66 except it be a universal atonement. But a universal and all-sufficient atonement there certainly is. According to the Scriptures," he died for all." The man Christ Jesus gave himself a ransom for all." "He is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world." "He thus, having obtained the Spirit, is the author of eternal salvation." 2 Cor. v. 15; 1 Tim. ii. 5, 6; 1 John ii. 2; Heb. v. 9. He hath received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost". -"baptizeth with the Holy Ghost:" thus acting as the Priest over the house of God-the all-perfect and immortal Priest, sprinkling clean water upon us that we may be clean; so making us sharers of his own purity. None are really of the spiritual Church who are not sprinkled with the blood of atonement. Being "the Christ" Jesus, our Priest, is the Foundation of the Church of God. As none can come to the Father but by him; as we have no part with him if he do not wash us; as we have no life in us unless we eat his flesh and drink his blood, so it is only by connection with him as our Priest that we can be, in the eye of God, members of his Church. 3. Jesus as the Christ," the anointed Head, is the Foundation of the Church of God. Connection with him is the medium of connection with the Church. The followers of Christ are mutually united, in consequence of their union with him. As vine branches are brought into mutual union by their union with the one parent stem, so are the disciples of Christ mutually united in virtue of their common union with him. 66 66 The vital union and mutual sympathy of the various members of the human body is repeatedly employed by Paul to illustrate the nature of Christian union. We," says he, being many, are one body; but he adds words intimating, that it is in Christ, that we are one body. Rom. xii. 5. Again he tells us in express terms, that, "Christ is the Head of the body, the Church : and he speaks also of "The Head from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God." Col. i. 18; ii. 19. The term Head, kepaλn here employed, denotes a centre of vital influence. Such is Christ to all who are united to him by faith he dwells in them, actuates them, animates them, pervades them with his saving energy. They derive spiritual life, activity, perception, and sensation from him, in consequence of their connection with him as their Head. In this aspect, to change the figure, while the idea conveyed remains unchanged-Christ is the Foundation of the Church of God-Jesus is the Foundation of the Church, as the Christ, the anointed One, who is Lord of all, the Sovereign of the universe, and specially as the King set on the holy hill of Zion-the Lord of the Church. All the members of the Church are subjects of Jesus. He is We the King of saints. serve the Lord Christ." Col. iii. 24. Though meek and lowly, he, even in the days of his humiliation, said to his disciples: Ye call me, Lord, and ye say well, for so I am. John xiii. 13. In the apostolical epistles, and in the Apocalypse Jesus is spoken of in the loftiest terms that language can supply-as the Lord of the Church-her Master and Sovereign-her supreme and absolute Lord. 66 Submission to him is the indispensable duty of all. It is the pecu liar duty of all who occupy a place in the Church. The Redeemer is jealous of his prerogatives as King in Zion. This glory of his,—it is impious in any creature to attempt to share. But, on this point, it is unnecessary to dwell at present. I hasten to consider : II. Some of the attempts made to lay for the foundation of the Church other objects besides Jesus, the Christ. 1. Some have attempted to lay, as the foundation of the Church, a system of merely human teaching. They have propounded a widely expanded confession. They have adopted a greatly ramified creed, embracing various opinions not established by clear scriptural proof. They have required the reception of all the points, great and small, to which a place was assigned in their creed. The doctrinal formulæ of some religious bodies include several volumes; the Creeds and Confessions of other bodies may, indeed, be included in a single volume of a moderate size; but the comments and explanations deemed requisite for the clear understanding of them, are numerous and bulky. These expositions of doctrine, though written by men confessedly fallible, are enjoined on Christians as necessary to be adopted by all who seek Christian communion. By some Christian officials, assent to such articles of faith is demanded from all applicants, as if it were essential to salvation. Others require from students and ministers, a solemn declaration, not only that they do now believe their entire Confession,in its full extent, and in its minutest details, but also that they will always continue to believe that entire confession. Such requirements are arrogant and presumptuous. They argue, in those who enforce them, deplorable ignorance of human nature. Were it possible to enchain mind, still the attempt to do so would be a most arrogant attempt. The attempt is as vain as it is arrogant. As well might I attempt to bind the wings of the eagle by the gossamer's thread. The attempt is uncongenial with the humility, the kindness, and mutual respect inculcated by Jesus and his disciples. Christians are not each other's lords. They are brethren, having all equal right to exercise individual judgment regarding the import of the oracles of God. Such attempts are encroachments on the prerogative of the Lord and Lawgiver of the Church. They are attempts to lay another foundation than Jesus, the Christ, -the Great Teacher,-the infallible Prophet of the Church. If formulæ of doctrine are enjoined on us, as necessary to be believed, so far, and so far only, as they are provably accordant with the Holy Scriptures, the case is altered; but if they are to be believed, irrespectively of this condition, then do they become the means of enslaving and subverting the souls of men,-then are they to be reckoned the workmanship and the instruments of those who are attempting to lay another foundation than that is laid, which is Jesus, the Christ. We Happy am I that the body whose ministers and members chiefly compose the present congregation can be vindicated from the charge of attempting to lay another foundation than Jesus, the Christ. believe, That the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are given by Divine inspiration, and are the sufficient and only authoritative Rule of Faith, Practice and Church Government. And we hold that, so far as membership with a Christian Church is concerned, nothing is to be required as indispensable which is not manifestly enjoined in these infallible records. We thus lay for the foundation, Jesus, the Christ. 2. Some have attempted to found the Church on a human priesthood. These religionists require us to depend for the efficacy of ordinances on the qualifications of those who administer them. What though the Redeemer's sacrifice is perfect, its efficacy is held to depend on those who perform the ceremony which exhibits that sacrifice to the eye of faith. What though Jesus baptizes with the Holy Ghost, it is alleged that none can be acceptably baptized in his name unless by certain consecrated hands on which depends the virtue of the initiatory ordinance, not less really than on the influence of the Holy Spirit, and the sanction of the Divine command. What though the word of reconciliation is complete, it is to be proclaimed only by those on whom have devolved the functions exercised in the primitive ages by the apostles, and who exercise these functions in virtue of a continuous line of authorized transmission. Neither the sacred supper, nor the baptismal water, nor the Gospel message have, according to these parties, any efficacy, unless administered by the priesthood who are held to be the direct and sole successors of the apostles. Those who maintain this, are, however unconscious of the fact, really laying another foundation than Jesus, the Christ. He, the immortal High Priest, has a perpetual priesthood. Through Him all who hear the Gospel may by faith draw nigh to God. How futile the pretensions of those who claim to be the sole channels of saving efficacy, the sole dispensers of saving benefits under the Christian dispensation! Away with all such pretensions! "Other foundation can no one lay than that which is already laid,-Jesus, the Christ." - 3. Some have made human Headship the foundation of the Church. As if man could be the centre of spiritual vitality to the Church of the living God, he has been regarded with a confidence to which he can have no rightful claim. This error is so closely allied to the one which has just occupied our attention, that it can scarcely be so distinguished as to be exhibited separately to the mind as an object of contemplation. As differing from the error regarding the priesthood, it is so gross and detestable as scarcely to need exposure. My auditors it needs none with you. You know that it is from Christ alone the Living, Life-giving One, that spiritual influences flow to all the members of his mystic body,-quickening, strengthening, beautifying them,— communicating to them the Divine fulness, and enabling this whole glorious body to increase with the increase of God. 4. Some have attempted to build the Church on the basis of authority merely human. Rites and ceremonies for which no Divine sanction could be pleaded, have been enjoined, by persons in high authority, to be observed on pain of exclusion from that body which pronounced and proclaimed itself to be the church of God. Cæsar has entered the sanctuary and given commands regarding its order, furniture, and ritual. Human pretenders to be the vicegerents of Christ, have prescribed laws for regulating "the house of God, which is the Church of the living God." What has Cæsar to do there? Nothing whatever, unless he enter it in the garb and the character of a believing penitent. Let him leave his diadem and sceptre at the portal, and enter, not as a regnant sovereign, but as a ransomed sinner. Jesus is the only Lord of the Church. Him we should obey in all things ecclesiastical, and him alone. In obeying the precepts of the Gospel, I obey Christ. In observing the ordinances of the Gospel, I obey Christ. In receiving the truth of the Gospel, I obey Christ. In submitting to the order and rule sanctioned in the Church by Scriptural precept or precedent, I obey Christ. Further I cannot go, without being chargeable with base subserviency to human dictation, and atrocious treachery to Christ. In the church of God, no merely human authority should be acknowledged and obeyed beyond what is simply and solely ministerial. Christ is the sole authority in the Church. Him we own our Lord, and him alone. To bear his train, to obey his behests, to be his dovλou -his "slaves," is our most exalted honour, - our most precious privilege,- our fullest freedom. The attempts to lay other foundations of the Church, than Jesus, the Christ, are impious, foolish, and mischievous. They are impious, for they are attempts to set aside the appointment of the Father, who hath said by the mouth of his prophet Isaiah,-" Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation." Chap. xxviii. 16. We have the authority of our text for asserting that the foundation laid by JEHOVAH in Zion, is Jesus, the Christ. To attempt to lay another there, is to act in impious opposition to the wise and gracious designs of Him who is the Most High. Such attempts are impious, for they are attempts to rob of his peculiar glory, Him who is the "Fellow" of the Father," the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and " who, " who, "upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on High." Zech. xiii. 7. Heb. i. 3. Such attempts are impious, for they are attempts to supersede and oppose the all-wise dictates of that Omnipresent Spirit who rests upon Jesus, qualifying him as man for his mediatorial work,-the Spirit who "searcheth all things, even the deep things of God. Luke iv. 18. 1 Cor. ii. 10. Impious, presumptuous men! how dare they insult and oppose the all-glorious, all-wise, almighty JEHOVAH, the God of salvation. Such attempts must be indescribably foolish. They are the first-born offspring of blindness and error. They are attempts to set aside an arrangement perfectly wise, and suitable to make room for projects which originating in vanity must terminate in vexation of spirit. They are mad attempts which are liable to end in the signal destruction of such as make them. For "whosoever shall fall on this stone, shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. See Matt. xxii. 42-44. Such attempts are awfully mischievous to those with whom they prevail,—they are destructive to the Church and to the world. They endanger the salvation of multitudes. Woe to him who trusts the superstructure of his eternal hopes on another foundation than Jesus! Woe to the Church which is built on another foundation! It must fall, and great will be the fall of it. Woe to the builders, the ministers of religion, who place the materials with which they enlarge the visible Church on any other foundation, or who place improper materials on this foundation. If saved,-they shall be saved, as through a fire." All other foundations are unsuitable and unsafe. The foundations on which the unwise builders to which I have referred, have attempted to rear the Church of God, are lamentably deficient. They are deficient in extent, accessibility,-firmness, and permanence. 1. They are deficient in extent. The temple of God is an exceedingly capacious structure. So vast are its dimensions, that millions of workmen might all be at the same time labouring in bringing stones to it and placing them in its walls, without the remotest risk of incommoding each other, or being in the way of each others operations. The stones may be brought from myriads of quarries at one and same time. The foundation which God hath laid is commensurate in extent with the building that is to be erected upon it. It is even more extensive than that building. It resembles the primary stratum of rock which forms the perennial foundations of the mightiest mountains on the surface of our globe, and which underlies the hills, the dales, the wide lakes, and the wider expanse of the mighty ocean. But the foundations which have been proposed by erring men, in lieu of this vast Foundation that is laid by God, are narrow, limited foundations, miserably deficient in extent. It is only a small part of the stones found in the existing quarries that can be placed on any of these foundations. Men of all ages, all occupations, all ranks, all nations, men distinguished by all possible diversities in moral and intellectual condition may be brought and placed securely on the grand foundation. It is only certain fractions of the human kind that can be built on those other foundations. Men's systems of doctrine are not adapted for universal reception. Human priesthood is necessarily very confined in its range of objects. Human headship must partake of human littleness. Human lordship can at best be no more than a contracted and diminutive sovereignty. The doctrine of Jesus, the Christ, is universal in its adaptation to the conditions of men, be they where or what they may. Our Great High Priest can bear all our names in his breast. He atoned for all. He makes intercession for the entire mass of the transgressors, and is able to save all that come unto Him. He is a living Head, whose life-giving influences extend to all, as he giveth life unto the world. All true disciples are branches in this amazing vine tree, which Jehovah hath planted for himself. He, our Redeemer, is Lord of all, unlike the little arrogant pretenders to lordship over man. On His head are many diadems. He is King of kings, and Lord of lords. 2. These other foundations are defective in another most important quality, viz. in accessibility. They lie too low for many human beings to reach them. More talent, more leisure, more wealth, more virtue than are the common possession of mankind, are requisite before these foundations can be reached. Not so the grand Foundation, |