The practical church member: being a guide to the principles and practice of the Congregational churches of New England

CHAPTER I. Oiugih and History of the Congregational Churches

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Importance of the subject. The First Church. Settlement of New England. State of society. First Ministers of New England. Discusssion of Church Polity. Platforms. Present character of the New England Churches - - - - 13

Chapter X

Relations of Church and Society — Parish Affairs. Settlement of a Pastor. Support of the Pastor. Various Modes of Providing for Parish Expenses — Taxes — Rent of Pews — Subscription — Funds — Sabbath Collections. Meeting Houses* Free Seats. Secular Use of Churches. Parsonages. The Young Men. Schools .--•-'- 173

CHAPTER XI. Intercourse of Churches

Dismission of Members from one Church to another.— Exchanges. Councils. Associations. Transfer of Ministers from one Church to another - 211

CHAPTER XII. Relations and Intercourse with other Denominations

Relations with Presbyterians. Deportment towards Cburches not in Communion with us. Proselyting, and its Unworthy Arts. Joint-stock Meeting Houses. Union Meetiugs, Catbolicism - - - 221

Chapter XIII

Conclusion, Things requisite to the Practical Christian — Holiness — Prayer — Knowledge — A sound Faith — Concern for the Purity of the Church — Judgment — Candor — Prudence—Liberality — Constancy and Perseverance - 239

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Erratum. — At page 144, 3rd line from bottom, for "settled tendencies," read subtle tendencies.

Correction.— The number of Congregational Churches in England and Wales is larger by several hundreds than I have stated, page 15. The number there given (1600 or 1700,) is only the number associated in the " Congregational Union of England and Wales." This, upon the authority of one of the Baptist Delegates from England, now in this country.

PREFACE,

This little volume has been written with reference to the youthful and growing Congregation of which it is the Author's happiness to be the Pastor. Jf it should please God to make it serviceable to them, my end is answered and my labor abundantly repaid : if its usefulness should be extended beyond them f I shall have the greater cause to be thankful.

The title will remind the reader of some other books, from abler pens than mine. I allude to the " Church Member's Guide," by Mr. James, the "Church Manual," by Mr. Bacon, and the " Tribute to th© Memory of the Pilgrims," by Dr. Hawes, — books with which I hope the reader is too well acquainted to make it necessary for me to speak of their excellence and worth. The topics, however, of this volume, are, for the most part, distinct from the matter of those. Our several roads may lie within sight of each other, but are seldom coincident. If mine lie in a more humble region than those, if it lead through a tract more monotinous and less productive of emotion, it is also less frequented and beaten, and on that account may contribute something to the profiting of the traveler, if not to his amusement.

It will be noticed that a number of the subjects discussed or touched upon in the following pages, are matters which fall

Vill PREFACE.

among the controversies of the times. I have taken them up as they came in my way, and endeavored to dispose of them agreeably to the dictates of the Bible and common sense, not expecting to meet the views of everybody. It is impossible to be universally orthodox in an age when almost every subject, doctrinal or practical, is matter of excited altercation, — when with many» truth itself is ultraism, while with others, sobriety of judgment is too lukewarm a quality, and " meek-eyed" charity too smooth of tofogue, to suit their inflammable zeal.

Without attempting to write, in a formal w r ay, on our ecclesiastical polity, I have wished to promote among our people a more general acquaintance with that subject. I do not suppose that Church order is the most important thiug in religion. But neither is it the least important. It certainly is not unimportant Churches were instituted by Christ for particular purposes ; to wit, the edification of the members, and the efficient propagation of religion in the world ; and it is obvious that the manner of their constitution, that is, their polity, must have (much to do with their adaptedness to the ends in view ; and of course, that it can never be otherwise than an important subject to be studied and known. One could not wish, indeed, to see it exalted into that undue consequence, relatively considered, which was assigned to it in the discussions of by-gone centuries, much less to resuscitate the spirit of those discussions ; but neither is it well that it be wholly neglected.

Besides the intrinsic and proper importance of the subject, it is desirable to know something about it, to be able to estimate

PREFACE, IX

the comparative claims of the different existing systems. We still hear of the lineage and validity of this order and that, — for though discussion has in a great measure ceased, as to this particular field, pretension has not, — and it needs some intelligence to settle us.

As to the Congregational system, its claims to a scriptural antiquity, and its practical utility, will be best understood, and most truly, and I trust most highly appreciated, by those who have studied it most. If it be as "primitive" as the Scriptures, and was familiar to Paul, it is doubtless primitive enough, and quite tolerably " apostolic," the claims notwithstanding, of primogeniture by others.

Be this as it may, I cannot but think we are suffering it to fall into too much neglect among us. Our fathers sought truth on this subject with the same conscientiousness and care, as they sought the mind of Christ on other subjects. They sought it at the expense of persecution and exile ; and having, with unwearied pains, found it, they rejoiced in it. It was to them ** like unto a treasure hid in a field ; the which, when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and seileth all that he hath, and buyeth that field." In that age of ecclesiastical confusion, and of turning back towards popery, they professed that M they looked upon the discovery and settlement of the Congregational way, as the boon, the gratuity, the largess of divine bounty, which the Lord graciously bestowed on his people that followed him into the wilderness." But we, their descendants, so far from entering into their studies, are almost

X PREFACE.

content to be ignorant of the very results of them, furnished to our hands. Is it not true, — and if it be true, is there not utterly a fault among us, — that not a few of our ministers do not inform themselves even, much less acquaint their people, thoroughly, with the principles and grounds of our ecclesiastical system ? And does it not hence arise, that our people are often too little intelligent in this matter properly to discharge the duties which our system requires of them as members ; and too little established in their views to be not soon unsettled and drawn away to churches of a different order, whose polity they find to be more insisted on, and whose claims they are not qualified to canvass ? Ought we not, as a part of our duty to ouf churches, and especially when large accessions are made to them of the subjects of our revivals, to instruct them, not only in the doctrines and moral duties of their religion, but in tho polity also, under which it is their duty and privilege to act?

46 The Principles and Practice of the Congregational Churches," become the more important in view of the place which these churches occupy, and doubtless are destined to occupy, in relation to the great cause of Christ on earth. It is not to be supposed, indeed, that the world is to be converted by means of any one denomination of Christians. All shall be privileged to share in that glorious achievement. But if we consider the history of these New England churches, with their numerous and increasing offspring in the west — if we consider the way in which God has led them from the beginning, who M sifted three

PREFACE. 21

kingdoms that he might plant the American wilderness with the finest of the wheat," — if we consider their principles and spirit, their institutions, their intelligence, their presses, their zeal for moral reform, enlightened, principled, and constant; and their liberal devotedness to the work of missions and other objects of universal philanthropy ; we cannot but suppose that they are to have a very prominent agency in the renovation of th© world. It is therefore important that every member of their communion, should be prepared with every sort of instruction and qualification for the fulfilment of so high a destiny.

If this humble volume contribute at all to such a result, — if it cause so much as one church, or member, of so important a communion, to be better informed, or more judicious — if it cast a little salt into so great a fountain,— it will not be valuelew, nor the labor of it lost.

Chapter I. Origin And History Of The Congregation- Al Churches

If every man should know something of the history of his own religious communion, it is especially desirable that such a history 3s that of the founders of the Churches of New England should, by every means, be kept alive in the minds of their posterity. The character of our Pilgrim Fathers, the causes and objects of their removal hither, the hardships they suffered — more for the sake of us their children, than for their own, — - have a most sacred claim upon our memory. It is a history which every son of New England should value as his birth-right. "No sober New Englandeiv(says Dr. Dwight) can read the history of his country, without rejoicing that God has caused him to spring from the loins of such ancestors, and given him his birth in a country whose public concerns were entrusted to their management:" and it maj be added, that no New Englander who is willingly ignorant of that history is worthy of his origin ; or capable of appreciating, or competent to defend, the inestimable inheritance which has descended to him. " I shall count my country lost, (says Cotton Mather) in the loss of the primitive principles, and the primitive practices, upon which it was at first established :" that loss, however, will ensue, and New England will cease to be New England, when her degenerate children, (if that should ever be,) shall be generally ignorant of her history, or cease to revere the memory of her founders.

It is not, however, the design, nor is it within the compass, of this volume, to give such a history. A few things only can be noticed, as introductory to the matters which are to follow.

The Congregational polity, at least in some of its leading features, began early to be discussed, among the schemes which occupied the Reformers of the sixteenth century, but did not assume a visible and permanent existence till about 1600. The exiled church at Leyden, under the care of the celebrated Robinson, which afterwards removed to Plymouth, in New Engand, is regarded as the mother of the Congregational sister-hood, and its pastor, as the founder of the Congregational plan.

This church was gathered in England in 1602. Being harrassed by an intolerant establishment, they removed, a few years after, to Holland, and thence, in 1620, to Plymouth; where the first detachment of them arrived, in a forlorn condition, in the depth of winter* From the distresses of the sea, which had detained them long upon its bosom, they escaped, at length, to encounter the greater distresses of a houseless forest and an inclement season, — distresses, both of sea and land, which only a piety like theirs would have been willing to encounter, and a faith like theirs, been able to sustain.

The settlement at Plymouth was the first of the religious colonies which, within a few years after, during the " Laudian persecution," peopled the streams and harbors of New England. And this was the beginning of Congregationalism in this country.

Meantime, a branch of the same vine was beginning to take root in England. The first church which was gathered there, after Mr. Robinson's, was organized, with simple and affecting solemnities, in 1616. Its pastor was a Mr. Jacob, who during a visit to Leyden had embraced Mr. Robinson's views. In that unpropitious soil, it struggled with even greater difficulties, of another kind, than these encountered which were planted in the wilderness. "It subsisted almost by a miracle for above twenty-four years, shifting from place to place, to avoid the notice of the public," till, the times changing, it openly appeared in a house of worship in 1640. # From these oppressed beginnings, Congregationalism in England has gone on increasing and flourishing, " as a grain of mustard seed," till it now numbers, in that country and in Wales, about 1600 or 1700 congregations, and as many ministers. Of its numbers in Scotland I am not informed ; but if the eulogy of the celebrated Chalmers, (a Presbyterian) be

* Neal.

just, who says of the Scottish Congregationalists, that they are " the purest body of Christians in the united kingdom/' it is to be wished that the number were greater than it is, whatever it may be.

The state of society in the New England settlements, as might be expected from the causes which originated them, was altogether peculiar. It was entirely and eminently religious. It might be said of every family, that it was a pious family ; of every adult individual, that he was strictly moral, if not religious ; and of every child, that he was piously educated. They were of the best people of England. For it is the best people, — the most pious and exemplary always, and commonly not the least intelligent and respectable, that persecution banishes from its communion, while it retains the worst. They were the best people of Jerusalem, " who were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen." They were of the best people of France who fled on the revocation of the edict of Nantes. And England had no better people within her bosom than she exiled from it, by the intolerable vexations of her High Commission and other spiritual courts. The immoral and unprincipled — people of lax lives and pliant consciences — are not the people who either disturb the persecutor, or are disturbed by him. When the Rev. Mr. Cotton, the first minister of Boston, a man of excellent learning and piety, and of much repute in England, as he afterwards was in this country, was informed against in the High

Commission, and applied to the earl of Dorset for his interest with the primate, the earl sent him word that, " if he had been guilty of drunkenness, uncleanness, or any such lesser fault, he could have got his pardon : but the sin of puritanism and non-conformity was unpardonable, and therefore he must fly for his safety." It was for " the sin of puritanism and non-conformity," and for no other " fault," that our fathers were forced to leave.

The settlers of New England were all of one persuasion. There was no mixture of emulous and proselyting sects. All the inhabitants of a parish were called by the same bell to the same sanctuary ; all loved and respected the same pastor ; instructed their children in the same schools, and catechisms ; mourned together in the same church yard : all kept the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace ; being called in one hope of their calling ; having one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. If they originally brought any diversity of views with them, their common piety, and common trials, and the earnestness and simplicity of their common search for truth, soon matured them into harmony.

This happy unity prevailed for several generations. Nor was this a drowsy and secure state of things. The presence of God was eminently with them. The first age of New England was one of an almost continuous revival. Preaching was attended with so much power,

in some places, " that it was a common inquiry by such

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18 £HE PRACTICAL CHURCH MEMBER

members of a family as were detained at home oil $ Sabbath, whether any had been visibly awakened in the house of God that day." " Few Sabbaths did pass without some evidently converted, and some convincing proof of the power of God accompanying his word."* Thus the children of the settlers, as they came forward into life, under the faithful care of their parents^ and ministers, were gathered, by the favor of God, into the same communion with themselves. The Spirit of revivals has overshadowed these churches from the beginning.f

* Prince's Christian History .

f There was one considerable period of extensive and alarming declension in the early days of New England. It commenced, visibly, about 1660 or 1670, i. e. with the third generation. The days of trial had by that time passed away, and prosperity had succeeded. Prosperity is the greatest of all tri*- als to churches.

But even of this period, Mather, the historian, says, " Indeed the people of God in this land were not so far gone in degeneracy, but that there were further degrees of disorder and corruption to be found in other, yea, in all 'other places, where the protestant religion is professed ; and the most impartial observers must have acknowledged, that there was proportionabiy still more of true religion, and a larger number of the strictest saints, in. this country, than in any other on the face of the earth. But it was to be confessed, that the degeneracy of New England in any measure, into the spirit of the world, was a thing extremely aggravated by the greatness of our obligations to the contrary." Magnah Book V. In view of this declension there r

THE PRACTICAL CHtJRCH MEMBER. 19

Thus one in sentiment, and thus blessed, were the early churches of New England. I have heard opinions and reasonings advanced in support of the supposed good effects of a diversity of sects ; but I have seen no evidence of such effects, like the evidence to the contrary in the history of these churches. There is no scripture for the position, that I am aware of, (but much to the contrary,) and I fear there are no facts. Has the condition of New England been improved by the flooding of sects into it ? Have we more piety, and better morals ? Was such diversity of sects deemed desirable in the apostle's days ? The benefits — what are they, in comparison of the evils ? They are to be shown, perhaps, by Pope's doctrine, " All discoid, harmony not understood ;" or by the philosophy of an older theo-

was a special meeting, or synod, called at Boston, to consider a work of reform : and it is remarkable with what fidelity and minuteness this synod went into an inquiry respecting the prevailing sins, — the result of which they published. A similar reform was engaged in in Connecticut. Many churches set apart seasons for special prayer, faithful inquiry, and solemn renewal of covenant; and " very remarkable was the blessing of God upon'the churches which did so." "Many thousands of spectators will testify, that they never saw the special presence of the great God our Savior more notably discovered than in the solemnities of thuse opportunities." Mather.

Though there was no general revival during this period, which continued till the great awakening of 1629 and 1640, there were numerous local ones, as e. g. in Northampton, where there were five during the ministry of Mr. Shepard.

rist, who tells us that "the whole world is kept in order by discord ; and every part of it is a more particular composed jarre." Are divisions and subdivisions of congregations, into handfuls of people ; are more houses than can be filled, and more ministers than are needed ; are rivalries and jealousies, and strifes and envyings ; are gradations of truth and of error, accommodated to all sorts of men ; are schemes against schemes, and churches against churches ; and lo ! here, and lo ! there, the benefits intended? I know it is with God to bring good out of evil ; and how much he may bring out of this is known only to him : but the evils are manifest, and the sin, I fear, great. " For whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men ? For while one saith, I am of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, are ye not carnal ?

The first ministers of New England were episcopally ordained, and had been settled pastors previous to their coming hither. " I have before me, (says Neal,) a list of seventy-seven divines who became pastors of sundry churches and congregations in New England before 1640, all of whom were in orders in the Church of England." They received their ordination, generally, in the time of the mild arch-bishop Abbot, a man of such piety and temper, that had his predecessor, Bancroft, and his successor, Laud, been men of the like views and spirit, New England had not been settled as it was. They received their education at the Universities of

Cambridge and Oxford, and were all of them respectably, and some of them extensively, if not profoundly, learned. Their excellence, both as preachers and as men, has been abundantly testified to, by men, not only of their own, but of other persuasions. Two persons* who well knew them, have left the following account of them. " We that saw the persons, who, from four famous colonies assembled in the synod that agreed on our Platform of Church Discipline, cannot forget their excellent character. They were men of great renown in the nation from whence the Laudian persecution exiled them : their learning, their holiness, their gravity, struck all men that knew them with admiration. They were Timothies in their houses, Chrysostoms in their pulpits, Augustines in their disputations. The prayers, the studies, the humble inquiries, with which they sought after the mind of God, were as likely to prosper as any means upon earth. And the sufferings wherein they

* Rev. John Higginson, son of the first minister of Salem, and Rev. William Hubbard, minister of Ipswich ; both born in England. These venerable men, at an advanced period of their lives, anxious to perpetuate " the old principles of New England," drew up a joint paper, expressly for after generations, which they left behind them, with the following superscription: "A testimony to the Order of the gospel in the churches of New England: left in the hands of the churches by the two most aged ministers of the gospel yet surviving in the country. The former died 1708, aged 93; the latter in 1704, aged 63 were confessors for the name and the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ, add unto the arguments which would persuade us, that our gracious Lord would reward and honor them, with communicating much of his truth unto them."

There was no one subject which engaged the attention of the founders of New England more than the subject of church polity. Having escaped from the half reformed protestantism of their native land, they were deeply anxious to establish a system here according to the true primitive model.

They were now in circumstances to do so. The reformation in England had stopped short of the reasonable expectations of its most enlightened friends. It was often stationary, often retrograde. It retained, at its best estate, too many of the habiliments, and by far too much of the spirit, of the popish religion which it had professed to supplant. It was retarded by the habits of the people, which had been formed under Catholic influence. It was involved in numberless controversies. It was entangled with interests of state. It was opposed by the claims of arrogant prerogative, and repressed by arbitrary power. Freedom of thought was " an heinous crime," and liberty of conscience, " an iniquity to be punished by the judges." But the New England puritans were now beyond the action of all these adverse influences. They had come out from among them, and were separate ; and with an ocean intervening, and a wilderness about them, there was no impediment to their free inquiries.

In these inquiries the Bible was their guide. The Bible alone. They were not ignorant of history, nor slow to avail themselves of any light which fathers, councils, or reformers, might shed upon their minds ; but they regarded the Bible alone as authoritative. If alone authoritative, it must be sufficient alone ; and the man of God, possessing the Bible, is, in respect to all that is essential to faith or practice, perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. So the Puritans believed and acted. They built their system upon the Bible, and thought the foundation broad enough. They needed no traditions, or inventions of men, or reasons of state, to make it broader. Deeply feeling their responsibility to the God of the Bible, to that law and testimony they constantly referred their own and other men's opinions. " The supreme judge, (say they, in their Platform) by which all controversies in religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other, but the Holy Scripture delivered by the Spirit ; into which Scripture so delivered, our faith is finally resolved." What a world of confusion and darkness would have been swept away, had all men been as simple in their appeal to the Scriptures as were the Puritans of New England!

Besides their numerous tracts and volumes on the subject of church order, it was abundantly discussed in sermons, and in other forms. The results of these discussions were embodied, generally, in the Cambridge Platform, which was considered and agreed to by a Synod convened at that place, in 1648, and recommended to the acceptance of the churches. This Synod was composed of ministers from all the colonies ; the invitation being general, and the interest a common and important one. They also adopted a confession of faith, namely, the Westminster ; which had then lately been set forth. For this the Savoy Confession was afterwards substituted.

Having finished their work, in which they had proceeded with great harmony, " they did, with an extraordinary elevation of soul and voice, then sing together the song of Moses and the Lamb, in the fifteenth chapter of Revelation :" and thus the session was closed.

From that time onward, the Cambridge Platform, (till it was superseded in Connecticut, in 1708, by the Saybrook Platform) was the general directory of the Churches. It did not originate, or essentially modify their practice, but rather recognized and digested the principles upon which they were already established. It is an instrument the wisdom of which will be more seen, the more it is studied, and compared with the Scriptures.

The Saybrook Platform is based upon the same general views as the Cambridge ; differing from it only, or chiefly, in the further provision it makes in respect to councils, and associations of ministers.

Such, briefly, is the rise and early history of the New England Churches. Of other institutions which have had their origin and growth with these churches, I can take no notice.

It is the habit of infidels and vain persons, and, we must now add, of Catholics, and some others from whom better things might be hoped, to disparage the memory of the Pilgrims, — with what motives, it need not be mentioned. But the attempt is vain. Their works speak for them. Their schools, their colleges, their laws and governments, — to say nothing of their churches, — institutions which all men admire, liberties which all men are breathing after, a state of society which, for its intelligence and morals, has no parallel in any country, — these are their memorials. When our praise of the Pilgrims, or, rather, when our gratitude to God on their behalf, surpasses the benefits received through them ; when it rises higher, or spreads farther, than the healthful influences which they originated, then shall our gratitude be abated, and our praise restrained.

There is one reflection which ought to be made, perhaps, in passing, touching the sensitiveness of some, who cannot endure to hear of the puritans being persecuted, and that by bishops, without conceiving themselves assailed with reproach.

The facts cannot be questioned. They cannot be blotted from history. But they are not now to be mentioned to the prejudice of the existing Church of England, much less, to the reproach of Episcopalians in general. They belong to times which have long since passed away. The odium of them cannot attach to the children, except as they allow the deeds of their fathers, and approve their sayings ; and manifest, themselves, the same exclusive, high-church spirit which was the cause of persecution in them. It was an exclusive, high-church spirit in Saul of Tarsus, that made him a persecutor ; it was an exclusive, high-church spirit in Laud, and his coadjutors ; and an exclusive, high-church spirit, in any age, or church, is not far from a persecuting spirit. " There never was a time, (says the venerable John Jay) when high-church doctrines promoted peace on earth and good will among men."^