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mal and the rock are not distinguishable." As our author remarks, "Your religion, what a well-planned device it is! It is a net expressly made to cast into the sea and gather of every kind. You have assorted it to suit all comers. You have works for the pharisaical, forms for the superficial, high pretensions for the bigoted, penances for the consciencestricken, romances and pictures for the sentimental, vagueness, mystery, and shadows for the transcendental, fasts, vigils, and seclusions for the austere and mortified, feasts and shows for the sensual and pleasure-loving, smiles for the docile, terrors for the disobedient, marvels for the ignorant."

And schools and colleges for Americans! But if any suppose that these last are any thing more than a special expedient, a tempo rary wheel in that machinery of conquest which she has put in motion on this side the water-if any imagine that Romanism, which at home systematically takes away from the people the key of knowledge, human and divine, is really the friend of education here, let them listen once more to the jesuit professor in the College of Rome. "Mr. Mazio thinking to compliment us, spoke of the great facilities their missionaries enjoyed in our country. I replied, why not reciprocate that liberality and give us the same freedom here? He evaded the question; but I insistedwhy not you be as open to us with our missions, presses and schools, as we are to you? Why,' he replied, were we to do so, it would bring in other religious views and disturb our unity. We do not wish for that. Among you, our labors are necessary, because you are in error. We are right as we are, and therefore it would be unwise to admit such writings and discussions as you would introduce. In saying this, I rejoined-you give me to understand that your object in regard to us, is, first to make us right, as you are, and then to keep us so. You give me to understand, that if you ever get possession of our country, you will put your censorship upon us--you will suppress our schools, restrain our booksellers, prohibit the Bible, and in short, deprive us of our liberty in every thing wherein we may not be conformable to you. He was silent; and when I repeated my conclusions with a look that demanded an answer, he admitted their correctness. The conversation left a melancholy im

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pression on my mind, which hours did not dissipate. It disturbed my sleep. The bare idea of such a religion, such a despotism, pervading and controlling our country, the idea that there are men of this man's order, sentiments and aims, at work there already, and that more will follow them, was horrible."

We here take leave of these volumes, expressing the hope that they may meet with an extensive circulation and an attentive perusal. We have not indicated a tithe of their contents. Almost any class of readers will find matter of interest in the great variety of facts, incidents, descriptive and historical sketches with which they abound. It is true there are here and there marks of hasty composition which might furnish a professed critic with topics of animadversion. And there is a vein of sound moral and religious feeling running through the work, which to some others (few we hope) might be no special recommendation. Ultra churchmen will of course object to it, because of the plain unprejudiced truth it tells respecting their mother of England, and their grandmother of Rome. We like it as the production of one who evidently not only crossed the Atlantic with the spirit of a New Englander, but brought it back with him. We deem it peculiarly valuable as exhibiting in a popular form a multitude of facts respecting the Old world, which in view of the state of the times can not be too

deeply pondered by the New.

No American patriot can read these Notes without feeling a deeper gratitude for the institutions of his country, and a devouter purpose to guard them from foreign innovation and corruption. No American Christian can rise from their perusal, without a more profound conviction of the responsibilities of our American Zion. In view of the situation of so large a portion of Christendom, fettered by state establishments or essentially unchristianized by superstition, how much

is required of the church in America, the famed seat and strong hold of Gospel voluntaryism in the business of the world's regeneration. We are aware that our own citadel is threatened. We are aware that papal superstition, under its own or under a borrowed name, threatens to assail us at every point. We are aware that there are those who in view of this fact, would have us concentrate our energies at home, who think we have enough to do to defend our own heritage. We think differently. Ancient Rome furnishes us with a better exam. ple. When Hannibal marshaled his army before her gates, at the same time that she manned her walls against him, she sent out from the opposite gate an army of her own to carry the war into the ene

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my's country. If this in her case was the part of undaunted firmness, undaunted faith prescribes a similar course in ours. True, our duty begins at home-but it does not end there. Wo to us and to our children, if we sleep while the enemy is sowing among us the tares of transatlantic heresy. But our field is the world. Our country is a part of it; but heathendom, but Italy, but Rome herself is another part of it-and just in proportion to the faithfulness of our efforts to extend the kingdom of heayen into other lands, will be our guaranty that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it in this. While in obedience to the divine command we do our part in conquering the world for Christ, he will never suffer us to be vanquished at home.

THEORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH AND MINISTRY, ACCORDING TO THE CONGREGATIONAL SYSTEM.*

WHAT is the Christian church? What and whence is the Christian ministry? The answers can not be given without much careful definition. The church of Christ is a term of various significations, and the conception of the Christian ministry is not the same in all minds. We here propose our opinion.

The plan of this article forbids any formal argument in support of the theory which it advances. Our aim is to give a distinct view, in miniature, of the principal features of the ecclesiastical polity, adopted by the fathers of New England, and drawn by them from the writers of

the New Testament. It would have much obscured the picture, to have loaded it with proof-texts and labored demonstrations; and we flatter ourselves it is a needless task for the purpose of conviction. The harmony of the system with the nature of Christianity, its simplicity, its perfect congruity, the lubricity of its joints and free movements, the completeness with which it provides for all ecclesiastical wants, without collision of parts, without a grate or a jar, is an internal evidence

There is an invisible church composed of the whole body of believers in Christ. This is the general assembly and church of the First Born, whose names are written in heaven. There is also a universal visible church, embracing the whole body of professors of Christianity. Members are introduced into the invisible church by a spiritual renovation, and into the visible church by a public profession of faith in Christ.

The invisible church has no outward form or organizaton, and is known only to the Searcher of hearts. Nor has the universal visible church any organization, or social compact, or officers, or by-laws. All its mem

to its truthfulness, sufficient, we think, for the satisfaction of unbiased minds.

Proofs, however, of the ordinary kind, are not wanting, and are ready to be furnished to those who need them; and will be furnished from time to time, as, to some extent, they already have been, in this journal.

bers are equal. One has no authority and no preeminence over another. They have one Lord, and all they are brethren. They are all kings and priests unto God. Whatever one may do, in the service of his master, may be done by all. They are all divinely commissioned evangelists; and all, according to their several abilities, are bound to propagate the Gospel. They have authority to make known the way of salvation, to invite their fellow men to the cross of Christ, and to baptize their respective converts and thus introduce them into the visible community of believers.

Out of this universal visible church, particular churches arise. Any number of believers are authorized to form themselves into a distinct society, or local church, for the purpose of mutual edification, for the administration of Christian ordinances, and for the more effective exertion of their influence in the work of evangelizing the world. A church in this sense is a society, and must, from the very nature of a society, have officers, permanent or pro tempore, and by-laws. The officers derive their authority, whatever it is, as defined by the rules of the association, from the brotherhood, and to them they are amenable (if not otherwise determined by the rules of the church,) for the right discharge of their duties. The church is bound by two classes of obligations, one arising from the commands of Christ, the other from the voluntary bylaws of the society; and it is her business to see that none of these obligations are neglected or violated by her official agents. She may however refer the determination of questions relating to the conduct of her officers, and the infliction of censures, to some other body if she deems it expedient.

Local churches have power to form associations for their mutual support and enlargement. They may not create independent judica

tories, with power to overrule the doings of individual churches, or to legislate for their government. But they may agree to act in harmony, where their interests are common; and to observe certain general rules of procedure in respect to the call and appointment of men to the pastoral office. The local churches are severally competent to invite men to preach the Gospel in their assemblies, and to be their pastors, who have not received the sanction of any other body of Christians. When a disciple of Christ feels it to be his duty to preach the Gospel to his fellow men, he needs no authority to do so, from any ecclesiastical body. He holds a commission in common with all other Christians of the proper qualifications, to preach Christ, wherever he can get a hearing with a prospect of usefulness. But although he needs no authority from man to be a preacher of righteousness, yet he does need the support and countenance of his fellow laborers and fellow Christians in his work. Whoever should enter on such a work, without consultation with the wise and good, would show a defect of character, fatal to his success. The preaching of Christ crucified, is an arduous work, to which no one should approach, until his piety has been tried, his intellectual powers disciplined, and his mind richly stored with doctrinal knowledge, systematically arranged. Evidence of such attainments is what every church desires of the candidates for her pastoral oversight. It would be madness to hear a man preach, much more to install him in the office of permanent teacher, without knowing whence he comes, what have been his opportunities of improvement, what is his reputation at home. The churches, therefore, very properly require "letters of recommendation," from some Christian body, from some other church, or from some association of ministers, testifying to the good character, Chris

tian conversation, and intellectual gifts and acquirements, of all candidates for the ministry. Every one, therefore, who aspires to the work of the ministry, whether as an evangelist or as a pastor, needs "letters of recommendation"—not to invest him with authority to preach, but to propitiate the good will and confidence of the Christian community. This is the origin and reason of the licensing system which prevails among us. The graduate of the public seminary, or private school of theology, presents himself to an association of ministers, to be examined as to his qualifications for the sacred office, with a request that if they find him worthy, they will recommend him to the confidence of the churches. This recommendation is called a "license to preach," but the authority to preach exists before, and needs not to be conferred by man. And if it were equally safe for the churches, and equally influential to inspire public confidence in the candidates, it would be as well for the licenses to be taken from the churches to which the candidates respectively belong, as is the practice of the Baptist denomination.

When a candidate for the pastoral office is elected by the people, he may be inducted into his place, without the coöperation of sister churches and church officers, by the sole agency of the brotherhood. The first churches of New England held this principle distinctly,* and many

"Hence it is plain, that ordination therefore presupposeth an officer constituted, doth not constitute; therefore it's not an act of power, but order; therefore those who have not the power of office, may put it forth; therefore though it be most comely, that those of the same congregation should exercise it, yet the elders also of other congregations may be invited hereunto, and interested in the exercise of it in another church, where they have no power, and upon a person who hath more power in the place than themselves."

"When the churches are rightly con

of the early pastors were "ordained" in this way; and it is obvious to reason, that the power of conferring an office by election, involves the power of a formal investiture.

The pastor of a church has, by usage, certain rights and powers not possessed by private members. In his relation to the universal visible church, he is in no way superior to them, even after he becomes a preacher of the Gospel. In that church, as before observed, there are no distinctions of rulers and people-all are brethren on a footing of perfect equality so far as rights and powers are concerned. Inspiration itself conferred on the Apostles no magisterial authority. All they could do, was to teach and inculcate the will of Christ. As elders of local churches, if any of them held such a relation, they had executive power; but as mere ministers of the church universal, they and the evangelists had no authority to make or administer laws over individual Christian societies. But the elders stituted, and compleated with all the orders and officers of Christ, the right of ordination belongs to the teaching elders; the act appertains to the presbyters constituted of ruling and teaching, when an officer is invested in his place for of these it is expressly spoken, even in the letter of the text, I Tim. iv, 14.

"Though the act of ordination belong to the presbytery, yet the jus et potestas ordinandi, is conferred firstly upon the church by Christ, and resides in her. It's in them instrumentaliter, in her originaliter."

66 In case then that the face and form of

all the churches are generally corrupted,

or else the condition of the church is such, that she is wholly destitute of presbyters, she may then out of her own power, given her by Christ, provide for her own comfort, by ordaining her own ministers; and this according to the regular appointment of our Saviour, and the order of the gospel."

"The church may be said to be independent, namely, sufficient to attaine her end; and therefore hath compleat power, being rightly constituted, to exercise all the ordinances of God."-Hooker's Survey of the Summe of Church Discipline, part II, chap. ii, pp. 59, 76 and 77; "chap. iii, p. 80.

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of these local churches were overseers or bishops. The extent of their authority was no doubt determined by express definitions or well known usage; but it never, in early times, comprehended legislative pow. ers, but merely executive. The church has only one lawgiver, Christ. The by-laws are of her own adoption, designed merely for the regulation of business, or as guides to the elders in the discharge of their functions. Yet the officers of a church have as such, executive authority, defined and limited by the constitution and by-laws of the body. According to late usage, a Congregational church has but one elder. The office of bishop and teacher are united in his person. He is therefore, by usage, unless the by-laws order otherwise, the presiding officer of the church, specially charged with the conduct of its meetings, both for worship and business, with the oversight and discipline of its members, and a supervision of the business entrusted more particularly to the deacons. The grand principle, that all church power is in the hands of the brotherhood, does indeed involve the right of excluding the pastor from all participation in the government of the churches. Still it must be admitted that in the apostolical churches, the pastors were "overseers," as well as teach ers of the churches. They held the office of elder, not as preachers, but as presiding officers. In this capacity they were entitled to obedience. Whatever they did, within the limits of their authority, as executive officers, the members were bound to respect, yet it would be a mistake replete with danger to the church, to suppose them invested with legislative and judicial powers over the church, or with any executive power to do more than simply to execute the will of the brotherhood.*

"Those in whose choice it is whether any shall rule over them or no; from

This view of the theory of the Christian church and ministry, removes all embarrassments in regard to the sources and extent of pastoral and ministerial authority. The pastor of a Congregational church is ordinarily, in modern times, the sole elder. As such he has functions to perform, both as teacher and moderator. Whence does he derive his right to preside? From the vote of the church electing him to the eldership or bishopric. Whence does he derive his right to preach? His right to be the preach. er of that particular church, he derives from the same source; but his right to preach, is the gift of God. The right to make known the gospel, formally or informally, by private conversation or by public harangues, is not an ecclesiastical gift. The power to bestow it lies not in a Congregational church, nor in a clerical association, nor in a bench of bishops, but only the power to recog nize it. It is the common preroga. tive of all the qualified members of the universal visible church. All ecclesiastical power and authority, it may therefore be said, resides in the local church, and extends to its own affairs, and not beyond to the affairs of any sister community. But the power to make ministers in the universal church, that is, evangelists or licensed preachers or missionaries, is not an ecclesiastical power, nor a clerical prerogative. The right to be a minister or preacher of Christ, belongs to every qual. ified person. Having the qualifications, all he needs further, is to be recognized, by the Christian community where he labors, as a work

their voluntary subjection it is, that the party chosen hath right, and stands possessed of rule and authority over them."

"Hence the power that the pastor hath, extends no larger nor further than his own people; he hath no more than what they give, no more but this: for their subjec tion is onely from themselves."--Hooker's Survey, part II, chap. ii, pp. 72, 73.

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