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The apostolic churches were, indeed, very simple and unostentatious in their constitution, discipline, and worship; and in this they were perfectly accordant with the spirit of Christianity. And furthermore, all history tells us, that a departure from this simple order and worship, has been attended with a parallel departure from the simplicity and godly sincerity of the apostolic faith and practice.

Men of fastidious taste may cry out against "the literal, naked, bald character of the public religious services" of those churches who attempt to follow apostolic example; but they would do well to consider what have been the results of all attempted improvements on this example. The history of the Church during the third and fourth centuries, the history of the Papacy, the history of the Church of England, are all instructive on this point, the danger of accommodating Christian institutions to the taste of worldly men.

The truth is, that if we give up the principle, that the apostolic churches are the models after which all churches should be formed and regulated, we are at sea, with nothing better than an ignis-fatuus for our guide.

But let us not be misunderstood. We do not advocate an exact and entire conformity to all the peculiarites of the apostolic churches; for we know this to be impossible. We plead only for conformity in essentials, and so far as our circumstances are similar. And it is certainly possible to imitate the apostolic models thus far, without following them in all the minutiae of their arrangements. Thus we interpret the instructions of Christ and his apostles, and the authorized example of primitive Christians, in respect to other matters; why should it not be applied in the case under consideration?

This, then, is the sum of our belief: We suppose that whatever was essential to a church of Christ in the days of the apostles, is equally essential in these latter days; -that Christ designed that the principles of church order and discipline should remain essentially the same in

all ages of the world;-that his disciples have no liberty to adopt other principles; and, that these principles. may be learned from the Scriptures; though not always from express injunctions and instructions, since the authorized example of the apostolic churches is equally authoritative with express commands; and a fair and legitimate inference, from admitted premises, is of nearly equal weight.

In adopting and acting upon these views, Congregationalists regard themselves as thorough Protestants. The Bible is our infallible guide,-in matters of church order and discipline, as well as of faith and religious practice. We cannot believe it to be necessary to resort to the writings of any men as an authoritative and necessary "supplement to Scripture in these points.”* Adopting this principle, we are on firm and safe ground.

* A dignitary in the Church of England has asserted, that "He must never have looked into Scripture who is capable of thinking it a perfect rule of worship, I mean external worship and discipline: but he that will take in the writings of the prim itive church as a supplement to Scripture in these points, cannot be at a loss to know what are the powers of church governors, or what the obedience due unto them."-See Samuel Mather's Apology for the New England Churches, pp. 2, 3.

And yet this "supplement" to points of such vast importance to the Church, is found in tongues unknown to the great mass of its members in the Greek and Latin languages; and in volumes of frightful magnitude, and inaccessible to the community generally. And more than all, many of the Fathers are so corrupt in their text, and so contradictory in their statements, that the most opposite testimonies have been drawn from them. The reader may find some of the errors of the Fathers pointed out in De Laune's Plea for the Non-conformists,pp. 19-21. Mr. Taylor, in his Ancient Christianity, shows very clearly the extreme danger of taking the Fathers for our guides. Jortin, in his Remarks on Ecclesiastical History, says "The Fathers are often poor and insufficient guides in things of judgment and criticism, and in the interpretation of the Scriptures, and sometimes in point of morality also, and of doctrine; as Daille, Whitby, and others have fully shown. The men themselves deserve much respect, and their writings are highly useful on several accounts. It is better to defer too little, than too much to their decisions and the authority of Antiquity, that handmaid to the Scriptures, as

All else is uncertain. "The very Papists do see and acknowledge this that I say, namely, both that these grounds of the Scripture's perfection in all ecclesiastical matters, whereon we exactly do stand, are the true and right principles of the Protestants' Religion; and also, that Diocesan Lord-Bishops do, and must needs turn away from these principles, and deny them when they deal with us; and must join plainly with the Catholics in their answers, if they will maintain themselves."

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Having settled in our minds this first and great principle that the Scriptures should be our only infallible guide we next inquire: What, according to them, is essential to the character of a Christian church? I speak now of what is usually termed a visible or external church. The answer to this question will be the statement of the second principle of the Congregational system, viz.

II. A visible Christian church is a voluntary association of professed, Christians, united together by a covenant for the worship of God and the celebration of rcligious ordinances.†

1. When we use the term voluntary, we do not mean, that Christians are under no obligations thus to associate

she is called. She is like Briarius, and has a hundred hands, and these hands often clash and beat one another."-Vol. II. p. 57. Henry Jacob's "Reasons, etc. Proving a necessity of Reforming our Chhs. in England." A. D. 1604.

*

Jacob, though for a time opposed to those who advocated our principles in England, came at length to be a devoted defender of them. He was pastor of the first Congregational church in London, which was formed on Mr. Robinson's plan in 1616.

† Mr. Robinson and Church. Prince, Chro. P. II. Sec. 1. or Hist. Congregationalism, p. 362.- Hooker's Survey, P. I. pp. 14-16, 46, 47.-Mather's Ratio Dis. Intr. pp. 8, 9.-Camb. Platf. ch. 2 § 6.-S Mather's Apology, pp. 1.2. - John Locke

thus defines a church: "A church I take to be a voluntary society of men, joining themselves together of their own accord, in order to the public worshipping of God in such a manner as they judge acceptable to him and effectual to the salvation of their souls."-Letter I. on Toleration.

together; for, we believe that every disciple of Christ is bound, by the most solemn obligations, to separate himself from the world and to unite with a visible church of Christ; but we mean, that in doing this, it is essential that every person should act freely, under the influence of motives; and, that no circumstances of birth, no civil law, no ecclesiastical regulations should be thought sufficient to constitute a church, or entitle a person to church membership.

We think it manifest, that the apostolic churches were, in this sense, voluntary associations. A whole province was not organized into a church; neither were entire cities; and even all the members of the same family were not of course church members. But the churches were composed of such persons as, on embracing Christianity, separated themselves from the Jewish or heathen communities in which they lived, and, for Christian purposes, and, of their own free will, associated and united together. These things seem to us to lie upon the very face of the New Testament account of Christian churches.

2. But, voluntary association for religious purposes is not all that is requisite to constitute a church of Christ. The persons thus associated must be professed Christians that is, persons who avow openly their repentance for sin, their faith in Jesus Christ, and their cordial submission to the laws of Christ's kingdom.

The entire system of church government which we advocate, is based on the presumption, that those who adopt it will be governed by religious principle. The system is as unsuited to irreligious men, as a republican form of civil government is to ignorant men. All power being vested in the hands of the church, for the glory of God and the good of man, it is indispensable that the members of the church should understand and appreciate the principles and design of their organization. But no unsanctified mind can fully understand and appreciate these spiritual, religious principles.-1 Cor. 2: 14

You can never make such an one feel the importance of that purity of heart, of thought, of word, and of action, which God's law requires; and by which the members of his churches are expected to be governed. Ignorant and regardless of the principles of God's moral law, he is utterly disqualified to administer a government based upon these holy principles, and having for its great end the recognition and establishment of these principles throughout the world. Hence appears the reasonableness and necessity of this requisition in order to church membership-a profession of repentance for sin, of faith in Christ, and of submission of soul to God.

This peculiarity of our church polity, so far from being an objectionable feature, as some regard it, is one of its highest recommendations. It proves it to be in harmony with the whole spirit of the gospel; and thus furnishes very strong presumptive evidence of its truth.

3. As it respects the matter of covenanting, it may be remarked that wherever there is a union of individuals for particular purposes, there must be, of necessity, a covenant among them, either implied or expressed. The very act of associating for specific purposes implies a covenant, or agreement, on the part of those who thus associate, to co-operate in effecting the specified purposes. And if, to obviate all misapprehension, the character and design of the association be expressed in words, and each member of it be required to assent to these, the words are only a translation of the original act. manifold advantages of an expressed covenant are such as have induced Christians, associating for church purposes, to adopt this form of covenanting together, from a very early period, if not from the times of the apostles themselves.* And in this practice they were

The

* Lord Chancellor King gives us no less than ten creeds and parts of creeds which are found in the writings of the Fathers of the first 300 years, A. D.-" Primitive Church," Part II. ch. 3. The entire chapter illustrates the subject discussed in the text

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