over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them; but it shall not be so among you," Matt. xx. 25, 26. "One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren," Matt. xxiii. 8. The apostle Peter assumed not this superiority" the presbyters who are among you I exhort, who am also a presbyter. Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight (TOKOπOÛνTEÇ, di-charging the duty of bishops) not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock," 1 Pet. v. 2, 3. The identity of the terms presbyter and bishop is obvious on the very face of the apostolic writings, the bishops being called presbyters, and the presbyters, bishops. In Acts xx. the same persons who, at the 17th verse, are termed elders, or presbyters, are in the 28th verse called overseers, or bishops In his epistle to Titus, Paul, after having declared it to have been his design, in leaving the evangelist in Crete, that he should ordain elders in every city, at once proceeds to enumerate some of the principal qualifications by which they should be distinguished, and in the midst of the recital he says, "for a bishop must be blameless," &c., Tit. i. 5-7.

As prelatical superio. ty is unscriptural, so it is found to be useless. In those communions where such gradations are acknowledged, peace is not secured by the concession, but rather .discord. The evils arising from ambition, pride, and tyranny, the natural fruits of such ascendency, are far more destructive to the interests of true religion than the differences of opinion which equality produces. Diversity of judgment may be silenced, but cannot be prevented by an appeal to authority. II. Congregational church polity is distinguished from Episcopacy and Presbyterianism by the principle-that the only organized church it owns is a particular church or congregation of believers statedly meeting in one place. A provincial or national church, including many particular churches, and governed by general officers, has no place in the Congregational system.

"The plan pursued by the apostles seems to have been," says Archbishop Whately, "to establish a great number of small (in comparison with most modern churches) distinct and independent communities.... ....occasionally conferring with the brethren in other churches, but owning no submission to the rulers of any other church, or to any central common authority, except to the apostles themselves," whose office was extraordinary, and but for a limited time.

This may be confirmed by an appeal to the New Testament. Look to the superscription of the epistle to the church of Corinth. Corinth was in the province of Achaia. In that province there were other churches besides that in the city of Corinth. If, then, a provincial church had existed, the epistle would have been addressed to the church of Achaia. But, in truth, the independence of the church at Cenchrea, the port of Corinth, and but a few miles distant from that city, is distinctly recognised by the apostle, Rom. xvi. 1. He also speaks of "the churches of Galatia," Gal. i. 2; “the churches of God in Judea," 1 Thess. ii. 14; and John speaks of "the seven churches which are in Asia," Rev. i. 11.

Church history fully sustains these interpretations. Mosheim, in his Commentaries on the affairs of the Christians, says, "Although all the churches were, in this first age of Christianity, united together in one common bond of faith and love, and were in every respect ready to promote the interests and welfare of each other by a reci procal interchange of good offices, yet, with regard to government and internal economy, every individual church considered itself as an independent community, none of them ever looking, in these respects, beyond the circle of its own members for assistance, or recognising any sort of external influence or authority. Neither in the New Testament, nor in any ancient document whatever, do we find anything recorded from whence it might be inferred that any of the minor churches were at all dependent on, or looked up

* Essays on the Kingdom of Christ, ii. § 20, p. 129.

for direction to, those of greater magnitude or consequence: on the contrary, several things occur therein which put it out of all doubt that every one of them enjoyed the same rights, and was considered as being on a footing of the most perfect equality with the rest."*"The passages already alleged sufficiently prove," says Bishop Kay, "that in Tertullian's estimation all the apostolic churches were independent of each other, and equal in rank and authority."+

Gibbon has truly said, "The (Christian) societies which were instituted in the cities of the Roman empire were united only by the ties of faith and charity. Independence and equality formed the basis of their internal constitution, ✶✶✶ Every society formed within itself a separate and independent republic; and although the most distant of these little states maintained a mutual as well as friendly intercourse of letters and deputations, the Christian world was not yet connected by any supreme authority or legislative assembly."+

promises made to prayer-to the prayer of the individual in the closet,' there is a distinct promise also to those who shall agree together touching something they shall ask.' And it is in conformity with his own institution that Christians have, ever since, celebrated what they designate as emphatically the communion, by meeting together to break bread in commemoration of his redemption of his people. His design, in short, manifestly was to adapt his religion to the social principles of man's nature; and to bind his disciples, throughout all ages, to each other by those ties of mutual attachment, sympathy, and co-operation, which, in every human community and association of whatever kind, are found so powerful."* The archbishop then proceeds to consider how much is implied in the constituting of a community, and what are the inherent properties and universal character naturally and necessarily belonging to any regularly constituted society as such, for whatever purpose formed. And he con

"Of the design of our Lord to establish what should be emphatically a social religion, a fellowship,' or 'communion of saints,' there can be," says Archbishop Whately, "I think, no doubt in the mind of any reflecting reader of our sacred books. Besides our Lord's general promise of 'coming unto, and dwelling in any man who should love him and keep his saying,' there is a distinct promise also of an especial presence in any assembly, even if two or three-gathered together in his name.' Besides the general

* Vol. i. cent. i. § 48.

+ Ecclesiastical History of the Second and Third Centuries, p. 236.

1 Decline and Fall, chap. XV.

were acted upon by the first churches, under the immediate direction of our Lord and his apostles. They elected their officers, Acts vi. 2-6; received their members, Acts ix. 26; Rom. xiv. 1; dealt with offenders, Matt. xviii. 17; Gal. vi. 1; excluded the impenitent, 1 Cor. v. 4, 5; and restored those who repented, 2 Cor. ii. 6-8. Dr. George Campbell therefore truly says, "The different congregations, with their ministers, seemed in a great measure independent of one another. Everything regarding their own procedure in worship, as well as discipline, was settled amongst themselves." appears plainly from the sacred narrative," says Archbishop Whately, "that though many churches, which the apostles founded, were branches of one spiritual brotherhood, of which the Lord Jesus Christ is the heavenly Head,-though there was one Lord, * Essays on the Kingdom of Christ, ii § 1, p. 54.

"It

ters and the believers in general, between the pastor and the flock, the teachers and the taught. "To all the saints which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons," Phil. i. 1. "Let him that is taught communicate to him that teacheth in all good things," Gai. vi. 6. "Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel," 1 Cor. ix. 14. "If all were teachers, where were the taught? If all were pastors, where were the flock? If the body were an eye, where were the hearing?" The gifted brethren in the church at Corinth possessed remarkable and miraculous powers, and the apostle Paul has given directions for the exercise of their special and supernatural endowments, 1 Cor. xiv. 31; but these are not possessed in the present day.

"It does not follow," says the learned Neander, "that all the members of the church were destined to the ordinary office of teaching: there is a great distinction between a regular capability of teaching, always under the control of him who possessed it, and an out pouring (like prophecy or the gift of tongues) proceeding from a sudden inspiration, and accompanied with a peculiar and elevated, but transient state of mind. On such transient excitements, care for the maintenance, propagation, and advancement of clear religious knowledge could not be made safely to depend, any more than the defence of the pure and genuine apostolic doctrine against the manifold false tendencies of Jewish or heathen feelings, which had already thus early begun to threaten the true church. Although all Christians must be taught only by one heavenly Guide, yet regard to the weakness o human nature, which is destined to keep the treasures of heaven in earthen vessels, made it requisite that persons should never be wanting in the church who were peculiarly qualified constantly to set strongly before their brethren their relation to the common Guide and Redeemer of ali; to impress it on their hearts forcibly; to show them how everything ought to be viewed in connection with this relation; and to warn them against everything which threatened to with

draw them from this fundamental principle of Christian life. Such a capability of expounding pre-supposed a certain cultivation of the intellect, a certain clearness and acuteness of thought, and a certain power of communicating its impressions to others, which, when they were present, and penetrated and animated by the power of the Spirit of God, became the xúpioua didáσkaλias, the gift of teaching."* For this reasonable and Divine ordinance, the Congregational churches plead; regarding "the maintenance of the Christian ministry in an adequate degree of learning, as one of their special cares, that the cause of the gospel may be both honourably sustained and constantly promoted."

VI. The Congregational church polity is distinguished from the system of the Baptist churches by the principle that believing parents have the right to dedicate their infant children to God in baptism; by the principle that water is to be applied to the person, and not the person to the water; and by the principle of free communion with all who make a credible profession of being Christ's disciples, irrespective of the mode of baptism.

1. God ordained and established the families of the earth, and connected with that economy his truth and worship for two thousand years. The family of Abraham was favoured with a rite of purification, observed not only by the fathers, but performed on their infant sons. Jehovah was "the God of all the families of Israel," and in Christ "all the families of the earth are to be blessed." Wherever the gospel is received by the head of a family, "salvation has come to that house." Thus "the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife (who believes), and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband (who believes); else were your children unclean, but now are they holy," 1 Cor. vii. 14. As Jesus saves his people from their sins, so baptism with the element of cleansing is a proper symbol of that spiritual purification, as circumcision was under the patriarchal and Levitical economies. The

History of the Christian Religion and Church, vol. i. pp. 188, 189.