superintendent " 
 which he introduced into the Scottish Church 
 being so similar to that of "bishop" that it was 
 remarked that the only difference between the 
 two was the difference between bad Latin and 
 
 1 " Neither Calviu nor Luther beheved he had discovered 
 the best form of church-government. Guided by right 
 feeling and experience, Calvin was not opposed to a com- 
 bination of various forms of polity. As he assembled the 
 clergy under his own single presidency to elect pastors, and 
 after preaching to judge of their lives and doctrines, he 
 himself recommended in fact the episcopal element for 
 the larger and more important countries, in order to 
 secure union and order." " He proposed a form of 
 church-government to Sigismund, King of Poland, in 
 which he combined the Episcopal with the Presbyterian 
 elements ; his clear understanding perceiving well that a 
 different form of polity was necessary for a great kingdom 
 from that which he had established in Geneva." " Calvin 
 remains the special representative of Presbyterian ism, 
 while Luther represents the Consistorial, and Cranmer the 
 Episcopal system, without either the one or the other 
 thinking he had reached perfection." — Henry's Life and 
 Times of Calvin (Stebbing's Translation), vol. i. pp. 400-2. 
 
86 The Sc7%ptures and 
 
 good Greek.^ The ritual of the Scottish Church, 
 
 too, as Knox adjusted it, was a combination of 
 
 liturgy and unprescribed worship.^ 
 
 ^er?4^4\; ^^^ ^^® Puritau movement, which succeeded 
 
 scnpture^ to the Ecformatiou, was uncompromisingly 
 
 authority 
 
 eccielfSi opposed to the spirit of liberty in regard to 
 Pur?t!an ^ ecclesiastical matters. The principle maintained 
 
 opinion. 
 
 by the party was that of requiring precise 
 Scripture authority for everything. No form 
 ^ of polity, no religious rite, no point of church- 
 
 order, could, they said, be legitimately admitted, 
 except on the ground of an express rule of 
 Scripture. It was not for man's wisdom to 
 decide what should, or should not, be adopted in 
 the Church. God alone must say, through His 
 Word, what is admissible. That many of those 
 who held this principle were not only thoroughly 
 
 1 This is cited by Bishop Hall as the saying of Zanchi, 
 a Protestant divine of Reformation times. — Bishop Hall's 
 Works, vol. X. p. 267. 
 
 2 See further on this subject what is said in Chapter IV. 
 In this respect Knox and Calvin were at one, as they were 
 also in their readiness to employ a combination of the 
 Episcopal and Presbyterian elements of government ; for 
 Calvin also varied the use of his liturgy by occasional 
 extempore prayer. — Henry's Life and Times of Calvin, 
 vol. i. p. 412. 
 
Ecclesiastical Matters. 87 
 
 in earnest, but were distinguished by learning 
 and mental power, is evident as well from history 
 as from the Puritan writings. But, at the same 
 time, the evil result which might naturally be 
 expected to arise from the application of such a 
 principle is manifest in the fanciful, and even 
 altogether absurd, interpretations of Scripture 
 with which their arguments abound. Examining l}^ effect on 
 
 o ° the mter- 
 
 the Scriptures with the foregone conclusion that 8c?ipture.°^ 
 they would find in them rules applying to every- 
 thing, it inevitably followed that they twisted 
 words and passages, and made them mean what 
 they are not at all intended to teach, and cannot 
 be justifiably accepted as teaching. Thus, in 
 reply to the argument that, as no precise com- 
 mands in regard to matters of church-polity are 
 given in the New Testament, we may conclude 
 that they are left to be decided by human reason, 
 the following arguments were adduced from 
 Scripture: — That, when Noah made the ark, 
 God gave him express injunctions as to the 
 materials which he was to use, and the size and 
 form of the structure ; that, when the tabernacle 
 was about to be erected, God said to Moses : 
 " Look that thou make all things according to the 
 
88 The Scriptures and 
 
 pattern which was shewed thee in the mount ; " 
 tliat, when Solomon built the temple, he had also 
 explicit divine directions; to guide him ; that, 
 when the second temple was made, God also gave 
 specific commands with reference to its erection ; 
 and that, in the vision of God's house described 
 by the prophet Ezekiel, there are most minute 
 precepts as to its shape and proportions and 
 measurements. These statements of Scripture — 
 was the argument — showing that God issued ex- 
 press directions in all these cases, render it cer- 
 tain that He must have appointed a precise and 
 unalterable form of polity for the Christian church!^ 
 
 ^ Tills remarkable line of argument was common with 
 writers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, who 
 felt themselves called on to prove the divine authority of 
 their respective forms of church-government from Scrip- 
 ture. Even Milton adduces this line of reasoning as proof 
 that there must be an express ecclesiastical rule in Scrip- 
 ture. — The Reason of Church-Government urged against 
 Prelacy, Prose Works, vol. I. p. 84. Hooker, on the other 
 hand, justly condemned this line of argument. He says, 
 "As for those marvellous discourses whereby they adventure 
 to argue that God must needs have done the thing which 
 they imagine was to be done, I must confess I have often 
 wondered at their exceeding boldness herein ; there being 
 no way in this case to prove the deed of God, saving only 
 by producing that evidence wherein He hath done it." — 
 Ecclesiastical Polity, book iii. 11. 
 
Ecclesiastical Matters. 89 
 
 It was on grounds very different from these opinion 
 
 of Hooker as 
 
 that the greatest English writer on ecclesiastical ^^c^puire 
 polity treated the subject. While Hooker, like asticai snb-" 
 Lord Bacon, admits the bearing of Scripture on 
 tlie general principles of church-order — " touch- 
 ing the manner of governing in general, the pre- 
 cepts that Scripture setteth down are not few, 
 and the examples many, which it proposeth for all 
 church-governors " ^ — he denies that there is an 
 express and complete code of regulations in 
 Scripture with respect to the government and 
 rites of the Church. He maintains that men are 
 left by God to the guidance of their own reason 
 in regard to all points on which a written law is 
 unnecessary ; the principles of order which are 
 founded on the wisdom and commonsense of 
 mankind, being not less important in their own 
 place than express revelation.^ He objects to 
 Scripture being regarded as " the rule to direct us 
 in all things, even so far as to the taking up of a 
 rush or a straw. "^ He argues that to search the 
 Scriptures of God for every matter of form is " to 
 derogate from the reverend authority and dignity 
 
 1 Ecclesiastical Polity, book iii. 4. 
 2 Id., book i. 14. 3 jj.^ j^^ok ii. 1. 
 
90 
 
 The Scriptures and 
 
 of the Scriptures."^ Not only so, but those, he 
 says, who are for ever pleading " the Law of the 
 Lord " and " the Word of the Lord " as their 
 authority for every possible point, merely quote, 
 when they are asked to condescend on specific 
 passages, "by-speeches in some historical narra- 
 tion or other, urging them as if they were written 
 in most exact form of law," thus, in point of fact, 
 adding to Scripture.^ 
 Hedistin- Xo the objcction, that if we thus hold that 
 
 guishes be- «^ ' 
 
 tMn^^s Scripture leaves many things to the exercise of 
 
 necessary 
 
 and things humau discrctiou we open a way to a danjjjerous 
 
 accessory. r v' o 
 
 liberty of opinion. Hooker replies that a distinc- 
 tion must be made between what is essential to 
 religion and those elements of religion which are 
 non-essential. Points which relate to matters of 
 church-polity belong, he argues, to the latter class. 
 They are not necessary to salvation, but only 
 " accessory thereunto, so that to alter them is not 
 to alter the way of salvation, any more than a 
 path is changed by altering only the uppermost 
 face thereof, which, be it laid with gravel, or set 
 with grass, or paved "with stones, is still the same 
 
 1 Ecclesiastical PoHty, book i. 15. 
 
 2 Id., book iii. 5. 
 
Ecclesiastical Mattel's. 91 
 
 path."^ Hooker also points out that to maintain 
 that there must be discipline and government in 
 the Church does not imply that these are to be 
 everywhere the same — "He which affirmeth 
 speech to be necessary amongst all men through- 
 out the world doth not thereby import that all 
 men must necessarily speak one kind of language; 
 even so the necessity of polity and regiment in all 
 Churches may be held without holding any one 
 certain form to be necessary in them all."^ 
 
 The views which Hooker thus expressed on the His views 
 
 greatly in 
 
 relation of Scripture to matters of church polity, Ji^JfJ'Sli^^ 
 though stated nearly three centuries since, are lateTSs" 
 greatly in advance of the mode of treatment which 
 has very generally been applied to ecclesiastical 
 questions in more recent times. Champions of 
 each sect and church-system have been ac- 
 customed to adduce the Scriptures as sustaining 
 their claims. Wliether Bishop or Presbyter, 
 Nonconformist or Churchman, or upholder of any 
 mode of church-government or worship is in the 
 right, can be decided — it has been very com- 
 monly held — only by "the law and the testi- 
 mony." Hence every book of the Bible has been 
 ^ Ecclesiastical Polity, book iii. 3. ^ Id., book iii. 2. 
 
92 The Scriptures and 
 
 ransacked for arguments by contending ecclesia- 
 stical writers. Ecclesiastical controversy has been 
 mainly a warfare waged with Scripture texts. To 
 what length this has been carried may be judged 
 of by the use which was made of Scripture when 
 the controversy in favour of the divine right of 
 Example of rival church-systcms was at its height. Thus, 
 
 l)roof8 from 
 
 Spport of'^ one of the most erudite supporters of Presby- 
 terianism. tcrianism fouud in the commandment of God to 
 Moses, when the law was about to be given from 
 Mount Sinai — " Come up unto the Lord, thou and 
 Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the 
 elders of Israel"^ — evidence of divine authority 
 for the Presbyterian constitution of the Church. 
 Another instance of analogy to the Presbyterian 
 form of polity he discovered in the passage, 
 " Jehoshaphat set of the Levites, and of the priests, 
 and of the chief of the fathers of Israel, for the 
 judgment of the Lord and for controversies." ^ 
 He referred also to these words as indicating the 
 same thing, " Elisha sat in his house and the elders 
 sat with him." ^ The " Moderator " or president 
 of a Presbyterian court he recognized in the text, 
 " Behold, Amariah, the chief priest, is over you 
 
 * Exod. xxiv. 1. 2 2 Chroii. xix. 8. ^ 2 Kings vi. 32. 
 
Ecclesiastical Matters. 9S 
 
 in all matters of the Lord"^ Other evidence of 
 the Presbyterian conjunction of pastors and ruling 
 elders in the government of the Church he found 
 in the following passages : " Moses, with the elders 
 of Israel, commanded the people;" " The law shall 
 perish from the priest, and counsel from the 
 ancients ;" " Thus saith the Lord, take of the 
 ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the 
 priests." 2 The same divine announced the setting 
 up of a Presbyterian Church in the room of 
 Popery and Prelacy as being foreshadowed by 
 these words in the book of Ezekiel, " If they be 
 ashamed of all that they have done, show them 
 the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, 
 and the goings out thereof, and the comings in 
 thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the or- 
 dinances thereof, and all the laws thereof; and 
 write it in their sight, that they may keep the 
 whole form thereof and all the ordinances there- 
 of, and do them."^ 
 
 1 2 Chron. xix. 11. 
 
 2 Deut. xxvii. 1 ; £zek. vii. 26 ; Jer. xix, 1. These 
 citations of Scripture in support of the divine authority 
 of Presbytery are taken from "Aaron's Rod Blossoming, or 
 the Divine Ordinance of Church Government Vindicated," 
 by George Gillespie, Minister of Edinburgh, 1646. 
 
 2 A Sermon preachetl before the Honourable House of 
 
94 The Scriptures and 
 
 SacedXck -^^^ ^^^® ^^^^^ fantastic interpretations of 
 ^^' Scripture been confined to one ecclesiastical 
 party. It is evident that, by applying a method 
 of exposition like this, a plentiful array of texts 
 may be adduced without much difficulty to sus- 
 tain the most opposite opinions. Consequently 
 the supporters of all the various forms of church 
 government have discovered conclusive evidence 
 in Scripture in favour of their respective claims. 
 Thus, while the title of Presbyterianism to divine 
 authority has been urged on grounds which carry 
 us back to the law of Moses, the Episcopal form 
 of polity has had a still more august origin 
 assigned to it. It has been traced back to Adam. 
 The form of government which obtained in the 
 primeval Church was, it has been argued, dis- 
 tinctly opposed to Presbyterian parity. Adam 
 governed the church nine hundred years, and 
 Seth five hundred. The patriarchs were su- 
 preme rulers of the Church in their day. Nay, 
 even the Mosaic system, to which Presbyterians 
 have appealed as giving its sanction to their mode 
 of polity, has been pronounced with no less cer- 
 
 Commons at their late Solemn Fast, Wednesday, March 27, 
 1644, by George Gillespie. 
 
Ecclesiastical Matters. 95 
 
 tainty to be entirely in favour of an Episcopal form 
 of rule. For was it not characterized by in- 
 equality as regards its offices ? Were there not 
 distinct orders of priests and distinct orders of 
 Levites ?^ 
 
 Such are the absurdities which result from imag- Rational 
 
 view of 
 
 ining that express Scripture authority must be Sgherthan 
 had for every ecclesiastical view, and for every tu?aiist^ 
 
 view. 
 
 point of form. Proceeding to interpret Scripture 
 with this preconceived belief, men unconsciously 
 distort it to support their own opinions. They 
 impose on it meanings which it was never in- 
 tended to convey, and use it to sustain con- 
 clusions to wliich it has no reference whatever. 
 On the other hand, the ground on which Hooker 
 places ecclesiastical questions is incomparably 
 higher, in respect that he claims for them that 
 they should be decided by considerations of reason. 
 Instead of regarding the settlement of them as 
 depending on the critical subtlety which subjects 
 the sacred volume to endless misinterpretation, he 
 defends their being judged by common sense. A 
 right view of the functions of Scripture, as well 
 as of reason, according to him, demands this ; for 
 1 Hunt's KeHgious Thought in England, vol. i. 89. 
 
9G 
 
 The ScA'ptiires and 
 
 The Chris- 
 tian prin- 
 ciple with 
 regard to 
 outward 
 matters. 
 
 it is false to imagine that " the light of Scripture 
 once shining in the world, all other light of nature 
 is therewith in such sort drowned, that now we 
 need it not, neither may we longer use it." ^ 
 
 The principle thus vindicated by this writer 
 has a wider range than may appear on a first view. 
 It really involves the fact of the importance and 
 sacredness of rational liberty in religious matters, 
 as opposed to the regulation of everything by 
 stereotyped rule. This is a principle which 
 enters essentially into the teaching of Christ 
 and the New Testament writers. We have 
 already seen that there is a remarkable ab- 
 stinence on their part from laying down 
 specific commands in reference to matters of 
 ecclesiastical order. And their silence on these 
 points is entirely in accordance with the nature 
 and spirit of Christianity. For it is one of the 
 
 1 Ecclesiastical Polity, book ii. 4. As is well known, 
 vigorous efforts have been made, especially by Keble in 
 his edition of Hooker, to show that this writer may be 
 claimed as a supporter of the High-Church views of epis- 
 copacy. But the passages which we have referred to, or 
 have adduced from his work, belong to an entirely different 
 style of thinking, and express sentiments which no 
 believer in the exclusive divine claims of a form of polity 
 could reasonably employ. 
 
Ecclesiastical Matters. 97 
 
 chief characteristics of the Christian idea of the 
 religious life that it is not a life formed by ex- 
 ternal regulations, but consecrated by a sense of 
 divine love, and therefore inspired by a spirit of 
 freedom. The law of Christ is pre-eminently a 
 law of liberty. It does not seek to hem in 
 human conduct by formal restrictions, it does 
 not lay the heart and conscience under minute 
 rules. The influence by which it appeals to men 
 is that of great spiritual principles, and not that 
 of rigid precepts. It gives prominence to what 
 is vital and eternal in religion, and not to those 
 external elements of its existence which are 
 accidental and transitory. Therefore it is that 
 the New Testament does not contain express 
 rules with reference to forms of church-govern- 
 ment and modes of worship. Such a code of 
 rules would have been inconsistent with the 
 character of Christianity. As a religion of 
 freedom — of the spirit rather than of the letter — 
 it promulgates all that is of essential and ever- 
 lasting moment for our guidance, but it leaves the 
 outward shape which faith and devotion may 
 assume, to be moulded by the varying influences 
 of time and human wants. In no other way 
 
98 The Scriptures and 
 
 could Christianity be of universal adaptation to 
 the necessities of the world. Do away with the 
 principle of liberty as regards matters of religious 
 form, and you do away with the possibility of a 
 universal mission for the Christian faith. Were 
 Christianity what the bigoted ecclesiastic would 
 have us believe, exclusively identified with his 
 church-system, it would be nothing more than 
 the religion of an age, or a section of mankind. 
 Its ecclesiastical limitations would prevent its 
 ever becoming more than this. But the large 
 wisdom of the New Testament in not restricting 
 Christians by fixed regulations with reference 
 to church-order and ritual, and so lea\ing Chris- 
 tianity free to adapt itself in these respects to the 
 many varieties of times and circumstance which 
 must exist in the course of human experience, is 
 in signal contrast to the confined notions of the 
 ecclesiastical partisan. 
 Difference Jn tliis rcspcct there is a very wide difference 
 
 in this res- ^ *' 
 
 tSeei?^* between Christianity and Judaism. The latter, 
 
 Christianity 
 
 •^^ndjuda- as accordcd with its merely local and temporary 
 character, consisted chiefly in literal precept. 
 The type of religion represented by the Jewish 
 law, while it had its higher, as well as its more 
 
 ism. 
 
Ecclesiastical Matters. 99 
 
 elementary, degree of development, is distinct- 
 ively preceptive and literal. There are the most 
 explicit enactments with reference to the nature 
 of the ecclesiastical system which the Jews were 
 to maintain. The officials of religion, the place 
 in which worship was to be offered, the manner 
 and order of service, the times of service, and a 
 vast multitude of minute circumstances con- 
 nected with these subjects, are laid down in 
 express commands, and with copious detail. 
 And the explanation of this wide contrast be- 
 tween Judaism and Christianity is to be found, 
 according to apostolic testimony, not in any real 
 opposition of the two, but in the less perfect 
 character of the former. It was, according to 
 the Apostle, the system appropriate to the time 
 of the Church's childhood, while the latter 
 corresponds to its matureness of spiritual life. 
 Judaism, he affirms, being a mode of education 
 destined for those who were spiritually children, 
 abounded in legal and outward elements; it 
 necessarily brought men under the bondage of 
 things external ; it was full of literal enactment. 
 But now, he says, Christ has admitted us into a 
 state of liberty ; we are no longer bondservants 
 
100 The Scriptures and 
 
 under a legal system ; we are no longer under 
 
 the elements of the world ; Christianity is 
 
 mainly of the spirit, and not of the letter.^ 
 
 bet"weeu'' Now, the mistake which is made by those 
 
 an"juda- ^ who iusist ou the necessity of an express rule of 
 
 ism a fertile 
 
 ^Jrinre- ^cripture bciug forthcoming for every ecclesiasti- 
 ciesiasticai cal matter, and who imagine that human conduct 
 
 subjects. 
 
 needs to be guided at every point by exact regu- 
 lations, is that they fail to recognize the differ- 
 ence between Christianity and Judaism. They 
 introduce into the sphere of Christian duty a 
 principle which was appropriate to the character 
 and design of the Jewish system, but which is 
 inconsistent with " the liberty wherewith Christ 
 hath made us free." And it will be observed in 
 reference to those texts and historical allusions 
 of Scripture, which we have mentioned as having 
 supplied proofs of divine authority to contending 
 ecclesiastics, to what an extent they have been 
 taken from tlie Old Testament. This is only 
 what might have been expected. It arises from 
 the distinctly Judaic nature of the view^ which is 
 involved in this idea of church matters. The 
 assertor of the divine right of this or the other 
 iGaLiv. 1-11. 
 
Ecclesiastical Matters. 101 
 
 form of ecclesiastical polity, when he wants to 
 prove his claims by Scripture, is necessarily 
 driven to seek for arguments in the Old Testa- 
 ment ; because the ground he assumes is entirely 
 foreign to the New Testament ; it is Jewish, not 
 Christian. Hence the ascendancy which has 
 sometimes been attained by the Old Testament 
 Scriptures over the New, in the history of the 
 Christian Church. In the times of the Puritans, 
 and in the days when the Solemn League and 
 Covenant was in the fulness of its vigour, " men's 
 heads," to use the forcible description of Bishop 
 Warburton, "were full of the Jewish dispensa- 
 tion." The very curtains, and candlesticks, and 
 snuffers of the tabernacle furnished material for 
 inference in regard to church matters.^ Not 
 only the express laws of the Old Testament, but 
 
 i"In the Old Testament there is not an office or an 
 office-bearer but is distinctly determined ; in the making 
 of the tabernacle there is not a curtain, nor the colour 
 thereof, not a snuffer, nor a besom, nor an ashpan, but all 
 are particularly set down ; yet ye will not get a bishop, 
 nor an archbishop, nor this metropolitan, nor that great 
 cathedral man, no not within all the Bible." This argu- 
 ment against archbishops, bishops, etc., by Mr. Andrew 
 Cant of Aberdeen, in a sermon dated 1638, ends with the 
 ejaculation, " The Lord pity them ! " 
 
102 The Scriptures and 
 
 its historical incidents, its figures, its principles of 
 government, and its most obscure predictions, — 
 all the distinctive characteristics, in short, of its 
 religious faith were introduced into the discussion 
 of forms of Christian polity. It was suggested 
 in the Westminster Assembly of Divines, by one 
 who was evidently not much impressed with this 
 line of argument, that it was desirable that 
 " clear, practical, and express Scriptures, and not 
 far-fetched arguments" should be brought for- 
 ward ; and he added that, though there was 
 much spoken of " the pattern in the mount," he 
 never could find any such pattern in the New 
 Testament.^ We caimot better understand the 
 
 ^ Minutes of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, p. 
 455. It has been aflSrmed that the Westminster Confes- 
 sion adopts the principle that express aiitliority of Scrip- 
 ture is necessary in regard to ecclesiastical subjects. The 
 truth is that, as is indicated by the incident above re- 
 ferred to, there were two parties in the Assembly holding 
 opposite views in this matter. While the Presbyterians 
 were abundantly willing to assert and maintain from 
 Scripture the exclusive and divine right of Presbytery, 
 they were prevented from doing so by their opponents, 
 who held opinions of greater latitude. The Confession 
 itself bears traces of this diversity of sentiment : for, 
 while chap. xxi. sec. i. asserts that the only legitimate 
 way of worshipping God is prescribed in the Holy Scrip- 
 ture, chap. i. sec. vi. declares that "there are some cir- 
 
Ecclesiastical Matters. 10*1 
 
 extent to which the Old Testament, and the 
 institutions of Judaism, were appealed to, not by 
 one party only, but by all parties, in support of 
 their respective claims, than from the testimony 
 of the Presbyterian writer, to whose use of Scrip- 
 ture we have already repeatedly referred. This 
 is how he defends himself against the not unrea- 
 sonable objection that he w^as not entitled to 
 take the Jewish system as a rule for the Chris- 
 tian Church : — " To me it seemeth strange that 
 both the one side and the other do, when they 
 please, reason from the forms of the Jewish 
 Church, and yet they will not permit us to 
 reason in like manner. The former (the Epis- 
 copalians) go about to prove the prelacy by the 
 
 cumstances concerning the woi'sliip of God and government 
 of the Church, common to liuman actions and societies, 
 which are to be ordered by the light of nature and Chris- 
 tian prudence, according to the general rules of the Word, 
 which are always to be observed." Dr. Hodge's interpre- 
 tation of this article is, that "the Scriptures do not descend 
 in practical matters into details, but, laying down general 
 principles, leave men to apply them in the exercise of 
 their natural judgment, in the light of experience, and in 
 adaptation to changing circumstances, as they are guided 
 by the sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit." (Com- 
 mentary on Westminster Confession.) This is precisely 
 the position which the supporters of the wider view of 
 ecclesiastical polity have always maintained. 
 
104 The Scrii^tures and 
 
 Jewish high-priesthood, and the lawful use of 
 organs in the Church from the like in the temple 
 of Solomon. The latter (the Independents) do 
 argue that a congregation hath right not only to 
 elect ministers, but to ordain them, and lay 
 hands on them, because the people of Israel laid 
 hands on the Levites ; that the maintenance of 
 the ministers of the gospel ought to be voluntary, 
 because under the Law God would have the 
 priests and Levites to be sustained by the offer- 
 ings and altars of the Lord ; that the power of 
 excommunication is in the body of the Church, 
 because the Lord laid upon all Israel the duty of 
 removing the unclean, and of putting away 
 leaven out of their houses at the feast of the 
 Passover. Is it right dealing now to forbid us 
 to reason from the form of the Jews ? " ^ 
 Iiemenun ^^ ^^^ ^^ thought, however, that such illus- 
 thwghi? trations of the erroneous principle of applying 
 Judaic rules to the matters of the Christian 
 Cliurch belong altogether to a past age, and that 
 they have no bearing on existing opinion. But 
 that is very far from being correct. It is no 
 
 ^ Assertion of the Government of the Churcli of Scot- 
 land, by George Gillespie. 
 
Ecclesiastical Matters. 105 
 
 doubt true that a sounder view of the right mode 
 of interpreting Scripture now prevails. The 
 fanciful use of Old Testament texts, and Old 
 Testament incidents, which was regarded as 
 perfectly legitimate in a former age, would not 
 now meet with general approval. Arguments 
 in regard to church-government from the Law 
 of Moses, the furniture of the tabernacle, the 
 ecclesiastical arrangements of the kings of Israel, 
 and the visions of the prophets, would, if they 
 were now urged, be rightly viewed as unworthy 
 of serious attention. It must not be forgotten, 
 however, that a state of opinion often exists 
 where the process of reasoning, of which it would 
 be the logical conclusion, is discarded. The 
 Judaic type of religious thought and feeling has 
 not by any means ceased to subsist as an active 
 influence in the formation of religious notions, 
 though the formal arguments from the Old 
 Testament, by which it used to be supported, 
 are not now in the same repute as formerly. 
 There is still to a considerable extent a tend- 
 ency of Christian opinion in the direction of 
 what accords rather with the teaching of the 
 Old Testament than with that of the New. It 
 
106 The Scriioturcs and 
 
 is impossible, for example, to consider the sacer- 
 dotal developments of Christianity without obser- 
 ving the closeness of their resemblance to Juda- 
 ism. The position which they give to the Chris- 
 tian ministry amounts to an assimilation of theii' 
 office to that of the Jewish priesthood ; the very 
 dogma of apostolic succession has its counterpart 
 in the priestly succession of the Jewish Law ; while 
 the Christian ritualism of to-day — its profuse use 
 of material symbols, real oblation, the ascrip- 
 tion of special sanctity to vestments, the sacrifi- 
 cial altar, and the offering of incense — is little 
 more than a reproduction of the service of the 
 tabernacle and the temple. And, when we 
 regard the Old Testament type of religion from 
 another point of view ; when we look at its 
 characteristically legal and stringent nature ; it 
 is equally evident that in this respect too it still 
 exercises an important influence on the Christian 
 Church. The rigid ideas of ecclesiastical matters 
 which are often predominant among Christian 
 people are (}ue, it may safely be argued, in no 
 small degree, to the effect of Old Testament 
 modes of thought. Thus the narrow view of 
 ritual, wliich regards it as unchangeably fixed 
 
Ecclesiastical Matters. 107 
 
 by divine enactment, is really that which belongs 
 to Judaism, and its express ceremonial laws ; 
 but it is quite foreign to the fuller light and life 
 of the religion of Christ. So, too, those exclusive 
 notions of the Christian Church, which identify 
 it with some one external society or mode of 
 government, are Judaic in their spirit: they 
 correspond to the state of things which existed 
 under a system which was local and outward, 
 but they have no affinity to the nature of a 
 communion which embraces without distinction 
 " Greek and Jew, barbarian, Scythian, bond and 
 free." There is also not infrequently the sub- 
 stitution in the Christian Church of the austerity 
 of teaching and discipline, which was character- 
 istic of Judaism, for the freedom of the law of 
 Christ. 
 
 It thus appears that the confusion of the prin- JJj'J'J^^^/^ 
 ciples of the Old Testament with those of the diucy."' 
 New is a source of error in connection with the 
 interpretation of Scripture, which is not by any 
 means confined to the experience of the past. Modes 
 of belief and of thought whicli are characteristic 
 of the former are always in danger of being 
 identified with the latter. The Judaizing tend- 
 
108 The Scrvptiires and 
 
 ency which, in St. Paul's day, was produced by 
 the presence of Judaism as an existing system 
 in close contact with Christianity, is a danger 
 resulting not less naturally in later times from 
 the Old and New Testaments being apt to be 
 used without sufficient distinction. Laws and 
 ideas which belong only to the one are liable 
 to be unconsciously transferred to tlie otlier. 
 The formal and rigorous spirit of the Jewish 
 Law becomes often the measure of Christianity.^ 
 
 ^ The danger of confusing the teaching which is peculiar 
 to the Old Testament with the principles and truths of 
 the New is a subject which appears to require more atten- 
 tion than is given to it. While the contents of the former 
 are profitable for instruction, and consist in large measure 
 of unchanging truth, it has yet to be remembered that 
 one of the most important features of Christianity is, that 
 it has superseded much that belonged to the former system. 
 There is reason to fear that in the use of the Old Testa- 
 ment this is a good deal overlooked. Persons reading the 
 Old Testament Scriptures, and failing to distinguish be- 
 tween what is permanent in their contents, and what was 
 but temporary, and therefore displaced by Christianity, 
 naturally make great mistakes. Not only did this con- 
 fusion of the principles of Judaism with those of Chris- 
 tianity make havoc of religious truth in early Christian 
 times ; not only does it appear as a source of most serious 
 error in connection with those ecclesiastical controversies 
 of later times to which we have alluded ; but it has been 
 a cause of evil in almost every period of the history of 
 the Church. Neander, vol. i. 401 ; ii. 9 ; iii. 195, 382 ; v. 
 
Ecclesiastical Matters. 109 
 
 "We have seen, then, as the result of our «'»T°y «f 
 consideration of this topic, that the belief that •'^'■^'™*^" • 
 everything relating to tlie government and ob- 
 servances of the Church has been prescribed 
 for us in Scripture is not supported by facts. 
 In the first place, it is only by going to Scripture 
 with the preconceived notion that it must con- 
 tain express precepts applicable to matters of 
 ecclesiastical polity, and then making it bear 
 such meanings as would seem to support their 
 own systems, that the advocates of this principle 
 have been able to maintain their argument. 
 And, in the second place, the principle itself, — 
 the principle that everything belonging to the 
 order and forms of the Church is subject to 
 express divine regulation, — involves a confusion 
 of Christianity with Judaism. It ignores the ele- 
 ment of liberty which belongs to the former. It 
 puts out of view the fact that an essential char- 
 acteristic of Christianity is the freedom which 
 it permits in regard to forms ; and that, unlike 
 
 3; vii. 111. There can be no doubt that the confusion 
 of Old Testament principles with the spirit and teaching 
 of the New is still a frequent source of religious mis- 
 takes. 
 
110 The Scriptures and 
 
 the religion of the Old Testament, it leaves the 
 
 Church unrestricted by fixed laws in regard to 
 
 matters of government and ritual. 
 
 t^wl^nYhl'^" -^^^^ mistaken ingenuity with which it has so 
 
 of dhurches oftcu been sought to prove from Scripture that 
 
 and the 
 
 St?n ?^^* ^^^^ divine sanction rests solely on some one 
 mode of church-government resembles the line 
 of reasoning which was common at one time in 
 reference to civil polity. It was maintained by 
 tlie devoted adherents of monarchy in former 
 days that the person and office of the sovereign 
 are invested with a sacredness derived from the 
 express appointment of God. Texts of Scripture 
 were adduced in abundance to support this 
 claim. Thus it was argued that the command, 
 ** Fear the Lord and the king,"^ shows that the 
 monarch is the representative of the Almighty, 
 and that consequently he reigns by a divine and 
 indefeasible title. It was also asserted that the 
 words, " The sword of the Lord and of Gideon," '^ 
 are proof that the sovereign possesses direct 
 divine authority. Besides, was not Saul "the 
 Lord's Anointed," and therefore regarded by 
 David as bearing a sacred character ? ^ Is it 
 
 ^ Prov. xxiv. 21. ^ j^idcres vii. 18. ^ 1 Sam, xxiv. 6. 
 
Ecclesiastical Matters. Ill 
 
 not a solemn prohibition of the Word of God, 
 " Touch not mine Anointed " ? ^ The fate which 
 overtook Korah, and Absalom, and Zimri,^ who 
 rebelled against constituted authority, was also 
 ([uoted as decisive evidence that the office of 
 the sovereign is invested with inviolable divine 
 prerogatives. It was with such arguments as 
 these that a civil monarchy was at one time 
 defended.^ Now, however, such proofs from 
 Scripture in favour of a particular form of civil 
 government have been discarded as groundless 
 and absurd : not because the rights of a sove- 
 reign are now regarded by those who defend 
 them as less important or less sacred than 
 formerly ; but because it is now very generally 
 and very justly believed that they gain nothing 
 by being supported by such proofs, that, on the 
 contrary, such an application of Scripture is 
 entirely mistaken. The true argument, — it is now 
 acknowledged, — in favour of any mode of civil 
 government is its inherent excellence ; its fitness 
 
 ^ Psalm cv. 15. 
 
 -Num. xvi. 32 ; 2 Sam. xviii. 14 ; 1 Kings xvi. 18. 
 
 'These are some of the arguments used by a Dr. 
 CJriffith, in a sermon, which is reviewed by Milton.- 
 Prose Works, vol. iii. 431. 
 
112 The Scri]piiiTes and 
 
 to secure the maintenance of order, and the wel- 
 fare of those who are subject to its sway. 
 faTpoift?^to T^^ wiser and more moderate notions in re- 
 ofong?ne- gard to civil polity, which thus led men to see 
 
 ral grounds. 
 
 that the authority of a government cannot be 
 rested on texts of Scripture, but must depend 
 on its own good qualities, may with equal advan- 
 tage be applied in the case of ecclesiastical 
 government. The true question in regard to the 
 administration of a church, as of a civil society, 
 really is — Whether its mode of rule is practi- 
 cally wise and efficient? What the particular 
 form of polity by which it is governed may be is 
 not of absolute and essential importance. An 
 ecclesiastical system, which is characterized by 
 enlightened principles, and by effective co-opera- 
 tion in the cause of Christian truth, possesses the 
 strongest possible title to be considered as having 
 the divine sanction, because its fruits are in 
 accordance with the requirements of Christianity. 
 But whether such a system has a gradation of 
 orders of clergy, or only one ; whether its consti- 
 tution is in conformity with the ideas of govern- 
 ment maintained by this section of Christian 
 people or the other ; whether its ritual accords 
 
Ecclesiastical Matters. 113 
 
 with this or the other form of religious worship ; 
 are not points of vital moment. The conclusion 
 to which the preceding discussion has led us is, 
 that the Christian Scriptures lay down no law 
 whatever in regard to these and similar points. The 
 attempt to make out a case from Scripture in 
 favour of the exclusive divine authority of Bishops 
 or of Presbytery or of any special church system 
 or form of worship, is as idle and unfounded, we 
 believe, as were the arguments from the same 
 source in support of the divine rights of kings. 
 The consideration of expediency — of what is most 
 for the good of men, and will tend most to the 
 promotion of wise and just ends — is the true 
 ground for judging of ecclesiastical, as well as of 
 civil, polity. 
 
 It has indeed been strongly objected that to Mistake of 
 
 supposing 
 
 put subjects belonging to ecclesiastical order and nai divuie" 
 
 .. ^, . , . - . authority 
 
 Torm on this ground — to view them as matters in can aione 
 
 make a 
 
 reference to which we are to be guided by a re- g^SS. 
 gard to expediency — is to assign to them a 
 position of less sacredness than if we believed 
 them to be fixed by express divine authority. 
 But it may well be answered, first of all, that the 
 (piestion is one of fact ; and our investigation of 
 
114 The, Scriptures and 
 
 the point goes to show that Scripture really con- 
 tains no express laws for the regulation of tlic 
 government and ritual of the Christian Church. 
 Then, as to the assertion that an institution does 
 not stand on the same foundation of sacredness, 
 when its inherent nature is the ground of its 
 claim, as it would if authorized by a direct 
 intimation of the divine will, the truth of this 
 view must be denied. It is a mistake to imagine 
 that evidence of divine authority cib extra can 
 alone constitute a thing sacred. Whatever is in 
 itself good and wise, and tends by its own nature 
 to promote truth and goodness, bears the strongest 
 and highest proof of a divine character. It pos- 
 sesses in its internal qualities the most conclusivi^ 
 of all reasons for being regarded as harmonizin.i^- 
 with the divine will. And, therefore, instead of 
 its being true that we put ecclesiastical sul)- 
 jects on a lower basis, when we affirm that they 
 should be treated on grounds of reason and ex- 
 pediency, than we would do were we to regard 
 them as requiring a direct command of the 
 Almighty, the result is quite otherwise. We 
 thus really view them in what, according to the 
 teaching of Christianity, is the highest of all 
 
Ecclesiastical Matters. 115 
 
 lights. For, as we have already remarked, 
 Christianity is opposed by its very nature to tlie 
 merely legal idea of religion, which seeks to dis- 
 cover a written law for everything, and will not 
 be satisfied unless it can rest everything on out- 
 ward and verbal authority. It gives prominence, 
 on tlie other hand, to that inner law of human 
 conduct, which consists in the exercise of en- 
 lightened conviction and spiritual wisdom. 
 
 And thus it is a mistake to suppose that the eJ^-o^^iJise 
 
 dictates of common-sense and reason are a ground from per- 
 version of 
 of human conduct less accordant with the divine scripture. 
 
 will than positive precepts of Scripture. We 
 give effect to the spirit and the teaching of 
 Christianity only wlien we assign to the former 
 element the large place which Christianity 
 allows to it. The fallacy of imagining that n 
 literal command or sanction must be had for 
 every point connected with religion is a fertile 
 source of error. Probably there is no more 
 prolific cause of misconception in regard to 
 religious subjects. Fanatical opinion always 
 has its set of texts, on which it builds its super- 
 structure of fanciful beliefs. In the superficial 
 sense of disconnected passages of Scripture, or 
 
116 The Scriptures and 
 
 in the meaning which a narrow bias attaches to 
 the sacred texts, foundation enough can easily 
 be discovered for the most extreme conclusions. 
 The literaKsm that demands that every possible 
 subject relating to the Christian faith and the 
 Christian Church shall be explicitly determined 
 by chapter and verse thus leads to serious evils. 
 The effect of it is that persons lay hold on the 
 immediately apparent meaning of certain words 
 of Scripture, wliile the true intention of the 
 writer is perhaps never sought for. They come 
 to the interpretation of a passage with a certain 
 theory already in their minds, and therefore with 
 a strong disposition to make it sustain that theory 
 at the expense of its real signification. And then 
 the views of Scripture which have been arrived 
 at in this way are apt to acqirire a traditional 
 place in religious opinion, which leads to their 
 being received by many with unquestioning 
 belief. Thus it has been to a very large extent, 
 as we have seen, with the use of Scripture in 
 regard to ecclesiastical subjects. When devout 
 fancy becomes the interpreter of the Scriptures, 
 there is no absurdity too great to be deduced 
 from them. 
 
Ecclesiastical Matters. 117 
 
 The growth of truer views is now shown in }j[^rcs!ion- 
 
 the increasing disbelief of such arguments, which ecclesiasti- 
 cal subjects. 
 
 is noticeable in prevailing religious sentiment. 
 The tendency of present opinion is increasingly 
 in the direction of the broad and reasonable idea 
 of Church questions which Bacon and Hooker 
 long ago maintained " That God hath left the 
 like liberty to the church government as He hath 
 done to the civil government, to be varied accord- 
 ing to time, place, and accidents, which neverthe- 
 less His high and divine providence doth order 
 and dispose," is a doctrine which is necessarily 
 distasteful to the supporters of the divine claims 
 of a special form of church-polity, but it is com- 
 mended by its moderation and good sense. The 
 particular modes of organization, by which the 
 light and life of Christianity may be diffused, are 
 not of vital consequence except as they are con- 
 nected with the accomplishment of that result. 
 Men differ, and will continue to differ, as to the 
 external modes which religion should assume. 
 There are circumstances and times to which one 
 form of church-polity is naturally more suited 
 than others. There are special purposes served 
 by one system of ecclesiastical government 
 
118 The ScHptures and Ecclesiastical Matters. 
 
 to which another would be inapplicable. In 
 short, instead of trying to discover in Scripture a 
 rigid rule on the subject, the entire question as 
 to "the particular hierarchies, policies, and dis- 
 ciplines of Churches " is matter for the exercise 
 (jf a wise discretion, and is only to be rightly 
 decided by keeping in view what is most ex- 
 pedient in each case. High-flown theories in 
 respect to ecclesiastical government are productive 
 of results which are full of evil. In proportion 
 to the magnitude assigned to points of external 
 order is the depreciation of those elements of 
 religion which are of essential moment — ^justice, 
 charity, and truth. On the other hand, if ques- 
 tions relating to church-polity are treated with a 
 full recognition of the fact that no precise regula- 
 tions of Scripture exist with reference to them, 
 and that they fall to be determined by those 
 considerations of reason and expediency which 
 guide us in other matters, this is a view which 
 conduces much more to a tolerant and just con- 
 ception of Christianity. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 CHANGE AS AN ELEMENT IN THE 
 CHRISTIAN CHURCH. 
 
" Because man is changeable, the Church is also changeable 
 — changeable, not in its object, which is for ever one and the 
 same, but in its means for effecting that object ; changeable 
 in its details, because the same treatment cannot suit various 
 diseases, various climates, various constitutional peculiarities , 
 various external influences." — Dr. Arnold. 
 
CHANGE AS AN ELEMENT IN THE 
 CHRISTIAN CHUECH. 
 
 It is often maintained that consistent adherence opposition 
 
 to changes 
 
 to an ecclesiastical system requires us to cling "f ^ciigi 
 
 to all its past usages and rules. To depart, as 
 regards forms of order or worship, from the 
 customs which our forefathers cherished, is to 
 incur, it is thought, the risk of falling into fatal 
 error ; while, on the other hand, by steadfastly 
 retaining the practices of former days, by " walk- 
 ing the old patlis," we avoid the dangers which 
 beset the introduction of what is new. Let all 
 things remain as they are, and have been, is the 
 counsel of those who deprecate change ; for, if 
 alterations are once permitted in the forms of 
 religion, it is impossible to say where these may 
 end. 
 
 usage. 
 
122 Change a^s an Element in 
 
 Sometimes But, good as his inteiitioiis may be, the un- 
 
 un reason- ° ./ ' 
 
 '^^^'^' compromising opponent of change overlooks an 
 
 important fact of human experience. Opinion 
 and feeling are ever undergoing alteration. 
 Though it is impossible to assign, in many 
 instances, any explanation of the variations 
 which occur in these respects, there can be no 
 doubt of their continual occurrence. Habits of 
 thought which are congenial to one period are 
 often out of accord with the tendencies of the 
 following age. What suits so well the spirit of 
 one time as to express truthfully its deepest 
 convictions, is often so alien from the character 
 of another that it loses all its original signifi- 
 cance. Institutions and observances which, in 
 their own day, did great good, are often so 
 inappropriate to the circumstances of a later age 
 as to be the reverse of beneficial. Now, it is 
 extremely unreasonable to attempt to ignore — 
 as the defender of unvarying uniformity in reli- 
 gious matters does — the existence of this influ- 
 ence. It has its effects as regards Christian faith 
 and life, no less than with respect to other 
 things. While the essence of Christianity re- 
 mains ever the same, the modes in which it is 
 
tlie Christian Church. 123 
 
 expressed, and the rites with which it is associ- 
 ated naturally vary with the altered conditions 
 that lapse of time brings with it. And there- 
 fore, instead of contending obstinately against 
 all changes, it is rather the part of a Christian 
 society to adopt whatever alteration may tend 
 to good. 
 
 For, if a Church stands persistently aloof J^-^ii -'^"s"^-' 
 from the elements of change which are exer- uoriiiRthe 
 
 , . necessity of 
 
 cising their mfluence on the sentiments and change. 
 feelings of men ; if it clings with inexorable 
 tenacity to its past traditions, overlooking the . 
 new circumstances that are emerging from age 
 to age, the result must be that it will cease to 
 retain its hold on the intelligence and earnest- 
 ness of the time. The active thought and 
 energy of the world cannot be expected to find 
 anything congenial in an ecclesiastical system 
 that exj)ressly denies the propriety of consulting 
 the claims of the present. The mission of the 
 Church of Christ is concerned pre-eminently 
 with the wants and circumstances of the day. 
 And when, instead of seeking to embrace these, and 
 to bring them within its influence, it holds itself 
 apart from them, and endeavours to keep every- 
 
124 Change as an Element in 
 
 thing precisely as it was in past times, its work 
 must be correspondingly impaired. 
 Danger aris- And, on tlic otlicr hand, isolation from the 
 
 ing to a 
 
 itecfffrom sentiments and tendencies of the present must 
 
 tliis cause. •, ■, on 
 
 produce a most unfavourable effect on the con- 
 dition and spirit of the Church itseK. For, 
 when the influence of the fresh mental activity 
 of the age is allowed to exercise its proper power 
 in the sphere of religion, it has a salutary result. 
 Contact with the ever-changing conditions of 
 thought and feeling is essential to the health 
 of religion. It is when overgrown with tradi- 
 tional prejudices that sacred institutions become 
 corrupt and dangerous. It is when faith and 
 devotion stand most aloof from the life and 
 stir of the intellectual and social world that they 
 are most apt to degenerate into superstition. 
 The influence of the life of the day is, with 
 all its drawbacks, a beneflcial influence. If 
 we look back on the history of the Church 
 and observe the nature of the corruptions from 
 which it has most deeply suffered, we see that 
 these corruptions have been the result of mental 
 stagnation more than any other cause. The 
 healthful element of change excluded from the 
 
the Christian Church. 125 
 
 province of religious things, it becomes fertile 
 in all those evils which spring from spiritual 
 cliangelessness. The prevalence of blind credu- 
 lity, the ascription of a mystic influence to the 
 material elements and actions of worship, the 
 power of the priesthood — these great evils of the 
 Christian Church have always been associated 
 with traditionalism. They could not have existed 
 where free play was given to the fresh thought 
 and fresh life of mental progress. It is in the 
 spirit of extravagant veneration for the past 
 that they find their support. A religious society 
 which claims to occupy so sacred a position as 
 to be above the necessity of change is a congenial 
 home for false forms of faith and piety. 
 
 Now, the view that unvarying uniformity should ^^^^fe,!^^. 
 characterize the Church of Christ was not by any ing"miiP 
 
 "^ -^ formity. 
 
 means the opinion maintained by the Founders of 
 Protestantism. They were very far from suppos- 
 ing — as many now suppose — that, by keeping the 
 ordinances and rites of religion the same in all 
 times, we preserve it from corruption. On the 
 contrary, they fully recognized the necessity of 
 varying the external modes of religion. They 
 wisely apprehended that the vitality of Christian 
 
12G Change as an Elaiiient in 
 
 devotion must depend, in no small degree, on its 
 not being fixed down to a single outward type ; 
 but being allowed to find new forms for itself, as 
 Luther. circumstances arise to require them. Thus, when 
 Luther drew up his Order of Divine Service, he 
 was most careful to point out that it was not to 
 be regarded as an unchangeable formulary of wor- 
 ship. " Above all things," he says, " I most af- 
 fectionately, and for God's sake, beseech all who 
 see or desire to observe this, our Order of Divine 
 Service, on no account to make it a compulsory 
 law, or to ensnare or captivate the conscience of 
 any thereby ; but to use it, agreeably to Christian 
 liberty and their good pleasure, where, when, and 
 as long as circumstances favour and demand it." 
 The general remarks which Luther makes on 
 forms of worship are well worthy of attention. 
 " This and every otlier Order of Divine Service," 
 he says, " is so to be used that, an abuse arising 
 therefrom, it shall immediately be abolished, and 
 another made ; just as tlie brazen serpent, which 
 God Himself had commanded to be made, was 
 broken in pieces and destroyed by King Hezekiali, 
 because the children (►f Israel were misusing it. 
 For ordinances are intended to serve for the fur- 
 
the Christian Church. 127 
 
 therance of faith and love, and not for the detri- 
 ment of faith. Wlien they no longer perform 
 that for which they are designed, they are dead 
 and gone already, and are no more of any value ; 
 as, when new shoes become old or pinch, they are 
 not worn any more, but are cast away, and others 
 are purchased. Order is an outside thing. Be it 
 as good as it may, it is liable to be abused. In 
 such case, however, it is no longer order, but dis- 
 order. Therefore, no ordinance can stand or is 
 binding of itself ; but the life, dignity, strength, 
 and virtue of any ordinance is the just use which 
 is made of it, otherwise it is of no account at all." ^ 
 
 The judgment thus expressed by Luther rests Religious 
 
 forms be- 
 on grounds which commend themselves to reason ^^^^^ ^^^^^- 
 
 and common experience. It is undeniable that 
 observances, good and useful at first, become in 
 time unsuitable. And it is not less certain that, 
 for religious faith to adhere to external forms and 
 things after they have lost their fitness, is incon- 
 sistent with intelligent devotion. It might as 
 justly be insisted, to employ the homely figure of 
 the Eeformer, that we should continue to use 
 
 ^ Hagenbach's History of the Reformation, vol. ii. pp. 
 9-14 (Clark's Translation). 
 
128 Change as an Element in 
 
 articles of dress after they are worn out, as that 
 we should employ religious forms after they have 
 become effete. Every time has its own prevailing 
 mental tendencies ; and to give them room for 
 exercise in the Church seemed to Luther essential 
 to the true idea of divine service, and not blindly 
 to adhere to the past. 
 Early Pro And thc vicw of tlic Ecformers generally, and 
 
 testant Con- ° "^ ' 
 
 tSs'subject. of those who set forth the earhest declarations of 
 the Protestant faith, was the same. They were 
 against the doctrine that there must be an un- 
 broken uniformity as regards the outward usages 
 of religion. While the Articles of the Church of 
 England assert the authority of the Church, and 
 the need of preserving ecclesiastical order, they 
 also declare — " It is not necessary that traditions 
 and ceremonies be in all places one and utterly 
 like ; for at all times they have been divers, and 
 may be changed according to the diversities of 
 countries, times, and men's manners, so that noth- 
 ing be ordained against God's Word." ^ We find 
 substantially the same declaration in other early 
 Protestant Confessions. " We at this day," says 
 one of them, " having divers rites in the celebra- 
 ^ Article xxxiv. 
 
tlic Christian Church, 120 
 
 tion of the Lord's Supper, and in certain other 
 things, in our Churches, yet do not disagree in 
 doctrine and faith : for the Churches have always 
 used liberty in such rites, as being things indiffer- 
 ent." ^ "Although," says another, "our pastors do 
 not keep the same rites and usages as all Churches; 
 and it is neither possible nor necessary that every- 
 where in all Churches the same rites and cere- 
 monies should be kept ; yet they do not oppose 
 tliemselves to any good and pious rite. To this 
 effect do they teach, that human traditions ought 
 not to be taken for unchangeable and eternal 
 laws." ^ But perhaps the most striking testimony 
 of this kind whicli is afforded by the early Pro- 
 testant Confessions, is that contained in the views 
 of Knox on the subject. We refer to his testi- i^nox. 
 inony as striking, because the genius of the system 
 whose foundations he laid is very generally sup- 
 posed to be so rigid as to forbid any departure 
 from an unchanging standard ; and because the 
 name of Knox is often invoked as if it were syn- 
 onymous with a severe and inflexible puritanism 
 in ecclesiastical matters. The truth is that Scot- 
 
 ^ The Second Helvetic Confession. 
 - The Boliemian Confession, 1535. 
 I 
 
130 Change as an Element in 
 
 tish Presbyterianism became infected with that 
 spirit subsequently to Knox's time. In its ori- 
 ginal foiTn, and so far as it reflected the mind of 
 the Reformer, the polity of the Scottish Churcli 
 rested on principles which were the reverse of 
 narrow. He fully entertained the anticipation 
 that it would be modified to suit the varying re- 
 quirements of different ages and places ; and not 
 that it would be stereotyped for all time coming. 
 " In the kirk (as in the house of God)," says the 
 Scotch Confession of Faith, drawn up by Knox, 
 " it becomes all things to be done decently and in 
 order. Not that we think that one policy and 
 one order in ceremonies can be appointed for all 
 ages, times, and places ; for, as ceremonies (such 
 as men have devised) are but temporal, so may 
 and ought tliey to be changed, when they rather 
 foster superstition than that they edify the kirk 
 using the same."^ 
 Knox's dis- Kuox statcs tlic sauic view more in detail else- 
 
 tinction of 
 
 ncSary whcrc. Hc lays down the principle that the wor- 
 i>rofitabie" ship and order of the Church consist of two ele- 
 ments — things essential and things non-essential. 
 
 * The Confession of the Faitli and Doctrine belevit and 
 professit be the Protestantis of Scotland, 1560. 
 
the Christian Church. 131 
 
 The former element, he states, is inseparable from 
 the existence of the Church, and therefore must 
 be maintained universally and always ; the latter, 
 on the other hand, is not to be tixed, but should 
 be variously arranged as circumstances may re- 
 quire. Tlie following are his words : — " There 
 be two sorts of Church policy ; the one utterly 
 )iecessary, as that the word be truly preached, the 
 sacraments rightly ministered, conmion prayer 
 publicly made, that the children and rude persons 
 be instructed in the chief points of religion, and 
 that offences be corrected and punished ; these 
 things, we say, be so necessary that, without the 
 same, there is no face of a visible kirk. The 
 other is profitaUe, but not of mere (that is absol- 
 ute) necessity, as that psalms should be sung, that 
 certain places of the Scripture should be read when 
 there is no sermon, that tliis day or that day, few 
 or many in the week, the church should assemble ; 
 of these, and such others, we cannot see how a 
 certain order can be established." ^ So far was 
 the Keformer from believing that absolute uni- 
 formity in such non-essential matters was neces- 
 sary, that he approved of giving liberty in such 
 ^ The First Book of Discipline. 
 
132 Change as an Element in 
 
 matters " to every paiticular church by their own 
 consent to appoint their own polity." ^ And one 
 illustration which he affords of liis opposition to 
 anything of the nature of an invariable rule in re- 
 ference to the mere externalities of religion is 
 worthy of special notice. The ordinary form of 
 the Scottish service in his day was liturgical, and 
 common prayers were read daily in the chief towns 
 of Scotland. Knox was of opinion, however, that 
 the continual and exclusive employment of an 
 imperative formulary of worship would be apt to 
 lead the people to l^elieve that they could pray to 
 God in no other way. He therefore encouraged 
 occasional deviations from this practice. While 
 tlie Book of Common Order was the authorized 
 form of prayer, lie judged it expedient that some- 
 times public worship should be offered without it. 
 " In great towns we think expedient that every 
 day there be either sermon, or else common 
 prayers, with some exercise of reading tlie Scri[)- 
 tures. What day the public sermon is, we can 
 neither require or greatly approve that the conunon 
 prayer be publicly used- ; lest that we shall either 
 foster the people in superstition, who come to the 
 ^ The First Book of Discipline. 
 
the Christian Church. 133 
 
 prayers as they come to the mass ; or else give 
 them occasion to think that those be no prayers 
 which are made before and after sermon." ^ Wliat 
 the Reformer desired was obviously to prevent 
 the popular mind from blindly clinging to a form 
 of devotion. He therefore favoured a measure of 
 variety as regards divine services. He was so far 
 from being of the opinion of those who imagine 
 that unvarying uniformity is the true means of 
 avoiding religious errors, that he apprehended 
 serious danger from constant sameness of observ- 
 ance. His judgment in this respect is the same as 
 that expressed by another Reformer, who says, 
 " Sometimes it is profitable that there should 
 be difference of rites, lest men should think that 
 religion is tied to outward ceremonies." ^ 
 
 It thus appears that the original position ofReaiposi- 
 the Reformed Churches as regards the subject of Sifirches^in 
 
 . . relation to 
 
 changes of usage and ritual is very different from the subject 
 
 " '^ '^ of changes 
 
 what is often supposed. Many persons seem to 
 think that, when the Protestant faith and worship 
 were settled, everything relating to the forms of 
 religion was fixed for all future time ; and they 
 consequently regard the introduction of change 
 ^ The First Book of Discipline. ^ Calvin. 
 
1 o4f Change as an Element in 
 
 as an essential departure from ancient Protestant 
 principles. But that is not at all the true state 
 of the case. So far from absolutely excluding 
 what is new from the Christian Church, it is a 
 fundamental article of Protestantism that the 
 differences which arise with new times and new 
 circumstances are to be provided for. The testi- 
 monies of the Peformers themselves, such as we 
 have quoted, distinctly show that this was their 
 view. It is characteristic of the Church of Kome 
 that she professes to be unchanging and unchange- 
 able. One of the opinions which she condemned 
 as erroneous at the last CEcumenical Council was 
 that " the lioman Pontiff can and should reconcile 
 and accommodate himself to progress, liberalism, 
 and modern civilization." ^ Now, that is a posi- 
 tion which, however much it may be objected to 
 in itself, the Church of Eome is not inconsistent 
 in maintaining. Because she claims infallibility, 
 it necessarily follows that she claims also to be 
 immutable. And, moreover, in a priestly system 
 of religion, all traditional usages, and all the 
 
 1 Acts and Decrees of the Most Holy and (Ecumenical 
 Vatican Council opened on the 8tli day of Decern Ijer, 
 1869, by Pope Pius IX. 
 
the Christian Church. 135 
 
 elements of ritual are invested with such tran- 
 scendent notions of sacredness, that to disturb 
 what the sanction of antiquity has rendered 
 venerable would be to undermine the foundations 
 on which the system rests. But when, on the 
 other hand, the Protestant assumes the same posi- 
 tion of antagonism to the influences of the day, 
 he occupies ground which is thoroughly out of 
 accordance with his creed. For the view whicli 
 he claims to represent is, that faith and worship 
 are not subject to the dictation of an infallible 
 human autliority, and do not depend for their 
 value on any human priesthood ; but that they 
 are matters of individual conviction and experi- 
 ence — matters in regard to which the living in- 
 telligence and the living earnestness of the pres- 
 ent are to be freely exercised. It is manifest!}' 
 irreconcilable with this view to suppose that the 
 Church of Christ should endeavour to ignore 
 those elements of change which are ever operat- 
 ing on the thoughts and feelings of mankind. 
 
 It is no doubt true that the feelino^ of reverent veneration 
 
 " for anti- 
 
 regard for the past is an important influence as eJi^ifyTin^ 
 
 indiscrimin- 
 
 respects religious matters. That feeling cannot ate. 
 lie discarded without the sacrifice of some of the 
 
13G Change as an Element in 
 
 most elevating associations of Christian belief and 
 worship. The value which is given to forms of 
 religion by their having been in use for ages, and 
 the solemnity with which they are invested b}' 
 the knowledge that they have expressed the piety 
 of former generations of Christians, constitutes a 
 source of powerful interest. The care, therefore, 
 of a Church should be to maintain this sentiment ; 
 to keep entire, so far as may be, those bonds of 
 connection, which unite the present to whatever 
 is best and truest in former times. But, on tlie. 
 other hand, it is a mistake to think that, in order 
 to conserve the precious traditions of the wisdom 
 and piety of past days, it is needful to avoid an}' 
 departure from the usages which they have handed 
 down to us. An undistinguishing veneration for 
 antiquity prevents our receiving from it as we 
 ought the lessons which it is fitted to teach us. 
 For, in the first place, it has its evil traditions as 
 well as its good : the inheritance which we have 
 derived from it consists not less of errors whicli 
 stand in need of exposure and correction than of 
 what is true and precious. And, therefore, to 
 adhere without discrimination to whatever belongs 
 to the past is in reality to lose the true benefit 
 
the Christian Church. 137 
 
 of its teachings. It is an unfailing law in the 
 history of social institutions that when they keep 
 rigidly within the attainments of bygone times 
 they decay. There nmst be endeavour, not only 
 to retain what has been reached, but to advance 
 on it ; otherwise the ground already gained is 
 gradually lost. So that the true conservators of 
 the good and truth of former days are those who, 
 instead of holding blindly by whatever is old, 
 seek the removal from it of deficiencies and 
 evils. 
 
 And there is also another fact which is over- Traditional 
 
 usages 
 
 looked by those who are such unqualified ad- mean^wUat 
 
 they did at 
 
 mirers of the past that they stand out against first. 
 any deviation from its religious usages. They 
 forget that wlien transmitted from one age to 
 another, a mode of thought or practice frequently 
 assumes a quite different relation from what it 
 had. Very often — as has been already stated — 
 an institution, or an observance, which, in the 
 circumstances of the time that gave it birth, re- 
 presented some important truth, survives its mean- 
 ing, and becomes an abuse. The history of the 
 Christian Church supplies many such instances. 
 Thus, the practice of religious seclusion, when it 
 
1 38 Change as an Element in 
 
 first became prevalent among Cliristians, was the 
 result, to a large extent, of the conditions of the 
 age. To be able to worship God in security, it 
 was necessary in A'ery many cases for the Chris- 
 tians of early times to take refuge in solitary 
 })laces from the violence of the persecutor. But 
 the custom, which thus arose at first out of the 
 spiritual necessities of the Church, and was ex- 
 pressive of a pure and ardent piety, became a 
 \'ery different thing when continued after the 
 need for seclusion had ceased. The superstitious 
 notions which came to be associated with monastic 
 life were the corruption of what had been at first 
 a true manifestation of religious feeling. And, 
 to take another instance, there can be no doubt 
 that the elaborate symbolism which in early 
 ages was gradually developed in connection with 
 Christian worship, expressed at first certain great 
 religious truths. Men recognized originally in the 
 various ceremonies wliich were introduced into the 
 Church the representation of spiritual realities. 
 They were to them only the material embodiment 
 of the facts and emotions of an earnest faith. 
 But, in course of time, the truths to which these 
 external observances pointed were for the most 
 
the ChHstian Church. 139 
 
 part forgotten ; and the devotional services with 
 which they were associated became little more 
 than an affair of empty form and lifeless ritual. 
 And yet another illustration may, we think, be 
 found of religious usages losing their true mean- 
 ing and becoming unreasonable, in those stern 
 puritan notions of religious worship, which grew 
 out of the circumstances of a past age. They 
 were, to a certain extent, a reaction from the 
 violent excesses of the opposite extreme of cere- 
 monialism. Tliey were, on this account, identified 
 with resistance to ecclesiastical tyranny ; and 
 therefore their history contains much that is 
 worthy of admiration. But when it is urged 
 that the austere rites and observances of the 
 Puritanism of former times are to furnish a law 
 for the regulation of the Church of to-day, and of 
 all coming times, this is to overlook the fact that 
 what arose naturally out of the condition of an- 
 other period is no longer applicable to the present 
 age. The state of things is so greatly altered, 
 that to cling now with obstinacy to the meagre- 
 ness of form that was at one time so extensively 
 characteristic of Christian worship, is incongruous 
 and unreasonable. 
 
140 Change as an Element in 
 
 Hfe^Sinnot Thus the retention of the religious usages of 
 to the forms the past is not necessarily a good thing. It may 
 
 of the past. 
 
 result, and often results, in disadvantage to the 
 life and purity of religion. It is as little in ac- 
 cordance with reason to require that Christians 
 should always continue to employ the same modes 
 of manifesting their belief and devotion, as it 
 would be to insist that men should always utter 
 their thoughts in the same words and phrases as 
 their forefathers, or that tlie common affairs of 
 life should be carried on according to the customs 
 of bygone times. The obvious answer to the 
 form of social idealism which maintains that man- 
 kind would be better if all things could be kept 
 as they were long ago, is, that, even were the 
 notion one that could be realized, it would have 
 no such results as are fancied.. The new things, 
 and the new influences, which are ever coming 
 into existence in tlie social life of the world, 
 wliile they may introduce elements of evil, are 
 nevertheless essential conditions of prosperity and 
 progress. The world, were it to remain in a 
 state of unchanging uniformity, would be destitute 
 of healthy life. Now the same thing holds in 
 regard to men religiously. It is impossible that 
 
the Christian Church. 141 
 
 (.'hristiaiiity can possess vigorous life, or can ex- 
 ercise its rightful influence, if it is bound up in 
 the forms of the past entirely. The maintenance 
 of power and vitality in a Church depends largely 
 (jn its being open to receive the impulse of those 
 varying sentiments and tastes, which are the 
 result of change of times. 
 
 Nor can it be justly objected that matters objection 
 
 that sacred - 
 
 relating to the Church of Christ come under a ^^o^^fhlSgs 
 different rule in this respect from other institu- change. 
 tions and things. That is the ground assumed 
 by the ecclesiastical school, which refuses to 
 admit the lawfulness of altering anything in the 
 Church from what existed in the past. It is 
 argued that, necessary and legitimate as it may 
 1)6 to accommodate the usages of ordinary human 
 life to the changing circumstances of the w^orld, 
 ecclesiastical affairs belong to the sphere of divine 
 things, and must, therefore, not be treated on the 
 same principles of human wisdom and policy as 
 are applicable to mundane concerns. But those 
 who take this line of objection overlook an im- 
 portant distinction. The Iicformers, as we have 
 .seen, were careful to discriminate between things 
 essential and things non-essential in the Church, 
 
142 Change as an Element in 
 
 and it was to the latter only that they attributed 
 the character of variableness. The essence and 
 spirit of Christianity are unchangeable ; but it is 
 surely a very false judgment which assigns 
 immutable obligation to the merely external 
 and formal elements, with which its existence is 
 associated. There is surely the widest possible 
 difference between what Luther calls the "outside 
 tilings " of religion, and its life ; between things 
 " necessary " and things merely " profitable," to 
 adopt the distinction of Knox ; between that 
 which is " necessary," and that which is " acces- 
 sory," to employ Hooker's language ; between the 
 " letter," and the " spirit," to take the terms used 
 by a higher authority. ^ It is from failing to 
 distinguish between these two very different 
 classes of religious subjects that some of tlie 
 worst errors of Christian opinion have arisen; and 
 when men stand l)y old ecclesiastical customs, and 
 old ecclesiastical forms, and maintain that they 
 are to be retained as inviolably sacred, thougli 
 they belong to another age, and have no longer 
 the same suitableness to the wants of the Cliristian 
 Church as they had at first : tliis is but an in- 
 
 * 2 Cor. iii. 6. 
 
the Christian Church. Wo 
 
 stance of the confusion to which we refer. It is 
 viewing mere "outside things" as if they were 
 vital principles of Christianity. It is as much as 
 to say that Christianity is fixed and confined to 
 these external modes — that it cannot exist except 
 in connection with them. And thus it amounts 
 to putting the form above the spb-it of Christianity. 
 
 On the other hand, the introduction of such importance 
 
 of Christian 
 
 variation of usage and ritual into the Christian rSp*?d.r 
 
 ^i I , . . . n • 1 outward 
 
 Church as " diversities oi times and men s things. 
 manners " render expedient, represents the all-im- 
 portant principle of Cliristian liberty in things 
 indifferent. It amounts to an assertion of the 
 superiority of religion to traditional observances. 
 It is a protest against the narrow formalism that 
 would tie Christians down to a single type of 
 religious service. Hence the value which it had 
 in the eyes of the Reformers. When Luther 
 besought men, for God's sake, to throw aside his 
 Service Book, and have another made, whenever 
 there should arise any danger of its becoming an 
 object of superstitious regard, he but expressed the 
 great truth of spiritual freedom. Christianity is 
 not to be exclusively identified with this or the 
 other external rite or custom. Love to Christ, 
 
144 Change as an Element in 
 
 and Christian life and earnestness, naturally 
 clothe themselves in many different outward forms 
 of service. And they must be allowed a large 
 measure of diversity if they are to find living ex- 
 pression for themselves. The sentiments of the 
 Reformers in this respect only represent one of 
 the great characteristics of the religion of the 
 New Testament. As we have already seen, the 
 teaching of Christ and the Apostles is in favour 
 of liberty as regards outward matters. Nothing 
 is more apparent in the New Testament than the 
 subordinate position assigned to rites and tlie ex- 
 ternal accompaniments of faith. " The liberty 
 with which Christ has made us free " consists 
 largely, according to St. Paul, in His having 
 brought us into a state of exemption from the * 
 yoke of a rigid system of forms, — in His securing 
 for His people emancipation from the bondage of 
 a compulsory law of ceremonies. It is the part 
 of Christians to use outward observances and 
 matters of order, so far as tliey are serviceable to 
 the promotion of the Christian life ; but it is their 
 right and duty not to be slavishly subject to them. 
 They are but means to an end, and, therefore, are 
 never to be employed but with a wise freedom. 
 
the ChHstian Church. 145 
 
 It is true, no doubt, that the exercise of this JJ'Jei^S!'^,^ 
 freedom is by no means unattended with danger, nouh"*^'' 
 
 only danger 
 
 To deviate from common usages, especially ifsidereT'" 
 these have the sanction of long-continued obser- 
 vance on their side, is a course serious enough to 
 deserve the most careful consideration. At the 
 same time, it is really no good reason against the 
 introduction of what is new, that it sometimes 
 leads to evil consequences. When it is argued 
 that, by departing from the existing practices 
 and forms of a church, we may open the door to 
 other and mischievous changes, that is an ob- 
 jection which might be made to all improvements 
 whatsoever. There could be no such thing as 
 amendment of the conditions of human existence 
 were men to act on this principle. Not only so, 
 but it should also be remembered that to introduce 
 salutary and timely changes is the only means of 
 avoiding those which are disastrous. The worst 
 contingencies which happen in institutions and 
 communities are those which come because of wise 
 changes not having been made in time. The 
 longer needful improvements are resisted, the more 
 perilous is the spirit of innovation when once it 
 sets in. Extravagant severity of ecclesiastical 
 
 K 
 
146 Change as an Element in 
 
 discipline, for example, in one age, is followed by 
 irreligion in the next. The excesses of ritualistic 
 zeal have often been nothing more than the 
 violent reaction from fanatical repression of 
 ceremonies. An attempt to control by rigorous 
 measures the current of opinion has frequently no 
 other result than to produce a plentiful crop of 
 heresies. Thus the extremeness with which men 
 oppose themselves to change leads to the very 
 consequences which they seek to avoid. They 
 think to keep everything safe by maintaining a 
 policy of unyielding resistance to the new in- 
 fluences amidst which they are placed ; and at 
 last the tide of feeling, which might have been 
 usefully directed by timely wisdom, but which has 
 been stubbornly opposed, becomes a violent and 
 dangerous power. 
 
 So that, although the introduction of changes 
 into the forms of religion is admittedly capable of 
 abuse, it is in this respect only like other things 
 which have their useful purpose. The possible 
 evils which attend it are not to be prevented by 
 unqualified opposition to it. This is as absurd as 
 it would be to maintain that " because children 
 may perhaps hurt themselves with knives, there- 
 
the Christictn Church. 147 
 
 fore tlie use of knives is to be taken quite and 
 clean from men also." ^ While, therefore, it is 
 needful to guard against an unregulated and in- 
 ■considerate fondness for novelty, — and even the 
 <3xcessive dread of change, which is felt by many, 
 is not wholly without its use as a counteractive to 
 this tendency, — there can be no doubt, on the 
 other hand, that it is a shortsighted judgment 
 which overlooks the possibility of evil conse- 
 quences from the opposite extreme. 
 
 One of the most curious and instructive com- History of 
 
 the past as 
 
 ments on the opinion of those who urge the ?hfs"subject. 
 necessity of adhering to the religious usages of 
 the past is supplied by a comparison of one past 
 age with another. The result is to show that 
 the same fluctuation of religious observances 
 occurred in former times, as is still occurring. 
 The advocate of unchanging uniformity, when 
 he appeals to what is old as if it had always 
 been the same, forgets this. He forgets that the 
 history of bygone days presents as great varia- 
 tions of religious form as does the present age 
 in relation to those preceding. Take for example 
 the Presbyterianism which claims descent from 
 1 Hooker's Ecclesiastical Pohtv, book iv. 12 
 
148 Change as an Element in 
 
 the Scottish Reformation. Its past history ex- 
 hibits wide differences in regard to order and 
 ritual. If, for instance, we go back to the age 
 of Knox, we find that the system then embraced, 
 as has been noticed, a liturgy, and daily public 
 prayer. The Presbyterian service of that age> 
 while it was of a severer style than characterized 
 that of the Church of England, was possessed 
 of much external seemliness and respect for form. 
 But, descending to a subsequent period in the 
 history of Scottish Presbyterianism, we find a 
 widely different condition of things. With the 
 growth of the Puritan spirit there arose opposi- 
 tion to liturgical forms, and a disregard of cere- 
 mony in worship, which led to the meagreness 
 that came to be identified with Presbyterian 
 services. To give no place to the indulgence 
 of a cultivated taste in regard to the external 
 circumstances of devotion, to banish from the 
 sanctuary everything of the nature of ornament, 
 to exclude musical culture from divine praise, 
 and, in short, to divest religion of all outward 
 attractiveness, was considered an essential ecclesi- 
 astical duty. Nor can it be said that there 
 has been a continuous sameness of Presbyterian 
 
the Christian Church. 149 
 
 usages ill later times. Each age lias brought 
 its changes. Thus, if we revert to the period 
 represented by the Westminster Assembly of 
 Divines, we find that the nature of the services 
 which belonged to that time was such as at 
 the present day would be intolerable. A prayer 
 was often two hours or more in length. A ser- 
 vice was frequently continued without inter- 
 mission during an entire day. The following is 
 •an account of a service held during the sittings 
 of the Westminster Assembly: — "We spent 
 from nine to five very graciously. After Dr. 
 Twiss had begun with a brief prayer, Mr. Mar- 
 shall prayed large two hours most divinely, con- 
 fessing the sins of the members of the Assembly 
 in a wonderful, pathetic, and prudent way. 
 Afterwards Mr. Arrowsmith preached an hour; 
 then a psalm ; thereafter Mr. Vines prayed near 
 two hours, and Mr. Palmer preached an hour, 
 and Mr. Seaman prayed near two hours. After 
 Mr. Henderson had brought us to a sweet con- 
 ference of faults to be remedied, Dr. Twiss closed 
 with a short prayer and blessing."^ That this 
 extraordinary prolixity was not exceptional, and 
 •^ Principal Bailie's Letters and Journals ; Letter 59. 
 
150 CJiange as an Element in 
 
 did not arise from the particular conditions with 
 which this ser\'ice was conducted, is shown hy 
 what we are told of one of the most eminent 
 preachers of the time. " On the public fasts, 
 which in those days returned pretty frequently, 
 his common way was to begin about nine in the 
 morning with a prayer for about a quarter of an 
 hour, in which he begged a blessing on the work 
 of the day. He afterwards read and expounded 
 a chapter, or psalm, in which he spent about 
 three quarters ; then prayed for about an hour, 
 preached for another hour, and prayed for about 
 half an hour. After this he retired and took 
 some refreshment for about a quarter of an hour 
 or more, the people singing all the while, and 
 then came again into the pulpit, and prayed for 
 another hour, and gave them another sermon of 
 about an hour's length ; and so concluded the 
 service of the day at about four o'clock in the 
 evening, with about half an hour or more in 
 prayer." ^ 
 
 Such religious services suited, no doubt, the 
 nature and tendencies of the day. They ac- 
 corded somehow with the phase of devout and 
 * Life of Mr. John Howe, by Edmund Calamy, D.D. 
 
the Christian Church. 151 
 
 earnest feeling which was characteristic of a period 
 of deep, but austere, piety .^ One has only to 
 
 ^ While it is safe to admit that this style of service 
 would not have been customary at a former period had it 
 not heen in conformity with the religious feeling of the 
 time, it does not follow that it was in itself consistent 
 with the highest idea of devotion. South, who tells us 
 that the Puritans sometimes carried on their services from 
 seven in the morning till seven in the evening, and that 
 " two whole hours for one prayer used to be reckoned but a 
 moderate dose," denounced, with the vigorous language and 
 pungent wit of which he was so great a master, the folly 
 of their mode of worship. One of his illustrations in 
 favour of short prayers, rather than long, is worthy of 
 quotation : — " That subject pays his prince a much nobler 
 and more acceptable tribute who tenders him a purse of gold 
 than he who brings him a whole cart-load of farthings." 
 (Sermon against Long Extemporary Prayers.) On the 
 other hand. Cotton Mather, in his very curious account of 
 New England Puritanism, dilates with admiration on this 
 feature of the services ; and, at the same time, he shows, 
 by the way he refers to the long prayers which were 
 customary, that they were really effusions partaking quite 
 as much of the nature of sermons as of that of prayers, 
 and that they were listened to by the congregation as 
 such. He says of one of the New England pastors that 
 " it transported the souls of his hearers to accompany him 
 in his devotions, wherein his graces would make wonder- 
 ful sallies into the vast field of the entertainments and 
 acknowledgements with which we are furnished in the 
 new covenant." Again he says, "New England can show 
 even young ministers who, for much more than an hour 
 together, pour out their souls unto the Almighty God in 
 such a fervent copious, and yet proper manner, that their 
 
152 Change as an Element in 
 
 imagine, however, the introduction of such a 
 style of worship into modern times, in order to 
 see the absurdity of the argument that there 
 should be an unvarying uniformity of ecclesi- 
 astical usage. 
 Conclusion. And uow, to sum up the considerations which 
 we have adduced on the subject of change in 
 religious forms, it appears, to begin with, an 
 entire mistake to suppose that unvarying same- 
 ness was originally designed to be a characteristic 
 of the order and worship of Protestant Churches. 
 That view is in direct contradiction to the view 
 of the Eeformers themselves. It has arisen from 
 the natural but mistaken belief that, to prevent 
 all deviation of religious observances from those 
 of former times is the right way to save religion 
 from error. The Reformers, from the very posi- 
 tion which they occupied as opponents of the 
 traditional faith and ceremonies which had in- 
 volved the human mind in error and supersti- 
 tion, were preserved from this mistake. They 
 
 most critical auditors can complain of nothing disagreeahhy 
 hut profess themselves extremely edified." — Magiialia Christi 
 Americana, or the Ecclesiastical History of New England 
 from 1620 to 1698. 
 
the Ch'i'istian Church, 153 
 
 wisely and truly judged that the Christian 
 Church must not, if she is to be living, be bound 
 down by inflexible rules in reference to the 
 details of order and observance. And, while 
 this is the principle which guided those who 
 were leaders of the Eeformation, the entire his- 
 tory of Christian faith and worship shows the 
 wisdom of this principle — the wisdom of allow- 
 ing such freedom in reference to matters of 
 religious form as will enable them to be adapted 
 to the ever-varying conditions of the world. 
 The Christian Church should reflect in her 
 methods the circumstances of the time which 
 she has to serve. A blind adherence to tradi- 
 tion destroys her influence for good. And, more- 
 over, it is to be borne in mind that timely con- 
 cessions to the new wants and new feelings of an 
 age are the only effectual means of avoiding 
 violent and dangerous revolution. The most 
 mischievous changes are those which are caused 
 by excessive hostility to change. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 WOKDS AND PHRASES CONNECTED 
 WITH THE CHURCH. 
 
"There is hardly any rank, order, or degree of men, but 
 more or less have been captivated and enslaved by words.'' — 
 South. 
 
WOllDS AND PHEASES CONNECTED 
 WITH THE CHUECH. 
 
 No one who would form a just opinion in o™worS^nd 
 reference to matters relating to the Christian ?oimectSIi 
 
 Church can afford to disregard the part whicli ^^^'''''^ 
 
 with eccle- 
 siastical 
 opinion. 
 
 words and phrases have borne in connection 
 with them. It is to this source that not a few 
 of the gravest ecclesiastical errors are in a con- 
 siderable degree traceable. Many of the modes 
 of expression which have passed into common 
 use in relation to the Church are foreign to 
 Scripture ; and some of these, while they are 
 apt to be accepted without question because 
 they have been long familiarly employed, are 
 liable to produce misapprehension. Numerous 
 phrases, again, which belong to Scripture have 
 come to be used ecclesiastically in a different 
 
158 Words and Phrases 
 
 sense from that which they possessed at first, 
 and therefore readily lead to confusion and mis- 
 take. It is therefore of the greatest importance 
 that we should take into account the influence of 
 terms and phrases in relation to ecclesiastical sub- 
 jects and should make allowance for the power 
 which they exercise in the formation of opinion. 
 
 We do not propose to examine with anything 
 like fulness of detail a subject which is so exten- 
 sive. All that we intend to do is to refer to some 
 of those more outstanding instances, in which the 
 recognized forms of speech connected with sub- 
 jects belonging to the Christian Church tend to 
 produce misconception, 
 ciassifica- There are tliree influences of an important 
 
 tion of the ^ 
 
 character which may be especially particularized 
 as affecting the use of words and phrases con- 
 nected with the Church ; and we propose to group 
 the illustrations to which we shall refer accord- 
 ing to these causes of confusion or error. In 
 the first place, the sacerdotal form of religious 
 thought has exercised a powerful effect in im- 
 pressing its mode of belief on words ; so has also 
 the dogmatic tendency — the tendency in the 
 direction of abstract statements of Christian 
 
 subject. 
 
Connected with the Church. 159 
 
 truth and doctrinal teaching; while a third fact 
 which has led to a misuse of terms relating to 
 the Church is to be found in the liability of 
 phrases to assume a more limited and partial 
 meaning than properly belongs to them. 
 
 The influence of the Sacerdotal Tendency on the ^^iSS.- 
 use of words is forcibly illustrated in the term 
 '' Church " itself There are different phases of 
 meaning which belong to that term as employed 
 in the New Testament. It signifies sometimes 
 Christians universally, viewed as a collective 
 body,^ and in other instances it refers to individ- 
 ual societies of Christians.^ Sometimes it desig- 
 nates the Christian communion regarded in its 
 ideal and ultimate character, in which case it is 
 represented as consisting of " saints," " the faithful 
 in Christ Jesus," " the sanctified," and by similar 
 exalted descriptions,^ and it is applied at other 
 times to the communion of Christians viewed in 
 its actual condition as having in it a mixture of 
 good and evil elements.* But whatever may be 
 
 1 Eph. i. 22 ; Col. I 18. 2 j q^^ i 2 ; Gal. i. 2. 
 3 Eph. i. 1 ; V. 27. •* Gal i. 1-6 ; Rev. ii. 1. 
 
160 Words and Phrases 
 
 the particular reference of the term in any given 
 passage of the New Testament it always includes 
 Christians without external distinction of any 
 kind. Those who constitute the Church, or an 
 individual Christian society, are, according to the 
 New Testament, Christian people. It is in the 
 union and co-operation of its members as a whole 
 that the essential principle of the existence of an 
 ecclesiastical body is represented as consisting, each 
 Christian having certain functions to discharge 
 which are of vital importance to the entire 
 society.^ 
 
 When, however, in the post-apostolic age the 
 sacerdotal view of the Christian ministry came to 
 prevail, the view which exalted them to the posi- 
 tion and authority of a priesthood, a change of the 
 most momentous kind was introduced into the use 
 of the word. The Church now began to be re- 
 garded as merely synonymous with the clergy. 
 The people were left out of account as members 
 of the communion of Christ. And there can be 
 no doubt that this perversion of a Scriptural 
 and primitive term was much better fitted to serve 
 the ends of those who desired the ascendancy of 
 iRom. xii. 5 ; 1 Cor. xii. 12-31. 
 
Connected with the Church. IGl 
 
 the clergy than if they had advanced their pre- 
 tensions openly and undisguisedly, for it had the 
 effect of magnifying the power and prerogatives 
 of the clerical order without clearly appearing to 
 do so.^ 
 
 The same misapplication of the term is still 
 very common, and it is still all the more dan- 
 gerous that it is not immediately apparent in 
 many of the instances in which it is used. Very 
 frequently, when the " Church " is spoken of in 
 terms of veneration, and its attributes are insisted 
 on with expressions of subserviency and praise, it 
 is really the clergy who are meant. Thus, when 
 divine authority is claimed for the " Church," when 
 the traditions of the " Church " are referred to as 
 constituting a rule for Christians, and when the 
 " Church " is represented as the appointed means 
 of salvation, these assertions are, in point of fact, 
 made — in many cases at least — not of the Church 
 in the New Testament sense of the word at all, 
 
 1 " The clergy began to draw to themselves the attributes 
 of the Church and to call the Church by a different name, 
 such as the faithful or the laity, so that to speak of the 
 Church mediating for the people did not sound so shocking, 
 and the doctrine so disguised found ready acceptance." — 
 Dr. Arnold's Sermons on the Christian Life, Introduction. 
 L 
 
162 Words and Phrases 
 
 but of tlie ministry only.^ Now this involves a 
 fundamental subversion of the true idea of the 
 
 ^ Of course this use of the term is constantly made by 
 the Church of Rome, the clerical element being all-import- 
 ant in that body, while the people occupy a subordinate 
 and subservient position. Coleridge thus refers to the same 
 perversion of the word to designate the clergy as charac- 
 teristic of the High Cliurch party in the Anglican com- 
 munion : — " As far as the principle on which Archbisho}) 
 Laud and his followers acted went to re-actuate the idea 
 of the Church as a co-ordinate and living power by right 
 of Christ's institution and express promise, I go along with 
 them ; but I soon discover that by the Church they meant 
 tlie clergy, the hierarchy exclusively, and then I fly off 
 from them in a tangent. For it is this very interpretation 
 of the Church that, according to my conviction, constitu- 
 ted the first and fvmdamental apostacy." — Literary Re- 
 mains, vol. iii. p. 386. It is a curious circumstance that 
 the Second Book of Discipline, though drawn up by 
 Presbyterians whose hostility to the priestly system of 
 the Church of Rome was intense, accepts as legitimate the 
 very interpretation of the Church which is identified with 
 priestly views : — " 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 onlie of 
 the godly, but also of hypocrites professing alwayis out- 
 wardly ane true religion. Uther times it is t<akin for the 
 godlie and elect onlie, and sumtymes for them, that exercise 
 spiritual function amongis the congregation of them that 
 professe the truth. The Kirk in this last sense hes a certaine 
 power grantit he God, according to which it uses a proper 
 Jurisdiction and government." Presbyterian ism has some- 
 times been quite as high church and priestly in its own 
 way as the followers of Laud. 
 
Connected ivith the Church. 163 
 
 Cliurch of Christ. For unquestionably the view 
 <»t' it which, as we have seen, originally existed, 
 was that it consists of Christians in general. The 
 usurpation of the name by the clerical order alone, 
 such as is common in all ecclesiastical bodies 
 which are infected with sacerdotal views, is 
 therefore an essential departure from New 
 Testament teaching. It ignores tlie position of 
 the Christian people as members of the Church. 
 Its effect is to represent the clergy as all-im- 
 portant and the Christian people as only the 
 submissive subjects of their authority.^ 
 
 ^ This misapplication of the term Church to signify tlie 
 clergy lies at the root of the false meaning assigned to the 
 passage, " Thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build 
 my church." — Matt. xvi. 18. The interpretation attached 
 to this passage that Peter was to be the foundation of an 
 order of clergy who should bear rule over tlie spiritual 
 concerns of the world, rests on the mistake of overlooking 
 that the church means, in the New Testament, not the 
 clergy but the Christian people, the real sense of the words 
 thus being that the community of believers would be founded 
 on Petei^'s apostleship and ministry, on account of his being 
 the leader in proclaiming the truths of Christianity. So 
 too that other passage which is adduced as a proof that 
 there is an infallible divine order of ministry who are the 
 judges and interpreters of the will of God — " the church 
 of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth " 
 1 Tim. iii. 15 — is seen at once to mean something quite 
 <lifferent when the church is taken in its true sense. Then 
 
164 Words and Phrases 
 
 Clergy "and But wliile the iiiisuse of the word Church to 
 
 ' Laity." 
 
 signify the clergy is the strongest and most pro- 
 minent evidence of the effect of the priestly 
 tendency of thought in moulding forms of ex- 
 pression to suit itself, there are also other terms 
 which clearly bear the impress of the same 
 influence. Thus, although the distinction of 
 " Clergy " and " Laity " is one which, if under- 
 stood in a limited sense, is not only legitimate 
 but so natural and convenient that it forms an 
 appropriate distinction of common language, it 
 admits, at the same time, of being made to 
 convey, and has often been used by the 
 believer in sacerdotal opinions to convey, an 
 utterly false idea. It is taken by him as mean- 
 ing that there is a difference of an intrinsic and 
 essential character between the two classes. 
 When the importance of the clerical office is 
 so exaggerated as to invest it with elements 
 of supernatural sanctity and power, the result is 
 necessarily to create a vast separation between it 
 and the position of the general body of Christians. 
 
 it ccmveya the fact that Christian men and woinen, as the 
 Church of the Hving God, constitute the stay of the trutli 
 by maintaining and advancing the cause of Christ in the 
 ' worhl. 
 
Connected with the Church. 165 
 
 The ministry are thus placed on an essentially 
 ilitferent level from the people : they become tlie 
 sole agents in religious affairs, the function of 
 tlie people is but to believe and obey. Now, the 
 distinction of " clergy " and " laity " has been very 
 Jargely employed throughout the history of tlie 
 Christian Church in this exaggerated and untrue 
 meaning. Instead of marking only that difference 
 between the ministerial office and the standing of 
 the general community of believers, which it is 
 right, and indeed unavoidable, to designate, it has 
 been laid hold of by the priesthood, and made 
 largely to subserve the maintenance of their 
 claims. 
 
 The same thing is true of the distinction be- !M*^^^d," 
 
 *=> "f^ecular, 
 
 tween the " Sacred " and the " Secular." The em- ^*'- 
 ployment of these and kindred terms to denote 
 the difference between the ecclesiastical sphere 
 and the sphere of the world, while it rests upon 
 a certain basis of truth, has been productive of 
 serious error. There is, no doubt, a restricted 
 sense in which such forms of expression are not 
 only lawful, but indispensable. Some difference 
 must be made between those services, and seasons, 
 and places, which are appropriated to the special 
 
1G6 Words and Phrases 
 
 worship of God, and those which are not. But 
 nothing, on the other hand, can be clearer than 
 that the Christian Scriptures deal with religion 
 as including the entire life, and that the service 
 of Christ is regarded by tliem as consisting quite 
 as truly in the performance of worldly duty as in 
 acts of express devotion. And consequently any 
 distinction which is made between the two should 
 be of a qualified and limited nature. We have 
 only to glance, however, at the traditional phrase- 
 ology, which is used to represent this distinction, 
 in order to see that it receives in ordinary- 
 language a recognition which is exaggerated and 
 misleading. The rites and services of the sanc- 
 tuary are referred to in conventional language as 
 " sacred," " religious," " holy," " divine " ; while, 
 on the other hand, things which belong to the 
 domain of the world are " secular," " common," 
 " worldly," " profane." Now, even admitting that 
 tliese terms, from having been long in use, are 
 employed to a great extent in a merely formal 
 sense, there is yet a false notion lying at the ro<>t 
 of them, and they help to encourage an untrue 
 estimate of the comparative importance of ecclesi- 
 astical observances and daily duty. The existence 
 
Connected with the Church. 107 
 
 in ordinary language of these phrases, whicli as- 
 sign a place so much higher to matters of worship 
 than to habitual duty, is to be attributed to the 
 influence of priestly tradition. They are the re- 
 sult of the sacerdotal spirit, which, during past 
 ages, swayed the thoughts and language of the 
 Christian world. It is one of the natural char- 
 acteristics of a system of priestly devotion that it 
 ascribes to clerical functions and services a charac- 
 ter of holiness superior to that which it gives to 
 the actions of every-day life. A priestliood can 
 maintain its power only by exalting the rites of 
 religious worship to a loftier level tlian worldly 
 (hities. The greater the distinction it makes be- 
 tween the sphere of religion and that of worldly 
 life, the more does it surround the ministerial 
 office and its acts with those imposing associations 
 (jf sacredness with which it desires to invest them. 
 That the work of the world therefore is, accord- 
 ing to familiar forms of language, " secular," 
 while acts of worship are " sacred " ; that it is 
 " common " to labour, and *' divine service " to 
 pray; that trading and working are "worldly," 
 and devotional services " religious " ; that days 
 devoted to ecclesiastical observances are " holy," 
 
168 Words and Phrases 
 
 and time spent in business is not ; are traditions 
 of the sacerdotal spirit. They are results which 
 we have derived from the prevalence of the 
 priestly idea that what is ecclesiastical is alone 
 holy ; that true piety is in ritual, not in life. The 
 language of the New Testament is as opposite as 
 possible to this. Our " reasonable service " ^ it 
 represents as consisting in presenting ourselves as 
 a living sacrifice to God ; and " pure and unde- 
 filed religion " ^ it describes as finding its true 
 office in " visiting the fatherless and widows in 
 their affliction, and keeping ourselves unspotted 
 from the world." 
 spiiituai." One of the terms which are employed in familiar 
 language to distinguish what belongs to the 
 Churcli from what pertains to ordinary human 
 life is so significant as to deserve special notice. 
 It is the word " Spiritual." The clergy are, ac- 
 cording to this form of current language, "spiritual" 
 persons ; their functions are " spiritual " ; ecclesi- 
 astical government and jurisdiction are also de- 
 
 * Rom. xii. 1. 
 
 2 James i. 27. " Service " and " religion " do not clearly 
 bring out the meaning of the original words, wliich is 
 rather " worship " ; the idea conveyed being that the con- 
 secration of the daily life is true Christian worship. 
 
Connected ivith the Church. 169 
 
 scribed by the same epithet ; while " spiritual " 
 independence and "spiritual" authority are 
 claimed as rights belonging to a Christian society. 
 Other men, other things are represented, on the 
 contrary, as " temporal," or " civil," or " secular." 
 Now, here we have another instance of a use as- 
 signed to language by priestly tradition, which 
 tends to create a false impression. In appropri- 
 ating the term " spiritual " to the designation of 
 persons and matters belonging to the ecclesiastical 
 sphere, the assumption was originally involved 
 that they possess a character of sanctity and 
 elevation, which raises them above the province 
 of ordinary human concerns. And, though the 
 word is so often employed as a mere customary 
 epithet that it does not convey in many instances 
 the idea of anything more than an outward dis- 
 tinction, it yet exercises also, in some measure, a 
 misleading influence. It is apt to be overlooked 
 that this ecclesiastical sense of " spiritual " is very 
 different from the elevated meaning which it bears 
 in the New Testament. It is not unnaturally 
 supposed, when a title which has such a lofty sig- 
 nification in Scripture is appHed to matters of 
 church polity, that the principle involved in them 
 
170 Words and Phrases 
 
 is of transcendent importance. Ecclesiastical 
 controversialists are fond of employing a word, 
 which serves to give the standing of vital ques- 
 tions to the points for which they contend. It is 
 on " spiritual " gTounds that the claims of systems 
 of church government have often been maintained. 
 It is in the lofty character of " spiritual " rights 
 and privileges that articles of church order have 
 very frequently been insisted on, and insisted on 
 with the most fervid zeal. But the word is really, 
 when applied in this way, a misnomer. Ques- 
 tions of the external arrangements and polity of 
 the Churcli are not spiritual, in the true accepta- 
 tion of the term. The epithet can only be so 
 employed by wrongly transferring it from things 
 which belong to the inner life nnd the moral 
 sphere, and applying it to the outward matters of 
 religion. Notliing could show more strikingly 
 the contradiction between the high sense of the 
 word originally, and the lower one which sacer- 
 dotal tradition has given to it, than to advert to 
 the instances in church history in which so-called 
 " spiritual " claims and prerogatives have been 
 most zealously maintained. For it has often hap- 
 pened that, while these were being most earnestly 
 
Connected with the Church. 171 
 
 contended for, true spirituality had Mien into 
 utter decay. 
 
 These examples may serve, in some decree, to 
 illustrate the general fact of the influence which 
 lias been exercised by sacerdotalism in impressing 
 its mode of thought and feeling on forms of 
 language. We have only to reflect on the extent 
 to which the traditions of a priestly faith have 
 been spread over the world, and on the length of 
 time during which these existed as almost the 
 sole rule and guide for Christian opinion, in order 
 to see how it has happened, as a matter of course, 
 that they have left their mark on religious 
 phraseology. It could not but occur that thc^ 
 words and phrases of common language should 
 receive their shape and meaning, in no inconsider- 
 able measure, from a power so great and lasting. 
 
 II. 
 
 It is not less true that those Dogmatic Forms 
 of Eeligious Thought, which are contained in the 
 creeds and theological systems that have found 
 their way at various times into the Christian 
 Church, have had an important effect on words ; 
 and have led more especially to material altera- 
 
172 Words and Phrases 
 
 tions in the sense of some of the terms which are 
 used in the New Testament. 
 New Testa- It shouki be bome in mind that the language 
 
 iiient Ian- ^ *=" 
 
 fSo^&ai. ^^f" the New Testament is not that of theological 
 statement. Its terms and its modes of thought 
 are such as belonged to popular usage. The 
 design of the New Testament writers was not to 
 formulate opinion, but to produce living faith, 
 and purity of life ; and the phraseology, therefore, 
 which they employed has all the width and free- 
 dom of ordinary forms of expression. It was only 
 at a later stage in the history of Christianity that 
 scientific exactness was attempted to be intro- 
 duced into the statement of religious truth ; and, 
 though tlie change is one which arose naturally 
 in the course of events,^ it has inevitably had the 
 effect of modifying, to a very considerable extent, 
 the use of Christian terms. To take the thoughts 
 which Christ and the Apostles had expressed 
 popularly and re-cast them in the form of logical 
 propositions, was necessarily to assign elements 
 of meaning to the original words more or less 
 differing from what they at first possessed. It is 
 
 ^ This is attempted to be shown in the account given in 
 the next chapter of the rise and growth of creeds. 
 
Connected with the Ghuivh. 173 
 
 impossible to give to Christianity the shape of a 
 creed, or a theological system, without a measure 
 of change being made from the New Testament 
 sense of words. 
 
 We have therefore to take into account the 
 fact that language which in Scripture has a large 
 and popular signification has subsequently been 
 invested, in some cases, with a more fonnal and 
 exact sense — that a secondary theological mean- 
 ing has been impressed on a number of words, 
 which were used with a freer and wider meaning 
 at first. Thus an illustration is to be seen in 
 the word " Faith." The ecclesiastical acceptation " ^*^*^»- 
 of that term makes it mean very often nothing 
 more than the recognition of certain articles of 
 l)elief. The " faith " of the Church is in common 
 language simply its creed. But that formal sense 
 of the term is entirely foreign to the New Testa- 
 ment. It is a signification which has been given 
 to it by theological tradition. While the faith 
 of primitive Christianity involved, no doubt, an 
 intellectual assent to certain facts and views, it 
 was pre-eminently belief in Christ as a personal 
 and living Saviour. A similar change from the 
 New Testament use to the theological point of 
 
174- Words and Phrases 
 
 view of later times is observable in the word 
 Doctrine. •" Doctrine." That term, and its equivalents in 
 the original Greek, signify primarily " instruc- 
 tion " or " teaching," and the reference of the 
 expression at first was by no means to merely 
 theoretical views of religious truth. But, in 
 course of time, the " doctrines " of Christianity 
 have come to represent matters of Christian be- 
 lief, as distinguished from the duties of Christi- 
 anity. And the consequence of this alteration 
 in the use of tlie term is necessarily to lead to 
 a serious misunderstanding of Scripture, unless 
 allowance is made for the change. Anyone, for 
 example, who does not take into account that 
 " doctrine " in the New Testament has the wide, 
 general sense of teaching, and not the modern 
 meaning of abstract belief, is certain to misin- 
 terpret St. Paul's allusion to the " form of doc- 
 trine" which he declares to have been "delivered" 
 to the Eoman Christians.^ In point of fact it 
 has been inferred from this passage that there 
 were formal articles of belief then in existence. 
 But that is entirely to mistake tlie meaning of 
 the words. The whole context shows that what 
 ^ Rom. vi. 17. 
 
Connected with the Church. 175 
 
 the Apostle is refening to is a form of teachiiKj, 
 and that the nature of the instruction conveyed 
 by it was such as had to do, not with matters of 
 abstract faith, but with the regulation of the life: 
 it was such that obedience to it " made men free 
 from sin, and the servants of righteousness." ^ 
 So, too, when St. Paul speaks of " sound doctrine," 
 a reader with the modern view of the meaning of 
 the phrase naturally regards it as signifying or- 
 thodox belief; but that is not the real sense of 
 the expression. What is meant is sound or 
 wholesome teachiTig — teaching having a healthful, 
 practical tendency.^ 
 
 * Id. 18. The true rendering of the passage is given in 
 the Revised Version, " Ye became obedient from the heart 
 to that form of teaching whereunto ye were delivered ; 
 and, being made free from sin, ye became servants of 
 righteousness." The meaning is, that they had been 
 delivered to the influence of Christian teaching, as a 
 plastic material is delivered to a mould or pattern to be 
 shaped by it. 
 
 ^ It cannot be said that the Revised Version has dealt 
 satisfactorily with this term. The consideration that 
 " doctrine " now very generally signifies, as we have seen, 
 what is quite foreign to New Testament ideas, should have 
 led the Revisers to retain that word, if they retained it 
 at all, only if the context, in any case in which it occurs, is 
 such as clearly to show that it bears the sense of teaching. 
 But it is impossible to make out from the course which 
 they have followed that they have been guided by any 
 
17G Words and Phrases 
 
 It would be easy to multiply illustrations of 
 the fact that ecclesiastical usage has thus had the 
 effect of altering the sense of a number of the 
 terms of the New Testament from their original 
 use to a more formal and abstract meaning. But 
 the example which affords probably the most 
 striking evidence of this, and which, at the same 
 time, is most suggestive of the altered relation to 
 Christian truth which the Church now holds, as 
 compared with what it originally did, is the term 
 heresy. 
 Heresy." rp|^^g ^yoj.j^ ^s it has been long understood, and is 
 now understood, denotes deviation from a doctrinal 
 standard. But its signification in the New Testa- 
 ment does not correspond to this idea. "Heresy,'* 
 as referred to there, denotes, when the term is 
 used in an unfavourable sense,^ not merely an 
 
 consistent principle. In some instances they have sub- 
 stituted " teaching " for " doctrine " ; in others they have 
 retauied the latter term in the text, and put " teaching " 
 into the margin, without any apparent reason for the 
 difference ; while they make St. Paul exhort Timothy to 
 "take heed to his teaching" (1 Tim. iv. 16) and Titus to 
 " show uncorruptness in his doctrine " (Tit. ii. 7), the word 
 in the two passages being precisely the same in the original. 
 ^ It is the same term which is used in Acts v. 17 ; xv. 5, 
 etc., and translated "sect," without any unfavourable 
 meaning being intended. 
 
Connected with the Church. 177 
 
 error of opinion, but of life. Its reference is not 
 merely to speculative views but to moral failings. 
 Thus " the works of the flesh are manifest, which 
 are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, las- 
 civiousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, 
 emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envy- 
 ings, murders, drunkenness, revellings and such 
 like." ^ It is obvious, both from the epithet 
 ** works of the flesh " which is applied to them, 
 and from the nature of the faults along with 
 which they are here classed, that by " heresies " 
 in this passage are meant very much more than 
 mere aberrations from a certain standard of belief. 
 And so also when, in the Corinthian Church, 
 grave abuses arose in connection with the celebra- 
 tion of the Lord's Supper, and St. Paul wrote to 
 the members of that communion, " there must 
 also be heresies among you, that they which are 
 approved may be made manifest among you," ^ 
 the term clearly does not denote false opinions, 
 but offences against the spirit of Christianity, 
 arising from party feeling. The same reference 
 to moral obliquity, rather than to mere intel- 
 lectual error, is observable in what is said of a 
 ' Gal. V. 20. 2 1 Cor. xi. 19 
 
178 Words and Phrases 
 
 heretic, " A man that is an heretic, after a first 
 and second admonition, reject (or avoid) ; know- 
 ing that he that is such is perverted, and sinneth, 
 being condemned of himself." ^ These words 
 describe the " heretic " not merely as heterodox, 
 but as sinful and depraved. It is not less clear 
 that, when St. Peter describes certain false 
 teachers as " bringing in destructive heresies, 
 denying even the Master that bought them, 
 bringing upon themselves swift destruction," ^ his 
 reference is not so much to the propagation of 
 speculative error as to the dissemination of im- 
 moral principles. For these teachers are de- 
 scribed by him as " lascivious," " covetous," " hav- 
 ing eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease 
 from sin," and by many similar epithets. 
 
 Now the fact that ecclesiastical usage has, in 
 course of time, eliminated from the meaning of 
 the word " heresy " the element of moral evil, 
 and has restricted it to signify merely disagree- 
 ment with a certain standard of religious opinion, 
 is remarkable and suggestive. In the first place 
 it furnishes a striking instance in proof of the lan- 
 guage of the New Testament having been modified 
 ' Tit. iii. 10. '^ 2 Peter ii. 1, etc. 
 
Connected loith the Church. 179 
 
 in meaning by the influence of the dogmatic 
 treatment of Christian trutli. And, therefore, 
 like the other examples which we have given, and 
 like many similar cases which might be added, it 
 shows that any one who desires to interpret the 
 words of Christ and the Apostles in the sense in 
 which they were originally employed, must allow 
 for this source of difference. But there is an- 
 other and wider lesson which is to be learned. 
 This change in the meaning of the word "heresy" 
 shows the altered position in which the Christian 
 Church now stands to religious trutli from that 
 which it at first held. The New Testament 
 writers did not conceive of Christianity as a 
 system of intellectual belief on the one hand, and 
 of practical obligation on the other. They do 
 not deal with it as consisting of matters of faith 
 separately from matters of duty. In their view 
 faith and duty, belief and life are essentially 
 united. It is only as a result of the theological 
 treatment of Christianity, which belongs to later 
 ages, that a formal division has been made be- 
 tween these two elements of Christian truth. 
 And, while we must regard this separation of 
 Christian creed from Christian life, which is a 
 
180 Words and Phrases 
 
 feature of theological statements of religion, as a 
 necessary result of the development of opinion, 
 there can be no doubt that it is a source of 
 grave danger. One of the most frequent, as well 
 as one of the most fatal, errors in the Christian 
 Church has been that of exalting mere orthodoxy 
 above purity of character, and making a man's 
 creed the sole test of his Christianity. The 
 strangest anomalies are often presented in this 
 respect. Sometimes the fervid opponent of what 
 are believed to be unorthodox views is far from 
 being characterized by a scrupulous regard to the 
 moral obligations of religion. Very frequently 
 the course which is taken to repress speculative 
 error is one in which the practical requirements 
 of Christianity are, to a large extent, set aside ; 
 and in which zeal for orthodoxy is gTatified at the 
 expense of charity and justice. Now, one of the 
 strongest arguments which can be appealed to to 
 show the falseness of this state of sentiment is its 
 utter contrariety to the point of view from which 
 heresy was originally regarded. The "heretic," 
 in apostolic language, is pre-eminently the offender 
 against the spirit and the moral law of Christi- 
 anity. Whatever errors of belief he may hold, 
 
Connected ivith the Church, 181 
 
 they are errors mingled with wickedness, and 
 tending to wickedness. Mere deviation from an 
 intellectual standard is not what the apostolic 
 writers mean by " heresy." They view faith and 
 life as one and indi\dsible, and therefore error is 
 regarded by them as falseness of practice, and not 
 merely of belief. It would have been well if 
 this primitive idea of heresy had been adhered to 
 in the Christian Church — if the state of a man's 
 opinions had not been separated so much from 
 that of his moral nature, and the worst deviation 
 from Christianity had been considered to be devia- 
 tion from it as a law of life. 
 
 III. 
 A third source of error in the use of ecclesi- Effect of 
 
 controversy 
 
 astical phraseology consists in the undue Limita- "ng^S""^* 
 
 /» m • 1 • 1 • meaning of 
 
 tion of Terms — in their being confined to a <^erms. 
 narrower meaning than is consistent with their 
 original and proper sense. There is often in the 
 history of traditional phrases a restriction of 
 their true signification. They are apt, in course 
 of lengthened use, to lose somewhat of the mean- 
 ing which they possessed at first; and so to be- 
 come representative of only a part of the truth 
 
182 Words and Phrases 
 
 which they at first indicated. And, while this 
 holds in regard to words employed witli refer- 
 ence to all subjects, it is especially true of those 
 which have been identified with party conflict. 
 The natural result, when names and phrases are 
 long used in controversy, is that they acquire 
 meanings more limited than they had primarily. 
 The tendency of the supporters of conflicting 
 modes of opinion is to seize on those interpreta- 
 tions of language which lend most encouragement 
 to the particular views for which they contend. 
 It is hardly necessary to point out that ecclesi- 
 astical subjects, from the immense amount of 
 keen discussion which they have awakened, 
 have been peculiarly exposed to the influence 
 of this kind of chanqe as regards tlie meaninfj 
 of terms. 
 "Catholic." The use of the term "Catholic," as applied to 
 the Church, is an instance of a phrase descending 
 from a large signification to one of restricted 
 extent. In its true and primary sense it is. 
 simply a name for the fact declared by the New 
 Testament that all Christians throughout the 
 world constitute the Church of Christ. But this. 
 idea of universality has now been, in great mea- 
 
Connected with the Church. 183 
 
 sure, lost from the word ; and it is chiefly used 
 to designate one section of Christians.^ 
 
 Another example, which is equally important, "Sdiism. 
 but the evidence of which does not lie so mucli 
 on the surface, is to be found in the term 
 " Schism." The recognized meaning of this word 
 now is ecclesiastical separation. The sin of 
 " schism " is regarded as consisting in the sever- 
 ance of the Church of Christ — in its rupture into 
 distinct communities. That, however, is a depar- 
 ture from the sense which the word bears in the 
 New Testament. There it means simply, when 
 applied to human conduct, "division," or "dis- 
 sension," or " strife." ^ In the only instance in 
 which it is used in regard to a church, namely in 
 the case of the Church at Corinth, there had been 
 no external separation ; that commmiion still 
 retained its outward unity ; ^ and evidently all 
 that St. Paul means by alluding to " schisms " as 
 
 * An account of the different shades of meaning which 
 have been given to the term "catholic" will be fomid in 
 Bishop Pearson on the Creed. 
 
 2 John vii. 43, " There was a division among the people 
 because of Him" ; literally a "schism." So also John ix. 
 16, and x. 19. 
 
 This is evident from the words in which it is addressed, 
 1 Cor. i. 2. 
 
184 Words and Phrases 
 
 having a place in it is, that it was disturbed by 
 internal differences.^ It thus appears that the 
 traditional signification which is now attached to 
 the term, according to which it means outward 
 separations of Christians, is one that has been 
 assigned to it by later usage ; and, moreover, it 
 is a change from a larger to a more narrow sense. 
 The apostolic idea of schism, that it is simply 
 religious strife, is a far larger and truer concep- 
 tion than that of the ecclesiastics of subsequent 
 times, who have identified it 'with external divi- 
 sions. For true unity is unity of spirit. There 
 may be, as in the Corinthian Church, party con- 
 tentions of the most bitter character, where there 
 is no outward severance of a Christian society. 
 There may be all the evils of "jealousy and 
 strife," 2 which are the true evils of division, 
 
 ^ The words in which the Apostle refers to the "schisms" 
 of the Corinthian Church plainly bear this meaning : — " I 
 beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there 
 be no divisions (literally schisms) among you ; but that ye 
 be perfectly joined together in the same mind, and in the 
 same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of 
 you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of 
 Chloe, that there are contentions among you." 1 Cor. i. 
 10, 11. So also xi. 18. 
 
 -i 1 Cor. iii. 3. 
 
Connected with the Church. 185 
 
 without any positive breach of external unity. 
 And, on the other hand, it is not less true that 
 between religious communions which are separate 
 there may exist a spirit of amity and peace. So 
 that the real element of sin in ecclesiastical 
 differences — the real evil of schism — is not in 
 the fact of outward separation, but in the exist- 
 ence of strife, which may prevail where there is 
 no separation at all. And, therefore, when St. 
 Paul employs the word " schism " in the sense of 
 " strife," he expresses by it, as we have said, a 
 much larger and more far-reaching idea of the 
 nature of the evil than is represented by the tra- 
 ditional use of the word to mean merely breach 
 of outward unity. Indeed, the effect of this 
 secondary sense, which ecclesiastical usage has 
 given to the term, has been largely that of ren- 
 dering it a medium of asserting exclusive claims 
 in behalf of each church-party. For nothing is 
 easier than for each section of professing Chris- 
 tians to accuse those who are apart from it of 
 separating from the true communion of Christ. 
 And we find consequently that this has been 
 done by almost every side. The Greek Church 
 regards the Church of Kome as schismatic, and 
 
186 Wm'ds and Phrases 
 
 the same charge is made by the Church of Eome 
 against the Greek Church. Protestants are con- 
 sidered by the Church of Rome to be in a state 
 of schism, and the same accusation is brought by 
 some Protestants against others. Thus " schism," 
 in the ecclesiastical sense of separation, can 
 readily be charged by any society of Christians 
 against those who do not belong to it ; because if 
 it claims to be the only true Church of Christ, it 
 will also view all who are outside its limits as 
 being wanderers from the divine fold. The 
 history of the Church, in short, shows that 
 " schism " has been pretty much a charge made 
 by every church-party in turn against those who 
 are in a state of separation from itself. On the 
 contrary, the apostolic use of the term, according 
 to which it denotes the fact of strife and conten- 
 tion, directs us to that which is the real evil of 
 religious differences, and which is chargeable 
 more or less against every party. ^ 
 
 ^ The Revised Version is chargeable with as great want 
 of consistency in its treatment of this word as we noticed 
 in connection with its use of the term doctrine. While it 
 gives "divisions" as the English of the word in the 1st 
 and 11th chapters of 1 Corinthians, it follows the Author- 
 ized Version in unjustifiably changing the translation to 
 
Connected with tJie Church. 187 
 
 We may also class under this head another H^JJ^ii*!.? 
 ])limse, which has been employed very frequently 
 in connection with ecclesiastical questions ; but 
 often, as it seems to us, without keeping in view 
 its original and full meaning. The Scriptural 
 designation of Christ as " Head of the Church " 
 lias been largely imported into the discussion of 
 matters of church government. Especially has 
 this been the case in connection with Presby- 
 terian views of church government. Anyone who 
 looks into the Presbyterian treatises belonging to 
 the seventeenth century, which deal with ques- 
 tions of ecclesiastical polity, will find very fre- 
 (juent references to Christ's Sovereignty and 
 Headship in relation to His Church ; and he will 
 find that many of the views which were enter- 
 tained by the Presbyterian divines of that age, as 
 regards church matters, were founded on their 
 })eliefs with reference to this subject. And the 
 doctrine of the " Headship of Christ," which was 
 elaborated at that period, has become part of the 
 
 " schism " in 1 Cor, xii. 25, instead of keeping to the same 
 rendering throughout. Not only so, but it fails even to 
 adopt the precaution in regard to this latter passage which 
 the Authorized Version does : for it inserts "division " in 
 the margin, which the Revisers have omitted. 
 
188 Words and Phrases 
 
 traditional equipment of Presbyterianism. It 
 still mingles in its accustomed phraseology, and 
 is appealed to as constituting a principle which 
 is characteristic of its system. It may well be 
 questioned, however, whether, in employing the 
 New Testament representation of Christ as being 
 " Head of the Church " as a ground for arguing 
 points of ecclesiastical government, an interpreta- 
 tion has not been applied to New Testament 
 language, which is inconsistent with its real 
 meaning — whether the sense of the phrase has 
 not been narrowed to support what is remote 
 from its true intention. What is the real sense 
 in which St. Paul describes Christ as sustaining 
 this relation ? ^ The idea implied plainly is, that 
 the union of Christ with His people is similar to 
 the connection of the head with the members of 
 the body — that He is the origin, and also the 
 ruling and sustaining power, as regards the spiri- 
 tual life of His people ; while they, on their 
 part, are one with Him in faith and love. But 
 the language manifestly applies to a spiritual 
 fact. It seems altogether inconsistent with 
 the Apostle's meaning to suppose that he intended 
 »Eph. iv. 15; Col. i. 18; &c. 
 
Connected with the Church. 18D 
 
 to represent that Christ is the Head of an ecclesi- 
 astical incorporation, or that he was referring to 
 matters of church-polity at all. What, on the other 
 hand, he clearly designs to teach is that Christ is 
 the spiritual life and strength of all Christians — 
 of all who believe in and serve Him. And 
 the explanation of the fact that this phrase of 
 the New Testament, which really has nothing 
 to do with questions as to forms of ecclesias- 
 tical polity, has been nevertheless introduced so 
 largely into the discussion of them, is to be 
 found, we believe, in a circumstance to which 
 we have already alluded. We have seen in a 
 previous chapter that, in the seventeenth century, 
 notions which have their proper place in the 
 system of the Old Testament were largely applied 
 to the settlement of points relating to the Chris- 
 tian Church. ^ It was attempted to model 
 everything according to Jewish ideas. The 
 predominant aim of the Presbyterians of the age 
 was to establish a theocracy analogous to the 
 Jewish system of government, and they regarded 
 Christ as Sovereign and Euler of the Church in 
 the same sense as Jehovah had been of ancient 
 ^ See pp. 101, etc. 
 
190 Words and Phrases 
 
 Israel. ^ The effect was that they unconsciously 
 <ioloured with this view the statements of the 
 New Testament ; and it led them to assign to the 
 assertion that Christ is the Head of the Church a 
 meaning which is quite ahen from the Apostle's 
 intention. Nor is this misappropriation of a 
 Scripture phrase exempt from danger. It tends 
 to exalt the special features of a form of churcli- 
 govemment far above their true value. That 
 Christ is the Head of all faithful souls every- 
 where is a great and wholesome spiritual truth, 
 which deserves to be held as of the highest 
 importance. That He is the Head specially 
 of a Presbyterian communion, or of any other 
 ecclesiastical society in particular, is a wholly 
 different and unwarranted allegation. And, more- 
 over, it is a belief which necessarily leads to 
 
 ' " The General Assembly was the governing body of 
 Scotland, and its ministers and elders constantly declared 
 that they had derived their legislative authority from 
 .Tesus Christ, the King and Head of His Church. Never 
 since the Jewish theocracy was dissolved had such a spec- 
 tacle been seen. The Old Testament epoch seemed t(i 
 have been revived in our country. Even the wars were 
 religious wars ; and this was proved by the fact that in 
 the Old Testament the wars of God's people were called 
 the wars of the Lord." Cunningham's Church History of 
 Scotland. Year 1643. 
 
Connected ivith the Church. 191 
 
 exclusive pretension and bigotry. For, if we 
 entertain the idea that the Lord Jesus Christ 
 occupies, in relation to the particular Christian 
 society to which we belong, the position of Divine 
 Head, while other Christians do not stand in the 
 same connection with Him, this is a view which 
 involves substantially the same kind of claim to 
 the sole possession of God's favour as is held by 
 the most extreme sacerdotalist. 
 
 We have already had occasion to point out Jhurchj?^^^® 
 that the dogma of the " Visible Church " has 
 held a prominent part in the formation of certain 
 ecclesiastical views, and that its tendency has 
 been in the direction of a narrow idea of the 
 Christian Church. This is another instance of 
 a phrase becoming dissociated from its primary 
 use, and taking on it a different and more 
 restricted meaning. It was originally part of 
 the distinction, which was introduced, in the 
 early days of Protestantism, between the Church 
 visible, and the Church invisible. The object 
 of this distinction was to denote the difference 
 between the existing imperfect condition of the 
 communion of Christians, and its ideal and 
 ultimate state. In the one aspect, the Church 
 
192 Words and Phrases 
 
 was designated as " visible," because it is such 
 as appears to human perception ; in the other, 
 it was characterized as " invisible," because it is 
 the true and final condition of the Church 
 known only to God himself.^ Wliatever may be 
 thought of the phraseology in which this dis- 
 tinction was thus expressed, there can be no 
 doubt of the importance of the fact which it 
 represents. For one of the worst sources of 
 confusion and controversy in the history of the 
 Church has been the failure to distinguish 
 
 1 We find the elements, at least, of this distinction as 
 far back as in Zwingle's Confession presented to the 
 Emperor Charles V. in 1530. He speaks, on the one 
 hand, of the Church of the elect known to God alone ; and, 
 on the other, of the Church discernible by the human 
 senses, which consists of all who make profession of 
 Christ, including wicked as well as good persons. Tlie 
 Second Helvetic Confession, of a somewhat later date, 
 also contains an approximation to it. " God has," it says, 
 " in this world, and amidst these shadows, those who are 
 His own true worshippers ; for the Apostle exclaims, tlie 
 foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the 
 Lord knoweth them that are His. Whence the Church 
 may be called invisible, not because the men are invisible 
 of whom the Church is composed, but because, hidden 
 from our eyes, but known to God alone, it often eludes 
 human judgment. On the other hand, not all who are 
 reckoned as in the Church are holy, and living, and true 
 members of the Church : for there are many hypocrites." 
 
Connected with the Church. 193 
 
 between its actual and its ideal conditions ; 
 and the mistake, in consequence, of insisting that 
 a standard of purity is to be reached by it, which 
 in present circumstances is unattainable.^ The 
 account which we have elsewhere given, how- 
 ever, of the use of the term " Visible Churcli " 
 shows that it became disconnected to a large 
 extent from this its original intention, and came 
 to be identified with the maintenance of those 
 ])redominantly external conceptions of the Church, 
 which have tended so much to supersede large 
 and spiritual views of its nature and extent.^ 
 
 Such are some instances in which the phraseo- conclusion, 
 logy employed with reference to subjects con- 
 nected with the Christian Church is apt to 
 convey misconception and error. We have seen 
 that, alike in connection with its ministry, its 
 worship, its faith, and its government, not a few 
 of those terms which have established themselves 
 in frequent use are liable to be attended with 
 considerable misapprehension. The illustrations 
 we have adduced are not intended to afford more 
 than a very imperfect elucidation of a subject 
 
 ^ This subject is treated in Chapter VIT. ^ ggg p 25. 
 
 N 
 
194 Words and Phrases, etc. 
 
 which is capable of much more extensive treat- 
 ment. The preceding discussion, however, will 
 liave its use, if it helps to show the influence of 
 words in relation to ecclesiastical questions ; and 
 if it exemplifies the danger of their misapplica- 
 tion, and the need of receiving merely traditional 
 meanings and forms of language with caution. 
 Such elements of error connected with the use of 
 words as we have pointed out in the preceding 
 observations' are, for the most part, associated 
 with lengthened usage. They are therefore the 
 more apt to be accepted without question. But 
 the careful inquirer will not be content to take 
 expressions as con-ect simply because they have 
 the sanction of long-continued use ; and he will 
 especially examine with care whether terms which 
 are derived from Scripture, and which are em- 
 ployed as having its authority, are applied accord- 
 ing to their real and primary sense. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 CREEDS. 
 
" It hath pleased God that all things on earth should bear 
 the marks of a state of imperfection ; imperfect human 
 persons are the penmen of religious truth ; and imperfect 
 human language is the conveying part of the matter ; and 
 the method and phrase, though they may be true and blame- 
 less, are far short of the heavenly perfection." — Eichakiv 
 Baxter. 
 
CEEEDS. 
 
 A creed a 
 
 Although the subject of creeds is one which, „aumii pro- 
 vision in a 
 in the actual history of Christianity, has l:)een christian 
 
 attended with great difficulties, the employment 
 of a form of religious belief is in itself an obvious 
 and natural provision. Association for religious 
 purposes necessarily implies agreement in refer- 
 ence to matters of religious faith. Christian 
 communion and co-operation cannot exist ex- 
 cept on the basis of a common Christian pro- 
 fession. That those who unite, therefore, as 
 members of the same religious body, in acts of 
 mutual service and common worship, should 
 have some recognized expression of their con- 
 sent in matters of belief, seems only natural 
 and reasonable. 
 
 It is necessary to advert to this general aspect 
 
198 Creeds. 
 
 of the question of creeds, because, in the contro- 
 versies whicli have been carried on in regard to 
 them, the position sometimes taken up is that of 
 uncompromising antagonism to all creeds. The 
 true solution of the problems attending them lies, 
 it is urged, in their entire disuse. If confessions 
 and symbols of Christian belief were done away 
 altogether, the intellectual freedom which is tlie 
 proper possession of religious thought, would, it is 
 maintained, be secured, and Christianity would 
 then unfold itself healthily and vigorously. At 
 present — is the argument of those who support 
 this view — the truth is hindered and restricted 
 by formal articles of faith, aiul to liberate it from 
 such restraints is necessary in order to restore its 
 purity and power. 
 How the But, whatever may be the evils connected 
 
 demand for 
 
 arises!^ with creeds, tlie general principle which they 
 involve seems quite a reasonable one. If a re- 
 ligious society implies, as one of the conditions 
 of its existence, a common understanding in re- 
 gard to matters of faith, it follows that to express 
 that understanding in a more or less definite 
 form is not only allowal)le, but may in certain 
 circumstances be necessary. Let us suppose that 
 
Creeds. 199 
 
 a number of professing Christians associate to- 
 gether for purposes of instruction and worshi]) 
 without having any formal agreement as regards 
 tlie tenets they maintain. Even in that case a 
 common consent to certain beliefs, however vague, 
 is necessarily involved. Were they not avowedly 
 at one in regard to certain primary elements of 
 Christianity, they could not associate for the ends 
 of Christian worship and teaching. Now, it is 
 quite possible that a community of Christians 
 may exist for a time without having any urgent 
 reason for giving explicit shape to the sense of 
 agreement which thus unites them. Their ex- 
 perience of the practical power of Christianity 
 may be so strong, and their activity in the per- 
 formance of its duties so absorbing, as to throw- 
 questions of opinion entirely into the background. 
 The feeling of harmony among them may be suffi- 
 ciently powerful and continuous to enable them 
 to dispense with literal terms of agreement. But 
 the usual course of human experience forbids us 
 to expect that such a state of things will last 
 indefinitely. Diversity of views sooner or later 
 asserts itself in every society, and renders it 
 advisable that there should be a common stand- 
 
200 Creeds. 
 
 ard to which appeal may be made. Hence, 
 although at first, and for a time, Christian people 
 may be able to join together in worship, and to 
 co-operate for Christian ends, without having 
 anything more than a vague, undefined under- 
 standing in regard to the points of their common 
 belief, it is obvious that the natural tendency of 
 events at a later stage of their history will be in 
 a different direction; that, with the introduction 
 of controversy, and the awakening of doubts and 
 intellectual difficulties, it will become a measure 
 of expediency or necessity to lay down a definite 
 statement of the elements of their faith. 
 maso^"*""^ A creed is therefore the fulfilment of a demand 
 '2?Jed\hat naturally arising in the history of religion. Nor 
 
 there is ikj 
 
 of b^iiSTn ^•'^ ^^ ^ sufficient objection to formularies of belief 
 Testament, to Say that no crccd is to be found in the New 
 Testament. The absence of systematic articles 
 of faith from the New Testament writings is, no 
 doubt, a significant fact ; and an important infer- 
 ence may be regarded as being suggested by this 
 omission ; ^ but it by no means proves that they 
 
 ^ This subject is considered by Archbishop Whately in 
 his Essay on the Omission of Articles of Faith in the New 
 Testament. His argument is that this omission is a })roof 
 of the wisdom by which the writers of the New Testament 
 
Creeds. 201 
 
 are inadmissible, or in all circumstances unneces- 
 sary. The most that can be asserted with truth 
 iis being shown by this omission is, that no creed, 
 in the strictly technical sense of the term, existed 
 in the primitive age of Christianity. But it 
 would be utterly incorrect to suppose that com- 
 munion with the Christian Church did not from 
 the first involve the acceptance of certain positive 
 beliefs, though these had not yet been moulded 
 into a formal declaration of faith. Nothing can 
 be clearer than that the fellowship of the primi- 
 tive Christians was based upon their common 
 belief in the great distinctive facts of Christ's 
 history and mission — His advent in the flesh, the 
 crucifixion, the resurrection, His glorified life, and 
 His second coming. That such primary matters 
 of faith were not, in the earliest period of Chris- 
 tianity, put into the form of a systematic state- 
 ment of belief cannot be justly held as a reason 
 why this should never be done. The circum- 
 
 were giiided ; as the insertion of a fixed creed in Scripture 
 for all future times would have been inconsistent with the 
 requirements of the Church, no one formulary of faith 
 being applicable to all the varying conditions of religious 
 truth. Essays on some of the Peculiarities of the Chris- 
 tian Religion. First Series. 
 
202 Creeds. 
 
 stances which existed in the first age of the 
 Church were so different from those of following 
 times that no conclusion of this kind is justified. 
 We know that, in the period succeeding that of 
 the Apostles, there was a distinctly marked 
 change in the direction of more logical and 
 systematic definition of religious tnith. Wliat 
 is called the Apostles' Creed was in use — at 
 least in substance — not long after their time. 
 In the early Christian centuries other formu- 
 laries of the Christian faith were added. That 
 the efforts which were put forth in this direc- 
 tion in the times succeeding the Apostolic Age 
 were often misapplied ; that, in the strife about 
 mere terms and definitions, the life and power of 
 religion were frequently lost sight of, there can 
 be no doubt. At the same time it may be fairly 
 argued that these were but the abuses arising out 
 of a change which was in itself natural and un- 
 avoidable. For the condition of things which 
 arose, after the exceptional influences that at- 
 tended the birth and infancy of the Church had 
 passed away, was such as necessarily to suggest 
 the formation of a settled creed. Religious specu- 
 lation diverged so widely from the faith wliich 
 
Creeds. 203 
 
 had been handed down from Christ and the 
 Apostles, tliat the desire was naturally createtl 
 for a formal statement of the chief elements of 
 Christianity. It was only by this means that 
 those who cherished the primitive beliefs of the 
 Church could maintain a distinction between 
 them, and other opinions with which they were 
 in danger of being identified. 
 
 Thus the introduction of creeds into the Chris- ,^»aiogy 
 
 between 
 
 tian Church presents a close analogy to the rise of CTced™*^" 
 
 and that of 
 
 and jjrowth of other elements of ecclesiastical order. «*^®r ^^f 
 
 " ments of 
 
 There are three constituents which enter into the 
 social constitution of the Church — its common 
 rule or discipline, its common worship, and its 
 common faith. Each of these, existing only in 
 a general form during the earliest age of Chris- 
 tianity, gradually assumed a more definite and 
 established shape as time advanced. The common 
 rule or discipline of Christians became developed 
 into settled church government. Common wor- 
 ship grew during the post-apostolic period into a 
 recognized and detailed ritual. And it is evident 
 that the same law of change could not but exer- 
 cise its influence also as regards the faith of the 
 Church. So that the introduction of creeds only 
 
204 Greeds. 
 
 exemplifies the operation of a principle which has 
 extended its agency to every one of the constitu- 
 ent elements of church-order. As the common 
 rule or discipline of Christians came to embody 
 itself in modes of ecclesiastical government, as 
 their common worship found expression in ritual, 
 so the common Christian faith assumed an ex- 
 ternal shape in creeds. 
 
 We may accept then, it seems to us, the ex- 
 istence of creeds as a fact of religion which is in 
 accordance with the natural growth and history 
 of faith.^ Nor does it appear, when we examine 
 in detail the chief objections usually brought 
 
 ^ Though we speak of the existence of creeds as being 
 connected with the natural growth and history of faith, it 
 is not implied tliat they constitute an advance on primi- 
 tive Christian teaching. On the contrary, while the 
 scientific treatment of Christianity, and its formation into 
 theological systems have answered certain important pur- 
 poses, and are processes which accord with the ordinary 
 exercise of the reason, the living and practical teaching of 
 the New Testament is of a higher character than theo- 
 logical forms. Some of the statements in Swainson's 
 Hulsean Lectures on the Creeds of the Church seem to 
 he open to objection from this point of view. His sug- 
 gestive and interesting remarks on the progressive 
 unfolding of divine truth througiiout the Christian ages 
 assign a value to creeds, in connection with the fuller 
 manifestation of truth, which may be questioned. 
 
Creeds. 205 
 
 against them, that these objections prove any- 
 thing more than the liability of forms of faith, 
 like all other religious forms, to be misunder- 
 stood and misused. 
 
 Thus the objection to creeds on the ground of f!"'s*^ "^^j^-'c- 
 
 '' *=* tion to 
 
 their formal and dof/viatic treatment of religious thei?1biniai 
 
 treatment 
 
 truth is not one that can reasonably be enter- Jjj.f/^^''"^ 
 tained. For the reduction of the truths of 
 religion to systematic order is a process which 
 is quite in accordance with the course we 
 naturally pursue in all intellectual research. 
 When we carefully study any subject, we neces- 
 sarily seek to bring it into a definite form. We 
 analyze and classify its Mirious j^arts. We set 
 ourselves to discover the abstract principles which 
 it involves, and the relations which it bears to 
 other elements of knowledge. In short, all ex- 
 amination of truth requires the use of methodical 
 processes, and of abstract modes of statement. 
 And therefore, when this treatment is applied to 
 religious truth, it is only following out the same 
 line of inquiry and of procedure as we employ in 
 reference to other subjects of thought. Dogma 
 — meaning by that term the doctrinal treatment 
 of religion — ^is simply the application to this de- 
 
206 Creeds, 
 
 partment of truth of the scientific method which 
 is used in the investigation of other branches of 
 knowledge. For example, suppose we desire to 
 understand the nature of the teachings of Scrip- 
 ture on the subject of the death of Christ for sin. 
 In order to arrive at an exact conclusion with 
 reference to it, the inquiry we make must em- 
 l)race various particulars. For instance, we must 
 compare one statement of Scripture with another, 
 we must also endeavour to ascertain the general 
 principles which are implied in these statements, 
 and we must direct our efforts to the discovery 
 of the relations in w^hich this truth stands to 
 others. The result of this process is the forma- 
 tion of a certain theory, which we reach as a 
 deduction from all these particulars taken to- 
 gether. We speak of a theory so arrived at in 
 regard to the death of Clirist for sin as represent- 
 ing " the doctrine of the atonement," while this 
 mode of dealing with religious truth is, in tech- 
 nical language, " theology." But, in point of fact, 
 this intellectual method is neither more nor less 
 than tliat which is followed in the intelligent 
 investigation of any kind of truth. By a 
 necessity of our mental nature we seek to 
 
Creeds, 207 
 
 formulate the results of thouglit in regard to 
 religion, as in regard to any other subject. We 
 endeavour instinctively to systematize our con- 
 clusions, so as to form them into one whole. 
 So that dogmatic forms of religious thought are 
 really the development of a course of mental 
 effort which is perfectly natural. 
 
 And therefore it is that creeds and theological 
 systems are to be found in connection with every 
 phase of Christianity. Men will endeavour — in 
 spite of all that may be urged against the 
 formulation of belief — to give definite shape to 
 their religious views.^ It consists with the 
 
 ^ Even in religious societies where we would least ex- 
 pect systematic articles of faith to find a place they have 
 in some form or another been adopted. Thus the Uni- 
 tarians, considering the position of antagonism to received 
 dogmas which they usually assume, and the almost 
 unqualified latitude which they give to religious thought, 
 might be expected entirely to repudiate everything like 
 formal articles of belief ; but even Unitarianism has had 
 its creed. Theodore Parker's Works, vol. i. 311. For 
 reasons of a different character, it might well be con- 
 .sidered in the highest degree improbable that the Society 
 of Friends, or Quakers, should have a creed. Their 
 .strong sentiments as regards the superiority of religion 
 to forms, and their views in reference to the conmiunica- 
 tion of truth by the direct agency of the Spirit, render it 
 an anomaly that they .should formulate theii- ]>eliefs. 
 
208 Greeds. 
 
 natural tendencies of thought to do so. No 
 doubt, most serious evils have arisen in con- 
 nection with dogmatic conceptions and state- 
 ments of religious truth. Intolerance has ever 
 found one of its most effectual weapons in the 
 articles of a creed. Phrases and propositions 
 are often exalted into essential tests of Christian 
 truth, while the spirit of Christianity is neglected. 
 But it should be borne in mind that forms of 
 faith are only attended in this respect with the 
 same danger, which, as we have said, is associated 
 with religious forms in general. Thus the rites 
 and observances of Christian worship are con- 
 nected, in the history of the Church, with many 
 corruptions. So also much of the strife, and 
 t)itterness, and wrong existing in the Christian 
 world is traceable to the fanatical zeal with 
 
 Yet Barclay's Apology is really a confession of the 
 Quaker faith ; and, although his preface refers un- 
 favourably to human learning, and reflects severely on 
 " school divinity," there is a strong flavour of both in the 
 contents of the document. Witness this, for example, 
 "Seeing we do therefore receive and believe tlie Scri})- 
 tures, because they proceeded from the Spirit, therefore, 
 also, the Spirit is more originally and priucipally the 
 rule, according to that received maxim in the schools, 
 That for which a thing is such^ that thing itself is more 
 such." 
 
Greeds. 209 
 
 which modes of church government have been 
 confounded with the essence of Christianity. 
 These, however, in common with the intolerance 
 wliich has so often been characteristic of the use 
 of creeds, are but evils which will arise when 
 the formal matters of religion are concerned. 
 They are instances of the misuse of the formal 
 — of its being over-estimated and magnified, at 
 the expense of the higher and spiritual elements 
 of faith. 
 
 The common objection, also, that creeds are second ob- 
 
 •^ jection to 
 
 inconsistent with the exercise of iTidependent thought, their "Incon- 
 sistency 
 can only be admitted to apply to an evil which with inde- 
 
 is incidental to them, and is not a charge which *^°"^^^- 
 holds against them essentially. For, admitting 
 that the exercise of the individual judgment 
 is often sacrificed to an undue regard for forms of 
 belief, there is yet a useful function which they 
 are fitted to serve quite compatible with the 
 right of each man to think for himself in matters 
 of religion. It is argued by those who are op- 
 posed on this ground to confessions and systems 
 of faith, that they were constructed, for the most 
 part, in times long gone by, that they are handed 
 down from generation to generation invested with 
 
210 Creeds. 
 
 a merely traditional authority, and that conse- 
 quently they are accepted to a large extent with- 
 out any intelligent examination of their contents. 
 There is thus practically, it is said, but little 
 personal investigation of truth on the part of the 
 great majority of Christians. They believe what 
 their forefathers believed, and because they be- 
 lieved it. Instead of inquiring for himself; in- 
 stead of " proving all things, and holding fast 
 that which is good " ; each professing believer 
 receives as true merely what the sanction of past 
 ages has transmitted to him. But, while there 
 is too much truth in the charge that religious 
 beliefs are often accepted blindly on trust, there 
 is another aspect of the matter, which the zealous 
 advocate of independent thought is apt to over- 
 look. He is apt to forget that the wisdom of 
 former ages supplies the foundation of our 
 present attainments — that the investigation of 
 truth nmst, if it is to be successful, proceed on a 
 knowledge of past results. Though the Ee- 
 formers asserted strongly the right of private 
 judgment, they were very far from disparaging 
 the teachings of bygone times. They did not 
 hold the right of private judgment in any such 
 
Creeds. 211 
 
 f5ense as that every man must initiate and carry 
 out a process of inquiry for liiniself, without any 
 regard for what others have thought. On the 
 contrary, they assigned great importance to the 
 forms of belief which have come down from 
 the early Christian centuries.^ They referred 
 with respect to those writings " which show in 
 what manner, from time to time, the Holy Scrip- 
 tures have been understood, and explained in the 
 Church of God by the doctors who then lived," ^ 
 at the same time that they declared that these 
 writings are inferior to Holy Scripture itself. 
 Nor did they scruple to appeal for confirmation 
 of their views to the testimony of the Christian 
 fathers.^ They thus affirmed the important fact 
 tliat, though the rights of the individual judg- 
 ment must be made good as against all pre- 
 tensions to authority over it, this does not 
 involve a depreciation of the faith and opinions 
 of those who have lived before us ; one of the chief 
 duties implied in the exercise of the individual 
 
 ^ The Formula of Concord, 1576, prepared by several of 
 the leading Protestant divines in the period succeeding 
 that of Luther and Melanchthon, with the design of 
 settling certain controversies. 
 
 2 Id. 3 Id. 
 
212 Greeds. 
 
 judgment being to gain what it can from those 
 sources of guidance which are contributed by the 
 past. 
 
 If it is a fatal exaggeration of the value of 
 traditional forms of faith to appeal to them as 
 an infallible authority, it is a hardly less serious 
 mistake to ignore their importance. Notwith- 
 standing the evils that have arisen from tradition^ 
 it has a true office to fulfil in relation to religious 
 truth. The opinions of the great minds of former 
 days, and the results arrived at by the wisdom of 
 the past, constitute an element of immense value 
 for our guidance in the highest knowledge. The 
 religious inquirer is not prosecuting a journey 
 over untrodden ground. The subjects which 
 occupy his thoughts have been diligently studied 
 and carefully stated by those who have preceded 
 him ; and he takes the best way to reach an 
 enlightened acquaintance with truth, when he 
 makes use of the fruits of their judgment. 
 wJti^n to -^^^ ^^^ ^^® oft-repeated charge against forms of 
 thoirincoii- belief that they are irreconcilable with the freedom 
 
 sistency 
 
 with the Qf d Christian society, and that their abolition 
 
 freedom vi '^ ^' 
 
 would lead to fuller life and liberty, be accepted 
 as well-founded. A very inadequate view is 
 
Creeds. 213 
 
 taken of the subject, when it is supposed that to 
 dispense with a definite creed is at all a security 
 for spiritual freedom. The testimony of experi- 
 ence rather goes to show that, in a religious 
 communion from which forms of faith are as far 
 as possible excluded, there may be no such 
 results in the direction of liberty as are so often 
 predicted. Intolerance is not got rid of by 
 getting rid of articles of faith. Indeed, it is not 
 difficult to see that the very absence of an under- 
 stood bond of common belief from a religious 
 society is necessarily attended with the danger of 
 leading to a state of things very far removed 
 from freedom. For where there is no recognized 
 standard of belief, and opinion is consequently 
 left to develop itself without any unity, dissension 
 and faction must always be apt to gain the 
 ascendency, and so to extinguish freedom. It is 
 very often in this way that what is supposed to 
 be liberty is found to be in reality the very 
 opposite. We throw aside reasonable restrictions 
 under the belief that we are thus to be made 
 more free, and discover that the sole result is to 
 bring ourselves into bondage. While there is an 
 obvious liabilitv of creeds to be made instruments 
 
214 Greeds. 
 
 of oppression, it is therefore well to look at 
 the dangers which attend the alternative of their 
 abrogation. The assailant of determinate forms 
 of faith, who promises to liberate the Christian 
 Church from intellectual slavery by their removal, 
 overlooks the peril that lies on the other side. 
 What is found to be true in social life as regards 
 the enjoyment of liberty may be taken as holding 
 good also in the Church. We know that, in the 
 sphere of ordinary social existence, freedom is 
 really possessed only where there are settled con- 
 ditions for its exercise. The absolute and entire 
 removal of all limitations would not make men 
 more free as members of society, but would 
 destroy true liberty. This principle applies also 
 ecclesiastically. The greatest amount of practical 
 freedom of religious life and thought may be 
 fairly claimed for the religious society which 
 holds with wise moderation a definite form of 
 faith, not for that which seeks to dispense with 
 all definite tenets. 
 
 function of ^6 havc thus endcavourcd to show that the 
 
 creeds. 
 
 existence of creeds has its foundation in the 
 conditions essentially belonging to a Christian 
 
Greeds. 215 
 
 society ; and moreover that the chief objections " 
 wliich are brought against them apply, rather to 
 the abuses with which they have been attended, 
 than to the principle which they involve. But. 
 there remains for consideration the further sub- 
 ject of the place and function of creeds as regards 
 their actual use in the Church, more especially in 
 relation to the question of the nature and extent 
 of their obligation, and by what rule consequently 
 they should be enforced. 
 
 Not a little of the difficulty which has arisen l^^^f^^^' 
 in reference to this subject is due to the failure to 
 distinguish sufficiently between two very different 
 conceptions of the nature and authority of creeds. 
 On the one hand, there are those whose theory 
 of unity of belief is so rigid that it requires 
 nothing less than absolute agreement in regard 
 to all doctrinal points. They regard any devia- 
 tion from a certain exact standard of religious 
 opinion as being necessarily precluded by the 
 association of Christians on the basis of a 
 common faith. On the other hand, it is held 
 by many that all that can be reasonably 
 demanded in a Christian society is, that 
 there should be essential concurrence of 
 
216 Creeds. 
 
 opinion. They urge that entire uniformity of 
 belief is impossible where there is intellectual 
 activity, and that every age must be expected to 
 exercise its own special influences on religious 
 thought. Now, these two widely different views 
 involve, as we have said, different judgments 
 with respect to the nature and the legitimate 
 claims of forms of belief. In the Church of 
 Eome, and in any church which holds tlie same 
 extreme sacerdotal principles, the former is, as a 
 matter of course, the light in which creeds are 
 regarded ; the symbols of belief accepted by them 
 are accepted as in every point divine and authori- 
 tative ; they are considered to be the infallible 
 decrees of a priesthood inspired by the wisdom of 
 God, and therefore as inferring universal and 
 absolute obligation. The place assigned by Pro- 
 testant opinion to creeds is very different. It 
 views them as occupying other and lower ground, 
 — as being entirely subordinate to Holy Scrip- 
 ture, which it maintains to be the sole rule of 
 faith and life. And therefore the tendency of 
 Protestant opinion as regards creeds is naturally 
 and necessarily in the direction of the second, and 
 less rigid, conception of their place and functions. 
 
Creeds. 217 
 
 We say that the natural tendency of Protestant tuc Protest- 
 
 •' ^ aut view of 
 
 ideas is towards a qualified view of the claims of quTuficd 
 
 one. 
 
 formularies of belief ; because it is a fundamental 
 article of Protestantism that the Scriptures alone 
 are the rule of faith and manners, and that no 
 other writings are to be placed on the same level 
 with them. We do not affirm, however, that this 
 is tlie view which has always, in point of fact, 
 been maintained by Protestants. On the con- 
 trary, they have often exalted articles of belief to 
 a position which is essentially inconsistent with 
 the supremacy of Scripture. Accordance with a 
 theological system, not conformity to the Scrip- 
 tures themselves, has very frequently been the 
 test by which they have judged of the truth 
 or falsehood of religious opinion. And the argu- 
 ment which is adduced for thus assiminsf to a 
 creed a place of paramount authority is this, that, 
 being a compilation of doctrines formed from 
 Scripture, it is entitled to be received as con- 
 veying the sense of the Old and New Testaments, 
 and so as authoritatively expressing the divine 
 mind. That, if we mistake not, is substantially 
 the view of those Protestants who adopt the 
 extremely rigid ^ iew of creeds. They hold that 
 
218 Creeds. 
 
 Scripture is the only divine rule, but that their 
 creed is merely Scripture in another shape, — 
 Scripture moulded into formal articles of faith ; 
 .and that therefore it has all the truth and import- 
 ance that belong to the Word of God. But, 
 plausible as this argument may be, nothing can 
 be more certain than that it is inconsistent with 
 the authentic teaching of the Eeformed Churches. 
 That teaching expressly or indirectly repudiates 
 all pretension on behalf of creeds and confessions 
 to exemption from error: it asserts that no 
 human interpretation of Scripture is to be taken 
 us authoritative, and that Scripture, and not any 
 other source whatever, is to be held as the judge 
 of human belief and life. 
 b]?^h?Si- Thus the Confession of Augsburg ^ says, " In 
 Protestant thcsc articlcs abovc written, in which is our Con- 
 fession, is seen a summary of the doctrine of those 
 who teach among us " ; and it adds, " If anything 
 is lacking in this Confession, we are prepared, God 
 willing, to present ampler information in accord- 
 ance with the Scriptures." No words could ex- 
 press more plainly the conviction that this formu- 
 
 * The authors and dates of this Confession and of those 
 two next refen-ed to will be found at pp. 22, 23. 
 
Creeds. 219 
 
 lary of Christian faith was quite subordinate to 
 Scripture ; and, moreover, that it was not, and 
 could not claim to be, free from imperfection. 
 All the Protestant Confessions accord in this re- 
 spect with this the oldest of the symbols of the 
 Reformed Faith. In some of them the modes of 
 expression that are made use of to indicate the 
 absence of all pretension to freedom from defect 
 are very out-spoken. Thus the Confession of 
 Basle declares, "We submit this our Confession 
 to the judgment of sacred Scripture : and we pro- 
 mise that, if we shall be better instructed out of 
 the said Scriptures, we shall always submit to 
 God, and His sacred Word." The Second Hel- 
 vetic Confession says, "We protest above all 
 things that we are most ready to explain more 
 fully all and each the things here set forth by us, 
 if any one demands it ; and to yield and submit 
 in the Lord, not without thanks, to such as may 
 teach us better things out of the Word of God." 
 The ancient Scottish Confession ^ contains a simi- 
 lar avowal, " Protesting that, gif any man will 
 note in this oure Confessioun any article or sen- 
 tence repugning to God's Holie Word, that it 
 
 1 See p. 130. 
 
220 Creeds. 
 
 wad pleis him of liis gentilnes and for Chris- 
 tian cherities saik, to admoneis us of the samyn 
 in writt ; and we of our honour and fidelitie 
 do promeis unto him satisfactioun fra the mouth 
 of God (that is, fra His Holy Scriptures) or 
 ellis reformation of that quliilk he sail prove 
 to be amyss." 
 Further That the Keformers and earliest exponents of 
 
 proof from ^ 
 
 Sn^ssions. Protcstant views entertained a qualified estimate 
 of the claims of formularies of belief is manifest 
 from such explicit statements as these. It is evi- 
 dent that they made an essential distinction be- 
 tween them and the Scriptures. It is also plain 
 that they did not challenge for them inhe- 
 rent authority, or completeness, or absolute truth. 
 And those Protestant Confessions which do not, 
 like the formularies we have quoted, contain an 
 express disclaimer of all pretension to freedom 
 from error, declare nevertheless the same thing 
 with equal plainness by tlie doctrine which they 
 lay down in reference to Scripture. Thus the 
 Westminster Confession is emphatic in asserting 
 the truth and authority of Scripture in contrast 
 to all other opinions and writings whatsoever. It 
 declares that " the Supreme Judge, by which all 
 
Creeds. 221 
 
 controversies of religion are to be determined, and 
 all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, 
 doctrines of men, and private spirits are to be ex- 
 amined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, 
 can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in 
 the Scripture." ^ So far from coinciding with the 
 view of those who are disposed to assert that a 
 creed, being an expression of Scripture truth, 
 is entitled to be regarded as equivalent to the 
 sacred writings, it affirms that Scripture must be 
 allowed to be its own interpreter : " the infallible 
 rule of interpretation of Scripture," it says, "is 
 the Scripture itself." ^ Nor is the Westminster 
 Confession content thus to vindicate the sole au- 
 thority of Scripture, and the unlawfulness of at- 
 tempting to bind men by any interpretation of its 
 contents ; but it also guards against the assumption 
 that any body of men since the Apostles' times 
 has had the right of imposing its decisions as a 
 rule on the Christian Church, and it affirms that 
 no such decisions are to be received except to a 
 modified extent. " All synods or councils since 
 the Apostles' times, whether general or particular, 
 may err, and many have erred ; therefore they 
 * Chap. i. section x. 2 j^. section ix. 
 
222 Greeds. 
 
 ;ire not to be made the rule of faith or practice, 
 but to be used as an help in both." ^ 
 u^f of^thT Looking therefore at the relation of Protestant- 
 principie ism to crccds, in the only light which serves to 
 
 :xs regards 
 
 creeds. gjyg ^g authentic knowledge on the subject — the 
 light afforded by Protestant Confessions them- 
 selves — the principle which, as it seems to us, 
 they involve is of a twofold nature. In the first 
 place, the view of a creed which they imply is, 
 that it is a formal expression of agreement in 
 matters of faith. It is impossible, as was remarked 
 at the commencement of this chapter, for a com- 
 munion of Christians to exist without some con- 
 sent, understood or explicitly stated, as regards 
 points of belief. Such an understanding or ex- 
 press statement is therefore the fulfilment of a 
 natural want. It represents the common faith of 
 a Christian Society. The Protestant view of the 
 function of creeds does not, however, go farther 
 than this ; it does not recognize them as being 
 invested with divine authority, or as being decis- 
 ive and ultimate expressions of religious truth. 
 On the contrary, there is, in the second place, an 
 clement of qualification, according to the Protest - 
 * Chap. xxxi. section iii. 
 
Creeds. 223 
 
 ant opinion, which affects the position of creeds 
 in an important degree. For it holds that they are 
 inferior to Scripture, and cannot rightfully claim 
 to be free from error and defect. Scripture, it 
 maintains, is the sole rule of faith and life. Con- 
 sequently, the Protestant does not assent to a 
 creed — if he truly holds the principles he pro- 
 fesses — in the same way as a member of the 
 Church of Rome, or any other believer in infal- 
 lible ecclesiastical dogmas. He regards forms of 
 belief as subordinate to the teachings of Scripture, 
 and it is to these last that he looks as his authori- 
 tative guide in religious matters. He can accept 
 a creed as nothing more than an imperfect repre- 
 sentation of truth, however truly he may accord 
 his adherence to its teachings ; because it is a 
 fundamental article of Protestant belief, as em- 
 bodied in its Confessions, that other writings than 
 Scripture are to be accepted only in this sense. 
 
 The conclusion appears to us to follow naturally uSrmlty 
 
 ' o 1 1 iMi^^ belief imt 
 
 and of necessity from what we have now described a require- 
 ment of the 
 
 as the Protestant view of creeds, that absolute tTew?**"^ 
 sameness of belief cannot be insisted on consist- 
 ently with that view. A church, whose formular}- 
 of faith professes to be inferior to Scripture, and 
 
224 Creeds. 
 
 disavows all claim to unerring certainty, cannot 
 justifiably require that there shall be the same 
 rigid identity of sentiment among its members as 
 it mi^ht if it asserted for its articles the character 
 of divine and infallible decrees. The only course 
 reconcilable with the subordinate position thus 
 assumed by a creed is, that its terms should be in- 
 terpreted and enforced with a width and toler- 
 ance, which are in conformity with the character 
 it claims for itself. A statement of religious 
 truth, which declares its own fallibleness and im- 
 perfection, cannot reasonably be regarded and en- 
 forced as if it were infallible or perfect. The 
 very moderation of its own account of its nature 
 and claims constitutes the strongest possible rea- 
 son why it should be understood and used with 
 moderation, instead of being made an instrument 
 of undue stringency. It is indeed perfectly true 
 that there are limits beyond which it is unsafe to 
 permit latitude of opinion in a religious commun- 
 ion ; and we shall endeavour to indicate further 
 on how the extent to which diversity of opinion 
 is to be allowed can alone be determined. But the 
 point which, in the meantime, we urge as a neces- 
 sary deduction from the principles which are 
 
Creeds. 225 
 
 characteristic of the creeds of Protestantism is, 
 that the rigour that would suppress all differences 
 of thought — the dogmatism that would allow noth- 
 ing for the exercise of the individual judginent, 
 and that would compel all the members of a 
 Church to think absolutely the same thing, how- 
 ever strongly it is warranted by the doctrine of 
 the infallibilist, is contrary to the view of Pro- 
 testantism. 
 
 And it is really only in this modified use of ^^7^^.^*^}*^ 
 creeds that the conditions of true unity ofversityof 
 
 thought. 
 
 belief are to be found. There can be no living 
 unity of belief unless there exists along with it 
 an allowance for diversities of thought. The 
 rigid control of religious faith, which endeavours 
 to prevent all variations from an absolute stand- 
 ard, is fatal to the spiritual condition of a Church. 
 It attempts to create perfect accordance of senti- 
 ment by extinguishing intellectual life. It seeks 
 to make men united by destroying individuality 
 of conviction and feeling. Such a system of 
 exaction as regards matters of faith has the effect 
 of crushing out true spiritual energy and mental 
 vitality. On the other hand, when a Church 
 accords a wise latitude in respect of forms of 
 
226 Creeds. 
 
 opinion, though certain evils and disadvantages 
 may arise from the freedom it gives, there are 
 strong counter-balancing elements of good. That 
 religious opinion should flow in a single narrow 
 course is never beneficial. It is in the combina- 
 tion rather of various phases of thought, in the 
 inter-action of contrasting tendencies of belief, 
 that the fullest development of truth is to be 
 sought. The very extremes of opinion, though 
 themselves false, involve important truth ; and 
 they can in many cases be most effectually met, 
 not by a mere denial of their accuracy, but by 
 recognizing and employing what in them is good 
 and well-founded. Thus the highest and truest 
 conception of unity of belief is that which associ- 
 ates it with liberty, — that which regards it as 
 many-sided. A dead sameness of faith does not 
 deserve the name of unity of faith. There must 
 be freedom where there is true unity. 
 ijmitsto But assuming this to be true, and supposing 
 
 latitude of ° r r . 
 
 h?w^tobe further that we are right in our argument that 
 ' the position claimed by Protestantism for creeds 
 is in favour of this wide view ; it is still in- 
 dubitable, as we have already observed, that 
 there are limits to the latitude of opinion, 
 
Creeds, 227 
 
 which it is safe to permit in a Christian 
 society. The question therefore arises, — How 
 far is diversity of thought admissible ? Where 
 is the line to be drawn ? Now, the true 
 answer to this question is, we believe, to 
 be found in the function, which has been 
 pointed out as — according to the Protestant con- 
 ception — belonging to creeds ; the function of 
 serving as expressions of the common faith of n 
 Church, and so maintaining a Church in a state 
 of unity in this respect. It follows from this 
 conception of the use of a creed that its function 
 is really administrative. It is an instrument for Function of 
 
 *' a croed 
 
 the preservation of ecclesiastical order. The jfv^"^*""*' 
 Christian society itself, therefore, whose form of 
 belief is concerned, must determine, as actual 
 circumstances arise requiring its decision, the 
 extent of the latitude embraced within its com- 
 munion, and at what point the limits permissible 
 to religious opinion are overpassed. To lay 
 down exact laws on the subject is utterly im- 
 practicable. We might as well think of laying 
 down hard and fast rules in reference to any 
 of the complicated problems of ordinary social 
 life. That power belongs of right to a Church 
 
228 Greeds. 
 
 to exclude from its communion those who main- 
 tain opinions destructive of its welfare seems too 
 obvious to be doubted. But it appears not less 
 clear that the mode in which that power is ex- 
 ercised, — whether wisely or unwisely, whether 
 for good or for e\dl, — must depend on the re- 
 ligious body itself A Church that would wisely 
 solve the question of creeds has a general pro- 
 blem to deal with, which does not admit of being 
 settled by regulation, but which requires the 
 exercise of a careful regard to what is most for 
 the good of its members, and the advancement 
 of truth. There are instances in which modes 
 of opinion, even though they may be objection- 
 able, are likely only to assume increased im- 
 portance by being made the subject of judicial 
 censure. There are other instances in which 
 divergence from the understood tenets of a Chris- 
 tian society may be attended with such manifest 
 practical evils, that their existence demands that 
 action should be taken in reference to them. 
 Ecclesiastical history bears emphatic evidence 
 tliat, in the past, Churches have erred very much 
 more on the side of severity in this respect than 
 on that of laxity. 13oth extremes are attended 
 
Greeds. 229 
 
 with evil. Wliile order lias to be maintained, 
 despotism has to be no less earnestly and care- 
 fully avoided. The exercise of the individual 
 Christian judgment cannot be unduly interfered 
 with without an ultimate sacrifice of the interests 
 of the Christian community as a whole. It is 
 obvious, therefore, that a problem so difficult and 
 complicated is only to be solved by the wisdom 
 and moderation, that will be guided by a regard 
 to circumstances, and to the greatest good of the 
 Cliurch of Christ. 
 
 And from the fact that the right use of forms l^^e^^^ 
 
 . . . depends 
 
 01 faith depends thus pre-eminently on the spirit rather on 
 
 ^ ^ ./ r the wisdom 
 
 in which they are regarded and employed, it of J.fan2dety 
 
 than on pro- 
 
 course lollows that we cannot trust lor the visions in 
 
 regard to its 
 
 removal of the abuses connected with, them to {[J^dfe of as-^ 
 
 , . . , . sent. 
 
 mere changes in their lorm, or in their terms. 
 A good deal has been said of the desirableness 
 of a brief creed, which would contain only such 
 articles of belief as are absolutely essential. A 
 good deal has also been said in favour of relaxing 
 the formulas of assent and subscription. It 
 would lead us into the discussion of subjects 
 which are apart from the scope of this chapter, 
 were we to enter fully into the consideration of 
 
230 Creeds. 
 
 these points ; because they are points of detail, 
 while we have endeavoured rather to treat the 
 question of creeds on general grounds. This 
 much, however, may be remarked that the pro- 
 visions to which we have referred are not so 
 certain to be effectual in securing religious toler- 
 ance as is sometimes imagined. The brevity of 
 a form of belief, though it has manifest advan- 
 tages, does not necessarily prevent its terms 
 being made the subject of controversial warfare, 
 and fierce party feeling. Thus the Nicene creed, 
 notwithstanding its shortness, contains j)oints 
 wliich have given rise to conflicts of the most in- 
 tense bitterness. In one case, the source of dispute 
 was a single phrase of this creed ; ^ in another, it 
 was a difference represented by a single letter of 
 a word.- And it is equally true that, though 
 
 'The phrase wliicli expresses the procession of the 
 Spirit from the Son, — " I believe in the Holy Ghost, who 
 ])roceedeth from tlie Father and the So7i." The question 
 as to receiving or rejecting these words was one of the 
 main circumstances which led to the rupture of the Greek 
 and Latin Cliurches. 
 
 - The Churcli of the fourth century was convulsed during 
 a long period by the controversy regarding the clause of 
 the Nicene creed which rej)resents Christ as " of one sub- 
 stance with the Father." The party oppo.sed to this doc- 
 trine of the creed were willing to affirm that He was "of 
 
Creeds. 231 
 
 the mode of expressing assent to a form of belief 
 may be made general enough to suit the most 
 comprehensive ideas, it is yet certain to be re- 
 garded by those who have no such sympathies 
 ill a narrower acceptation.^ The truth is that 
 intense religious feeling refuses to be controlled 
 b}' minute phraseological considerations. When 
 the spirit of bigotry is in full exercise, terms 
 which are in themselves moderate are readily 
 perverted to sustain the prepossessions of extreme 
 partisanship. However important therefore the 
 abbreviation of creeds, and the improvement of 
 formulas of assent, it is not to such merely 
 
 like substance with the Father." The difference is repre- 
 sented in the original by one letter. 
 
 ^ This is shown, for instance, by the different interpre- 
 tations put on the formula of assent to the Westminister 
 Confession, commonly used by American Presbyterians. 
 The Confession is assented to, according to this formula, 
 as " containing the system of doctrine taught in the Holy 
 Scriptures." Dr. Charles Hodge informs us that, while 
 these words are wide enough to satisfy those like himself 
 who refuse to be bound by every proposition of the Con- 
 fession, they are at the same time interpreted by some 
 much more widely than he approves, and by others so 
 strictly that their view of them could not be ^''practically 
 carried out without dividing the Church into innumerable 
 fragments!" Appendix to Hodge's Commentary on 
 Westminster Confession. 
 
232 Creeds. 
 
 formal changes that we must mainly look for 
 a comprehensive and reasonable view of a 
 Church's belief. We must trust rather to the 
 prevalence of wise and just sentiments. Those 
 unwritten and undefinable elements of human 
 opinion, which constitute the spirit of an age or 
 a community, are the forces which operate most 
 powerfully in determining the manner in which 
 such a ([uestion will be treated. The fact, whicli 
 we have endeavoured to illustrate, that the posi- 
 tion given by Protestantism to creeds is a sub- 
 sidiary one, — that they are confessedly imperfect 
 and inferior to Scripture, — affords a sufficient 
 reason for their being imderstood and applied 
 with a wise allowance for the diversity of opinion 
 which is an inevitable element of living religion. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 THE PURITY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
"Many in the communion of the Church are made better 
 like Peter, many are tolerated like Judas, many are not knoM'n 
 until the Lord shall come." — Augustine. 
 
THE PURITY OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 The corruptions and imperfections of the Christian The craving 
 
 for a Pure 
 
 Church have naturally awakened the regret of *^^"''^^'- 
 earnest Christians, and with it the desire to find 
 some effectual remedy. From an early period in 
 the history of Christianity attempts have been 
 made to remove these disorders and to bring the 
 Church into a condition of freedom from error and 
 sin. The course by which the ardent maintainer 
 of ecclesiastical purity has endeavoured to secure 
 this object is the application of rigorous discipline. 
 According to his view, it is owing to want of faith- 
 fuhiess in the a'dministration of restrictive and 
 corrective measures that a Christian communion 
 is corrupt, and if due care is only taken to visit 
 the offender against the laws of religion with cen- 
 sure, or with exclusion from the society of believers, 
 
236 The Purity of the Church. 
 
 the end of securing a Pure Church will be attained. 
 As early as the third century an important move- 
 ment arose with the purpose of thus purifying the 
 Church of Christ by the employment of methods 
 of severe correction.^ The party who assailed the 
 existing state of discipline as insufficient and who 
 were called " the Pure " on account of the strict- 
 ness of the ecclesiastical standard which they 
 advocated, went so far as to maintain tliat a 
 Christian society which tolerates the existence 
 of known offenders in its membership ceases 
 thereby to be a true Cliurch, and, moreover, that 
 such offenders, having broken their baptismal vow, 
 sliould not be readmitted to Christian communion. 
 In the fourth and fifth centuries another important 
 controversy occurred, notable partly for the share 
 taken by Augustine in it, in which the exercise 
 of discipline and the purity of the Church were 
 again the points involved.^ During subsequent 
 ages in the history of the Church the views whicli 
 were held thus early have been again and again 
 revived. There liave been frequent movements 
 
 ^ Known as the Schism of Novatianus. Neander, vol i. 
 336. 
 
 2 Known as the Donatist Schism. Neander, vol. iii. 
 244. 
 
The PuHty of the Church. 237 
 
 in the direction of rigonr of ecclesiastical dis- 
 cipline, as aftbrding the only means of attaining 
 the purity of tlie Church of Christ. Many of the 
 divisions which have occurred in the Christian 
 world have originated from this source. Earnest- 
 minded persons, impressed with the vast differ- 
 ence between the state of the Christian Church, 
 and the condition m which it should be, and 
 tired with the longing to establish a faultless 
 religious communion, have again and again sought, 
 by the use of the most rigid measures, to create a 
 scene of ecclesiastical perfection. 
 
 Now it has never been extensively questioned, tfe^dSS- ^' 
 
 , . 1 .p . , , rained. 
 
 and it does not seem as it it can on any reasonable 
 ground be questioned, that the power of exercising 
 discipline rightfully belongs to a Church. A re- 
 ligious society, like any otlier society, seems clearh' 
 entitled to possess the means of preserving itself 
 from corruption and irregularity by the enforce- 
 ment of order. The point, however, which in- 
 volves matter of serious question is, to what ex- 
 tent this power, supposing it to be in itself lawful, 
 should be carried? The opinion of the zealous 
 upholder of an extremely strict regime is, that, 
 the more exact the rule according to which 
 
238 The Purity of the Church. 
 
 ecclesiastical order is maintained, and the more 
 inexorably faults of life or belief are dealt with, 
 the greater is the purity of a Church likely to be. 
 But the testimony of facts, on the other hand, 
 points to a very different conclusion. It shows, 
 as we shall afterwards see, that measures of 
 rigorous severity do not, in most instances, result 
 in increased piety and virtue. There are, of 
 course, exceptional cases — cases in which viola- 
 tion of the law of Christian well-doing is so gross 
 and so conspicuous that nothing but extreme 
 methods will suffice to vindicate the character 
 of religion. But in relation to the failings and 
 errors generally, which are to be found in a 
 Christian communion, a system of stern re- 
 pression leads to results the very opposite of those 
 which it is designed to produce. So far from 
 realizing his idea of ecclesiastical purity by rigour 
 of discipline, the maintainer of such measures 
 creates, rather than corrects, evil and error. 
 quoted'tli I^ is indeed true that those who argue in suj)- 
 
 Bupport ex- n J • ■ 1 
 
 treme views port of a systcm of extreme stnngency appeal 
 
 of ccclesias- 
 
 The\iuoti?'' for their authority to certain passages of Scripture. 
 
 tiai"*^'' They point to those many declarations of the 
 
 sacred writers, which describe the Church of 
 
The Purity of the Church. :2.39 
 
 Christ by such designations as " saints," the 
 " sanctified in Christ Jesus," the " holy temple " of 
 (lod, "the faithful brethren in Christ," the bride 
 of Christ to be "presented to Himself without 
 spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing 'V and they 
 urge that such descriptions are inconsistent with 
 a state of things which allows the existence in the 
 Church of acknowledged elements of evil. P>ut, 
 as often happens when passages of Scripture are 
 produced in proof of a certain theory, there is in this 
 instance a disregard of other, and very different, 
 statements of Scripture. The representation 
 which Christ repeatedly gives of the nature of 
 His kingdom is, that in the present state of things, 
 it is far from being absolutely pure. He likens 
 it to the mingling of wheat and tares in the same 
 field, and to the gathering together of good fish 
 and bad in the same net, and He illustrates its 
 character by the circumstance of foolish virgins 
 being present in the marriage company along with 
 the wise.2 The New Testament Epistles also 
 afford abundant evidence that the condition of the 
 Christian Church, in times when it was recognized 
 
 1 1 Cor. i. 2 ; Eph. ii. 21 ; Col. i. 2 ; Epli. v. 27. 
 - Matt. xiii. 24-30 ; 47-50 ; xxv. 1-13. 
 
240 The Purity of the Cliurch. 
 
 by the Apostles themselves as the true conimunion 
 of Christ, was very far from being exempt from 
 corruption. There were many serious errors and 
 many deviations from moral rectitude in the 
 societies which enjoyed apostolic sanction and 
 instruction. 
 Confusion xiic mistakc committed by those who insist on 
 
 between the "^ 
 
 thlTdeai applying to the present condition of the Church 
 
 states of the 
 
 Church. those dcscriptions of it as a pure and perfect 
 communion, which are to be found in Scripture, 
 is, that they fail to distinguish between its actual, 
 and its ideal state. It is a feature of the New 
 Testament, — as it necessarily is of all forms 
 of truth which seek the elevation of human 
 nature, — that it appeals to a standard, wliich 
 is higher than what is realized in actual experi- 
 ence. Its mode of instruction proceeds on the 
 principle that men are to be taught purity by 
 conceptions of it mofe lofty than have yet been 
 fulfilled in human life. It places before us, 
 in short, an ideal to be aimed at, which is far 
 above the point that the existing attainments of 
 man have reached. And, as we have said, this 
 is not a feature peculiar to the teachings of 
 Christianity. All systems and modes of appeal, 
 
The Purity of the Church. 241 
 
 which address themselves to the elevation of 
 man, make use of the same principle. They 
 propose some ideal higher than has yet been 
 grasped. The influence which they exercise 
 depends on the measure of success with which 
 they set before the minds of men conceptions of 
 the true and good, that rise above the actual level 
 of human attainment. The fact, therefore, that ; 
 while there are numerous statements in the New 
 Testament, which declare the imperfect char- 
 acter of the Christian Church, and which refer 
 to its corruptions and errors ; there are also 
 many representations of it in terms expressive of 
 its holiness and superiority to the world ; is but 
 an instance of the mode of teaching that aims at 
 exalting the thoughts and life by the exhibition 
 of a perfect standard. It is in the same way 
 that the Scriptures refer to the individual Chris- 
 tian character. They often, describe it rather in 
 its ideal completeness than in its actual condition. 
 Thus the Christian is represented as being " dead 
 to sin," as " having crucified the flesh with the 
 affections and lusts," as " having put off the old 
 man," as being " complete in Christ." This is 
 language indicative more of the true and ultimate 
 
242 The Purity of the Church. 
 
 type of the Christian character than of what has 
 been yet attained. It represents the nature of 
 the new life in the light of its full development, 
 and not in its defectiveness and sinfulness. And 
 so, by means of a mode of instruction which gives 
 prominence to the highest aspects of religion, the 
 Scriptures furnish an incentive to spiritual effort, 
 — they teach us, by the loftiness of the standard 
 which they propose, that the end which we must 
 seek gradually to reach is that of Christian 
 perfection, 
 fws confu- Overlooking the existence of this ideal element 
 in the teaching of Scripture, the upholder of 
 rigid ecclesiastical discipline commits the mistake 
 of interpreting those passages which refer to the 
 perfection of the Church as if they afford a rule 
 that can be acted on in its existing state. He thus 
 attempts to enforce a measure of purity, which 
 it is impossible to realize. He takes the erron- 
 eous course which is represented in the Parable 
 of the Wheat and Tares, when the servants of the 
 householder are described as proposing to gather 
 out the tares from amidst the wheat, and their 
 master prohibits them, and says that both must 
 grow together until the harvest. The ecclesias- 
 
 sion 
 
The Purity of the Church. 243 
 
 tical rigour that would create a pure communion 
 by tlie enforcement of discipline is precisely analo- 
 gous to the short-sighted suggestion of the ser- 
 vants in the parable. It seeks to root out the tares 
 from amidst the wheat even now. It attempts to 
 force upon the Church a condition of purity, 
 which in present circumstances is impracticable. 
 "" Let both orrow tofj^ether until the harvest " is The law of 
 
 ^xw., «v^^ 
 
 the general law of Christ in reference to His 
 Church. Truth and falsehood, righteousness and 
 sin, sincerity and hypocrisy must be allowed, in 
 large measure, to exist in combination within the 
 sphere of avowed Christianity ; because any en- 
 deavour that can be made wholly to do away 
 with this state of things at present is not only 
 useless, but productive of evil. It is by the slow 
 growth of good, and its gradual conquest of the 
 opposite influences of sin ; and not by the force 
 of severity operating through outward measures ; 
 that we are to look for the final triumph of 
 religion. While the mingling of error and 
 sin with the purer elements of the Church 
 does not satisfy the visionary aspirations of 
 those who would put an end to ecclesiastical 
 imperfections at once, it is really best that 
 
 Christ. 
 
244 
 
 The PuHty of the Church. 
 
 Impossibility 
 of sepai-ating 
 between the 
 good and the 
 evil in the 
 present state 
 of things 
 
 such a state of things should in the meantime 
 continue. 
 
 There are many considerations which justify 
 the wisdom of the principle asserted by our Lord 
 in relation to the purity of His Church ; and 
 which show that to attempt the eradication of 
 the error and evil that exist in it, by means 
 of rigorous measures, is at once vain and hurtful. 
 
 One main consideration is that which Christ 
 Himself intimates in the Parable of the Wheat 
 and Tares, when he represents the householder 
 as prohibiting his servants from gathering out the 
 tares from among the wheat, " lest, while they 
 gathered up the tares, they should root up also 
 the wheat with them." The application of this 
 to a society of professing Christians is obvious. 
 There are not the means of distinguishing char- 
 acter, in a religious communion, with such truth 
 as to be able to bring external measures of 
 purification to bear on it with anything like 
 accuracy. In any case in which a stringent 
 system of ecclesiastical discipline is imposed, the 
 good are confounded with the evil. There are, 
 as we have said, outstanding instances of wrong- 
 doing which are unmistakeable ; and which, when 
 
The Purity of the Church. 245 
 
 they bring injury on a religious body, and con- 
 stitute a grave offence against its common senti- 
 ments, it may be necessary to visit with severity. 
 Within the province of such flagrant transgres- 
 sions the exercise of discipline may be far from 
 unprofitable or needless. But, except in those 
 cases in which evil and its injurious consequences 
 stand so clearly out that to pass it over would be 
 attended with results detrimental to a religious 
 society, the exercise of discipline does more harm 
 than good. Whenever it is attempted to apply 
 corrective measures to an extent beyond this, the 
 gravest possible mistakes necessarily follow. For 
 human judgment can penetrate with certainty 
 only a little way into the moral state of a com- 
 munity. It is unable to form anything like a 
 true estimate of the minute circumstances and 
 conditions that go to constitute the culpability 
 or goodness of men. There are a thousand 
 things lying beyond immediate observation, 
 which materially affect the nature of actions ; 
 and which, were they known to us, would in 
 many cases lead to a reversal of the opinion 
 we entertain at a first view. It sometimes hap- 
 pens that the external demonstration of piety, 
 
246 The Purity of the Church. 
 
 which passes without question in a religious 
 communion, proves to be insincere. There are 
 not a few instances, on the other hand, in which 
 the life that is marked by grave defects is also a 
 life of real worth. The fault, which brings down 
 on an offender a sentence of condemnation, 
 would sometimes, if all the circumstances were 
 known, be hardly regarded as a fault. In 
 those who are so reserved and unpretending 
 in reference to religion, that they are apt to 
 be considered as outside the circle of the 
 faithful, there is often more genuine religious 
 earnestness than in the avowedly and con- 
 spicuously devout. There are thus endless 
 and insuperable difficulties in the way of creating 
 a pure state of the Church by means of rigorous 
 discipline. Questions of human conduct are so 
 complicated; and good and evil, truth and error, 
 are united together in actual experience by such 
 close and subtle relations ; that it is altogether 
 beyond the power of human discernment to dis- 
 tinguish truly in each case. The attempt to do 
 so only leads to fatal confusion and mistake, 
 of^thrr^r."* -^^^ it is a not less valid objection to a system 
 
 gious life ni'-i- ,... 
 
 requires of ccclesiatical riofour tliat it is inconsistent with 
 
The Purity of the Church. 247 
 
 the liberty which properly belongs to the religious Jj^^J^^^^e'^'^ 
 life. There cannot be freedom in the religious of oJii. ^" 
 sphere, any more than in other provinces of hu- 
 man action, unless a large toleration is allowed to 
 evil and error. The latitude which, Christ de- 
 clared, must be permitted in the Church, "Let 
 the wheat and the tares grow together until the 
 liarvest," is the necessary condition of spiritual 
 freedom. Let us suppose that, by the adoption 
 of extremely exacting terms of communion, and 
 by a stern discipline, an exclusion of certain ele- 
 ments of evil from a Christian society is effected, 
 what is the result ? While a measure of purity 
 — at least, of an outward kind — is thus produced, 
 it is the consequence of a system of restraint. It 
 has not arisen from voluntary conviction. It 
 is not the growth of living and spontaneous feel- 
 ing. The external amendment, which is thus 
 introduced into a religious communion, is due 
 simply to the action of restrictive force. And 
 therefore it is not deeply rooted. It has no 
 thoroughness, or permanence. It is only when 
 ample liberty is allowed to the exercise of the 
 moral and spiritual powers, and when the con- 
 science and judgment are left to operate without 
 
248 The Purity of the Church. 
 
 the influence of unnecessary restriction, that true 
 religious life can exist and prosper. Hence the 
 condition of the Christian Church, in which a 
 large tolerance is given to human conduct, is the 
 only one that is suited to the development of re- 
 ligion in its true vigour and fulness. A Christian 
 society that imposes on its members a system of 
 stringent requirement, and that follows them into 
 their actions with a rigid control, if it produces 
 religious purity of a kind, produces an unhealthy 
 type of it. The piety which it nourishes is the 
 result of constraint. It is, on the other hand, 
 when a Church trusts, not to restrictions from 
 without, but to the power of truth and the effect 
 of spiritual influences, that it really most pro- 
 motes the interests of purity ; just because it re- 
 cognizes, in this case, the individual freedom, 
 which is involved in all sound religious life. 
 Testimony The facts of Christian history afford abundant 
 
 of history. *' 
 
 evidence of the truth of this statement. In those 
 instances, in which extreme strictness has been 
 associated with religion, it has not, as a rule, pro- 
 duced the desired effects. Thus, in the period 
 when Puritan austerity was in the ascendant, and 
 religion was surrounded with the restraints of a 
 
The Purity of the Church. 249 
 
 severe discipline, the result was not favourable to 
 the prevalence of virtue. There is strong evi- 
 dence that the opposite was the case.^ Never 
 probably was ecclesiastical discipline carried out 
 with more systematic stringency than by the 
 Presbyterians of a former age. It was applied 
 by them with a faithfulness that spared no one, 
 whatever his circumstances or his rank. The re- 
 gulation of domestic devotion, attendance at pub- 
 lic worship, the observance of the Sabbath, the 
 actions of daily life, and the very words that were 
 spoken, were treated as proper subjects for eccle- 
 siastical censorship. Offences, not only against 
 the moral law, but against religious usages, were 
 visited with a severity which might well have re- 
 medied the errors and evils of human nature, had 
 this been the true method of dealinc: with them. 
 
 1 The austere discipline of Puritanism had never pro- 
 bably a fairer field for the exhibition of its results than in 
 New England. Cotton Mather's History, though written 
 in the spirit of an admirer, gives a very dark picture of 
 the crimes which stained society in New England under 
 this ecclesiastical rule. The incidents which he relates 
 under the head of Remarkable Judgments of God, and 
 Dying Speeches of Ciiminals are of the most heinous de- 
 scription. Magnalia Christi Americana, or the Ecclesias- 
 tical History of New England, 1620—98. 
 
strictness. 
 
 250 The Purity of the Church. ^ 
 
 The actual result, however, was very different. 
 Instead of this period in ecclesiastical history hav- 
 ing been distinguished by extraordinary virtue, its 
 rigorous asterity seems to have had precisely the 
 contrary effect. ^ 
 
 Stsof ovtr- ^^^^ f^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^* ^^^ remarks we have made. 
 They are an illustration of the truth which 
 we have affirmed, that a religious system which 
 denies freedom to human feeling and action, and 
 which trusts to mere restraint, is not true or 
 healthy, and therefore must lead to evil conse- 
 (juences. When the natural dispositions of men 
 are checked by stringent measures, they assert 
 for themselves a liberty all the worse and more 
 dangerous that they are sternly repressed. De- 
 sires and tendencies, which are prevented from 
 having reasonable indulgence, are sure to find 
 other outlets for themselves. And especially does 
 this mischievous result of over-strictness arise in 
 connection with the antagonism of religious per- 
 sons to the enjoyments of life. This has always 
 1 Chambers, in his Domestic Annals of Scotland, gives- 
 an unfavourable account of the state of morals there dur- 
 ing the period of Presbyterian rigour ; and, as the state- 
 ments are derived from a variety of contemporary sources^ 
 there can be little doubt of their substantial accuracy. 
 Vol. i., 333; ii., 161, 197, &c. 
 
The PuHty of the Church. 251 
 
 been one of the characteristics of excessive eccle- 
 siastical rigour. The element of human pleasure^ 
 even though harmless, has been regarded as in- 
 compatible with religion ; and piety has been 
 supposed to be consistent only with moroseness- 
 and gloom. So it was according to Puritan ideas- 
 So it was in the rigorous age of Presbyterianism^ 
 to which we have alluded. The joys of the world 
 were frowned upon as being irreconcilable with 
 Christian earnestness ; and to be demure and pre- 
 cise was considered as alone fulfilling the true 
 idea of the religious character. Now, there is 
 involved in this view a source of inevitable evil. 
 The craving for enjoyment is a feeling so natural 
 and powerful, that it is certain to be indulged in 
 some form. If it is interdicted in those directions 
 in which its exercise is harmless, or in which 
 there is least liability for it to become a cause of 
 evil, it assumes depraved modes of development. 
 The undisguised and healthful indulgence of the 
 desire for pleasure is a safeguard in some measure 
 of the interests of virtue. It provides innocent 
 gratification for a disposition inherent in our na- 
 ture. The very absence of constraint, which the 
 maintainer of austere notions of religion disap- 
 
9;=; 9 
 
 The Purity of the Church. 
 
 proves in the more cheerful forms of human en- 
 joyment, is, in point of fact, what may with jus- 
 tice be urged, from a moral point of view, in 
 their favour : for it is not in such cheerful relax- 
 ations from the labour and anxieties of life that 
 men incur the risk of sinning, so much as in those 
 modes of self-indulgence that wear the mask of 
 gravity and strictness. But this the upholder 
 of an austere precision overlooks. He wishes to 
 suppress the brighter and opener manifestations of 
 human enjoyment, and imagines that by making 
 life dull and decorous he brings it into accordance 
 with piety ; forgetting, all the while, that the ef- 
 fect of denying to natural feeling its reasonable 
 exercise is to drive men to wrong courses, that, 
 with the prohibition of such enjoyment as has a 
 recognized place in social life, a stimulus is given 
 to other and lower pleasures. 
 
 Hence, then, the entire failure of those attempts 
 which have been made to render the Church of 
 Christ pure by the application of measures of ex- 
 treme rigour. They involve the error of endea- 
 vouring to effect by means of restraint what can 
 only be accomplished by the more gradual influ- 
 ences of truth and love. Human nature, when 
 
The Purity of the Church. 253 
 
 subjected to over-restriction, rebels against it, and 
 is made worse instead of better. 
 
 And, while the endeavour to force an impossible Effectof 
 
 visionary 
 
 standard of purity on the Church is thus apt to {he pSritJ 
 lead to a reaction, and to produce vice rather than church on 
 
 the tone of 
 
 to prevent it ; it has also results not less injurious fleiSg"^ 
 in the tone of religious feeling which it implies 
 and fosters. This is described with graphic force 
 by one of the Eeformers, who says, "We must 
 not require that the Church, while in this world, 
 should be free from every wrinkle and stain ; or 
 forthwith pronounce unworthy of such a title 
 every society in which everything is not as we 
 would wish it. For it is a dangerous temptation 
 to think that there is no Church at all where per- 
 fect purity is not seen. For the man that is 
 prepossessed with this notion must necessarily in 
 the end withdraw from all others, and look upon 
 himself as the only saint in the world, or set up 
 a peculiar sect in company with a few hypocrites."^ 
 The attempt, in other words, to create an abso- 
 lutely pure Church has the effect of j^roducing a 
 spirit of religious pride and liypocrisy ; because it 
 is an essentially vain and delusive idea. The 
 ^ Calvin's Conimentary on 1 Corinthians. 
 
254 The Purity of the Church. 
 
 worst effect of visionary theories is not their fail- 
 ure, but the false state of feeling to which they 
 lead. When men come to believe in things which 
 are no better than idle dreams, and to make these 
 the object of their efforts, the result is that they 
 :are brought under the influence of fictitious senti- 
 ments. They live in an unreal world ; and thus 
 their whole nature acquires a character of unreal- 
 ity. Therefore it is that those, who set them- 
 selves to form a religious communion which is to 
 be superior to the errors and imperfections of 
 ordinary humanity, naturally fall under the power 
 of a delusive self-exaltation and hypocrisy. The 
 view which they try to work out is untrue, and 
 they become themselves infected with its untruth. 
 When we endeavour to carry out a standard of 
 sanctity in the actual conditions of life, which 
 these conditions render utterly impossible, the 
 certain consequence is spiritual deterioration. We 
 can persuade ourselves that such a high standard 
 is attained only by self-deception. Hence the 
 truth of Calvin's graphic description, when he re- 
 presents the man, with an extravagant idea of the 
 purity which should be found in the Cluirch, ar- 
 riving at last at a state of solitary self-glorifica- 
 
Tlie PuHty of the Church. 255 
 
 tion, or " setting up a peculiar sect in company 
 with a few hypocrites." Such instances have 
 been abundantly common in Christian history — 
 instances in which the separatist, filled with the 
 chimerical fancy of establishing a perfect Church 
 of Christ on earth, only succeeds in fostering de- 
 lusion and pretence. 
 
 And not only does the attempt to bring about connection 
 
 *' ^ " of excessive 
 
 a condition of absolute purity in the Church lead h^cn^y.^ 
 to the existence of hypocrisy by the unreal 
 standard of human conduct which it sets up, but 
 it also produces the same effect in another way. 
 For the enforcement of over-rigid ideas of re- 
 ligion, with which an extravagant view of eccle- 
 siastical sanctity is necessarily accompanied, 
 always produces falseness of feeling and life. 
 When, under the profession of religious strictness, 
 men oppose and despise those usages and enjoy- 
 ments which are in themselves harmless, there 
 may be the most perfect sincerity in many 
 instances, but in many other cases it is far 
 otherwise. Excessive rigour has a natural kin- 
 ship to hypocrisy. The minute precision, which 
 assigns importance to the least form ; the severity 
 of manner, which is a perpetual condemnation of 
 
256 The Purity of the Church. 
 
 human pleasure; and the stringency, which lets 
 no fault of others, however trifling, escape its 
 reproach ; afford a congenial style of character 
 for the dissembler to cultivate. While he thus 
 appears to be zealous for religion, it is not a 
 zeal which costs him the sacrifice of any vice, or 
 the performance of any real virtue. The austerity 
 he manifests is quite reconcilable with the indul- 
 gence of the worst spiritual faults, such as malice 
 and pride ; while it is also compatible with the 
 secret practice of immorality. Indeed, the very 
 scrupulousness which is characteristic of a system 
 of excessive rigour is itself peculiarly fatal to 
 moral purity and truth ; for the scruples of the 
 rigorist are commonly about what is of least 
 importance. It is in reference to the " mint, and 
 anise, and cummin," that he is particular ; while 
 the great matters of the law are overlooked by 
 him. Little points and trifling distinctions usurp 
 the attention that should be bestowed on the per- 
 formance of the essential obligations of religion. 
 And thus the application of a too rigid idea to 
 the state of the Christian Church ends in its 
 corruption and decay. The effort to impose on 
 it conditions of purity which are impracticable 
 
The Purity oj the Church. 257 
 
 leads to its sinkino- into impurity. It becomes a J^or^f^c-' 
 scene, not of moral perfection, but of moral de- niustnitU' 
 
 by the ciise 
 
 cadence. So it was in the history of the f^^^^^ ^^^'■'■ 
 Puritans, for example. It is thus that the 
 historian describes the ultimate stage *in the 
 course of events, which marked the downfall 
 of that system of religious rigour. " What were 
 then considered as the signs of real godliness : 
 the sad-coloured dress, the sour look, the straight 
 hair, the speech interspersed with quaint texts, 
 the Sunday gloomy as a Pharisaical Sabbath, 
 were easily imitated by men to whom all relig- 
 ions were the same. The sincere Puritans soon 
 found themselves lost in a multitude, not merely 
 of men of the world, but of the very worst sort 
 of men of the world. For the most notorious 
 libertine, who had fought under the royal stan- 
 dard, might justly be thought virtuous compared 
 with some of those who, while they talked about 
 sweet experiences and comfortable scriptures, 
 lived in the constant practice of fraud, rapacity, 
 and secret debauchery. The people, with a 
 rashness which we may justly lament, but at 
 which we cannot wonder, formed their estimate 
 of the whole body from these liypocrites. The 
 
 R 
 
258 The Purity oj the Church. 
 
 theology, the manners, the dialect of the Puritans 
 were thus associated in the public inind with the 
 darkest and meanest vices. A general outcry 
 against Puritanism rose from every corner of the 
 kingdom, and was often swollen by the voices of 
 those very dissemblers, whose villainy had brought 
 disgrace on the Puritan name." ^ 
 
 pre^Sis^ It thus appears from our consideration of this 
 subject that, though it is so often thought that the 
 Church of Christ can be brought into a state of 
 purity by means of disciplinary measures, such a 
 view is far from being correct. The divine 
 wisdom of the principle laid down by Christ, 
 " Let the wheat and the tares grow together until 
 the harvest," has been fully proved by the facts 
 of Christian history. The experiments which 
 have been made in the direction of producing a 
 faultless condition of the Church have only 
 resulted in manifesting the truth of the rule 
 implied in Christ's words. Instead of greater 
 ])urity arising from those endeavours which have 
 been made to extirpate error and sin from the 
 communion of Christians, their effect has been 
 
 * Lord Macaulay's History of England, cliaj). ii. 
 
Tlie Purity of the Church. 259 
 
 favourable in many instances to hypocrisy and 
 moral declension. 
 
 The true use of discipline, on the other hand, 
 consists, we have endeavoured to show, in its 
 limitation to those instances in which evil is so 
 flagrant, and its bad consequences so manifest, 
 tliat to pass it over without correction would 
 endanger the order of a Christian communion. 
 But to do more than this is, we have argued, 
 certain to result in harm. To presume to sit in 
 judgment on the motives and the spiritual state 
 of men, and to drag into the light men's private 
 actions, in place of being conducive to ecclesias- 
 tical purity, is entirely adverse to it. Unless 
 liberty is allowed for the exercise of the 
 conscience, and for the operation of a sense of 
 personal responsibility, there cannot, we have 
 maintained, be liealthy spiritual life in a Church. 
 
 And, while the teachino^ of Christ sustains Aiwstoii$: 
 
 " view of the 
 
 this view, it is not less plainly the view on whicli ^"^J®*"*- 
 the Apostles acted. The instance which chietly 
 exemplifies the apostolic judgment on the subject 
 is that of the Corinthian Church. Althouoli 
 that community of believers had become infected 
 with evils of a very serious kind ; although the 
 
260 The Purity of the Church. 
 
 prevalence of party strife, the introduction of 
 irregularities into the mode of celebrating the 
 Lord's Supper, and certain abuses which had 
 come to be common in connection with the 
 exercise of spiritual gifts, were blots on its Chris- 
 tian character; St. Paul does not hesitate to 
 apply to it the epithet, " Church of God." ^ Nay, 
 he describes it as consisting of "them that are 
 sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints." - 
 It is plain, therefore, that he was very far from 
 entertaining the visionary idea of the Church of 
 Christ, which regards it as a society exempt from 
 the common defects of human nature. This, 
 however, is not all that the example of St. Paul 
 in the case of the Corinthian Church illustrates 
 in reference to the subject of ecclesiastical purity. 
 For there was in the Christian community at 
 Corinth a case which demanded, according to the 
 Apostle's view, the exercise of decisive discipline ; 
 and he consequently directed that the offender 
 should be excluded from the communion of the 
 Church. But the case which he thus dealt with 
 was of the most heinous character; it was so 
 peculiarly flagrant as to be unknown, he tells us, 
 1 1 Cor. i. 2. 2 Id. 
 
The Purity of the Church. 2G 1 
 
 " even among the Gentiles." ^ And, when the 
 culprit afterwards evinced a penitent spirit, the 
 Apostle was not less anxious for his restoration 
 than he had previously been decided on the 
 necessity of his exclusion * 
 
 We have thus, in St. Paul's treatment of the 
 circumstances of the Corinthian Church, a clear 
 illustration of the position he assumed in re- 
 ference to the general subject of the purity of 
 the Church, and also of his judgment as to the 
 application of discipline. In relation to tlie 
 first point, his attitude is that of one who was 
 ready to recognize in an exceedingly imperfect 
 communion, a communion marred by many grave 
 faults, a " Church of God," a society of the "sanc- 
 tified in Christ Jesus." In relation to tlie 
 second, he plainly shows that lie considered that 
 the administration of measures of severity should 
 be reserved to such cases as are exceptional in 
 their heinousness and notoriety. 
 
 Unhappily the wisdom which characterizes the ^'»due 
 
 ■^ ^ •' stringency 
 
 teaching of the New Testament in this respect has, Jg-Iinstfe^v 
 
 ■wlien it 
 
 as we have seen, largely failed to distinguish the "» ^^^e as 
 ecclesiastical history of succeeding ages. Never- 
 1 1 Cor. V. 1. 2 2 Cor. ii. 6-8. 
 
 even 
 wlien it was 
 
262 The PuHty of the Church. 
 
 theless, even in periods when a mistaken rigour 
 was much more the rule than it has ever been in 
 modern times, there were not wanting those wlio 
 gave utterance to sentiments adverse to the at- 
 tempt to keep men right by a stern discipline, 
 and who advocated the use of other methods as 
 being alone in accordance with the Gospel. Thus, 
 shortly after tlie Reformation, there w^as one whose 
 testimony was forcibly raised against the undue 
 stringency which he believed the Eeformed 
 Church was using in reference to the conditions 
 of communion. His theory of discipline, in- 
 deed, is untenable, and is now hardly, if 
 at all, maintained ; while many of the argu- 
 ments which he adduced in its support will not 
 bear examination.^ He gave expression, at the 
 
 ^ An Examination of that Most Grave Question whether 
 Excommunication, or the Debarring from the Sacraments 
 of Professing Cliristiana because of their Sins, be a Divuie 
 Ordinance or a Human Invention, by the renowned Tliomas 
 Erastus, Doctor of Medicine. 1659. Erastus, whose work 
 on excommunication is thus described in the title of the old 
 English translation of the above date, flourished a century 
 previously, 1524-1583. He denied that the Church had 
 any right to excommunicate offenders, and maintained 
 that, where offences are committed by members of tlie 
 Church, they fall to be })unished by the civil power. Be- 
 cause he advocated the intervention of the civil magistrate 
 
The Purity of the Church. 263 
 
 same time, to man}' things which are just and 
 striking, on the subject of endeavouring to keep 
 the Church of Christ pure by extreme strictness. 
 He refers thus to Christ's own example as being 
 against the limitation of the privileges of a 
 Church to a select circle — "Christ Himself entered 
 always into the same temple witli Pharisees, with 
 Sadducees, with publicans and all others, bad and 
 good alike; He assisted at the same sacrifices with 
 them ; He used the same sacraments of which the 
 whole Jewish community partook ; and also He 
 
 to deal with ecclesiastical offences, his name has been 
 handed down in the sinister epithets "Erastian" and 
 " Erastianism." Though his theory is indefensible, he 
 deserves to be remembered in a very different way. The 
 extracts from his Theses given above show him to have 
 been not less humane in his views of discipline than he was, 
 by the admission of some of his distinguished contem- 
 poraries, learned and upright. So far from desiring to 
 reduce the Church into bondage to the civil power, it is 
 evident from his Theses that he wished, by bringing in 
 the civil power, to deliver members of the Church from 
 ecclesiastical tyranny. He says that tlie Reformed clergy 
 of his own times were going to prove as despotic as the 
 Pope. (Thesis 72.) He plainly thought that the civil 
 magistrate would be a more merciful administrator of 
 punishment than the clergy. The above extracts are 
 from the Theses of Erastus, translated from the Latin by 
 Dr. Robert Lee, Edinburgh. 
 
264. The Purity of the Church. 
 
 received from John the Baptist the same baptism 
 which was administered to all those nefarious 
 characters mentioned in the Gospel history. For 
 the same reason Christ did not hinder Judas who 
 betrayed Him from eating the last paschal lamb, 
 but he sat down with the other eleven disciples."^ 
 In answer to the argument that an offender should* 
 be prevented from receiving the sacraments on the 
 ground that he may return to his sinful life, he 
 says — "Whether such a man shall persevere hi 
 his holy resolution, and how long, God knows. 
 It is ours always to hope the best regarding all 
 men, even though we should be often deceived, 
 and also from the heart to beseech God to establish 
 both them and ourselves in what is good."^ He 
 makes the observation — " If men are deprived of 
 the invitation to the sacraments, they will never 
 grow better, but always worse."^ In reference to 
 the officebearers of a Church taking on them the 
 function of separating the good from the bad, he 
 says — " The Apostle Paul, speaking of celebrating 
 the communion, does not appoint that we should 
 examine one another, and ascertain whether some 
 one may not be there who might defile us, but 
 1 Theses of Erastus, 27, 28. 2 id. 37. 3 jd. 66. 
 
The Purity of the Church. 265 
 
 this is his command, * Let every man examine, not 
 others, but liimself.' "^ " Wlio but God," lie 
 further remarks, "is the judge of men's hearts? 
 It may happen that some spark may be kindled 
 by the public preaching, which it may be not at 
 all useless, but rather most beneficial, to cherish 
 by every means not inconsistent with piety. And 
 tell me, I pray, how can it be otherwise than 
 absurd, and therefore impious, to debar from a 
 solemn thanksgiving and commemoration of the 
 death of the Lord a person who declares that he 
 feels his heart prompts him so to do? — that he 
 desires with the Church to celebrate that death 
 and to be a member of the Church, and, finally, 
 that he wishes to testify that he disapproves his 
 past life."^ 
 
 The spirit expressed in these statements repre- tJ^c '"^ij^j-^^ 
 sents with far greater truth the proper attitude thrciu"ch! 
 of Christianity with reference to human error 
 and sinfulness than does the opinion that they 
 are to be remedied by the enforcement of strin- 
 gent measures. While corrective means are not 
 without their use in relation to the evil that 
 exists in the Church, the most powerful agency 
 ^ Theses of Erastus, 67. 2 1^. 75. 
 
200 The Purity of the Church. 
 
 for its removal is only to be found in far other 
 influences — in the power of Christian teaching, 
 and in the realization of Christ's sacrifice and 
 example. The ministry of our Lord Himself 
 exhibits the power which belongs to the mode 
 of treating human nature that is based on sym- 
 pathy and mercy. His entire work of teaching, 
 and awakening, and converting proceeded upon 
 the fact that these ends are to be accomplished 
 mainly by the use of persuasion, and by the 
 manifestation of love. His power in raising the 
 fallen depended on this method of dealing with 
 man. He restored the sinful to new hope and 
 life by receiving them freely to His presence and 
 His friendship. He strengthened those who 
 were deficient in moral courage, and lacking in 
 faithfulness, by the pity He showed to them in 
 their infirmities. Those whom Christ addressed 
 in terms of severe rebuke, and whom He con- 
 demned witli unsparing plainness, were such as 
 judged witli self-righteous arrogance regarding 
 others, and who maintained an appearance of 
 strictness, which their lives belied. He de- 
 nounced their spirit and life as being false 
 and bad. But, on the other hand, the pub- 
 
Tltc Pninty of the Church. 'l<u 
 
 licans and sinners rejoiced in His word. ll 
 is in Ibllowing the example of Clirist that the 
 Church is alone likely to fulfil its true mission 
 to tlie world, — -.in seeking to reclaim tlie offender, 
 and to build up tlie faithful, by methods of for- 
 bearance and sympathy, rather than of rigour. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
" There is nothing which is not some way excelled even by 
 that which it doth excel." — Hookek. 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 We propose to state in this concluding chapter 
 some general results to which the preceding dis- 
 cussions lead. 
 
 Prominent . among the features which they sSjectroften 
 illustrate is the fact referred to in the Preface, theoretically. 
 that ecclesiastical subjects have been dealt with, 
 to a large extent, on grounds of mere theory, 
 instead of being judged of in accordance with 
 human nature and human experience. This is an 
 error not infrequently committed also in reference 
 to the ordinary problems of social life. Ideas, 
 imposing and attractive, but inconsistent with the 
 actual conditions of the world, are often pro- 
 pounded for the removal of the evils of society, 
 and the adjustment of its affairs. It is always 
 found, however, that when these ideas are trans- 
 
272 Conclusion. 
 
 lated from the region of the abstract mto the 
 actiial experience of life, they do not at all ac- 
 complish what was expected from them — that, in 
 many instances, they are productive of serious 
 evil. The reason is, that the actual conditions of 
 existence are so different from what any merely 
 theoretic system can provide for, that human 
 concerns do not admit of being regulated in this 
 way. They require, on the contrary, to be treated 
 mainly by practical methods. Considerations of 
 expediency, and a careful regard to varymg cir- 
 cumstances, are the elements which must chiefly 
 be applied to the determination of the questions 
 involved in the common affairs of the world. 
 
 Now, while the mistake of applying merely 
 theoretic views to the problems of human con- 
 duct is one that has been common in the sphere 
 of ordinary social life, and has there led to not a 
 few evils, it is a mistake which has been specially 
 prevalent in regard to church questions. The 
 ecclesiastic very often proclaims a certain idea as 
 being alone true, and demands that that shall be 
 adopted universally. Whether his idea is wisely 
 adapted to existing necessities, whether it can be 
 carried out with the best results, whether, indeed, 
 
Conclusion. 273 
 
 it can practically be carried out at all, are con- 
 siderations which are apt to be lost sight of. He 
 maintains his ecclesiastical notions at all hazards. 
 He sees nothing outside them that will be suc- 
 cessful in fulfilling the divine will. His \dew is, 
 not that ecclesiastical subjects are to be regarded 
 in the light of their suitableness to the spiritual 
 need of particular men, or of a particular time ; 
 nor yet that the cTiief thing is that a Church 
 should hold and teach the truth ; but that his 
 own system should be upheld. He is not pre- 
 pared to accommodate matters of polity to the 
 various circumstances and desires of men, but 
 expects that men will comply with what he 
 regards as the only tenable form of polity. 
 
 This tendency to carry merely abstract ideas This ten- 
 
 *' ./ ^ dency to 
 
 into the consideration of matters relating to the OTetic^ ideas 
 
 illustrated 
 
 Church, instead of being oruided by a regard to by opinions 
 
 ' O to ^ o regarding 
 
 the facts of actual experience, is exemplified in theCh'il^ch.^ 
 much of the ecclesiastical opinion which has been 
 touched upon in the preceding pages ; and the 
 evil consequences arising from it are also illus- 
 trated by many of the facts which have been 
 stated. Thus we have seen that, by the adoption 
 of a theory of purity in relation to the Christian 
 
274 Conclusion. 
 
 Church, without due consideration of the existing 
 condition of human nature, many and serious 
 abuses have been created. Nothing, it is true, 
 can present a more inviting subject of specula- 
 tion to the religious mind than to picture to it- 
 self the Church of Christ as a perfectly holy com- 
 munion — a communion free from error, and from 
 moral stain. But it is theory, not fact; it is 
 the ideal, not the actual, condition of the Church. 
 And, therefore, when, as has often been done, this 
 abstract conception of the Church has been at- 
 tempted to be realized in its present state, the 
 result has been to lead to mistakes and evils of 
 the most serious kind. 
 ^ew often^ ^^ councction also with another subject which 
 
 held in re- . « t /- 1 • • 
 
 gardtothe wc havc discussed — the unity of the Christian- 
 
 unity of the "^ 
 
 Church. Church — there is a not less forcible example of 
 an idea being prevalently accepted, wliich is 
 entirely without foundation in liuman experience. 
 For the view of Christian unity which is so 
 commonly held — that all believers in Christ 
 should hold precisely the same belief, and observe 
 the same forms of worship, and belong to the 
 same external religious society, and that any ex- 
 ception to uniformity in these respects is due to 
 
Conclusion. 275 
 
 their sinfulness — is a view which proceeds on an 
 absolute disregard of the acknowledged facts of 
 our nature. In no sphere of thought and life, 
 in which men act freely, was there ever such 
 unity. The only oneness which is expected in 
 national existence, and in the relations of the 
 world at large, is such as is attended with many 
 and great diversities. The truth is recognized in 
 political society, and in the everyday concerns of 
 life, that differences of sentiment and action must 
 be allowed for as a necessary condition of human 
 fellowship. Nay, it is fully admitted, in refer- 
 ence to the ordinary social relations of the world, 
 that those diversities of opinion and temperament 
 which lead men to take different sides are, upon 
 the whole, a source of good — that they tend to 
 maintain the interests of truth by preventing 
 narrow and partial conclusions. And yet, in 
 spite of this indubitable testimony of facts, the 
 idea is still very extensively held that there 
 ought to be no differences of view among Chris- 
 tians; that, to use a familiar expression, they 
 should " see eye to eye"; and that the bond which 
 should connect them ought to be that of absolute 
 identity of faith and absolute sameness of polity 
 
276 Conclusion. 
 
 and form. Now, what are the necessary con- 
 sequences of attempting to carry out a notion of 
 religious unity so opposed to the facts of human 
 nature ? Like all endeavours to bring men into 
 conformity with a visionary standard, it has led 
 to great evil. The dogma of an absolute literal 
 unity of the Church, is what has constituted the 
 animating principle of intolerance in all its various 
 forms. It is in pursuance of this belief that 
 forcible efforts have been resorted to to suppress 
 variations of religious opinion. It is this view 
 which Hes at the root of ecclesiastical bigotry and 
 exclusiveness. Let it be admitted that the bond 
 which unites men in a common Christianity is, 
 like that which connects them in other relations, 
 one which allows freedom for the existence of 
 varieties of thought and form, and a principle is 
 then recognized which renders a wide religious 
 accord practicable. But, on the other hand, the 
 idea of Christian unity which regards it as 
 equivalent to a state of absolute external agree- 
 ment is fraught with all the evils of endless in- 
 tolerance and contention. 
 Further Nor is thsre a less striking proof of the evils of 
 
 illustrated ° ^ 
 
 eJferij^'u-* a merely theoretic view of ecclesiastical subjects in 
 
Conclusion. 277 
 
 those claims to exclusive divine right which, as ^ai claims 
 
 ° ' of church 
 
 we have seen, have been so often and so zealously ^*^^®^' 
 advanced by contending ecclesiastical parties. 
 Nothing could show more forcibly the extent to 
 which men will go in imagining that they have 
 discovered conclusive evidence for what is only a 
 visionary prepossession than do the claims which 
 have thus been urged in support of the various 
 modes of church government. Wliat a humorous 
 writer has said in regard to preaching — that, when 
 the preacher has made up his mind what to say, 
 any text will serve his purpose — may with truth 
 be applied to the kind of evidence which is apt to 
 satisfy men who have made up their minds to 
 believe in the sole divine authority of a certain 
 church-system. We have pointed out, in our re- 
 marks on the relation of Scripture to ecclesiasti- 
 cal subjects, that the most extraordinary interpre- 
 tations of the Sacred Volume have been resorted to 
 by those who have tried to deduce from its pages 
 an express sanction for their respective forms of 
 ecclesiastical polity. The result has been that 
 Presbyterianism has been traced back to the giving 
 of the law from Mount Sinai, while it has been 
 made out that Episcopacy dates from the age of 
 
278 Conclusion. 
 
 Adam. The truth is that a certain theory of 
 church government was, first of all, assumed as 
 true by those who made such discoveries in 
 Scripture, and texts were afterwards found 
 which appeared to them to sustain it. And 
 the view of those who advocate lofty eccle- 
 siastical claims on the ground, not of alleged 
 warrant for their particular form of polity in 
 Scripture, but of alleged unbroken succession in 
 the transmission of orders from the Apostles, 
 really exemplifies, it appears to us, the same 
 process of first embracing a theory, and then 
 adopting a certain line of proof in support of it. 
 For it is difficult to believe that any one would 
 advance such a chimerical argument in favour of 
 the divine right of a Church as the assertion of 
 the extremely doubtful doctrine of the derivation 
 of its orders from the Apostles ; just as it is 
 difficult to believe that any one would call in the 
 history of the Adamic age and the law of Moses 
 as evidence to the same effect ; were there not a 
 preconceived opinion to maintain.^ 
 
 ^ " What is the degree of satisfactory assurance afforded 
 to scrupulous consciences by tlie doctrine of apostohc 
 succession ? If a man consider it as highly probable that 
 the particular minister at whose hands he receives the 
 
Conclusion. 279 
 
 And, while the foundation on which the ex- Theoretic 
 
 character of 
 
 travagant claims of competing church-systems are Sf vSws^' 
 
 further 
 
 based is of such a theoretic character, the as- siiown by 
 
 the vision- 
 
 pirations which are entertained by those who Sa?on*' 
 
 nected with 
 
 advocate them are not less so. It is not un- them. 
 common to find the champion of an ecclesiastical 
 
 sacred ordinances is really apoatolically descended, this is the 
 very utmost point to which he can attain, and the more he 
 reflects and enquires the more cause for hesitation he will 
 find. There is not a minister in all Christendom who is 
 able to trace up with any approach to certainty his own 
 spiritual pedigree. . . . Let anyone proceed on the hypo- 
 thesis that there are, suppose, but a hundred links connec- 
 ting any particular minister with the Apostles, and let him 
 suppose that not above half of this number pass through 
 such periods as admit of any possible irregularity, and then 
 placing at the lowest estimate the probability of defective- 
 ness in respect of each of the remaining fifty, taken 
 separately, let him consider what amount of proba- 
 bility will result from the multiplying of the whole to- 
 gether. The ultimate consequence must be that any one 
 who sincerely believes that his claim to the benefits of the 
 Gospel covenant depends on his own minister's claim to the 
 supposed sacramental virtue of true ordination, and this 
 again on perfect apostolical succession, must be involved, 
 in proportion as he reads, and enquires, and reflects, and 
 reasons on the subject, in the most distressing doubt and 
 perplexity. It is no wonder that the advocates of this 
 theory studiously disparage reasoning, deprecate all 
 exercise of the mind in reflection, and decry appeals to 
 evidence." Archbishop Whately's Kingdom of Christ, 
 p. 175. 
 
280 Conclusion, 
 
 party urging its exclusive right to be considered 
 as the Church of Christ, and proclaiming what 
 amounts to an assertion of its being the sole 
 refuge and home of such light and grace as exist 
 in this world. But what, according to this view, 
 is to become of the rest of mankind ? How, 
 in this case, are the blessings of Christianity 
 to be extended to the human race in general ? 
 The conclusion obviously is, that all Christian 
 people who are of a different way of thinking 
 from those who form the ecclesiastical party in 
 question are to surrender their own views and 
 become converts to the beliefs and religious forms 
 of this particular body. No idea could well be 
 more absurdly visionary. It involves oblivion of 
 all the real conditions with which the Church of 
 Christ has to deal — oblivion of the diversified 
 needs of the world, and of the variety which must 
 of necessity characterize the development of living 
 religion. So that, though a Christian society may 
 be wisely constituted and traditionally venerable, 
 though it may be able justly to claim for itself a 
 great deal that entitles it to honour, there can be 
 no greater mistake than for it to claim that men 
 must come within its fold if they would have the 
 
Conclusion. 281 
 
 blessings of salvation. It is, in point of fact, but 
 another instance of the extent to which men are 
 apt to be misled by mere dreams. It contem- 
 plates an .event which will never happen. 
 Human nature is too diversely constituted ever 
 to submit to the demand that it shall lay aside 
 its individual beliefs, and accept the alleged au- 
 thority of any one religious body. 
 
 From the instances which we have thus stated '^^ ^% ^ 
 
 standard by 
 
 it is apparent that purely theoretical ideas have liasticar ^ 
 
 matters 
 
 largely influenced the treatment of church-ques- J^°^^t^ 
 
 tions. What, on the other hand, has been mainly and experi- 
 ence. 
 urged in the preceding discussions on subjects re- 
 lating to the Church is the adoption of different 
 ground. The principle which it has been sought 
 to apply is that ecclesiastical matters should be 
 regarded rather from the side of human feeling 
 and human wants. It seems to be quite as great 
 a mistake, and to be productive of quite as mis- 
 chievous consequences, to endeavour to adjust the 
 problems of the Church by merely abstract notions 
 as it is to settle the affairs of human life in general 
 by the same means. The true ground of judg- 
 ment in regard to the former, as in regard to the 
 latter, appears to be the consideration of what is 
 
282 Conclusion. 
 
 most for the promotion of the good of men. 
 Whether a church system is Episcopal, or Presby- 
 terian, or Independent, or of some other type, is 
 altogether a smaller question than whether, in 
 the circumstances, it is well suited to advance 
 the great ends of religion. What our Lord said 
 of the Sabbath to those who advocated an im- 
 possible idea of Sabbath-keeping may with truth 
 be applied to the Church — ecclesiastical institu- 
 tions were made for man, and not man for them. 
 And, therefore, the chief thing is, are they practi- 
 cally wise and good ? do they efficiently fulfil 
 their object in making men better ? That appears 
 to be a matter of infinitely more concern than 
 what the particular mode of church government 
 or system of ritual may be. 
 Objection By thosc who reo-ard ecclesiastical subjects from 
 
 stated to J Q J 
 
 this view. ^YiQ other point of view this principle of dealing 
 with them has been objected to on the ground that 
 it advocates, or at least encourages, a feeling of m- 
 diff'erence with respect to them. That, however, 
 is not by any means a just opinion. It does not 
 follow, because a man has no faith in the lofty 
 assertions which are made by the ecclesiastical 
 partisan in behalf of his Church, that he has there- 
 
Conclusion. 283 
 
 fore no decided convictions of his own on the 
 subject. He may believe that it is not an 
 essential point what mode of church-order men 
 embrace ; and yet, at the same time, he may 
 entertain an unequivocal preference for one ec- 
 clesiastical system rather than others. The 
 exercise of special predilections in this respect 
 is a different thing from bigotry. And it seems 
 unquestionable that those feelings of partiality 
 which men have for the Christian communion 
 to which they belong, and for the forms of wor- 
 ship which they observe, are, within reasonable 
 limits, beneficial. While, to a certain extent, 
 they circumscribe Christian action, they give to 
 it greater practical effect. The energies of human 
 nature are never so strongly developed as when they 
 are exercised within definite lines. And hence we 
 think it may be truly held that those sectional dis- 
 tinctions which exist in the ecclesiastical world, al- 
 though they have been accompanied with many 
 evils, represent also an element of good. The in- 
 dividuality which is given to religious thought 
 and effort by their limitation to certain channels 
 is a source of benefit. Were the characteristic 
 features which distin^juish one section of Christians 
 
tCJTl. 
 
 284 Conclusion. 
 
 from another to be obliterated, the effect would not 
 be to enrich religion as a whole, but to make it 
 poorer. Therefore we are very far from arguing 
 in support of an indifferentism that would 
 decry all predilections in favour of one ecclesias- 
 tical form or other. We argue only against the 
 error of erecting one's own partialities into a law 
 for everyone. 
 Noperfec- ^^d it shouM also bc remembered that not 
 
 tioii ui any 
 
 asticS'^sysV Only is tlic individuality which is given to re- 
 ligion by the existence of the distinctive forms 
 of Christian life and thought an important good," 
 but the very maintenance of truth is dependent 
 on spiritual contrasts. It is not in any one type 
 of opinion that the fulness of truth exists. It 
 is rather in the blending of different, and even 
 opposing, modes of thouglit. The profound ob- 
 servation of Hooker, which we have prefixed to 
 this chapter, that " there is nothing which is not 
 some way excelled even by that which it dotli 
 excel," expresses the principle by which alone we 
 can attain to just conceptions of truth. There is 
 no perfection of excellence in any system. If 
 one system has its special merits as compared 
 with another, it has also its defects. Truth and 
 
Conclusion. 285 
 
 wisdom are not monopolized by any party. The 
 bearing of this fact ecclesiastically is evident. It 
 points to the existence of diversities of ecclesias- 
 tical type as having its use in leading to right 
 opinion ; inasmuch as it serves to bring into view 
 those opposing elements of thought which are 
 necessary to sound ideas. There is nothing 
 more common than for an ecclesiastical society 
 to be extolled by its partisans as combining in 
 itself every imaginable excellence. They would 
 have us believe that its efficiency is complete. 
 But the truth is, that the very qualities which 
 render an institution effective for certain ends 
 are often its greatest danger; because they are 
 liable to be carried to an excess, that makes 
 them a source of evil. Thus take as an illus- 
 tration the case of government by prelacy, as 
 compared with that of those churches in which 
 government is vested more or less in the people. 
 There can be no doubt that, in the former in- 
 stance, grave difficulties and disadvantages are 
 avoided by the governing power not being in 
 the hands of the many ; but, at the same time, 
 history conclusively proves that this, which is 
 the very strength of the system, is also a source 
 
286 Conclusion. 
 
 of most serious peril ; for it is apt to lead, by 
 an undue separation of the clergy from the 
 people, to sacerdotalism. On the other hand, 
 the admission of the popular element to the 
 control of ecclesiastical affairs, while it removes 
 in a great degree the risk of superstitious views 
 of the clerical order and their functions, is not 
 free from dangers of its own ; it is liable to 
 be attended at times by the fanaticism, which 
 readily arises where the multitude have power. 
 So it is that any system of church-polity, how- 
 ever great its merits, has its special elements of 
 imperfection. The principles which it embodies 
 easily admit of being developed so extravagantly 
 as to lead to false results. And it is to the in- 
 fluence of contrasting views — to the counter- 
 balance of opinion produced by various and 
 opposing ideas — that we have, in great measure, 
 to look for the correction of this tendency to 
 extremes. 
 
 Hence we have endeavoured to point out, in 
 treating of the subject of the unity of the Church, 
 that the existence of a diversity of ecclesiastical 
 bodies cannot justly be regarded as by any means 
 the unmitigated evil that many esteem it; and 
 
Conclusion. 287 
 
 that the fusion of all the various sections of 
 Christians into one communion would not, even 
 if practicable, be necessarily the blessing which 
 it is so often supposed to be. In reference to 
 religion, as in reference to all subjects, divergence 
 of sentiment is a condition of living thought. 
 The division of men into parties, with contrary 
 views of things, is not only universal in regard 
 to what awakens profound interest, but it is also a 
 source of ultimate advantage to the cause of truth. 
 
 But this line of remark necessarily leads fur- a church 
 
 •^ should be 
 
 ther. If diversity of opinion is thus inevitable shrT?fdif°" 
 
 ferences of 
 
 as a condition of religious life, a Church must lay thought, 
 its account with this fact, if it would occupy a 
 position of stability, and of wide usefulness. It 
 is the quaint saying of an English bishop of 
 former days that, if a Church be set on too 
 narrow a basis, it will stand only as a boy's 
 top stands when set on its sharp point — that 
 is, so long as it is kept up by violent effort ; 
 but, on the other hand, if resting on a broad 
 basis, it will stand of itself^ There is much 
 
 ^Wilkins, Bishop of Chester, who was well known 
 in the seventeenth century, on account not only of his 
 talents and learning, but also his advocacy of liberal 
 church views. 
 
288 Conclusion. 
 
 truth in this homely aphorism. Small and 
 sectarian views are not lastingly strong. They 
 owe their power to the zeal of the few, or to the 
 peculiar circumstances of the time. They do not 
 appeal to those general principles which are the 
 permanent convictions of the human mind. And 
 therefore a system which is founded on narrow 
 ideas requires, while it exists, the application of 
 continual exertion to sustain it ; and eventually 
 it must either essentially change, or perish. It 
 is needful, then, that a Church should be com- 
 prehensive of varieties of thought, if it is to hold 
 a place of wide and lasting religious influence. 
 We fully admit, indeed, the necessity to an 
 ecclesiastical body, as to any other society, of 
 such disciplinary power as will enable it to 
 protect itself from disorder. We admit that 
 the exercise of such power may become abso- 
 lutely necessary in regard to matters of opinion 
 — that the danger to the well-being, and even 
 the existence, of a Church, arising from unwar- 
 ranted doctrines, may be so great as to require 
 the employment of the authority possessed by 
 it for its own conservation. But we have tried 
 to show, in a previous chapter, that the Pro- 
 
Conclusion. 
 
 testant view of creeds is not consistent with the 
 despotic stringency that will allow no difference 
 of religious sentiment. The creeds of Protest- 
 antism expressly disclaim all title to be regarded 
 as perfect or infallible, and they refer to the 
 vScriptures as the sole standard of belief. A 
 priesthood which lays claim to infallibility holds 
 its articles of faith to be, in every statement and 
 syllable, absolutely true and divine. A religious 
 society which discards all pretensions to the in- 
 fallible accuracy of its articles, and avows their 
 subordinateness to Scripture, occupies a different 
 position. The logical conclusion from its position 
 is, that it cannot consistently demand that the 
 agreement of its members shall be such as to 
 supersede all freedom, and therefore all diversity 
 of judgment. And thus, while the right of a 
 Church to preserve itself from disorder seems 
 unquestionable, it seems equally true and equally 
 important — judging from the Protestant point of 
 view — that there should be no such "lordship 
 over faith " ^ as seeks to suppress all deviations 
 from an absolutely rigid standard. It is in 
 maintaining liberty along with order that the 
 
 ^ 2 Cor. i. 24, Kev. Version. 
 T 
 
290 Conclusion. 
 
 strength of a Church, as of any other social body, 
 must in a great degree consist. The ecclesiastical 
 society may therefore be expected to be the 
 strongest and most enduring which embodies 
 this principle — which makes a wise allowance 
 for difference of views. 
 A Church ^nd the same thing holds in reference to 
 
 should also o 
 
 o'/f^^^*^ matters of polity and form as we have now re- 
 marked in regard to questions of belief. A Church 
 must have greater efiiciency and influence for 
 good, when it makes its religious forms com- 
 prehensive and varied enough to adapt them to 
 the manifoldness of Christian wants, than when 
 it is guided by one-sided traditions in this re- 
 spect. To attempt to confine Christian faith and 
 devotion within the bounds of a narrow unifor- 
 mity is to enfeeble them. They naturally require 
 wide and diversified modes of manifestation. And 
 therefore it is wise that there should be in a 
 Church no undue limitation as regards religious 
 forms. Thus take the question of liturgies. 
 That question has been endlessly debated on 
 grounds which involve the rightness or wrong- 
 ness of set forms of prayer on the one hand, 
 and of what is termed free prayer on the other. 
 
Conclusion. 291 
 
 It has been contended on each side that it, and 
 it alone, represents the lawful mode of worship 
 in the Christian Church. The supporters of each 
 view have brought forward copious evidence of 
 what they consider fatal objections to the opposite 
 practice. Now, the true conception of the matter 
 seems to be that the worship of the Christian 
 Church should combine both of these elements. 
 Both of them are expressive of spiritual neces- 
 sities. Each mode of prayer represents a natural 
 utterance of devotional feeling. Those wants that 
 are ever recurring, those intercessions which 
 should be made day by day, and those con- 
 fessions and thanksgivings which fall to be con- 
 tinually offered, find their appropriate expression 
 in the use of identical language. To hold that 
 each time we worship there should be an altera- 
 tion of the terms in which the common subjects 
 of prayer are referred to seems unreasonable and 
 out of place. On the other hand, there are occa- 
 sional and special themes which are frequently 
 suggested, suggested often with great force, to the 
 minds of a Christian congregation ; a set form of 
 worship cannot include them, and yet, unquestion- 
 ably, they should enter into the devotions of the 
 
292 Conclusion. 
 
 Church. So that unprescribed prayer — prayer that 
 originates in the circumstances of the time — 
 would appear to be a not less fitting element of 
 the services of the Christian Church than a 
 liturgy. In the union of the two there is a fuller 
 and richer provision for right worship than in 
 possessing the one without the other. ^ It may 
 be argued, indeed, that to permit liberty of 
 deviating from a set form of prayer is a pro- 
 vision liable to be attended with abuse. But it 
 has to be borne in mind that there is much less 
 probability of such a consequence arising from 
 the merely partial employment of this mode of 
 devotion than there is from its use where no 
 part of the public prayers is fixed. For, if those 
 who conduct divine worship are accustomed to 
 the use of a carefully-prepared and settled form, 
 the effect must be so to guide their perception 
 of what is fitting in devotional expression as to 
 save them in great measure from mistakes when 
 they are called upon to give utterance to prayer 
 in language of their own. 
 
 i"We have pointed out that Calvin and Knox both 
 adopted this principle (pp. 86, 132). It was probably the 
 intention of the Reformers generally tliat the two modes 
 of prayer should be combined in public worship. 
 
Conclusion, 293 
 
 The principle which thus applies in the case a measure 
 
 of liberty in 
 
 of liturgies is one that may be wisely acted on ^Jjjjf' 
 in regard generally to the external matters of a nece^Sry to 
 
 healthy ec- 
 
 Church, — the principle of maintaining as regards cie«asticai 
 these the freedom and variety, which are needful 
 to adapt them to the diversity of human wants. 
 Traditionalism is an evil which finds ready nutri- 
 ment in ecclesiastical soil. Forms and usages of 
 the most rigid narrowness are often adhered to 
 with obstinate zeal: not because they can be 
 justified on the ground of utility, but merely 
 because they belong to the past. Any proposal 
 to enlarge the limits of religious liberty in this 
 respect is frequently regarded with alarm. It is 
 imagined that, by departing from rigid sameness 
 of usage, a Church exposes itself to spiritual 
 dangers of the most serious kind. We have 
 sought, however, in what we have said in a 
 preceding chapter, to show that the element of 
 change must be taken into account as a con- 
 dition which is inevitable in connection with the 
 development of religious thought and feeling; 
 and that, moreover, when wisely introduced and 
 controlled, it exercises a beneficial influence. 
 The worst corruptions of religion have been 
 
294 Conclusion. 
 
 due, not to the introduction of alterations into 
 the life and ordinances of the Christian Church, 
 but to the absence of healthful reform. It is in 
 the quiescence of religion, rather than in its 
 changes, that error and spiritual declension have 
 their origin. And, of all arguments that can be 
 adduced against deviating from rigid tradition in 
 the observances of a Church, that which seems 
 most inconsistent is the danger of its leading to 
 superstition. Such is the argument of those who 
 believe that, by holding tenaciously and inflexibly 
 to a severely simple, and even meagre, type of 
 worship, we necessarily avoid the risk of falling 
 into errors and corruptions of devotion. We 
 have considered, in treating of sacerdotalism and 
 puritanism, the merits of this argument. We 
 have seen, as the result of comparing these two 
 extremes of opinion, that there is no such safety 
 from superstition in the maintenance of an 
 austere rigour in religious observances as its 
 advocates would have us suppose. What Bacon 
 remarked in the Puritan asceticism of his time, 
 — that there were the elements of superstition in 
 it quite as truly as in the ceremonial system 
 which it set itself to oppose — is still an im- 
 
Conclusion. 295 
 
 portant truth for the Christian Church. There 
 is superstition in extravagant strictness as regards 
 the external matters of religion, not less than in 
 an excessive indulgence of ceremonial tendencies. 
 The spiritual evil is the same in both cases. In 
 the one extreme, as well as in the other, matters 
 of mere form are magnified at the expense of 
 religious life. 
 
 In this brief recapitulation of some of the princi- Jj^^Ichurch 
 pal points embraced in former parts of this work, and work of 
 
 the world. 
 
 we have hitherto referred only to subjects which 
 belong to the internal nature and arrangements 
 of the Christian Church. Some remarks will 
 now be added on a topic, which has been also 
 already alluded to, and which enters as an 
 important element into ecclesiastical opinion, 
 namely, the relations of the Church to human 
 life in general, and to the affairs and duties 
 of the world. 
 
 We say that this subject forms an important '^^^^^^^^^ 
 element in the views which are entertained in 
 regard to church-matters : for the tone of ecclesi- 
 astical opinion largely depends on the idea that 
 is held of the place the Church is designed to 
 occupy in reference to ordinary human life. It 
 
296 Conclusion. 
 
 is, as we have seen in a previous chapter, a 
 prevalent belief that the ecclesiastical sphere and 
 that of the world are properly separate, and that 
 the things which belong to the former have a 
 character of higher sanctity than those pertaining 
 to the latter. Some examples also have been 
 given of the extent to which this belief has 
 impressed itself on common thought, by referring 
 to such distinctions as " sacred " and " secular," 
 " spiritual " and " civil," " divine " service and 
 "common" life. It is supposed by those who hold 
 this view that the Church occupies a religious 
 position superior to that of the everyday exist- 
 ence and engagements of man, — that within its 
 precincts there is a diviner atmosphere than is to 
 be found in the domain of ordinary activity. 
 Ecclesiastical offices, and times, and places, and 
 services are regarded as being on a higher level 
 than the concerns of daily life. The solemnities 
 of sacrament and pious ceremonial are looked on 
 as involving a loftier degree of sanctity than can 
 be attributed to the work of the world, 
 ration in-^" Now, this idea of the relation of the Church 
 ^thNew to the world and to ordinary human life is 
 
 Testament 
 
 teaching, radically untrue and unhealthy. It is altogether 
 
Conchmon. 297 
 
 opposed to the representations of Christ and the 
 New Testament writers. The view which they 
 give of religion is, that its highest manifestation 
 consists in the right discharge of our common 
 obligations. The province of human action to 
 which the New Testament assigns supreme im- 
 portance is not that of ritual, but that of practice. 
 Its idea of Christian service is not so much that 
 which is associated with a material sanctuary, 
 and set seasons and forms of worship, as " doing 
 all things in the name of the Lord Jesus." It 
 represents the whole of human life, and not 
 merely a section of it, as sacred. All times, all 
 places it regards as possessing a hallowed char- 
 acter to those who live as they ought. It is not 
 in the offerings presented in a temple made with 
 hands, and in acts of express devotion, that 
 Christ or the Apostles describe the essential 
 nature of Christianity as having its true expres- 
 sion ; but in the life of pure thoughts and holy 
 deeds. And the example of Jesus Christ him- 
 self, so far from having anything in common 
 with the merely ecclesiastical type of sainthood, 
 is the history of One who mingled in ordinary 
 human concerns, who performed His share in 
 
298 Conclusion. 
 
 the world's labour, and whose self-consecration 
 was exhibited in the sorrows and cares of daily 
 life. 
 The two The separation of the sphere of the Church 
 
 disastrous ^ ^ 
 
 severing the from that of the ordinary life of the world 
 
 Church from 
 
 ordinary opcratcs disastrouslv in two directions. In the 
 
 numan life. -•• «' 
 
 first place, it inevitably leads to a depreciation 
 of those everyday duties, which are by far the 
 most important, — those duties which do not fall 
 within the ecclesiastical pale, and yet are of the 
 essence of Christian obligation. There are, it 
 is true, devout natures which are so pure that, 
 however excessive the veneration they devote to 
 the ecclesiastical and ritual elements of religion, 
 it is impossible for them to be otherwise than 
 good in all the relations of life. But it is 
 different with the great mass of professing 
 Christians. The natural result in their case of 
 the belief that religion is a business to be mainly 
 transacted by means of special observances is to 
 render them forgetful of the virtues of common 
 existence. If the minute particulars of external 
 ceremony receive supreme attention, it is at the 
 expense of the essential obligations of life. The 
 spirit of piety cannot be expended on points of 
 
Conclusion. 299 
 
 ritual and matters of outward polity, without a 
 corresponding neglect of practical goodness. And 
 therefore it is always found that where fervour 
 in regard to merely ecclesiastical subjects is most 
 strong, and questions of religious form are 
 allowed to assume pre-eminent importance, the 
 charities and the moralities of life are suffered 
 to decline. On the other hand, the severance of 
 the domain of ordinary life from that of the 
 Church has a not less disastrous influence on 
 the Church itself. For that which most of 
 all serves to give expansion of aim to a Christian 
 society, and which tends most effectually to 
 prevent the narrow feeling that is apt to affect 
 it, is the influence of human life and human 
 interests as a whole. The more of sympathy 
 there is in a Church with the daily life of man, 
 and the more it has of regard for the wants and 
 aspirations of the world, the greater must be 
 its freedom from fanatical feeling. The widen- 
 ing and bracing influences, that come to a 
 religious communion through fellowship with the 
 nature and necessities of mankind, are essential 
 to its moral health. Deprived of these influences 
 from without, and expending its spiritual energies 
 
ministry. 
 
 300 Conclusion. 
 
 within the contracted circle of its own existence, 
 a religious society becomes infected with a false 
 and morbid spirit. Its position of spiritual 
 isolation is fatal to true and healthy life. 
 Th^exem- Thcrc could not be a more forcible illustration 
 
 phfied m 
 
 thfn^ex^ of this fact than in the state of things which 
 
 isting dur- 
 ing Christ's existed in connection with Christ's own ministry. 
 
 ministrv. «/ 
 
 The religious class with whom He was brought 
 into contact claimed, above all things, a position 
 of separateness from others.^ They regarded the 
 territory of orthodox belief and legal observances, 
 which they occupied, as essentially apart from the 
 common ground of worldly life. Within their 
 own circle all sound faith and all true worship 
 were, they imagined, to be found ; outside it 
 everything was unhallowed. Now, the verdict 
 which the Saviour pronounced on the Pharisees, 
 when He condemned their exclusiveness as false 
 and bad — when He charged them with gross 
 corruption, and declared that there was more of 
 truth and righteousness in those who were out- 
 side their communion than there was among 
 themselves — represents a fact of which there 
 have been abundant instances in the history of 
 1 The name Pharisees signifies the Separated. 
 
Conclusion. 301 
 
 religion. The tendency to make the life of piety 
 that of a separate province from ordinary ex- 
 istence, and to keep it apart from the common 
 life of the world, has often led to the most 
 serious evils. It produces precisely those corrup- 
 tions which it did in the case of the Pharisees. 
 In proportion as religion recedes from the range of 
 ordinary thought and life, and separates itself 
 from common human interests, it loses the whole- 
 some effects which are exercised by fellowship 
 with what is broad and true ; and therefore 
 readily becomes a prey to the evils of supersti- 
 tion and falseness which affected the Pharisaic' 
 character. 
 
 * In the state of matters which existed in con- i>a"y exist- 
 ence the 
 
 nection with the ministry of Christ we may thus ouhe^^''^^ 
 
 Church's 
 
 recognize what is always one of the most for- influence, 
 midable perils of the Christian Church. The 
 true purpose of the Church is to act as a source 
 of spiritual guidance to men in the duties of 
 daily life. Its functions, instead of ending with 
 the observances of worship, and the teaching of 
 the sanctuary, have properly only their beginning 
 there. The ultimate design of the existence of 
 the Christian Church is to influence the entire 
 
302 Conclusion. 
 
 range of human pursuits, and to impart a 
 Christian character to the whole of human ex- 
 perience. It is really in the common business of 
 men, and in their everyday engagements, that 
 the true sphere of religion lies. The highest 
 field for the exercise of Christian feeling is the 
 work of the world, and not the performance of 
 ritual acts. On the other hand, the belief is apt 
 to find its way into a religious communion that 
 the purpose of its existence is fulfilled when the 
 routine of sacred service is gone through, and the 
 requirements of ecclesiastical usage receive due 
 attention. The relation of the Church of Christ 
 to the interests and duties of ordinary life is 
 thus too often lost sight of; religion degenerates 
 into ecclesiasticism; it becomes mere churcli 
 attendance, and exactness in regard to forms, 
 and preciseness in doctrine, while the daily 
 business of existence is hardly regarded as 
 coming within its limits. While there is a con- 
 tinual danger to the Church arising from this 
 tendency, it is impossible to over-estimate the 
 seriousness of its results. Divorced from the 
 thoughts and the wants of common life, eccle- 
 siastical things are certain to yield to the 
 
ConclvMon. 303 
 
 infiiience of degeneracy and decay. It is in th^ 
 living connection of a Church with the nature 
 and necessities of men, that its fitness to fulfil 
 its true vocation consists. And therefore there 
 is the highest value in every provision that tends 
 to make it a more effectual means of bringing 
 Christianity to bear on the world at large ; in 
 everything which renders its services more ac- 
 cordant with the wants of human life, and its 
 agencies better suited to the actual condition of 
 things. 
 
 Glasgow : Robert MacLehose, Printer to the University. 
 
Y.C 'i^^'^S^ 
 
 iv!313888