worldly even in the sense in which the ancient theocracy was of this woiltl. The latter organized the Hebrews as a nation, and directed all their municipal and national, as well as their social and reliirious affairs. It, therefore, could not coexist in time and place with any otlier national organization. The kingdom of Christ being designed to embrace all other kingdoms, can exist under all forms of civil government without interfering with any. It was especially in this view that Christ declared that his kingdom was not of this world. His immediate desio-n was to vindicate his claim to be a king, from the charge that such claim was iiicomjjatible witii the authority of the civil magistrate or of the Roman emperor. He intended to say that his kingdom was of such a nature that it necessitated no collision with the legitimate authority of any civil government. It belonged to a different sphere. It took cogni- zance of things which lie beyond the province of secular power ; and it left untouched all that belongs peculiarly to civil rulers. Christ, therefore, could be recognized and obeyed as king by those who continued to render unto Caesar the things which were Csesar's. Every form or claim of the Church, therefore, which is incompat- ible with the legitimate authority of the State, is inconsistent with the nature of Christ's kingdom as declared bv Himself.
Secondly, this kino;dom of Christ is catholic or universal. It embraces all who profess the true religion. It is confined to no one organization ; but includes them all ; because all are under the authority of Christ and subject to the laws which He has laid down in his Word. As all Christians are included in the kingdom of Christ, it is the duty of all to recognize each other as belonging to one great commonwealth, and as subjects of the same sovereign.
Thirdly, this form of Christ's kingdom is temporary. It is to be merged into a higher form when He shall come the second time without sin unto salvation. As an external organization it is de- signed to answer certain ends, and will cease when those ends are accomplished.
Fourthly, the kingdom of Christ is not a democracy, nor an aristocracy, but truly a kingdom of which Christ is absolute sov- ereign. This involves the denial, —
1. That the State has any authority to make laws to determine the faith, to regulate the worship, or to administer the discipline Df the Church. It can neither appoint nor depose its officers.
2. It denies that any civil officer as such, or in virtue of his office, has any authority in the kingdom of Christ ; much less can any such officer be the head of the Church.
600 PART III. Cn. XL — KINGLY OFFICE OF CHRIST.
3. It denies that Church power vests ultimately in the people, or in the clergy. All their power is pui'ely ministerial. It is derived from Christ, and is exercised by others in his name, and according to the rules laid down in his Word. How far the Church has dis- cretionary power in matters of detail is a disputed point. By some all such discretion is denied. They maintain that everythino; con- cernino- the organization, officers, and modes of action of the Church is as minutely laid down in tiie New Testament as the curtains, tassels, and implements of the tabernacle are detailed in the Old Testament. Others hold that while certain principles on this sub- ject are laid down in Scripture, considerable latitude is allowed as to the means and manner in which the Church may carry them out in the exercise of her functions. This latter view has always been practically adopted. Even the Apostolical Churches were not all organized precisely in the same way. The presence of an Apostle, or of a man clothed with apostolical authority, as in the case of James in Jerusalem, necessarily gave to a Churcli a form which other churches where no Apostle permanently resided could not have. Some had deaconesses, others had not. So all churches in every age and wherever they have existed, have felt at liberty to modify their organization and modes of action so as to suit them to their peculiar circumstances. All such modifications are mat- tei-s of indifference. They cannot be made to bind the conscience, nor can they be rendered conditions of Christian or ecclesiastical fellowship.
As Clirist is the only head of the Church it follows that its alle- giance is to Him, and that whenever those out of the Churfli undertake to regulate its affairs or to curtail it5 liberties, its mem- bers are bound to obey Him rather tiian men. They are bound by all legitimate means to resist such usurpations, and to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made them free. They ar;' under equal obligation to resist all undue assum|)tion of authority by those within the Church, whether it be by the brotherhood or by individual officers, or by Church councils or courts. The alle- giance of the people terminates on Christ. They are bound to obey others onlv so far as obedience to them is obedience to Him. In the early ages some endeavoured to impose on Christians the yoke of the Jewisn law. This of course they were bound to resist. In the following centuries, and by degr ies, the intolerable rituals, cei-emonies, fasts, festivals, and priestly, prelatical, and papal as- sumptions, which oppress so large a part of the Christian world, have been imposed upon ^he people in derogation to the authority