Judgment Necessary. 4I He that judgeth me is the Lord?' If men know not what true religion is, then indeed they may scruple to test the religion of others. But if they are themselves converted, they are bound to watch over one another, and unitedly to seek the salvation of the world. For both purposes they must judge. To forbid them to judge others is as absurd as to send medical men to visit infected districts, and to administer remedies indiscriminately, without allowing them to ask the symptoms of the disease they seek to heal, or even to ascertain, in any given case, whether the enforced patients are diseased at all. 38. Thus much to the objectors. Let it be added, for the guidance of the church tained. All we need, in those who seek to enter our fellowship, is credible evidence of a divine How piety is change. How that evidence is to be ob- to be ascertained—and what shall be deemed sufficient are questions Scripture does not decide. The first converts, when 'pricked in their hearts,' cried out in the presence of the multitude. They seem to have received the word with gladness, and to have obeyed it. Their conversion was proved by evidence as palpable as their guilt. Ananias, on the other hand, needed and received a special communication from God, attesting the reality of Paul's conversion. Barnabas afterwards reported the facts to the church at Jerusalem, and on that testimony the church welcomed him. Peter witnessed the descent of the Holy Ghost on the first Gentile converts, and himself reported the facts to the church at Jerusalem. Some gained admission into churches by letters; others were themselves living epistles,' and carried in their spirit and in their labours the evidence of a divine call. In these primitive times the power of the Gospel was often manifested even while it was preached; and as nothing was to be gained by joining the Christian fellowship, the very desire to join it, accompanied, as it was, with confessions of sin and avowals of faith, was in most cases itself enough. When great sinners professed repentance, and the fire of persecution, that later tested men's sincerity, was as yet unkindled, they were asked, as in the case of the Pharisees, for fruits meet for repentance,' or, as in Paul's case, were looked upon with suspicion, till some one could show how that the Lord had met with them.' In short, the modes of ascertaining the piety of professed converts, and the degree of evidence requisite in each case, varied with the circumstances. Christian men and Christian churches were left, it seems, to exercise spiritual discernment, and to use their common sense. 39. It is admitted that on this question churches have made mistakes. They have forgotten that, in all that is essential to the Christian life, men are very much what Mistakes. Judgment Essential to Intercourse. 43 they really wish to be. They have kept inquirers waiting whom they ought to have welcomed. They have insisted upon peculiar types of piety, rather than upon the reality of it. They have preferred talkativeness to quiet penitence. They have applied tests that are at once too lax and too rigid, and so have hesitated to receive some whom Christ long since received, while they have kept out the diffident and the thoughtful. All this may be admitted. The process, moreover, of determining on character is always an anxious and a difficult one. It involves responsibilities from which most men would willingly be free. But, nevertheless, whatever the imperfections of this work, and whatever its difficulties, it must be done. Without it there can be no intelligent Christian effort, and no satisfactory Christian fellowship. The church will soon cease to be a holy brotherhood, and Christian. men, who have refused to ascertain the piety and to judge of the character of their brethren for church purposes, will be compelled to ascertain and judge for their private comfort. If we be Christians, we must have Christian intercourse; and Christian intercourse there can be none, unless it be based on mutual knowledge, and sympathy, and love-that is, on the exercise, by individual men, of the very insight and discernment now claimed for the church. § III. The Church: its Government. 40. The government of the Christian church is remarkable for simplicity. Simplicity of 41. There seem to have been at the the New Tes- first three classes of officers-Bishops, tament system. Elders, or Pastors; Deacons; and, connected with some communities, Evangelists. The first were, speaking broadly, the overseers Three classes of the flock; the second visited the sick, of officers. relieved the poor, and managed the secular concerns of the church; the third, called sometimes 'the messengers of the church,' preached or taught wherever the providence of God might call. Sometimes this last office was filled by men set apart to it; sometimes by men who filled other officesdeacons, pastors; more frequently by the members of the church generally, who, when driven by persecution, or invited by hopes of usefulness, 'went everywhere preaching the word.' 42. Of these officers, Pastors were invested with Pastors: authority. They are therefore called their powers. superintendents, or presidents,* leaders,† * προισταμένος. “ Know them that are over you in the Lord." (1 Thes. v. 12.) "He that ruleth," (the same word) "with diligence." (Rom. xii. 8.) "A bishop, then, must be ... one that ruleth well his own house: for if a man knows not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?" (1 Tim. iii. 45.) "Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour." (1 Tim. v. 17.) "Remember your leaders, who Its Officers. 45 or governors; and, indeed, the name pastor is quite as descriptive of authority as ποιμήν, of teaching. By authority is meant that Topaivw. they were empowered to see to the execution of the law. It was their business to arrange so as to have everything done for ' edifying '—' decently' (becomingly, honourably), and in order.' Those that walked disorderly and created divisions they were to censure, and, if need be, to have excluded. In short, the pastors of the church had all the authority of the church. They were entrusted by the body, and through them by Christ himself, with the administration of the law. Legislative authority they had none: executive authority they exercised within their proper province, and subject to the great laws which the Lord Jesus, or the apostles in His name, had prescribed. These pastors had, none of them, it will be observed, mysterious functions, unearthly honours, or an exclusive spiritual office. The people were bound to love them, for they were engaged in an arduous benevolent work; bound to honour them, for they represented the body, and, if rightly chosen, were called by Christ himself to their |