A Phase of the Church Question. [pp. 566-586]

570 A P1t~86 of [OCTOBER,
above: the other is from beneath. The one leads the soul directly to Christ: the other glorifies human ageney. The one
is ChristLy: the other is priestly. The one is tiie work of
Christ: the other the idol of men. The one makes ministers
humble: the other glorifies a priestly caste.
The logic of Dr. Nevin is accepted. TIis representation of
the relation his "idea or theory," presumed to be a reality,
sustains to his scheme, is correct. lle stands charged before
the Christian world with holding as absolutely true a principie proven to be unauthorized by Christ, and u~~known in tiie
apostolic age. Lacli minister, ancient as well as modern,
may hold for himself his own "idea or theory;" but no one
has any right scientific, theological, or Chnstian-to attempt
to identify his speculative notion witl~ the apostolic idea of
the Christian Church. Only the ~Yord of Christ is absolute:
"JESUS CHRIST, THE SAME YESTERDAY, TO-DAY, AND FOREVEi?.~'
No mistake can be more fearful than to ignore the apostolic idea in order to accept as a reality a purely human notion.
The learned and pious Dr. Neander says:
"In proportion as the idea of the Church diverged from its original spiritual
significance the Christian element was exchanged for the Jewish; and in this
was tl)0 germ of Catholicism. It was too bard a task for humanity to keep itself
up to the spiritual elevation of Christianity; and this mixture of the Jewish and
the Christian was wrought into a systematic form in order that the develupment
of the Christian consciousness might come forth with so much greater power at
the Reformation.... Iren~us shows the first germs of this perversion: it was
matured by Cyprian."-See Nean., His. Chris. ~og., Bohn's Ed., vol. 1., p. 220.
Dr. Nevin utters a significant truth, when lie says: "~Ve
know well enough that it is not safe to follow aiiy leader
blindly, whether he be an original thinker, or an easy traditionist who never thinks at all."-See JJ~r. ~ev., vol. iii.,
p. 58.
The German Refbrmed denomination, in part, has followed
Dr. Nevin "blindly" in allowing him to confound a human
notion with the divine. In addressing this denomination,
Paul would say, as he did to the Christians at Colosse:
wa~ 1C8t any man $j)O~~ yom tkrouy/~ p~~1osopIty a'~~7 vctin deccii, afic~ i~c t,~adiiion of men, afic~ ihe ~~udimcnis of i/te wo~~1dand nol afie' (`/t~i8i."