of Antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come, and even now already is it in the world."1

Here, as by St. Paul, the people are addressed as being competent to judge whether what they heard, from any teacher, did or did not agree with the truth of the gospel as it had been preached and explained by the apostle. Their attention is called to this very point, and they are solemnly enjoined to judge what they hear, on peril of receiving and embracing Antichristian instead of Christian teaching. Every teacher who did not coincide with the true doctrine is pronounced to be of Antichrist. No exception is made for those who were regularly ordained in "the succession;" neither can it be pretended that the apostle's supposition of Antichristian teachers implies in such persons (as a matter of course) the want of true ordination. On the contrary, in the second chapter of his epistle, where he first warns the brethren against the "many Antichrists" who were gone forth, he says: "They went out from us; but they were not of us: for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us; but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.' These teachers had been of the apostolical company outwardly, or they could not have manifestly forsaken it. But they could not have belonged to it outwardly without being in the succession. And therefore, clearly, the inspired test of true apostolicity is not succession or not succession, but truth or not truth of Christian doctrine. And, as clearly, the judges of what was taught, whether true or false, to whom the apostle appeals, were not councils of the teachers, but congregations of the hearers, who were thus encouraged not to continue babes, neither unskilful in the word of righteousness; but to cultivate discernment and discrimination, having their spiritual senses exercised, by reason of use, to discern both good and evil, both truth and falsehood.

It is "the Church of the living God," and not only the ministry of that Church, however regularly ordained, that is "the pillar and ground of the truth"-true doctrine, as is evident from the summary that follows, "God manifest in the

flesh," etc., and its contrast with the false doctrines, which are described as the predicted characteristics of the apostasy from the Church. (Compare 1 Tim. iii. 14-16 with iv. 1-13).

Dr. Barrow says: It is evident that the Church is one by consent in faith and opinion concerning all principal matters of doctrine, especially in those which have considerable influence on the practice of piety toward God, righteousness toward men, and sobriety of conversation, 'to teach us which the grace of God did appear.'

"As he that should in any principal doctrine differ from Plato (denying the immortality of the soul, the providence of God, the natural difference of good and evil), would not be a Platonist, so he that dissenteth from any doctrine of importance, manifestly taught by Christ, doth renounce Christianity.

"All Christians are delivered into one form of doctrine,' to which they must stiffly and steadfastly adhere, keeping the depositum committed to them; they must strive together for the faith of the gospel,' and 'earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints;' they must 'hold fast the form of sound words, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus;' that great salvation which at first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto them by His hearers; God also bearing them witness with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to His own will.'

"They are bound to mind,' or think, 'one and the same thing;' to stand fast in one spirit with one mind;' 'to walk by the same rule;' 'to be joined together in the same mind, and in the same judgment;' with one mind and mouth to glorify God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.'

"They are obliged to disclaim consortship with the gainsayers of this doctrine; to stand off from those who do èrepodožev, or who do not consent to the wholesome words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; 'to mark those who make divisions and scandals, besides the doctrine which Christians had learned, and to decline from them;' to 'reject heretics;' to 'beware of false prophets, of seducers,

of those who speak perverse things to draw disciples after them;' to 'pronounce anathema on whoever shall preach any other doctrine." "

"Thus are Christians 'one in Christ Jesus;' thus are they (as Tertullian speaketh) 'confederated in the society of a sacrament,' or of one profession.

1

This preaching and this faith the Church having received, though dispersed over the world, doth carefully hold as inhabiting one house; and alike believeth these things, as if it had one soul and the same heart, and consonantly doth preach, and deliver these things, as if it had but one mouth.2

"As for kings, though their kingdoms be divided, yet he equally expects from every one of them one dispensation, and one and the same sacrifice of a true confession and praise. So that, though there may seem to be a diversity of temporal ordinances, yet an unity and agreement in the right faith may be held and maintained among them.

"In regard to this union in faith peculiarly, the body of Christians adhering to it was called the Catholic Church, from which all those were esteemed ipso facto to be cut off and separated who in any point deserted that faith; such a one (saith St. Paul), è§é¤τρаπται, is turned aside, or hath left the Christian way of life. He, in reality, is no Christian, nor is to be avowed or treated as such, but is to be disclaimed, rejected, and shunned.

"He,' saith St. Cyprian, 'cannot seem a Christian who doth not persist in the unity of Christ's gospel and faith.' 3

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"If,' saith Tertullian, a man be a heretic, he cannot be a Christian.' 4

"Whence Hegesippus saith of the old heretics, that they did 'divide the unity of the Church by pernicious speeches against God and His Christ.' 5

"The virtue' (saith the pastor Hermes, cited by Clemens Alex.) ' which doth keep the Church together, is faith.'"

Tertull. in Marc. iv, 5.

Tertull, de Præscr. cap. 37.

2 Iren. i. 3 (Apud Epiph. Hæer. 31).. Eus, Hist. iv. 22.

Cypr. de Unit. Eccl.

* Herm. Apud Clem. Strom. ii. p. 281.

"So the fathers of the sixth council tell the emperor that they were members one of another, and did constitute the one body of Christ by consent of opinion with him, and one another, and by faith.1

"We ought in all things to hold the unity of the Catholic Church, and not to yield anything to the enemies of faith and truth."2

"In each part of the world this faith is one, because this is the Christian faith."3

"He denies Christ who confesses not all things that are Christ's."4

"Hence, in common practice, whoever did appear to differ from the common faith was rejected as an apostate from Christianity, and unworthy the communion of other Christians." "

The testimony here borne to the indispensable necessity of oneness in all fundamental doctrine is decisive; while the learned and eloquent writer does not fail to add, that on other points of less moment, and more obscurely delivered, Christians might dissent from one another without breach of unity, and dispute with one another without breach of charity.

Mr. Palmer says: "It is undeniable that the end of Christ's mission on earth was the sanctification of His people. He called us with a holy calling (2 Tim. i. 9). His will is our sanctification (1 Thess. iv. 3). Therefore, if it could be clearly shown that any society professing to be Christian denied the obligation of good works, and taught its members that they might freely indulge in wickedness, such a society would be evidently anathema from Jesus Christ. Nothing further could be required to prove it."

And this is most true, and the argument may, with undiminished truth, be transferred to any fundamental doctrine of the gospel. For example, it is undeniable that the end of Christ's mission on earth was the justification of His people. We are "justified freely by His grace." "By the obedience of

Conc. vi. Act. xviii. p. 271. 2 Сург. Ер. 71.

'Aug. cont. Jul. i. 2, p. 203.

Ambr. in Luc. lib. vi. cap. 9, p. 205.

* Barrow on the Unity of the Church. • Vol. i., p. 133.

One shall many be made righteous" (Rom. iii. 24, v. 19). His will is our justification by faith (Acts xiii. 38, 39). Therefore, if it could be clearly shown that any society professing to be Christian denied justification by faith, and taught its members that they might be justified by works, such a society would be evidently anathema from Jesus Christ. Nothing further could be required to prove it.

(1) A company of men professing and calling themselves a Christian Church, or the Church of Christ, whatever their outward circumstances may be, in name, numbers, authority, wealth, succession, and if there be any other outward advantage, cannot be, indeed, an apostolical Church, if they teach as indispensable to salvation a doctrine or doctrines which the apostles never taught. For example, if such a company teach authoritatively and as indispensable to salvation, that in the Lord's supper "there is a propitiary sacrifice for the sins of the living and the dead," they cannot be an apostolic Church, because the apostle never so taught.

This is a favourite instance on which to try one important branch of this question, because many of our adversaries agree in the statement that the apostles themselves never taught this; yet they maintain the apostolicity of the Church which teaches it as absolutely essential. This they do, on the ground of what is called development, i.e., either, first, that although the doctrine itself was not explicitly taught by the apostles, yet the germ of it was contained in what they taught, and afterwards cultivated into mature growth by the piety and intelligence of their successors; or, secondly, that inspiration such as the apostles had, is a permanent endowment of the Christian Church, considered collectively as the body of Christ; and consequently that every decision of the Church collective, duly come to in a competent assembly, presided over by the chief bishop, is as certainly and infallibly true, and ought to be as finally decisive, as anything which the apostles themselves taught.1

On this subject Mr. Ward writes thus::-"When we speak to the apostles having taught some principle of the early Church, we mean what we say; not that they gave to their successors an embodiment of that principle carried to its