CONGREGATIONALISM. PRELIMINARY REMARKS. :-- GOD has always had in this apostate world " a seed" to serve him. This seed has been variously called:"the Sons of God"—" the People of God"—" the Church of God"—" the Church, or the body of Christ." In order to serve God more efficiently, his people have always had some visible organization, and have been subjected to some rules of order, discipline, and worship, varying with the different circumstances and necessities of the Church and the world. To these rules we give the general name of CHURCH POLITY. The polity of the Patriarchal churches partook of the simplicity of that age, and was adapted to the migratory habits of those pious nomades. The family of each believing patriarch was a sort of congregational church. The head of the family was its prophet and priest; he announced the revealed purposes of heaven, he gave religious instruction, exercised godly discipline-commanding his children and his household to keep the way of the Lord, and to do justice and judgment-and he officiated at the family altar, presenting sacrifices and offering prayers unto the Most High God.-Compare Gen. 4: 3-5. 8: 20-22. 12: 7, 8. 13: 3—5. 14: 14, 18 -26. 15: 17: 18: 19. 20: 7. 26: 24, 25. 27:26-40. 35: 1-15. 49: 1–28. Job. 1: 1-5. Such appears to have been the Patriarchal polity: and, but for the growing wickedness of man, it might, for aught that we can see, have continued, for substance, to the present day. -See Rom. 16: 5. Col. 4: 15. Philemon 2. In the days of Enos there may have been some modification of this family-church order. We are told that "then began men to call upon the name of the Lord,”Gen. 4: 26; or, as the margin reads, "then began men to be called by the name of the Lord." At this period of the world, family religion may have so far degenerated, as to have made it necessary for the pious members of different households to separate themselves from their irreligious kindred, and to meet together, in order to worship God. But, notwithstanding this attempt to revive religion, iniquity continued to abound, until the "holy seed" was found only in the family of Noah-perhaps in Noah alone. After the Flood, the church of God was reduced to the family order again; and the world began anew. But human nature remained unaltered: and, for the greater security of the "godly seed," God chose the family of Abram; called them from their native land and their idolatrous kindred; made a covenant with them; and instituted the rite of circumcision. This family-church was thus strongly guarded against the corrupting influences of the age, and its continuance, as a pure church of God, rendered more secure. The household of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob all appear in sacred history as religious communities-churches-assembling together and worshipping God under the direction of their respective heads, and in conformity with the established rites and order of the Abrahamic church. It had long been the revealed purpose of God, to set apart from all the nations of the earth, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as the depositaries of his truth-his visible Church in the world. When the time for the accomplishment of this purpose had arrived, and Jehovah was about to remove his chosen people to the promised land, there to be settled compactly as an agricultural people, he saw fit to re-organize his Church, and to adapt it to its new position. To prevent his people from amalgamating with the surrounding nations, and to accomplish his purposes of truth and mercy in and through them, he gave the Israelites "ordinances of divine service" as remarkable for their number and minuteness, as the previous ordinances had been for their extreme simplicity.-See Exodus, ch.. xxv-xxx. Lev. ch. i-vii. xxi-xxvii. 1 Chron. xxii.-2 Chron. vii. 66 These ordinances had their designed effect, in making the Israelites a separate and peculiar people. But, as the nation degenerated in their religious character, these outward rites and ceremonies were perverted from their intended use, and came, at length, to be regarded as constituting the very substance of true religion, instead of being a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things." Thus it was when Christ appeared in the world: the professed people of God had well nigh lost all the power of religion in their devotion to its forms. There seems to have been, however, a prevailing belief, that the Messiah might introduce some changes into the existing institutions and ordinances of religion.-John 5: 5-25. Accordingly, upon the introduction of Christianity, men were taught that the old dispensation was but a type and shadow of the new; that its significant rites and ceremonies were intended to point the mind towards a dispensation in which the shadow should be exchanged for the substance, the type for the anti-type. It was announced by the Divine author of Christianity, that the hour was coming, yea and then was, when, neither in the mountain of Samaria, nor in Jerusalem alone, should men worship the Father acceptably: or, in other words, that the true worshippers of God were no longer to be confined to any of the existing forms and rites of religious service: the grand desideratum of acceptable worship being spirituality and truth. In accordance with this doctrine, the private house, the open field, the lake shore, were all made places of public worship by Christ and his apostles, with religious forms remarkable chiefly for their entire simplicity. see, have continued, for substance, to the present day. -See Rom. 16: 5. Col. 4: 15. Philemon 2. In the days of Enos there may have been some modification of this family-church order. We are told that "then began men to call upon the name of the Lord,"Gen. 4: 26; or, as the margin reads, "then began men to be called by the name of the Lord." At this period of the world, family religion may have so far degenerated, as to have made it necessary for the pious members of different households to separate themselves from their irreligious kindred, and to meet together, in order to worship God. But, notwithstanding this attempt to revive religion, iniquity continued to abound, until the "holy seed" was found only in the family of Noah-perhaps in Noah alone. After the Flood, the church of God was reduced to the family order again; and the world began anew. But human nature remained unaltered: and, for the greater security of the "godly seed," God chose the family of Abram; called them from their native land and their idolatrous kindred; made a covenant with them; and instituted the rite of circumcision. This family-church was thus strongly guarded against the corrupting influences of the age, and its continuance, as a pure church of God, rendered more secure. The household of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob all appear in sacred history as religious communities-churches-assembling together and worshipping God under the direction of their respective heads, and in conformity with the established rites and order of the Abrahamic church. It had long been the revealed purpose of God, to set apart from all the nations of the earth, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as the depositaries of his truth-his visible Church in the world. When the time for the accomplishment of this purpose had arrived, and Jehovah was about to remove his chosen people to the promised land, there to be settled compactly as an agricultural people, he saw fit to re-organize his Church, and to adapt it to its new position. To prevent his people from amalgamating with the surrounding nations, and to accomplish his purposes of truth and mercy in and through them, he gave the Israelites "ordinances of divine service" as remarkable for their number and minuteness, as the previous ordinances had been for their extreme simplicity.-See Exodus, ch.. xxv-xxx. Lev. ch. i-vii. xxi-xxvii. 1 Chron. xxii.-2 Chron. vii. These ordinances had their designed effect, in making the Israelites a separate and peculiar people. But, as the nation degenerated in their religious character, these outward rites and ceremonies were perverted from their intended use, and came, at length, to be regarded as constituting the very substance of true religion, instead of being a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things." Thus it was when Christ appeared in the world: the professed people of God had well nigh lost all the power of religion in their devotion to its forms. There seems to have been, however, prevailing belief, that the Messiah might introduce some changes into the existing institutions and ordinances of religion.-John 5: 5-25. Accordingly, upon the introduction of Christianity, men were taught that the old dispensation was but a type and shadow of the new; that its significant rites and ceremonies were intended to point the mind towards a dispensation in which the shadow should be exchanged for the substance, the type for the anti-type. It was announced by the Divine author of Christianity, that the hour was coming, yea and then was, when, neither in the mountain of Samaria, nor in Jerusalem alone, should men worship the Father acceptably : or, in other words, that the true worshippers of God were no longer to be confined to any of the existing forms and rites of religious service: the grand desideratum of acceptable worship being spirituality and truth. In accordance with this doctrine, the private house, the open field, the lake shore, were all made places of public worship by Christ and his apostles, with religious forms remarkable chiefly for their entire simplicity. |