The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1852-06-29 00:00:00

apt in many respe

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of animal matter left in

i natural tendencies
ane

if left to
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t ended in the extremity of

,
this respect the Church of Christ
f the earth,"—a body possessed of an
as far as it extends, was preserving from
office of the Churbh in this respect was
her duty was pressed upon her b
f her Lor

Salt is good, but if the
wherewith shall it be seasoned" ; it
the land, nor yet for the dunghill, but
t from among them." A Christian
its influence, lost the object for which
oria, and became worse than useless. It
as not so good as manure for the land ; it was not fit for
e dunghill, Lecause it would not become manure ; it was
ily fit to be trodden under foot. The most despicable
things was a body calling' itself a Christian church, and
vested of all influence for preservation. "He that bath

.eristic of the world was ambition, tern-
. Jesus said, "ye know that the princes
exercise dominion over them, and they
are great exercise authority upon them ; but it shall
)e so among you; whosoever shall be great among you
'm
be your minister, and whosoever shall be chief
-" let him be your servant,—for the Son of Man
:nistered unto, but to minister, to give
. for many." Authority was the darling
passion of the unconverted heart of man ; the character-
istic of that climax of unconverted pride, Babylon the
Great, was lust-of authority. The language of her bias-
'-emous usurpation was coincident with the language of
sovereignty, " I am, and there is none beside
fhe Christian Church in contrast with this was
,nt submission, willing submission to authority. Her
.istructions were very plain. "Be subject," writes- St.
Paul, " to every ordinance of man, for the Lord's sake
whether it be to the King as supreme, or unto governors,
as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of
evil-doers and for the praise of them that do well,—for so
is the will of God, that with well-doing ye may put to
silence the ignorance of foolish men. There was no
b,•000l. of —oll-dolob mos., ~i.uuneu to put to silence
the ignorance of foolish men than willing, cordial,
conscientious submission to authority. We saw this
was plainly inculcated by the apostle, and inculcated
upon all church pastors as well as the people. His
epistle was addressed to all. It was plain that he
spoke to the elders who had to feed the flock, as well as
to the flock that had to be fed, and he told them all to
submit themselves to the ordinances of men, to the King,
and to the governors under the King. St. Paul wrote
in like manner : "the powers that be are ordained of God,"
and that the Christian church should not resist the power
because in so doing it resisted an ordinance of God. Ilse
was the minister of God to them for good.
He need not enlarge upon this to shew them that, in
accordance with the language of his text, various Scrip-
tures might be adduced to prove with great power and
clearness that the plain, obvious duty of the Christian
Church, relative with the civil power, was willing sub-
mission to authority. He had alluded to the usurpation
of authority, which was the characteristic of Babylon the
Great in Scripture. Now that same usurpation of autho-
rity over the civil power was the characteristic of Roman-
ism in history, as it was of Babylon in Scripture. It
remained for Romanist to assert the supremacy of the
Church over the civil power; the Scriptures asserted the
supremacy of the civil power over the Church. Peter
commanded pastors and people to be subject to the civil
power; but he who was called the successor of Peter
claimed to be superior to the civil power, and his canon
law claimed for him the right to depose kings instead, of
submitting to kings, and to set up kings. There was. no
point in which the history of Romanism was more dis-
tinctly, and in so many words, in antagonism with the
Bible, than this, that while Peter commands the Church,.
pastors and all, to be subject to the civil power, the Pope
of Rome bad assumed, and still assumes, authority over
the kings of the earth,—an authority which. had ever
caused jealousy amongst the rulers even of their own
church—jealousy manifested in the pages of history by
conflicts and concordats ; concordats treacherously vio-
lated, conflicts eagerly renewed. It was a brief account of
the history of Europe forages. Herein there was-a great
difference between Christianity and Romanism.. Chris-
tianity claimed no civil authority, Christianity excited no
jealousy in kings nor rebellion in subjects, for she sub-
mitted to authority ; she learned in her youth to obey
magistrates, to submit herself to every ordinance of man,
" not for wrath only," or the fear of punishment, but for
conscience sake, the Lord's sake, because the authority
is an ordinance of God. So, far, then, the matter was
plain, and in ordinary circumstances the duty of the
Christian Church had been to submit herself simply and
quietly to the civil power. He said, in-ordinary ciretim-
stances, because there could be no doubt, as circumstances
had occurred, so circumstances might occur, of such ex-
traordinary character as to render the duty of the Chris-
tian Church more complicated and more difficult. But,
under ordinary circumstances, under our happy circum-
stances, under the British constitution, it was our high
privilege that, without any difficulty or any reserve, we
could read• our duty in those simple words, to obey ma-
gistrates : " Put them in mind to be subject to princi-
palities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to
every good work."
Now it was at this point that, in accordance with a,
notice which he had given, he desired to address himseli
in a special manner to the Orangemen of that district,.
and to any others that might have found their way into
that congregation. He should first of all refer to their
printed laws and ordinances, and read the general qualifi-
cations of an Orangeman :
" An Orangeman should have a sincere love and vene-
ration for his Almighty Maker—a firm steadfast faith in
the Saviour of the world, convinced that He is the only
mediator between a sinful creature and an offended God.
He should cultivate truth and justice, brotherly kindness
and charity, devotion and piety, concord and unity,
loyalty and obedience to the laws. His disposition should
be gentle and compassionate ; his behaviour kind and
courteous ; he should love the society of the good, and
avoid the company of the evil; he should honour, and
diligently read, the Holy Scriptures, and make them
the rule of his faith and practice. He should love, up-
hold, and defend the Protestant religion, and sincerely
desire to propagate its doctrines and precepts. He should
Strenuously oppose and protest against the errors and
dangerous doctrines of the Church of Rome. He should
by all lawful means resist the ascendancy of that church,
its encroachments, and the extension of its power; but
he should abstain from all uncharitable words, actions or
feelings towards his Roman Catholic brethren. He
should remember to keep holy the Sabbath day, and
attend the public worship of God ; he should never take
the name of God in vain, but abstain from all cursing and
is of language, and use all opportunities of dis-
g this shameful practice in others. His conduct
*narked by prudence, wisdom, and honesty,
--hriety ; the glory of God, and the love
man, the honour of the sovereign, and the good of his
-ntev should be the motives of an Orangeman."
walifications of an Orangeman assured him
1 men he should have willing hearers in
And first he said this to them, he
most cordially and entirely, most
c their principles so far as he knew.

poraka

came not to be n
His life a ransom

Jebov.

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