must study them fully more in their theory than in their history: the former is the better light.
It may be thought that we have now nearly done; but in truth we are only beginning. We must start afresh, although only for a short run; for our theory of the General Assembly cannot be placed on an impregnable foundation, until the distinction between the Romanist and the Protestant theory of church and state be fully explained and understood. No intelligible views can be entertained in reference to the tenure by which that elusory abstraction, entitled “spiritual jurisdiction,” is held, so long as the nature of this distinction remains in doubt. Therefore we shall lay down, in the first place, the Romanist theory of church and state; and, in the second place, the Protestant theory of church and state: and then we shall see what will follow, in reference to the spiritual jurisdiction of the General Assembly.
Firstly. In the Romanist theory, church and state are two separate institutions, a distinct duality, not only in regard to the affairs which each administers, but also in regard to the persons who administer them. The principle which holds church and state everlastingly apart, is the doctrine of the apostolical succession. Admit this doctrine,—and the men who have received this succession, and the men who have not, fall asunder like a sea cloven by the breath of God. If the divine Head of the church were this day to lay his hand on a chosen child, and say “This is my apostle,” from that hour the man would be miraculously and spiritually select. He would bear a consecrated life: he would possess a title which no other living soul possesses. Now this is precisely the position in which the church of Rome maintains that her priests actually stand: for they contend (and with perfect logic, if there be an apostolical succession in their sense of the expression) that the mere length of the line can have no effect in weakening the validity, or in altering the character, of the original commission. In the theory of the Roman church, the Divine Founder of Christianity, and his priests of the present day, stand virtually in immediate contact with each other.
Hence the Romanists maintain that their ecclesiastical office-
