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SUBJECT OF THE TREATISE.
xix
him
the throne
of his
father
David"
implies
that
he
shall
retain
these
powers
in his
own
hand, and
that
" he shall reign
over
the
house of
Jacob
for ever."
(Luke
i.
32,
33.)
Earthly
monarchs may
divide
their
powers
with
others, or be
in
various
ways circumscribed
in
their
exercise;
but
such
a partition
or
limitation cannot
for
a
mo-
ment
be asserted of
the Redeemer's
authority. The Scripture image
of a kingdom
is
taken
from
Oriental
despotisms, in which
there
was
but
one
master,
and all beneath him
were
subjects or
servants.
Earthly
monarchs, even
the
most
arbitrary,
find
it
necessary
to have
their
vicegerents
to supply
their
lack
of
service, for
they
are
frail,
imperfect mortals,
they
can
neither
be
in
all
places
at
the
same
time,
nor
can
they
overtake in
their
own
persons
the
labour of
con-
stant
supervision;
but
our
blessed
Lord stands in
no
need
of assis-
tants
or
assessors.
" Lo,"
he
says,
"
I
am
with
you
alway,
even
unto
the
end
of
the
world."
There
is
nothing
involved
in
these
remarks
from which
it
can
be
justly
inferred
that
the
church.
of
Christ
is
autocratic, or
that it
is
destitute
of
all
rule
or form
of
government
on earth..
It
is
granted
that
the
apostles were
rulers in
the
church,
and
that
they
speak
of
her
pastors as those
who were
"
over
her
in
the
Lord."
What
is
meant
is,
that
their
authority
is
purely
administrative;
and in this
distinction
lies
the
whole essence of
our controversy with
the
papal
pretensions.
The
apostles were
rulers
in
the
church,
they
were
not
governors
of
the
church; they
did not legislate
for
the
church,
but
merely administered
the
laws
given by
the
" One
Lawgiver;" they
did
not
form
so
many foundations of
the
church,
but
were simply
builders
on
the
"
one foundation," which
was
Jesus
Christ.
But
if the idea
of
a
delegated jurisdiction,
imparted by
our Lord
to
his apostles,
and by them
transmitted
to
their
successors, is so
pregnant with
incongruities,
it
becomes positively ridiculous
when
imagined
in the
hands
of
the
pope.
The
subdivision
of
the
power
among many, supposed
in
the
one
case,
hides
the
absurdity
of
the
claim;
but
it
develops
itself in
all
the
hideousness of caricature
when
the
claim
is
put
forth in behalf
of one
man..
Perfect unity
is
the
distinguishing prerogative
of
God,
and
in
him
it
is
the
perfection of
strength.
With the
creature
it
is
the
very reverse
;
union,
is
strength,
unity
is
weakness. To
invest
a human
unit
with the attributes and
prerogatives
of
the Infinite
One is
the
very perfection of human
absurdity and
impiety.
And the pretence
is
all
the more
absurd
and
impious when
we
consider
that
it
is,
in
the nature
of things,
impossible
that
the man
can
pcasess
a
single
kingly attribute,
or ex-
ercise
a
single
kingly
prerogative, properly belonging
to the
Head.
of