66 of God, and having access to many promises. Thus the Israelites are called, "the holy seed, who have mingled themselves with the people of these lands, the "people of the earth." In the same sense Paul says; "For if the first fruit be holy, the lump is also holy; " and if the root be holy, so are the branches ;"k that is, If the fathers were in covenant with God, their posterity are also to be regarded as in the same condition. Holiness of this sort is recognised, too, under the New Testament; for the whole body of Christians is opposed as holy to the heathen as unholy;1 and the unbelieving husband is said to be sanctified by the believing wife, and the unbelieving wife to be sanctified by the believing husband,m so that the children of such a marriage are accounted holy, children of the covenant and heirs of the promises. But the other kind of holiness is internal, and absolute, peculiar to the regenerate, consisting in conformity to God, and the image of the divine purity. "Holiness becometh thine house, "O Lord, for ever."" XI. In like manner, the participation of the covenant of grace is twofold. The one includes merely symbolical and common privileges, which have no certain connection with salvation, and to which infants are admitted by their relation to parents that are within the covenant ;° and adults, by a profession of faith and repentance, even though insincere. As all who make a profession of Christianity, and do not falsify it by a wicked life, do by this their profession enter into the covenant, the oath, and the curse, so they cannot be kept back from a participation of the sacraments by the rulers of the j Ez. ix. 2. * Rom. xi. 16. m 1 Cor. vii. 14. • Gen. xvii. 7. Acts ii. 39. Church. And thus far they are really in covenant with God, and, in a certain sense, even branches ingrafted into Christ, although they do not bring forth fruit nor abide in him ;P who shall be punished not merely for the transgression of the precept, but also for the violation of the covenant, if they be found to lead a wicked life. The other participation of the covenant of grace, is the partaking of its internal, spiritual, and saving blessings, as the forgiveness of sins, the writing of the law in the heart, &c. Accordingly the Apostle makes a distinction betwixt the Jew outwardly and the Jew inwardly,-betwixt circumcision in the flesh and the letter, and circumcision in the heart and spirit ;r which, by analogy, may be transferred to Christianity. XII. From all these remarks it follows, that the Church has a twofold aspect or form; the one visible, which is made out by a profession of faith and the performance of divine worship; the other spiritual, which owes its first origin to Divine election, and is completed by a living faith and true holiness. This distinction is suggested by John: " They went out from us," that is, from the external community of those who profess Christianity in common with us; "but they were "not of us," they did not belong to the society of the elect and of true believers. s XIII. If you look to the Church in its internal form, none but the elect belong to it; "Ye are a chosen ge"neration:"-Those who are inwardly and effectually. called; " Holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly call"ing:""_Those endowed with a true and living faith, and sanctified by the Spirit of God; "God hath from 6. P John xv. 2, a Heb. viii. 10--12. 1 John ii. 19. * 1 Pet. ii. 9. " Heb. iii. 1. "the beginning chosen you to salvation, through sanctifi"cation of the Spirit and belief of the truth :"-Those, in fine, who enjoy spiritual communion with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ; "God is faith"ful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his "Son Jesus Christ our Lord;"w" That ye also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with "the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ."x 66 XIV. The government of the Church, viewed in this form, belongs only to God in Christ: for he only has authority and power over the minds and consciences of men, and he only can admit whom he will to a participation of saving benefits. He alone, too, searches the heart, and has a certain knowledge of all the true members of the Church. "The Lord knoweth them "that are his."y Such, however, is the nature of true faith and holiness, that they evidence themselves to men by their fruits, so far as is sufficient to justify a judgment of charity regarding our neighbour.z XV. But if you consider the external form of the Church, God has appointed Stewards over it, who are intrusted with the dispensation of external privileges according to established rules. And really, none has a right even to these privileges, who is not renewed and sanctified; for they are the signs and seals of spiritual grace, which belongs to believers only, and are consequently profaned by unbelievers who venture to receive them. It is incumbent on the Stewards to give serious and faithful warning of this, to all, and to every individual, lest by rash and unhallowed approaches, they procure judgments to themselves. But since it is not their prerogative to know the heart, they are bound to demand a profession of faith and repentance from all who make application for communion with the Church; and if any make this profession with the tongue, and do not openly belie it by his practice, the office-bearers, so far as themselves are concerned, may safely admit him, without too scrupulous an inquiry into his spiritual state; the certain knowledge of which we read that God has reserved to himself, whilst it is nowhere affirmed that God requires it of the ministers of the Church. In primitive times indeed, Apostles and Evangelists were endowed with an extraordinary gift, which Paul styles "the discerning of spirits." But it does not appear that, in admitting the members of the Church, they made use of that gift, to distinguish those who were truly regenerate from such as by their profession and external conduct made false pretensions to regeneration. Had they done this, how could Simon Magus have been admitted to the Church ?d And whence those scandalous persons at Corinth, whom the Apostle reproves ?e XVI. Since, then, it is impossible but that amidst so great a multitude of professors, some will falsely pretend to the Christian character, hypocrites and worthless men are never wanting in the visible Church. On this account the Church is compared to a floor, in which there is not only wheat, but also chaff;£_ to a field, where tares as well as good seed, are sown ;8 -to a net, which gathers bad fish together with the b Mat. iii. 6. Acts viii. 37. с Διακρισις πνευματων, 1 Cor. xii. 10. d Acts viii. 13. f Mat. iii. 12. e 1 Cor. xi. 18, 21. Mat. xiii. 24. et seq. good ;h to a great house, in which are vessels of every kind, some to honour, and some to dishonour." i 66 XVII. Let us now attend to the Epithets and honourable characters given to the Church; which are suitable to it in both forms, yet principally in its internal form. Three of these are mentioned in the Creed: HOLY, CATHOLIC, CHRISTIAN. 65 XVIII. The Church may be called HOLY, 1st, With respect to doctrine; which, in soundness of principles, purity of precepts, excellence of examples, and efficacy of motives, infinitely surpasses whatever is commendable in all the admired institutions and maxims of lawgivers, or priests, or philosophers. i 2dly, With respect to life and manners. The Old Testament Church was distinguished by a certain typical holiness, which consisted in the separation of the people of Israel from the rest of the nations, that they might be consecrated to the worship of God, and in a certain external and corporeal purification, by which they were, so to speak, purged and sanctified.* Corresponding to this, there is in the Gospel Church a real holiness, which consists in separation from the common condition of sinners to the performance of that spiritual Divine service which the New Testament prescribes, and in the purification of the mind by the blood and Spirit of Jesus Christ. The Christian Church, therefore, is called Holy, in The Author's words here are lustratus ac februatus, which, in their primitive import, relate to certain periodical purifications by sacrifice observed amongst the Romans. See Kennet's Antiquities of Rome, Part II. Book ii. ch. 2. and Book iii. ch. 7. T. h Verse 47. et seq. i 2 Tim. ii. 20. j Deut. iv. 6-8. Rom. vii. 12. 1 Tim. vi. 3. Tit. i. 1. ii. 11, 12. * Gal. i. 4. 1 Tit. ii. 14. 65 See NOTE LXV. |