of Christ as the sole liead of the Church. Councils, provincial and ecumenical, have not onlv prescribed creeds conti'arj to the Scrip- tures, but also have made laws to bind the conscience, and ordained observances which Christ never enjoined.
As Christ is the head of his earthly kingdom, so is He its only lawgiver. He prescribes, —
1. The terms of admission into his kingdom. These cannot be riglitfuUy altered by any human authority. Men can neither add to them, nor detract from them. The rule which He has laid down on this subject is, that what He requires as a con- dition for admission into his kingdom in heaven, is to be required as a CDuditiou of admission to his kingdom on earth. Nothing more and nothing less is to be demanded. We are to receive all those whom Christ receives. No degree of knowledge, no confes- sion, beyond that which is necessary to salvation, can be demanded as a condition of our recognizing any one as a Cliristian brother and treating him as such. Philip baptized the Eunuch on the confession " I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." (Acts viii. 37.) " Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations." (Rom. xiv. 1.) " Who art thou that judgest another man's servant ? to his own master he standeth or falleth." (Verse 4.) "Whosoever believetli that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God." (1 John v. 1.) For men to reject from their fellowship those whom God has received into his, is an intol- erable assumption. All those terms of Church communion which have been set up beyond the credible profession of faith in Christ are usurpations of an authority which belongs to Him alone.
2. A second law x)f this visible kingdom of our Lord is that her- etics and those guilty of scandalous offences shoukl be excommu- nicated. " A man that is an heretic, after the first and second admonition reject." (Titus iii. 10.) " I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a for- nicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner ; with such an one no not to eat." (1 Cor. v. 11.) Our Lord teaches that such an offender when he refuses to hear " the Church " is to be regarded as a " heathen man and a pub- lican." (Matt, xviii. 17.)
3. Christ has ordained that the power of exercising discipline and the other prerogatives of the Church should be in the hands of officers, having certain gifts and qualifications and duly ap- pointed.
4. That the right t«» judge of the qualifications of such officers
608 PART m. Ch. XL- kingly OFFICE OF CHRIST.
is vested in, or rather belongs to those who by the Holy Ghost have themselves been called to be office bearers.
5. That such officers are not lords over God's heritage, but servants. Their authority is restricted to prescribed limits, and the people have a right to a substantive part in the government of the Church through their representatives.
6. Every member of Christ's kingdom is bound to obey his brethren in the Lord. This obligation does not rest on consent or mutual covenant, but on the fact that they are brethren, the temples and organs of the Holy Spirit. It is, therefore, not lim- ited to those brethi-en with whom the individual chooses to asso- ciate himself. It hence follows that in the normal condition of Christ's kingdom, each pai't would be subject to the whole, and the whole would be one body in the Lord.
The development of these several points belongs to the depart- ment of Ecclesiology.
§ 4. The Kingdom of Glory.
The Scriptures teach that when Christ shall come again, He will gather his people into the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world. Concerning that kingdom it is taught, —
1. That it shall consist only of the redeemed. None but the regenerate or converted can enter that kingdom. The tares are to be separated from the wheat. The evil, we are told (Gal. v. 21), " shall not inherit the kingdom of God." Nothing that defiles or is untrue can enter there.
2. Those counted worthy of that kingdom shall not only be ele- vated to the perfection of their nature, but shall also be exalted to great dignity, power, and glory. They shall be kings and priests unto God. They ai'e to sit on thrones. They are to judge angels. They are to reign with Christ, sharing his dominion and glory.
3. This kingdom is to be everlasting.
4. The bodies of the saints, now natural, must be rendered spiritual. This mortal must put on immortality, and this corrupti- ble must put on incorruption ; for " flesh and blood (the bod}' as now organized) cannot inherit the kingdom of God." (1 Cor. xv. 50.)
5. The seat of this kingdom is not clearly revealed. Some sup- pose that it is to be on this earth regenerated and fitted for this new order of things. Others understand the Scriptures to teach that heaven as indicating an entirely different locality, is to be the final home of the redeemed.