their head, by His Spirit and by faith, have fellowship
with Him in His graces, sufferings, death, resurrection, and glory. And,
being united to one another in love, they have communion in each other's
gifts and graces, and are obliged to the performance of such duties,
public and private, as do conduce to their mutual good." In other words,
every true member of the church, be he hearer or office-bearer, holds
his place in the body for the good of all, and is bound to use his gifts
and opportunities to promote, as far as he can, the spiritual and
temporal good of all. A single sentence from the Westminster Directory
for Church Government is all I need to give, in supplement of this
statement of the Confession, to put you in full possession of their
authors' views and aspirations. "When their number [_i.e._, the
membership of a congregation] is so great that they cannot conveniently
meet in one place, it is expedient that they be divided according to the
respective bounds of their dwellings into distinct and fixed
congregations for the better administration of such ordinances as belong
unto them, and the discharge of mutual duties; wherein all, according to
their several places and callings, are to labour to promote whatever
appertains to the power of godliness and credit of religion, that the
whole land, in the full extent of it, may become the kingdom of our Lord
and of His Christ."

[Sidenote: Ideal Presbytery.]

The sum of all this may be given in the words of Henderson, in the
conclusion of his treatise on 'The Government and Order of the Church of
Scotland,' the only other treatise which has any right to be set
alongside of the Books of Discipline. "In the authoritie of these
assemblies, parochial, presbyteriall, provinciall, and nationall, and in
the subordination of the lesser unto the greater, or of more particular
elderships to the larger and generall eldership, doth consist the
externall order, strength, and steadfastnesse of the Church of
Scotland.... Here there is a superiority without tyrannie, for no
minister hath a papall or monarchicall jurisdiction over his own flock,
far lesse over other pastors and over all the congregations of a large
dioces. Here there is paritie without confusion and disorder, for the
pastors are in order before the elders, and the elders before the
deacons; the church [_i.e._, each congregation] is subordinate to the
presbyterie, the presbyterie to the synod, and the synod to th