V. They believe that the only officers placed by the Apostles over individual Churches are the bishops or pastors, and the deacons; the number of these being dependent upon the numbers of the Church; and that to these, as the officers of the Church, is committed respectively the administration of its spiritual and temporal concerns-subject, however, to the approbation of the Church. VI. They believe that no persons should be received as members of Christian Churches, but such as make a credible profession of Christianity, are living according to its precepts, and attest a willingness to be subject to its discipline; and that none should be excluded from the fellowship of the Church, but such as deny the faith of Christ, violate His laws, or refuse to submit themselves to the discipline which the Word of God enforces. VII. The power of admission into any Christian Church, and rejection from it, they believe to be vested in the Church itself, and to be exercised only through the medium of its own officers. VIII. They believe that Christian Churches should statedly meet for the celebration of public worship, for the observance of the Lord's Supper, and for the sanctification of the first day of the week. IX. They believe that the power of a Christian Church is purely spiritual, and should in no way be corrupted by union with temporal or civil power. X. They believe that it is the duty of Christian Churches to hold communion with each other, to entertain an enlarged affection for each other, as members of the same body, and to co-operate for the promotion of the Christian cause; but that no Church, nor union of Churches, has any right or power to interfere with the faith or discipline of any other Church, further than to separate from such as, in faith or practice, depart from the Gospel of Christ. XI. They believe that it is the privilege and duty of every Church to call forth such of its members as may appear to be qualified, by the Holy Spirit, to sustain the office of the ministry; and that Christian Churches unitedly ought to consider the maintenance of the Christian ministry in an adequate degree of learning, as one of its especial cares; that the cause of the Gospel may be both honourably sustained, and constantly promoted. XII. They believe that Church officers, whether bishops or deacons, should be chosen by the free voice of the Church; but that their dedication to the duties of their office should take place with special prayer, and by solemn designation, to which most of the Churches add the imposition of hands by those already in office. K XIII. They believe that the fellowship of every Christian Church should be so liberal as to admit to communion in the Lord's Supper all whose faith and godliness are, on the whole, undoubted, though conscientiously differing in points of minor importance; and that this outward sign of fraternity in Christ should be co-extensive with the fraternity itself, though without involving any compliances which conscience would deem to be sinful. LECTURE III. THE ROMANISTS. A.D. 1570. Leading Idea :-The organic Unity of the Church. Method adopted:-Concentration of the Ecclesiastical Polity into a despotism. 'Quisquis se Universalem Sacerdotem vocat, vel vocari desiderat, in elatione suâ Antichristum præcurrit.' (Pope Gregory I. Epist. vii. 33.) CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. c. 200. First symptoms of Papal pride (Pope Victor). c. 400. Rights of Patriarchs overridden : 347. Council of Sardica gives appeals to Julius I. 402. Innocent I. interferes at Constantinople. 445. Leo I. (in Peter's name) claims the whole Church. 863. Nicholas I. deposes Photius. 1054. Leo IX. excommunicates the Eastern Church. 1203. Innocent III. (fourth Crusade) captures Constantinople. c. 500. Rights of Metropolitans overridden : 417. Zosimus interferes in Africa. 498. Symmachus begins to send the pallium. 600. Gregory I. places Augustin over the British Church. 752. Zachary sends 'legates à latere.' 840. Forged decretals composed. 860. Nicholas I. tramples on Archbishops of Rheims, &c. 1061. Alexander II. claims to confirm all Bishops. 1070. deposes Archbishop Stigand. 1140. Decretum Gratiani,' &c. c. 1000. Rights of Bishops overridden : 1066. Monasteries exempted. 1155. Bishops robbed of patronage by 'mandates.' c. 1050. Rights of Presbyters overridden : 1050. Leo IX. imposes celibacy. 1150. Bishops chosen by Cathedral Chapters. 1199. Innocent III. begins to tax the clergy. 1216. Friars sent out into the parishes. c. 1100. Rights of the Laity overridden : 1050. Interdicts begin. 1059. Popes elected by Cardinals only. 1076. Gregory VII. deposes the German Emperor. 1158. Adrian IV. grants away Ireland, &c. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 1170. Lay tribunals forbidden to try Clergy. 1300. Boniface VIII. claims universal dominion. c. 1200. Rights of General Councils overridden : 384. Siricius annuls a Canon of Nicæa. 440. Leo I. annuls a Canon of Chalcedon. 1200. Innocent III. claims a general dispensing power. 133 1409. Councils (Pisa, Constance, Basle) nullified by the Popes. 1300. Culmination of the Papal pretensions in Boniface VIII. 1303. Resistance begins in earnest : 1279. English 'Statute of Mortmain.' 1303. Philip IV. of France burns the Pope's Bull, and appeals to a General Council. 1438. Pragmatic sanction' of Charles VII. 1520. Luther in Germany burns the Pope's Bull, and appeals to a General Council. 1530. Church of England renounces the Papal supremacy, and appeals to a General Council. 1588. Spanish Armada repelled. 1688. James II. expelled, and the throne barred in future to a Romanist. 1530. England throws off the Papal supremacy. 1543. The Jesuits sanctioned by the Pope. 1545. Latin Council at Trent. 1564. Cassander's effort at reunion. 1569. Seminary for English priests founded at Douai. 1570. Pius V. issues his Bull against Queen Elizabeth. 1572. Massacre of St. Bartholomew in France. 1587. Plots to assassinate Elizabeth, and set Mary Queen of Scots on the throne. Mary beheaded. 1588. England attacked by the Spanish Armada. 1598. Pope commissions an Archpriest to govern the English Ro manists. 1605 Gunpowder plot, Oates's plot, &c. |