The Head of the Church

The Head of the Church

A Sermon
(No. 839)

Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, November 1, 1868, by
C. H. SPURGEON,
at the [47]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

"He is the head of the body, the church."
Colossians 1:18.

As if to show us that this title of "Head of the Church" is to be held
in highest esteem, it is here placed in connection with the loftiest
honors of our Lord Jesus. In the same breath the Son of God is styled
"the image of the invisible God," "the first-born of every creature,"
the Creator of all existence, and then, "the head of the body, the
church." We dare not, therefore, think slightly of this title, nor do
we hesitate to assert that any levity with regard to it would be as
disgraceful as the profane use of any other name of our Divine Lord.
For any mortal to assume it to himself, we conceive would be equal in
blasphemy to the assumption of the mediatorial office–and we should be
no more shocked to hear a man claim to be "the Creator of all things,"
than we are now when a mortal is designated, "Head of the Church."

What is the Church? The word signifies an assembly. The Church of Jesus
Christ is an assembly of faithful men, the whole company of God's
chosen, His called out ones, the entire community of true followers of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Wherever true Believers are, there is a part of
the Church. Wherever such men are not, whatever organization may be in
existence, there is no Church of Jesus Christ. The Church is no
corporation of priests, or confederacy of unconverted men–it is the
assembly of those whose names are written in Heaven. Any assembly of
faithful men is a Church.

The aggregate of all these assemblies of faithful men make up the one
Church which Jesus Christ has redeemed with His most precious blood,
and of which HE is the sole and only Head. Part of that Church is in
Heaven, triumphant! Part on earth, militant–but these differences of
place make no division as to real unity. There is but one Church above,
beneath. Time creates no separation–the Church is always one–one
Church of the Apostles, one Church of the Reformers, one Church of the
first century, one church of the latter days, and of this one, only
Church, and Jesus Christ is the one only Head.

I. WHAT IS MEANT BY OUR LORD'S HEADSHIP OF THE CHURCH? That shall be
very briefly our first subject of thought. We understand this headship
to be the representation of the Church as a body. We speak of counting
heads, meaning thereby persons–the head represents the whole body. God
has been pleased to deal with mankind as a community and His great
Covenant transactions have been with men in a body–not with separate
individuals. That is to say, at the first creation God did not so much
deal with each particular person of the human race as with the whole
race represented in one man, namely, the first Adam.

It was so ordained that the race should be bound up in his loins, to
stand if he stood, to fall if he fell. Therefore, my Brethren, the
Fall, hence original sin, hence the sorrows of this life. In order to
salvation, which, perhaps, was only possible because we did not fall
singly (for the devils falling singly and separately are reserved
without hope of mercy unto everlasting fire), God instituted a second
federation, of which Jesus Christ is the Head. The Apostle calls Him
the second Adam. He is the Head of that company of mankind who are His
chosen–His redeemed who are known in this world by being led to
believe in Him, and are ultimately gathered into His rest.

Now, Jesus Christ stands to His Church in the same position as Adam
stood to his posterity. They are chosen in Him, accepted in Him and
preserved in Him–"Saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation." As
His own words declare it, "Because I live, you shall live also." In the
following chapters of the Epistle before us, the Apostle shows that the
saints are buried with Jesus, risen with Him and quickened with Him.
Even more explicit is he in the fifth of Romans, where the headship of
Adam and of Jesus are compared and contrasted.

Our Lord is Head in a mystical sense, explained in Colossians 2:19:
"The Head, from which all the body by joints and hands having
nourishment ministered, and knit together increases with the increase
of God." The head is to the body indispensable to life–it is the seat
of mental life, the temple of the soul. Even so Jesus Christ is the
vitalizing Head of all His people. "He is our life." "In Him was life,
and the life was the light of men." The life of every member of the
mystical body depends upon the life of the mystical Head. Through Jesus
Christ every living child of God derives his spiritual life. Not one
true member of the Church lives by a life of his own. "For you are
dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." Separation from Christ
is spiritual death, "If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a
branch, and is withered."

The head mystically is not merely the source of life and the seat of
sensation, but it is the throne of supreme government. It is from the
brain that the mandate is issued which uplifts the hand or bids it fall
by the side. Man walks or speaks, or sleeps, or rises from his couch
according to the dictate of that mysterious royal something which finds
a place for itself within the head. Thus in the true Church of God,
Jesus Christ is the great directing Head. From Him the only binding
commands go forth. To Him all the really spiritual yield a cheerful
homage. His members delight to do the will of their Head.

The whole fabric of the Church, actuated by His life and being filled
with His Spirit, most readily concedes to Him that in all things He
shall have the preeminence. In proportion as Christians are truly
united to Jesus they are perfectly governed by Him, and it is only
because of the old nature which abides in separation from Christ that
Believers offend and transgress. In so far as they are spiritual men,
so far does Jesus rule them as the Head governs all the members of the
body. The Head is also the glory of the body. There the chief beauty of
manhood dwells. The Divine image is best seen in the countenance–the
face is the distinguishing glory of man.

Man holds his head erect–his countenance is not turned towards the
earth like the beast–it glows with intelligence. It is the index of an
immortal mind. Beauty chooses as her favored seat the features of the
countenance. Majesty and tenderness, wisdom and love, courage and
compassion here hang out their ensigns–all the Graces choose the head
as their favored dwelling place. In this sense, right well is our Lord
saluted as the "Head." He is fairer than the children of men–Divine
Grace is poured into His lips. In Jesus Christ all the beauty of the
Church is summed up. What were His Church without Him? A carcass–a
ghastly corpse bereft of all its glory–because divided from its Head.

What were all the good, and great, and excellent men who have ever
lived without Christ? So many ciphers upon a writing table–they count
for nothing until their Lord, as the great Unit–is put before them to
give them power and value! Then, indeed, they swell to a mighty
sum–but without Him they are less than nothing and vanity! An uncomely
thing would be the Church of God if she were not comely with the
comeliness which Jesus imparts to her! His head is as the most fine
gold! His Countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars! He is the
chief among 10,000, and the altogether lovely–glorious is that body of
which He is the crown and excellence! Well may the Church be called the
fairest among women when her Head thus excels all the beauties of earth
and Heaven!

Another figure which is used to describe the Headship of Christ to the
Church is the conjugal. As the Lord made Eve out of the flesh of Adam,
so has He taken the Church out of the side of Christ Jesus, and she is
of Him as Eve was of Adam–she is of His flesh and of His bones. A
mysterious union has been established between Christ and His Church
which is constantly compared to that of marriage: "For the husband is
the head of the wife, even as Christ is the Head of the Church: and He
is the Savior of the body." Jesus is the Bridegroom–His Church is His
Bride. They are espoused, one to another. In bonds of love they are
bound forever to each other and they are alike with sacred expectation
waiting for the marriage day when shall be accomplished the eternal
purpose of God and the desire of the Redeemer.

As the husband exercises a headship in the house–not at all (when the
relationship is rightly carried out) tyrannical or magisterial, but a
government founded upon the rule of nature and endorsed by the consent
of love–even so Jesus Christ rules in His Church. Not as a despotic
lord, compelling and constraining His subject bride against her will,
but as a husband well-beloved, obtaining obedience voluntarily from the
heart of the beloved one, being in all things so admired and had in
esteem as to win an undisputed preeminence! Such conjugal headship is
illustrated by the Word of God in the old prophecy, "You shall call Me
Ishi, and shall call Me no more Baali." Baali and Ishi both mean lord,
but the sense differs. The one is a mere ruler, the other a beloved
husband.

Jesus Christ's kingdom is no tyranny! His scepter is not made of iron.
He rules not with blows and curses and threats, but His scepter is of
silver and His rule is love. The only chains He uses are the chains of
His constraining Grace. His dominion is spiritual and extends over
willing hearts who delight to bow before Him and to give Him the honor
due unto His name. These, I think, are the senses in which this word,
"headship," is used. But there remains one other, these former all
qualifying this last, upon which I intend to dwell at some length this
morning. Christ is the Head of His Church as King in Zion. In the midst
of the Church of God the supreme government is vested in the Person of
Christ. "One is your Master, even Christ, and all you are brethren."

The Church is the kingdom of God among men. It is purely
spiritual–comprehending only spiritual men–and existing only for
spiritual objects. And who is its King? None but Jesus! We can truly
say, as they did of old who proclaimed the Kingship of the Crucified,
"We have another King, one Jesus." To Him the assemblies of the saints
pay all regal honor and at His Throne the entire Church bows itself,
saluting Him as Master and Lord. To no other do we render spiritual
obeisance. Christ only and solely is King upon Zion's hill, set there
by eternal decree, maintained in that position by infinite power and
appointed to remain upon the Throne till every enemy shall be made His
footstool.

I wish I had eloquence, this morning, that I might bear worthy witness
to the crown-rights of King Jesus in His Church! I know no subject
which is more necessary to insist upon in these eventful times. Let
Jesus be acknowledged as the only Head of the Church and the way out of
the present political debate which agitates our nation is clear enough.
Ignorance of this Truth of God blinds many! It makes them labor with
all their heart for a bad cause, under the notion that they are doing
God service. To know this Truth is to hold a most weighty trust with
which we must not trifle.

Martyrs have bled for this Truth! Scotland's heather has been stained
in 10,000 places, and her waters have been dyed crimson for the defense
of this weighty doctrine. Let us not be slow with unshaken courage to
declare, yet again, that kings and princes and parliaments have no
lawful jurisdiction over the Church of Jesus Christ! That it beseems
not the best of monarchs to claim those royal prerogatives which God
has given to His only begotten Son. Jesus alone is the Head of His
spiritual kingdom, the Church!

And all others who come within her pale to exercise power are but
usurpers and Antichrist–and not for one moment to be respected in
their usurped authority by the true Church of the living God! Some
Churches have not learned this lesson, but are held in leash like dogs
by their masters. They crouch down at the feet of the State to eat the
crumbs which fall from Mammon's table! And if they are cuffed and
beaten by the powers that be, well do they deserve it–and I would
almost pray that the whip may fall upon them yet more heavily till they
learn to appreciate liberty and are willing to take off the dog collar
of the State and be free from human domination!

If they lose a little wealth they will win the solid gold of God's own
favor, and the abiding power of His Spirit, which they cannot expect to
have while they are traitors to King Jesus and own not the sole and
only Headship of Immanuel in the Church.

II. We shall now, therefore, in the second place, come to look a little
into this Headship of Jesus Christ in a regal sense, as to WHAT IT
IMPLIES. Since Christ is the Head of His body, the Church, He alone can
determine doctrines for her. Nothing is to be received as Divinely
warranted except it comes with His stamp upon it. It is nothing, my
Brethren, to the faithful servant of Jesus Christ that a certain dogma
comes down to him with the gray antiquity of the ages to make it
venerable. Like a sensible man, the Christian respects antiquity, but
like a loyal subject of his King, he does not so bow before antiquity
as to let it become ruler in Zion instead of the living Christ!

A multitude of good men may meet together, and they may, in their
judgment, propound a dogma and assert it to be essential and undoubted.
And they may even threaten perils most abundant to those who receive
not their verdict! But if the dogma was not authorized long before they
decided it–if it were not written in the Bible–the decision of the
learned council amounts to nothing! All the fathers, and doctors, and
divines, and confessors put together cannot add a word to the faith
once delivered unto the saints! Yes, I venture to say that the
unanimous assent of all the saints in Heaven and earth would not
suffice to make a single doctrine binding upon conscience unless Jesus
had so determined!

In vain do men say, "So did the early Church"–the early Church has no
supremacy over us! It is to no purpose to quote Origen or Augustine!
Quote the Inspired Apostles and the doctrine is established, but not
otherwise! In the Church of God it is never sufficient to say, "So
thinks Martin Luther." Who was Martin Luther? A servant of Jesus Christ
and nothing more! It is not sufficient to say, "So teaches John
Calvin," for who is John Calvin? Has he shed his blood for you, or is
he your master? His opinion is to be respected as the opinion of your
fellow servant, but in no respect as a doctor or authoritative teacher
in the Church–for Christ alone is Rabbi, and we are to call no man
Master upon earth!

Suppose I have received a Truth of God from the very man who was the
means of my conversion? I am bound, in candor and affection, to give
all respect to him because of the relationship which exists between us.
But I must take heed lest this declines into idolatry, and I, myself,
become nothing more than a receiver of the Truth of God as the word of
man, instead of accepting it as the Word of God. I am, therefore, in
the most candid manner, but none the less solicitously, to bring to the
test every Truth of God which I have received–whether from my father
or mother, or my minister, or from some great man of olden times whose
name I have learned to respect–seeking all the while light from above
to direct me aright.

Nothing is doctrine to the Church of God–nothing which has not been
taught in the Scriptures. To Christians it is nothing to say that
certain doctrines are taught in books of common prayer, or of
conference discipline, or of systematic theology. To us it is of small
account that either Presbytery, or the Episcopacy, or Independency have
put their stamp upon a certain form of teaching. Authority is no more
to us than the snap of a man's finger unless the Truth thus commended
derives certainty from the testimony of Jesus Christ Himself, who is
the Head of His body the Church!

So next, since He is the Head, He only can legislate as to the Church.
In a State, if any knot of persons should profess to make laws for the
kingdom, they would be laughed at! And if they should for a moment
attempt to enforce their own rules and regulations in defiance of the
laws of the country, they would be amenable to punishment. Now the
Church of God has no power whatever to make laws for herself, since she
is not her own Head–and no one has any right to make laws for her, for
no one is her Head but Christ. Christ alone is the Law-maker of the
Church and no rule or regulation in the Christian Church stands for
anything unless in its spirit, at least, it has the mind of Christ to
support and back it up.

Such-and-such a thing has been thought to be right in the Church, and
therefore it has been laid down and made prescriptive–the tradition of
the fathers has established a certain custom. What then? Why this–that
if we can distinctly see that the custom and prescription are not
according to the tenor of Holy Scripture and the Spirit of Christ,
neither of them are anything to us! But what if the custom is supported
by all the good men of every age? I say that matters nothing if the
Lord has not taught it! Our conscience is not to be bound! If a law
were backed up by 50,000 times as many as all the saints it would have
no authority upon the conscience even of the weakest Christian if not
laid down by our King Himself! And the violation of such a commandment
of men would be no sin but might, indeed, become a Christian duty in
order to let men see that we are not the servants of men, but the
servants of Jesus Christ the Lord!

In spiritual things it is of the utmost importance to keep this fact
clear–that nonconformity is only sinful when it refuses to conform to
the will of Christ–and conformity itself is a great sin when it obeys
a rule which is not of the Lord's ordaining! When we meet together in
Church Meetings we cannot make laws for the Lord's kingdom! We dare not
attempt it! Such necessary regulations as may be made for carrying out
our Lord's commands–to meet for worship and to proclaim the
Gospel–are commendable because they are acts necessary to obedience to
His highest laws. But even these minor details are not tolerable if
they clearly violate the spirit and mind of Jesus Christ.

He has given us spiritual guides rather than legal rubrics and
fettering liturgies! And He has left us at liberty to follow the
directions of His own free Spirit. But if we make a regulation,
thinking it to be very wise–if it is contrary to the Spirit of our
Lord–the rule is itself evil and is not to be borne with! In such a
case the Church has trenched upon the rights of her Head, and has done
what she ought not to have done. She has, in effect, snatched from His
hand the scepter and set up a schism. Law-making in the Church was
finished in that day when the curse was pronounced on him who should
take from or add to the Word of God! Christ alone is the legislator of
His Church–none but He!

But I go further and venture to say that Christ is not only the
Legislator of the Church, and has left to us His Statute-book,
sufficient to guide us in every dilemma, but He is also the living
Administrator in the Church. He is not here, it is true, but as
monarchs often administrate through lieutenants, so the Lord Jesus
administers through His ever-living Spirit who dwells in the hearts of
His people. You are not to think of Christ as of One who is dead and
buried. If He were here on earth I suppose nobody would claim to be the
Head of the Church but Himself. His Presence would at once overawe
every pretender–and now, though He is not here in Person–yet He is
not dead!

He lives! He sits on the Throne prepared for Him at the right hand of
the Father! In Spirit He is here. "Lo! I am with you always, even unto
the end of the world." And what must the true Head of the Church think
when He sees another put up into His Throne and impiously called by His
title? What must the living Head moving in the midst of the Church feel
in regard to such a blasphemous intrusion as that? He, the Holy Spirit,
is the Vicegerent of Christ, the Representative of the absent Son of
Man!

And how does this Spirit administer the Laws of God? I answer, through
His people, for the Holy Spirit dwells in true Believers! And when they
meet together as the Lord's servants and humbly ask His guidance, they
may expect to have it–and opening the Statute-Book and seeing plain
directions as to their course of action, they may be quite sure that
what they do has their Master's sanction! If they look, first of all,
for the direction in their Lord's Law-Book and next seek to be
instructed as to its meaning by the Holy Spirit–though they are many
minds–they shall be led as one man to choose that course of action
which shall be after the mind of Christ.

Acting humbly and obediently–not on their own authority but in the
authority of Jesus Christ, who, by His Spirit still rules in His
Church–Believers practically show Christ, still, to be the only Head
of His Church as to actual administration as well as to legislation.
The sole authority of Jesus Christ in all respects must be maintained
rigorously, but Churches are very apt to be guided by something else.
Some would have us guided by results. We have heard a discussion upon
the question whether or not we should continue missionary operations,
since there are so few converted! How can the question ever be raised
while the Master's orders run thus–"Go you into all the world and
preach the Gospel to every creature"?

Spoken by the mouth of Jesus, our Ruler, that command stands good, and
the results of missions can have no effect upon loyal minds either one
way or the other as to their prosecution! If from this day for the next
10,000 years not a single soul should be converted to God by foreign
missions–if there still remained a Church of Christ, it would be her
duty with increasing vigor to thrust her sons forward into the mission
field because her duty is not measured by the result, but by the
imperial authority of Christ!

Equally so the Church is not to be regulated by the times. We are told
by some that this age requires a different kind of preaching from that
of a hundred years ago–and that 200 years ago, in Puritan times,
doctrines were suitable which are exploded now. We are told the
minister must keep abreast of the age–this is a thoughtful and
philosophic period and the preacher must therefore philosophize and
bring forth his own thinking rather than "mere declamation"–which is
the learned name for a plain declaration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
But, Sirs, it is not so! Our King is the same and the doctrines He has
given us have not been changed by His authority, nor the rules He has
laid down reversed by His proclamation!

He is the same yesterday, today, and forever! Let the times be polished
or uncouth. Let them become philosophical or sink into barbarism–our
duty is still the same, in solemn loyalty to Jesus Christ, to know
nothing among men save Jesus Christ and Him Crucified! But the
discoveries of science, we are told, have materially affected belief
and therefore we should change our ways accordingly as philosophy
changes. No, it must not be so! This is a stumbling stone and a rock of
offense against which he who stumbles shall be broken. We still have
the same King, still the same laws, still the same teaching of the
Word–and we are to deliver this teaching after the same sort and in
the same spirit!

Semper idem must be our motto–always the same, always keeping close to
Jesus Christ and glorifying Him–for He and not the times, not the
philosophy and not the wit of man must rule and govern the Church of
God! If we shall do this, if any Church shall do this–namely, take its
Truth from Jesus' lips, live according to Jesus' Word, and go forward
in His name–such a Church cannot, by any possibility, fail, for the
failure of such a Church would be the failure of the Master's own
authority! Brothers and Sisters, He has told us if we keep His
commandments we shall abide in His love!

He will be with us always, even to the end of the world! And He has
given to His Church His Holy Spirit according to the fullness of those
words which He uttered when He breathed on His Apostles, "Whoever sins
you remit, they are remitted unto them; and whoever sins you retain,
they are retained." So then, a Church acting for Christ, with His
authority denouncing the judgments of God upon sin, shall find those
judgments follow. And opening the treasure house of God's mercy to
those who seek Jesus Christ by faith, those treasures shall be freely
given according to the Church's declaration, which she made in her
Master's name.

Go in her own name, and she fails! Go in her Lord's name, and she
succeeds! Take with her His sign manual. Walk in obedience to His
Statute-Book, and deliver herself from the lordship of men–and the
Church's history shall be written in some such lines as these, "Fair as
the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners." I
have in these words, I am afraid, rather confusedly stated what I
believe Scripture teaches with regard to the Headship of Christ,
namely, that He is the only teacher of doctrine, the only maker of
spiritual laws. That He is the living Administrator of the laws of His
own spiritual kingdom and therefore no authority is to be yielded unto
the Church but that of Christ– and when we have that authority, and
are obedient to it–we need entertain no fear as to the result.

III. Thirdly, ON WHAT DOES THIS HEADSHIP REST? Very briefly, it rests
on the natural supremacy of Christ's Nature. Who could be Head but
Jesus? He is a perfect Man, which we are not. He is the first-born
among many Brethren, and we are but the younger and weaker. He is God
over all, blessed forever and ever. Surely, none but He should be King
in Zion since there is no part of the Church which is Divine except its
glorious Head!

The headship of Christ is the inevitable and necessary result of His
work. Hear how His members sing–

"You have redeemed our souls with blood,

Have set the prisoners free.

Have made us kings and priests to God,

And we shall reign with You."

Who could be head but He to whom such praise can be awarded? He has
washed us in His blood–He must be Head! He has loved us from before
the foundation of the world–He must be Chief. His right hand and His
holy arm have gotten Him the victory–let Him be crowned King of kings
and Lord of lords! That winepress in which He trod His enemies, till
His garments were dyed with blood, was the guarantee to Him that He
should sit on His Father's Throne and reign forever and ever!

Moreover, the decree of God has decided this beyond dispute. Read the
second Psalm and learn that when the kings of the earth stood up and
the rulers took counsel together against the Lord and against His
Anointed, the Lord sitting in the heavens laughed at their conspiracy
and scorned the gathering of His foes! "Yet," says He, "have I set My
King upon My holy hill of Zion." I will declare the decree–"The Lord
has said unto Me, You are My Son; this day have I begotten You." How
gloriously the promise reads: "Ask of Me, and I shall give You the
heathen for Your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for
Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall
dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." It is part of the eternal
purpose which constituted the Church that Christ should be made its
Head. And if there is a Church of the living God, it is also inevitable
that of that Church Christ should be the sole Head.

Moreover, Brethren, and but once more–is not our Lord the Head of the
Church by universal acclamation and consent of all the members of that
Church? We have never set up a rival candidate! No heart renewed by His
Grace can desire any other king!–

"Let Him be crowned with majesty

Who bowed His head to death!

And be His honors sounded high

By all things that have breath."

Rivals in His blood-bought dominion? Rivals against the Son of David?!
Let them be swept away as the smoke! Let them be as driven stubble to
His bow!

King Jesus! All hail! Long live the King! Bring forth the royal diadem!
See you not how the angels crown Him? Hark you not to the songs of
cherubim and seraphim, "For You are worthy, You are worthy to take the
book, and loose the seven seals thereof? Hear you not the everlasting
chant of those who have overcome through His blood, "You are worthy,
You are worthy, for You were slain and have redeemed us unto God by
Your blood"? While the Church on earth joins in the same solemn
canticle, "Crown Him, crown Him, crown Him Lord of all, for worthy is
the Lamb that was slain."

By the supremacy of His Nature. By the necessity of His accomplished
work. By the decree of the Father. By the universal assent of all the
blood-washed, He is the only Head of His own Church!

IV. What then, Brethren, WHAT THEN, DOES THIS CONDEMN? What does it
condemn? It condemns the villainous pretense of a Papal headship! A
priest at Rome is the head of the Church of Jesus Christ, indeed! Well,
if the Pope is head of the Church–if he is so–then see what,
according to Scripture, he is. This Pio Nono is this–he is the head of
the body, the Church "who is the beginning.''" There was nothing, then,
before this aforesaid Pius IX?

"The first-born from the dead"? Does he claim to have risen from the
dead? "That in all things He might have the preeminence"–is this also
the old Italian's right? "For it pleased the Father that in Him should
all fullness dwell"– blasphemy dares not apply this to the tottering
prince whose treasury needs replenishing with Peter's pence. Yet this
is the description of the Person who is the Head of the Church, and, if
Pius IX is not all that, he is no head of the Church! But perhaps he is
the second head? Then Christ's Church is a monstrous being with two
heads!

They may make it out to be three one day, perhaps, and then we will
call the thing Cerberus, and Hell Dog, and we shall not be far off from
the true idea of Popery. No, but he is the delegated head. What for?
Why should Christ delegate authority which He can wield Himself? But we
need a delegation, for Christ is absent. But the Holy Spirit is that
delegation, and is here. Of all the dreams that ever deluded men, and
probably of all blasphemies that ever were uttered, there has never
been one which is more absurd and which is more fruitful in all manner
of mischief than the idea that the Bishop of Rome can be the head of
the Church of Jesus Christ!

No, these popes die, and are not! And how could the Church live if its
head were dead? The true Head ever lives and the Church ever lives in
Him! But it is affirmed that there must needs be a visible headship,
and just now we are told every day that we must choose in church
matters between the headship of the monarch of England and the headship
of the pope at Rome. I beg the gentlemen's pardon–we have no such
choice, for when we are asked which we will have to rule us in
spiritual things, we say, "Neither–neither for a single moment!" We
make no bones about the matter, kings and queens are no heads of the
Church to us.

We will no more brook spiritual domination from an English premier than
from a Romish pope! We are equally opposed to both–all human headship
must go down! To our well-beloved queen all honor and reverence as to
one of the best of rulers in civil affairs. But in spiritual affairs in
the Church of Christ she has no ruling power–what she may have in the
Church of England is another question. To us it makes no matter whether
it is man or woman–whether it is prince or priest–we will have
neither czar, emperor, queen, pope, seraph or angel to reign in the
Church of Jesus Christ!

The Church has no lawful governor or supreme Lord but Jesus Christ
Himself. Our Lord, as it seems to me, puts this so plainly in the Word
of God that I marvel men who believe in the Bible should think the
State could be at the head of the Church! The State-Church party has
placed a Bible with a crown and a scepter upon their posters! It is
suggestive that the Bible is closed–for if Englishmen were once to
read it, it would be fatal to the cause which now claims it–since one
of the Truths of God they would read would be this–"My kingdom is not
of this world." And they would hear Christ say, "Render unto Caesar the
things which are Caesar's"–that is, yield all civil obedience to the
civil authority, "but unto God the things that are God's."

Leave the Lord to rule in the kingdom of mind and spirit, and let
Caesar keep his kingdom of civil government! Let the State do its work
and never interfere with the Church! And let the Church do her work and
never interfere with, or be interfered with, by the State! The two
kingdoms are separate and distinct. Broad lines of demarcation are
always drawn, throughout the whole of the New Testament, between the
spiritual and the temporal power–and the mischief is when men cannot
see this.

Christ is the Head of the Church, not anyone who represents the State.
Brethren, just think for a minute what mischief this doctrine of the
headship of the State has done. Time was when men could hardly be
parish ushers without coming to take the Sacrament at the established
Church. Oh, the multiplied hypocrisies which were perpetrated every day
by graceless men who came to qualify themselves for office by taking
the emblems of our holy faith when they knew not Christ! Such things
are more or less inevitable to the system. Think, again, what
persecutions have risen out of this error. You cannot put any sect into
a position of ascendancy but it falls into persecution–all sects have
persecuted, in turn, when so tempted.

There is not a pin to choose between one and the other, except, as I
sometimes say, the Baptists have never persecuted because they have
never had an opportunity. But I will not insist even upon that. It is
in human nature to do ill when the civil arm is ready to crush
conscience, and therefore Christ has taken the temptation out of the
way and put it out of the possibility of His people, if they keep close
to His rule, so much as to touch the carnal weapon. The weapons of
their warfare, He tells them, are not carnal but spiritual and
therefore mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. What a
degradation to the Church of Christ to think of having any other Head
but Christ!

Ah, Brothers and Sisters, if the monarch were the most holy and godly
person that ever lived, I should tremble for him exceedingly that such
a person should in any sense be styled the Head of the Church! How
could such a person pray? How could a poor sinner–and such the best
man still is–come before Christ and pray to Him and say, "Lord, You
know I am the head of Your Church"? It seems to me to be such an
atrocious claim, such a horrible profanity! I would not, for twice
10,000 worlds, touch that title with so much as the tip of my finger if
I hoped to be saved! I dare not expose my friend, or even my enemy, to
the awful risk he must make assuming such a title!

I judge no one, God forbid I should! But if I saw in this world a man
absolutely perfect, full of Divine knowledge and light, and I were
asked by him, "Shall I assume that title?" I should go down on my knees
and say, "For God's sake, and for your own soul's sake, touch it not,
for how can you, with your light, and knowledge and love to Christ,
take from Him one of His grandest names?" But what shall I say when the
monarch is the opposite? And such cases have occurred. I need not take
you far back in history. The name of George IV has no remarkable odor
of sanctity about it–and the same may be said of Charles II–I never
heard historians say that he was eminent in godliness.

But yet these men were heads of the Church! I shudder at being
compelled to remember such an infamous fact. Men, whose character is
not to be thought of without a blush on the cheek of modesty, were
heads of the Church of Jesus Christ! God have mercy on this land for
having fallen so low as this, for I know not that heathen countries
have ever blasphemed God more than we have done in allowing heartless
debauchers to take upon themselves the name of "Head of the Church of
Christ"! No, my Brethren, this cannot be endured by us in any Church
with which we commune! We repudiate it! We shake off the abomination as
Paul shook off the viper from his hand into the fire!

The same rebuke is due to that which has been tolerated in many
Churches, namely, the headship of great religious teachers. Sometimes
great teachers, while yet alive, have been practically regarded as the
supreme arbiters of the Church. Their will was law, apart from the
Book. Their decree stood fast, apart from the Scripture. All this was
evil! There are certain Churches at this day which reverence extremely
the names of dead men. "The Fathers"–are they not by some thought to
be as great as the Apostles? The names of John Wesley, and John Calvin
and others, I fear, very often occupy the place which belongs to Jesus
Christ. Let every Church of Jesus Christ now declare that she follows
not men but obeys her Master alone.

Mark you, Brothers and Sisters, the truth which I have brought out
somewhat strongly equally applies to the Church itself, for the Church
is not her own head–she has no right to act upon her own judgment
apart from the statutes of her King! She must come to the
Bible–everything is there for her. She has no right to use her own
judgment apart from the Master. She must go to the Master. She is a
servant and the Master is supreme. The Church's power is twofold. It is
a power to testify to the world what Christ has revealed. She is set as
a witness and she must act as such. She has, next, a ministerial power
by which she carries out the will of Christ, and does His bidding as
Christ's servant and minister.

A certain number of servants meet in the servants' hall–they have an
order given to do such work–and they have also orders given them how
to do it. They then consult with each other as to the minor
details–how they can best observe the Master's rule and do His
bidding. They are perfectly right in so doing. But suppose they began
to consult about whether the objects proposed by the Master were good,
or whether the rules which He had laid down might not be altered! They
would at once become rebellious and be in danger of discharge. So a
Church met together to consult how to carry out the Master's will and
how to enforce His laws does rightly.

But a Church meeting to make new laws, or a Church meeting to rule
according to its own judgment and opinion– imagining that its decision
will have weight–has made a mistake and placed itself in a false
position. The one doctrine which I have sought to bring forward is
this–that He, alone, who bought the Church, and saved the Church is to
rule the Church.

V. But if so, WHAT IS THE LESSON WHICH IT TEACHES TO EACH ONE HERE?
Does not it make each of you enquire, "If the entire Church is thus to
yield obedience to Christ, and to no one else, am I yielding such
obedience? I claim to be Christian, but am I a Christian of that
prejudiced sort who follows that which they are brought up to, and so
acknowledge the rules of mothers and fathers instead of the rule of
Christ? Have I brought what I avow to be the Truth of God to the
touchstone of Scripture? Did I ever spend a quarter of an hour in
weighing my cherished opinions?" I am afraid the great mass of
Christians have never done this–but have sucked in their religion with
their mother's milk and nothing further.

Again, if I am a Christian, am I in the habit of judging what I ought
to do by my own whims and wishes, or do I judge by the Statute-Book of
the King? Many say they do not like this and do not like that–as if
that had anything to do with it! What are your likes and dislikes? You
are a servant and bound to give up your will to the Master! If Christ
gives a command which you imagine to be hard because it does not chime
in with your love of ease–my Brothers and Sisters, will you not, as
servants of the Master, put your whims aside and endeavor to follow
Him? Oh, it is a blessed life to live–to be no longer the servant of
men and of self–but to go to Christ daily in prayer, and say, "What I
know not, teach me, Lord."

Then you may laugh at Satan's rage and face a frowning world, for the
Master will never leave those who cleave to Him! If a man loves the
testimonies and commandments of the Most High, God shall be his
buckler, his shield, and his high tower. But if he turns aside to his
own imaginings, his fall shall be certain! May the Lord keep the Church
in this matter, and her day of victory shall soon come. May Christ be
her only Head and her triumph draws near! I can see the morning
breaking–yonder are the first streaks of light upon the sky–the
Master is coming because the Church begins to acknowledge Him–and then
shall her happy days begin and the days of her mourning shall be ended
forever and ever.
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Do Not Sin Against the Child

A Sermon