. CONDITION CONFESSION our own strength, or that will be meritorious, it is certainly inapplicable; but if by it be meant, that it is only a mean, without which we cannot be saved, in that sense it is not improper. Yet, as the term is often made use of improperly by those who are mere legalists, perhaps it would be as well to decline the use of it. passage of Scripture quoted by R. Mordecai : this | benefit received, or something to be performed in interpretation is Calasius's own; but in the margin he adds that of the LXX. and the Vulgate, when different from his. The work is in 4 vols. folio, printed at Rome in 1621. A new edition of this work was published by subscription in London, in 1747, 8, 9, by Mr. Romaine, to which he obtained the signature of every crowned head in Europe, his Holiness not excepted. Dr. Taylor published, in 1754, a Hebrew concordance, in 2 vols. folio, adapted to the English Bible, and disposed after the same manner as Buxtorf. This is perhaps the best for English readers. CONFERENCE, the act of discoursing with another in order to treat upon some subject, or to settle some point of dispute. Conference Meetings, in a religious sense, are meetings assembled for the purpose of relating experience, discoursing on some religious subject, or for transacting religious business. "Religious conference," says a divine, "is one way of teaching religion. We all have leisure time, and it is well spent when it is employed in set conferences on religion. There the doubting man may open all his suspicions, and confirmed Christians will strengthen his belief; there the fearful may learn to be valiant for the truth; there the liberal may learn to devise may learn to speak plainly; there Paul may withstand Peter to the face, because he deserves to be blamed: there the Gospel may be communi cated severally to them of reputation; there, in one word, we may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted. One hour in a week spent thus will contribute much to our edification, provided we abstain from the disorders that have often disgraced, and sometimes destroyed, this excellent Christian practice. Time should be kept, order should be preserved, no idle questions should be asked; freedom of inquiry should be nourished; immodest forwardness should be restrained; practical, experimental, and substantial subjects should be examined; Charity with all its gentle train should be there, for she openeth her mouth with wisdom, and in her tongue is the law of kindness." See EXPERIENCE MEETINGS. The Greek concordances are only for the New Testament, except one by Conrad Kircher on the Old, containing all the Hebrew words in alphabetical order: and underneath, all the interpretations of them in the LXX, and in each interpretation all the places where they occur in that version. In 1718, Trommius published his Greek concordance for the LXX, at Amsterdam, in 2 vols. folio; and Schmidius, improving on a similar work of H. Stephen, has given an ex-liberal things; there the tongue of the stammerer cellent Greek concordance for the New Testament, the best edition of which is that of Leipsic, anno 1717. Williams's concordance to the Greek Testament gives the English version to each word, and points out the principal Hebrew roots corresponding to the. Greek words of the Septuagint, 4to. 1767. We have several concordances in English, as Fisher's, Butterworth's, Newman's, Brown's; but the best esteemed is that in 4to. by Alexander Cruden, which no minister or student should be without, except he have such a prodigious memory as to supersede the necessity of it. Crutwell's concordance of Parallels may also be consulted with profit: Talbot's complete Analysis, and new Arrangement of the Bible; Dodd and Locke's Common-place Books; with Clark on the Promises, and Gastrill's Institutes, may also be useful to preachers. CONCUBINAGE, the act of living with a woman to whom the man is not legally married. It is also used for a marriage with a woman of inferior condition (performed with less solemnity than the formal marriage,) and to whom the husband does not convey his rank. As polygamy was sometimes practised by the patriarchs, it was a common thing to see one, two, or many wives in a family, and besides these several concubines, 2 Sam. iii. 3, &c. 1 Kings, xi. 2. 2 Chron. xi. 21; but ever since the abrogation of polygamy by Jesus Christ, and the reduction of marriage to its primitive institution, concubinage has been forbidden and condemned among Christians. CONFESSION, the verbal acknowledgment which a Christian makes of his sins. Among the Jews, it was the custom, on the annual feast of expiation, for the high priest to make confession of sins to God, in the name of the whole people: besides this general confession, the Jews were enjoined, if their sins were a breach of the first table of the law, to make confession of them to God; but violations of the second table were to be acknowledged to their brethren. Confession, according to Dr. Watts, is the third part of prayer, and includes, 1. A confession of the meanness of our original, our distance from God, our subjection to him, and constant dependance on him.-2. A confession of our sins, both origi CONDESCENSION is that species of benevolence which designedly waves the supposed alvantages of birth, title, or station, in order tonal and actual, in thought, life, omission, and accommodate ourselves to the state of an inferior, and diminish that restraint which the apparent distance is calculated to produce in him. It is enjoined on the Christian, and is peculiarly ornamental to the Christian character, Rom. xii. 16. The condescension of God appears every way great, when we consider his infinite perfection, his absolute independence of his creatures, his purposes of mercy toward them, and his continual care over them. CONDITION, a term of a bargain to be performed. It has been debated whether faith should be called the condition of our salvation. If by it we mean a valuable equivalent for the commission.-3. A confession of our desert of punishment, and our unworthiness of mercy.A confession or humble representation of our wants and sorrows of every kind. Confession also may be considered as a relative duty, or the acknowledgment of any offence we have been guilty of against a fellow-creature. The Romish church requires confession not only as a duty, but has advanced it to the dignity of a sacrament. These confessions are made to the priest, and are private and auricular; and the priest is not to reveal them under pain of the highest punishment. This, however, is both unnecessary and unscriptural: for, in the first place, there is no proof that CONFESSION the power of remitting and retaining sins (the pretended ground of sacramental confession) was imparted to any but the apostles, or at the most to those to whom a discernment of spirits was communicated.-2. If our Saviour had designed this to have been a duty, he would most probably have delivered us an express command to this purpose.-3. This authority of pardoning sins immediately in relation to God, (the foundation of the pretended duty of secret confession) without any reference to church censures, was never claimed for many ages after Christ. CONFIRMATION the occasion of hypocrisy is no fault of the art cles, but of those who subscribe them; that persecution has been raised more by the turbulent tempers of men, than from the nature of confessions. Some think that all articles and confessions of faith should be expressed in the bare words of Scripture; but it is replied, that this would destroy all exposition and interpretation of Scripture; that it would have a tendency to make the ministry of the word useless; in a great measure cramp all religious conversation; and that the sentiments of one man could not be distinguished from another in some points of importance. Seme of the most noted confessions are, the 39 Articles, and the Constitutions and Canons of the Church of England; the Westminster Assembly's Confession of Faith; the Savoy Confession, or a declaration of the faith and order owned and practised in the congregational churches in England. See also Corpus et Syntagma confessionum fidei, quæ in diversis regnis et nation Notwithstanding, however, private auricular confession is not of divine authority, yet, as one observes, "there are many cases wherein men under the guilt and trouble of their sins can neither appease their own minds, nor sufficiently direct themselves, without recourse to some pious and prudent guide: in these cases men certainly do very well, and many times prevent a great deal of trouble and perplexity to themselves by a timely discovery of their condition to some faith-ibus ecclesiarum nomine, fuerunt authenticè ful minister; and to this purpose a general confession is for the most part sufficient: and where there is occasion for a more particular discovery, there is no need of raking into the particular circumstances of men's sins to give that advice which is necessary for the ease and comfort of the penitent." See ABSOLUTION; Watts on Prayer; Tillotson's Ser. ser. 160, 161; Smith's Errors of the Church of Rome. edite, which exhibits a body of numerous confessions. See likewise, An Harmony of the Confessions of Faith of the Christian and Reformed Churches; Watts's Rational Foundation of a Christian Church, qu. 8; Graham on Establishments, p. 265, &c.; Bishop Cleaver's Ser mon on the Formation of the Articles of the Church of England; Paley's Phil. vol. ii. p. 321. CONFESSOR, a Christian who has made a solemn and resolute profession of the faith, and has endured torments in its defence. A mere saint is called a confessor, to distinguish him from the roll of dignified saints, such as apostles, martyrs, &c. In ecclesiastical history, the word confessor is sometimes used for martyr; in aftertimes it was confined to those who, after having been tormented by the tyrants, were permitted to live and die in peace: and at last it was also used for those who, after having lived a good life, died under an opinion of sanctity. According to St. Cyprian, he who presented himself to torture, or even to martyrdom, without being called to it, was not called a confessor, but a professor; and if any out of want of courage abandoned his country, and became a voluntary exile for the sake of the faith, he was called ex terris. CONFESSION OF FAITH, a list of the several articles of the belief of any church. There is some difference between creeds and confessions. Creeds in their commencement were simply expressions of faith in a few of the leading and undisputed doctrines of the Gospel. Confessions were, on the contrary, the result of many a hazardous and laborious effort, at the dawn of reviving literature, to recover these doctrines, and to separate them from the enormous mass of erroneous and corrupted tenets, which the negligence or ignorance of some, and the artifices of avarice and ambition in others, had conduced to accumulate for a space of 1000 years, under an implicit obedience to the arrogant pretensions of an absolute and infallible authority in the church of Rome. Objections have been formed against all creeds or confessions of faith, as it is said they in- Confessor is also a priest in the Romish church, fringe Christian liberty, supersede the Scriptures, who has a power to hear sinners in the sacrament exclude such as ought not to be excluded, and ad- of penance, and to give them absolution. The mit such as ought not to be admitted; are often confessors of the kings of France, from the time too particular and long; are liable to be abused; of Henry IV. have been constantly Jesuits; betempt men to hypocrisy; preclude improvement; fore him, the Dominicans and Cordeliers shared and have been employed as means of persecution. the office between them. The confessors of the On the other hand, the advocates for them ob- house of Austria have also ordinarily been Doserve, that all the arts and sciences have been re-minicans and Cordeliers, but the latter emperors duced to a system; and why should not the truths have all taken Jesuits. of religion, which are of greater importance? that a compendious view of the chief and most necessary points of the Christian religion, which lie scattered up and down in the Scripture, must be useful to inform the mind, as well also to hold forth to the world what are in general the sentiments of such a particular church or churches; that they tend to discover the common friends of the same faith to one another, and to unite them; that the Scriptures seem to authorize and countenance them; such as the moral law, the Lord's prayer, the form of doctrine inentioned by Paul, Rom. vi. 17; and again, "the form of sound words," in 2 Tim. i. 13, &c.; that their becoming CONFIRMATION, the act of establishing any thing or person,-1. Divine confirmation is a work of the spirit of God, strengthening, comforting, and establishing believers in faith and obedience. 1 Pet. v. 10. 1 Cor. i. 8.--2. Ecclesiastical confirmation, is a rite whereby a person arrived at years of discretion, undertakes the performance of every part of the baptismal vow made for him by his godfathers and godmothers. In the primitive church it was done immediately after baptism, if the bishop happened to be present at the solemnity. Throughout the East it still accompanies baptism; but the Romanists make it a distinct independent sacrament. Seven CONFLAGRATION CONFLAGRATION years is the stated time for confirmation; how-which may happen either from the diminution of ever, they are sometimes after that age. The its matter, by the consumption of its central parts, person to be confirmed has a godfather and god-or by weakening the cohesion of the constituent inother appointed him, as in baptism. In the parts of the mass by the excess or the defect of church of England, the age of the persons to be moisture. Others look for the cause of the conconfirmed is not fixed. Clarke's Essay on Con-flagration in the atmosphere, and suppose that firmation; Wood on ditto; How's Episcopacy; some of the meteors there engendered in unusual p. 167, 174. quantities, and exploded with unusual vehemence CONFLAGRATION, GENERAL, a term from the concurrence of various circumstances, used to denote that grand period or catastrophe may effect it without seeking any farther.--Lastof our world, when the face of nature is to bely, others have recourse to a still more effectual changed by fire, as formerly it was by water. and flaming machine, and conclude the world is to undergo its conflagration from the near approach of a comet in its return from the sun. Various opinions are also entertained as to the renovation of the earth after the conflagration.-1. Some suppose that the earth will not be entire Scripture assures us in the general, that this earth in its present forra will not be perpetual, but shall come to an end.-2. It further tells us, that this dissolution of the world shall be by a general conflagration, in which all things upon the face of the earth shall be destroyed, by which the at-ly consumed, but that the matter of which it conmosphere shall also be sensibly affected, as in sists will be fixed, purified, and refined, which such a case it necessarily must be, 2 Pet. iii. 5, 7, they say will be the natural consequence of the 10, 12; where, from the connexion of the words, action of fire upon it; though it is hard to say the opposition between the conflagration and the what such a purification can do towards fitting deluge, as well as the most literal and apparent it for its intended purpose, for it is certain a mass import of the phrases themselves, it is plain they of crystal or glass would very ill answer the folcannot, as Dr. Hammond strangely supposes, lowing parts of this hypothesis.-2. They suprefer to the desolation brought on Judea when pose that from these materials thus refined, as destroyed by the Romans, but must refer to the from a second chaos, there will, by the power of dissolution of the whole earth.-3. The Scrip- God arise a new creation, and then the face of the ture represents this great burning as a circum-earth, and likewise the atmosphere, will be so stance nearly connected with the day of judg-restored, as to resemble what it originally was in ment, 2 Pet. iii. 7, compared with 2 Thess. i. 7, 8. the paradisaical state; and consequently to render Heb. x. 37. 1 Cor. iii. 12, 13; and it is probable it a more desirable abode for human creatures than there may be an allusion to this in several passages of the Old Testament, such as Ps. xi. 6. 1. 3. xcvi. 3. Isa. xxxiv. 4, 8, 10. Ixvi. 15. Dan. vii. 9, 10. Mal. iv. 1. Zeph. iii. 8 Deut. xxxii. 22; to which many parallel expressions might be added, from the canonical and apocryphal books. 4. It is not expressly declared how this burning shall be kindled, nor how it shall end: which has given occasion to various conjectures about it, which see below. it at present is: and they urge for this purpose the following texts, viz. 2 Pet. iii. 13. (compare Isa, lxv. 17. lxvi. 22.) Matt. xix. 28, 29. (compare Mark x. 29, 30. Luke xviii. 29, 30.) Ps. cii. 25, 26. Acts iii. 21. 1 Cor. vii. 31. Rom. viii. 21.-3. They agree in supposing, that in this new state of things there will be no sea, Rev. xxi. 1. 4. They suppose that the earth, thus beautified and improved, shall be inhabited by those who shall inherit the first resurrection, and shall here The ancient Pythagoreans, Platonists, Epicu- enjoy a very considerable degree of happiness, reans, and Stoics, appear to have had a notion of though not equal to that which is to succeed the the conflagration; though whence they should general judgment; which judgment shall, accordderive it, unless from the sacred books, is diffi-ing to them, open when those thousand years are cult to conceive; except, perhaps, from the Pho-expired, mentioned in Rev. xx. 4, &c. 1 Thess. nicians, who themselves had it from the Jews. iv. 17, compare ver. 15., which passage is thought Mention of the conflagration is made in the books of the Sibyls, Sophocles, Hystaspes, Ovid, Lucan, &c. Dr. Burnet, after J. Tachard and others, relates that the Siamese believe that the earth will at last be parched up with heat, the mountains melted down, the earth's whole surface reduced to a level, and then consumed with fire. And the Bramins of Siam do not only hold that the world shall be destroyed by fire, but also that a new earth shall be made out of the cinders of the old. Divines ordinarily account for the conflagration metaphysically, and will have it take its rise from a miracle, as a fire from heaven. Philosophers contend for its being produced from natural causes, and will have it effected according to the laws of mechanics. Some think an eruption of the central fire sufficient for the purpose; and, add, that this may be occasioned several ways, viz. either by having its intension increased, After all, little can be said with certainty as to which again may be effected either by being driven this subject. It is probable that the earth will into less space by the encroach.nents of the super-survive its fiery trial, and become the everlasting ficial cold, or by an increase of the inflammability of the fuel whereon it is fed; or by having the resistance of the imprisoning earth weakened, by some to contain an insinuation that Paul expected to be alive at the appearance of Christ, which must imply an expectation of being thus raised from the dead before it but it is answered that the expression we that are alive may only signify, "those of us that are so," speaking of all Christians as one body, 1st Cor. xv. 49-52. Dr. Hartley declared it as his opinion, that the millennium will consist of a thousand prophetical years, where each day is a year, i. e. 360,000; pleading, that this is the language used in other parts of the Revelation. But it seems an invincible objection against this hypothesis, which places the millennium after the conflagration, that the saints inhabiting the earth after the first resurrection are represented as distressed by the invasion of some wicked enemies, Rev. xx. 7-9. Ezek. xxxviii. xxxix. See MILLENNIUM. abode of righteousness, as part of the whole empire of God, but seeing the language used in Scripture, and especially in the book of Revela CONGREGATIONALISTS tion, is often to be considered as figurative rather than literal, it becomes us to be cautious in our conclusions. Burnet's Theory of the Earth; Whitby on the Millennium; Hartley on Man, vol. ii. p. 400; Fleming on the first Resurrection; Ray's Three Discourses; Whiston's Theory of the Earth; and article DISSOLUTION in this work. CONGREGATIONALISTS tion is authorized by Christ to exercise all the acts of ecclesiastical power and privilege within itself, without being subject to the jurisdiction or control of any bishop, synod, presbytery, or council composed of delegates from different associated churches. They not only hold that there is no Scriptural institution for any such ecclesiastical authority, but that such churches are not free, by CONFUSION OF TONGUES, a memora- a voluntary act of their own, to resign to superior ble event which happened in the one hundred courts those inherent rights of self-government and first year, according to the Hebrew chrono- with which the Head of the Church has invested logy, and the four hundred and first year by the them; that they cannot do this without betraySamaritan, after the flood, at the overthrow of ing that "liberty wherewith Christ has made his Babel, Gen. xi. Until this period there had been people free," and sanctioning erroneous principles but one common language, which formed a bond of church polity; and that whatever apparent adof union that prevented the separation of man- vantages may result from an extended association kind into distinct nations. Writers have differed or confederation of churches, bound together by much as to the nature of this confusion, and the the bond of a common creed or confession, they manner in which it was effected. Some think are nevertheless greatly outweighed by the evils that no new languages were formed; but that this and dangers unavoidably incident to such bodies. event was accomplished by creating a misunder- The principal churches, at the present day, orstanding and variance among the builders with-ganized on the Congregational plan, are to be out any immediate influence on their language; found among the Dissenters of Great Britain, and and that a distinction is to be made between con- in the New England States, in America. They founding a language and forming new ones. originated from the Brownists, or Independents, Others account for this event by the privation of (see INDEPENDENTS) but disapproving of, and all language, and by supposing that mankind disavowing, the name Independent, they have, for were under a necessity of associating together, the most part, since the days of the Rev. John and of imposing new names on things by com- Robinson, whose congregation emigrated from mon consent. Some, again, ascribe the confusion Holland to Plymouth, and became the founders to such an indistinct remembrance of the original of the New England churches, been known by language which they spoke before as made them the appellation of Congregationalists. They despeak it very differently: but the most common clare themselves "abhorrent from such principles opinion is, that God caused the builders actually to of independency as would keep them from giving forget their former language, and each family to an account of their matters to their brethren of speak a new tongue; whence originated the vari- neighbouring societies who might regularly deous languages at present in the world. It is, how-mand it of them." As their distinguishing title ever, but of little consequence to know precisely how this was effected, as the Scriptures are silent as to the manner of it; and after all that can be said, it is but conjecture still. There are some truths, however, we may learn from this part of sacred writ. 1. It teaches us God's sovereignty and power, by which he can easily blast the greatest attempts of men to aggrandize themselves, Gen. x. 7, 8. 2. God's justice in punishing those who in idolizing their own fame, forget him to whom praise is due, ver. 4. 3. God's wisdom in overruling evil for good for by this confusion he facilitated the dispersion of mankind, in order to execute his own purposes, ver. 8, 9. See Henry and Gill in loc.; Stillingfleet's Orig. Sac. 1. iii. c. v. § 2-4; Shuckford's Con. vol. i. p. 124-140; Vitringa's Obs. vol. i. diss. 1. c. ix.; Le Clerc's Diss. No. vi.; Hutchinson on the Confusion of Tongues; Bishop Law's Theory of Religion, p. 66. CONGREGATION, an assembly of people met together for religious worship. The term has been also used for assemblies of cardinals appointed by the pope for the discharge of certain functions, after the manner of our offices and courts; such as the congregation of the inquisition, the congregation of rites, of aims, &c. &c.It also signifies a company or society of religious persons cantoned out of this or that order, and making an inferior order, &c. Such are the congregations of the Oratory those of Cluny, &c. among the Benedictines. is predicated entirely upon the order and constitution of their churches, and not upon any peculiar system of doctrines set forth in a public standard, which their ministers or members are required to subscribe, they are not properly to be considered as a religious sect; for the principles of Congregational church-government are adopted by different sects, especially the Baptists. Indeed, the very genius of the congregational policy is to exclude separate sects and communions from the Christian world, inasmuch as it disclaims any symbol or formula of doctrine, or order establishing an ecclesiastical uniformity, and admits the Bible alone as the great bond of unity among Christians. Yet the mass of the Congregational churches in New England are Calvinistic in sentiment, and in the preface to the Platform of Church Discipline, drawn up in 1648, and agreed upon by the elders and messengers assembled at Cambridge, (Mass.) it is expressly declared, that, "having perused and considered the Westminster Confession of Faith, lately published in England, they judge it (with the exception of the parts on church government,) to be very holy, orthodox, and judicious, in all matters of faith, and do freely and fully consent thereunto, for the substance thereof, and commend it to the churches of Christ, as worthy of their due consideration and acceptance." On the subject of church government, their principles may be summarily stated in the form of the following syllogism: CONGREGATIONALISTS, a denomina- The constitution and government of the prition of Protestants, so called from their main-mitive churches established by the Apostles, as taining that each particular church or congrega- far as can be ascertained from the Scriptures CONGREGATIONALISTS CONGREGATIONALIST'S were designed to serve as a model for all other tolic example, for they all eagerly catch at every Christian societies in all ages. thing that looks like approving their respective But the primitive churches, founded by the churches. Every sect goes as far as it can in Apostles, were strictly congregational or inde-company with the Apostles; and it is not till they pendent, not subjected or subordinated to the. cannot follow any farther, that the Apostles are authority of bishops, synods, or councils. Ergo, the congregational is the only true and scriptural scheme of ecclesiastical government. The following are the principal heads of arguments relied upon in support of the above conclusion. In proof that the apostolic model of church polity is of binding obligation in all ages, it is alleged, acknowledged as insufficient guides. 7. There can be no danger in the closest imitation of the apostolical churches. On the other hand, can any man be sure that he does not displease God by refusing to imitate them? Between the certainty of pleasing on the one side, and the possibility of offending on the other, the choice which a Christian should make is evident. 1. That all Scripture is practical, and that it As to the second proposition, that the primitive is our duty to attend to every part of the revealed churches were strictly congregational, and not will of God.-But every one must admit that episcopal or presbyterial, this it is said is manifest, much is said in the New Testament about the 1. From the prevailing scriptural usage of the inanner in which the churches of Christ ought to term church, to which it is affirmed only two senses be regulated. But this part of Scripture is not are attached by the sacred writers. For an expractical, if we are not bound to follow it; in that pansion of this argument, see the article CHURCH. case, it is like any other history, which affords us 2. From the direction which Christ has given matter of speculation rather than of instruction. relative to the settling of private offences among Many arguments may be suggested a priori in his disciples, Matt. xviii. 15, 18; "Moreover, if favour of a divine directory being contained in the thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and Scriptures concerning the worship and conduct tell him his fault between thee and him alone: of Christian societies, and the combined weight if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy broof all these arguments bears directly upon the ther. But if he will not hear thee, then take present question; for it is certain, that if we are with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of not bound by the example of the apostolic one or two witnesses every word may be estachurches, there is no model whatever for the blished. And if he shall neglect to hear them, constitution of a Christian church. 2. Those to tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear whom the Apostles wrote were, in several in the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen stances, reproved for deviating from the precise man and a publican." Here, it is said, the last order established by them in the churches, conse-appeal is to the church. He does not, say, if he quently we, the successors of the first disciples, are not at liberty to deviate. 3. Either the Apostles acted by divine direction, or by their own wisdom, in the constitution of churches. If the latter, they would undoubtedly have told us so. But if the former, as is doubtless the fact, the form of church government they instituted can never be changed but by the same authority. If any form is better than another, the apostolical is best. It cannot then be a matter of indifference whether we follow the best, or adopt a worse. 4. Paul expressly tells us he delivered the same ordinances to every church. "For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways, which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church." 1 Cor. iv. 17. He elsewhere alludes to the uni-many cases to be explained by the prophets who formity of his practice in the churches. "As God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk, and so ordain I in all churches." 1 Cor. vii. 17. does not hear the church take it to the presbytery, and if he does not hear the presbytery, take it to the synod, but "if he hear not the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican." True, indeed, a multiplicity of meanings has here been affixed to the word church, and every sect has attempted to find its own discipline in this passage. But whatever may be said about allusions to the ecclesiastical tribunals among the Jews, whether of the synagogue or the sanhedrim, the safest and surest mode of interpretation is to explain the term according to its predominant sense in other parts of the New Testament, particularly the Epistles, which were unquestionably intended, in many respects, as a commentary on the Gospels. As Moses is in came after him, so if any thing is obscurely delivered or hinted at by Christ, we are to have recourse to the Apostles, who were to finish the revelation he had begun, and fully illustrate But after ages are no where addressed but in what lies in embryo in his words. It is no valid the persons, as it were, of the apostolical churches; objection to this to say, that Christ could not have we are not known but as members of them. been understood by those to whom he immediately Whatever is said to them is said to us. It is spake. The Holy Ghost was ere long to be therefore unreasonable to expect a formal didac-poured out upon the disciples to enlighten them tic treatise on the subject of church government. fully. And it is unquestionable that the Saviour Every necessary instruction was doubtless given uttered many things to the Apostles which they in the original forming of the churches, but as to did not fully understand till after his death and posterity, all that can reasonably be expected is resurrection. So Moses delivered many things an incidental account of apostolical practice, and in the wilderness concerning the future governwherever we meet with that we are to consider ment of the Jewish church, when they should be ourselves bound by it. 5. No person who pleads settled in cities and towns, which they could not the authority of apostolical example for observ-so well understand till they came into the land of ing the first day of the week as the Christian Canaan, and though they did not know the preSabbath can consistently reject it in this instance. cise place which God would choose, yet many of 6. The general sense of professing Christians of the laws that Moses gave depended upon it. In all sects is on the side of the obligation of apos- the present case, it was more important that our |