CHAPTER II. PRINCIPLES OF THE CONGREGATIONAL SYS TEM. As the rights and duties of the churchmember are essentially modified by the polity of the church to which he belongs, it is important to him, and also to the church, that he should understand the principles of that polity. The government of a church, like any other government, is a practical thing: it defines relations, distributes powers, prescribes duties. And these vary with the character of the system. It is therefore obvious, that though all believers, considered simply as disciples of Christ, have the same duties to discharge, yet considered as subject to this or that particular ecclesiastical organization, their duties, as well as their privileges, may be quite diverse. As the active duties of the citizen of a republic are not the same as those of the passive subject of an oligarchy; being more numerous, more responsible, more noble: so, under the various schemes of church order, there is more or less for the laity to do, or to submit to, in the management of affairs, as the schemes have more or less of the character of free institutions. The following are the essential features of the Congregational system. They relate to the constitution of churches, their members, powers, officers, and relations. A church is a society of believers united together, by their own consent, or covenant, in obedience to the will of Christ, for the observance of ordinances, their own edification, and the propagation of the faith. Each society, thus formed, with its proper officers, is to all intents a church. No persons are to be received as members but such as are hopefully renewed by the Spirit of God, giving credible evidence of the same. Church power, as it is called, that is, the power to receive, and discipline members, to elect officers, and to do such other acts as concern the body, in matters of practice, is vested in the church itself, and not in its officers. The latter have their proper authority and influence, (as will be noticed elsewhere,) but have not power to rule the church, except by consent of the brotherhood. The officers of the church are of two orders, namely, presbyters (or ministers) and deacons. They are elected by the brethren, and ordained by presbyters. The churches are, in a qualified sense, independent. No church admits the right of any other church, or number of churches, or church officers, to interfere authoritatively with its faith or discipline. They maintain, however, an endeared and extended communion and co-operation with one another; and are so far mutually subject to discipline, that an erring church is open to the reproofs of others, and, if the case require, may be disowned from the general communion. They do not allow the imposition of human creeds, or standards, as tests of orthodoxy, or terms of communion. The relations of Church and Society, as they have been established by New England Congregationalists, recognizing both their distinct and their united existence and capacities, are, it is believed, peculiar, and eminently happy. I have merely stated these items, without the grounds or proofs of them. For the elucidation of some of them, I subjoin the following remarks. 1. Churches are, in a limited sense, voluntary associations; being formed by the free consent of the members. They can be properly formed in no other way. Men are not born into the church, but into the world: though volumes have been written to the contrary. Nor can any act of power, ecclesiastical, or civil; or any parish, or diocesan, or other geographical lines, make them members. It must be by their own intelligent act. It is only in this restricted sense, however, that they are of the nature of voluntary associations; being in all other important respects dependent, not upon the will of the members, but upon the will of Christ.* 2. Though we have no public Articles of Religion, to which, as a denomination, we require subscription, each church has its own Confession of Faith and Covenant. These Confessions are usually brief and comprehensive, comprising only those articles of the Christian system, which are regarded as fundamental. Their uses are these. They are declarative of the faith of the church; showing in what sense it understands the Scriptures, and what scheme of doctrine it embraces, in distinction from other schemes. They also show the har * A proper voluntary association is one whose existence and whole economy are a conventional thing. It is self-constituted, prescribes its own laws, admits to membership whom it will, is without responsibility, and may change and modify its form and policy, or cease to be, according to its own pleasure. The churches of Christ ought not in any manner to be confounded with these; as perhaps they have sometimes been, by those who are fond of calling them "voluntary associations." |