Reformed Covenanter
Cancelled Commissioner
Their definition of the Church is essentially unsound, and their account of the marks by which the true Church may be discriminated, is widely different from that of their reforming ancestors.
I have already referred to the admirable definition given in the 19th Article, in which “the visible Church of Christ” is said to be “a congregation of faithful men, in the which the pure Word of God is preached, and the sacraments be duly administered, according to Christ’s ordinance in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same.”
This truly catholic article can in no way be reconciled with the exclusive pretensions of the Oxford divines, unless on the supposition that the sacraments cannot be duly administered according to Christ’s ordinance, excepting by those who have received Episcopal ordination; and not only so, but that this is “one of those things that of necessity are requisite to the same;” — but how this supposition can consist with that other statement in the 23d Article, “of ministering in the congregation,” which declares that “those we ought to judge lawfully called and sent, which be chosen and called to this work by men who have publick authority given unto them in the congregation, to call and send ministers into the Lord’s vineyard,” remains to be explained. ...
For more, see James Buchanan on the Oxford Movement’s definition of the church and the 39 Articles.
I have already referred to the admirable definition given in the 19th Article, in which “the visible Church of Christ” is said to be “a congregation of faithful men, in the which the pure Word of God is preached, and the sacraments be duly administered, according to Christ’s ordinance in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same.”
This truly catholic article can in no way be reconciled with the exclusive pretensions of the Oxford divines, unless on the supposition that the sacraments cannot be duly administered according to Christ’s ordinance, excepting by those who have received Episcopal ordination; and not only so, but that this is “one of those things that of necessity are requisite to the same;” — but how this supposition can consist with that other statement in the 23d Article, “of ministering in the congregation,” which declares that “those we ought to judge lawfully called and sent, which be chosen and called to this work by men who have publick authority given unto them in the congregation, to call and send ministers into the Lord’s vineyard,” remains to be explained. ...
For more, see James Buchanan on the Oxford Movement’s definition of the church and the 39 Articles.
