Ecclesiastical polity: its forms and philosophy

Preface

The author obtrudes himself upon the public with deference. He is aware that the wide field of ecclesiastical jurisprudence has been faithfully explored ; and is not unmindful of the multitude of books which overspread this land of light and letters ; and that new ones are apparently unnecessary : but he has been prompted to the publication of this treatise in view of the following considerations. First, a work is 7 needed which covers the whole ground of church government, to put into the hands of all the people ; to guard against bigotry in the form of Popery on one side, and against laxness and licentiousness in ecclesiastical polity, on the other. Secondly, it is necessary as an elementary work for examining students in theology, in a systematic manner, on ecclesiastical polity. What they now learn, on that subject, has to be gleaned from a multitude of conflicting authors, each one advocating, not only his own peculiar system, but usually his exclusive system. Thirdly, it is needed as a check upon the power and influence of ecclesiastical aspirants and divisionists. If men could view the whole ground at once, and see the checks and balances which regulate ecclesiastical powers

IV PREFACE.

and prerogatives, they would not be so easily lead astray by those restless spirits. Fourthly, many christians and even ministers entertain distorted views on that subject, as one or the other author, from the rigid Churchman, to the lax Independent has casually fallen. into their hands; and, Fifthly, no such work has ever been given to the public within the authors knowledge. Amid the rapid improvements in science and literature, church polity has to be gathered up in fragments. No general system has been published. After examining some forty or fifty volumes before him, the author finds that though well intended, and ably written, they are almost invariably exparte, and evidently designed, in many instances, to favor their own exclusiveness.

The course pursued in this work is to introduce just so much of civil polity, which is generally plain, and often well understood, as will serve to explain and illustrate church government, which is usually more abstruse, or less readily apprehended from being less frequently examined. Another effort has been brevity, to embody facts and arguments in as few words as possible ; and in order to a correct understanding of this work it should be read consecutively, as many of the chapters presuppose a knowledge of those which precede them.

The author of this work claims precedence in making at least an incipient effort, to rescue the system of church polity from the hands of partisans, and to reduce it to a science ; and perfection could not be expected in a first treatise, more than in the first printing type, or steam engine ; and more especially when prepared amid a pressure of pastoral labors. — Whether he be successful or otherwise, it may throw out hints v PREFACE. V

which may be improved by a more efficient hand, after the author of this shall have passed away : and it is his humble prayer that this work may have a tendency to allay the asperities of ecclesiastical controversy ; and to guide immortal minds in the way of peace, and to the port of rest.

Dutv to sustain civil and ecclesiastical order.

ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY.

Chapter I. Op Civil Polity And Order

Their Necessity.

Government is a system of fundamental rules by which organized communities are regulated.

Its design is to secure to mankind their social rights, to protect their persons and property, to guarantee a general defence, and secure a common welfare, to direct the operations and ascertain the duties of the whole; and finally to transmit its blessings to posterity.

Government of some kind has existed in every age, and from the natural relations among men it always must exist.

Its first general desideratum is order and stability. We find a manifest example of this in all the works ol God : in the revolutions of seasons ; in the creation, and propagation of plants, and animals ; in the arrangement, and exact order of the heavenly bodies ; and in the promulgation of law.

God is the Author of natural order. Were it otherwise comets and planets, satellites and suns in all the distant regions of space would forsake their ancient orbits, and with ungovernable fury rush onward in terrific and lawless disorder, dashing and shattering every thing in their way, and carrying wild ruin,, consternation and destruction through the universe-.

The exact revolutions of the heavenly bodies, in their regular orbits, demonstrates that God is a being of order.

He is author of political order, and gave his ancient people a law to regulate their civil affairs. Without civil order there would be no civil protection, and no security to person or property, unless guarded by a superior force. Every man being his own governor, and a law unto himself, would with impunity follow the dictates of his own selfish lusts, regardless of his neighbors rights, and the incessant collisions which would necessarily ensue, would overwhelm the world with violence and conflict.

God is the author of ecclesiastical order. He instituted a priesthood, and appointed prophets under the old dispensation. He called and ordained ministers as apostles, prophets, teachers, et cetra., under the new dispensation, and gave them authority and the oversight of the churches. Had church order been needless no such provisions would have been made. The order of God is violated when an unholy priesthood seek to oppress the people, or when the ministry is forced upon them by civil enactments, or when the people seek to degrade the sanctity of the ministerial office, or when laymen usurp the place where God placed his ministers. Thus the order of God in the natural and moral world verifies the truth of the apostolic assertion, that " God is not the author of confusion." Order presupposes law and there can be none without it. In a world where pure rectitude reigns, order might exist without compulsory process, but where sin has deranged matter and mind, law is indispensable ; and all efforts to do without it would prove unavailing. Every individual would be without protection to person or property, the unrestrained passions of men would conflict with each other, and the contused world would be filled with violence and blood. Law, says Judge Blackstone, " in its most general and comprehensive sense signifies a rule of action ; and is applied indiscriminately to all kinds of action, whether animate or inanimate,

THEIR NECESSITY. 11

rational or irrational. Thus we say the laws of motion, of gravitation, of optics, of mechanics, as well as the laws of nature, and of nations. And it is a rule prescribed by some superior and which the inferior is bound to obey."- In this treatise it signifies a rule of human action.

God as the proprietor and governor of the world, is the source of all law. Man being dependent on him should conform in all points to his will, and this obligation necessarily arises from the relation of man to his Maker. This is frequently denominated the law of nature, founded in justice anterior to any positive command ; eternal and unchangeable. The law of God is superior to all other laws: always binding upon all intelligences everywhere in Jehovahs dominions, and all contradictory human laws are forever nugatory. The revealed law of God contained in the Bible, the same in its obligation and tendency with the law of nature, is a direct revelation, and was given in compassion to the weakness of human reason, as darkened by the original apostacy. These laws come clothed with the sanctions of rewards and punishments in a future life, and on their practice man is dependent for happiness. Laws divine and human demand obedience, and require enforcement, and this presupposes an executive. In the administration of civil governments, and in the execution of human laws, it has been found necessary to place individuals at the head of nations, and the great desideratum is to clothe them with sufficient power to direct the public energies to the best end ; and still be under sufficient restraint to prevent their encroachments upon the liberties of the people.

Executive enforcement presupposes a penalty. Judge Blackstone says : " Of all the parts of a law the most effectual is the vindicatory. For it is but lost labor to say ' do this, or avoid that' unless we also declare ' this shall be the consequence of your noncompliance.' We must therefore observe that the main strength and force of a law consists in the penalty annexed to it. Herein is to be found the principal obligation of human laws."

As order and stability are desirable, the most enlightened nations of the earth have an established constitution, or system of fundamental rules by which they are governed, and to which all their laws are conformed. It secures to every citizen his rights and privileges, assigns to each branch of government its powers and prerogatives, restrains the rulers within prescribed limits, and can only be amended as prescribed by itself. Without these precautions there is danger of sudden changes and revolutions from the usurpation of lawless rulers on the one side, and of reckless demagogues at the head of a fickle populace on the other-

Chapter II. Of Civil Government

Its Forms. — Monarchy, Aristocracy, Democracy.

" Civil society being once formed, government results of course to keep society in order, for unless there be some superior constituted power whose commands are to be obeyed there can be no civil society." Power must be lodged somewhere to protect the innocent, and punish the guilty, but where shall this power be vested ? Where should the reins of government be entrusted % This great question has arrested the attention of every age, and has agitated the legislative and executive cabinets of all nations ; and its solution has frequently desolated the world and drenched it in blood.

That form of government is doubtless best, which most fully secures the rights of the whole, and dispenses its blessings upon the aggregate mass, without having undue regard to individual prerogative.

The principal forms of civil government are Monarchy, Aristocracy and Democracy, all others being modifications.

A MONARCHY is a government executed by the authority of a single individual. The throne is generally held through life and is hereditary.

An Absolute Monarchy or Autocracy is where a person rules by himself, without ministry, parliament, or council, as the Autocrat of Russia.

A Despotism is where he governs by his own will, with oppression, and without established laws, as in Persia.

A Limited Monarchy is where the power of the prince is restrained by a constitution and a representative assembly of the people, as in Great Britain and France.

An ARISTOCRACY is a government where the nobles of a country govern conjointly.

An Oligarchy nearly allied to it is where a few either nobles or plebeians rule the nation, and it frequently obtains where in the revolutions of empires the former ruler is deposed.

A DEMOCRACY is a government where the power is lodged in the hands of the people collectively, and where they assemble in the aggregate to make the laws. It is seldom found except in towns or very small states.

A Republic is a democratic government, administered by representatives, chosen by the people at large.

A Federal Government or confederation is a union of several independent states for mutual defence, sending represensatives to a general congress, or diet, as the United States, Switzerland and Germany.

The Patriarchal is a government by a patriarch, or father, over his family, as monarch. It is supposed to have extended from the creation to the exodus, about two thousand years ; but now obtains only in the sparse settlements of Greenland, Lapland, New Holland, and in some small islands.

A Theocracy is a government from God as Law giver. It existed only among the Jews ; for they were the only people who received a Revelation from God. anterior to the Christian Era ; and their laws were contained in the Pentateuch.

A Hierarchy is a government in the hands of a priesthood, usually comprehending different orders.

An Anarchy is a want of government, or state of policical confusion, where the laws are inefficient, and where the leeis- Iative and executive power are acknowledged no where, or every where, according to the caprice of the public. This frequently obtains during the revolutions of empires, but of all states of society this is most dreadful, for even tyranny is better than anarchy, and the worst government better than none at all.

CHAPTER III. OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT* Its Philosophy

In this chapter we design to shew : «

First, The excellencies and defects of each of the three principal forms of civil government ; and, Secondly, to shew the tendencies of each of those forms.

In civil governments each peculiar mode has its good and bad qualities, as will be seen by investigating the nature of the three regular forms allowed by the political writers of antiquity.

A Monarchy, says Sir William Blackstone, in his commentaries on the common law of England, is indeed the most powerful of any form of government, for by the entire conjunction of the legislative and executive, all the sinews of government are knitted together, and united in the hand ot the prince : but then there is imminent danger of his employing that strength to improvident or oppressive purposes.

An Aristocracy, says the same standard author, has more wisdom than the other forms of government, being composed, or intended to be composed, of the most experienced citizens ; but there is less honesty than in a republic, and less strength than in a monarchy.

In a Democracy, where the right of making laws resides in the people at large, public virtue or goodness of intention is more likely to be found than in either of the other qualities of government- Popular assemblies he adds, are often foolish in contrivance, and weak in execution : but generally mean to do the thing that is right and just, and have always a degree of patriotism or public spirit.

Now the great object in legislation should be to unite in one government as much as possible these three needful qualities of strength, wisdom and virtue ,; and to exclude the bad ones ; and this desideratum is found in the republic of the United States of America. Its executive power is lodged in a single man, the president, who is commander in chief of the army and navy. Here we have some of the advantages of strength, despatch, and speedy execution, which are to be found in an absolute monarchy.

The legislation of the government is entrusted to three distinct powers, entirely independent of each other. First, the president of the United States. Secondly, the senators, chosen by the different state legislatures, usually men of age, wisdom, and experience, and distinguished for their skill in civil jurisprudence. They form the aristocracy of the nation ; and feel a kind of political independence : First, by being elected for a series of years ; and secondly, by net being so directly dependent upon popualr favor : and in them we look for profound experience and political sagacity, and for a check upon sudden changes by popular excitement. They too are tempered by the house of representatives, chosen directly by the people from among themselves ; making a kind of democcracy ; and this aggregate body dependent upon different sources for their offices, and attentive to different interests, form the legislative power of this nation.

The president is supposed to guard specially, the interests of the whole nation ; the senators those of the several states from which they were elected ; and the representatives of their own constituents. As each branch of legislation is armed with a veto power, to repel dangerous innovation, any intentended evil by one branch can be defeated by the other two.

Thus the three essential qualities of government are beautifully and happily blended. Were supreme power lodged in

GOVERNMENT. ITS PHILOSOPHY". It

any one of the three branches separately, we must be exposed to the inconveniences of either monarchy, aristocracy or democracy ; and thus want two of the three ingredients of good polity ; either power to execute, wisdom to invent means, and suit them to the ends, or virtue to direct to the public good. If the president and senate held the reins of government alone, our laws might be providentially made, and vigorously executed, but they might not always have the good of the people in view. Were plenary power lodged in the president and house of representatives, we should lack the circumspection and mediatory caution which the wisdom of the senators might afford : and were this supreme right of legislation lodged in the two houses only, without the veto power of the president upon their proceedings, they might be tempted to abolish the presidential office, divide the nation, and destroy the unity of the government. Hence the necessity of preserving the equilite rium between the different branches of legislation.

We come now in the second place, to speak of the tendencies of the different forms of civil government. Thev are to an accumulation of power. Ah absolute monarchy inclines to become more and more despotic. The reason originates in the selfishness of human nature, for when the prince has the power to become a despot, the unrestrained disposition of man strongly inclines him to avail himself of the advantage; Many rulers have begun with mildness, but ended in tyranny : as Hazael king of Syria, or Nero who set fire to Rome that he might amuse himself with the wailings of the people, or Tiberius who delighted in torturing his subjects, or Caligula who murdered many of the populace with his own hands, and caused thousands guilty of no crime, to be cruelly butchered. Multitudes of others might be cited, who, like them, began with mildness, and promised to become the fathers and friends of their subjects, but who in the exercise of unrestrained power, gave a loose rein to their ambitious and ungodly passions, and became bloody despots, and the 1 wholesale murderers of their 1

IS CIVIL POLITY AND ORDER.

race. Thus power is accumulative, and the thirst for accumulation is augmented by success; and proceeds onward in an increasing ratio till checked by force. The regal government of Rome was abolished by the forcible expulsion of Tarquin ; and king John of England ratified Magna Charta, at the point of the bayonet, when compelled by his barons.

Aristocracies and all. officers of every government are strongly inclined to act for themselves, when their own pergonal interests come in collision with the good of the people. In England the house of commons is elected unequally, and large numbers of the people have no voice in the choice oi* their rulers, as in some cases a few .electors of boroughs, which are gone to decay, send as many representatives as seventy thousand people in other parts of the kingdom. This has long been well known, but the commons have a veto power to prevent a change, and choose to exercise it.

In the United States the members of congress receive eight dollars for every days attendance,. and eight for eyery twenty miles travel in going to, and returning from,. the seat of government. This, since the introduction of steam power should be lessened, but they have the authority in their own hands, and refuse to do it.

The same may be said of the franking privilege, which was originally confined to the time of the session of congress, subsequently extended to thirty days before, and thirty days after, and finally from thirty days after, to thirty days before, the next session, which in the aggregate includes the whole time. Thus they exercise their power, proving that its tendency is accumulative.

A government in the hands of the people inclines to become more and more liberal, and if unsustained by patriotism and public virtue, will terminate in anarchy and ruin. While an absolute monarchy concentrates its strength, a republic, under the influence of party spirit, is strongly inclined to divide and scatter, . The., republic ol Athens, . warn. out, with, contending

GOVERNMENT. ITS PHILOSOPHY. 19

factions, and civil disorder, surrendered her liberties to Pisistratus. In the French revolution the excessive violence of the Jacobins had so brought popular liberty into disrepute, that all found it indispensably necessary to have a strong executive government, to restore things to any degree of order and consistency. It was then declared that "unity of thought and action is a fundamental quality in the executive power." The tendency of popular governments to faction, anarchy and ruin, can only be successfully counteracted by corresponding political integrity, and by a firm determination to concentrate the strength of the people for sustaining public order.

When the thirteen American colonies had become independent, and a new government was to be formed, some as John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and their coadjutors favored' a more vigorous, and Thomas Jefferson and his partisans a more liberal form, when the latter being most popular prevailed. Since its establishment on those liberal principles it has been brought still nearer to the people.

1. In the extension of the elective franchise. Once it was necessary in the State of New York, to be a freeholder worth fifty dollars, to vote for a member of the assembly, and worth two hundred and fifty dollars to vote for a- governor or senator. These restrictions are now taken off.

2. In the same state in the election of justices 1 of the peace, who were at first appointed by the council of appointment, subsequently by the supervisors and judges, but are- now elected by the people.

3. A great advance has been made toward liberal principles, in the collection of debts.

The first idea was, according to the feudal system; imprison-, ment in the county jail.- The next was to admit debtors to bail on the limits, a third law was made entirely abolishing imprisonment for debt, fourthly, extending the amount of property free from execution, and fifthly, enacting a general bankrupt law.- Whilo this is- convenient for ono part of community, - it creates^ a loss of confidence in commercial transactions, throws suspicion and distrust through the country, and greatly embarrasses the operations of business men. They dare not make heavy investments, for if they act, and trust their customers, they must depend on their honor, and not the law, for payment, as their property is mostly free from execution ; they cannot imprison the debtors body, nor put, it on the limits, and he may become bankrupt.

To this increasing laxness in government may be added the strong desire with many to abolish capital punishment for capital crimes ; the anti-rent and nullification out breaks, and the triumphs of mobs and linch law over the law of the land.

Should this general tendency to liberal government still keep moving onward, and should the laws become less and less vigorous, and should the spirit of insubordination to those laws continue to increase, without a corresponding increase of patriotism, and of moral and religious influence, the days of our political prosperity are soon numbered.

Mr Jefferson said " I believe this the strongest government on earth. I believe it the only one, where every man, at the call of the laws would fly to the standard of the law, and would meet invasion of the public order as his own personal concern." This view presupposed a nation of patriots, who would fly at once to defend the law, and to sustain public order ; and in this view his position is just ; but let the opposite obtain, let mobocracy, insubordination and anarchy triumph ; and we have a specimen of the weakest government on earth ; the rights of the people maybe violated with impunity, honest industry has no guardian, and innocence no protector, but the fickleness of popular caprice. The influx of a foreign population among us, sworn as they are in allegiance to a foreign power, is also threatening the perpetuity of our religious and political privileges. Dangers within and without are impending. It should not be concealed that it is the opinion of many discriminating men that the government of

GOVERNMENT. ITS PHILOSOPHY. 21

the United States is fast tending to anarchy ; and that a strong counteracting influence must soon be exerted, by the educational and moral influences of the benevolent societies of the age, and more than all by the power of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, with its eternal sanctions, or we are politically undone.

We here find the need of the adaptation of government to the moral condition of the people. With some nations moral restraint would avail nothing, for they are given over to the influence of their passions and appetites, and a government relying upon moral suasion, could not stand an hour. With them a government of compulsion and force is their only alternative. An iron people must have iron laws. Those who surrender themselves to their vicious passions must be subjugated by force : for if that alone can ensure safety, the people will submit to be oppressed for the sake of being protected.

This is obvious from the success of the feodal system in strengthening the governments of a barbarous iron age, as it originated from the military policy of the Celtic nations, the Goths, Huns, etc. A distinguished English legal writer says : " Scarce had these northern conquerors established themselves in their new dominions, when the wisdom of their institutions as well as their personal valor alarmed all the princes of Europe, that is of those countries which had formerly been Roman provinces, but had revolted or were deserted by their old masters, in the general wreck of the empire. Wherefore most if not all of them thought it necessary to enter into the the same or a similar plan of policy. For, whereas, before the possessions of their subjects were perfectly allodial, (that is, wholly independent, and held of no superior at all,) now they parcelled out their royal territories, or persuaded their subjects to surrender up and retake their own landed property, under the like feodal obligations of military fealty, and thus in the compass of a. very few years the feodal constitution or the doctrine of tenure extended itself over all the western world." This perfect concentration of the strength of rthe people in the hands of a military ruler, was the only safety of that turbulent age*

But when a nation has virtue enough to sustain an elective government that is the true form, and a military despotism would be oppressive, for no people should be taxed to compel them to do right, when they are willing to do right without compulsion.

The permanency of the present form of government in the United States has frequently been questioned, but if the requisite amount of patriotism and public virtue shall be maintained its perpetuity will doubtless be secured, otherwise it will fall.

Hence it becomes the duty of all lovers of freedom to cluster around the tree of liberty, to ,exert their quota of influence to sustain law and order, that they in their turn may be protected, and that the blessings of our mild institutions .may descend to our posterity.

Chapter IV. Op Ecclesiastical Polity

Its Necessity and Nature.

The church of God is the most exalted society in the world. It originated in heaven, and heaven is the place of its everlasting destination. It is connected with the best interests of men in time, and the fadeless taurels of its votaries will cluster around the throne Of God on high. All other societies are natural, this is supernatural. Being unique in its structure, spiritual in its nature, and perpetual in duration ; though 'evanescent on earth, it will outlive all other societies, overleap all the battlements of time, and forever survive the universal wreck of worlds. All that is truly valuable in this life, and high and honorable in the life to come, is connected with it ; for it joins God, angels, and holy men together, and embraces all true believers of every " nation, and kindred and people, and tongue." Christ loves the church and gave himself for it, and with his sweat, and tears, and precious, blood, he continually mingles his intercessions around the throne of God, in its behalf. The apostle calls it a " glorious'" church, there is a glory in it, and a glory all around it, and no glory like it ; it is glorious in its Author, and glorious in its end, glorious in its prospects of perpetuity and enlargement in its militant state, and glorious in its final victories in its triumphant state. Every thing appertaining to it is important now and forever. Its good government is inseparably connected with its psace, purity, and honor; in it :all .tire world are interested, and to this point we would call the rea-> ders attention.

The necessity of some kind of church government is clearly obvious. Dr. Potter of England well observes, that ••no society can long exist without power to do all things which are necessary to its own preservation and well government ; and therefore it having appeared that the church is a societv instituted bv God. and designed to last till the world's end. there can be no doubt but that he has invested it with all the powers which the nature of such a society requires."

This necessity of ecclesiastical, government with plenary er lodged somewhere to recgive members; to hear and try complaints against delinquents, and to expel the incorrigible, is clearlv stated bv Mr* Watson. " The church of Christ being a visible and permanent society, bound to observe certain rites, and to obey certain rules, the existence of government in it is necessarily supposed.. All religious rites, suppose order, all order direction and control, and these a directive and controling power. Again : all laws are nuga--