That the church and the state are both divine institutions, having different objects, and in every respect independent of each other. The members and officers of the church are, as men, members of the state, and ought to be good citizens ; and the members and officers of the state, if Christians, are members of the church, and as such subject to her laws. But neither the offi-
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cers nor the laws of either have any authority within the sphere of the other.
13. What is the idea and design of the State ?
Civil government is a divine institution designed to protect men in the enjoyment of their civil rights. It has, therefore, de- rived from God authority to define those rights touching all ques- tions of person and property, and to provide for their vindication, to regulate intercourse, and to provide all means necessary for its own preservation.
14. What is the design of the visible Church ?
It is a divine institution designed to secure instrumentally the salvation of men. To that end it is specially designed —
1st. To bring men to a knowledge of the truth.
2d. To secure their obedience to the truth, and to exercise their graces by the public confession of Christ, the fellowship of the brethren, and the administration of the ordinances and discipline.
3d. To constitute the visible witness and prophetic type of the church invisible and spiritual.
15. What are the duties of the State with regard to the Church ?
The State, of course, sustains precisely the same relation to the persons of church members and officers, and to the public property of the church, that she does to all other persons and property subject to her jurisdiction and under her protection. Otherwise the State neither possesses rights nor owes duties to the church ; yet, as the Scriptures and the power which the State administers are alike directly from God, and since each individual, legislative, judicial, and executive officer of the State is bound to receive every word of Scripture as God's will, it follows necessa- rily that all the deliverances of Scripture upon all the subjects which fall within the jurisdiction of the State, ought, by a divine right, to be acknowledged and obeyed as an inviolable element in the supreme law of every State. For instance, no laws can be right upon the great subjects of marriage, oaths, the Sabbath day, the
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MEDIATORIAL KINGSHIP OF CHRIST.
duties and the rights of slaves, etc., which do not express the prin- ciples which God has revealed in his word upon those subjects. The church, however, hence acquires no rights to expound this law of God authoritatively for the guidance of the State. All her teaching must be within her own sphere, and her influence upon the State can only be indirect, through the citizens of the State, who have been enlightened not as citizens, but as members of the congregation.
16. What are the duties of the Church with regard to the
State ?
1st. The church owes obedience to the State in the exercise of her lawful authority over the public property of the church. 2d. She is bound to use all the lawful means in her possession for carrying the gospel to all the members of the State. Beyond this the church owes no duty to the State whatever.
17. In what sense is Christ to return his kingdom to his Fa- ther, and in what sense will his mediatorial headship continue for ever ?
The sum of what is revealed to us upon this subject appears to be, that after the complete glorification of his people, and the destruction of his enemies, Christ will demit his mediatorial au- thority over the universe which he has administered as God-man, in order that the Godhead absolute may be immediately all in all to the creature, 1 Cor. xv., 24-28. But his mediatorial headship over his own people, including the offices of prophet, priest, and king, shall continue for ever. This is certain, 1st. Because he is a priest forever, and of his kingdom there is no end, Ps. ex., 4 ; Dan. vii., 14 ; Luke i., 33. 2d. The personal union between his divine and human nature is to continue for ever. 3d. As Media- tor he is the head of the church, which is his fullness, and the consummation of the marriage of the Lamb is the beginning of heaven, Kev. xix., 7 ; xxi., 2, 9. 4th. As " a Lamb that had been slain," he is represented in heaven on the throne as ever more the temple and the light of the city, and as feeding his peo- ple, and leading them to fountains of living waters, Be v. v., 6 ; vii., 17 ; xxi., 22, 23.
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CHRIST EXECUTED HIS OFFICE OF MEDIATOR BOTH IN HIS ESTATE OF HUMILIATION AND EXALTATION.
18. Wherein does Christ's humiliation consist ?
See Larger Catechism, questions 46-50 ; Shorter Catechism, question 27.
19. In what sense was Christ made under the law, and how was that subjection an act of humiliation ?