The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-08-23
The Platform Of the PrcSby terrain Con.
yentiOn at ~. Louis.


We find in the St. Louis Democrat the
following propositions, which were laid
down by the Presbyterian Convention re-
Gently held in that city to protest against
the action of the Northern Presbyterian
General Assembly:
/. That Jesus Christ is sole King, Head,
and Lawgivcr Of the Church which he has
established in the world, and which con-
stitutcs His kingdom, diverse from all
other kingdoms in its origin, nature, means,
ends, and destiny" not reckoned among
the nations, and kingdom which is not Of
this world" This crown and kingdom
of Jesus Christ appcrtains to him as cX-
clusivcly as His cross" He is King Of
Israel because lie is Redccmer of Israel,
and sits priest upon his throne; and " ii
is precisely in this absolute and exclusive
headship of Christ and the conservation of
His Church, to Him responsive thereto,
that the root OF her inward freedom lies !:
Just as it is in her entire separation from
the world, that her outward freedom is
grounded, and can be made manifest.
2. To this kingdom, and as its king and
lawgiver, and by virtue OF His kingly
right, Jesus Christ has given constitution
and laws which none may add to or take
away from, or in any wise alter or amend.
These constitute /" His revealed will, and
are contained in the Scriptures Of the Old
and New Testaments, and are supreme
and complete as the only constitution and
laws by which his people are to be 60
yerned, and to which they are bound, as
Christians, to render obedience"
L ~ (hnrrh
to do with men solely in their spiritual re-
lations to God in Christ IS Redecmcr; in
it neither time, nor place, nor condition,
nor race, has any vital significance nor
can flesh and blood inherit it !; nor does
anything avail but the new creature.
4. This kingdom is an independent So
vereignty within its own sphere, aud owes
allegiance to none but its Head and King,
Jesus of Nazareth; nor can any higher
duty rest upon the Church than this in
dependence, and preserve her loyalty TO
Her Lord.
5. There is another kingdom, the State,
the ordinance of God, the Creator and
Governor of men, which has to do solely
with men as intelligent creatures, and in
their temporal relations one towards an
other. And this kingdom, the civil 60
vernment, is sovereign and independent
within its own proper sphere.
&. In both these Kingdoms, the Church
on the one hand, and the State on the
other, Lex is Rex Rex is not Lex. That
is, law is king or supreme, and not the
minister or magistrate. Law is the hum
blest Christian citizen or subject. The
supreme law, the rule of the State or civil
government, is the light and law Of ma
ture the supreme law, the rule OF the
Church government, is the word Of Christ
revealed in the Scriptures.
Z. Ii is not competent for the State, nor
does 1t come within the province of the
civil government, to decide any question
as between the Christian and the Church
nor is it competent for the Church to de-
eide any question as between the citizen
and the State. These two sovereignties
have no joint or common or concurrent
jurisdiction in any matter whatever.
Z. The kingly office of Christ cannot be
lmpugned or subverted in any manner
without undermining His prophetic and
furnishing His priestly Offices.
9. All union of Church and the State,
whether by the subordination of the State
10 the Church, which is Popery, or of the
Church to the State, which is Erastianism,
or Of both combined, tends necessarily to
the destruction of the freedom of both
Church and State, and of the ends for
which each was ordained. Such union
leads in the State to unmitigated despot.
ism, aud in the Church to ecclesiastical
autocracy, and contains the germ of com.
plete and final spostacy.
10. The highest act Of apostacy that a
Christian or Church can commit is to re-
.ject the Lord Christ as the sole and exclu,
sive King, Lawgivcr, and Judge in Zion
and whatever doctrine or practice subyerts
or tends to subvert either His pricstly or
prophetic Offices, affects In like degree
His Office as King.