unhappily been refuted long ago by experience, I maintain the following position.

THOSE WHO ARE SINNERS, AND DEVOID OF LIVELY FAITH, ARE SOMETIMES EXTERNALLY MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH.

This is proved from Scripture. Christ compares the church, or kingdom of heaven, to "a field" in which tares and wheat, that is, evil men and good, grow till the harvest, i. e. the end of the world (Matt. xiii. 2430. 37-43.); to "a net that was cast into the sea and gathered of every kind," that is, both "the wicked" and "the just" (xiii. 47-50.). The church is elsewhere spoken of under the figure of "a wedding feast," whereto the servants" gathered together all, as many as they found, both bad and good" (Matt. xxii. 10.); and to "a great house," in which "there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour" (2 Tim. ii. 20.). These texts prove sufficiently, that while the church of God exists on this earth, it will comprise evil men as well as good in its communion; and accordingly, as we learn from St. Augustine in his account of the conference at Carthage, the Donatists were entirely overcome by them. It is almost superfluous to. add, that the primitive church fully concurred with the above principle, as might be easily shown from Jerome, Augustine, Fulgentius, Gregory, &c. & As soon as the Donatist and Pelagian errors on this subject were advanced, they were refuted by St. Jerome

f August. Brev. Coll. et Liber in Ezek. hom. iv. n. 16. See post Collationem.

Hier. dial. adv. Lucifer. ultra medium. Fulgentius de Remiss. Peccat. c. 18. Gregor. lib. 2.

Pearson on the Creed, art. ix. Field, Of the Church, book i. ch. 16, 17, 18.

in his book "Contra Pelagianos," and by St. Augustine in his books against the epistles of the Donatists Parmenianus and Petilianus, and in other treatises. The Lutherans and Calvinists also maintained sound views on this subject. The former say, "We admit that hypocrites and evil men in this life are joined with the church, and are members of the church as far as relates to external participation in its signs, that is the word, the profession, and the sacraments, especially if they be not excommunicated "." Calvin argues at great length, and with his usual energy, against the doctrine of the Anabaptists and the modern dissenters. He says,

"In the church are many hypocrites mixed, who have nothing of Christ except the name and appearance : many ambitious, covetous, envious, slandering men; some of impure life, who are tolerated for a time, either because they cannot be convicted by a lawful judgment, or because due severity of discipline is not always in force."

But the Donatists discovered a distinction which has been adopted by the more modern sects. They admitted that sinners might indeed exist in communion with the church, but they denied that open and mani

Apologia Confessionis August. iv. de Ecclesia. See also the Confession of Augsburg, art. viii. The Formula Concordiæ, another Lutheran Confession, "rejects and condemns" amongst the "Errores Anabaptistarum" this; "Non esse eam veram et Christianam Ecclesiam, in qua peccatores reperiantur." (Form. Conc. pars ii. ad fin.) The

Sax. Conf. (art. xii.) says, "Improbamus et colluviem Anabaptisticam, quæ finxit ecclesiam vi

sibilem, in qua omnes sint sancti." i Calvin. Institut. lib. iv. c. i. sect. 13-29.

j Ibid. sect. 7. The same doctrine is taught by the Tetrapolitan Confession, in which it is said, that "many will be mixed in the church even to the end of the world, who do not really believe in Christ, but pretend to do so" (cap. xv.). It is also taught by the Helvetic Confession (cap. xvii.), the Gallican (xxvii.), the Bohemian (art. viii.).

fest sinners could in any respect be of the church. In reply to this distinction I proceed to show, that,

MANIFEST SINNERS ARE SOMETIMES EXTERNALLY MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH, AND EXERCISE THE PRIVILEGES OF ITS MEMBERS.

St. Paul, in his epistle to the Corinthians, styles them "the church of God which is at Corinth" (1 Cor. i. 2.); yet in this church of God "were envying, and strife, and divisions" (iii. 3.); "Going to law against each other," and that " before the heathen" (vi. 1. 6, 7.); and even "fornication, such as is not so much as named among the Gentiles" (v. i.). This clearly proves that manifest sinners are sometimes found in the church, for the person last alluded to was not separated from the church of Corinth, until the apostle had rebuked them, and commanded him to be delivered to Satan (v. 5.); yet the Corinthian church is not considered by the apostle to have been apostate, because this sinner was in their communion. The same is proved by the words to "the church in Thyatira."-"I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed to idols" (Rev. ii. 18. 20.). And to the "Church in Sardis," it is said, "thou hast a few names, even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments" (Rev. iii. 1. 4.). In both of these churches it is manifest that there were great and glaring offences. It is further proved, by the parable of the evil servant, whom his Lord made ruler, and who "shall begin to smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken" (Matt. xxiv. 45-51.); for this parable refers to evil pastors in Christ's church, who are

represented in possession of authority over the church, and in its external communion, while they are guilty of gross sins it is thus interpreted by Hilary, Jerome, and Chrysostom. The mere fact then, that there are known sinners in any church, does not annihilate its character, render it apostate, or deprive it of the rights which belong to it by divine institution. Nor does an improper delay in expelling the offenders, as appears by the case of the churches of Corinth, Thyatira, and Sardis. Such faults and defects of discipline are found in every society of Christians alike. Thus the dissenters, in describing their system, say; "A much greater evil, however, is to be found in the retaining of persons as church-members, when their character plainly unfits them for such a station. Instances have not been wanting, in which persons of NOTORIOUS IMMORALITY, such as habitual drunkards, and others, have remained in undisturbed possession of their membership; while, in other cases, there has been manifested a considerable unwillingness to enquire into accusations, to bring faults to light, and to act with consistency and decision upon them when proved *.” "Our character," they say, "as professors, has not been duly distinct from that of the world around us; to say nothing of occasional (but too frequent) instances of IMMORALITY, to say nothing even of habitual faults far short of immorality, there is between the world and the congregational churches (in common we admit, but with no pleasure, with the bulk of other communities,) far too small a difference of level 1."

Notwithstanding this, it is clear, that such defects of discipline in their own communities, are tolerated k Essays on Church Polity, 1 Ibid. 188.

vol. ii. p. 185.

with great charity by the dissenters. They hold communion and intercourse with societies in which discipline is thus relaxed, and acknowledge their Christian character; nor does it appear that any enquiry is ever instituted as to the state of particular societies, to ascertain their conduct in this respect, or that any of them are ever rejected by the rest, in consequence of a defective discipline. By no means: they can make allowance for the difficulties of the case, and are unwilling to condemn the good with the evil. We have only to regret, for their sakes, that the same rule of charity has never been extended to the church, by the dissenters and their predecessors; and that a laxity, which is excused in the case of those who profess to be all saints, is viewed as an abomination in the case of those who admit that there must always be sinners among them.

That the ungodly, whether secret or manifest, do not really belong to the church, considered as to its invisible character,-namely, as consisting of its essential and permanent members, the elect, predestinate, and sanctified, who are known to God only, I admit. It is also certain, that "if any man that is called a brother, be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner," with such a one, we are "not to keep company, or even to eat" (1 Cor. v. 11.). His society is to be abstained from by the faithful, and he ought to be separated from the church. But I deny that such men cease to belong externally to the church, until they are excommunicated, (for otherwise excommunication would be a mere nullity,) or until they withdraw themselves from the church by some formal act of separation.

It is further contended by dissenters, that none but