Page:(1848) Observations on Church and State- JF Ferrier.pdf/9

Rh Roman theory, the Deity himself makes a distinction between men ordained and men unordained; and, if that theory be sound, truly this is a distinction. But the Reformed church answers the question by saying—those are to officiate who are appointed to do so by men. But man's appointment can never make a substantial difference between man and man. Doubtless the minister's vocation differs from the lawyer's; but he does not differ from the lawyer by any constitutional peculiarity. The distinction between the ordained and the unordained members of a thoroughly Reformed community has no principle on which to ground itself—and therefore it is altogether null. If there be a principle, what is it?

We have hitherto been considering ecclesiastical persons as viewed by the theory of the Reformation, and our conclusion is, that that theory regards all Christians as ecclesiastical persons, and the ministry as not more so than others; the only difference between the ministers of religion and other ecclesiastics being, that there is added to their ecclesiastical status, by human authority, a highly honourable and responsible profession.

We now proceed to speak of ecclesiastical affairs as viewed by the same theory. Here it is that both people and their ministers become bewildered. Spiritual interests, the concerns of eternity as compared with those of time, are so momentous, that people naturally transfer the awe which is due to the things to the person of the man who administers them: and the man who administers them is naturally disposed (indeed he cannot help himself) to welcome the veneration which is forced upon his acceptance. Do we object to this? Far from it. We would have the ministers of the gospel loved and revered, and the ties between them and their people drawn as close as possible, over the whole length and breadth of the land. But there is one thing which we do most strenuously object to—and it is this; that any amount of reverence and esteem should be allowed to obliterate a sound constitutional truth—should overbear the profoundest maxim, the most vital principle of the Reformation. And this, we much fear, is what the veneration we are speaking of has done. Giving to persons a valuation which belongs to things, many professing Protestants have actually transposed the two titles of our ministry back into their old Popish order—