which he brings all events to pass according to the eternal purpose of his will, and whose whole course is so ordained that all things work together for good to them that love God. And higher than the highest heavens, her glorified Redeemer sits at the right hand of the majesty on high, a Prince and a Saviourto give repentance to Israel and the forgiveness of sins-head over all things to the Church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. Surely we need not doubt that God will make known through his Church, unto principalities and powers, his own manifold wisdom :' nor that in the dispensation of the fulness of times, all things will be gathered in one, in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in him.'

11. There are two topics which may be supposed to require a few words of explanation under the view I have presented of the Church of God. One of them concerns the position of such professed members of the visible Church, as are not the children of God the other concerns the infant seed of true believers. Concerning the former, whatever difficulty may exist lies in the domain of Church Discipline, which I will treat in another place, and not in that of the organization of the Church, which is the subject of immediate consideration. In the nature of the case, the more perfectly the apparent Church corresponds with the real Church, the more perfect the former must be; and the more completely our definitions in a Treatise like this, express what actually is according to the ordination of God, and not what is merely apparent and delusive, through the wickedness of man, the more nearly does our teaching approach the truth of God. As a question of Ethics and Philosophy, nothing would be more absurd, than to make our definitions false, in order to give a certain validity to appearances which are known to be deceptive. Whatever difficulties may be supposed to exist in the just application of the discipline of the Church, so as to exclude from its communion those whom God has forbidden to approach it; nothing in the Scriptures is more obvious, nothing in the constant faith of the Church is more settled, nothing is more clear to human reason, than that all children of the Devil are mere intruders into the visible Church, and ought to be cast out of it. They who are not the true followers of Christ, cannot be members of Christ; they Eph., iii. 10. Eph., i. 10.

2

who are not members of Christ cannot be members one of another, in any Christian sense; but the possibility of making the body of Christ visible by means of any external organization, rests upon these two truths, namely, that we are members of Christ, and of each other. Whatever organization is composed on opposite principles, is necessarily corrupt: whatever individual, destitute of fellowship with Christ and with Christ's people, intrudes into a true Church, is merely an intruder. We delude ourselves by a word, forgetting that it is not the same thing to be visibly a member of some organization or denomination of Christians, and to be a member of Christ visibly by being a true member of his visible body. It is another question, altogether, what evidence shall be deemed sufficient, against an individual or against a sect. Concerning which, in both cases, it is very obvious that if either the evidence itself, or the matters established by it, be insufficient, it is at once to usurp the prerogative of Christ, and to outrage our brethren in him, if we reject as false a profession of discipleship, which, for aught that appears, is true.

12. The covenanted duty of Christian parents to dedicate their infant children to God, and the covenanted right of the seed of believers to membership in the Church of God, will be discussed hereafter. At present, it is sufficient to observe that if such a duty rests on Christian parents, and such a right is given by God to their infant seed: then all I have said, so far from excluding such infant members from the visible Church of Christ, necessarily embraces them. Their position is determined absolutely by the decision we arrive at, concerning the effect which the faith of the parent has, on the relation of his infant seed to the covenant through which he is himself saved. When the parent is not in covenant with Christ, it cannot be pretended that he has any covenant duty to his infant seed, or that it has any covenanted right based on the faith of a parent, who has no faith. I suppose that nothing concerning God's dealings with man, whether in creation, in providence, or in grace, is more remarkable, than the use he has made of the parental relation, and the pains he has taken to explain to us that use, and the ground of it.

CHAPTER XXI.

DEDUCTION AND EXPOSITION OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD, CONSIDERED AS THE VISIBLE CHURCH OF CHRIST.

I. 1. The Effect of God's gracious Interposition after the Fall, upon Man's Relation to God.-2. The practical Result of that Interposition, generally stated.-3. Theoretical Issue of the Probation of the Human Race, upon the Conditions stated.4. Revealed Result: Coming of the Son of Man.-II. 1. Divisions of the Human Race, Spiritually Considered: God's manifold Dealings responsive to those Divisions.-2. Manifold Aspect of the Kingdom of God: Visible Church of Christ.3. Separate from the World, and organized for the Special Ends, and by the Special Means of its Visibility: Concatenation of God's Providence and Grace.III. 1. Nature of Man and of Society-Fundamental Principles of the Church's Organization-Revealed Ordination of God: Relation between them all.-2. Exhaustive Statement of the Functions of Society, in itself considered :—(a) The aggregate Expression of what is Right: Public Will: Law:-(b) Enforcement of the Rule of Right-by the aggregate Force: Administrative Authority:(c) Exposition and Application of Law, to Duties and Rights: Judicial Authority. -3. Dependence of these Functions of Society, on the Moral, Rational, and Spiritual Nature of Man: Their Relevancy to God, the universal Lawgiver, Judge, and Ruler-4. Application of these Principles to the Visible Church: Fundamental Distinction between the Gospel Church and the Civil State.-5. The Law of God the sole Law of the Church of Christ: Nature and Ground of this Peculiarity.-6. Her judicial and executive Functions: Their Nature and Extent.7. Definition of the Visible Church of Christ, now Militant under the Gospel State thereof.

I-1. THE Fall of Man placed the human race in such an estate, that its universal perdition could be prevented no otherwise, than by the sovereign and gracious interposition of God, changing the relation of that race to himself. That interposition occurred and a clear account of it, in its whole nature and design, has been given to us by God in the sacred Scriptures. Those inspired writings contain-and they alone contain-the true religion of man considered as a sinner: and that religion embraces the sum of God's sovereign and gracious interposition to prevent the universal perdition of the human race, and, therefore, the sum of what man can need in order to be saved. Yet that interposition of God did not change the relation of our fallen race to him,

by abolishing the true religion natural to man, considered merely as a creature; but by graciously adding to it, in a way of divine revelation, the true religion needful for man, considered as a fallen and depraved creature. By what is added God becomes the Redeemer, without ceasing to be the Creator; and the saved sinner remains the dependent creature of God.

2. In point of fact, the whole human family has never been brought under the influence of this new form, in which life and immortality are brought to light by the Gospel. On the contrary, besides the original apostacy in Adam, God when he has made inquest on signal and widely separated occasions, has found our sinful race alike ignorant of him, and hostile to him. In the days of Noah he drowned the whole race in the flood of waters, saving alive only Noah and his family. In the days of Abraham God chose him out of a rebellious world, and made his covenant with him as the father of the faithful. In the days of the early Gospel Church, God set aside even his ancient people for their sins, and has scattered them and hidden his face from them ever since. And Christ himself hath demanded concerning what is yet before us, When the Son of Man cometh shall he find faith on the earth? The knowledge of the written word of God has never been communicated to any one entire generation of men; and, even at the present hour, it is probable that the larger part of the human family are in ignorance of God's designs of mercy to fallen men. And of those who have obtained knowledge, more or less complete, on that momentous subject, it is probable that the greater part do not profess to have received the truth in the love of it; and of those who make that profession, neither the Scriptures, nor our own most charitable judgments permit us to doubt, that multitudes are alike ignorant and destitute of the power of divine love."

3. Such is the practical result of the sovereign and gracious interposition of God for the salvation of sinners, as exhibited by its progress from the beginning of time. And the whole is announced when two most pregnant statements are added. First, that it is not given to mortals to foresee how long, how sad, or how variable the struggle between light and darkness may be, before the final victory is won-nor yet how soon that last triumph may come.3 1 Luke, xviii. 8. 2 Matt., xxv. passim. 'Matt., xxiv. 36-42; Acts, i. 7; 1 Thess., v. 1–11.

And secondly, that God's Kingdom has always been, and will continue immovably established, in this rebellious world; and that the heirs of that Kingdom are the salt of the earth-the light of the world.' Theoretically, it is not easy to see how this great problem could have worked itself out in a different manner, upon the terms stated; nor how any result, substantially different, could ever be reached, or the subject extricate itself from endless conflict, unless some of the conditions of the problem are radically changed, on one side or the other. For it has been shown that the actual condition of the universe is this, namely, that it lies under the curse of God-with a promise of deliverance; but the curse is broader than the promise in this, that in some sense the curse embraces all, while the promise takes one and leaves another; the one fastening and working with instant and universal force, while the other, pointing chiefly to the future and the unseen, works in the midst of our darkness and pollution. When we speak of the grace of God, the sense is most true and real, but it is also strict: when we speak of the pollution of sin, the sense is not only true, but absolute and universal. And the grace itself, rich as it is, is not merely for our deliverance, but for deliverance in such a way that a true probation is made, alike of those who reject it, and of those who are led in willing captivity to it.

4. The Scriptures, however, leave us in no doubt as to what the real event will be, and how it will be brought to pass. The nature and certainty of the change that will occur in the terms of this problem, so endless and insoluble to human reason, on the conditions stated, are amongst the clearest and grandest parts of the revealed scheme of our deliverance. The advent of Christ was the great promise of the Scriptures of the Old Testament: his second coming is at once the great promise and the great threat of the Scriptures of the New Testament. However we may dispute about that coming, as to its exact manner, its set time, and all its sublime incidents and results; no one who calls himself an heir of the Kingdom of God, ought to doubt the great fact itself, or its decisive and eternal efficacy. He whose right it is, shall take the Kingdom. The Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, and then shall he sit

1 Matt., v. 13, 14; xxviii. 19, 20.

Matt., xxiv. 29-31; xvi. 26; Mark, xiii. 24–27; Rev., i. 4–8.