and consistent. On minor points you agree to differ, and and for the truth's sake to live in peace and love. Now this, we confess, is a state of things very honourable to yourselves, and to the cause you espouse, and presents to us one of the best living proofs of its divinity. On this ground we are disposed to review its evidences afresh; and if you can show us the certainty of those things in which you have been instructed, we shall be happy to exchange our scepticism for the faith of Christ."

And then as to the enlargement of the christian church, till it shall include all mankind, what can promote that blessed consummation like the unity and co-operation of all its members? Instead of wasting their time and talents in the discussion of doubtful points or sectarian distinctions, they will devote them to the illustration and practical use of its great principles. Instead of expending their strength and resources against each other like factions in civil war, they will combine them against the common foe, contending earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. Thus christians of all denominations, becoming virtually one church, one noble confederacy in support of truth and righteousness, engaged in the cause and sustained by the spirit of their ascended and immortal Saviour, and using none but the weapons of a spiritual warfare, might hope to bear down all opposition, and to achieve in due time the moral conquest of the world.

CHAPTER X.

On the Political Influence of High-Church

Principles.

WHILE it is the primary object of the christian church to reconcile sinners to God, and to prepare them for heaven, it cannot fail to exert a powerful influence, either beneficial or injurious, on the general interests of society. The kingdom of Christ, indeed, is not of this world; it is not a secular institution, to be governed by human laws and human sanctions, or an engine of state policy, framed for the subjection of the many or the aggrandizement of the few. But it is a spiritual and heavenly institution, designed for the salvation of souls, governed by the laws, and subject to the supreme though invisible authority of Christ, "who is head over all things to his body the church." It claims a spiritual independence of all secular controul, with full liberty to enjoy its rights, and to pursue its holy and benevolent course, for the glory of God and the good of man, without molestation or restraint. It neither needs nor courts the patronage of the great, or those honours and emoluments which secular patronage might confer: and when it receives the voluntary support of the rich and the mighty, when "kings become its nursing fathers, and queens its nursing mothers," it cannot on that account consent to sacrifice its freedom, or to lie prostrate at the feet of imperial power. But the church, like its Divine Founder, will choose rather to be despised and rejected by the world, and to endure again the ignominy of the cross, than obtain wealth, and ride upon the high-places of the earth, by unfaithfulness to the truth, or the sacrifice of its liberty and independence.

At the same time, while the true church of Christ would rather suffer martyrdom than be enslaved by the civil power, she has no wish, but is solemnly forbidden, to invade the province or deny the authority of the magistrate, or to withhold any part of the honour and obedience due to his office. The same principle which makes her members tenacious of their own rights, constrains them to respect the rights of others, always coupling liberty of conscience with civil order, and the exercise of power with righteousness; insomuch that they would rather suffer wrong and be defrauded, than do wrong to others, or defraud the magistrate of his rightful domains. the New Testament, to which the church appeals as the charter of her rights and duties, we are commanded "to render unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar's, and to God the things which are God's: to honour all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, and honour the king: to render to all their due; tribute to whom tribute; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour is due to offer prayers, supplications, intercessions, and thanksgivings for all men; for kings and all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty."*

By

While the christian church then retains her independence as a spiritual body, and goes forward unrestrained in the execution of her sacred trust for the advancement of the Saviour's kingdom, she cannot rightfully set herself against the powers that be, or remain an indifferent spectator of their proceedings; but must desire to exert a salutary influence over all human affairs. Her holiest and most devoted members are not released from their moral and social duties as members of the body politic, nor can they exonerate themselves from those services for the public good, which their rank and station in society might otherwise demand. They must not, like sullen misanthropists, cut themselves off from the ordinary pursuits and relationships of life. They must not retire into monasteries, to idle away their lives unprofitably or alone, under pretence of being more spiritual. They must not cease to be citizens of the world, but be numbered with ⚫ 1 Matt. xxii. 21.. 1 Tim. ii. 1, 2. 1 Peter ii. 13, 17.

its most active, most prudent and enlightened, most disinterested, zealous, and useful members, discharging the offices of father, friend, and brother, and taking a lively and generous interest in all public transactions and events. The disciples of Christ, thus filled with his spirit, and following his example, will exert a benign influence in their several circles and upon the community at large. They will become, what the church ought to be, the light of the world, and the salt of the earth, a city set upon a hill which cannot be hid. By a moral power, through the medium of public opinion, they will restrain the licentiousness of subjects, and induce them to keep the laws and ordinances of the state; while they will check the encroachments of power, and teach rulers to "be men fearing God, and hating covetousness; a terror to evil doers, and the praise of them that do well." Less eager for wealth, and less ambitious for power, than to do good; anxious in every transaction with all men, to exemplify the golden rule of doing as we would be done by; desirous, for the public good, to reform all abuses, to improve what is imperfect, to preserve and perpetuate what is useful; they will silently allay the angry passions, prevent or remedy the causes of tumult and war, consolidate the peace and happiness of mankind, originate or sustain the most useful and benevolent institutions, and become the greatest friends and benefactors of our race. The christian church, thus adorned by the excellent spirit and conduct of her members, might enjoy her spiritual freedom and independence, and prosecute her peculiar work in teaching men the way of salvation, without exciting the jealousy of kings, or perplexing the deliberations of the legislature or the executive. magistrates and statesmen, under every form of government and in every land, if they honestly desire to do justly and to govern well, might freely and without fear concede the claims of such a church, assured that its influence would always be employed for the public good.

All

Whether, and to what extent, such has been the influence of that community which has always assumed to be the only true apostolic church of Christ, is a question which the modern history of the world must solve. Let the inquirer review the

proceedings of that church from the days of Constantine till now let him trace the process and deep-laid schemes by which its leaders rose to unexampled wealth and power: let him look at the usurpation of civil and military dominion, by its chief pastor and spiritual head, the bishop of Rome, with the political intrigues of her priesthood at home and abroad: let him remember the bloody crusades which for ages filled the world with misery and slaughter: let him contemplate the intellectual and moral debasement of all Europe, during the long and dreary night of the middle ages, when the liberties of the people and the prerogatives of kings lay prostrate at the papal feet let him recollect how the rulers of that church have always opposed the spread of knowledge and the progress of freedom, and given their support to tyrants, unless, per chance, those tyrants attempted to restrain their sacerdotal rapacity and power: let him review these, and he will be compelled to acknowledge that the Romish church, instead of being the salt of society and the light of the world, has been the very source of its corruption, the extinguisher of its light, the oppressor of the wise and good, the greatest curse that ever befell mankind, whose sway has been marked by the mental prostration and political debasement of our race, the suppression of liberty, and the ascendancy of superstition,-all the legitimate and poisonous fruits of high-churchism and popery.

But, happily, at the Reformation, the monster which had so long under false pretences oppressed the earth, was severely wounded; and the protestant communities, which had boldly and unitedly claimed their rights and liberties both as men and as christians, were rescued from his iron grasp. But while the British monarch cast off the papal yoke which had been so irksome to his predecessors, he did not allow it to be destroyed, but resolved to magnify his regal power by stepping into the papal chair, and making supremacy in ecclesiastical affairs one of the future prerogatives of his crown. And having become in fact the acknowledged head of the English reformed church, he supposed himself to be invested with corresponding rights, and empowered to act the pope in his own dominions, fixing the limits of the reformation, and the faith to