spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." 1 Cor. v. 5. It does not, according to the Popish notion, consist in literally delivering up the offender to the devil, but in casting him out of the Church into the world, which is described in Scripture as Satan's kingdom. CHAPTER XXXI. OF SYNODS AND COUNCILS. SECTION I.-For the better government and further edification of the Church, there ought to be such assemblies as are commonly called synods or councils;1 and it belongeth to the overseers and other rulers of the particular churches, by virtue of their office, and the power which Christ hath given them for edification, and not for destruction, to appoint such assemblies; and to convene together in them, as often as they shall judge it expedient for the good of the Church.3 1 Acts xv. 2, 4, 6. 2 Acts xv. Acts xv. 22, 23, 25. EXPOSITION. [In the Presbyterian Form of Government, which is bound up with the Confession of Faith, and constitutes an essential part of the standards of the Church, it is more explicitly stated, that "we hold it to be expedient and agreeable to Scripture and the practice of the primitive Christians, that the Church be governed by congregational, presbyterial, and synodical assemblies," and the specific powers and duties of Church sessions, Presbyteries, Synods, and General Assemblies, in the due subordination of these judicatories, are clearly set forth. It is the peculiar and exclusive right of the Church itself to convene these assemblies, and to order every thing which relates to them.] In opposition to the Independents, who maintain that every congregation has an independent power of government within itself, and deny all subordination of judicatories, our Confession asserts that, "for the better government and further edification of the Church," (that is, for attaining the end better than can be accomplished in smaller meetings of Church officers), "there ought to be such assemblies as are commonly called synods or councils." Of this we have an example in the synod which met at Jerusalem to settle the question about circumcision. "The question, whether or not the Gentiles who had made a profes sion of the Christian religion were bound to submit to circumcision, was of common concern, and could only be settled by the judgment and decision of office-bearers delegated from the Church as a whole; and we find that the judgment or decision of these office-bearers, when met judicially to consider the question, was considered as binding upon the whole Church. Nor is it any valid objection to this court forming a model for the imitation of the Church in after ages, that it was composed partly of apostles; for the apostles were also elders, as every higher office in the Church includes the official power belonging to inferior offices; and we do not find that, in the whole discussion, the apostles, as judges, claimed any superiority over their brethren, who are called elders. At any rate, the decision was promulgated as the joint decision of both. Acts xv. 21-31." ""* SECTION II.-It belongeth to synods and councils ministerially to determine controversies of faith and cases of conscience; to set down rules and directions for the better ordering of the public worship of God and government of his Church; to receive complaints in cases of mal-administration, and authoritatively to determine the same; which decrees and determinations, if consonant to the word of God, are to be received with reverence and submission, not only for their agreement with the word, but also for the power whereby they are made, as being an ordinance of God, appointed thereunto in his word. 4 Acts xv. 15, 19, 24, 27–31; xvi. 4. Matt. xviii. 17-20. * Stevenson on the Offices of Christ, pp. 347, 348. EXPOSITION. This section is evidently intended as a decision upon another important principle in the controversy with Independents, who, while they admitted that congregations might, in difficult cases, consult with advantage synods of ministers, denied to these synods any authority over the congregations. Presbyterians readily grant that the power of Church rulers is purely ministerial. Christ is the only Lord and Lawgiver in his Church; so that their business is only to apply and enforce the laws which he has enacted. Their deliberations, however, are to be considered, not as merely consultative, but authoritative; and, so far as their decisions accord with the laws of Christ, laid down in his word, being formed in his name, and by authority conferred by him, they must be binding upon the conscience. The Synod of Jerusalem did not merely give a counsel or advice, but pronounced an authoritative decision upon the case referred to them. They "ordained decrees, "" laid a burden" upon the churches, and enjoined them to observe certain necessary things;" and their decision was cheerfully ubmitted to by the churches concerned. Acts xv. 28; xvi. 4. 66 SECTION III.-All synods or councils since the apostles' times, whether general or particular, may err, and many have erred; therefore they are not to be made the rule of faith or practice, but to be used as an help in both.5 Eph. ii. 20. Acts xvii. 11. 1 Cor. ii. 5. 2 Cor. i. 24. EXPOSITION. Although Papists maintain that infallibility is lodged somewhere in the Church, they are not agreed among themselves whether it resides in the Pope, or in a general council, or in both united. It is here affirmed that all councils may err. Councils being composed of men, every one of whom is fallible, they must also be liable to error when collected together. It is also asserted that many of them have erred; and this is sufficiently evident from the fact, that different general councils have made decrees directly opposite to each other. In the Arian controversy, several councils decreed in opposition to that of Nice. The Eutychian heresy was approved in the second Council of Ephesus, and soon after condemned in the Council of Chalcedon. The worship of images was condemned in the Council of Constantinople, and was approved in the second Nicene Council, and again condemned at Francfort. Finally, the authority of councils was declared, at Constance and Basil, to be superior to that of the Pope; but this decision was reversed in the Lateran.* SECTION IV.-Synods and councils are to handle or conclude nothing but that which is ecclesiastical; and are not to intermeddle with civil affairs, which concern the commonwealth, unless by way of humble petition, in cases extraordinary, or by way of advice for satisfaction of conscience, if they be thereunto required by the civil magistrate." Luke xii. 13, 14. John xviii. 36. EXPOSITION. While our Confession denounces any Erastian interference of the civil magistrate in matters purely spiritual and eccle. siastical, it no less explicitly disavows all Popish claims, on the part of the synods and councils of the Church, to intermeddle with civil affairs, unless by way of petition in extraordinary cases, or by way of advice, when required by the civil magistrate. Our Reformers appear to have clearly perceived the proper limits of the civil and ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and to have been very careful that they should be strictly observed. "The power and policy ecclesiastical," say they," is different and distinct in its own nature from that power and policy which is called civil power, and appertaineth to the civil government of the commonwealth; albeit they be both of God, and tend to one end, if they be rightly used, viz., to advance the glory of God and to have godly and good subjects." "Diligence should be taken, chiefly by the moderator, that only ecclesiastical things be handled in the Assemblies, and that there be no meddling with any thing pertaining to the civil jurisdiction."† Church and State may co-operate in the advancement of objects common to both; * Burnet on the Thirty-Nine Articles, Art. 21. but each of them must be careful to act within its own proper sphere, the one never intermeddling with the affairs which properly belong to the province of the other. CHAPTER XXXII. OF THE STATE OF MEN AFTER DEATH, AND OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. SECTION I.-The bodies of men after death return to dust, and see corruption; but their souls (which neither die nor sleep) having an immortal subsistence, immediately return to God who gave them. The souls of the righteous, being then made perfect in holiness, are received into the highest heavens, where they behold the face of God in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies; and the souls of the wicked are cast into hell, where they remain in torments and utter darkness, reserved to the judgment of the great day. Besides these two places for souls separated from their bodies, the Scripture acknowledgeth none. 1 Gen. iii. 19. Acts xiii. 36. 2 Luke xxiii. 43. Eccl. xii. 7. Heb. xii. 23. 2 Cor. v. 1, 6, 8. Phil. i. 23. Acts iii. 21. Eph. iv. 10. Luke xvi. 23, 24. Acts i. 25. Jude 6, 7. 1 Pet. iii. 19. EXPOSITION. I. It is here supposed that death is an event common to all men. "It is appointed unto men once to die." Heb. ix. 27. This is the immutable appointment of Heaven, which cannot be reversed, and which none can frustrate. When meditating upon this subject, the royal Psalmist exclaimed, "What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave?" Ps. lxxxix. 48. Job speaks of death as an event which certainly awaited him, and of the grave as the common receptacle of all mankind: "I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the |