Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1877-08-11

pie. The elders partoOk with Moses
of the solemn sacrificial feast on the
mount, preparatory to the reception
of the ritual and ecclesiastical law.
The elders, with the priests, cOnsti-
tuted the ecclesiastical courts of APP
peal of the nation. The elders, with
the priests, constituted the eeclesias- /
teal courts of appeal of the nation.
Even in Israel, under the apos-
tacy, this form of government
remained unchanged among the
true people of God; for " Elisha
sat in his house, and his elders sat
with him." daughter and APP
plause.) And after the fall of Israel
as nation the elders assembled with
the prophet Ezekiel in their cavity
ity on the river Cheben. So even in
tie wasted and corrupt Jerusalem
the form of this appointed court, the
Presbytery, survived the apostacy
for we learn that a corrupt court of
priests and elders condemned Jere-
miah to death for speaking the warm
ings of Jehovah. When Messiah
" came unto His own and His own
received Him not" even then, at
the final apostacy of the Church of
the old covenant, the diVinely APP
pointed form of ecclesiastical gov
ernment is found still surviving,
though men "made void this law
through their traditions" Elders
ruled in the synagogue, and priests
and elders constituted the eccleSias-
teal council that condemnedt heSOn
of God. Under the dispensation of
the Spirit, the elders still occupied
| the same position toward the Church
that they had occupied under the old
dispensation, having beenappointed
by the Holy Ghost to take oversight
of the flock. And again in the Wis
ion of theSeer of PatmOS, he beheld
through the door opened in Heaven
! the glorious Church Of the future, as
a great congregation still organized
! asa Church, represented by its elders
! Observation-Disclosures from the
old and twelve from the new dis
pensatiOn; and these elders casting
their crowns, the symbols of their
authority, at the feet of him whom
they unite to acknowledge as their
head and source of all authority in
the Church ofall ages. (Applause.)
Thus the CalVinistic theory Of the
Church is seen to be in perfect
harmony both with the structure
and the substance of the Scrip
lures. The primary and germinal
idea of the Church is of the elect
body contemplated in the Covenant
of Redemption. By a covenant
charter this body is organized into a
community in which the Mediator
rules, to which He gives ordinances,
| laws, and officers, and through
which He will reveal His will and
execute His mission to the race at
| large. This organized body, in the
nature of the case, is perpetual and
identical through all ages. 1t may
vary in degrees of purity down to
utter apOStacy. It may have its
seat in one nation and run in the
line Of national descent, or it may
become the Church Of all nations,
and treat us one blood all kindreds
of men. 1t may now be cOnspicu-
Gus, or now humble and compare
lively hidden. 1t may vary as to
the degree of divine knowledge cur
| rent in it, and may vary as to the
form of its ordinances and instru-
mentalities for teaching divine truth.
But Withal it is essentially the same
body of people, organized for the
same purposes, administered in by
the same Ruler, and under Him
ministered to by the same sort of
ministefing servants, and substanti-
ally under the same form of govern
ment. (Applause.) \ reference to
! the CalVinistic creeds of the RefOr-
nation will show that the theory of
0 l. 4, IL 81
| plainly the conception which Cal
VinistS then had, however they may
| have failed afterWard to maintain
it fully. Some Of them more fully,
some less, brought out the concep-
ton Ofthe Church Visibleas the man.
| Hesitation Of the Church ideal of the
purpose OfredemptiOn. Itmay now
| be asked why, with this clear con-
| ceptiOn Of the Church so far i'll adj
vance of the conception of other
| than CalVinistic Churches at the Re
| formation, the CalViniStic Churches
have also, in great measure, failed
to actualiZe their ideal. The an
swer is not difficult. In the first
place, such a theory Of the Church
naturally excited the hostility of the
secular governments Of the world,
because to their EraStian conceptions
it seemed to be setting up within
their dOminiOnS an iH3peTjitHl IN i'm
Deri0, leading their subjects to say,
"TheTe is another King, one Jesus"
a Iaugh.) Hence the peculiar hos
tility of political sOVereigns and
Erastian legislators and juristS to
PresbyterIanism. And hence, on
the other hand, the peculiar form Of
the testimony of the Scottish fathers
for "Christ'S crown and covenant"
(Hear, hear, and applause.) 1t is a
very common blunder among even
men Of letters to cOnfOund the Scot
fish PreSbyterianS, in the contest
with the TudOrS and StuartS, with
the English NOncOnfOrmists, under
the common title of PuritanS. |
Whereas the Scottish Puritan, if he
must be called such, had no sort of
ecclesiastical affinity with the Eng |
fish Puritan. While the one was
inherently a Radical and Republic |
can, the other was inherently a Con- !
sentative and a ROyalist. Their |
only affinity was in making COM |
rOgatiVe. In concluding, DIR. Rob !
iilSbil SsllNl HIS DCCll 9tilu /
in this paper Of the theories of eccle-
siolOgy, which trace the visible |
Church of God no farther back than |
the Apostles, nor OfthepOpular error |
that because little is said expressly |
in the writings of the Apostles of !
the form of Church government,
therefore it must be a matter of mi
nOrimpOTtance. twill be seen that |
according to the views here present
ed, the Church of God as a visible
organization had already become
venerable in the age OF the Apostles.
They had no commission to estab-
lish a Church constitution, but sim
ply to modify the constitution so far
as to call on the Church of the one
nation to become the Church of all
nations, and to modify the Ordinan-
ces Of the Church so as to substitute
the forms of worship proper to the
worship of Christ as historically in
carnate for the symbols needful for
the worship of Christ while His in
carnation was yet future. The func-
ton of the Apostles was similar to
those of the American conventions
called to modify the State Constitu-
ton. so as to adapt them to the