enact temporal punishments in aid of the gospel, even had they possessed the means. In the churches which they planted, christian love, springing from faith-complacency in each other's character, as reflecting the image of Christ, was the sole bond of union. This dissolvednothing was left to hold the society together. There was a brotherly equality, gracefully sustained by the consciousness of that sublime relationship which was but begun on earth, and which stretched forward into eternity. But while the christian master was to receive his christian servant for ever;' 'not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved;' christian servants were not to 'despise' their 'believing masters,'' because they were brethren.' While, in Christ, there was neither bond nor free,' the stations of men in civil society remained; and honour was to be rendered to whom 'honour was due.' Homage was not to be exacted through arrogance; nor was respect to be withheld through envy and presumption. Charity, when it prevailed, possessed a refinement of tact, which adjusted all claims before they were made; and christian propriety of deportment was secured by all, individually, ' esteeming others better than themselves.' Love also put forth its energies, externally, in the form of pity and good-will towards those that were without;' and attempts were

everywhere made to fulfil the Saviour's command, to compel them to come in.'*

In short, it is evident from the perusal of the New Testament, that the christian church is a supernatural institution. In the apostolic age, it was seen, if ever, in its true light; before its beauty was marred by general corruption, and its power to bless the world destroyed by intestine strife. In relation to the world, it sustained a mysterious and unearthly character, which prevented it from being confounded with any of the inferior elements with which it perpetually came in contact, in making its conquests.

The apostolic church was a faithful depositary of the mystery of the gospel;' which it held, not to conceal, as the initiated heathen concealed their mysteries, but to promulgate among mankind. All believers were taught to consider themselves as a holy priesthood.' The church maintained her genuine character by presenting to the world a contrast to itself, and her triumph was to assimilate the world to her own likeness. The influence of the church in thus converting the world, was a demonstration of the Spirit. By this means, the church was enabled to win the world by transforming it; for the end of the gospel was not proselytism, but conversion. The gospel

* Philem. 15, 16. 1 Tim. vi. 2. Gal. iii. 28. Rom. xiii. 7. Philip. ii. 3. Luke xiv. 23.

sought, as by a divine alchymy, to transmute the dross of the world into the pure gold of faith and love: its aim was higher than to form a mere admixture of the incongruous elements of heaven and earth. Christianity, as intrusted to the church, and sustained by the Divine Spirit, was an independent element in the moral world, acting by no ordinary laws, and exhibiting phenomena not to be accounted for from any known causes. The power which attended the doctrine of the cross, resembled the lightning of heaven, which is not seen till the moment when it strikes. In human estimation, and when judged of on the principles of the boasted philosophy of the Greeks, the gospel had no glory:' it was a thing of nought. But God chose 'base,' and ' despised things, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are.'

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As a spiritual institution, the apostolic church did not claim to interfere with those general regulations which are necessary for the welfare of society. Its members were not more free from subjection to human laws, than other men. They were bound to obey magistrates in everything; those things alone excepted, which could not be submitted to, without breaking the laws of Christ. In all other cases, Christians were to yield rather than resist. Rather than damage

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the character of the gospel in its vital part, as a system of charity and peace, they were to suffer wrong.' They cheerfully rendered to Cæsar, therefore, the things which were Cæsar's: but, on the other hand, even the Christians of Cæsar's household acknowledged another Master in all 'the things which were God's.'

From obligation to obey the laws of Christ in the church, no worldly office or station formed an exemption; and had that monster of iniquity, Nero himself, become a Christian, even the imperial purple would not have been a badge of the 'respect of persons.' Though such a convert as a christian monarch, might by a wise personal influence have been of incalculable service to the gospel-cause; still we have no reason to suppose that, in the church, he would have been regarded by the apostles otherwise than as a highly-honoured brother in Christ;-honoured the more for having freely, and in the face of all the snares connected with his exalted station, become a subject of that spiritual community in which no man was known after the flesh;' but where the greatest,' was as the younger,' and he that was chief as he that doth serve.' On the throne, the christian Nero would still have been Cæsar: but in the church, the christian Cæsar would have been Nero, a brother of high degree, among brethren to whom it was said by an apostle, 'If ye have respect to persons ye commit sin.'

Every assembly of true Christians, in proportion as it retains the primitive apostolical character, is a paradisiacal enclosure, won from the wilderness of the world, and the dominion of unhallowed passions, a spot where the atmosphere is peace, and where the life-giving presence of the blessed Spirit may be traced, in the fruits of a new moral creation. The world, in its compacts and alliances, is chiefly influenced by self-interest; but the church, in its efforts to do good to the world, is designed to prove a standing example of disinterested benevolence. Formed of the elements of faith and love, the christian church is the true conservative principle of society, the real safeguard of nations, and the ornament and glory of the earth. It is, to the world, the only living source of moral illumination,-a pharos which is destined to pour streams of light, from age to age, upon its dark and troubled sea, by 'holding forth' to it the word of life.'*

True it is, that these societies of Christians are few in number, as compared with the extent of the world, and exhibit far less vigorous energies than might reasonably be expected from their

* Phil. ii. 16. According to Beza, the allusion, here, is to those towers which were built at the entrance of harbours, and on which fires were kept burning to guide ships into the port.-Nov. Test. in loc.