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I. The divine system of religion is as complete as the system of nature. Everything in it is adapted for its purposes, and every genuine want of humanity is provided for. The perfection of the natural order is a sign that there is perfect provision for our supernatural requirements if we care to look for it. God does not give His children a stone for bread; He does not render His highest gifts nugatory (of no value) by leaving them incomplete. Religion, like the civil order, is a visible organization of men subject to worldly conditions, and it needs an outward machinery of government. As in the State, a paper constitution, however excellent, is worthless unless connected with a living active organism. Experience has shown that the written word of God, when divorced from the rest of the divine system, speaks with an uncertain sound that conveys contradictory meanings to different minds, and that it has never yet welded men into a solid unity such as Christ declared His kingdom to be. What a mockery is a revelation which no two men understand alike, a legal code which has no judicial court to explain, dispense, enforce it, a kingdom that has no administrative head, a corporate body which has no common idea or joint action! It would not be worthy of Him who said, "I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you" (John xiv. 18), that - He should leave us to be "tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine" (Eph. iv. 14), and dependent as to our highest interests on the vacillations of human opinions. How great the benefits which God has conveyed to you in the Church!
II. The general plan of the divine governance is the same under the Old and the New Testament; but now its details have been developed, and it has become a universal system. In each case the Rule of faith was vested in a society accredited to teach in God's name a society organized, one in itself, and speaking through a recognized mouth-piece. Moses commanded (Deut. xvii.) that in all hard and doubtful (Page 155) matters the people should consult the priests and do according to their word; and that he who was proud and disobedient should die. We find also as an historical fact that the Canon of Scripture was certified by the Great Sanhedrim and not by individual recognition. So now the Christian body is secured against error by a Church to which the Holy Ghost has taught all truth, "The house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and the ground of truth" (1 Tim. iii. 15). In this "He gave some apostles, and some prophets, and other some evangelists, and other some pastors and doctors . . . for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; until we all meet into the unity of faith" (Eph. iv. 11-13). Say: "Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house, O Lord; they shall praise Thee for ever and ever" (Ps. Ixxxiii. 5).
III. Consider the qualities required in the religious authority of the New Dispensation.
1. It should be One, as the representative of the One God, as the source of unity making all men into one society, as administering one system which has one aim and object. Such an authority cannot be divided ; still less can it reside in different and contradictory institutions.
2. It must be universal, and no longer tribal or national; it must have existed from the beginning and must continue to the end, so as to extend its influence to all mankind.
3. It must be specially equipped by God for its task; it must possess in their fulness the doctrines of truth and holiness, and the assurance of this must be given to men.
4. It must have the faculty of expressing itself definitely by means of an official head or mouth-piece, who can speak for all, and whose authority is recognized by all; and it must be able to determine the conditions under which it speaks officially.
5. It needs the gift of immortality as against decay and death, and infallibility against all error, which is the worst kind of corruption and death. All these Christ has bestowed on His Church. We are safe under the shadow of her wings. "With thee is the fountain of life; and in thy light we shall see light" (Ps. xxxv. 10).
Meditations on Christian Dogma,
Right Rev. James Bellord, D. D.,
The Newman Press, 1961
