Sectarianism worse than Erastianism
Civil Power a Divine Ordinance
Church must have Mission different from State
Work of Church—Dogma and Sacraments
Strength of Catholic Church
Sect must have a Creed
Experience of Non-Jurors
Time to Act1
It was my object yesterday to show that such persons as are led by the principles of the anti-Erastian movement of 1833 to quit the Establishment, are necessarily called upon, as by one and the same act, to join the Catholic Church; for the case is not supposable in reason, of their quitting the one without their joining the other. The only other course which lies open to them is either that of joining the communion of some other National or Branch Church, or, on the other hand, that of founding a Sect; but a Branch or National Church is inevitably Erastian. This point I argued out at considerable length; and now I come to the second alternative, viz., that of founding a Sect, or as it is sometimes familiarly called, setting up for one’s self. And I shall show today that, bad as it is for a man to take the State for his guide and master in religion, or to become an Erastian, it is worse still to become a Sectarian, that is, to be his own Doctor and his own Pope.
What is really meant by a “Church,” is a religious body which has jurisdiction over its members, or which governs itself; whereas, according to the doctrine of Erastus, it has no such jurisdiction, really is not a body at all, but is simply governed by the State, and is one department of the State’s operations. This is one error, and a great one; it is an error, my brethren, which you have from the first withstood; but now I wish to show you that, if you will not accept of the Catholic Church, and submit yourselves to her authority, this said Erastianism is the least and the most tolerable error you can embrace; that your best and most religious of courses, which are all bad and irreligious, is to acquiesce in Erastianism at once; to give up the principles on which you set out, and to tell the world that the movement of 1833 was a mistake, and that you have grown wiser.
1.
I would have you recollect, then, that the civil power is a divine ordinance; no one doubts it. It is prior in history to ecclesiastical power. The Jewish lawgivers, judges, prophets, kings, had some sort of jurisdiction over the priesthood, though the priesthood had its distinct powers and duties. The Jewish Church was not a body distinct from the State. In a certain sense, then, the civil magistrate is what divines call, “in possession;” the onus probandi lies with those who would encroach upon his power. He was in possession in the age when Christ came; he is in possession now in the minds of men, and in the primâ facie view of human society. He is in possession, because the benefits he confers on mankind are tangible, and obvious to the world at large. And he is recognised and sanctioned in Scripture in the most solemn way; nay, the very instrument of his power, by which he is strong, the carnal weapon itself, is formally committed to him. “Let every soul,” says St. Paul, “be subject to the higher powers; for there is no power but from God; and those that are,” the powers that be, “are ordained of God. Therefore he that resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God; and they that resist, purchase to themselves damnation. For princes are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil. Wilt thou, then, not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, fear, for he beareth not the sword in vain. For he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil.”
It is difficult to find a passage in Scripture more solemn and distinct than this—distinct in the duty laid down, and in the sin of transgressing it, and solemn in the reasons on which the duty is enforced. The civil magistrate is a minister, or, in a certain sense, a priest of the Most High; for, as is well known, the word in the original Greek is one which commonly is appropriated to denote the sacerdotal office and function. He is, moreover, “an avenger to execute wrath;” he is the representative and image on earth of that awful attribute of God, His justice, as fathers are types and intimations of His tenderness and providence towards His creatures. Nor is this a solitary recognition of the divine origin and the dignity of the civil power:—when Divine Wisdom, in the book of Proverbs, would enlarge upon her great works on the earth, she finds one principal and special instance of them to consist in her presence and operation in the rulers of the people. “By me,” she says, “kings reign, and lawgivers decree just things: by me princes rule, and the mighty decree justice.” And let it be observed, that the function here ascribed to the civil magistrate, and requiring a peculiar gift, is one of those which especially enters into the idea of the times of the promised Messias. “Behold,” says the Prophet, “a king shall reign in justice, and princes shall rule in judgment.” Such is the civil power, the representative, and oracle, and instrument, of the eternal law of God, with the power of life and death, the awful power of continuing or cutting short the probation of beings destined to live eternally. To it are committed all things under heaven; it is the sovereign lord of the wide earth and its various fruits, and of men who till it or traverse it; and it allots, and distributes, and maintains, the one for the benefit of the other. And as it is sacred in its origin, so may it be considered irresponsible in its acts, and treason against it, in some sort, rebellion against the Most High.