and is withdrawn when that obedience ceases. It is also plain, that when a company of baptized believers assume these obligations in obedience to the plain will of Christ, and faithfully fulfill them, they become a church, authorized to perform all acts proper to a gospel church. No bishop, no council of ministers, nor delegation from other churches, nor sanction of the church universal, can impart to them the least degree of church power. The reasons why it may be, and usually is, in practice, both proper and a duty to call in the assistance and advice of neighboring churches and ministers when a new church is to be formed; for mutual counsel, sympathy, and united prayer, to ascertain the will of Christ in regard to the contemplated enterprise will hereafter be given; but they can impart no power to the new body, for they have none to spare; and what they possess is in its nature incommunicable by human agency. It must come from Christ alone.

It is also evident from the nature of the case, and from analogy, that a church could acquire and retain this power in no other way. It is absurd to suppose that the Lord Jesus Christ would continue to sanction the acts of a corrupt church, and bind in heaven what an apostate body had bound on earth; but it is reasonable to believe that he would sanction the doings of a pure and faithful body. And we have no reason to believe that He will interpose any but the ordinary means to prevent any church from falling into apostacy. An illustration may assist to make these views still more plain. It had long been customary for associated bodies to ask of the Legislature of Massachusetts certain powers to act in corporate capacity, so that their acts might be legal, and the collective body be responsible for them. The Legislature, when satisfied that the object was good, and the applicants trustworthy, granted powers and privileges of incorporation in each case as it occurred, by a special act or statute. But in 1833, general provisions respecting corporations were framed, by conforming to which, any association of individuals whose object was a proper

*

* See Revised Statutes, chap. 44.

one, could, on application, receive corporate powers "to make by-laws and regulations, consistent with the laws of the Commonwealth, and for the due and orderly conducting of their affairs."

So the Christian Lawgiver has enacted "general provisions," of which every associated body of his disciples may avail themselves "for the due and orderly conducting of their affairs" as a church, and when they do so, by complying with those provisions, they have full corporate powers from the Lord Jesus Christ to do any thing which is proper for any church on earth to do. They hold "the keys of the kingdom of heaven," having the power to admit and expel members according to the law of Christ, to choose and ordain officers, in short, to exercise the highest ecclesiastical functions. On this principle the First Church in Providence, R. I., founded by Roger Williams, Ezekiel Holiman, and others, possessed all the authority ever invested in any church by the Divine Head, whether in England or in Rome, in Antioch or in Jerusalem. After the lapse of two hundred years, its soundness in the faith, its purity, spiritual vigor, thorough, scriptural discipline, and uninterrupted prosperity, furnish a strong proof of the validity of its powers, and the approval of the Saviour. While it continues faithful to the covenant under which its corporate powers were obtained from its Divine Head, it will stand unshaken, when ecclesiastical hierarchies, and national religious establishments, with all their political power, their wealth, and titles, and orders of ministry, shall exist only among the records of history.

SECT. 3. The Rights of a Church.

All the rights which a church possesses in its collective capacity being derived from its conformity to the revealed will of Christ, may be considered in respect to its own members; to other churches; to men of the world; as individuals; and to civil governments.

Over its own members a church has the right to exercise a

very extensive and thorough, spiritual supervision. Its purity, its influence, its reputation, its efficiency, and its existence, all depend on the conduct, public and private, of its members. It has, therefore, the right to investigate and judge of their belief and conduct, so far as these affect their religious or moral characters and standing. It has the right to require of all its members a punctual performance of all the duties prescribed in the church covenant and in the Word of God, and to call them to account for neglect or violation.

Every church has the right to adopt articles of faith and covenant according to its own conscientious, prayerful interpretation of the Word of God. No other church, or collection of churches has any right to prescribe articles of faith or rules of conduct for its observance. Nor is any church obliged to hold other churches, or the members of other churches, or of any thing called a church, whether of the same denomination or not, in fellowship, unless it can conscientiously do so; nor is it bound to be associated nor to cooperate with them, unless in its judgment the law of Christ requires it. Membership in one church does not of itself give the right of membership in any other church; because each church has the right to judge of the qualifications of all applicants for its privileges, whatever credentials of standing in any other church they may possess. A letter of standing and recommendation is to be received as evidence, but never as a sole and sufficient title to admission. Churches have the right to associate for mutual assistance, and for the advantages of union in efforts to evangelize the world. But a body composed of pastors and delegates from churches, possesses no power to legislate for the churches which its members represent; nor, indeed, any church power whatever. If invited to give an opinion on any question of church order or discipline, or to assist in settling difficulties in any church, their power is advisory, merely; their decisions can be binding on no church any further than that church believes them to be in accordance with the scriptures.

It is usually the case that a number of unconverted men and their families meet with the church for public worship, assist in defraying the necessary expenses, and they are often proprietors in the house of worship. In the choice of a pastor the wishes of the members of the congregation should be considered; but the right of ultimate choice rests with the church. This right is sacred. No society or congregation, however wealthy, intelligent, or respectable, may justly infringe upon it. Men, not members of the church, who contribute for the support of worship, should do so with the understanding that they are to hear such a preacher as the church may select.

Of civil government, a church claims nothing but the impartial protection of the laws, and such legal facilities for holding and managing its property as are common to other associated bodies. To these it has an undoubted right. Its members neither gain nor lose any civil rights or privileges by being members of the church. With the organization, doctrines, and discipline of churches, civil government has no right to interfere; nor has the church any right to ask its interference or support, nor to be in any manner allied to it.

That the primitive churches maintained public worship on the Lord's day, is too obvious to require proof. That they were taught not to forsake the assembling of themselves together at other convenient times, for prayer, singing the praises of God, and for mutual exhortation, is also plain. They considered it to be the sacred duty of every church to meet for the worship of God, whether a minister was present or not. Worship was regarded as the primary and 1 paramount object in their assemblies.

Yet every church ought to make all proper efforts to obtain a pastor possessing the scriptural qualifications, and to provide for him an ample support, that he may devote himself wholly to his work. "Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good

things." "Even so hath the Lord ordained that they who preach the gospel should live of the gospel." The duty of churches to provide for the support of a faithful, efficient, and godly ministry, is very clearly taught in the scriptures. To provide a suitable place for public worship, to make arrangements for the convenient administration of the ordinance of baptism, and the frequent celebration of the Lord's supper, to maintain a faithful, affectionate watch and discipline; to guard carefully against the admission of unrenewed persons to its membership; to use all vigilance to keep itself pure; to furnish pecuniary aid, if necessary, to its poor members; to provide for the religious education of the children, particularly those of its own members; to watch for all favorable opportunities to bring the unconverted under the influence of the gospel, and to produce a wide spread attention to the subject of religion, by multiplying meetings, and by all scriptural efforts as the providence of God may seem to direct; - all these are to be the constant and cherished objects of every church, in its associate capacity. It is the duty of every church to present constant encouragements to such young men as the Saviour may be designing to employ in the ministry, to prepare themselves for the work, by seeking the advantages of a good education. It is the duty of every church to maintain fraternal relations with other churches; to pray and labor for their union, peace, and prosperity; to unite with them in associations for mutual benefit and coöperation in spreading religion in the world; to be tender of each other's feelings; to assist each other, when invited to do so, by counsel and influence, and, if necessary, by pecuniary aid.

In short, while each church ought firmly to insist on its rights as a complete and distinct body, as respects its visible organization, perfectly independent of all earthly control, accountable only to Christ, the sole Head and Lawgiver of his people, it should yet regard itself the servant of all men, a "debtor both to the Greeks and to the Barbarians, to the wise and to the unwise," even as Christ, who was free from all, made himself the servant of all. The servant is not