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THE

MILLENNIAL HARBINGER.

SERIES III.

VOL. VI. BETHANY, VA., SEPTEMBER, 1849. No. IX.

TRACTS FOR THE PEOPLE-No. XXXVI.

HIERARCHIES, NATIONAL CHURCHES, SECULAR RELIGIONS.

SEQUEL OF TRACTS ON BAPTISM-No. I.

THE Protestant Reformers-Martin Luther, John Calvin, and their associates were, in the age in which they lived, men of much learning and wisdom, of much piety and ardor, of great and lofty enterprize. A noble host, inspired with noble zeal and large philanthropy, they devoutly attempted the reformation of the church. But, unhappily for them and for the world, they assumed that the church of Rome was the church of Christ, and that, therefore, although degenerate, she could be reformed. They occasionally seem, with equal infelicity, to have confounded, or identified, with the reformation of a people, the reformation of their institutions.

Our apology for them is,—a community that assumed to be holy and apostolic, coeval with Peter and Paul, whose temples were filled with busts and statues of the saints and martyrs of ecclesiastic fame, could not, in their apprehensions, be any thing but the true and proper church of Jesus Christ. Enshrined in all their fanes and in their affections were the sainted names of Clement, Ignatius, Polycarp, Hermas, Origen, Ambrose, Athanasius, Basil, Jerome, Hilary,Chrysostom, Augustine, Bernard, Austin, Benedict, &c., &c. How could they, in the absence of the Bible and its Divine institutions, do less than imagine themselves to be the elect, the only and the holy church of Jesus Christ; built on the foundation of Prophets and Apostles, of Saints and Martyrs.

Explain it as we may, the fact is true and veritable;-that the Lutheran reformation assumed to reform the doctrine, discipline, worship and government of the church of Rome, then regarded as the church of Christ. Hence Continental and English "PROTESTANTISM," in the legitimate compass of its technical import, indicates a reform of the church of Rome, and in its various branches contemplates and denominates itself the "REFORMED CHURCH."

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The original conflicts between Romanists and Protestants were about doctrine, discipline and government. True, indeed, the term doctrine was occasionally made to cover much ground, and to include almost every theory, whether of faith, discipline, or government. But that which is most vital and essential to Christianity as a kingdom, or social institution, did not enter essentially, and but seldom accidentally, into the discussions. of the great authors and finishers of Protestantism. The church of Rome claimed every man, woman and child within its precincts-kings and their realms-rulers and ruled as its members, as under its ecclesiastical or hierarchical direction and control. The church, with them, was Christendom, and the world was Pagandom, and those excommunicate from the sacraments of its theocratic priesthood.

In process of time, however, other questions than these were mooted, though not fully nor satisfactorily debated. Hence the English, Scotch and some Continental hierarchies, of less conspicuity, were erected before the most vital of all questions concerning organization was at all discussed by a single master spirit of that day. Justification by faith, without works of law, was, indeed, the great question of that age. It was, and is, in truth, the most vital of all questions as connected with personal salvation, and the discussion of it was most fatal to all the doctrinal pretensions and dictations of Papal Rome. But with regard to the genius, character and constitution of the kingdom of Christ, little was said beyond the simple import of the questions of justification and sanctification by faith alone. The first and most important of all subjects, concerning Christ's kingdom, was scarcely propounded, much less discussed by any one of the "Protestant reformers." The main topic debated, during the personal ministry of the Messiah, was "the kingdom of God"-or the "kingdom of heaven," according to Matthew. The burthen of so many parables, and of so many questions and expositions, in those days, was not the burthen of the Protestant reformation. And yet it must be confessed that the constitution of a kingdom, or of a community, is the most rudimental and important question that can be propounded about it. Prior to the form of government is the question about citizenship. Who shall be a citizen is essentially previous to who shall be priest, bishop, or king. This, in the science and learning and taste of the present century, is the first question in all conventional governments, or social compacts, with regard to civil or social rights, immunities and honors.

This, the first and great principle in all social institutions, was

assumed, not discussed, by the founders of all European, National, or State religions, whether Papistical, Prelatical, or Presbyterial. That there may have been some slight, or accidental, allusions to it may be admitted: but who, of the founders of these institutions, has given us a treatise on the subject, or where shall we find a debate or a discussion on the question; -Who has, or may have, a constitutional right to be regarded as a member of Christ's church—as a Divinely constituted citizen of the kingdom of God? Tell me not of Dr. John Owen's "Inquiry into the nature of churches;" nor of "Neal's history of the Puritans;" nor of the Cottons and Matherses, the Hookers, the Edwardses, the Hopkins and the Dwights, of New England. These are too recent. Yet you cannot find among these a discussion, or a treatise, on the constitutional citizens, or subjects, of the kingdom of Christ, or the church of God. This came not into discussion, so far as known to me, in the days of the great Protestant Reformers, or of their immediate successors; nor is the name of any one of them prefixed to any treatise on the subject of constitutional membership in the Messiah's kingdom. Indeed, the Jewish commonwealth and Aaronic priesthood were much more in their eyes than the writings of the Christian Apostles when modeling the Protestant church of churches. But of this more fully in another place.

The Messiah was a Jew by blood and by nation; and as a Prophet, or teacher, sent from God, he instructed his own people in the character and object of his mission. He professed to be the Founder of a New Institution, under the name and style of the "KINGDOM OF HEAVEN," or OF GOD. And as God had already a kingdom on earth -"a holy nation, a peculiar people," it was important to lay down, at an early period of his personal ministry, the peculiar nature and essential features, or characteristics, of this new kingdom, by which it was to be contradistinguished from all antecedent and contemporaneous kingdoms, of whatever title or character.

The most essential idea of a state, a nation or a kingdom is a constitution. This is its centre of attraction, its bond of union, its charter of rights, privileges and honors. The first and most essential article of any State, or national constitution, is the article concerning citizenship. All others are based on this. Hence the founders of all States, Kingdoms and Empires either proposed themselves and their fortunes, or whatever their adherents could obtain by their means, as the foundation of their government and rule over them.

The Messiah, in this particular, conforms to these demands of

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