Page:(1848) Observations on Church and State- JF Ferrier.pdf/8

8 the Reformed clergy, in their election and admission to the ministry, obtained nothing but a human commission. The divine title (Christian belief) was also theirs; but this, being equally the property of the whole Christian commonwealth, of course conferred no peculiar distinction upon them. This human appointment merely distinguished the clergy from the laity as any one order of citizens is distinguished from any other order, by their respective professions—distinguished them from the laity just as the barrister is distinguished from all other persons who do not practise at the bar;—that is to say, did not distinguish them from the laity at all by any distinction which the constitution of the country recognises.

What, then, may we gather, from these observations, to be the theory of the Reformation in reference to the church? (We shall afterwards consider the Protestant theory of the state; meanwhile we confine ourselves to the church.) We may gather this: that the whole believing community is “the church”—a congregation of priests; that the whole Christian nation is a spiritual or ecclesiastical commonwealth. This it is by divine right—by the charter of the Bible. It is, moreover, the theory of the Reformation that this divine right must be controlled for the sake of good order—controlled by a jus humanum. Hence the origin of the ministry. They preach by human authority—that is, in virtue of election and admission—an authority which, not being extended to the rest of the community, checks the exercise of its spiritual privilege. Hence we perceive that the church, considered in its proper and more extended sense, as containing the whole body of Christian believers, is founded on a jus divinum; but that, considered in its more restricted sense, as confined to the ministers of religion, it rests, in so far as this limitation is concerned, purely on a jus humanum.

But it will be said, is there not a scriptural or divine warrant for the preaching of the word, and for the dispensation of the sacraments? Most assuredly there is. But no distinction between the clergy and the laity of a Reformed church can be founded on that circumstance. The question is, who are to officiate? The church of Rome answers this question by saying,—those are to officiate who are appointed by God's ordination through the apostolical succession. Thus, according to the