By what means he exercised Episcopal control over distant What provision he made for their government after his death He provides for their government by individuals, but makes no provision for their government on any democratic Note.-On existing Methodist, Presbyterian, and Congrega- No directions respecting the formation of presbyteries, or The Church rule practised by the Apostle could develop into No original democratic constitution could have been superseded Apostolic government essentially hierarchical The mere names of Church officers can prove nothing CHURCH PRINCIPLES AND ANTIQUITY. The providence of God in the publication of the New Testament PAGE Epistle General of St. John differs essentially from it Our blessed Lord's words also wholly incompatible with a St. Paul sent "not to baptize, but to preach" Modern Evangelical teaching at direct issue with the Apostles 388 Modern Rationalism affects Church Principles only so far as it affects the credit of the entire Bible No real progress discernible in "Free Thought" writers Godhead and Incarnation of Christ CHURCH DOCTRINE,-BIBLE TRUTH. CHAPTER 1. THE SCRIPTURE GOSPEL. memory what I For I delivered "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the Gospel which 1 preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures: and that He was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: last of all He was seen of me also: .. therefore, whether it were I or they, 80 we preach, and so ye believed." (1 Cor. xv. 1-11) "The Gospel of God (which He had promised afore by His prophets in the Holy Scriptures), concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." (Rom. i. 1—4.) 66 : Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come: that Christ B should suffer, and that He should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles.' (Acts xxvi. 22, 23.) "The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. (St. Mark i. 1.) "Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my Gospel.” (2 Tim. ii. 8.} THE THE great work of the Church of Christ is to set forth the Gospel of her Lord. If He has committed His truth to our keeping, it is for us to see that we retain that truth in its fulness, and that we transmit it unimpaired. It is plain also that if God has set forth the Gospel in some particular form, we must adhere to that form, and not substitute for it any other which may seem to the eye of man more spiritual or more practical. God best knows how to draw souls to Himself. He, and He only, sees in what way they can be most effectually moulded to suit His purposes. If He gives to us one aspect of His truth rather than another, we may rest assured that He has some all-sufficient reason for His choice, and so the Church must make it her first care to set forth the Gospel in that form in which she has received it from God. The word "Gospel" in the New Testament is applied exclusively to the announcement of certain events occurring at a particular time in the history of the world. These are, the Incarnation, Birth, Baptism, Temptation, Ministry, Miracles, Betrayal, Condemnation, Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus. This is the meaning of the word Gospel" in the opening sentence of St. Mark's Gospel. This is its meaning in the opening sentence of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, where the Apostle speaks of himself as "separated unto the Gospel of God, concerning |