"I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Matt. xvi. 18, 19.)

bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Matt. xviii. 18.)

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." (Matt. xxviii. 19, 20.)

"He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and

fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ; from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love." (Eph. iv. 11—16.)

These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly: but if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." (1 Tim. iii. 14, 15.)

From these texts various doctrines are drawn by different persons. It is alleged, that in these declarations of Christ and of others inspired by his Spirit, we are taught, that in every age of the world, from the first preaching of the Gospel, there shall exist a true Church of Christ, consisting of members professing, believing, and acting upon his revealed doctrines; that God will give to this Church such a measure of grace, as shall enable it to ascertain and declare the real

truth; that this institution is the appointed instrument in his hands for bringing men into the way of salvation; and that Christ Himself, or his apostles, fixed some definite external form and constitution for the same, which should be binding upon all succeeding generations. By the Church of Rome it is further said, that the promise of guidance extends to every point of doctrine and practice; by others, that nothing more is given than a pledge of unerring guidance in matters essential to salvation. And from the whole body of deductions it is argued, that an obligation is laid upon every individual believer in the revelation of Christ, to receive his articles of faith, (either all of them, or those which are necessary to salvation, as the case may be,) on the authority of this universal Church, as the authorized teacher of divine truth.

Now it may fairly be asserted, that the greater number of these passages of Scripture would be altogether incomprehensible to a mind which had no greater knowledge of revealed truth, than we suppose ourselves as yet to possess. They would be startling, astonishing, and so mysterious, as to be utterly unfit to be a practical guide to one who was not already a believer in the fundamental doctrines of the Gospel. So long

as a man knows merely that Christ was a teacher sent from God, what meaning could he attach to his promise, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world?" The words are sufficiently clear to one who looks upon the speaker as God Himself, manifest in human flesh; but we need not hesitate to affirm, that the declaration would only bewilder an inquirer who had not yet learnt this great doctrine of the Gospel, that the speaker of these words was the incarnate Deity. And again, when Christ addresses to St. Peter the declaration, "I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven:"-could any man, knowing no more of Christ and St. Peter, than that they were both of them workers of miracles, attach any satisfactory meaning to such an ex

It is not here meant, that when this promise is really understood, it is to be looked upon in the light in which the Romanists regard it. The words are manifestly a promise, not of infallibility in teaching, but of support in preaching the real truth.

pression as this is? It is of course not intended that this remarkable declaration is really incomprehensible in itself; but it needs little consideration to see that its meaning must be so obscure and dim, as to furnish no light to a mere inquirer after the elements of Christ's religion. The same may be said of St. Paul's words to Timothy. How can such expressions be understood, until we have learned who it was who appointed the apostles, prophets, and others? What, we may ask, is the body of Christ? Who is the Son of God? What is the fulness of Christ ? Something, indeed, might be gathered from the passage, without a previous knowledge of the real character of the Gospel revelations, but no information of such a nature as to be fit to guide a mind in anxious search after the will of God.

Granting, however, that the meaning of the texts just mentioned is clear and definite, even without a preparatory belief in the true Christian doctrine, let us proceed to examine how far they really contain all that is fixed upon them. And we may safely challenge any man to prove from them, that it is the duty of an individual to obey the teaching of the Church in matters of doctrinal truth. True it is, that they distinctly