be wisely regarded as a collection of isolated, separate congregations, bound by no common law of intercommunion. The spiritual Israel of God in the olden time uniformly made a portion of the visible Israel of God. Though all were not Israel who were of Israel, yet the bonds of union even to the spiritual Israel were, the outward ordinances of the law, which compelled the recognition of this principle, that the whole nation was one Church, one Universal Catholic Israelitish Church of God: and this bond of union was only then broken when idolatry was established among the tribes; and the outward and visible unity was destroyed by the same enactments which annihilated the spirituality of Israel. The Church of Israel was but a type of the future eventual condition of the Church throughout the world. The visible unity of the Church has been regarded as a dream, because of the usurpations of the Church of Rome, and the supposed necessity of one visible head of the Universal Church. The abuse of the truth, however, must not prejudice us against the truth itself; and all the efforts both of subjects and of princes should be directed to this one point-to make all the world, such as it would have been, if every independent patriarchal family and nation, instead of apostatizing from the worship of the God of Noah and Abraham, had remained stedfast in that worship; and as if every separate state and people had continued, like Israel, to be the people of God. Each would have retained its political independence. Each would have retained its spiritual worship. The King and the priest of the tribe would have remained one; and man would have remained one family, without any necessity for the separation of the race of Abraham, to be the peculiar people of God. Constantine, as the one ruler of the civilized world, acted upon these principles. While he upheld his own political supremacy as an undivided trust, he regarded his ecclesiastical supremacy as a trust divided between him and the Universal Episcopate. He acknowledged no political laws but those which had been enacted by his political predecessors. He sanctioned all the ecclesiastical laws which he found to have been enacted for the government of the Universal Church, not by one Bishop of one Church, but by the several Bishops for their several Churches; and received among them all, and by them all, as the bonds of mutual affectionate intercommunion with each other; and as the bonds also of the common unbroken ecclesiastical union.-"You are the Bishops," he told them, "or the ecclesiastical magistrates of the internal affairs of the "Church. I am the Bishop appointed by the Almighty over the external "affairs of the Empire and of the Universal Church'."-To every Episcopal Church, as a portion of this Universal Church, he gave the title Catholic, as a part of the one Catholic body. Thus he addressed his letter to the Church of Alexandria, "To the Catholic Church of Alexandria'." In his letter to Melchiades, the Bishop of Rome, he professes his veneration for the lawful, that Rex idem atque sacerdos. * Euseb. de Vit. Const. iv. 24. ἀλλ ̓ ὑμεῖς μὲν τῶν εἴσω τῆς ἐκκλησίας, ἐγὼ δὲ τῶν ἐκτὸς ὑπὸ Θεοῦ καθεσταμένος ἐπίσκοπος ἂν εἴην. 1 Socrat. i. 9. Κωνσταντίνος Σεβαστός, τῇ Καθολικῇ ̓Αλεξανδρέων ἐκκλησίᾳ. is, the Episcopal Catholic Church. In his letter to the Churches, on the subject of the attendance of their Bishops at Nice, he declares that he assembled that council for the preservation of the one faith and one love3 among the people of the Catholic Church; and that it was the will of Christ that His Holy Catholic Church should be one; for its members were nourished by one Spirit'. In his letter to the council of Bishops at Tyre, he expresses his wish to identify the peace of the Catholic Church with the prosperity of the Empire'; and he does this on all occasions, without once referring either to the supposed supremacy of Rome, or to the articles of faith which, since his time, have been gradually added to the Primitive Creeds; till they were embodied in that most unjustifiable act of usurpation, the Bull of Pope Pius, which declared these additions to be the faith of the Church. Constantine upheld the unity of the Catholic Church. He acted neither on sectarian principles nor on Papal principles, but as the head of the Empire, on Episcopal principles; and no event whatever in the history of the Churches of Christ has so materially contributed to the hope of the final predicted union of the Catholic Church, as the solemn establishment of the doctrine of the Divinity of Christ in the council summoned by Constantine; the decree respecting Easter; and the acknowledgment neither of the supremacy of Rome, nor the Catholicity of sects. The errors of Constantine may be avoided, while one part of his example may be followed; if the Powers of Europe who inherit his sceptre, shall be ever guided by the Holy Spirit to adopt his wise resolution, of endeavouring to prevent the universal war, which must result from the divisions among Christians. Unless they become unanimous in their determination that neither Rome shall rule nor sects shall rule, but themselves alone shall rule with the Catholic Episcopacy, while all, all Christians are tolerated, there will be no hope of peace either to the civilized world, or to the Universal Church of Christ. 6. Constantine endeavoured to extend the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures to every member of the Catholic Church. He commanded Eusebius to provide copies of the Scriptures, to be read in the Churches. I mention this, not because it is my intention to gild the gold of the Holy Scriptures by praising them, nor to paint these roses of Sharon or these lilies of the valleys by speaking of their sweetness and fragrance; but to express my conviction that there can be no hope of union among Christians until 2 Euseb. Hist. Eccl. x. 5. ὁπότε μηδὲ τὴν ὑμετέραν ἐπιμέλειαν λανθάνει, τοσαύτην με αἰδῶ τῇ ἐνθέσμῳ καθολικῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ ἀπονέμειν 3 Id. de Vita Const. iii. 17. τοῦτον πρό γε πάντων ἔκρινα εἶναί μοι προσήκειν σκοπὸν, ὅπως παρὰ τοῖς μακαριωτάτοις τῆς καθολικῆς ἐκκλησίας πλήθεσι, πίστις μία καὶ εἰλικρινὴς ἀγάπη, ὁμογνώμων τε περὶ τὸν παγκρατῆ Θεὸν εὐσέβεια τηρῆται. ... 4 Ibid. iii. 19. τὰ μέρη . ὅμως ἑνὶ Πνεύματι, τουτέστι, τῷ θείῳ βουλήματι, θάλπεται. 5 Ibid. iv. 42. Ην μὲν ἴσως ἀκόλουθον καὶ τῇ τῶν καιρῶν εὐκαιρίᾳ μάλιστα πρέπον, ἀστασίαστον εἶναι τὴν καθολικὴν ἐκκλησίαν, καὶ πάσης λοιδορίας τοὺς τοῦ Χριστοῦ νῦν ἀπηλλάχθαι θεράποντας. • Ibid. iv. 36. πρέπον γὰρ κατεφάνη . . . . ὅπως ἂν πεντήκοντα σωμάτια .... ὑπὸ τεχνιτών καλλιγράφων καὶ ἀκριβῶς τὴν τέχνην ἐπισταμένων γραφῆναι κελεύσεις. Ibid. iv. 37. the Christian Princes of Europe resolutely insist on the revival of the custom of the Primitive Churches; and adopt, therefore, the custom of the Church of England and of all the Antipapal Episcopal Churches in this respect, by commanding the reading of the Holy Scriptures, in their own language, in all their Churches throughout all their dominions. The free and undisturbed possession of the Scriptures is the birthright of the whole human race. They are not given to the Church alone. They are given to the world; that from out of the world the Church should be founded and built up. And that Prince or Sovereign betrays his chief duty to his people, who complies with the requests of any priesthood, and withholds the Scriptures from the masses of his subjects. Women, children, mechanics, catechumens, of all ages, were instructed in the Holy Scriptures by the Primitive Churches. They were never withheld from the people by the Bishops of the Primitive Churches; and their example and the example of Constantine must be imitated both by the Bishops of the Catholic Church and by the successors of Constantine in the Empire; if they would hope for the establishment of that peace and union, which can only be founded on that solid and unmoveable basis-the truth and knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. 7. Constantine sanctioned the Canons and Liturgies of the Catholic Church, and worshipped Christ as Divine. That an universal canon law for the use of the Catholic Church could be framed from the primitive code of the Universal Church, and from the useful regulations in the various canon laws both of the Antipapal, and Papal Churches when reformed, could be easily proved. This, however, is not the time nor place; for the inquiry, however interesting, would be much too long to be inserted here. That an unobjectionable universal Christian Liturgy could be easily compiled from the Primitive Liturgies, might be shown also at length, if this were the opportunity of doing so. The Liturgy of the Church of England and of the other Antipapal Catholic Episcopalian Churches must be regarded, whenever the Princes of Europe shall be induced to make an effort for the re-union of Christians, as almost faultless. The discussion of this point, however, must be deferred. I only add, therefore, and I do so in the name of that Lord Jesus Christ, whom we profess to worship and to serve, that as Constantine praised Christ as the Creator and Orderer of all things, so his successors will praise Him by imitating the desire of Constantine to promote the union of the Church. As Constantine prayed to Christ to accept his offering', so they also will be * Bingham, xiii. c. iv. § 7. * I may mention Justellus, on the Code of the Universal Church, the Apostolical Canons, the Works of Van Espen, Gibson, Devoti, and Boehmer's Canon Law of the Protestant Churches, as containing all that would be necessary to enable a Catholic Jurisprudent to compile such a code. * In his Oration, Constantine applies these titles to our Lord, and others which equally show that he entertained orthodox sentiments on his Divinity. 1 Constant. Orat. ad Sanctorum Cœtum, cap. xi., edit. Reding, p. 686. Σῶτερ ἁπάντων, καὶ τὸν περὶ τῆς σῆς ἀρετῆς κατακόσμει λόγον. • ... πάριθι Χριστὲ resolved to prepare an offering which they may pray Christ to accept. As Constantine ascribed to Christ, the Saviour of all men, the praise and glory of his victory over his erroneous antagonists; they also may combine to conquer the hateful discords which harass their Christian people. As Constantine appealed to Christ as his Judge, and trusted that the rewards of immortality by that Judge of the world might be assigned to him; so the Princes of Christian Europe also may be willing to appeal to the Prince of Peace, who shall judge them, that they desire to promote the peace of His Universal Church. As the Roman Emperor expressed his gratitude to Christ for the prosperity of his Empire and people, and prayed for the continuance of that blessing'; so the Princes and Sovereigns of Europe may express their gratitude to the same Eternal Saviour, and pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and demonstrate their gratitude by imploring the blessing of their common Saviour upon some one anxious effort to promote the restoration of truth, peace, and union to the world. The time is at hand when the Christian Sovereigns of the world and of the Church must see their dominions afflicted with an universal war; or recovered by their means from the mutual hatreds which threaten this fearful result. With them alone, with the Christian Kings, Princes, Sovereigns, and Emperors of the civilized world and of the Holy Catholic Church, the power and the sceptre rest. They may resolve to consult together in what manner toleration may be granted to all-the papal supremacy be rejected, and the Catholic episcopacy be restored to its primitive domination. To them, and to them alone, in conjunction with that Catholic episcopacy assembled in Councils, in which their own advisers, as the representatives of Constantine, may be united—the magnificent and holy privilege is assigned to fix the Creeds, declare the Canons, and compile the Liturgy, which shall be the bonds of union to all the Churches of the Holy Catholic Church.-To them is committed the power of commanding that the Holy Scriptures shall utter their words of wisdom in every assembly of believers in the truth of that Holy Word. To them is granted the power of commending to their People the only worship which renders man acceptable to God, and God propitiated to man--the worship and service of Jesus Christ, whose name they bear, and whom they profess to serve. To them is committed the authority which can say to the Bishop of Rome, to the Bishops of the Papal and Antipapal Churches-to the Priests and to the People of all Churches: "As the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath; so Churches were made for the People, and not the "People for the Churches: and we resolve, as the representatives of God upon "earth, to give and secure to our People the Religion which God has revealed, 2 Ibid. p. 687. καὶ τούτων μέν σοι τὰ νικητήρια δίδομεν εὐφημοῦντες, ὦ Σῶτερ τῶν ὅλων. 3 Ibid. p. 688. ὅπως οἱ δεξιῶς καὶ σωφρόνως βιώσαντες, κατὰ τὴν τοῦ παιδὸς κρίσιν, δεύτερον βίον μακάριόν τε καὶ εὐδαίμονα λαγχάνωσιν. 4 Ibid. p. 714. διὸ χρὴ τοὺς πάντας . · χάριν ὁμολογεῖν τῷ Σωτῆρι τῶν πάντων, ἕνεκεν τῆς ἡμετέρας αὐτῶν σωτηρίας, καὶ τῆς τῶν δημοσίων πραγμάτων εὐμοιρίας ὁσίαις τε εὐχαῖς καὶ λιτανείαις ἐπαλλήλοις ἐξιλεοῦσθαι τὸν Χριστὸν ἡμῖν, ὅπως τὰς εὐεργεσίας αὐτοῦ διαφυλάττοι. 66 "free as we can make it from the corruptions and errors either of antiquity or modernity." Oh! Sovereigns of Europe, make but one effort to restore union to Christians—give mankind reason to conclude that you are willing to act upon this power-and the blessings of the Creator, the Redeemer, and the Sanctifier, will be upon you- the gratitude of the millions of Christians who compose the Holy Catholic Church will reward you—the consciousness that you have attempted to perform an acceptable duty to the King of all kings, and Lord of all lords, will comfort you in the hour when human consolations are unheard-and the names of the existing sovereigns who combine to effect this great work, will be handed down to posterity as the benefactors of their People and Churches; and as the restorers and rebuilders of the Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church of Christ. Here, then, I conclude for the present. The proposer of this project-the persons to whom the first appeal may be most advisably made the nature of the Council-the manner in which the commencement, the progress, the result, and the reception of their deliberations may be anticipated-with other topics. of the same kind-will be considered in the Dedication to the next part of this work, to the Queen. I there purpose to inquire in what manner, and to what extent, the Christian Sovereign of Great Britian may originate among the Princes of Europe some plan or scheme for lessening the hatreds of Christians, promoting their reunion, and restoring to their primitive harmony the Churches of the Catholic Church. |