USA > Connecticut > Contributions to the ecclesiastical history of Connecticut > Part 10
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With similar process and result, often the New Englander placed amid the tumult and scramble of Western life, and cha- sing through all the charm of the glittering dollar- all princi- ple ignored and forgotten in the fascinated gaze-seems at last divested of his own personality, and subdued to the accep- tance of. all opinions and characters the popular voice may command. He now is ready to ride each popular wave. He
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becomes the most fierce in championship of servile usage, or opinion, and the most bitter in denunciation of his former sen- timents. He caters to vulgar prejudice in slang abuse of the land of his birth. From the demagogue of Kansas frauds and atrocities to the hardest of overseers, he is the prince of social charlatans and mountebanks; emulating the individuality of the chameleon or the sponge-a mere absorbent or reflector.
Such is the "Yankee " fully "faded." His case may be regarded as an extreme one. But a feeling which initiates the New Englander into Western life with a renunciation of the ecclesiastical institutions of his fathers, transferring itself to his modes of thinking and acting in other interests, tends legit- imately toward such results. Self-respect which shall protect his individuality and innerve his moral manhood, demands he should not-unlike every other race and sect-be required on passing certain lines of longitude to abandon his principles of church-order.
I will add, in conclusion : One of the happiest means of arousing a beneficent self-consciousness in our system, and of protecting against tendencies to degeneracy, is oftimes to do what you are doing here this day, viz., revitalizing with solemn celebration, with graphic and philosophic narrative, and with grateful and genial reminiscences, the old metropolitan heart. For such a heart, fathers and brethren, we of the West still re- cognize as beating from your climes along the sea. Let it ever beat strong and healthful. Infuse into it the life of elder times-the life of a love of Truth and Liberty that shall grow only the more intense as well as more holy, in the love of Christ and the Brotherhood. We shall feel its pulses, thus in- vigorated, beating beyond the Alleghanies and the Mississippi, up the streams of the Missouri, and through the passes of the mountains to the Pacific seas. .
And now, brethren, though in my argument I have challen- ged for the principles which we in common hold, that practical respect due to their truth and value, which all true men ever owe to their own convictions, I believe I am as far removed as any man, in both feeling and practice, from invoking in their behalf sectarian passion and strife. Our principles are alien to such agencies ; nor can our system be served of such. I sim-
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ply urge that we should act truthfully from our own posi- tion ; should fulfill the mission and occupy the sphere assigned us by the principles we hold, and by the Providence of God. To that mission and sphere, as our allotment in Christ's work, let us be faithful ; holding fast faith, hope, and charity ; and working patiently on, whether with the multitude favoring, or under overshadowing adverse majorities, as the Master may ap- point. And when another century, rolling this occasion and its actors far into the past, shall bring up a recurrence of this day, let our fidelity to God's work assigned us in our time, pre- sent for us a record worthy to rank beside our fathers, of whom we have heard from a legitimate son this day-a record fitting us to share with them, and the faithful of every name or school on earth, in that song of victory which from a redeemed world shall at last climb the hights around the Throne.
CONGREGATIONALISM AS IN HARMONY WITH THE SCRIPTURAL IDEA OF CHRISTIAN UNION.
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BY REV. PROF. E. P. BARROWS, ANDOVER, MASS.
MR. MODERATOR :
If the Congregational polity is in harmony with the scriptu- ral idea of Christian union, then it is the right polity, and will work well, and be successful in accomplishing the ends for which the Christian Church was established ; if not, it is a wrong polity, and will not work well. I propose to show how this system is permeated throughout with the true spirit of Christian union, as it is delineated in the New Testament.
If we go back to the old Jewish theocracy, there we find a re- ligious state ; not a mongrel union of church and state, as two distinct organizations, after the modern European fashion ; but simply a state invested by God's appointment with all the functions of religion ; and as such, entrusted by God with the sword which every state must bear, and punishing with the sword idolatry and witchcraft, as it did murder and adultery. But our Lord Jesus took out of the state the church elements which had hitherto lain embosomed in it, and constituted them into a separate organization, which is the Christian church. In doing this he left behind the sword, and all outward force of which the sword is the representative. He did not give the state one sword and the church another, that the two might be used against each other ; he did not take the sword from the state and commit it to the church, that she might have dominion over the state ; he did not make the state the menial of the church (after the Romish notion) to use the sword at her di- rection and for her aggrandizement ; nor did he make the church the menial of the state, to be used in subservience to her secu- lar ends. But he simply constituted churches independent of the state in all their proper functions as churches, while yet the individual members remain in all civil matters subject to the state. And these churches he left without any sword.
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For the principle of outward force he substituted that of inward affinity of character. His plan was, by the glorious gospel which he revealed, and the glorious power of the Spirit accompanying it, to transform men into a likeness to himself, and thus into a likeness to each other. He first draws men, one by one, into union with himself, and in this way into an inward union with each other. To all his followers he is the great central point of unity. By making them one with himself and the Father he makes them one with each other.
Upon this simple principle the Apostles proceeded in organ- izing churches. They went every where preaching the gospel, having full faith in its divine power to accomplish the end for which it was given. And wherever a body of men and wo- men had been brought by it into inward union with Christ and each other, they formed them into a church under the few and simple rules and ordinances which Christ had given, and thus gave them also a visible and outward unity. Thus arose the church in Jerusalem, the church in Antioch, the church in Ephesus, the church in Rome. From the necessity of the case, as well as from Christ's authority, these churches had the officers necessary for the administration of their proper func- tions as churches, as also the power of admission to their fel- lowship and exclusion from it. This is the length, breadth, and thickness of the New Testament doctrine of church poli- ty. A common faith united these churches in a holy fellow- ship with each other. They recognized each other as co-ordi- nate branches of Christ's body; as such they honored each other, they took counsel with each other, they helped each other in difficulties. But we do not find in the New Testa- ment any trace of a plan on the part of our Saviour and his Apostles to gather these churches or sections of them, outward- ly and organically, into one compact body ; thus subjecting each individual church to the proper authority and judicial power of the whole, and making it no longer a church of Christ in the full sense of the words, but only a part and parcel of the Church.
Now let us look for a moment at the Congregational polity. Here, to guard against misapprehension, I premise that in what I have to say about ecclesiastical organizations, I have no refer-
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ence to any minor differences that exist among Congregation- alists. Coming, as I do, from another commonwealth, this would not be becoming in me on the present occasion. My re- marks will apply only to those organizations that have proper judicial power and binding authority over the separate churches, as just now explained. I would simply say then, sir, that we are content to take up the system of church polity as Christ and his Apostles left it. If any think that this is not adequate to the proper office of Christian churches, and that they must, therefore, go on to compact the individual churches into ex- tended organizations, we have no quarrel with them. In this matter liberty of judgment belongs to them, as well as to us. We only say that for their warrant they must go to the same volume to which Rome goes-the volume of human tradition and human wisdom. We are satisfied with the system as Christ and his Apostles left it.
It may be objected that it is not strong enough. For what ends is it not strong enough ? If the office of Christ's churches be to control, in a direct way, the counsels of kings and cabi- nets, and pull the wires of party organizations, doubtless the Congregational polity is not strong enough for this end. If their business be to legislate Christ's body into uniformity in outward details-to prescribe, for example, what dress the preacher shall wear in the pulpit, and whether the congrega- tions shall use written or unwritten prayers-doubtless for this purpose also it is not strong enough. But if, as we believe, the great office of Christ's churches is to make men like Christ ; to build up their members in piety and fruitfulness, and to spread every where the knowledge of the gospel, we think that for this high and glorious end, our polity is strong enough. Its freedom and elasticity give us full scope for every Chris- tian enterprise. Take, for example, that of missions, foreign and domestic. Under the simple system of Congregationalism we have been able to work up to advantage every particle of the missionary spirit that existed in our churches. Here we have been, it is true, far, very far from doing what we ought to have done. Shame and confusion of face belong to us. But the fault has lain not in our organization, but in the fact that we have had so little of the spirit of Christ. Had there been
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in our churches a hundred fold more of this spirit, and conse- quently a hundred fold more of missionary zeal, and a hun- dred fold more of men and of money at our disposal, we should not have been straitened one jot in our ecclesiastical system. We could have worked up all these increased means to advan- tage. And we are willing, sir, that our churches should look directly in the face the great truth that the missionary spirit can never be maintained separately from the solid every day piety of the churches; and, further, that this piety is to be fed and nourished not by great and strong ecclesiastical systems, but by the spiritual instrumentalities that Christ has appointed.
For the maintenance of sound doctrine, also, we think that our polity has sufficient strength. . If a minister of the gospel departs from the faith, we can withdraw from him our appro- bation for the exercise of the functions of the ministry (in techni- cal language, we can depose or silence him,) and this is pre- cisely the kind and degree of power that Christ has entrusted to us. If he still goes on to preach, he does it on his own foundation, and the Master releases us from all further respon- sibility in the matter. Once more, if a church, or a portion of its members, departs from the faith, we can labor with it ; can give it our counsel and judgment ; can provide for the relief of a minority in it that adheres to the truth as it is in Jesus ; and, as a last step, can withdraw our fellowship from it. This, again, is precisely that moral power which our Master has given to us. Any further power he does not wish us to exercise. If the church refuses to listen, and persists in its errors, Christ will attend to that in his own way. It is true that in our order one lamentable apostacy from the faith has taken place. But to ascribe this to the proper operation of our polity would be a palpable non sequitur. We have heard this morning abundantly of other causes that operated to bring about that defection. If we unroll the scroll of history, we find that it is precisely that church which has the strongest organization that is the most corrupt ; and, further, that it is this very strength of hierarchical power that makes it irreclaimable in its corruptions. If it be said that a strong organization with a sound creed is the bulwark of orthodoxy, then we point to the church of England in the days when Whitfield and the Wes-
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leys arose; which, with both these defenses, had sunk into a deplorable state of worldliness and corruption in both doctrines and morals ; and was rescued, so far as it was rescued, not by these, but by God's ancient method of raising up an evangeli- cal ministry, and pouring out his spirit upon the churches. We point also to the Reformed and Lutheran churches of Europe, which, with the same two defenses, have lamentably departed from the truth as it is in Jesus, and are now in the process of regeneration by the same spiritual instrumentalities. Sir, I am not going to say a word in disparagement of creeds. I reverence them, and hold firmly to their necessity. But let us not ascribe to either creeds or ecclesiastical organizations a power which Christ has not given them. Vain is the idea that one generation, by any outward system however elaborate, can do up the work of orthodoxy for all coming ages. No sir. Each generation must fight the battle against error for itself, with the scriptural weapons which God has put into its hands. We consider it an excellency of our system that it does not in any way conceal or cover up the fact that, under God, the hope of sound doctrine is in holy and zealous churches under the instruction of holy and zealous teachers, rather than in any elaborate ecclesiastical machinery.
In the matter of bearing testimony against great national sins, we think that the freeness and elasticity of our system gives us some pre-eminent advantages. Take, for example, the system of American slavery, which overhangs our nation like a dark and portentous cloud big with awful thunders. Nobly, sir, have our churches borne their testimony against this great evil. And it has been with less friction and colli- sion than can be the case under strong and extended ecclesias- tical organizations. In truth, we find that just in proportion as an ecclesiastical body spreads itself out over wide regions, as one compact, organic whole, the difficulties thicken in the way of its finding resolutions on the subject of slavery that suit all sides. Every resolution that can be framed then be- comes subject to the evil which a venerable clergyman of my state, somewhat distinguished for his wit, has ascribed to defi- nitions in metaphysics. He compares a definition in meta- physics to the cover of a tin pail that is a little grain too small.
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You carefully adjust it on one side, and up it hops on the other. Then you go to work too on that side, but just as you have fixed it to your mind up hops the first side. In the same manner one may see a denomination under one of these com- pact and extended organizations working at its resolutions on slavery-resolutions, counter-resolutions and amendments, with- out either end or satisfying result-till at last God, who loves his churches and desires their peace, sends them deliverance by a secession, a process which needs only to be repeated a sufficient number of times to produce something resembling our Congregational way of disposing of the matter, namely, that of leaving each body to satisfy itself.
That strong ecclesiastical organizations have their advan- tages it is not necessary for us to deny. But we think that these advantages may be purchased at too dear a price. To us it seems that nothing is more conspicuous on the page of his- tory than the tendency of such organizations to excess of legislation. When a body of good men thus constituted has become thoroughly penetrated with the high idea that God has committed to it the care of the orthodoxy and the order of all the churches, it feels conscience-bound to be always supervis- ing them. It has taken upon itself a responsibility which the great Head of the church never committed to it, and the almost certain result will be excessive legislation. A hundred things of minor importance will be brought under the tram- mels of fixed law, that might be much better left to the good sense of the individual churches ; and thus the cause of spir- itual Christianity will be burdened instead of aided.
Mr. Moderator : allow me to say, in conclusion, that I have the honor to be a native of this State, and the high honor to have been ordained to the work of the ministry by one of its as- sociations-the Hartford North. I see before me the reverend and honored father in the Lord, who preached my ordi- nation sermon on that occasion-" clarum et venerabile nomen."* I remained within the limits of the State three years. Then I was two years connected with a purely Presby- terian body. After that I was fifteen years in a Presbytery of
* Rev. Joel Hawes, D. D.
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Ohio, formed upon the plan of Union. Far be it from me, sir, to lisp one word to the disparagement of the beloved and hon- ored men in another denomination with whom I have been in former years so pleasantly associated. Many of them it is my privilege to reckon among my dearest friends in the min- istry. They have always treated me with Christian kindness. I simply feel it my privilege to say, on the present occasion, that as years roll on, I am becoming, as the result of observa- tion (and I may add experience also) more strongly attached to the Congregational polity. Of that polity in your State I say : Esto perpetua ! May it live and flourish to the end of time, and bring forth, as hitherto, the fruits of righteousness in this ancient commonwealth !
THE PILGRIM FATHERS.
BY REV. JOHN WADDINGTON, LONDON, ENGLAND.
Rev. John Waddington, of the Southwark Church, London, England, then addressed the Association ; but unfortunately only the most meagre outline of his speech has been preserved. He began by congratulating the Association on the harmonious and fraternal spirit which had reigned over their meetings. He then took a review of the Pilgrim principles which, he said, it greatly pleased him to see fostered by this Association. He hoped that all the papers that had been read would be pub- lished. Mr Waddington concluded with the prayer that the two nations-America and England, in holy fellowship, might yet together work a great work, the glory of which would be heard in all lands.
PURITAN PIONEERING IN NEW ENGLAND, COMPAR- ED WITH PURITAN PIONEERING AT THE WEST.
BY REV. A. L. CHAPIN, D. D., PRESIDENT OF BELOIT COLLEGE, WIS.
MR. MODERATOR :
I seem, to-day, to be living in two eras. The historic me- morials which this occasion has gathered and spread before us, set me down in the past. Sixteen years of life and labor in the West have induced the habit of living much in the future. The vividness with which past scenes have been here present- ed as fact, gives intense glow to the bright visions sketched by fancy of things to come. You have all, no doubt, seen that beautiful print, just published, entitled " The Past and the Fu- ture." The rapid alternations of thought and emotion here seem to realize with me, at once, all that is expressed in the two significant faces of the picture-the earnest reflection of a soul chastened by experience, and the eager, expectant outlook of one full of youthful hope and aspiration.
The speaker who preceded me, led us back to the fountain of Pilgrim principles and movements in that little, persecuted, Puritan church of London. The field of my labors pre- sents a full, clear view of the breadth and depth which the life-giving stream of blessed influences that proceeded from that fountain, has attained, in its onward flow. Like the river of classic fable, those principles crossed the ocean and burst forth, unmixed and pure, at Plymouth Rock. Thence, they have traversed the continent. The great central valley of the Mississippi has been enriched by their presence, and precious are the fruits already developed there. Over the Rocky Moun- tains they have found a passage ; and into the heterogeneous composition of society on the Pacific coast, these Puritan prin- ciples are infusing themselves as saving elements. We find them incorporated into the civil as well as the religious insti- tutions of the land. And, viewed simply as principles of religious faith and ecclesiastical polity, their presence and influence may
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be traced, not only in the churches of pure Congregationalism, but also, through the whole structure and action of other kin- dred evangelical denominations. Wherever we find them, simple, or in combination, they appear full of life and power, the active elements of true progress for the spiritual growth of individual souls and the Christian civilization of human society. It is in their very nature to live and flourish. Drawn directly from the divine word, they are already identified with the ad- vancement of Christ's kingdom ; and all the precious promises of the ultimate triumph of that kingdom are to us sure pledges of what shall yet, by the blessing of God, be accomplished through the spread and ascendancy of these principles. It is good to stand thus, on this mount of vision and look both ways-back to the apparently feeble beginnings, out upon the wide-spread results already realized, and on to the greater and better things to be hereafter developed. We see much to be thankful for-much to confirm our faith in God and his word -much to kindle higher aspirations and to prompt firmer pur- poses and nobler undertakings and more fervent prayers.
The historical discourse, to which it was our privilege to listen this morning, brought before us in graphic sketch that scene. of one hundred and fifty years ago, which gives chief interest to this occasion. Let me now, for the few minutes allotted me, bring to your notice some points of contrast and re- semblance suggested by a comparison of the actors and the acts of that date, with things pertaining to the more recent but similar work of organizing Christian institutions in the West.
Look again upon that little synod at Saybrook, in the olden time. Sixteen men of God, mostly advanced in years and of great dignity, are gathered in conclave. Two, of ripest age and wisdom preside over the council as moderators, while the two youngest are set as scribes to record the doings. Their personal appearance and all their proceedings are characterized by the calm deliberation and stately courtesy which marked that former age. With earnest look and solemn speech they take up the matter before them. They see not all the future growth which is to come of their planting, but their expecta- tions are large enough to convince them that the business they are undertaking is of serious moment, as it concerns the vital
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interests of the Redeemer's kingdom and the welfare of com- ing generations. So they deal with it and lay foundations fit to bear up, for centuries, this edifice of organized Christian union, most simple in its structure, yet full of enduring beauty and strength.
Now look on another scene. Its date about a dozen years ago, and its place in the mining region of Wisconsin. There, in one of the ravines which break the country and make it as wild and rough as this hilly Connecticut, is assembled a band of nearly forty Christian men, charged as they believe with the duty of setting up and maintaining in that new state, the insti- tutions of the gospel on the Pilgrim plan. They are mostly young men, with scarcely a gray head to give dignity or so- briety to their council. Where two men of gravest learning would hardly be able to moderate the impetuous zeal of young life on that broad arena, there is set as the single official mode- rator, one, not yet turned of thirty, who has had less than five years of service in the ministry, to give him wisdom by expe- rience. But these are not "faded Yankees." In the New England homes of their nativity, (some in that old first church of Hartford,) they were baptized into the spirit of those vene- rable Saybrook fathers, and educated in their principles of Christian faith and polity, too thoroughly to lose them by mere change of place. The precious fruits of those principles, which passing years have developed so richly, inspire them with full confidence in their soundness, and efficiency. The swift progress of our country, since its independence, prompts sanguine, almost unlimited hope for the future contemplated in their work. So, with no less of devotion to the master's ser- vice, and solemn, prayerful regard for the consequences of their action, but with a quicker pulse, and bolder faith and a freer swing than the Connecticut fathers, they move in a style which would have seemed in the former age, frightful presumption and recklessness. Yet shall their foundations also stand ; for in the true spirit of the fathers, they are laying down the solid granite blocks, the same euduring principles of gospel truth and order.
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