lowest margin of the subject. It may not be easy to discover, that those who shall be saved, yet so as by fire, are nevertheless upon the only foundation that is laid, which is Jesus Christ;' nor to discern Satan when he is transformed into an angel of light, and his ministers when they are transformed into ministers of righteousness.' But assuredly there is no mistaking the Bride of Christ to whom he saith himself, Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, looking forth like the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners."

5. It is those religions which are embraced in the third class, those, namely, which are the product, the sum, and the expression of all true external revelation received from God, which are truly divine. That is the religion now professed by the true Church, visible and universal, of the Lord Jesus Christ. Nor has the human race any interest so great, as that this religion, on the one hand, should have free scope upon earth-and that, on the other, it should not be allowed to depart from its own sublime mission, and thereby not only deprive mankind of infinite blessings, but become perverted into an engine of unspeakable misery. No folly of mankind is more fatal, than the successful accommodation of the Gospel Church, to human philosophies, passions, and ends-the subjugation, that is, of God and eternal truth, to man and to all changeful vanities and lies. The constant effort, rather, should be, to reduce the visible Church more and more perfectly to the absolute standard of divine revelation, on which it wholly reposes; and to make every human interest which comes within its scope, conform itself more and more, to the same perfect and eternal standard. As for the Church, all she has is the gift of God. When this does not suffice, her mission is at an end. For the Spouse of him who was dead, and is alive, and liveth forevermore, may not accept bridal ornaments from any hand but his, any more than she may lay aside those with which he has adorned her, as proofs at once of his infinite triumph, and his unquenchable love! What has she to do-I will not say with the pollution and guilt, but with the empty and tawdry splendour of this miserable world! Her faith-her lifeher all, are from above-and there is her hope and her rest and 2 Cor., xi. 13-15.

1 1 Cor., iii. 11–15.

* Solomon's Song, vi. 4-10.

2

her glory and her blessedness can mean nothing, but the presence and approval of her Lord, and her fitness to serve and to enjoy him!

VI.-1. Our recognition of the Kingdom of God, therefore, under the form of the visible Church universal of the Lord Jesus Christ, is more than the personal recognition of individual believers; however impossible it may be to recognize her in their absence, or except through them. On the other hand, it is less than the recognition of the universal body of the elect-the greater part of whom were never in the flesh together; less also than the recognition of such a universal organic unity of all the elect on earth, as we behold in a particular Church. The Gospel Church has no visible head-the Lord Jesus Christ being its only head; the conditions which attach to our present state, and the necessities and obligations which arise from those conditions, are incompatible with the organic union of the universal Church; the whole course of divine providence renders it impossible, under the present dispensation; and the revealed will of God discloses it as appertaining to a more exalted condition of the Church." Schismatical, and even needless divisions of the Church, are sinful. But national, denominational, or other necessary divisions of it, are no more to be condemned than the organization of separate congregations, or particular Churches; but, on the other hand, to a certain extent, and in certain ways, they promote the peace, the efficiency, and even the spirituality and unity of the Church. The Church visible universal, therefore, which we are to recognize, and which, as I have shown, it is not conceivable that a child of God should mistake, is the Kingdom of God manifested in this world, and struggling to subdue it unto him: God's people indeed-but God's people divinely organized under the banner of the Lord Jesus Christ."

2. Descending from this wide and manifest ground of recognition, whatever particular marks of the true Church may be demanded, must be such as the children of God, with his love in their hearts, and his word in their hands, may clearly and readily distinguish; not such as even the wise and learned might find it difficult to ascertain and determine, though honestly seeking for them, by the light of eternal life. For the Kingdom of God

1 John, x. 14-16; Rev., xx. 4; Rom., viii. 17-25; Rev., v. 10; 2 Tim., ii. 11–13. 2 Rev., xix. 13, 14.

must be entered in the spirit of a little child; it is to the humble and the poor, pre-eminently, that the Gospel is sent; and the common people are they who have always heard Christ gladly. They are marks, moreover, not determinable by the Church, but by God. Nor are they exclusively for any Church to judge herself by, but for all men, and especially for believers, to judge every Church by. The testimony of any Church, that she possesses them may, or may not, be true; and must be received or rejected, according as it may be found to be. In their very nature, the marks of the true Church are anterior to the claim of any particular Church-they are logically independent of the Church, and completely and divinely decisive concerning the Church. It is, therefore, wholly absurd to speak of our ascertaining the Church first, and afterwards ascertaining through her, what her true marks are; which is the method of the Papacy, and a specimen of the methods of all in all ages, who exalt the historical element of the Church to supremacy over its logical and supernatural elements. It is a method by which it is impossible to arrive at truth; a device whereby the word of God, and the reason and conscience of man, are sought to be controlled, by whatever body of persons, that can obtain, by whatever means, dominion over whatever they see fit to call the Church of God. Its use has been to cast the responsibility of the most atrocious wickedness, and the most abominable perfidy-upon the Church of the living God. Whatever may be the risk of error in determining for ourselves, what these marks are, and where they exist, and by consequence, which is the Church; it is less by far-and there is no possibility of escaping it—than necessarily falls upon every human soul, in deciding the previous, and still more important questions, which relate to Christ, and to our own souls. Moreover, in both cases, the risk is not diminished-but is immeasurably increased-by trusting to human instead of divine guidance-by following the commandments of a worm like ourselves rather than the doctrine of the living God.'

3. There are but two ultimate foundations, upon one or the other of which everything must rest, and all human conduct proceed. One of these is authority, the other is reason: reason, pure and simple, in all natural things-reason, enlightened by divine grace, in all supernatural things. Either of these may be

1 Matt., xv. 9; Isaiah, xxix. 13, 14; Col., ii. 18-22.

adopted, and will conduct us completely; but nothing, except one of these, will do so. We may commit our souls to the authority of the priest, to the authority of antiquity, to the authority of the Church-to any authority, lower than that of Godand blindly follow it; and such are the peculiarities of the fallen human soul, that it may be degraded into an unquestioning obedience to its idol—even to its own perdition.' Or we may commit ourselves to the guidance of that reason, by which God has distinguished us above the beasts that perish; and addressing it to the great realities which environ us, follow the truth made known supernaturally by divine revelation, and effectually applied to our souls by the Holy Ghost. This is the method ordained of God, commanded in his word, and appropriate to our nature, both as created and regenerated by him. The true and the good become clearer to the soul, and are more precious, as its devotion to them is more constant. The power and the proportion of that divine faith by which we walk, open before our steadfast gaze. And as with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we are all changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."

1 2 Cor., iv. 4; John, xii. 37-41; 1 Tim., iv. 1–3.

22 Cor, ii. 18; iv. 6; Col., iii. 10.

CHAPTER XXIV.

PURITY OF FAITH: THE FIRST INFALLIBLE MARK OF THE
TRUE CHURCH.

I. 1. Alleged Difficulty of Knowing the True Church of Christ: Cause of whatever may exist: Impostures.-2. Nature of her Infallible Marks.-3. The State of the renewed Soul, responsive to the Revealed Salvation.-4. Purity of Faith, the First Infallible Mark of the True Church.-II. 1. Divine Revelation the Infallible Arbiter of the Purity of Faith-and the Infallible Rule by which to Judge the Church. -2. The Questions of Salvation-Church-Rule of Faith-and Judge of Controversions: Their indissoluble Connection.-3. The exact Relation of the True Church to the Question of the Purity of Faith.-4. God himself the Infallible Judge: In this World by his Word and Spirit: At the Last Day, by Jesus Christ.-5. The Imposture of an Earthly, Infallible, Judge of Faith, and of Controversies.-6. The Relation of all Christian Graces to Purity of Faith.-7. The Saving Work of the Holy Ghost-the Vital Test of the Purity of Faith, and of the Church itself.--8. The Regulative Power of Faith.-III. 1. Nature and ground of our Judgments concerning true Faith, and the true Church.-2. Symbolical Statements of the Christian Church.-3. Hatred and Vengeance of God against Corrupt and Apostate Churches.

I.—1. As soon as God's people on earth assume, by his direction and under his guidance, an organized, separate, visible, common existence; new obligations to each other, and to all mankind, as well as new obligations of individual men and of civil communities towards this divine society, arise out of its creation and action. One alleged difficulty in the performance of these duties, is the pretence of great uncertainty in ascertaining, amidst an immense variety of religions, which is that true Church of God whose existence amongst men gives rise to the duties themselves. Under this pretext, the wicked evade the obligation to follow Christ at all, and willingly confound his Church with every synagogue of Satan; while every anti-christ seeks, through it, to promote his own wicked ends, and to defeat the grace of God, which bringeth salvation. If the world, and more especially the children of Christ, would follow simply and earnestly the light of that reason, with which God has endowed us, and the teachings of that divine word, which he has given to be a lamp unto our feet and a light unto