CHAPTER - THE NATURE AND AMOUNT OF CHRIST’S PROMISE OF AN ECCLESIASTICAL PERPETUITY AND PURITY Two prophetic promises, made by Christ to his Church, furnish, to the members of the Reformed Churches, matter of serious consideration.

I. The first prophetic promise is one of Visible Ecclesiastical Perpetuity. 1. The former clause of this promise imports: that Christ would found his Church upon the complex doctrine of his Human Messiahship and his Proper Divinity. 2. The latter clause of the same promise imports: that, To the end of time, Christ will always have a Visible Church upon earth which shall hold and teach that complex doctrine.

II. The second prophetic promise is one of Ecclesiastical Purity and Soundness. 1. Advancing beyond the first promise, this second promise announces: that Christ would so be present with the Apostles and their successors, that some Visible Church or Churches would always faithfully adhere to the essential doctrines of Christianity, rejecting those tenets and practices which stand opposed to the Gospel. 2. That such is the true interpretation of the second prophetic promise, is evinced, both from matter of fact and from the concurrent voice of prophecy. (1.) Proof from matter of fact. (2.) Proof from concurrent prophecy.

CHAPTER - THE POSITION, RESPECTIVELY OF THE ROMANIST AND OF THE REFORMED, AS PRODUCED BY THE TENOR OF CHRIST’S PROMISES.

The prophetic promises of Christ impose, both upon the Romanist and upon the Reformed, the necessity of showing a Perpetuity of sound Doctrine and sound Practice, in some Visible Church or Churches, from the primitive ages down to the present.

I. On this point, the Romanist, deeming it his strong-hold, usually displays much triumphant confidence. 1. The case of Perpetuity and Purity, as made out by the Romanist on behalf of the Church of Rome. 2. To the Reformed, the case, as made out by the Romanist for his own Church, appears in no better light than that of a mere string of inconsistencies suspended from a purely gratuitous assumption.