The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1867-05-08

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moral questions involved did the Romish
Inquisition pretend to decide, when it
pronounced sentence on its hapless vic
tins, and delivered them up to the mags-
trate to be burnt? What but moral
question did the Popes of Rome pretend
to decide, when they urged upon Cath
Ole princes the duty of suppressing here
sy with the sword? And have not the
former prosecutions of Dissenters by
the Prelates of England, and of the Ro-
manists by the Presbyterians of Scot
land, been justified by like plea?
This pretext will never abide the test
of the Gospel. The example, as well as
the recorded declarations of its Divine
Author, proves its fallacy. Who can de-
ny, that when zone of the company said
unto Jesus, Master, speak to my brother,
that he may divide the inheritance with
me, - there was very important moral
question involved? One or the other,
or it may be both of the brothers, had
perpetrated, or was disposed to perpe-
trate moral wrong, and who so compe-
tent to sit in judgment on q moral ques-
ton as He, who as God, was the author
of the moral law, as well as of the civil
and ceremonial law of the Jewish people?
Yet, what was his answer to this appeal,
seemingly SO reasonable? "Man, who
made me judge, or divider over you"
Why this refusal to exercise his authori-
ty, in the settlement Of a moral ques-
ton? Because that question, though it
did involve moral elements, was mainly
a civa question, falling properly within
the province of the civil law and its Off
GERS. Jesus was the minister of another
Kingdom, and he would not embarrass
himself, or his cause by needless COM
plications with matters foreign to his
spiritual work; and herein he designed
to teach the officers of his Kingdom, to
beware of all such insidious entangle-
ments with secular affairs; to maintain
a rigid separation between his Kingdom
and those of this world. -.
To minds that have never been famil-
lar with the history of the Church, nor
apprehended clearly the spiritual nature
of Christ's kingdom, or who have adopt
ed erroneous interpretations of those
prophecies which announce the ultimate
subsection Of all nations to the sceptre
of Emmanuel, there is a marvellous Sc
ductiveness and fascination in the idea
of State formally protesting its allie
glance to Christ, and CT Kings and
Queens, as such, becoming " nursing
fathers and mothers to his Church.
Without stopping to show, how all the
prophetic predictions of the Church's
final triumphs may be realised, without
this fusion and confusion of Church and
State, let me advert to undeniable facts.
The very States which do most formally,
distinctly, and fully profess Christian
creed; the States where religion is most
patronised and enforced by "the powers
that be-" are of all others the most de-
moralized; while the Church is most
deeply degraded and corrupted. Com
pare the moral character and material
condition of Spain and of the Roman
States win our own; compare the reli-
gious condition of Spain and of Italy with
our own; and what lesson does it teach,
on the subject of so-called "Christian
Governments
Is it said, that the moral and political
condition of the State, and the spiritual
condition of the Church in these instances,
is to be ascribed to the form of religion
there professed? Then let us turn to
Protestant States. In England the
Church is established by law; and the
Protestant faith part of the civil con-
stitution. Until period comparatively
recent, no man could fill civil, or mill
tary Office, without partaking of the
Lords supper, according to the ritual of
the Church of England. Does any evan
gelical Christian believe, that Christ's
cause, or the best interests of the State,
were promoted by such governmental re-
ligion? .-laa l-5
There was time, when the State of
Massachusetts was virtual theocracy.
The Stateregulated the Church; and the
Church the State. No citizen was eligi-
Bile to office in the State, unless he were
first member of the Church. And what
is Massachusetts now? And what is the
condition of her churches In no part
of this land have infdelity and soul-des-
tructive heresy so rioted, as in that very
commonwealth where the same system
was long maintained, which many are
now striving to establish over our whole
land. .m o.
No, no; this is not Christ's plan for
Christianising State. He has Showed
us "a better way;;" and it is the only
sure way His kingdom, he tells us, is
"lke leaven, which woman took and
hid in three measures of meal, until the
whole was leavened." Is there no special
design in the selection of this particular
Esimile-? How does leayen work on the
mass into which it is introduced? Why
it gently insinuates its elements until it
permeates the whole, and transforms its
nature. The State is not to be moulded
by an external pressure on the part Of
the Church, but by process akin to
the chemical agencies of nature. The
Church is not to manipulate the State,
as the potter fashions his vessel. Thrust
labor to Undue all whom it can reach
with the spirit of the Gospel; to teach
all to regulate their conduct in all the re-
lations Of life by the precepts of the
Gospel. In this way, and in this alone,
can q State become Christianisad. and