CHAPTER VIII.01

CHAPTER VIII.
THE POWER OF THE CHURCH RESPECTING ARTICLES OF FAITH, AND ITS LICENTIOUS PERVERSION, UNDER THE PAPACY, TO THE CORRUPTION OF ALL PURITY OF DOCTRINE.

The next subject is the power of the Church, which is to be considered as residing, partly in the respective bishops, partly in councils, and those either provincial or general. I speak only of the spiritual power which belongs to the Church. Now, it consists either in doctrine, in legislation, or jurisdiction. The subject of doctrine contains two parts—the authority to establish doctrines, and the explication of them. Before we enter on the particular discussion of each of these points, we would apprize the pious readers, that whatever is asserted respecting the power of the Church, they should be mindful to refer to the end for which Paul declares it to have been given, namely, “to edification, and not to destruction;”

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and all who make a legitimate use of it, consider themselves as nothing more than “servants of Christ,”

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and the people’s “servants for Jesus’ sake.”

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Now, the only way to edify the Church is, for the ministers themselves to study to preserve to Jesus Christ his rightful authority, which can no longer be secure than while he is left in possession of what he has received from the Father, that is, to be the sole Master in the Church.

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For of him alone, and of no other, is it said, “Hear ye him.”

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The power of the Church, therefore, is not to be depreciated, yet it must be circumscribed by certain limits, that it may not be extended in every direction, according to the caprice of men. It will, therefore, be highly useful to observe how it is described by the prophets and apostles. For if we simply grant to men the power which they may be pleased to assume, it must be obvious to every one, what a door will be opened for tyranny, which ought never to be seen in the Church of Christ.

II. Here, therefore, it is necessary to remember, that whatever authority and dignity is attributed by the Holy Spirit, in the Scripture, either to the priests and prophets under the law, or to the apostles and their successors, it is all given, not in a strict sense to the persons themselves, but to the ministry over which they were appointed, or, to speak more correctly, to the word, the ministration of which was committed to them. For if we examine them all in succession, we shall not find that they were invested with any authority to teach or to answer inquiries, but in the name and word of the Lord. For when they were called to their office, it was at the same time enjoined that they should bring forward nothing of themselves, but should speak from the mouth of the Lord. Nor did he send them forth in public to address the people, before he had instructed them what they should say, that they might speak nothing beside his word. Moses himself, the prince of all the prophets, was to be heard above all others; but he was first furnished with his commission, that he might not be able to announce any thing except from the Lord. Therefore the people, when they received his doctrine, were said to “believe the Lord and his servant Moses.”

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The authority of the priests also, that it might not fall into contempt, was confirmed by the severest punishments.

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But, on the other hand, the Lord shows on what condition they were to be heard, when he says, “My covenant was with Levi. The law of truth was in his mouth.” And just afterwards, “The priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.”

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Therefore, if a priest would be heard, it was necessary for him to prove himself the messenger of God, by faithfully communicating the commands which he had received from his master; and where attention to the priests is enjoined, it is expressly stated, that “they shall teach the sentence of the law”

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of God.

III. The power of the prophets is fully and beautifully described in Ezekiel. “Son of man,” says the Lord, “I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.”

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When he is commanded to hear from the mouth of the Lord, is he not prohibited to invent any thing of himself? And what is it to give warning from the Lord, but, to speak in such a manner as to be able to declare with confidence that the message he has brought is not his own, but the Lord’s? The Lord expresses the same thing in other words in the prophecy of Jeremiah: “The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully.”

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He clearly delivers a law for them all; its import is, that he permits no one to teach more than he has been commanded; and he afterwards gives the appellation of “chaff” to every thing that has not proceeded from himself alone. Not one of the prophets opened his mouth, therefore, without having first received the words from the Lord. Hence their frequent use of these expressions: “The word of the Lord,” “The burden of the Lord,” “Thus saith the Lord,” “The mouth of the Lord hath spoken;” and this was highly necessary; for Isaiah exclaimed, “I am a man of unclean lips;”

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and Jeremiah said, “Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child.”

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What could proceed from the pollution of the one, and the folly of the other, but impure and foolish speeches, if they had spoken their own words? But their lips were holy and pure, when they began to be the organs of the Holy Spirit. While the prophets were bound by this law to deliver nothing but what they had received, they were likewise adorned with eminent power and splendid titles. For when the Lord declares, “See, I have this day set thee over the nations, and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, and to build, and to plant,” he at the same time assigns the reason—“Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.”

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IV. If we advert to the apostles, they are certainly honoured with many extraordinary characters. It is said that they are “the light of the world,” and “the salt of the earth;”

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that “he that heareth” them “heareth Christ;”

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that “whatsoever” they “shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever” they “shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

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But their very name shows what degree of liberty they were allowed in their office; that if they were apostles, they were not to declaim according to their own pleasure, but to deliver with strict fidelity the commands of him who had sent them. And the language of Christ is sufficiently clear, in which he has defined their message by the following commission: “Go ye, and teach all nations whatsoever I have commanded you.”

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He had even received and imposed on himself the same law, in order that no one might refuse to submit to it. “My doctrine,” says he, “is not mine, but his that sent me.”

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He who was always the eternal and only counsellor of the Father, and was constituted by the Father the Lord and Master of all, yet because he sustained the office of a teacher, prescribed, by his own example, the rule which all ministers ought to follow in their teaching. The power of the Church, therefore, is not unlimited, but subject to the word of the Lord, and, as it were, included in it.