of saints, that is, of those who truly believe on Christ, in which the gospel is purely preached and the sacraments properly adminis- tered."
Proof of the Protestant Doctrine of the Church.
This is not the place to enter upon a formal vindication of the Protestant doctrine of the nature of the Church. That belongs to the department of ecclesiology. What follows may suffice for the present purpose.
The question is not whether the word Church is not properly used, and in accordance with the Scriptures, for visible, organized bodies of professing Christians, or for all such Christians collec- tiv^ely considered. Nor is it the question, whether we are to regard as Christians those who, being free from scandal, profess their faith in Christ, or societies of such professors organized for the worship of Christ and the administration of his discipline, as being true churches. But the question is, whether the Church to which the attributes, prerogatives, and promises pertaining to the body of Christ belong, is in its nature a visible, organized community ; #nd specially, whether it is a community organized in some one exclu- sive form, and most specially on the papal form ; or, whether it is a spiritual body consisting of true believers. Whether when the Bible addresses a body of men as " the called of Jesus Christ," " beloved of God," " partakers of the heavenly calling ; " as " the children of God, joint heirs with Christ of a heavenly inheritance ; " as " elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification and sprinkling of the blood of Christ ; " as " partakers of the like precious faith with the Apostles ; " as " those who are washed, and sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God ; " as those who being dead in sin, had been " quickened and raised up and made to sit to- gether in heavenly places with Christ Jesus ; " it means the mem- bers of an external society as such, and because such, or, the true people of God ? The question is, whether when to the men thus designated and described, Christ promised to be with them to the end of the world, to give them his Spirit, to guide them unto the knowledge of the truth, to keep them through the power of the Spirit, so that the gates of hell should not prevail against them — he means his sincere or his nominal disciples, — believei's or unbe- lievers ? These questions admit of but one answer. The attri- j \j ij^'^ butes ascribed to the Church in Scripture belong to true believers I V
alone. The promises made to the Church are fulfilled only to believers. The relation in which the Church stands to God and
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138 INTRODUCTION. [Ch. V. — R. 0. R. of Faith.
Christ is sustained alone bj true believers. They only are the children and heirs of God ; they only are the body of Christ in wliich He dwells by his Spirit ; they only are the temple of God, the bride of Christ, the partakers of his glory. The doctrine that a man becomes a child of God and an heir of eternal life by mem- bership in an^ external society, overturns the very foiandations_of_ the gospel, and introduces a new method of salvation. Yet this is the doctrine on which the whole system of Romanism rests. As, therefore, the Apostle shows that the promises made to Israel under the Old Testament, the promise of perpetuity, of extension over the whole earth, of the favour and fellowship of God, and all the blessings of the Messiah's reign, were not made to the 3xternal Israel as such, but to the true people of God ; so Protestants con- tend that the promises made to the Church as the body and bride of Christ are not made to the external body of professed Chris- tians, but to those who truly believe on#iim and obey his gospel.
The absurdities which flow from the substitution of the visible Church for the invisible, from transferring the attributes, preroga- tives, and promises which belong to true believers, to an organized body of nominal or professed believers, are so great that Roman- j ists cannot be consistent. They cannot adhere to their own theory.
I' They are forced to admit that the wicked are not really members of the Church. They are " in it " but not " of it." Their con- inection with it is merely external, as that of the chaff with the j wheat. This, however, is the Protestant doctrine. The Romish 1 doctrine is precisely the reverse. Romanists teach that the chaff is the wheat ; that the chaff becomes wheat by external connection with the precious grain. Just so certain, therefore, as that chaff is not wheat ; that nominal Christians, as such, are not true Chris- ' tians ; just so certain is it that no external society consisting of good and bad, is that Church to which the promise of Christ's presence and salvation is made. It is as Turrettin says,^ "Trpwrov \j/ev8o<; pontificiorum in tota controversia est, ecclesiam metiri velle ex societatis civilis modulo, ut ejus essentia in externis tantum et in sensus incurrentibus consistat, et sola professio fidei sufficiat ad membrum ecclesiae constituendum, nee ipsa fides et pietas interna ad id necessario requirantur."
D. The Doctrine of Infallihility founded on the False Assump- tion of the Perpetuity of the Apostleship. As the first argument against the doctrine of Romanists as to tho 1 Locus xvni. ii. 12.
§ 7, D.] INFALLIBILltY OF THE CHURCH. 139
infallibility of the Church is, that it makes the Church of Rome to be the body to which the attributes, prerogatives, and promises of Christ to true believers belong ; the second is that it limits the promise of the teaching of the Spirit, to the bishops as successors of the Apostles. Li^^her words, Romankts. f^lsely^ assume jhe perpetuity of the Apostleship. If it be true that the prelates of the Church of Rome, or of any other church, are apostles, invested with the same authority to teach and to rule as the original messen- gers of Christ, then we must be bound to yield the same faith to their teaching, and the same obedience to their commands, as are due to the inspired writings of the New Testament. And such is the doctrine of the Church of Rome.
Modern Prelates are not Apostles.
To determine whether modern bishops are apostles, it is neces- sary in the first place to determine the nature of the Apostleship, and ascertain whether modern prelates have the gifts, qualifications, and credentials of the office. Who then were the Apostles ? They were a definite number of men selected by Christ to be his witnesses, to testify to his doctrines, to the facts of liis life, to his death, and specially to his resurrection. To qualify them for this office of aiithoritative witnesses, it was necessary, (1.) That they should have independent and plenary knowledge of the gospel. (2.) That they should have seen Christ after his resurrection. (3.) That they should be inspired, i. e., that they should be individ- ually and severally so guided by the Spirit as to be infallible in all their instructions. (4.) That they should be authenticated as the messengers of Christ, by adherence to the true gospel, by success in preaching (Paul said to the Corinthians that they were the seal of his apostleship, 1 Cor. ix. 2) ; and by signs and wonders and divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost. Such were the gifts and qualifications and credentials of the original Apostles ; and those who claimed the office without possessing these gifts and cre- dentials, were pronounced false apostles and messengers of Satan.
When Paul claimed to be an apostle, he felt it necessary to prove, (1.) That he had been appointed not by man nor through men, but immediately by Jesus Christ. (Gal. i. 1.) (2.) That ho had not been taught the gospel by others, but received his knowl- edge by immediate revelation. (Gal. i. 12.) (3.) That he had seen Christ after his resurre^'tion. (1 Cor. ix. 1 and xv. 8.) (4.) That he was inspired, or infallible as a teacher, so that men were bound to recognize his teachings as the teaching of Christ.
140 INTRODUCTION. [Ch. V. — R. C. R. of Faith.
(1 Cor. xiv. 37.) (5.) That the Lord had authenticated his apos- tolic mission as fully as he had done that of Peter. (Gal. ii. 8.) (6.) " The signs of an apostle," he tells the Corinthians, " were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds." (2 Cor. xii. 12.)