not

posing the folly as well the turpitude of vice, with the truth and spirit of a dramatic representation.* In point of learning, Chrysostom could not compete with Origen or Jerome; in point of piety, he was, in all probability, whit superior to many of the less celebrated Church Fathers. What then makes him, by the common confession of all critics of all generations, the peerless Christian orator? What, but his strong imaginative sensibility?

Our second instance is Jeremy Taylor, who has been fitly called the English Chrysostom, whose dirge-like melodies float upon the ear, with a music akin to that of the night-wind as it sweeps in solemn murmurs through some vast Cathedral aisle. In Taylor's Sermons, there is more of the highest poetry, both of thought and diction, than in many a lofty and lauded epic. Bishop Taylor, who has been likewise called the Shakspeare of Theology, is peculiarly the favorite of poets, of men like Talfourd and Coleridge. He is associated with Milton in the thoughts of men, and in the literature of his country. Why is this? Because, as Coleridge justly says, no human being ever possessed more sensibility for objects of beauty and tenderness.

Our third instance is that of Dr. Chalmers, whose imperial imagination, informed by science, and animated by the purest piety, soared aloft among the sublimities of the starry heavens and stooped to "the huts where poor men lie," and who, added to the well-earned reputation of the most popular preacher which Scotland has ever produced, all the high trophies of diversified and brilliant scholarship, of lofty science, of far-sighted and far-reaching statesmanship, of large-hearted philanthropy, and of humble piety in his family, and among his friends. His was a heart that in the midst of the world's applauses

"The lowliest duties on itself did lay."

Now, we confess, that with all his brilliant endowments

*The curious reader may be amused at the singular coincidence of this learned criticism of Gibbon on Chrysostom, with that of the Worshipful Walter Shandy on Yorick's Sermon, "I like the sermon well, replied my father, 'tis dramatic, and there is something in that way of writing, when skilfully managed, which catches the attention."

of imagination and sensibility, he could not have been the preacher that he was, without his profound scientific training, his logical power, his rare common sense, his genial humility, above all, his heartfelt piety. But what we contend for is, that he might have been just as scientific, as logical, as benevolent and pious as he was, and yet he would not have been the orator that he was, without his strong imaginative sensibility.

Nor in the presentation of our argument, should it be forgotten that the most popular and useful religious book in the English language, probably the most popular and useful book ever written by man, in any language, the Pilgrim's Progress,-a book equally welcome to the philosopher, the poet, the theologian, the Christian and the child, is nothing but one continued figure from the beginning to the end. This bk is more made on the Bible model, it is more deeply tinctured with its peculiar poetic spirit, and tinted with its heavenly hues; its figures are more purely Scriptural than any other volume of any uninspired man.

enough to add, that of all religious books, it is most easily understood and most indelibly impressed, most poetical in its spirit, and yet, most practical in the character of its teachings. Of all uninspired books, the Pilgrim's Progress is most like the Bible in style, in structure, in spirit and in sentiment. It is the genuine product of the Word of God in conscious contact with the simple, but profound and poetic soul of John Bunyan. It is a faithful record of his religious life, under the action of the truth and spirit of the Bible.

THE AUTHORITY OF ECCLESIASTICAL RULERS.

1. "The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church, in the United States of America," contains a passage which we have long admired, for the clearness with which it asserts the great principle on which every ecclesiastical question must be determined:

"That all church power, whether exercised by the

body in general, or in the way of representation by delegated authority, is only ministerial and declarative; that is to say, that the Holy Scriptures are the only rule of faith and manners; that no church judicatory ought to pretend to make laws, to bind the conscience in virtue of their own authority; and that all their decisions. should be founded upon the revealed will of God. Now, though it will easily be admitted, that all synods and councils may err, through the frailty inseparable from humanity; yet there is much greater danger from the usurped claim of making laws, than from the right of judging upon laws already made, and common to all who profess the gospel; although this right, as necessity requires in the present state, be lodged with fallible

men."

To this passage we entreat the earnest attention of every reader, especially every Presbyterian reader.None, we presume, can fail to observe that it resolves all the official power of ecclesiastical rulers into "the right of judging upon laws already made" by Christ. If this doctrine be correct, it follows that all ecclesiastical offices not instituted by Christ are unlawful,-that every claim to ecclesiastical office must be tested by an impartial application of the law of Christ to facts existing in the case of the claimant,-and that no man may do officially in the church of Christ, any act which cannot be proved from Scripture to be legitimately connected with his office.

Before proceeding to other topics, it will be proper to exhibit (though with great brevity,) the evidence-at least a part of the evidence, by which this doctrine is supported. Here we notice,

1. The Relation of the Church to Christ.—He is her Head. Her members, as such, "are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones." The same persons, it is true, sustain other relations, and in those relations are, like other men, subject to human authority. But their character, as members of the church, is identical with their character as members of Christ; and to suppose that in that character they may be rightfully subjected to human authority as such, is an absurdity, little, if at all, less monstrous than to suppose that their exalted VOL. VIII.-No. 1.

8

Head owes subjection to human authority. To Him it belongs to determine what shall be the mutual relations subsisting between his own members, and what the duties corresponding with these relations; and it is inconsistent with the honour due to Him, to imagine that any authority distinct from his own can have any lawful application to the subject.

She is his kingdom. Membership is formed by baptism into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; and inspiration has taught us to describe the same transaction by the equivalent phrases "baptism into Christ," and "baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus." The inference from these facts must be obvious to every one who remembers the sense uniformly attached by the sacred writers to baptism into a person, or in his name: We are made members of the church by being brought under a covenant obligation to the evangelical service of the triune Jehovah, that is, by being brought under a covenant obligation to the service of Christ. No obligation distinct from this-no obligation to anything, in any other view than as a part of the service of our God and Saviour, is implied in the relation, or can by any possibility grow out of it. Every member of the church is, as such, a servant of Christ.On the ground of that relation, he may not do anything, whether as an officer, or as a private member, which is not an act of service to Christ, or for any other reason than that it is a part of his service. But the service of Christ includes all that Christ has commanded, and nothing else. It follows that there can be no lawful ecclesiastical act, and especially no lawful exercise of ecclesiastical authority, which cannot be proved to be required by the law of Christ.

2. The nature of the official relation of ecclesiastical rulers to the Church, and the end for which that relation subsists.

On these points, the teachings of the word of God are clear and perspicuous. Concerning our Redeemer, we are told, “When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men." *** "And 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.-(Eph. iv., 8, and 11-13.) The very highest ecclesiastical officers were a gift from Christ to his Church: certainly, then, he never gave her to them. He gave them to her "for the work of the ministry" that they might minister to her; surely, then, he did not intend that she should be subject to their will and pleasure. He gave them to her, because their ministry was among the means by which she was to be edified and perfected, strengthened in faith, and advanced in the knowledge of her glorious Head; surely, they could have no right to direct their official acts to any end not of his appointment, or to consult their own inclinations as to the nature of the services which they should render.

We next turn to Heb. xiii., 17, "Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves; for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.

The reason for obedience and submission to ecclesiastical rulers is here declared to be, that they watch for our souls; of course, the end to be sought by obedience is the salvation of the soul. Now, can it be needful to this end, that we obey any command which rests on no higher authority than that of man? To answer in the affirmative, is to claim for ecclesiastical rulers the power to establish new terms of salvation.

3. The sacredness which attaches to every legitimate exercise of ecclesiastical authority.

Twice is our Redeemer recorded to have made the solemn declaration, "Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven;" (Matt. xvi. 19, and Matt. xviii., 18;) and in the latter instance, the connexion plainly shows that the declaration is intended to apply to the discipline of the church in all ages. Surely it. will not be asserted, that God thus ratifies acts which originate in no higher source than the will of man.

To