and fee what opinion was given of them at the time. when they were first produced. Since even this learned and ftrenuous oppofer of Epifcopacy has been able to say nothing that is new against it, there is no reason to expect, that any thing new should be faid in its defence. As the mode of attack is ftill the fame, the means of repelling it must be the fame likewife And fince our acute and ingenious adverfary has not condefcended to ftrike out any other way of affailing our ecclefiaftical conftitution, than what has been discovered by those that went before him with the fame hoftile view, we must be content to follow him in the beaten path, which fo many of his predeceffors have trod, though perhaps not fo capable as he, of giving it all the turnings and windings which are fo curiously displayed in the lectures now before us.

It is proper to begin the obfervations, which we have propofed to make on thefe theological lectures, by giving the author's own account of them. "I "intend," fays he, in the beginning of his first lecture," that the subject of the present and fome "fucceeding lectures, fhall be the facred hiftory, "the first branch of the theoretic part of the theological courfe which claims the attention of the stu❝dent. This is fubdivided into two parts: the "first comprehends the events which preceded "the Chriftian Era; the fecond thofe which fol"lowed. The firft, in a loofer way of fpeaking, is included under the title of Jewish hiftory; the

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"fecond

"fecond is what is commonly denominated church "hiftory, or ecclefiaftic history." It is this fecond part of his plan, with which we are more immediately concerned, and which he introduces, by telling us, towards the conclufion of his fecond lecture: "Now indeed was formed a community of "the difciples of Jefus, which was called his church, "a word that denotes no more than fociety or affem"bly, and is fometimes used in the New Teftament, "with evident analogy to the common ufe, to fig

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nify the whole community of Chriftians confider"ed as one body, of which Chrift is denominated "the Head; and fometimes only a particular con

gregation of Chriftians. In this general fociety, "founded in the unity of their faith, their hope, "their love, cemented, as it were, by a communi"on or joint participation, as occafion offered, in

religious offices, in adoration, in baptifm, and in "the commemoration of the fufferings of their "Lord, preferved by a moft friendly intercourfe, "and by frequent inftructions, admonitions, re

proofs when neceffary, and even by the exclufion "of thofe, who had violated fuch powerful and fo"lemn engagements; in all this, I fay, there was

nothing that interfered with the temporal powers.' And we are ready to fay the fame, because Chrift himself affures us, that "his kingdom," which Dr. Campbell chooses to call "the Chriftian common"wealth, is not of this world," and therefore, "in "no refpect calculated to interfere with the rights

" of

princes, or afford matter of umbrage or jealou "fy to the fecular powers." But when we are told, that "this general fociety is cemented by a com “munion or joint participation in baptifm,” we are at a lofs to know what is meant by this expreffion, as connected with what follows; fince there is furely no command in fcripture, enjoining the disciples of Jefus to partake jointly, as occafion offers, in baptifm, although they are exprefsly commanded to partake jointly in what is here called, "the Commemora❝tion of the sufferings of their Lord." We are certain, that baptifm is the only means, whereby members can be admitted into this fociety; but we have never learned, that a set of unbaptized persons, even though united in the belief of the gofpel, have any authority to constitute themselves members of it, by baptizing one another, which would feem to be the Lecturer's meaning, in the paffage which we are now confidering.

We are alfo obliged to differ from him very widely, with refpect to what is called the Church, which word, if it denotes, as he acknowledges, a fociety, muft alfo fignify, not a cafual affembly, or even a meeting of perfons by voluntary agreement among themselves; but as the derivation of the original word implies, a felect fociety, or number of people, called or felected, by fome perfon or perfons having authority for that purpose: And as the kingdom of Chrift is declared to be, "not of this "world," the fubjects of that kingdom, or the members

members of his church must be confidered as called out of or from the world; called by God from "the "world that lieth in wickednefs," that "having "delivered them from the power of darknefs, he

may tranflate them into the kingdom of his dear "Son."* All this fhews the nature and jurisdiction of the church of Chrift to be very different from that of any private company, like a knot "of artists or philofophers," to which Dr. Campbell is pleased to compare the fociety founded by the Son of God for the falvation of mankind: a comparison fo unworthy of being brought forward on fuch an occafion, and fo unlikely to answer any good end, by the terms in which it is ftated, that we fhould not have thought it deferving the fmalleft notice, if it were not evidently intended to introduce an inquiry into the causes of that woful corruption, which foon prevailed among Chriftians, and which, by a long and fanciful chain of connection, is traced to the primitive practice of referring their civil differences to the arbitration of their minifters.

This practice is confidered as a natural confequence of St. Paul's "expoftulation with the Co"rinthians on the nature and dignity of their Chrif"tian vocation, to which it would be much more "suitable, patiently to fuffer injuries, than to en"deavour to obtain redrefs" by going to law in

the heathen courts. But left there fhould be any mistake on this point, by confounding matters of civil controversy, with injuries of a more criminal nature, our Lecturer takes care to inform us, that not only "fuch private offences, but also those scan"dals which affected the whole Christian fraternity, were," in the apoftolic age, "judged by "the church, that is the congregation." "Acordingly," he fays," the judgment, which Paul, by "the Spirit of God, had 'formed, concerning the "incestuous perfon, he enjoins the church, to whom "his epiftle is directed, that is (to ufe his own "words for an explanation) them who at Corinth

. are fanctified in Chrift Jefus, called to be faints, "to pronounce and execute. And in his fecond "epiftle to the fame church,t he fays, in reference "to the fame delinquent-" fufficient to fuch a man "is the cenfure, which was inflicted by many;" 66 υπο των πλειόνων ❝ To lav rovby the community-and (v. 10) “ To "whom ye forgive any thing, addressing himself al

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ways to the congregation, I forgive alfo. We ad"mit, with the learned Dodwell, that in the cen"fure inflicted on the incestuous perfon, the Chrif"tians at Corinth were but the executors of the "doom awarded by the apoftle. Nor does any one "question the apoftolic authority in fuch matters "over both the flock and the paftors. But from "the