The work of the Holy Spirit - pagina 237

THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH

197

invisible church, are not one, neither are they holy ; for they parlife, and are constantly deby the power of sin which internally and externally undermines their well-being." Hence the subject may not be presented as tho the spiritual, invisible, and mystical Church were the object of Christ's care and government, while the affairs and oversight of the visible Church are left to the pleasure of men. This is in direct opposition to the Word of God. There is not one visible Church and another invisible; but one Church, invisible in the spiritual, and visible in the material world. And as God cares both for body and soul, so does Christ govern the external affairs of the Church just as certainly

take of the imperfections of all earthly filed

as with His grace

He

nourishes

internally.

it

Lord not only of the soul, but before He can be that He must be Lord of the Church as a whole. It should be noticed that the preaching of the "Word and the administration of the sacraments belong not to the internal economy of the Church, but to the external; and that church government serves almost exclusively to keep the preaching pure and the sacraments from being profaned. Hence it is not expedient to say " If the Word of God be only preached in its purity and the sacraments rightly administered, the church order is of minor importance " eliminate these two from the church order and very little remains of it. The question is, therefore, whether these means of grace are to Christ is the Lord;

:

;

be arranged according to our pleasure, or according to the will of Does He allow us to trifle with them according to our own Jesus. notions, or does

the

last,

He rebuke and abhor all self-willed religion? If He must from heaven direct, govern, and care for

then also

His Church. However,

He does not compel us in this matter; He has left us awful liberty the of acting against His Word and of substituting form of government our for His own. And that is the very thing which misguided Christendom has done again and again. unbelief, not seeing the King,

it

Through

has frequently ignored, forgotten,

deposed Him it has established its own self-willed regime in His Church, until at last the very remembrance of the lawful Sovereign has been lost. ;

The

individual church,

professes to

bow

in the Scripture.

still

mindful of the kingship of Jesus, Word as contained

unconditionally to His kingly Therefore,

we say

that in the state church of the

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