ment, by ecclesiastical decree, by ministerial authority, or by any other power than that of their own unconstrained choice. They are to give themselves first to the Lord, and then to each other. No authority whatever, of an earthly nature, is to constrain them to unite themselves in fellowship, nor to select for them any particular company of believers with whom they shall associate. All is to be the result of their own selection. Parochial limits, ecclesiastical divisions of country, together with all the commands of ministerial authority, have nothing to do in regulating the fellowship of the saints. The civil power, when employed to direct the affairs of the church of Christ, is manifestly out of place. It is as much at a man's own option, so far as human authority is concerned, to say with whom he will associate in matters of religion, as it is to decide who shall be his fellows in philosophical or literary pursuits.

IV. A church of Christ has its scriptural officers. Here two questions arise :-First, How many kinds of officers does the New Testament mention? Secondly, How are they to be chosen? As to the kinds of office-bearers in the primitive churches, there can be neither doubt nor difficulty with any one who will impartially consult the Word of God. With all that simplicity which characterizes the works of God, which neither disfigures his productions with what is excrescent, nor incumbers them with what is unnecessary, he has instituted but two kinds of permanent officers in his church, bishops and deacons; the former to attend to its spiritual affairs, and the latter to direct its temporal concerns. That there were but two, is evident, because we have no information concerning the choice, qualifications, or duties of any other. The bishops of the

primitive churches correspond exactly to the pastors of modern ones. That bishop, elder, and pastor, are only different terms for the same office, is evident from Acts xx. 17, compared with the 28; Titus i. 5, 7, and 1st Peter v. 1, 2. They are called bishops, which signifies overseers, because they overlook the spiritual concerns, and watch for the souls of their brethren, Acts xx. 28, 1st Tim. iii. 1. Pastors or shepherds, because they feed the flock of God with truth, Ephes. iv. 11. Rulers, because they guide the church, Heb. xiii. 7. Elders, because of their age, or of their possessing those qualities which age supposes, Tit. i. 5. Ministers, because they are the servants of Christ and the gospel. Ephes. vi. 21.

The Deacon is appointed to receive and distribute the funds of the church, especially those which are raised for the relief of the poor. All other kinds of officers than these two, are the inventions of men, and not the appointment of Christ; and which, by intending to add splendour to the kingdom of Jesus, have corrupted its simplicity, destroyed its spirituality, and caused it to symbolize with the kingdoms of this world.

On the mode of electing them to their office the Scripture is sufficiently explicit, to justify the practice of those denominations who appeal to the suffrages of the people. If the Acts of the Apostles be studied with care, a book which seems given us more for the regulation of ecclesiastical practices, than the revelation of theological opinions, we shall find that nothing was done in the primitive churches without the cooperation of the members; no, not even when the apostles themselves were present. Even the election of a new apostle was made by the brethren, and not by the ministers exclusively. Acts

i. 21, 26. persons.

The deacons were chosen by the same Acts vi. The decrees of the council at Jerusalem were passed also by them, and went forth with their name. Acts xv. 23. From hence we infer, that although no case occurs in the inspired history, where it is mentioned that a church elected its pastor, yet it so entirely accords with the practice of the church in other respects, that an exception in this particular would have been a singular anomaly, which nothing could justify but the plainest and most express provision. The decisions of reason harmonize, on this subject, with the testimony of revelation; for if we have an undoubted right to choose our own lawyer, or physician, how much more so, to elect the man to whom we shall intrust the care of our soul! If we should feel it hard to be obliged to take the medicines of the parish doctor, whether we liked them or not, how much more oppressive is it, that we should be obliged to hear the opinions of the parish minister, who may have been appointed by the patron for other qualifications than those of a spiritual nature, and whose sentiments may be as much opposed to the doctrines of the gospel, as his conduct is to its holiness! What! are we to be obliged to look up to such a man as our spiritual instructer, because some profligate, who has the living in his gift, chooses to introduce him to the vacant pulpit ?

V. A Christian church, with its office-bearers, is complete within itself, for the observance of divine ordinances, and the exercise of discipline; and is subject to no authority or tribunal on earth. This is the Congregational or Independent form of church government, and it is thus denominated, to distinguish it from the Episcopal, or the government of a bishop, and from the Presbyterian, or the govern

ment of the churches by the authority of their assembled pastors and elders. No trace of any foreign control over a church of Christ, can be found in the New Testament, except such as the representatives of Jesus Christ.

VI. Such a church is bound, by the authority of Christ, in their associated capacity, to observe all the institutes, to obey all the commands, and to cherish all the dispositions, which relate to their social union, in the time, order, and manner in which they are enjoined by Christ Jesus. They are to assemble in public on the first day of the week for prayer, praise, hearing the Scriptures read and expounded, celebrating the Lord's supper, and exercising mutual affection. They are also bound by divine authority to maintain the purity of the church, by receiving only such as give evidence of true faith, and by excluding from their communion all those whose life is opposed to the doctrine which is according to godliness. They are to live in the exercise of mutual submission and brotherly love, and ever to consider themselves amenable to the tribunal of Christ, for their conduct in their church capacity.

Such is a very concise view of the nature of a Christian church.

Hence what might be termed the general principles of the New Testament on this topic, are the all-sufficiency and exclusive authority of the Scriptures as a rule of faith and practice in matters of religion; the consequent denial of the right of legislatures and eccelesiastical conventions to impose any rites, ceremonies, observances, or interpretations of the Word of God, upon our belief and practice; the unlimited and inalienable right of every man to expound the Word of God for himself, and to worship his Maker in that place and

manner which he deems to be most accordant with the directions of the Bible;-the utter impropriety of any alliance or incorporation of the church of Christ with the governments of the kingdoms of this world; the duty of every Christian to oppose the authority which would attempt to fetter his conscience with obligations to religious observances not enjoined by Christ. These are general principles, which should lead the thinking Christian to separate from all national establishments of religion whatever.

It is not enough to plead the authority of example, or of mere feeling, as a reason for any religious service. These are insufficient pilots on the troubled ocean of theological opinion, where opposing currents, stormy winds, and concealed rocks, endanger the safety of the voyager to eternity. Our compass is the word of God, reason must be the steersman at the helm to guide the vessel by the direction of the needle, and that mariner is accountable for the consequences, who is too ignorant or too indolent to examine his course.

Away with that morbid insensibility which exclaims, "It is of no consequence to what church or denomination a man belongs, provided he be a Christian." Such a spirit is a conspiracy against the throne of truth, and is the first step towards a complete abandonment of the importance of right sentiments. Admitting that error is to be measured by a graduated scale, who will undertake to fix upon the point where harmless mistakes end and mischievous ones begin? Every thing relating to religion is of consequence. In the temple of truth, not only the foundation is to be valued and defended, but every point and every pinnacle.

It does not necessarily follow that an inquiry