Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-05-18
Does not the conception alone of such king
dom prove its origin divine?

pressively evidenced by the fact that it has q
divine and, therefore, perfect and infallible
| charter and constitution. A charter authorizes
and imparts life; constitution prescribes the
| way In which that life shall manifest itself. To
| discover, at least in germinal form, the charter
| of the spiritual kingdom Of Christ, it is neces-
| sary to 60 back into the dim recesses of a past
| eternity. There in that covenant OF redemp-
ton which God the Father made, not with us,
| but our surety, the Lord Jesus Christ, He
promised as the reward for His incarnation,
obedience, sufferings and death in the place Of
| sinners, to give pardon, grace and eternal life
| to all who should believe in Him. That these
| justified. saved believers might have q visible.
associated life, as an earthly training school
| and home for them. the church was organized
aud established.
1t came therefore into the being by, was the
| essential product Of, the promise and pledge Of
| Almighty God to His only begotten Son. Is it
possible to conceive OF any stronger guarantee
| Of indestructible existence. Compared with it
all other chartered institutional life is yielding
| air. shifting sand, . breaking bubble "God
spake and the church was born. 1t stands
upon the rock Of ages. 1t lifts its head above
the clouds, above the stars. Its DAYS are the
years Of God 1t is immortal and cannot be
killed. 1t will survive all its foes and stand
erect when every idol falls 1t no more fears
what its enemies can do than the rod of Moses
feared when the slaves of the magicians Missed
around it. Yes,
'On the rock Of ages founded.
Naught can shake its sure reposs.
1t can smile at all its foes"
But more, far more than this. is true. Not
only has the church thus a divlnely inspired
life. but the way in which that life in all its
grand essential principles and features shall
manifest itself Is also prescribed by God. In
finitely precious and beloved by its divine
head. so considerable and jealous is He of its
honor. purity and prosperity that to no created
being will He intrust the enactment of laws for
its government He himself will be the alone
legislator, as He is the supreme autocratic king
In Zion.
COPS AUTHORITY IN THE CHURCH.
The Presbyterian Church clearly recognizes
this. In its confession of faith it explicitly re-
pudiates all right and authority to legslate or
make laws for the church.
Its province and functions are limited to the
| far humber and smaller sphere Of interpreting
and applying the law as enunciated by God.
We know that sometimes our standards have
been called 1.-THE constitution of the Presby-
terrain Church" The phraseoioSy We regard as
lnexact and unfortunate, and yet no candid
person who carefully reads those standards can
misunderstood the meaning of the appellstion.
They are they claim to be. the constitution of
the church. simply and only expressing in
the most exact, uninspired language. the di-
vinely framed enactments contained in the
Bible.
The constitution Of Gods kingdom. like the
model Of the sanctuary shown to Moses on the
mount, was the workmanship of HIS own wis
dom and love, prepared from first to last by
himself. Thus originated by God, it was not
gwen all at once, In a finished, perfected form.
but in installments, each installment perfect in
itself. 1t was communicated by the Holy Spirit
as the interests and progress of the church de-
handed. Because so impaired that perfection
and infallibility which pertained to it As God
"a - .k,I
nels of its transmission were so divinely di-
rected and guided that the finished product.
when freed from all changes and errors made
by translators, transcribers and printers. is the
very enactment of God. Now this constitution,
prescribing positively the great laws, condition
and principles of the church's life, is founded
on the Bible.
Indeed, the Bible is simply and only that
constitution plus the history of Gods people
and of the facts OF redemption, which acted
and reacted upon each other, and are vitality
interviewer together.
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH.
We use words then with fair degree Of ex-
actness when we call the Bible ''the constitu-
tional history of the church" The two ele-
ments found IN it. the history and the laws,
the earthly events as recorded, and the heavenly
matter revealed. are to our mind, indisso-
lubly connected. They are vouched for by the
same authority, they stand or fall together.
You cannot destroy confidence IN the trust
worthiness of without at the same time
weakening faith in the divine infallibility OF
the other.
Views radically antagonistic to these are held
and widely promulgated. Extreme foreign
representatives of a new school of criticism.
which, when wisely and deyoutly conducted. Is
most useful and valuable. Men of acknowl-
edged learning and scholarship are busily en-
gagged in Remembering and dissecting the
thava ft.rrl a+r,
it upon principles in the application Of which
they widely differ. Some of these critics or
teachers utterly destructive. both in their
methods and results. Others profess q rever-
ent spirit. They draw broad distinction be-
tween the revelation when it can be ascertained
and the history in the Book. The former is
acknowledged to be of divine origin and au-
thority, and therefore great allowance being
made for fallibllity in the human channels of
its transmission. confessedly perfect and true,
while the latter is marked throughout by
human ignorance and imperfection. We do
not say that they consciously have this intent,
but with our views to the effect of such
treatment of the Bible. the reverence they ex-
press for the Book is the respect which success
full revolutionists show to a dethrcned and dis
crowned king.
NOT ENDORSED By THE CHURCH.
The Presbyterian Church, the evangelical
church Of Jesus Christ throughout the world
has never IN the past, does not now, and will
never in the future, as we think, indorse these
opinions. The great creeds Of Cbristendom,
honestly and fairly interpreted. give no coun-
tenance to them. Our own beloved church,
while honoring scholarship, counting investiga-
ton. and welcoming criticism in her standards,
her deliverances. the utterances Of her wisest
and best ministers. has again and again ex-
pressed her firm and settled conviction that no
discrimination as to truthfulness can be made
between different parts of the Book; that from
beginning to end. from the opening sentence in
Genesis to the last verse in Revelation the Bible
is the very Word of God.
OF the same purport, and this should be con-
elusive, is the clear, positive testimony Of
Christ For the inviolable truthfulness at
least of all that part Of the Bible which in
existence when He was on earth, His word is
pledged 1.-The Old Testament, the whole of
i" saws one, seven in its minutest details. He
recognized as the utterance of God. He treated
it as a whole. To Him it was enough. 1T is
written" He considered this should be
enough for His hearers. With Him Scripture
could not be broken" "He accepted the mar
rative as facts even where modern criticism
sees only instructive fable or human exag-
gerations. From end to end he has placed His
seal of royal assent upon the Book"
THE FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH.
Upon no other theory or belief can We, as it
seems to me, claim divine, infallible, perfect
constitution for the church. II the historical
events and personages the facts Of REDEMPTION