or synodical; not as "the Church of Asia," but the churches, individual and separate.

Mosheim, the Church historian, says of the first century:

"In those primitive times each Christian Church was composed of the people, the presiding officers, and the assistants or deacons. These must be the component parts of every society. The principal voice was that of the people, or the whole body of Christians." "The assembled people therefore elected their own rulers and teachers." Of the second century, he adds: "One president or bishop presided over each Church. He was created by the common suffrages of the whole people." "During a great part of this century all the churches continued to be, as at first, independent of each other. Each Church was a kind of small independent republic, governing itself by its own laws, enacted or at least sanctioned by the people."—Eccl. Hist. Cent. I. part I. Ch. II. sees. j, 6; Cent. II. Ch. II. sees. 1, 2.

66

GlESELER, in his Church history, speaking of the changes which occurred in ecclesiastical order during the second century, says:

"Country churches, which had grown up around some city, seem, with their bishops, to have been usually, in a certain degree, under the authority of the mother Church. With this exception, all the churches were alike independent, though some were especially held in honor, on such ground as their Apostolic origin, or the importance of the city in which they were situated."—Ch. Hist. Period I. Div. I. Ch. 3 see. 32.

SCHAFF, in his history, says:

"Thus the Apostolic Church appears as a free, independent, and complete organization; a system of supernatural

In

divine life, in a human body. It contains in itself all the offices and energies required for its purpose. It produces the supply of its outward wants from its own free spirit. stead of receiving protection and support from the secular power, it suffers deadly hatred and persecution. It manages its own internal affairs with equal independence. Of union with the State, either in the way of hierarchical supremacy or of Erastian subordination, the first three centuries afford no trace."—Ch. Hist. Vol. I. sec. 45, p. 138. N. Y., 1871.

WADDINGTON, on this subject, says:

And

"It is also true that in the earliest government of the first Christian society, that of Jerusalem, not the elders only, but the whole Church, were associated with the apostles. it is even certain that the terms bishop and elder or presbyter, were in the first instance, and for a short period, sometimes used synonymously."—Hist, of the Ch., p. 41

Abp. WHATELY says of the primitive churches:

'Though there was one Lord, one Faith, and one Baptism for all of these, yet they were each a distinct independent community on earth, united by the common principles on which they were founded, by their mutual agreement, affection and respect."—Kingdom of Christ, pp. 101-156. N. Y. Ed.

Dr. Burton says:

"Every Church had its own spiritual head, or bishop, and Was independent of every other Church, with respect to its own internal regulations and laws."—Cited by Coleman, Primitive Christianity, p. 50.

Dr. Barrow says:

"At first every Church was settled apart under its bishops and presbyters, so as independently and separately to manage its own affairs. Each was governed by its own head,

and had its own laws."—Treatise on the Pope's Suprem, Works Vol. I. p. 662. Col. Prim. Christ.

Dr. Coleman says:

"These churches, wherever formed, became separate and independent bodies, competent to appoint their officers and administer their own government without reference or subordination to any central authority or foreign power. No fact connected with the history of the primitive churches is more fully established or more generally conceded."—Prim. Christ'y Exemp. Ch. 4, sec. 4, p. 95.

Dr. Francis Wayland says:

"The Baptists have ever believed in the entire and absolute independence of the churches. By this we mean that every Church of Christ—that is, every company of believers united together according to the laws of Christ—is wholly independent of every other. That every Church is capable of self-government; and that therefore no one acknowledges any higher authority under Christ, than itself; that with the Church all ecclesiastical action commences, and with it all terminates." "The more steadfastly we hold to the independency of the churches and abjure everything in the form of a denominational corporation, the more truly shall we be united, and the greater will be our prosperity."—Princes and Prac's of Bap. Chs., pp. 178, 190.

Dr. David Benedict, the Baptist historian, says:

"The doctrine of absolute Church independence has always been a favorite one with our people. Under it they have greatly flourished, and very few have complained of its operation."—Fifty Years among the Baptists, p. 399.

That the apostolical churches, therefore, were independent in their form of government, seems to

be clearly proven. Many prelatists, as well as others besides those here cited, concede this point. In this respect, therefore, and so far as their independency is concerned, Baptists are manifestly founded on the New Testament order of Church building and Church life; and, so far, are true successors of the Apostles. Nor does it avail to urge objections to this independency, or magnify the difficulties to which it is liable. It can be shown that other forms have inherent in them even greater liabilities to misuse; while this, if it were established by divine wisdom, must be the best fitted to its purpose, and is the one to be used and preserved.

CHAPTER VII.

CHURCH DISCIPLINE.

EVERY organization which proposes to work smoothly, and yet efficiently, must have certain rules and regulations to be followed; certain laws for the individual members to obey. Failing in this —either without laws or with laws disregarded—all effort will go wide of the mark, and all endeavors, instead of succeeding and furthering each other, will counteract and interrupt each other; confusion will ensue, the wisest designs be frustrated, and the bestlaid plans become abortive. This is true everywhere. In the State, in the family, every association whether for business, politics, scientific, literary or art research or improvement, all must be regulated by laws adopted for the common good, to which obedience is to be rendered by the members. And the object sought to be attained must fail unless there be conformity to the laws by which the organization is bound together, and obedience to which constitutes its vital force.

There is no society to which these remarks apply more appropriately and with more emphasis, than to that one divinely constituted organization, the

обо