they were reckoned as one church, and called the church of that district or country, as the Church of Judea, the Church of Asia, the Church of Macedonia, but each maintained its distinctive and individual character; and they were designated accordingly, the churches of Judea, the churches of Asia, the churches of Macedonia. And thus, though they were associated in the bonds of fraternal affection, and recognized each other as the churches of Christ, and delighted to enjoy communion with each other as such being all in one each maintained an independence of the rest, and administered, with unfettered freedom, its own affairs, presenting a lovely example of independence and of union

"Distinct, as the billows; but one as the sea."

The other sense in which the word "church" is used, is that which embraces all the true and genuine believers in Christ, of every age and of every dispensation, of every color and of every clime, of every country and of every region, from the beginning to the end of time, whether in visible connexion with any portion, or section, or society, or denomination of professing Christians, or not. This is the true, spiritual, universal, catholic Church; the spiritual body of Christ, of which every believer is a living member; the true vine, of which every believer is a living branch; the spiritual building, in which every believer is a living stone; "the general assembly and church of the first-born, written in heaven."

Brethren, here let us pause; and ere we pass to the second article of our discourse, let us gaze upon this wondrous edifice, as it rises through successive ages to its completion. What goodly stones compose it! countless myriads of ransomed and regenerated men. What mingling colors adorn it! from the purest white of Europe, to the deepest jet of Africa. How does every grade of civilized or barbarous life, every age of the world, and every dispensation of the Church furnish its due proportion of materials for the glorious edifice! - from the burning Asiatic to the shivering Esquimaux-from the turbaned sultan to the tattoed savage-from the monarch on his throne, to the negro in his chains. There is the Jew, no more a devotee to rites and ceremonies, that have long since passed away; and there is the Pagan, now happily emancipated from the cruel superstitions by which he and his fathers have been so long enslaved; "the goodly fellowship of the prophets," and "the noble army of martyrs," shine conspicuous there; and there are all that love the Savior, and that bear his image, and that taste his grace, whatever the name by which they may be known, or whether known by no name at all. The Episcopalian is there, with the Presbyterian; the Wesleyan is there, with the Luther

an; the Independent is there, with the Baptist; each rejoicing to recognize his essential union with all the rest, and each regretting that they were ever otherwise than one. And each, according to his capacity, contributes to the perfect symmetry, the exquisite beauty, the imperishable glory, the surpassing loveliness of this most august and stately temple of the living God. That is his church, which he "will build upon the rock, and against which the gates of hell shall not prevail."

II. We now proceed, in the second place, to consider the relation in which Jesus Christ stands to this edifice. "Upon this rock," he says, "I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

that is,

1. In the first place, Jesus Christ is its foundation. It is built on him. "On this rock I will build my church." Some say, that by "this rock," he meant Peter; for that he says, " Thou art Peter" alluding to the meaning of his name" and on this rock". on thee, Peter-"I will build my church." But then he should have said (I speak it with all reverence; I am constrained so to speak, for the argument requires it; I speak with reverence) but then he should have said, if such had been his meaning, " Thou art Peter; and thy nature, or thine office, or the place that I will assign to thee, or the honor that I will confer upon thee, in connexion with my church, corresponds with the meaning of thy name; for as thy name signifies a rock or a stone, and a rock or a stone is the best foundation, so upon thee, Peter, as on an immovable rock, I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." But did he say this? No, nor anything like it. For what was there in Peter to justify it? Was he omnipotent? See him sinking amidst the waves, and hear him cry, "Lord, save, or I perish." Was he infallible? Listen to his Master's sharp reproof, addressed to him almost immediately after this very conversation: "Get thee behind me, Satan; thou art an offence unto me: for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men." Was he perfect? Alas! for him; for he denied his Lord, and notwithstanding his solemn pledge, that he would die with him rather than deny him, ere the cock that morning crew, he had set the seal of an oath to the thrice repeated declaration - "I know not the man. Is it on such an one as Peter, then, that Christ will build his church? Nay, if on any being inferior to himself he will build his church, it must be on Gabriel, the strongest, or on Michael, the fairest of the archangels that bow before the eternal throne. But neither are they either of them fit to be the foundation of the Christian Church; for though they

"excel in strength," they are not omnipotent; and nothing less than omnipotence will suffice to bear up the mighty edifice, rising through successive ages in majesty and beauty, or secure its stability against the furious and combined and reiterated attacks of earth and of hell.

for " "Thou art the Christ,

no man can

So it is not Peter that he means, when he says, " On this rock I will build my church," but it is himself; it is not to Peter that he refers, but to his own Messiahship — that great fact which Peter's testimony had embraced, which" flesh and blood had not revealed" to him, "which none of the princes of this world knew" thus call Jesus Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." the Son of the living God"- the anointed one, the desire of all nations, the hope and expectation of Israel; "on this rock"-on myself, on my own mysterious person, on my mediatorial character, on my work, on my obedience unto death, as the exclusive ground of hope for a perishing world; on myself, the only foundation which God has laid, and beside which there is, there can be no other "on this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

Let us hear no more of creeds and canons and confessions of uninspired and therefore fallible man; let us hear no more of councils and convocations, and fathers and founders of the Christian Church; let us hear no more of names and authorities, of popes and patriarchs, of Peter and of Paul, of Luther and of Calvin, of Wesley and of Whitfield, as the foundations of the church. Away with all this Popery of Protestantism. For who is Peter, and who is Paul, and who is Luther, and who is Calvin, and who is Wesley, and who is Whitfield, but servants, ministers, instruments, by whom the great Architect condescends to build? But the foundation, and the head, and the chief corner stone, and the top-stone of the building, is Christ; and the Church is" built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself" and Jesus Christ alone "being the chief corner-stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit."

2. Secondly, as Jesus Christ is the foundation of the Church, so is he its architect; "on this Rock," he says, "I will build my Church.” but he builds rather as a master-builder, than as a workman, though it is by virtue of influence derived from him that the workmen he employs are fitted for their work, and rendered efficient operatives in the performance of it.

(1.) As the architect of it, then, he selected its site. He had the range of the universe where to choose, and he fixed on our earth as the favored spot on which he would display the wonders of redemption,

and rear, through a long succession of ages, the glorious structure of the Church. What may be the history of other intelligences, the inhabitants of other worlds, if, indeed, there are other worlds, peopled like our own, we cannot tell; but we know that there is a world where rebellion arose, that there is a race like our own, who "kept not their first estate." Yet he did not choose to build his Church in heaven, the scene of rebellion, nor construct it amid the ransomed spirits, selected from among them. The angels who "kept not their first estate, and left their own habitation" for them no provision of mercy is made, no atoning sacrifice is offered; and they are reserved in chains and in darkness, until the great day. God verily took not on him, he did not lay hold on the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham; he took our degraded nature into mysterious and indissoluble union with his own; he came down to our polluted and accursed world, and there, at Calvary, laid deep and broad, in the death of the cross, in the shedding of his blood, the foundations of his Church. Hence it is that all eyes, throughout the universe, are directed to this spot; hence it is that this little speck - scarcely more in the vast system of worlds with which it stands connected-concentrates within itself the profoundest interest of the loftiest beings in the celestial world. Into the histories involved in the rise and progress of the Church," the angels desire to look," and all the wonders of redemption which it displays are unknown to "principalities and powers in heavenly places;" they may be known, not by the visible universe, glorious as it is, but by the Church, infinitely surpassing that in glory -"the manifold wisdom of God."

(2.) As the architect of the Church, he drew the plan. In his own infinite mind, in the arrangements of the council of peace, ere he "clothed himself with light as with a garment," ere he had given being, beauty, and harmony to the system of a material universe, ere "the morning stars had sung together," or "the sons of God shouted for joy," he had conceived the idea, and formed the plan of the Christian Church. And having settled, in its magnificent outline, and minutest details, the plan thus formed in his infinite mind, he has condescended to lay it down in the sacred volume, that it may be clearly understood, and no man presume to disturb its order, or interfere with its arrangements. In all that relates to its visible form, its internal economy, its scheme of doctrine, or its platform of discipline, we must be guided by the principles announced or the order sanctioned by the Divine architect, as these are revealed and recorded in his word. And woe unto him, who wilfully immolates them on the one hand, or thanklessly abandons them on the other. It is not, brethren, for any

mere fallible men to frame laws for the government of the Church; it is not for the princes and the potentates of this world to assume to themselves the headship of the Church, and in this capacity, by and with consent of their councils and their parliaments, to decree rites and ceremonies in the Church; and still less is it for them to impose them on the consciences of their subjects, and by pains and penalties, and fines and imprisonments, to force obedience to them. They may, indeed, do this, but it is at their peril; for though superior to all human tribunals in the possession of that power, which is too often in the hand of the oppressor, they must one day answer for it at the tribunal of Jesus Christ-answer for their daring assumption of his authority and invasion of his sacred prerogative. In all matters of doctrine and discipline, then, our first and last and final appeal is "to the law and to the testimony," as contained in the sacred volume; and if the things required to be believed or to be performed are evidently at variance with the letter or the spirit of that book, we are bound to reject them as mere human inventions, be the consequences to ourselves what they may.

(3.) Again, as the architect of the Church, Jesus Christ selects and prepares the materials of which it is composed. And these are "living stones," ransomed sinners, redeemed men, immortal spirits, hewn from the quarry of a common and desperate depravity, snatched from the ruin of a universal apostacy, renewed, justified, sanctified, and fitted each for the place assigned to it in the building, by the eternal Spirit, whose life-giving power, whose quickening influence, whose purifying grace, are essential to the efficiency, the beauty, and the perfection of the building. Other materials there may be in the visible sanctuary; and hence so many faults and defects of the Christian church appear even to the human eye; for men build upon the foundation "wood, hay, stubble," base materials, destined finally to be consumed. But when the Lord himself adds to the church, it will be "such" and only such "as shall be saved." Nor shall any other stones be suffered to occupy a prominent place in the building, when the top-stone shall be brought forth with shoutings of Grace, grace unto it."

66

(4.) Still further; as the architect of the church, Jesus Christ employs the workmen and pays them their wages. Go ye into all the world," said he to his disciples, " and preach the gospel to every creature." This was the high commission, under which the first body of workmen employed in the erection of this spiritual building acted. That commission we own to be in force at the present hour; and to it all faithful preachers of the gospel must refer as their authority, to the end.