that Christ constituted the Church on the papal system, and there- fore, it is to be believed. The thing to be proved is taken for granted. It is a. petit io principn from beginning to end.
C. The Romish Doctrine of Infallihility founded on a Wrong Theory of the Church.
The first great argument of Protestants against Romanism con- cerns tlie theory of the Church.
God entered into a covenant with Abraham. In that covenant there were certain promises which concei'ned his natural descend- ants through Isaac, which promises were suspended on tlie national obedience of the people. That covenant, however, contained the promise of redemption through Christ. He was the seed in whom all the nations of the earth were to be blessed. The Jews came to believe that this promise of redemption, i. e., of the blessings of the Messiah's reign, was made to them as a nation ; and tiiat it was conditioned on membership in that nation. All who were Jews either by descent or proselytism, and who were circumcised, and adliered to the Law, were saved. All others would certainly per- ish forever. This is the doctrine which our Lord so pointedly con- \ demned, and against which St. Paul so strenuouslv arsued. When ' tiie Jews claimed that they were the children of God, because they » were tiie children of Abraliam, Christ told them that they might be the children of Abraham, and yet the children of the devil (John viii. 33-44) ; as John, his forerunner, had before said, say not " We have Abraham to our father ; for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham." (Matt. iii. 9.) It is against this doctrine the epistles to the Ro- mans and Galatians are principally directed. The Apostle shows, (1.) That the promise of salvation was not confined to the Jews, or to the members of any external organization. (2.) And there- fore that it was not conditioned on descent from Abraham, nor on circumcision, nor on adherence to the Old Testament theocracy, i fS.) That all believers (oi Ik ttio-tcws) ai'e the sons, and, therefore the heirs of Abraham. (Gal. iii. 7.) (4.) That a man might be Jev, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, circumcised on the eighth day, and touching the righteousness which is of the law blameless, and yet it avail him nothing. (Phil. iii. 4-6.) (5.) Because he is not^ajew: whoJsj)ne outwardly; and circumcision is of the heart (Romans ii. 28-29.) (6.) And consequently that God could cast off the Jews as a nation, without acting inconsistently with his covenant with Abraham, because the promise was not made to the Israel Kara a-dpKa, but to the Israel Kara TTViVfia. (Rom. ix. 6-8. ')
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134 INTRODUCTION. [Ch. V. — R. C. R. of Faith.
Romanists have transferred the whole Jewish theory to the Christian Church ; while Protestants adliere to the doctrine of Christ and his Apostles. Romanists teach, (1.) That the Church is essentially an external, organized community, as the commonwealth of Israel. (2.) That to this external society, all the attributes, prerogatives, and promises of the true Church belong. (3.) That membership in that society is the indispensable condition of salva- tion ; as it is only by union with the Church that men are united to Christ, and, through its ministrations, become partakers of his re- demption. (4.) That all who die in communion with this external society, although they may, if not perfect at death, suffer for a longer or shorter period in purgatory, shall ultimately be saved. (5.) All outside of this external organization perish eternally. There is, therefore, not a single element of the Jewish theory which is not reproduced in the Romish.
Protestant Doctrine of the Nature of the Ohurch.
Protestants, on the other hand, teach on this subject, in exact ac- cordance with the doctrine of Christ and the Apostles : (1.) That the Church as such, or in its essential nature, is not an external organization. (2.) All true believers, in whom the Spirit of God dwells, are members of that Church which is the body of Christj^ no matter with what ecclesiastical organization they may be con- nected, and even although they have no such connection. The thief on the cross was saved, though he was not a member of any external Church. (3.) Therefore, that the attributes, prerogatives, and promises of the Church do not belong to any external society as such, but to the true people of God collectively considered ; and to external societies only so far as they consist of true believers, and are controlled by them. This is only saying what every man admits to be true, that the attributes, prerogatives, and promises pertaining to Christians belong exclusively to true Christians, and not to wicked or worldly men who call themselves Christians. (4.) That the condition of membership in the true Church is not union with any organized society, but faith in Jesus Christ. They are the children of God by faith ; they are the sons of Abraham, heirs of the promise of redemption made to him by faith ; whether they be Jews or Gentiles, bond or free ; whetlier Protestants or Romanists, Presbyterians or Episcopalians ; or whether they be so widely scattered, that no two or three of them are able to meet together for worship.
Protestants do not deny that there is a visible Church Catholic