Church polity, its spiritual grounds and congregational superstructure

Introduction

ONGREGATIONALISTS should be familiar with

V — ' the principles of Congregatiohalism. If we have a right to exist as a denomination ; if our polity is, as we believe, the best fitted to develop the individual life and character of believers, and to secure the wisest and largest discipline of the varied faculties of mind and heart, - — it cannot be amiss to realize the fact, and to understand the reasons for it.

This work of Mr. Fleming is a valuable addition to Congregational literature. It is not a controversial work, nor a book of forms or statistics, but of life and principles. It shows that the usages and forms of Congregationalism are the natural expression of the Christian life ; that Congregationalism is simple, natural, and truthful, not only to Scripture, but to the necessities of the Christian heart.

INTRODUCTION,

The work is both philosophical and practical, — philosophical, because it goes to the bottom of the subject ; and practical, because by its simple common sense it solves many a vexed question of church forms, and by its warm Christian spirit deepens our love for Him whose kingdom it is the aim of our denomination to build up upon the most enduring basis. As a practical exponent of Congregationalism, it comes up to the spirit and demands of the age, and will be welcomed by those who long for the universal extension of the Redeemer's kingdom.

This little volume is understood to be the condensed result of years of study and careful observation. Mr. Fleming has not been known as a writer beyond the circle of his ministerial brethren, save by an occasional article for the newspaper press, or for some one of the reviews, though long esteemed for his good thoughts and his Christian spirit. It is in the hope of doing service to the church that he invites attention to the work now offered to the public.

R. Anderson.

Boston, Jan. 2, 1868.

Contents

Page

Preliminary Remarks. Postulate 7

CHAPTER I. The Church, its Origin and Distinctions 13

CHAPTER n.

Church Membership • . . . .27

CHAPTER in.

The Official Ministry of the Christian Church . . .40 CHAPTER IV.

The Unity of the Christian Church 63

CHAPTER V.

The Outward Forms of the Church 75

CHAPTER VI.

Church Government 84

6 CONTENTS, CHAPTER Vn.

Church DisciPiiiNE 106

CHAPTER Vm.

Public Worship, Prayer, and Praise . . . , . ,126

CHAPTER rX.

The Sacraments of the Christian Church , . . , ,145 CHAirTER X.

Conclusion .180

PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

ESPECTING the organization, forms, and historical

^ affairs of the Christian Church, there has been no lack of learned research and of polemic discussion. But, by most writers, far less attention than is meet has been given to the essential inward life of the church, which is that life bears to the forms of its manifestation, and its influence in predetermining those forms. It seems to have been forgotten, or denied altogether, that the religion of Christ is of a divine and heavenly nature, and the Church of Christ a kingdom not of this world, — not instituted, like civil government, to control and regulate merely the outward actions and the temporal interests of mankind, and that by a power wielded over men, but not operating in them. Whereas, on the contrary, the Church of Christ is an institution growing out of the religion of Christ; which is essentially spiritual in its origin, efficiency, and sphere of operation, and is designed chiefly to promote spiritual ; and particularly to the necessary relation which

PBELIMINAEY REMARKS.

the spiritual life and moral welfare of man as an immortal being. It is really what it was often denominated by Christ, " The kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom within you," making itself visible on earth through the divine work of human redemption.

To this radical mistake, it is believed, we must attribute many of the dissensions and divisions which have so long and grievously afficted Christianity and the Christian Church. It would seem to be wise and desirable, therefore, that we should revert to the first principles of our holy rehgion on this subject ; and endeavor to obtain from the inward life of the church just views of its origin, organization, membership, rehgious services, and, indeed, of its entire history. And, without presuming to ignore or dispai'age whatever views others have taken from other standpoints, — as those from Christian Antiquity, the Fathers ancient and modem. Precedents, Common Usage, and the like, — the author can not but think that the standpoint taken in the following postulate is pre-eminently the true one in church polity, — one entirely in accord with the spirit of Christianity and the Word of God, and the only one worthy of Christian men and Protestants. Moreover, it is the only one which common Christians, unlearned in the schools, can appreciate as sound and convincing.

PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

The fundamental principle, then, assumed in these pages on the subject of Church Polity, is this

Postulate : The Christian religion is essentially spiritual.

But here it is all important that the import of the term spiritual, as used in the postulate and in these pages, should be rightly apprehended. Its import here is that which the word bears in the Holy Scriptures when used in relation to the Spirit of God, his agency and iniSuences in the renewed hearts and minds of the people of God. The work of the Holy Spirit, and the gracious affections thereby produced in the Christian heart, furnish our assumed first principles on the subject before us, — these, as given in the word of God, and realized in an enlightened Christian experience. In this generic sense of the term, we say the religion of Christ is essentially spiritual.

It is, therefore, a religion essentially internal, having its birthplace and its permanent life in the renewed inner man. Yet by the laws of man's social nature, and by the laws of its own vital activity, and no less by the law of its own loving nature, the religion of the heart must ever tend to act outwardly, and to manifest itself by its own appropriate fruits, — those of piety toward God and benevolence to all mankind.

PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

This religion, being spiritual, is supernatural in its ori^n and character. It is neither the natural development of any inherent power or goodness in man — certainly not in fallen man ; nor is it the product of any human wisdom, skill, or education (John i. 12, 13). It takes its origin in us from the birth of which Christ discoursed to Nicodemus. It is maintained in continuance and in growth by the Spirit of God, who dwelleth and worketh in us both to will and to do ; while we, too, by his grace, are freely working out our own salvation with fear and trembling. And when the work of grace is perfected in us, the same spiritual life and religion is perpetuated as eternal life in heaven.

The truth and reality of sucn a religion every person must find out for himself, and in himself The possibility of it no man can deny who believes in his own existence as a rational being, diverse from and above the brutes. No man can deny it who intelhgently looks in upon his own moral being, made originally in the likeness of God who is a Spirit, andX^ven yet, though fallen, under law and owing allegiance to God, — the God of conscience. No man will deny it who finds in himself a law warring against the law of his mind, bringing him into bondage and forcing him to cry out, Who shall deliver me from this body of sin and death ? " And no man can rationally

PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

doubt the reality, the spiritual power, and the beneficent character, of the religion of Christ, who candidly weighs the evidences of Christianity furnished by its history as a power in the world, or who looks at the great change which it has produced in the lives of its true and faithful professors, such as the Apostle Paul and many others.

But, by its very nature, spiritual religion is neither an object for direct cognizance by any of our senses, nor is the human understanding, judging of things according to the senses, a proper judge of its nature and mode of operation. It can be seen and known in ourselves only by self-consciousness, and the eye of self-reflection looking inward on our own religious experiences ; and even that, only so far as we have it and live in the spirit of it. He who is born of God hath the witness in himself ; and with this the recorded experiences of the saints of all ages, especially those recorded by the inspired penmen, become to him a reflex image, an answering echo, of the spiritual life and religion of his own soul.

It is otherwise with the natural man." He receiveth not the things of the spirit of God : they are foolishness to to him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. Hence the religion of the unrenewed, the natural man, if he has any, becomes only Naturalism, Rationalism, Formalism, Superstition, or Delusion, — ac-

PRELIMINARY REMARKS.

cording to his own internal state, or outward antecedents and circumstances. He misunderstands the true nature of the Christian reUgion, misinterprets the word of God and history respecting it, and so misconceives the true idea of the church of the living Grod. If except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God," how can he understand that kingdom, its nature, its life, and its history ?

Our ultimate appeal, therefore, is to those who are bom of God and spiritually minded ; in whose inward life and conscious religious experience our postulate finds its verification, and the word of God its true interpretation respecting the Christian religion and church.

CHURCH POLITY.

CHAPTER I.

THE CHURCHj — ITS ORIGIN AND DISTINCTIONS.

Proposition. — The Church of the living God on earth is a sacred community^ deriving its origin and its continued existence from the gracious work of the Holy Spirit,

nV/TANKIND by nature are all spiritually

-Lt_X- (Jead ; and, until renewed by the Spirit of God, are all alienated from the life and the love of God in their souls. If left to themselves, all would inevitably perish for ever in sin and misery, hateful and hating one another.

But God, in great mercy, has not left the race of man to perish without a remedy. The remedy is provided and offered to all in the gospel. The special remedy for guilt is, " The Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of

CHURCH POLITY.

the world ; " and the same is the procuring cause of all our salvation. The special remedy for the spiritual death, depravity, and pollution of our souls, is the gracious work of the Holy Spirit. By his mysterious divine agency, through the influence of divine truth in the consciences of those who give heed to the truth, some are awakened to a sense of their sin and guilt, and made to cry out for mercy. Through faith they obtain mercy, and find pardon and life in Christ Jesus. They are born of the Spirit, and become now the children of God in spirit and in truth (John i. 12, 13). Thenceforward they -become new creatures in Christ Jesus : " old things pass away, all things become new." A new heart and a new spirit are now given to them. New joys and sorrows, new hopes and fears, the various lights and shades of religious life, now fill up the remnant of their days on earth ; and then they join the company of the redeemed in heaven, to enjoy life eternal there.

Such is the great change effected by the work of divine grace in them, — a work substantially alike in all who experience it; a work, there-

CHURCH POLITY.

fore, making a deep and broad line of distinction between those born of God and the whole world that lieth in wickedness (1 John v. 19). Though previously children of wrath by nature, even as others, now they are " no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God," — the household of God, in other words, the church of the living God. Thus the church is not an artificial formation, but a natural and necessary result of the work of divine grace, a brotherhood of all who are born of God.

Even were there no other and higher principle to operate in the case than the mere instincts of our social nature, these of themselves would naturally draw together, and combine into one sacred community or communities, all those who had experienced the same great inward change. By social sympathy they would live and act together as circumstances might permit ; mutually blessing and being blessed in their fellowship. And thus, in point of fact, sanctified social affections are the inward organs of spiritual church life.

But, more than this, the nature and requirements of true spiritual life and religion demonstrate the necessity of the church's existence. True religion is at once spiritual life, and holy divine love shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost. But love is an affection of the heart essentially social. It must have an object on which to bestow its genial warmth and offices of loving kindness ; and it naturally seeketh such as are of kindred spirit and heart on whom to bestow them. This is truly and eminently so within the sphere of our holy religion. The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus is love, — love supreme to God our heavenly Father, and love to the brotherhood of all who bear his moral image. Faith works by love. As saith the Apostle John, " Love is of God ; and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God ; ... for God is love" (1 John iv. 7, 8). We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren." — 1 John iii. 14.

Thus it appears, that true spiritual religion is of a loving nature, and hence can not exist without loving the brotherhood of those in whom is seen the image of the Father, as reproduced by

CHURCH POLITY.

the Spirit of the living God. Thus, spiritual life, as love, predetermines the existence of the church beloved ; yea, requires it for its own existence ; and, more, in its very exercise, presupposes the church as already in existence. Thus, through the work of the Spirit, the church would have had an existence, independently of any prescription ordaining its existence.

In accordance with these deductions from the social nature of man and of true spiritual religion, we find historically, that true religion and the church appear simultaneously in every age. Nowhere in the Bible do we find any thing like an express statute or charter given to men for the institution of the church of God in this world ; though we find much that presupposes such an institution already in the world. Indeed, to whom could such a charter be given but to the church already existing, at least in its essential elementary condition ? Nor did Christ while on earth organize any church of his disciples, but obviously assumed that the church would exist wherever it would be needed, and would spontaneously come into being wherever

CHURCH POLITY.

the gospel of the grace of God should be preached and received by faith. And, in point of fact, the primitive churches of Christ were so formed, under the labors and guidance of the apostles and others. It is a gratuitous assumption to suppose that they had specific directions for the formation of Christian churches, as Moses had in the formation of the Jewish theocracy.

The church of God, therefore, is not an institution of express appointment or legislative formation, but an organic product of true spiritual religion planted in the hearts of men by the grace of God. It has existed from the beginning, and has been essentially the same church, as true religion has been, through every age and change of dispensation. On its first altar Abel, by faith, offered his more acceptable sacrifice. When men began to call on the name of the Lord," or rather to be called by the name of the Lord, the line of distinction began to bo drawn between the sons of God and the sons of men,'' — between the church and the world. The true Israel, the true church,, continued onward in the line of true piety through

CHURCH POLITY.

the patriarchal and Mosaic dispensations. After the coming of Christ, the churcli spread among the nations, along wiih the gospel of the grace of God. The church of God now exists whereever God, by his grace, has redeemed for himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works : and so will it continue to exist, and to extend with the spreading gospel to the ends of the earth and the end of time ; and then, as the church triumphant, it will exist for ever.

The church of the living God, thus far considered, is distinctively denominated the church universal ; consisting of all on earth, at any one time, who are born of God, and worship the Father in spirit and in truth. And this is but a portion, in transitu^ of the whole church of the redeemed, " the general assembly of the church of the first-born, which are written in heaven " (Heb. xii. 23). Of the church universal, Christ, enthroned on the right hand of the Father, is the great ' and only Head. For the edification of his church in truth and holiness, he hath given it the Holy Scriptures, the ministry of the Word, the ordinances of divine service, and

CHURCH POLITY.

the promised Holy Spirit to be with the church until he come again (2 Tim. iii. 16, 17 ; 1 Cor. xii. 28 ; Ephes. iv. 11-13 ; Matt, xxviii. 19 ; 1 Cor. xi. 23-26 ; John xiv. 16, 17, 26).

It is usually called also the church invisible ; because it has no outward visible organization over all the earth, and never can be all assembled in one place. It is, however, visible to Him who knoweth the hearts of all men, and whose eye seeth under the whole heaven (2 Tim. ii. 19).

But our chief practical interest iii Church Polity is with particular local and visible churches. A particular church is a company of true believers in Christ, publicly associated together as disciples of Christ, and meeting statedly in oife place to worship God for their own mutual spiritual improvement, and for the promotion of the cause and kingdom of Christ in the world.

Particular local churches, however, are not to be regarded as different independent institutions, really separate from the church of the living God on earth already considered, but as parts of that great whole, as branches of the great and good olive-tree (Rom. xi. 24). A company of unbelievers can, under no circumstances, be truly and really a church of Christ, such as those in Corinth, Philippi, and elsewhere. True Christians must be the constituent elements of a true Christian church. Particular local ^ churches are, and must needs be, composed of persons drawn together by the same sanctified social affections, and be actuated by the same spirit and law of brotherly love, as before stated in regard to the whole invisible church on earth. But of necessity, obviously, they must be limited in extent, localized by the circumstance of residence in the same place or vicinity, and organized and meeting by themselves publicly and visibly, in order that they may accomplish the several ends of Christian and church fellowship, as before stated.

The true bond of union in every particular church also is spiritual. True, the formal bond of the outward organization is visible, seen in the formula of Christian faith and church covenant adopted by the church. But these presuppose the true spiritual faith and fellow-

CHURCH POLITY.

ship of Christ to be written already in their hearts by the Spirit of all truth and grace. Otherwise, the formal bond is but a piece of solemn mockery. Here, as in all that is truly Ciiristian, the spiritual must be the foundation of the formal.

Yet some formula of Christian faith and» church fellowship — written or oral, expressed or implied, — is indispensable in the formation of a church that would be visible and public in the world, in order that the members of it may, by assent thereunto, recognize each other as believers in the gospel, and that other churches, and that the world also, may recognize them as a church of Christ (Matt. v. 13-16).

The formula of faith, the creed of a church, is simply a concise exposition of the great fundamental doctrines of the gospel, set forth in their relations to vital godliness. Such a creed, sincerely professed, is a test of Christian character. Those who truly love and believe in God love and believe in divine truth. It serves as a harmonizing bond of union in the church, as a

CHURCH POLITY.

sharp, discriminating line between the church and the world, as a public testimony to the truth as it is in Jesus ; and, on the ground of Christian wisdom and prudence, no body of men ought to be recognized as a church of Christ, without some satisfactory exposition of its faith.

The formal covenant or constitution of a church, also, is important as an exposition of the duties belonging to the church relation. But the written or oral form by no means creates the duties, or imposes them on the members of a church. They grow out of the Christian life, and are imposed by the great Head of the church. The formal covenant simply specifies and makes prominent the most important of them to be noticed under the circumstances ; and the assent of the church jointly and severally to them is simply a public acknowledgment that these and all other vows of God are upon them, and a promise, that, by the help of divine grace, they will faithfully perform them.

Again: the official action and sanction of some ecclesiastical council, presbytery, or prelate may be thought indispensable to the formation of a church. Such action is indeed important, and on prudential grounds indispensable, to Christian fellowship among churches ; and in all cases, in the midst of other churches, should never be dispensed with. Christian prudence is of moral obligation on all churches as well as persons. But the sole legitimate aim and end of such action, and its sole " validity," is to examine into the life and faith of those who propose to be formed into a church, and wish to share in the fellowship of other churches. And when satisfied on this point of inquiry, as also on the expediency of forming a church then and there, the ecclesiastical council, presbytery, or prelate, is then bound by the fellowship of Christ to recognize the new church as a local branch of the Church of Christ on earth, and to give it the right hand of Christian church fellowship, not only formally at the time, but practically ever afterwards.

A particular local and visible church of Christ, as thus far considered, is really and truly a church, yet by no means completely organized, and furnished with all the organs and means designed for its work and mission in the world. The ministry of the word, the pastoral office, the worship of God, and the sacraments of the church, are yet wanted. These will be considered in the sequel.

From the whole view now taken of the origin of the church universal, and of particular churches, it follows, that all who have experienced the work of renewing grace are solemnly bound to unite publicly with some visible church of Christ. Nay, more : it follows, that those who truly liava the spirit of Christ in them will spontaneously, by the very impulses of that Spirit, seek the fellowship of God's people in the church relation. The commands of Christ are laid upon them so to do (2 Cor. vi. 17, 18). No one has any reason to indulge the Christian hope who is unwilling to confess Christ before the world, and live publicly as one of his disciples (Matt. x. 32). The evidences of piety sufficient to warrant one in indulging a hope in Clirist are sufficient to warrant one to unite with the church, though in neither case they may be sufficient to remove all doubt and misgivings. If our faith be as a grain of mustard-seed, it will grow ; and the church, the Lord's vineyard, is the place for it to grow, under the promised care and culture of the divine Husbandman,

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Chapter II. Church Membership

Proposition. — Regenerate persons are the only true members of a Christian Church,

T I iHIS proposition relates expressly to visible churches of Christ, which have a public, formal organization, and the administration of whose affairs is in the hands of men. The kej^s of admission into membership are in the hands of those who can not inspect the heart, and judge with certainty, in any case, whether it is in a regenerate or unregenerate state. Hence, in all such churches, there may be, probably there are, those who have a name to live while they are dead. It was so in the primitive churches, under the eyes of the apostles even, as witness the case of Simon Magus and others (Acts viii. 18-23 ; Jude 4 ; 1 Cor. v. 13). Our Lord's parable of the tares among the wheat

(Matt. xiii. 24, &c.) was an intimation that

the children of the wicked one " would be found among " the children of the kingdom." And his solemn asseveration (Matt. vii. 21-23), ^' Not every one that saith unto me. Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven," contains the same intimation.

Now, respecting this class of persons, — the unregenerate who may have been formally admitted by men into a Christian church, — the question is here raised, Are they truly and really members of the church, or only nominally so, through the mistaken judgment, or erroneous principles, of the church admitting them ? And this leads on to the fundamental question. What is the true principle of church membership, by which every church should be governed in the admission of members ?

The proposition at the head of this chapter seems to us to set forth the only true principle of membership in a Christian church. Regenerate persons are the only true members who really constitute a Christian church.

If it be admitted that particular churches are

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but branches of the great and good olive-tree, — the invisible church ; and not separate and independent institutions, intended to embrace a mixed membership, — then the proposition is at once admitted. The true membership of the parts must be the same as that of the whole. If the premise here is denied, the proof of the contrary should be produced by those who maintain the contrary.

But even to suppose the contrary is sufficient to set it aside. For if, in any case or in any way, unregenerate persons can be made true and real members of the church, in every case it might be so, and the whole church be made up of unregenerate members : and so we should have a Christian church, without a Christian in it ; and might have Christian churches all over the earth, and yet not a Christian in all tlie world. But this, logically true, is absurd and impossible.

Again : if the membership may rightfully be a mixed one, what proportion must the tares bear to the wheat, in order that the church may still be a Christian church ? And, even then, the question returns. Are they the tares, or the wheat, that are the true, real, and constituent members of it ? . These suppositions are not altogether imaginary or hypothetical. Churches have become extinct by a process of degeneracy, not for want of nominal members, but through the utter loss of spiritual life and the true faith (Rev. ii. 5). The living faithful few, in such cases, constitute the church until they die, or come out from the corrupt majority, which then is no church at all, but a synagogue of Satan.

Moreover, there is a manifest incongruity, a palpable inconsistency, in a mixed membership of believers and unbelievers, alike repugnant to the word of God and the spirit of our holy religion. Be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness ? and what communion hath light with darkness ? and what concord hath Christ with Belial ? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel ? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols ? For ye are the temple [the church] of the living God. . . Wherefore, come out from among them, and he ye separate^ saith the Lord," &c. (2 Cor. vi. 14-18).

None other than true Christians are qualified for the duties of Christian church membership. They alone can worship the Father in spirit and in truth. They alone in whom the love of God is shed abroad by the Holy Ghost can love one another with pure hearts, fervently and unfeignedly, as brethren in Christ. None other are, or can be, the objects of that holy, complacent regard which God is said to bear towards his church. None other can fulfill the church's mission, to be " the light of the world and the salt of the earth." None other can warrant the distinguishing epithets, and the forms of address, bestowed by the inspired penman of the New Testament, — terms and epithets, be it noticed, bestowed on particular visible churches, at Rome, Philippi, and other places ; such as " Brethren, holy and beloved, — partakers of the heavenly calling, — elect of God, — sanctified in Christ Jesus," and the like. Such epithets are appropriate to churches of true Christians only, notwithstanding there may have been unbelievers among them, hut not really of them. The apostolic epistles were addressed to the churches as such, yet describe true Christians exclusively by the terms made use of, ignoring unbelievers as members of the church at all.