A study in the unification of certain Protestant church denominations in the light of their historical beginnings

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Content A- STUDY
IN THE UIÎIPICATION
OP CERTAIN PROTESTANT CHURCH DENOMINATIONS
IN THE LIGHT OP THEIR HISTORICAL BEGINNINGS
A Thesis
Presented to the School of Religion
University of Southern California
In Partial Pulfiliment
of the
Requirements for the
Degree of Master of Theology
By
Claude "#ieeler Young
May 28, 1929
UMI Number: EP65G02
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Dissertaion P W b lis M n g
UMI EP65002
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CONTENTS
Chapter Pag©
Foreword
I, General Situation of the Church and the Developing
Attitudes of Reform Preceding the Reformation.... 1^5
Retrospection.........................
Description of the Church Prior to Reformation
Contributive Elements Leading to Reform....
II. Pioneers of Protestantism.
Martin Luther. .......................
Ulrich Zwingli.............................
John Calvin............................
111. Presbyterian Church..............................13-25
Lack of Government in Reform Church.......
Genius of John Calvin...................
Genesis of P r e s b y t e r i a n i s m . .
Polity of Presbyterianism...............
Doctrine of Presbyterianism...............
Peculiarities of Presbyterianism..........
IV. Congregational Churches....... ......... .26*36
Distinguishing Features................
Historical Setting ...............
Chapter Page
Influential Leaders.................
Organization............ .. . ...
Teaching........ «........... .
Worship. .......
V. Baptist Church......... 37*48
Anabaptists.................. .
Forerunners ....................
Baptismal Controversies..............
Genesis of Baptist Church..........
Influential Leaders ...... ......
Doctrines .. .. .............. .
Polity. ............. .
Organization of Baptist Church South..
VI. Methodist Church .... 49*66
Condition of Church and State......
Revival of Eighteenth Century. ......
The **Holy Club of Oxford^..........
Origin of Term ‘ 'Methodist**......
Leaders of Methodism: John Wesley-
Charles Wesley - George Whitfield.....
Organization of the Societies.........
Polity of the Methodist Church .....
Doctrinal Standards......... .
Organization of Methodist Church South
VII. Christian Church.............................
Synonymous Appellations: Disciples of
Christ- Church of Christ - Campbellites.
Chapter Page
The Guiding Star--Thomas Campbell...#.
The Proposed Liberalism
The Plea for Denominational Unity.....
The Synodical Controversies..........
The Leadership of Alexander Campbell..
Church Polity..........................
Doctrinal Teachings..............
Vlll. Conclusion ................... 76-61
General Deductions .......
Specific Deductions..............
Bibliography............................... 82-86
FOREWORD
HISTORY and observation reveal that Roman Catholicism
had accentuated unity and sacrificed liberty, resulting in
religious despotism. Protestantism accentuated liberty and
sacrificed unity, resulting in division, or religious con
fusion. How can these two principles, both of which seem
to be taught in the Scriptures, and to be vital to religion,
be harmonized and preserved in the church? That is the
question the church is endeavoring to settle in its pro
gression towards a scientific procedure of unification.
The cognizance of the writer concerning the growing
attitude of certain Protestant churches toward a union of
forces, prompted an endeavor to anticipate what might appear
to be the fundamental problem which they must first encounter.
The thought of church unification very logically presupposes
a time of disunion. Then, the question naturally arises ;
What were the reasons for disunion and what were the causes
for the inception of a new or different denominational branch
of the church?
The present thesis is therefore an attempt to answer
this question by a study of the historical beginnings of
certain Protestant Church denominations and to present the
major elements which cause controversial differences.
CHAPTER I
THE GENERAL SITUATION OF THE CHURCH AND THE DEVELOPING
ATTITUDES OF REFORM PRECEDING THE REFORMATION
In considering the unification of Protestant Churches
in the light of their historical beginnings, a retrospection
of the birth of Protestantism is essential. This momentous
epoch of" History characterizes the revolution known as the
Reformation. Like other great movements, the Reformation
was not instantaneous in its development, but was the cul
mination of a movement which developed gradually through the
awakening and enlistment of human minds to the religious
and intellectual conditions prevailing*
The Roman Church had developed to such power that it
was able to claim, without being questioned, complete polit
ical and ecclesiastical authority. This authority had
dispelled all ideas of liberty among the laity, until they
were subservient to the rules and dictates of the Church*
The Church of Rome, being the seat of power, was free to
make laws and institutions that might conform to its person
al desires. And by the abuse of this privilege, it had
become guilty of many practices which brought the Church to
a low ebb of respectability.
Morally, the standards of the Church had been greatly
weakened. Clerical marriage was not allowed, but concubinage
was practiced, and bishops vi^re impowered to license the
practice upon payment of a fee. The investigation of
historians show that a general **moral laxity ran through
out the length and breadth of the church from the Vatican
1
to the parish priests.” Extreme poverty abounded among
the peasants class of the monastic orders.
Financially, the Church had thrown away many of its
ethical standards, and therefore had begun the practices of
litigation, annates, pluralities, simony, and indulgences
as recognized modes for raising money for the papal purse.
Judicially, the Church had surrounded herself with
rights, powers, and privileges over and above those held by
the secular authorities. Thus, in cases of priestly summons,
the case was carried to Rome and submerged in litigations of
the Church.
Politically, the Church extended its territorial
claims and defended its rights and privileges beyond the
extent of its own territorial borders, which later brought
on conflicts with the governments of every nation.
Religiously, the Church had corrupted worship by the
multiplication of saints and their alleged capacity to work
miracles. As one of the writers has said, “There was s
patron saint for every occupation and a guardian saint for
nearly every ill. This one protected the sailor^ and that
2
one cured the gout.” Pilgrimages often resolved them
selves into pillaging expeditions, and indulgences trans-
1
Keller & Stewart, Protestant Europe, Its Crisis And Outlook, 29
Ibid., 30*
formed religious devotion into a matter of debit and credit.
The Church refused the laity the right and privilege of having
the Bible in their vernacular, and thus kept them in total
darkness as to the teachings of the Word concerning the true
type of worship. The Church had reduced primitive Christian
ity to the mediaeval type of religion which expresses itself
in the masses, pilgrimages, fastings, flagellations, prayers
to saints, homage to their relics and images, and similar
features so prominant in mediaeval piety, until “Christian
ity was converted into an external ordinance, into a round
of observances.”
In this prevailing situation, voices began to be raised
which indicated a widespread dissatisfaction with the prac
tices and dominion of the Church. These reactions, which
began to manifest themselves anterior to the Reformation^
were primarily for the reforming of the morals and the dis
tribution of priestly authority, but all played a part in
the development of the attitude toward freedom and liberty
of worship.
Among the more radical reformers who, in very essen
tial points, anticipated the Protestant movement and lent
their influence toward it, was John Wyclif, of Oxford.
The following quotation from Fisher’s History of the
Reformation will reveal the comparative beliefs to the
Protestant movement:
He, Wyclif, affirms that no writing, not even a papal decree,
has any validity further than it is founded on the Holy
1
Fisher, George P., History of the Reformation, 53.
Scriptures; he denies t ran sub stantiation, and attributes
the origin of this dogma to the substitution of a belief
in papal declarations for belief In the Bible ; he asserts
that in the primitive Church there were but two sorts of
clergy; doubts the Scriptures warrant for the rites of
confirmation and extreme unction; woiId have all inter
ferences with civil affairs and temporal authority inter
dicted to the clergy; speaks against the necessity of
auricular confession; avers that the exercise of the
power to bind and loose is of no effect, save w#en it is
conformed to the judgment of Christ; is opposed to the
multiplied ranks of the clergy, popes, cardüials, patri
archs, monks, canons, and the rest; repudiates the doc
trine of indulgences and supererogatory merits, the doc
trine of the excellence of poverty, as that was held and
as it lay at the foundation of the mendicant orders; and
he sets himself against artificial church music, pictures
in worship, consecration with the use of oil and salt,
canonization, pilgrimages, church asylums for criminals,
celibacy of the clergy. 1
Another forerunner of the Reformation was found in-
John Huss, of Bohemia* Fired by the works of Wyclif, and
by his oi?/n personal disagreement with the clergy, he im
planted in the minds of the Bohemians a seed of dissension
that grew into a revolution and repeated crusades*
Savonarola, a Dominican of Florence, directed his
invectives against the tyranny and immoralities of the
current system and also suffered martyrdom for his policies
of reform within the Church.
The development of Mysticism was a powerful force in
paving the way for the Protestant Reformation in that the
effects of the Mystics was twofold:
They weakened the influence of the scholastic system and
called men away from a dogmatic religion to something more
inward and spiritual; and their labors, likewise, tended to
break up the excessive esteem of outward sacraments and
1
Fisher, George. P., History of the Reformation, 59-60
ceremtoies. Standing within the Church and making no
quarrel with it, they were thus preparing the ground, es
pecially in Germany, through the whole of the fourteenth
century, for the Protestant reform. 1
An event of signal importance, as an indispensable
prerequisite and means of a reformation in religion, was
the revival of learning. It marked the advent of a new
age of culture, when the Church was no longer to be the
sole instructor, and when the laity caught the passion for
the study of classics of Roman and Grecian literature, and
an extensive study of the Scriptures.
Thus, the age in v/hich Luther was to speak, was one
seething with unrest, vexed with multitudinous unsolved
problems' and unfilled longings, and seemed only waiting
for a determined Reader to champion their grievances in
bold expression.
1
Ibid., 67.
It was then he was ready for his mission. He brought a bill
of charges against the Church, which was embodied in his
Ninety-Five Theses, While they were directed principally
against the sale of indulgences, they also included the en
tire burden of Luther’s soul. On October 31st, 1517, the
theses were hailed to the door of the Schlosskirche of
Wittenberg, and the storm with Rome commenced in great fury.
He was ordered to recant, but refused to do so. He had a
greater determination to continue his work, but when he
attacked Rome in an ^Address to the Nobles of the German
People”, in which he advocated the suppression of nunneries,
abolition of the interdict and ban, independence of the
temporal power, and the denial of transubstantiation and
other false teachings cf Rome, he was excommunicated by
Rome from the Church*
Luther was compelled to suffer the penalty of every
great reformer and had to shield his work from the error of
friends. People looked to him for guidance, and thus he
have himself to literary labors, of which his translation of
the Bible into German was of great value, Ihen Luther saw
that there was a need for uniting and building up the people
under his leadership, he devised plans for an ecclesiastical
organization. Thus the first Protestant order of doctrihe
and service was established. In 1530, at the Diet of Augsburg,
the Augsburg Confession was adopted for the Protestants of
Germany, and thds Lutheranism acquired full and legal es-
8
tablis3nnent • Germany, also, was divided, and the unity of
the Church was sundered. The seed of denominationalism was
planted.
ULRICH ZWIIÎGLI
Contemporary with Luther,, in the great work of the
Reformation, was Ulrich Zwingli, who possessed equal ability
and courage. Zwingli was the recognized chief of the rear»
formers of German-speaking Switzerland and worked entirely
independent of Martin Luther in Germany.
Zwingli became a parish priest, and because of his
learning and patriotic resistance to the employment of Swiss
as mercenaries, soon rose to prominence. He asserted with
Luther that only the Bible was binding on Christians. Zwingli
insisted that the ultimate authority was the Christian com
munity, an authority which should be exercised by the duly
constituted civil government acting in accordance with the
teachings of the Bible. Only such practices as the Bible
commands, or for which Bible authorization can be properly
inferred, are allowable or obligatory. This secular idea
was even more radical than Luther held, but it pleased the
civil authorities, and he was rendered much assistance by
the cantonal civil government for his protection.
Zwingli began a process of governmental and popular
education, and in January, 1523, he persuaded the cantonal
government to order a public discussion in order that he
might defend his ideas concerning Bible truths. For this
debate, he prepared sixty-seven brief articles which were
hurled against the Church. Among them were his refutations
of the authority of the Church in “affirming that the Gospel
derives no authority from the Church, that salvation is by
faith, and denying the sacrifical character of the mass, the
Salvator y character of good works, the value of saintly in
tercessors, the binding character of monastic vows, or the
1
existence of purgatory.” He also declared very forcibly
that Christ was the sole head of the Church, and advocated
clerical marriage for the moral influence of the church.
Zwingle was declared as victor in these open debates, and
therefore changes spread rep idly among both the clergy and
laity.
Zwingli and Luther were in many repsects in substantial
agreement, and yet there were marked characteristics, both
in personal experiences and in their attitude toward reform.
Luther was not a political reformer, however much he sympa
thized with his people and resented the wrongs which they
suffered. His life was devoted to the setting forth of
what he believed to be the vital truth of the gospel. In
the mind of Zwingli, on the other hand, the rescue of the
Swiss from immorality and misgovemment was inseparable from
1
Walker, Williston, A History of the Christian Church, 362,
10
his determination to have the gospel taught in its purity.
The two forces were marching forward under the ban
ner of the Protestant party and the unity of the force was
gaining momentum as new recruits were added daily. But
just as they had begun their career, a bomb exploded in
the ranks and a collision ensued over the traditional doc
trine of the Lord’s Supper. Hot disputes arose between
the leaders until it became necessary for a conference to
be called endeavoring to bring about a reconciliation among
them. During the conference, Luther was asked to put in
writing the articles of doctrine which he considered were
the basis of reform ideals. He wrote fifteen to cover the
chief points in the Reformation movement. On fourteen of
these there was an agreement, but on the fifteenth, which
was the two-fold interpretation of the Sacraments, they re
fused to agree. Thus, the Lord’s Supper, which was de
signed to be a spiritual force of unification among the
believers in Christ, and a conservator of peace and harmony,
came to be a battle-ground of polemics; and the result was
the foundation of the “reformed” body of the Protestant
Church .
JOHN CALVIN
Succeeding Zwingli, there came the ablest organizer
and profoundest theologian that the Reformation produced -
11
John Calvin. He was bom in Picardy, Prance, and in his
youth received an excellent education. He was thoroughly
prepared for the study of law at Paris, and was also inti
mately acquainted with the classics. In 1532, he came
into close contact with a German reformer and became inter
ested in the doctrines of the Protestants in Germany. Thus
he turned his attention to theology, and to accept the
doctrines of the new reform. He devoted himself with
passionate eagerness to Biblical studies, for he knew that
the Bible underlay the entire Protestant fabric. In 1536,
he published his “institutes of the Christian Religion,”
which became the doctrinal standard for all the Reformed
Churches of the Continent and Great Britain.
Finally he was implored to take up his abode in
Geneva, Switzerland, and to take charge pf the New Protes
tant Church in that city. He accepted and was a real
leader, having charge also of the civil administration of
the city, and remained identified with the interests of
its citizens until his death.
Through his efforts, the Protestants of Geneva were
organized into a compact aggressive Church. He saw the
need of a Confession - a common platform of faith. Thus
their Confession, in twenty-three articles was placed be
fore the city council for adoption, and was accepted. Laws
relating to the clergy, the church, divine service, and
schools were enacted in this new administration under the
direction of Calvin. A Protestant University was es-
12
tablished, and also a Theological Seminary, and strong
measures were employed to extend the work.
In theology, Calvin, in his presentations of Christ
ian truth, stood on the general platform already attained
by previous Protestant leaders. Miile, however, he held with
them on some common beliefs, he showed strong peculiarities
of emphasis and individuality of presentation.
The outstanding teaching in Calvin’s theology was the
sovereignty of God. ’ ’ That sovereignty has its chief present
manifestation, as far as the destiny of the human race is
concerned, in election and reprobation, both of -which depend
on the Sovereign will of God.’ ’
Calvin possessed a mastery of mind over mind, and
even before his death, his Influence had penetrated into
many other countries, and he was being heralded as the “only
international reformer”.
1
Walker, Wîlliôton, Ten Epochs of Church History, 245.
CHAPTER III
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
Genesis Polity Doctrine Peculiarities
The government of the Church was not made a matter
of profound and prayerful investigation by the early re
formers. The intimate relation between doctrine and
polity was not suspected, and consequently men who were
ready to die for purity of doctrine were unconcerned about
the constitution of the Church. Church government was
left largely to take care of itself, or to be shaped and
determined chiefly by circumstances of time and place.
Luthern reformers generally did not attach much
importance to the way in which the Church should be gov
erned. They would have been content with the system
which Rome had built up, if only it could have been made
'subservient to the propagation of evangelical doctrine*
“If the existing bishops,” they said, “would cease from
their enmity to the gospel, and embrace the true doctrine,
1
we might patiently endure their authority.” The same
thought and attitude of Luther finds expression in the
Augsburg Confession: “Now our meaning is not to have rule
taken from the bishops; but this one thing only is re
quested at their hands, that they would suffer the gospel
1
Reed, R. C., History of the Presbyterian Churches of
the world, 8%
14
to be purely taught, and that they would relax a few ob-
1
servances which cannot be held without sin,”
Zwingli, a contemporary of Luther in reformation of
the practices of the Church, also failed utterly to grasp
the true conception of the Church as a body distinct from
and independent of the state, with its own codes of laws
and officers of government*
Church government was not rated by the reformers as
a matter of great importance « Some were prepared to accept
any form of government that might seem most convenient; others
were willing to leave the matter largely to be determined by
the exigencies of the future; and yet others were disposed
to define no visible form of the Church, but to treat re
ligion merely as a department of the state*
Thus it was left to the genius of John Calvin to
formulate the system of government, of ’ which the body of
the Presbyterians claim to be heirs and descendants♦ Calvin
seems to have felt, almost from the first moment of his
casting in his lot with the Reformation, that there was
urgent need for a settled and well-ordered plan of rule in
the house of God. He perceived that the fruits of evan
gelical preaching could not be gathered up and conserved
without drawing a distinct boundary line between the Church
and the world; that the testimony of holy living could not
be given in behalf of the gospe 1 vrwithout the exercise of
1
Reed, R. C., History of thé Presbyterian Churches of
We'lgbrl'd, "-81---------- — — --------
15
discipline; and that the power of the Reformed faith could
not be made effective for aggressive evangelism without a
clearly-defined and independent organization* He advocated
that TAhile the Kingdom of Christ is not of this world, never
theless it is ^ this world; and being here for purpose of
conquest it must therefore have visible shape and form to
unify its purpose.
The avowed Presbyterian will endeavor to trace at
least the principle of the system back to the Apostolic
Church, and mark its continuity through early centuries
until the evolution of episcopacy emerged finally into the
Papacy and all traces of the New Testament presbyter had
vanished*
I shall leave that emphasis of the subject to the
conjecture of those desiring to indulge in ecclesiastical
polemics and confine this study to the point of denomi
national beginnings, or at least to the beginnings of the
general Protestant Church, the Reformation*
In view of any consideration of unifying the forces
of Protestantism, I shall, as the subject of this Thesis
implies, asHthe question of each denomination in order:
#iat are the underlying principles that caused the in
ception of this organized body? Also, what are thé char
acteristic differences which distinguish it from the
original pre-Reformation church or similar contemporary
churches? The answer to these questions, as stated in
the introduction, will be the basis for practical adjust-
16
ment s in lieu of the already growing trend toward Protestant
Unification.
The term Presbyterian, or Presbyterianism, strictly
applied, refers only to a form of Church government and is
not properly applicable to a system of doctrine nor to
forms of worship. It is usally found associated with the
Calvinistic system of doctrine, yet this is not necessarily
so, because there are distinctly two different divisions of
Church organization. Presbyterianism and Calvinism seem
to have an affinity for one another because the Presbyterian
denomination traces i^s beginnings to the doctrinal teachings
and church government supported by John Calvin, the reformer.
“Calvin neher founded a distinct denomination, but he
expounded and put into practice the principles which in other
countries and in other hands developed into the Presbyterian
1
denominations
Geneva, Switzerland, is honored in being the birthplace
and the cradle of modem Presbyterianism; that being the
place in which the first church of modem times was organized
under the Presbyterian fom, and which embodied all the
essential principles of this form of government.
On November 20th, 1541, a general council of civil
and ecclesiastical authorities approved the ordinances,
drawn up by Calvin, for the revision of the ecclesiastical
system. This has been called the “birthday” of modem
Pre sbyter ianism.
1
Phelan, M. P., Handbook of All Denominations, 130.
17
Geneva had suffered enough from the despotism of an
irresponsible priesthood, and her citizens would take no
risk of placing the same yoke on their necks again. The
civil authorities, however, worked in conjunction with the
ecclesiastics in the promotion of righteousness among the
people # This was shown by the character of the ordinances
adopted by the civil governments in response to the wishes
of John Calvin* “The civil authorities of Geneva prefaced
the adoption of them (the ordinances) with the following
declaration:
In the name of the Most might God, we syndics, with the
Great and Small Councils of Geneva, with our people
assembled by sound of the trumpet, and the great bell,
following our ancient customs, having considered that it
is a thing worthy of commendation above all other that
the doctrine of the holy gospel of our Lord God be con
served well in purity, and the Christian Church maintained
accordingly, also that youth in time to come be well and
faithfully instructed, and the hospital be ordered in good
state for the sustentation of the poor, the which cannot
be except there be established a certain rule and manner
to live, by the which every state may understand the duty
of his office* For this cause it seemed good to us that
the spiritual government, such as God hath showed unto us
and instituted by his word, be brought into good fom, to
have place and to be observed by us, and we have ordained
and established to follow and to keep in our own town and
territory and ecclesiastical polity following, which is
taken out of the gospel of Jesus Christ*
Church Officers,- First of all, there are four orders of
officers, which our Lord hath instituted for the government
of his Church, that È to say, pastors, doctors, elders,
otherwise named commissioners for the seniory, and fourthly
deacons * If we will have a church well ordered and kept
in the purity, we must observe thh fom of government*
1. As concerning pastors, which the Scriptures name sometime
watchman, and sometime ministers, their officers are to
declare the word of God, to teach, to admonish, to exhort,
to reprove as well publicly as privately, to minister
sacraments, and to do brotherly correction with the elders,
or commissioners*
2. The proper office of doctors is to teach the faithful
with sound doctrine to the end that the purity of the
gospel be not corrupted by ignorance, or wicked opinions;
18
nevertheless, according as things be disposed in these days,
we do comprehend them under this title, to be aides and
instruments to conserves the doctrine of God, so that the
church be not desolate for fault of pastors and ministers,
but to use a word more intelligible, we shall call them the
order of scholars.
3. The office of the elders is to take heed and to watch
of the demeanor and behavior of all and every of the people,
to admonish lovingly those which they see fall, or lead a
dissolute life, or if it be needful to make the report, or
to do brotherly correction, and that shall be commonly done
by the company that shall be thereunto appointed.
4 • There hath been always two sundry kinds or sorts of
officers in the ancient Church, the one were deputies to
receive, to deliver and to conserve the goods of the poor,
as well daily alms, as possessions, stipends and pensions;
the other to feed and oversee the sick, and to minister the
portion of the poor. 1
Such were the officers chosen for the Church in
Geneva. In studying the polity of the present day Presby
terian churches, I find that they were, with slight except
ions, the same in name and in function with the officers
of present day Presbyterian churches. One of the exceptions
would be the office of doctor, but it is suggested by some
that that office was created in the church of Geneva for the
reason that it was proposed to found a school with special
reference to raising up a ministry, and this school was to
be under the strictest supervision of the church.
The election and appointment of officers was peculiar
to the Geneva church, but continued to hold as fundamental.
A candidate for the ministry was examined by the company of
pastors, and if approved by them, he was presented to the
council. After passing satisfactory examinations and
being approved by the people, he received ordination to
1
Reed, R. C., History of Presbyterian Churches of the
World, 1Q-T9^
19
the ministry.
The aspirants to the office of doctor must be approved
by the ministers and examined before two of the seniors.
The elders were chosen, two from the small council,
four from the council of sixty, and six from the council
of two hundred. They all were nominated by the small
council in conference with the ministers, and their nomi
nation was confirmed by the council of two hundred.
The council was to chose the deacons in the same man
ner in which the elders were chosen*
There was one ecclesiastical court in Geneva, and this
was called the consistory* It was composed of the pastors
of the city, six in number, and the twelve elders chosen by
the council of two hundred.
The Church of Geneva was organized under the guiding
hand of the illustrious Calvin. “And the four fundamental
principles vhich it embodied”, says Reed, “were the constit
uent elements of Presbyterianism:
First* A Church organization entirely distinct from,
if not independent of, the state. Second* A revival of
the offices of ruling elder and deacon in their scriptural
form. Third. Government in the hands of a court composed
of teaching and ruling elders. Fourth. Unity of the
9burch recognized by placing several Churches under the dis
cipline of one court * Rightly, therefore, do we name this
1
the Mother Church of all modem Presbyterian Churches
1
Ibid., 22-23.
20
The above constitutes the historical beginnings of
Presbyterian ism with reference to the polity of the Church*
There have been minor changes in the organization and
government of the Church instituted to conform with its
steady growth* But that vhich distinguishes the Church
naturally lay in the fundamental reasons for its inception*
These, then, are the chief concerns that must be faced and
solved before any definite steps can be taken toward an
amalgamated unifying of forces, or even can be anticipated*
Nations have been fomed and have fallen; churches
alike have had their incipiency and their cessation in the
avowed opinions of men*
In the genesis of the Church, therefore, it is neces*-
sary to define the doctrinal standards which form the basis
for its continuance as an organized body*
“The central and controlling teaching of the Presby
terian Church,“ declares G. H. Small, “is the sovereignty
of God, Their theology in general is -vdiat is known as
1
Calvinism*” Therefore, to get at the root of the doc
trinal beliefs, we must see just what the theology of Calvin
included, which forms the controlling teaching of Presby
terian ism*
At the outset, we might quote a line from the ac
cepted historian of the Christian Church, Dr* Philip Schaff ;
“The dogma of a double predestination is the corner-stone
1
Small, Charles H., Corner-Stones of Faith- The Presby
terian ChurchT l3'ë.
21
1
of the Calvinistic system.“ Then) after examining the
Calvinistio system of predestination, he continues:
Calvinism, as we have seen, starts from a double decree of
absolute predestination, which antedates creation, and is
the divine program of human history. This program includes
the successive stages of the creation of man, and universal
fall and condemnation of the race, a partial redemption and
salvation, and a partial reprobation and perdition: all for
the glory of God and the display of His attributes of mercy
and justice. History is only thé execution of the original
design. There can be no failure. The begining and the end,
God’s immutable plan and the issue of the world’s history,
must correspond.” 2
The original words of Calvin as given in his “institutes
of Christian Religion” substantiate the accepted doctrine of
the churches supporting the Calvinistic system of theology.
The following is also from Philip Schaff’s History of the
Christian Church and is a translation from Book 3, Chapter
21, under the heading “The Doctrine of Election”:
Predestination, by which God adopts some to the hope of
life, and adjudges others to eternal death, no one, de
sirous of the credit of peity, dares absolutely to deny.
Predestination we call the eternal decree of God, by
which He has determined in himself, what he would have to
become of every individual of mankind. Pow they are all
not created with a similar destiny; but eternal life is
fore-ordained for some, and eternal damnation for others.
Every man, therefore, being created for one or the other
of these ends, we say, he is predestinated either to life
or to death. This God has not only testified in partic
ular persons, but has given as specimen of it in the whole
posterity of Abraham, which should evidently show the future
condition of every nation to depend upon his decision. 3
Also the Westminster Confession of Faith, prepared
by the Westminster Assembly in 1647, adopted by the Long
8chaff, Philip, History of the Christian Church, VII, 545.
2 ■ ^ ^
Ibid., 568.
3
Ibid., 343.
22
Parliament, by the Kirk of* Scotland, and the Presbyterian
Churches of America, gives the clearest and strongest sym
bolic statement of this doctrine. The following is taken
from the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church, Chapter 3,
Paragraph 3 and 4:
III. By the decree of God, for the manifestation of his
glory, some men and angels are predestinated unto ever
lasting life, and others fore-ordained to everlasting
death.
IV. These angels and men, thus predestinated and fore
ordained, are particulary and unchangeably designed; and
their number is so certain and definite that it cannot be
either increased or diminished. 1
Next to the doctrine of predestination, Calvin paid
most attention to the doctrine of the sacrament of the Lord’s
Supper. In the eucharistie controversy, which raged with
such fury in the age of the Reformation, and was the chief
cause of separation iniits ranks, Calvin consistently occupied
from the beginning to the end the position of a mediator and
peacemaker between Lutherans and Zwinglians.
He aimed,” declared 8chaff, “to combine the spiritualism
of Zwingli with the realism of Luther, and to avoid the
errors of both. And he succeeded as well as the case will
admit. He agreed with Zwingli in the figurative interpre
tation of the words of institution, "vdiich is now approved
by the best Protestant exegetes, and rejected the idea of
a corporal presence and oral participation in the way of
transubstantiation or consubstantiation, which implies
either a miracle or an omnipresence of the body of Christ.
But he was not satisfied with a purely commemorative or
symbolical theory, and laid the chief stress on the positive
side of an actual communion with the ever-living Christ.” B
The doctrine of the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper
as prescribed by Calvin was embodied by the Presbyterian
1
The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church, 22
2 ^ "
8chaff, Philip, History of the Christian Church, vil, 590.
23
Church and outlined in its Confession of Faith* The
following is taken from the Constitution of the Presby
terian Church, Chapter 29, Paragraph 5 and 6:
V. The outward elements in this Sacrament, duly set apart
to the uses ordained by Christ, have such relation to him
crucified, as that truly, yet sacramentally only, they are
sometimes called by the name of the things they represent,
to wit, the body and blood of Christ; albeit, in substance
and nature, they still remain truly, and only, bread and
wine, as they were before *
VI* That doctrine which maintains a change of the substance
of bread and wine, into the substance of Christ’s body and
blood (commonly called transubstantiation) by consecration
of a priest, or by any other way, is repugnant, not to
Scripture alone, but even to common sense and reason; over
throws th the nature of the Sacrament; and hath been, and is,
the cause of manifold superstitutions, yea, of gross idol
atries. 1
The Reform movement was very severe in regard to the
multiplied forms of Sacraments and united in the opinion
that only two, the Lord’s Supper and Baptism, were set forth
in the teachings of the New Testament scriptures. This
belief has been accepted by all the Reformed churches and
the number of sacraments has not caused any source of undue
controversy. However, the mode of administering the Sac
rament of Baptism has been the sousse of much grief among
the divines of Protestantism.
The Presbyterians accept and observe the two sacraments
of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The mode of baptism is
sprinkling, though other forms may be used if desired. Pedo-
baptlsm is practiced and is enjoined. A statement from
their Confession of Faith will substantiate this exposition
of their belief :
1
The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church, 127.
24
I. Baptism is a Sacrament of the New Testament, ordained
by Jesus Christ, not only for the solemn admission of thé
party baptized into the visible Church, but also to be unto
him a sign and seal of the covenant of grace, of his in
grafting into Christ, of regeneration, of remission of
sins, and of his giving up unto God, through Jesus Christ,
to walk in newness of life: which Sacrament is, by Christ’s
own appointment, to be continued in his Church until the
end of the world.
II. The outward element to be used in this Sacrament is
water, wherewith the party is to be baptized in the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, by
a minister of the gospel, lawfully called thereunto.
III. Dipping of the person into the water is not necessary;
but Baptism is rightly administeres by pouring or sprink
ling water upon the person.
IV. Not only those that do actually profess faith in, and
obedience unto Christ, but also the infants of one or both
believing parents are to be baptized. 1
Calvin’s influence, and thus the principle of Presby-
terianism, soon penetrated the adjoining countries. In
France, the Protestants, under the name of Huguenots, multi
plied so swiftly that in four years they were strong enough
to hold their first General Synod. It became the mission
of this body to adopt a strongly Calvinistic creed, and a
Presbyterian Constitution, drawn from Calvin’s ecclesiastical
principles.
The same general growth was experienced in Scotland
under the leadership of John Knox, a student of Calvin in
Geneva. Knox lifted up his voice in trumpet tones, calling
the people to separation from the iniquities of Rome. The
result witnessed a civil war which ended with the power of
the government being placed in the hands of a regency of
noblemen. A parliament was called which abolished the
power of the Pope and adopted a Confession of Faith drafted
1
Ibid., 121-2.
25
by a group of reform leaders, the chief of whom was John
Knox. The Assembly of the Church met the same year and
adopted a Book of Discipline, which defined what doctrine
should be taught in the Church.
The influence of the Church made its way into
England and consequently across the waters to the western
hemisphere «
During the supremacy of Protestantism in the Parlia
ment of England, the Westminister Assembly was called to
provide for the Greeds and governments of the Church. The
assembly contained an overwhelming majority of Presbyterian
Puritans. The result was a Directory of Worship and a
thoroughly Presbyterian system of Church government. “The
Assembly next prepared its famous confession, which it laid
before Parliament late in 1646. Adopted by the General
Assembly of Scotland on August 27, 1647, it remains the
1
standard of Scottish and American Presbyterianism.“
1
Walker, Williston, A History of the Christian Church, 471*
CHAPTER IV -
CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES
His troy Organization Teaching Worship
In this study of the historical beginnings of
denominations, I pass from one in which ecclesiastical
authority is vested in representative bodies, to one in
which each local church is independent. Instead of
speaking of a denomination as being a Church With an or
ganic system, we now find a fellowship of Churches. In
place of “the Presbyterian Church”, we say “the Congre -
gational Churches”.
“The distinguishing feature of Congregationalism”,
says Small, “is the form of polity to which it has given
the name ’Congregational’, the two distinctive principles
1
of which are independency and fellowship.*^
Little do we realize the long struggle which pur
chased the freedom of every denomination. The story of
this struggle, as definitely related to Congregationalism,
begins with the reign of Queen Elizabeth (1558-1603). During
her reign the political use of the Church meant more than
personal religion. Not desiring any change in the religious
organization of her realm, her parliament passed in 1662 the
“Act of Uniformity”, v/hich made compulsory the use of the
Book of Common Prayer by every religious assembly.
1
Small, Charles H., Corner-Stones of Faith, 273.
27
England had broken away from the yoke of Rome under
the reign of Elizabeth’s father, Henry VIII, but the Refor
mation under his reign was more political than religious*
It meant merely the substitution of a national for an inter
national authority in the Church# The people were still
denied any voice whatsoever in its management, and instead of
freedom, the Church suffered under a single despotism instead
of joint authority previously exercised over it by the King
and the Pope. For the individual Englishman it was merely a
new form of spiritual slavery#
Protestant protests began under Elizabeth’s reign^
and the group known as the “Puritan Party” arose. This was
succeeded by the uprising of “Separatism”, or a group known
as the “Pilgrims”. The distinction between the Puritan and
the Pilgrim-to quote from Small- is as follows:
The Puritan was not a Separatist, his purpose was to remain
in the established church and purify it. The Pilgrim was a
Separatist, renouncing the theory of the National Church.
The Separatists were also called “independents”, a name that
they still hold in England, while in this country they have
only the name “Congregationalists.” 1
The Separatists founded the Free Churches of England-
Congregational, Baptist etc,- which today embrace within their
membership large numbers of the English people. In the early
days of the movement, withdrawal from the government Church
was a form of treason, and many were put in prison or put to
death, and often driven from the country. There were, how
ever, many brave leaders who were willing to risk their lives
for the cause. Among the earliest was Robert Browne, who
1
Ibid., 275.
28
was a great writer and leader. He believed that
The Church should be a congregation of free men, founded
after the pattern of the Apostolic Church, governing itself
not according to the laws of the state, but seeking to find
in the Bible rules and regulations for the congregation.
The only leadership he would acknowledge was the spirit of
the living Christ. In his mind the people should be free to
v/orship as their conscience dictated and under such rules
and regulations as best suited their purpose. 1
Another influential leader in the early days was John
Robinson, vàio was the outstanding minister connected with
the movement. More than any other man he is the founder of
Independency as a developed system. He was one of the heralds
of toleration. As the Separatists found conditions unbearable,
the people resolved to leave England and find a place where
they might worship God in the way they desired. Thus, under
the leadership of John Robinson, they migrated to Holland,
where they lived in peace and prospered for ten or eleven
years. Not desirous, however, that their children should
grow up in an alien atmosphere, they decided to send a group
to the “New World” and there establish a home and prepare for
those who were to follow. After overcoming many difficulties
they set sail in 1620 from the shores of Holland, landed at
Plymouth, England, from Mûience they embarked in the Mayflower
for America.
The history of the Congregational Churches in America
began on the day when the Pilgrim Fathers landed at Plymouth
Rock, December 21, 1620* The Mayflower reached the harbor
with 102 passengers, after a stormy voyage of many weeks.
Following the landing of the Pilgrims, the history of the
1
Fagley, Frederick L., The Congregational Churches, 6.
29
American Congregational Churches is closely interwoven with
the history of Hew England, vdiere from the first it was the
dominant Church « Prominent among the Pilgrim leaders were
William Brewster, William Bradford, John Carver, John Win-
throp, Edward Winslow, and Miles Standish*
The Pilgrims were followed by large numbers of Puritans,
who came directly from England. The Colony of Massachusetts
Bay was secured to the English Puritans in 1629 by a charter
of Royal authority.
Transplanted to the new world, the Puritans found it
expedient to separate from the Church of England and to assim
ilate themselves with the older Pilgrim Colony at Plymouth.
The amalgamation of the two Colonies was just a matter of time.
The two bodies had differed essentially, as the Plymouth Col
ony had no royal authority nor charter, and was outside of the
Church of England, enjoying independence. The Massachusetts
Bay Colony was political, professing strong attachment to the
King, although enjoying the freedom #iich the distance of the
ocean between them afforded. Thus the question arose as to
how these two Colonies would stand related to each other.
While the Massachusetts Bay Colony had its royal credentials,
and had a greater number of settlers, the Plymouth Colony
was the older, and had been making laws, developing and ex
panding, gaining an understanding with the Indians, organiz
ing a church, and developing a military system. Thus
The smaller body gave strength to the larger. Whatever bonds
held the Massachusetts men to dear England were now seen to
be useless. In due time the two bodies were marvellously
alike - all were Separatists from the Establishment: all met
30
together in ecclesiastical synods; the civil and the
religious life became a unit. Little Plymouth had proved
stronger than large Massachusetts Bay. At the Organization
of the Salem Church, the mother Church of Massachusetts Bay,
in 1629, when Skelton was ordained pastor and Francis Higg
ins on teacher- the first ordination in New England- the
Church at Plymouth sent fraternal delegates who approved what
was done/ and gave the right hand of fellowship. From that
moment Congregationalism has been the historic polity of the
New England Churches. 1
The formation of the Salem Church in 1629 on the
Congregational basis, the people choosing their own pastor
and teacher by ballot- the first employment of the printed
ballot in America!— and adopting their own covenant, was a
great step. They set aside bishops and priests for their
own ministers, and substituted simple forms of worship in
place of rites and ceremonies. Progress was made slowly and
against much opposition, but Congregationalism had come and
had come to stay. “Until 1700 there were hardly any other
Churches in Massachusetts and Connecticutsays Phelan,
“Congregationalism became practically the “State Church” of
these Colonies. Political suffrage was for a time limited
to Church members, and until the early part of the 19th
2
century the Church was supported by taxation.”
Presbyterians and Congregationalists were closely
allied in the early days. In 1801 a plan of union was entered
into with the Presbyterians concerning the formation of the
Churches in the' new settlements of the West. Under this plan
Congregationalists moving to other states entered the Presby-
1
Hurst, John F ., A Short History of the Christian Church, 446.
2 " ^
Phelan, M., Handbook of all De nom ina t ions, 50.
31
ter Ian Churches. Thus until the abrogation of this agree
ment in 1852, Congregationalism was almost entirely confined
to the New England states. Until after the war, the anti
slavery position of the denomination closed the doors of the
Southern States to it. Since the war, however, the work in
the South is confined largely to the negroes. Since 1852
the Church has grov/n rapidly in many of the Western States.
The organization of the Congregational Churches is on
the basis that all ecclesiastical authority is vested in the
local church. Each organized church has the power to elect
its own officers^ admit or exclude vhatever members it desires,
form its own creed, make its own program of worship^ and
manage all of its affairs. It is not responsible to any ec
clesiastical authority, but is responsible to God alone.
The officers of the church vary, but as a rule they
are as follows: Pastor, Clerk, Deacons, Trustees, Treasurer^
Sunday School Superintendent, Church Committee. The two
regularly elected classes of officers are pastors and deacons.
The number of deacons in a local church varies according to
the size. The pastor is elected by the church, and the
deacons from among the membership. The deacons are elected
to serve the pastor, assist with the Lord’s Supper, care for
the poor and sick, and work for the spiritual welfare of the
church .
The duty of the clerk is to keep all church records
and to conduct the necessary correspondence of the church,
except that cared for by the pastor.
The trustees have the care of the property of the
32
church and are responsible for its financial affairs.
They have no power to buy, sell, or transfer any church
property without a specific vote by the Church.
The treasure has the usual duties of receiving and
paying out money as directed by the congragation.
The Sunday School superintendent is elected either
by the church or the church school and is responsible for
directing the educational program.
There are many committees in the 3a rger churches
to meet the many demands, but the usual committee in
every church is the Church or Prudential Committee, #iich
consists of the pastor, the deacons, the clerk, the Sunday
School superintendent, and other members elected at large.
This committee performs such duties as are assigned by the
church, such as examining candidates for membership, pro
jecting lines of work, and suggesting plans for extension.
#ien a vacancy occurs in the pastorate, a committee
is elected by the congregation to recommend a new pastor.
This committee secures names and considers them, and
finally recommends to the church the calling of a certain
man for pastor. The church then votes to elect or decline
the candidate presented by the committee. Here again, no
outside authority, iddividua1 or corporate, dictates to the
church as to its action.
Congragational churches, however, are not void of the
principle of fellowship. A bond of fellowship is maintained
by councils, conferences, and associations. No authority
33
of the church is invested in them, however. They are simply
conferences, their actions, when they are taken, are in the
form of recommendations. To quote again from Small:
Councils are called for advice, as, e.g., in settling a
pastor, recognizing a new church, ordaining a minister,
or adjusting disputes. They are made up of the pastor
and one or more delegates from each Congregational church
in the vicinity*
District associations or conferences are composed of
pastors and delegates from churches in a prescribed dis
trict, large or small, as the case may be, meeting at
state intervals. State associations are composed of the
pastors and delegates from the Congregational Churches
of the State, meeting usually once a year. There is a
National Council, meeting once in three years, composed
of delegates from local and State bodies. It was not
regularly established until 1871. 1
Thus in polity the underlying principles are the
independence of the local church and the fellowship of
the churches, or as stated by another authority, the
characteristic features of Congregational polity are
freedom and fellowship- a freedom which leaves a church
to manage its own affairs, a fellowship which unites all
the churches for mutual care and cooperate action.
In doctrine the Congregationalists agree funda
mentally with other Evangelical faiths. They held to
the Calvinistic position in their early history, and one
of their early ereedal statements was the Westminister
Confession. As no Congregational church is obliged to
accept any creed ot? declaration of faith, many churches
adopt their own creed. Thus it is not easy to define
the teaching of Congregational churches, as the theological
1
Small, Charles K., Corner-Stones of Faith, 282-3.
34
views of ministers and churches differ, ranging from strong
Calvinism to the newest idea of theology. In 1883, however,
a commission appointed by the national council formulated
a Confession, consisting of twelve articles. It was more
Evangelical in its statements than the old creed, and in a
clear, simple manner gave a comprehensive exposition of
the truths of the gospel for the instruction and edification
of the churches. UShile this creed was not binding, yet it
was generally accepted as a statement of Scripture teaching.
Its general Evangelical teachings are : belief in the Trinity,
the freedom and responsibility of man, the alienation of
all from God, the providence of God, the inspiration of the
Scriptures, the resurrection of the dead, and a final judg
ment* At the National Council in 1892 the following minute
was adopted:
Each Congregational Church has its own confession of faith,
and there is no authority to impose any general confession
upon it ; nor are our ministers required to subscribe to any
specified doctrinal standards* But as a basis of fellow
ship we have certain creeds of acknowledged weight, to be
used, not as tests, but as a testimony; and we have also,
in ecclesiastical councils and associations of churches,
recognized organs for expressing the fellowship and declar
ing the faith held by our churches to be essential, as well
as guarding the liberty of thought generally allowed in our
churches* 1
The service of worship in the Congregational Churches
is non-liturgical. Each church is free to use its own form
of worship and may adopt whatever may add to the enrichment
of its worship service.
1
Ibid., 283-4.
35
The worship of the Church comes to its highest ex
pression in the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper in remem
brance of Him and in a re-dedication of themselves as mem
bers of the family of God* This is administered by the
deacons, and an invitation is extended to members of any
Evangelical ch^ch* The other sacrament observed is that
of baptism, which is a symbol of cleansing from sin and
admission to the Church Universal. The usual method of
baptism is sprinkling, but Congragationalists also recog
nize other modes as valid.
The Congregat ionalists have always been in the fore
front in missionary work both at home and abroad. The
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, or
ganized in 1810, is the oldest foreign missionary society
in the country and has done a great work.
Congregationalists have also taken a leading role
in education* The Pilgrim Fathers set themselves at the
very beginning to provide for an adequate system of ed
ucation for all the people* Education and religion were
united in their thinking and they gave attention to both*
As a result, among the institutions #iich were established
are Harvard, Yale, Amherst, Dartmouth, Bowdoin, Oberlin,
Beloit, Marietta, Williams, Fisk, Howard and many others *
Seven theological seminaries care for the theological
training of their ministers*
Thus, in the words of Dr. Leonard Bacon, “the history
of Congregationalism may be taken as recording the prevalence
36
of this principle of the right of self-government, as it
has been wrought out into practical application in America,
and propagating itself like leaven, has widely and deeply
affected the administration of other polities at the fur-
1
the St remove from itself
Bacon, Leonard W#, %e Story of the Churches- The
Congre gationalis t s, ICI
CHAPTER V
BAPTISTS
Origin Doctrines Polity Peculiarities
“with the first decade of the seventeenth century,”
says Dr. Vedder, “we reach solid ground in Baptist history*
Before that the history is more or less a matter of con
jecture, and our conclusions are open to doubt, but after
that we have an unbroken succession of Baptist Churches,
1
established by indubitable documentary evidence *“
From the year 1100 there were in various parts of
Europe, under various names, groups that maintained es
sentially the principles for #iich the English Baptists
contended, with the exception of the practice of immer
sion* There is a doubt in many cases as to just what the
practice was, although in many cases it is known that af
fusion was practiced.
With the beginning of the Reformation we find the
name Anabaptist mentioned* Khile the origin of the ana
baptists is obscure, the testimony of contemporaries is
that they derive their chief doctrines from sects that
antedated the Reformation. Anabaptists were numerous
both in Switzerland and in Germany* Like the Baptists
of today, they argued that there is no command or example
for Infant baptism in the New Testament, and that in-
1
Vedder, H. G., A Short History of the Baptists, 135*
38
struct ion and belief are enjoined before baptism* The
Anabaptists were denounced by their contemporaries,
Romanist, and Protestant alike for tolerating what was
believed to be the extremest erros of doctrine, and the
wildest excesses of conduct* The masses of anabaptists
were uncultured people ; but among their leaders were men
unsurpassed in their times for knowledge of the scriptures,
breadth of mind, and fervidness of eloquence* They held
to their convictions in spite of the severe persecutions
which they received. Many cruelties and barbarous sen
tences were pronounced upon them, and many suffered martyr
dom. Consequently after many years, persecution had done
its work only too well, and early in the seventeenth century
we find the anabaptists disappear from the history of Germany
and Switzerland.
In spite of these earlier sects, to quote again from
Vedder:
It is productive obly of confusion and misunderstanding, to
apply the name “Baptist” to these sects, even though they
were undoubtedly the forerunners of the Baptist churches of
England. It is also impossible, in the present state of
historical knowledge, and seems quite likely to remain im
possible, to prove by documentary evidence the actual con
nection of these various sects with the later Baptists. It
is equally impossible not to suspect that there is an actual
connection between bodies so alike in teachings, even though
no proofs remain. But suspicion is not proof, opinion is
not fact, and the distinction ought to be always remembered
and maintained. 1
The first of the English Baptist churches that is
known to have existed was organized, not on English soil,
1
Vedder, H. C., Baptist History, 17.
39
but in Holland. It consisted of English Separatists wh6
fled to that country because of the severe persecution
which they received in England. The Rev. John Smyth, a
graduate of Christ’s College, Cambridge, was the leader
of the flock. He was a fervid, restless-spirited man,
but very well learned, and all of his life did not cease
to be an eatmest seeker after truth. In Holland, the
second English church was formed at Amsterdam, and Smyth,
supporting himself by practicing medicine, was the preacher.
Soon, however, he was brought into contact with the Menon-
ites and the theology of Arm in lus, and was strongly influ
enced by both. “if he had doubts before concerning infant
baptism, they were now confirmed into conviction that it
is not warranted by the Scriptures, and that a scriptural
church should consist of the regenerate only who have been
1
baptized on a personal confession of faith.” His re
jection of infant baptism caused him to be disfellowshiped
by his flock, and thus in 1608, with Thomas Helwys and
thirty-six others, he formed a Church after his views - the
first Baptist church composed of Englishmen that is known
to have existed. According to his views, he baptized
himself, then Helwys and the rest by affusion. Soon after
a Confession of Faith was issued, Arminian in its theology,
but claiming specifically that a Church should be composed
of baptized believers only, and that only such should “taste
of the Lord’s Supper”. As the baptism practiced was
1
vedder, H. 0., A Short History of the Baptists, 138.
40
affusion, it is not udiat we understand to be the Baptist
Church, but this was the “parent” of Baptist Churches,
later known as “General” Baptists; given this name be
cause they taught that the atonement of Christ is general,
being for all and not for the elect only. The first
“General” Baptist church was formed upon Shglish soil,
as aftertthe death of Smyth, the church disappeared from
Holland, Thomas Helwys and others returned to London
and there established the first Baptist church in England,
and by the year of 1644 there were 47 of these Baptist
Churches in that country.
The Calvinistic, or‘ ^Particular” Baptists originated in
1633, and theirs was quite a different origin. Several
members of a Separatist congregation in London withdrew
and formed a new congregation, because of their disbelief
in pedobaptism. In 1640 a part of this membership with
drew and adopted immersion as the mode of baptism. As no
one of their number had received such a baptism, they sent
one of their number, Richard Blunt, over to Holland to re
ceive immersion from the Me nn on it es (who had adopted immer
sion in 1619), Blunt then returned to England and began
the practice of immersion. Seven of the Churches of this
branch united in a Confession of Faith in 1644. These
churches were called “Particular” or Calvinistic Baptists,
because they held to a particular atonement; that is, for
the elect only.
Gradually, the Arminian churches also adopted the
41
practice of immersion, and the name Baptist, as a denomi
national title, was first used to designate those congre
gations which practiced immersion# The controversy over
the matter continued as long as 1653, and it was not until
after that date that all Churches, holding to believers’
baptism, practiced immersion as the proper form of baptism#
The Confession of Faith adopted in 1644 is one of
the chief landmarks in Baptist history. It declares baptism
to be “an ordinance of the New Testament, to be dispensed
upon persons professing faith,” and that only such should
be admitted to the Lord’s Supper# “It is the first Con
fession of history,“ says McGlothlin, “to prescribe a
single immersion as the form of baptism, and it probably
still represents the views of the Baptists of the world
' 1
more nearly than any other single Confession.” The
Confession also advocates the right of religious liberty^
and that good citizenship is the duty of every Christian
man#
The Baptists, however, were not able to enjoy the
religious liberty which they advocated# They were harshly
treated and persecuted, with other Dissenters, following
the Restoration in 1660. They became violators of the law
if they assembled for religious meetings, and the one #io
preached usually suffered severe penalties.
After 1689, however, they were given a larger measure
of toleration than they had ever known before,- since it was
1
McGlothlin, Baptist Confession of Faith, 169-70.
42
toleration secured and clearly defined by law, not given
by the arbitrary will of one man. There were not external
obstacles to hinder a rapid, continuous and solid growth,
but nevertheless, there followed a period of languishment
and decay. “in the history of Christianity," as Vedder
says, “it has often happened that the people of God have
grown marvelously in spite of oppositon and persecution,
but have languished in times of comparative prosperity-
that a sect whom fire and sword could not suppress have
degenerated and disintegrated or f-inally disappeared iidien
1
every external hindrance to prosperity had been removed."
Fifty years after the passage of the Act of Toleration the
Baptists of England were scarcely more numerous than they
were when granted toleration, and spiritually they had
dwindled in spiritual powers to a state of deadness and in
efficiency. This was partly due to the fact that extreme
Calvinistic views came to prevail in the “Particular" chur
ches, which discouraged all evangelistic efforts among the
unconverted. Socinian views made rapid progress in the
“General" churches, and the churches became Unitarian in
their belief. This was followed by worldliness, lax dis
cipline, and a falling away of the membership. But even
these things do not adequately explain the failure of the
Baptists to progress at this time. There were outside
conditions which retarded their growth, for which they
were in no way responsible. The eighteenth century was
1
vedder, H. C., A Short History of the Baptists, 164.
43
a time of low religious tension everywhere, and especially
in England, “it was an age of feeble mediocrity," declares
Vedder, “of rampant unbelief, of gross immorality, where
strength and faith and purity might reasonably have been
1
looked for." In a time of general spiritual dearth, the
progress of any religious denomination, while not an im
possibility, is not generally expected. Thus the Baptists
are not to be especially discredited because their advance
was slow during this time.
A new era in Baptist history began as a result of the
Wesleyan revival of the eighteenth century, the second Refor
mation in England. It was a movement of intensity and far-
reaching effects, and the Baptists participated in the general
awakening. Thus, to quote Phelan, “there began a new era of
growth, of zeal, and of missionary activity which has contin-
2
ued to the present time. “
The last century has witnessed progress and develop
ment in English Baptist history. The Baptist union of Great
Britain and Ireland was formed in 1813, a great home mission
ary and social organization. In 1891, the long-separated
“General" and “Particular" Baptists became one body. There
was also a change regarding communion and terms of membership.
All churches do not now uphold strictly the Baptist principles,
for some have become “open" on the communion question, and
some have a “mixed" membership. In Wales, Scotland, and
Ireland, however, the churches adhere to the traditional Bap-
1
Vedder, H.C., The Story of the Churches, Baptists, 107.
2 ‘ ^ ~ ^
Phelan, M., Handbook of Denominations, 8.
44
tist practices.
In America, among the early Puritan settlers of New
England, there were a number who held Baptist principles,
and who afterwards became Baptists;, but there were not
enough at any place or time to form a Church. Through
a study of the Scriptures, sd me were being led towards
Baptists views. Among these was Roger Williams, an
English Separatist, who came to the colony of Massa
chusetts in 1631, in search of religious freedom. He
stoutly advocated the principle that
The Church and the State should be separate and inde
pendent of each other and that civil magistrates had no
right to enforce worship nor punish breaches of the first
table or the law, those commandments that relate to the
worship of God. 1
His pronounced views and fearless advocacy of them
in the Massachusetts Colony soon got him into trouble.
He was summoned before the court in Boston and condemned
to banishment, the decree beginning: “Whereas Mr. Roger
Williams, one of the elders of the Church at Salem, hath
broached and divulged new and dangerous opinions against
the authority of magistrates." Williams made his escape,
and with a small group of followers, settled in Providence,
R.I., where he founded a colony on the principle of civil
and religious liberty. It was at this place, Tidien Roger
Williams was baptized by Ezekiel Holliman, and he in turn
baptized Holliman and eleven others, in 1639, that the
first Baptist church in America was established.
1
Ibid., 10.
45
The first Baptist church in Massachusetts was
founded in 1665 by a company of Welsh Baptist immigrants.
But the most important and influential of the early Bap
tist centers was the group of Ghiarches in the vicinity of
Philadelphia, The Baptist made rapid progress in this
section. In 1707, the first Association of Churches, the
Philadelphia Association, was organized* It was composed
of twelve churches, but later included churches in New
York colony and as far south as the Carolines. Vedder says
the following about the Organization;
Its adoption of a strongly Calvinistic Confession in 1742
(or possibly earlier) was a turning-point in the history
of American Baptists, as it ensured the prevalence of that
type of theology. Up to this time the Arminian Baptists
had been the stronger, especially in New England, The
Philadelphia Association speedily became the leading body
among American Baptists- a position it has not wholly lost
to this day. Pretty much everything good in our history,
from 1700 to 1850, may be traced to its initiative or act
ive co-operation, 1
Baptist beginnings in the South were less early than
in the North and New England; but, by 1800, there were forty-
six associations in the country and twenty of these were in
the South Atlantic States and seven were beyond the Alle
ghenies,
Without a question, the most important event in the
history of American Baptists in the nineteenth century was
the formation of their foreign missionary society. This
missionary awakening was due to the conversion of two Congre
gational missionaries enroute to India, Adoniram Judson and
1
Vedder, H, C,, A Short History of the Baptists, 204,
46
his wife. As the Baptists had no mission board at that
time to care for these missionaries, the burden was placed
upon them, and as a result there v/as formed at that time
at Philadelphia, in May, 1814, the General Convention of
the Baptist Denominations in the United States for Foreign
Missions, From then on the missionary and educational
work of the Baptist Churches has been extensive.
Several controversies arose in the Church, causing
divisions. The differences between the Northern and South
ern Churches, growing out of the question of slavery, cul
minated in a separation. This occurred in 1844, when the
Foreign Board declared that it would not appoint a slave
holder as a missionary. Resolutions were adopted the follow
ing April, 1845, by the Home Board declaring it to be"expedient
that the members of the society should hereafter act in
separate organizations at the South and at the North in pro
moting the objects which were originally contemplated by the
society, ^ After these declarations, the Virginia Foreign
Missionary Society issued a call, and delegates of the South
ern churches met in Augusta, Ga,, in May, 1845, and there was
organized the Southern Baptist Convention, Small shows that;
These Churches of the South are identical in organization,
teaching, and worship with the churches of the North, They
carry on their missionary work through their General Conven
tion, Their most interesting foreign work is that in Cuba,
but besides this they have other important enterprises,** 2
1 ' ■ ’
Phelan, M,, Handbook of all Denominations, 15,
2
Small, Charles, H,, Cornerstones of Faith, 326-7,
47
In doctrine the Baptists may be characterized in the
main as a somewhat liberal Calvinism, They have no formally
adopted creed or confession for the denomination, there being
no centralized authority. Each Church is at liberty to form
ulate or adopt its own articles of belief, and many associa
tions and local Churches, particularly in the South, frequently
publish a statement of Baptist principles. For the most part,
Palvinistic teachings are followed. The Bible is accepted as
the only infallible rule of faith and practice. The points of
departure in their teaching have been summarized in the follow
ing two paragraphs :
The essential distinction between the belief of Baptists and
that of other bodies of Christians is found in their view of
the constitution of the visible church. Holding the supreme
authority of the Holy Scriptures, and the doctrines of Cod's
choice of his people, of regeneration as the soverei^ work of
the Holy Spirit, and of justification by faith alone, they
believe that the churches mentioned in the New Testament were
formed in closest accord with those doctrines; they believe
the New Testament gives us examples of, and commands us to
receive as candidates for membership in the churches, only those
who give credible evidence of their faith in Jesus as their
Saviour, Hence the Baptists accept as candidates for baptism
only those who are professed believers in Jesus,
They believe immersion in water is the baptism enjoined in the
New Testament, In this view they are in accord with the Greek
and all Oriental churches, with the practice of the Occidental
churches till A,D, 1300. Baptists in America believe, but
many Baptists in England do not hold, that Baptism is a pre
requisite to the Lord’s Supper, * * 1
In government. Baptist churches, defined as "bodies of
baptized believers, with pastors and deacons, covenanted to
gether for religious worship and religious work" - are inde
pendent of all other human control, and are supreme in the
government of their own affairs. They have associations,
1
Schaff-Herzog, Encyclopaedia of Religious Knowledge, 211,
48
conventions, and congresses, but simply for fellowship and
discussion, and without ecclesiastical authority. To quote
from Small:
Councils ordain and install ministers, and recognize new
churches. While each congregation is independent in its
action, they are bound together by these fellowshipping
bodies, which are composed of pastors and delegates from
the churches* The denomination acts as one body in mission
ary, educational, and like enterprises, through organized
boards and convent ions r Each church has its pastor and
deacons, who have charge of the spiritual affairs of the
church, and its board of trustees, who have chargé of the
property, all subject to the action of the church. Members
are received and dismissed by vote of the local church. It
is a simple democracy, " 1
In worship. Baptist churches resemble the Congre ga-
tionalists, Presbyterians, and others, for the worship is
non-liturgical. The two ordinances are observed, baptism
and the Lord’s Supper, Members from other churches are not
received if they have not been immersed, unless they submit
to that ordinance. Mid-week prayer services are held by them,
A large and important missionary and educational work is
carried on both at home and abroad.
Thus, in studying the characteristics of the Baptist
denomination, in view of a unification of churches, the
essential elements of the Baptist Church are set forth by
Lorimer as follows :
The Bible for its creed ; believers who have been duly bap
tized (immersed) on their personal profession for its
members; democracy, clergy and laity exercising equal rights,
for its government; and an upright life, full of good works
toward all men, for its ritual and vindication, " 2
1
Small, Charles,' H,, Corner-stones of Faith, 323-4,
2 ■ ' ’
Lorimer, The Baptists in History, 78,
CHAPTER VI
METHODISM
Genesis Polity Doctrine Peculiarities
The eighteenth century was another turning point in
world history. The England upon iidiich the eighteenth cent
ury dawned was described by the historian Hurst, "as one
vast political and moral waste ; a mere hunting ground of
corrupt courtiers and clerics, the haunt of an utterly dis-
1
solute aristocracy and a brutalized commonalty, "
The life of a people is mirrored in its literature^
politics, and religion; and thus, as we review the English
setting, we see only the picture of a fearful and dreadful
descension.
For fear of too hastily placing "thumbs down" and
unwisely judging the people, shall we ask first the question:
lhat were the causes of this deplorable condition? The
answer is herewith summarized by Mr, Hurst as follows:
The political confusion of the seventeenth century, the
bitter controversies, the religious intolerance, the re
turn of the dissolute Stuarts, the reaction from the exter
nal restraints of a Puritanism which had not pervaded the
masses with moral life, the legislative alliance of Church
and State, the long uncertainty as to a Romish or Protestant
succession, the immorality of the first two Georges and their
favorites, the evil influence of Walpole, the sudden commer
cial prosperity in the years of political peace, the lack of
spiritual leaders, the spread of Socinian And deistic prin
ciples, all contributed to the moral decay, 2
1
Hurst, John f ., The History of Methodism, Vol.I. 17,
2 -------
Ibid,, 22.
50
Dr. Gregory has this to say concerning the pre-
revival conditions of England:
The truth is, &igland had never yet been thoroughly evan
gelized; it had been ecoleslasticized instead. The Italian
missionaries sent by Gregory the Great had indeed fixed
"the Church" upon the soili yet they and their successors
but partly disheathenized the nation. The very Christianity
they brought from Rome was to a sad extent a mongrel compro
mise with paganism, a loose concordat with the ancient
superstitions. The vahious subsequent attempts to snatch up
again and carry forward the arrested work by the itinerant
preaching friars, Wiclif’s traveling preachers, and the other
Elizabethan evangelists had all been sporadic and spasmodic*••
The moral condition of the country was such as to require a
reevangelization on the largest scale. 1
The rise and fall of dynasties produced a political
uncertainty and this prolonged unsettledness had injuriously
affected national morals. The private vices of the royalty
had its influence upon the people. Woman’s shame was held
to be no dishonor, the passion for gambling attained its
climax, lottery and bribery of common occurence, and a gen
eral degeneration in political life prevailed#
The literature was demoralized by political patronage.
The production of the pen was tainted with the politics of
the party of the State that could pay the largest sum of
money.
It was an age of spiritual paralysis. Infidelity was
a fashion among the educated classes, and any serious regard
for religion was ridiculed. To quote from Buckley;
The mass of the people, transferred from one religious sys
tem to another with no option of their own, were either
submissive or indifferent. The divergence of views concern
ing the proper observance of Sunday promoted general disregard
of the day. Dissenters of different sects knew little of
Ibid.i 22-23,
51
toleration, less of fraternity; and while signal examples
of piety and learning were found in the Established Church
and among the older sects, cant and formality characterized
the majority. Controversy could be enkindled in a moment,
speedily became tinged with bitterness, and hurried on to
violence. The greatest extremes of doctrine, discipline,
and ritual were advocated with vehemence, v/hile to gain a
temporary ascendancy apparently destructive compromises were
made, only to smother temporarily the flames which raged be
neath. The spiritually minded and all of keen sensibility*
deplored the condition of social and ecclesiastical morals. 1
Histories are replete in data concerning the conditions
of grossness and extravagance ^ich characterized the morals
of what called itself the best society of England during the
first half of the eighteenth century. "Pov/erless in the face
of such conditions," says Phelan, " the Established Church
was itself in need of rescue. Its theology was cold and
colorless, its clergy for the most part ignorant^ indolent^’
‘ 2
and unspiritual, preaching not good news, but good advice.!*
In the face of this perplexing de lemma glowed the
smothered embers of the revival fires that were to set Eng
land and the world aflame with a great spiritual conflagra
tion that could not be quenched by subsequent apposing forces.
In spite of the condition which pervaded the nation, England
remained at heart religious. In every age and under every
condition there is a remnant "who refuse to bow the knee to
Baal", devout souls "waiting for the consolation of Israel,"
One such was Samuel Wesley, rector of Epworth parish, whose
prophetic words addressed to his son Charles, "The Christian
faith will surely revive in this Kingdom; you shall see it/
1 *
Buckley, James M., History of Methodism, 25-26.
Phelan, M,, Handbook of all Denominations, 96-97.
52
but I shall not," were soon to come true.
The revival did come, and primarily through the sons
of the prophetic father and infatigable mother. It burst
forth among the middle calss and changed after a time the
whole tone of English society. In the words of the English
historian. Green:
The Church was restored to life and activity. Religion
carried to the hearts of the people a fresh spirit of moral
zeal, while it purified our literature and our manners, A
new philanthropy reformed our prisons, infused clemency and
wisdom into our penal laws, abolished the slave trade, and
gave the first impulse to popular education. 1
To every great reform there must be attached some
monumental figure that caps the alpine peaks of leadership.
In the great English revival of the eighteenth century, we
focus our attention upon the little group who composed the
"Holy Club at Oxford". Particular attention must be given
John and Charles Wesley, and George WhitefieId, but especial
ly to the indomitable figure, John Wesley, the Curator of the
Club, The little group, which the Wesley brothers gathered
about them at Oxford, was formed at first for the purpose of
discussing the classics. The real interests that bound th e
men together, however, were religious rather than intellect
ual. They never, during all the years of their fellowship,
gave up their mental pursuits. But the religious aspects
grew to be the all-important ones, Hurst gives the following
description:
The first work of the Holy Club was the study of the Bible,
The new movement was^spiritual, humanitarian, but^ first
and strongest of alii scriptural. The searching of the Scrip
1
Green, John Richard, A Short History of the English, 736-7.
53
tures was earnest, open-minded, devout, unceasing# Wesley
himself said; ’ Prom the very beginning- from the time that
four young men united together- each of them was homo un lus
librl; a man of one book.... .They had one, and only one,
rule of judgment.... .They were continually reproached for
this very thing, some terming them in derision Bible Bigots;
others, Bible Moths; feeding, they said, upon the Bible as
moths do on cloth....And, indeed, unto this day, it is their
constant endeavor to think and speak as the oracles of God’. 1
The methodical conduct of their lives gained them
the name of Methodists, given in derision by their fellow
students. The origin of the name- it was almost as epithet
to those who first used it- is more clearly indicated by
the doggerel of that time ;
By rule they eat, by rule they drink.
Do all things else by rule, but think-
Accuse their priests of loose behavior.
To get more in the laymen’s favor;
Method alone must guide ’em all.
Whence Methodists themselves they call. 2
Three figures detached themselves from the group as
soon as, on its transfer to London in 1738, it attracted
public attention by the fervour and even extravagance of
its piety; and each found his special work in the task to
vdiich the instinct of the new movement led it from the first,
that of carrying religion and morality to the vast masses
of population which lay concentrated in the towns, or around
the mines and collieries of Cornwall and the north. Green’s
description of the three is very vivid;
WhitefieId, a servitor of Pembroke College, was above all
the preacher of the revival. Speech was governing English
politics; and the religious power of speech was shown when
a dread of ’enthusiasm’ closed against the new apostles the
pulpits of the Established Church, and forced them to
preach in the fields .... .Whitef ie Id ’ s preaching was such as
England had never heard before, theatrical, extravagant,
often commonplace, but hushing all criticism by its reality,
1
Hurst, John P., The History of Methodism, 201.
2
Luccock-Hut chin son. The Storv of Methodism. 58.
54
Its earnestness of belief, its deep tremulous sympathy
with the sin and sorrow of mankind Charles Wesley,
a Christ Church student, came to add sweetness to this
sudden and strailing light. He was the ’sweet singer’
of the movement. His hyqins expressed the fiery convic
tion of its converts inclines so chaste and beautiful
that its more extravagant features disappeared.♦..But
it was his elder brother, John Wesley, who embodied in
himself, not this or that side of the new movement, but
the movement itself. Even at Oxford, where he resided
as a fellow of Lincoln, he had been looked upon as head
of the group of Methodists, and after his return from a
quixotic mission to the Indians of Georgia he again took
the lead of the little society, which had removed in the
Interval to London. In power as a preacher he stood next
to WhitefieId; as a hymn-writer he stood second to his
brother Charles. But while combining in some degree the
excellences of either, he possessed qualities in which
both were utterly deficient; an indefatigable industry,
a cool judgment, a command over others, a faculty of
organization, a singular union of patience and moder
ation with an imperious ambition, which marked him as
a ruler of men. 1
With the doors of the churches closed against them,
the first open-air preaching in Bristol launched the great
Methodist movement. The work in the open air was the
first distinctive mark. Authorities of the Church in
veighed against it, but it grew rather than slackened.
The distinguished genius of John We sly was shown in the
way he had of picking the individuals who were really
moved out of the crowd and forming them into groups for
further instruction. Thus, under ministry, regular
societies began to come into existence. The first of
these was at Bristol. The most famous of these was "The
Old Foundry", located in London, which served as the head
quarters of the organized societies for many years.
In the meanwhile, societies were being raised up
1
Green, John R., A Short History of the English People, 737-8.
55
in different parts of England and Wales, and new doors
were continually being opened for the Wesleys. They con
tinued to subject themselves to reproaches, mis judgments,
and insults, but in spite of ecclesiastical opposition,
the work of God continued to spread far and wide. Congre
gations numbering from one to fifteen thousand were fre
quently collected to hear the preaching of the Word; and
many of them not only heard, but believed. In speaking
of the continued growth, Br. Belcher writes:
As many of such as desired it, were permitted to become
members of the Society, that they might meet from time
to time for mutual edification and instruction. As the
societies continued to multiply, it became necessary to
adopt some rule of conduct as a condition of membership,
and, in 1743, the general rules of the societies were
adopted and published by Mr. Wesley. These rules in
substance remain the same at the present time, and we
have no doubt will continue in substance what they ever
have been as long as Methodism exists. 1
The next step in the organization of Methodism was
the institution of the class meeting. As We sly moved from
place to place, it was necessary to leave some one to take
care of the converts. Thus arose lay preaching, which
has been the most characteristic mark of Methodism, and in
the opinion of some, her chief glory. The most competent
men were thrust forward and husbanded the societies in the
absence of the regular ministers. The evolution of Meth
odism is compactly described, by Abel Stevens in the follow
ing paragraj^:
The societies need instructors in the absence of Wesley, who
now begins to ’ itinerate * through the kingdom, for the
clergy will not take charge of them, and exclude them from
1
Belcher, Joseph, Religious Denominations- Methodists, 510
56
the communion table. Wesley appoints intelligent laymen
to read to them the Holy Scriptures.... .Thus begins the
lay ministry c f Methodism, whose ten thousand, voices were
soon to be heard in most of the ends of the earth. The
societies multiply faster than the lay preachers ; the Be
must therefore travel from one assembly to another, and
thus begins the ’itinerancy’. The travels of the itiner
ants must be assigned définitIve boundaries, and thus
arises the ’circuit system*. The societies must provide
for their chapel debts and other expenses; the members of
that of Bristol are distributed into companies of twelve,
which meet weekly to pay their ’pennies’ to a select mem
ber, appointed over each, and thus originates the finan
cial economy of Methodism. They find time, when together,
for religious conversation and esdiortatlon, and thus begins
the ’class-meeting,* with its ’leader,’ the nucleus of al
most every subsequent Methodist society in the world, and
a necessary pastoral counterpart to the itinerancy. Many
men of natural gifts of speech, who are not able to travel
as Preachers, appear in the societies; they are licensed
to instruct the people in their respective localities, and
thus arise the offices of ’Local ^reachers ’ and ’Exhorter’,
laborers who have done incalculable service, and have
founded the denomination in the United States, the West
Indies, Africa, and Australia. Wesley finds it necessary
to convene his itinerants annually for consultations and
the arrangements of their plans of labor^ and thus is found
ed (June 25, 1744) the Annual Conference. Several of
these bodies have to be formed in the extended field of the
Church in the United States, and, for their joint action on
Important measures, it becomes necessary to assemble them
together in four years, and thus arises the American General
Conference. 1
Though the Wesleyan revival was, theoretically, a
movement within the Church of England, and both John and
Charles Wesley lived and died without ever severing their
relations with that communion, the continued inhospitable
attitude of the Established Church toward the Methodists
made the case only too plain that they must provide for
themselves. Wesley reluctantly became reconciled to this
fact and accordingly, toward the close of his life, insti
tuted measures to prevent the dissolution of the socities
1
Stevens, Abel, History of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 38-9
57
after his death. By the Deed of Declaration, drawn up in
1784, the Yearly Conference was given a permanent legal
standing. This act secured the property to the societies
and gave all the congregations a permanent connectional
existence.
Wesley became convinced that presbyters and bishops
are the same order, that apostolic succession was a claim
that never could be proved, and was not true, and that he
was as much a Scriptural Episcopos as any man in England.
Holding these views, he, on September 2, 1784, ordained
Thomas Coke as a superintendent for America, and Thomas
Vasey and Richard Whatcoat as presbyters with him, to go
to America and ordain Francis Asbury as bishop.
In polity Wesleyan Methodism possesses the charac
teristics of Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Congregational
forms of government. In general the organization of the
Methodist Church is represestative. The officers of the
Church in America, are bishops, district superintendents,
preachers in charge, deacons, local preachers, exhorters,
stewards, and class-leaders. The American bishops are
only presbyters appointed to a joint superintendency over
the whole church. They preside at the general and annual
conferences, appoint the District Superintendent, and
arrange their districts, ordain preachers, and station
them annually, and have a general oversight of the
affairs of the Church. The presiding elders are super
intendents of local districts, and preside over the dis
trict and quarterly conferences. Deacons are licentiates
58
who can baptize and solemnize marriage, and assist the
elder or minister. Local preachers cannot administer
the sacraments unless they have been ordained. They
conduct the class-meeting and fill the pulpit in the ab
sence of the regular minister. The stewards are the re
ceivers and disbursers of the funds.
The government of the Methodist Episcopal Church is
in the hands of conferences and meetings of the officers.
This is illustrated in the local church board, the quar
terly conference, the district conferences, the annual con
ference and the general conference. The Methodist Church
is not quite so fully representative in its government as
the Presbyterian Church, more authority being in the hands
of the ministry. This is the Episcopal element.
While Wesley stood theologically on the common basis
of Evangelical doctrinal tradition and regarded his "societies"
as part of the Church of England, yet there were certain
characteristic beliefs that made Methodism unique in its
creed.
Doctrinal Methodism claims to adhere to original
Arminianism as set forth by Arminius himself. On all the
essential points of vital Christianity, such as the Trinity,
human depravity, the atonement, the necessity of regeneration
and personal holiness, they did not differ from other evan
gelical denominations; but the belief and teachings of the
founder of Methodism was in direct opposition to the essen
tial Calvinistic doctrine of God’s absolute predestination
59
concerning men’s everlasting destiny* The following excerpt
from a letter of John Wesley to his mother and her reply
fairly estimates the attitude of these two concerning the
Calvinist ic doctrine which prevailed at that time. I quote
from Bishop Hurst;
Wesley and his mother rejected the doctrine of Predestination,
which for centuries had terrified many earnest souls, and
narrowed the sympathies and work of the Christian Church.
Wesley asks; ’How is this consistent with either the divine
justice or mercy? Is it mercy to ordain a creature to ever
lasting misery? Is it just to punish man for crimes which
he could not but commit? That God should be the author of
sin and injustice- which must, I think, be the consequence
of maintaining this opinion- is a contradiction of the
clearest idea we have of the divine nature and perfections.*
To this his mother replies; ’The doctrine of Predestination,
as maintained by rigid Calvinists, is very shocking, and
ought to be abhorred, because it directly charges the most
high God with being the author of sin. I think you reason
well and justly against it, for it is clearly inconsistent
with the justice and goodness of God to lay any man under
a physical or moral necessity of committing sin, and then
tp punish him for dping it.’ 1
Again, after being repelled by the prévalant morbid
teachings as to the necessity of perpetual sorrowful uncer-
tainity concerning personal salvation, he writes to his
mother;
If we dwell in Christ and he in us (which he will not do
unless we are regenerated), certainly we must be sensible
of it. If we can never have any certainty of our being
in a state of salvation, good reason it is that every
moment should be spent not in joy, but in fear and tremb
ling, and then undoubtedly we are in this life, of all
men, most miserable. God deliver us from such a fearful
doctrine as this I 2
Arminianism, which formed the basis of the charac
teristic doctrines of the coming Methodism, is concisely
stated in the following passage from Dryer;
1
Hurst, John Fletcher, The History of Methodism, 174.
2
Ibid., 173.
60
Wesley’s distinctive teaching was; (1) Free salvation; that
Christ died for all. (2) The doctrine of assurance; that
every one may know that his sins are forgiven who repents
and believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit
bearing witness with his spirit. (3) That it is possible
by disobedience to fall from this and every state of grace.
(4) Christian perfection; that it is possible for a believer
to live without willfully trangressing a known law of God. 1
A more elaborate description of the Armiinian theory,
as contrasted with Calvinism and emphasized by Wesley, might
prove valuable in setting forth the doctrinal basis of the
beginnings of Methodism. Let me quote at some length from
Schaff and Herzog:
Wesleyanism, or Methodist Arminianism, while maintaining
God’s supremacy as strenuously as Calvin himself, makes a
radical distinction between the desires and the purposes
of God, precisely as it does between the wishes and the
determinations of man. The divine forelmowledge is re
garded as logically preceding the divine volitions, and
not as inference resulting from them. Hence, #ien §od
resolves, it is in view of all the contingencies and cir
cumstances of the case,and his prescience is simply in
tuitional. What he knows- whether as to the past, the
present, or the future,- although absolutely certain, is
not necessitated by that cognition. He not only knows
that it has taken, or is taking, or will take, place, but
also that it might have been or could be othervfise. This
is considered a fundamental difference between the Arminian
and the Galvinian conception of God.
2. As a corollary from the foregoing distinction, Wesleyans
hold, that while God absolutely -or if any prefer to say
arbitrarily- determines natural (i.e. physical) events, he
has not done so with occurrences belonging to the moral
8#iere, but has left these contingent upon the volitions
of his rational creatures within certain limits. This
forms, in their view, the basis of human probation and
free-will.
3. Especially they believe, that while man is bom with
corrupt moral affections, and therefore is of himself
unable to either love or serve God acceptably, yet by
virtue of the universal atonement of Christ, and the gen
eral distribution of the Holy Spirit, such gracious aid
is supematurally afforded to every man as is sufficient
to enable him to overcome the bias of his depraved af
fections, and the weakness or perverseness of his will;
1
Dryer, George H., History of the Christian Church, IV, 465.
61
so that. If he chooses, he may, through the appointed means
lay hold upon salvation of the gospel. Just at this pivotal
point occurs the practical or anthropological, in distinction
from the theoretical or theological, difference between Wes
leyan Arminianism and ^^alvinism, whether of the old or the
new school. In a last analysis the precise element of force
which turns the scale in favor of a new life, or otherwise,
is believed by Wesleyans to be the will of the subject him
self, acting freely under its own impulses, in view of, but
not a constrained by, motives, and yet stimulated and guided
by divine light and grace. Without an original and continued
influence from God, the will, would never move in the right
direction; yet this influence is never coercive, however power
ful or effectual it may be. God’s Spirit is therefore held
to be the efficient agent which renews the moral nature of
the subject ^pon the decisive act of acquiescence, as soon
as it is accompanied by a positive element of acceptance,
which latter is saving faith. The man does not save him
self, but only consents to be saved of God, and rests upon
Christ for thàt purpose. The penitence and faith involved
in this are indeed potentially the gift of God; but their
actual use .and exercise are the conscious, voluntary, and
personal act of the man himself. Wesleyans conceive this
to be the accurate and consistent account of conversion or
regeneration, involving, in due balance and just respon
sibility, the human and the divine co-operation.
4. Wesleyan Methodists, as we have shown, believe that con
version is the result of conscious faith, and that it involves
a conscious chemge in the feelings. They therefore univer
sally maintain that it is the privilege of every child of God
to know his gracious state. Further, they believe that sound
experience, no less than scripture, warrants the expectation
of a special divine inward testimony to the fact of the chang
ed relation tov/ards God; and this they call "the witness of
the Spirit" to the adoption. This is held to be a distinct
but concomitant assurance in addition to the consciousness
spoken of above, and also different from a rational conclusion
derived by the person himself from his own altered demeanor.
5. Methodist Arminiens, without exception, argue, from the
foregoing doctrine of free grace, that it is likewise full,
i.e., able to remove entirely the innate depravity of the hu
man heart during the present life. This, of course, they
qualify by the obvious liabilities to relapse, and by the im
perfections inseparable from the present state of probation.
6. Finally, holding the above views of the fearful power of
the human will to accept or reject salvation, Wesleyans, with
out exception, believe that it equally extends to the retention
or loss of the divine pardon, peace, and purity, at any period
during probation. They therefore reject the doctrine of the
impossibility of lapsing utterly and finally from grace, and
believe that any may, and that many actually do, lose their
state of acceptance, and their love of holy things, and Ulti
mately perish. They do not maintain that any one is competent
62
to keep himself in a condition of holiness, any more than
to attain it unaided at first, but that the same gracious
assistance is vouchsafed to the chile of God throughout his
earthly career, on precisely the same terms of acceptance
and co-operation# 1
Thus we see by the foregoing that the emphasis put
upon the divine life, and upon those phases of Scripture
teaching which are essential to the unrestrained proclama
tion of this life as a life for all, the most distinctive
characteristics of Methodism#
The sacraments of the Methodist societies were two
in number, the Lord’s Supper and Baptism* The motto of
Wesley, "Think, and let think", was practiced in the obser
vance of the sacraments, as no mode was enjoined for the
people to follow. He believed in the baptism of infants,
but permitted the convert to choose his mode of baptism.
The positive teaching of Methodism gave emphasis
to the definite spiritual life of the individual with the
positive assurance of a free, a full, and a present sal
vation from all sin. A bright, joyous, active type of rel
igion, as compared with the cold ritualistic forms, was
thus produced ; very attractive to the multitudes and very
effective as a means of Church advancement.
The growth of the Church has been momentous, and at
present stands as the vanguard in the promotion of unifica-
tion with her sister Protestant denominations.
The controversy concerning the inception of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, South, would constitute a complete
1
Schaff-Herzog, Encyclopaedia of Religious Knowledge, 145-6
63
chapter for its elucidation. But as this thesis is de
signed to include only the certain distinctive denomina
tions listed, shall only briefly outline the fundamental
reason for the beginning of the Southern Church#
The question of slavery had been agitated in the
Methodist "societies" in America, and in the conferences,
previous to the formation of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
and still continued to be a disturbing element after the
organization# At the General Conference of 1844, however^
the agitation reached a crisis, which resulted in the dis
ruption of the Church. The Rev. Francis A. Harding, of
the Baltimore Conference, had been suspended from the
ministry for refusing to emancipate slaves belonging to
his wife ; and he appealed from this decision to the Gen
eral Conference. Bishop James 0. Andrew was also found
to be in possession of slaves through marriage and bequest.
This state of affairs, and a growing conviction on the part
of a majority of the church that slavery and Christianity
are inconsistent, brought the Conference to definite action.
It can be readily seen that, if the bishop had emancipated
the slaves in the North, if not in the South ; if he had
agreed to suspend his Episcopal functions until he had be
come disconnected with slavery; or if he had resigned,-
the crisis would not have occurred at that time. Future
generations will wonder how he could have allowed himself
to be put in the position of dividing the greatest American
Churches on an issue so personal to himself and so repug-
64
nant to the moral sense of Christendom. But that personal
element of selfishness will always prove to be a stumbling-
block in the agitation for reuniting the forces of Methodism
and Protestantism.
However to quote from Schaff and Hertzog;
After a long and able discussion of the question, the
following action was taken by a vote of 111 in the affirm
ative, and 69 in the negative:
WHEREAS the Discipline of the Church forbids the doing any
thing calculated to destroy our itinerant and general super-
intendency; and whereas Bishop Andrew has become connected
with slavery, by marriage and otherwise, and this act having
drawn after it circumstances, which, in the estimation of
the General Conference, will greatly embarrass the exercise
of his office as an itinerant general superintendent, if not,
in some places, entirely prevent it; therefore,
RESOLVED, that it is the sense of this General Conference
that he desist from the exercise of this office so long as
this impediment remains. 1
The Southern delegates were greatly displeased with
this action; and, after several unsuccessful attempts at
a modification of the attitude of the Conference, they
adopted the following declaration;
The delegates of the conference in the slave-holding States
take leave to declare to the General Conference of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, that the continued agitation
on the subject of slavery and abolition, in a portion of
the Church, the frequent action on that subject in the
General Conference, and especially the extra-judicial
proceedings against Bishop Andrew, #iich resulted, on
Saturday last, in the virtual suspension of him from his
office as superintendent, must produce a state of things
in the South vhich renders a continuance of the juris
diction of the General Conference over these conferences
inconsistent with the success of the ministry in the
slaveholding States. 2
It was very evident that the Southern delegates
would be satisfied with nothing less than a discontinuance
1
Schaff & Hertzog, Encyclopaedia of Religious Knowledge,
TÏT, 1491:
65
of all further agitation of the slavery question, and the
Northern delegates would insist upon administering discip
line to all ministers in the Ohurch who should buy, sell
or hold slaves ; and would not tolerate the presidency of
a slaveholding bishop. A committee of nine, composed of
Northern Eind Southern delegates, was appointed to prepare
a Plan of Separation, which they submitted to the Conference,
and which was adopted by a nearly unanimous vote, being 13 9
to 17. "The ’plan’ provided for the voluntary withdrawal
of the annual conferences of the slaveholding States, the
permission to ministers and members to hold to the body of
their choice,- the Methodist-Episcopal Ghuaroh, or the
Church South,- and equitable distribution of the church
property, and a formal agreement not to interfere with the
1
work of each other."
The Southern delegates issued an address to their
constituents, detailing the facts, and calling for a con
vention, composed of delegates from annual conferences in
the ratio of one to eleven, to meet in Louisville, Kentucky,
May 1st, 1845. This convention organized the Methodist-
Episcopal Church South, invited Bishops Soule and Andrew
to become itinerant General superintendents, and appointed
its first General Conference to be held in Petersburg,
Virginia, in May, 1846.
Recent negotiations have been made between the
General Gonferences of the two Methodist bodies endeavoring
1
Ibid., 1491.
66
to bring about a reconciliation and unification of forces,
but all have proved fatal on the fundamental inceptional
reasons for the division#
CHAPTER VII
CHRISTIAN CHURCH
also known as
DISCIPLES OF CHRIST CHURCH OF CHRIST— CAMPBELLITES
Genesis Polity Doctrine Peculiarities
In the very act of a proposed unification, another
denomination was formed. Unity of Protestantism has
been unsuccessful, in the main, by the setting forth of
some pet theory, based only upon the knowledge of the
sense perception, of the individual.
The denominational germ of the Christian Church was
born in the mind of one Thomas Campbell, Rev. Campbell
was a member of the Seceder Church of Ireland, In his
time sectarianism and religious bigotry had gone to seed
even in the Seceder Church, The general attitude of the
Churches is expressed by Errett Gates as follows:
"The spirit of bigotry and sectarian animosity was not con
fined to the Seceders. The established Church herself
and all dissenting bodies, including the Presbytery of
Relief, finally narrowed the grace of God and his cove-
1
nan ted mercies to their own bodies."
This spectacle of divisions and animosities between
Christians seemed to Campbell more than childish; they
1
Gates, Errett, The Story of the Churches- Disciples
of Christ, 26,
68
were sinful. Thus, as he reflected upon them, he inquired
the reason for them and sought a remedy. In this national
spirit of independence there grew among the churches various
religious forms and doctrinal beliefs, and the influences of
these doctrinal peculiarities and practices subsequently be
came characteristic of the churches founded by the Campbells
in America.
Owing to personal health, and possibly from other
motives, Thomas.Campbell determined to establish for him
self and family a home in the United States, He arrived
in Philadelphia, May the 27th, 1807, The Seceder Synod
of North America was in session in that city and he at once
presented his credentials to that body. He was cordially
received and at once assigned to the Presbytery of Chartlers
in southwestern Pennsylvania, had come to America as
a zealous missionary of the Cross, and through the various
influences in Ireland, he had learned to cherish a liberal
religious spirit, and to esteem as of little value the
barriers of denominat ional ism that separate Christians,
The condition, however, of the section to which he
was assigned is somewhat pictured by J. H. Garrison in the
following paragraph;
It is well known that the Seceders constitute one of the
’straitest sects* of the Calvinistic faith. To this hour,
in the very comer of Pennsylvania to which Thomas Campbell
had come, as well as elsewhere, they will not affiliate in
full fraternal fellowship with other Presbyterians, I
well remember that In 1840 a Scotch Seceder minister, in
eastern Ohio, would prepare his flock for the worthy par
ticipation of the ’ Sacrament’ with such words as these;
’My bretheren, I exhort you to abhor all other denomi-
69
nations, especially the Catholics.* It was in the matter
of the communion that the severe test of fellowship was
applied. 1
He believed that in this freest land, mens* hearts,
those of all enlightened Christians, and above all of the
ministry, would necessarily be emancipated from the un
yielding sectarian prejudices and animosities of the Old
World. And, as one has said, "he would not temporize nor
bow his neck to the tyrannous dictates of human traditions
or human policy."
His natural ability, his scholarship, and literary
culture, made him superior to the preachers in that region
and soon won for him the hearts of many people. He also
found near him in his new home a number of Christian people
■gdio had come over from Ireland, Presbyterians and Independ
ents. He promptly gathered them around him and invited them
to partake in his ministrations as Christian brethem.
Garrison makes the remard " that this sort of freedom, how
ever, was not in consonance with ’the usage* of the Seceders.**
In the acts of his early ministry, he took a vital
step, which in a very decided manner transgressed the estab
lished custom of the Church. He was sent on a missionary
tour with one of his colleagues to the scattered Seceders of
that then sparsely settled region. He found there many mem
bers of other Presbyterian bodies who had not for a long
time enjoyed the privilege of the Holy Communion. Even
though his Church had decreed to have no fellowship with
1
Garrison, J.H., The Reformation of the Nineteenth Century. 19
70
b re them of other Presbyterian parties, much less other
denominations, *his heart urged him to deplore in his
introductory sermon the existing divisions among Christians,
and to invite all the pious among the hearers, who were
prepared for it, to unite in the participation of this feast
of God*s people; and many accepted the invitation. This was
a bold infraction of Seceder custom.**
The actions of Thomas Campbell were reported to the
Presbytery and he was severely reprimanded for his trans
gression of the Church traditions. Assured of the right
eousness of his cause, he appealed to the Seceder Synod of
North America, which was the highest court in the Church.
But the sectarian prejudices and feelings of jealousy in
fluenced the Synod to uphold the censure inflected by the
Presbytery. He^ therefore, presented to the Synod a formal
re nunc i at ion of their control, and informed them that he
now gave up *all ministerial connection** with it, and held
himself henceforth * * utterly unaffected by its authority.**
His ministerial labors suffered no relaxation. No
meeting house was at his command; but he held his assemblies
in private dwellings, barns, schoolhouses, and under the
green trees. He felt, however, that his ministry could not
bring forth the enduring results under the prevailing con
ditions. He consequently proposed to them that they meet
together and consult on the best method to give more order^
definiteness and permanency to their efforts. The assem
blage had such vital confidence in their leader that the
1
Ibid., 21.
71
principles outlined by Campbell were adopted without oppo
sition and the following results are noted by Garrison:
The primary object proclaimed by Thomas Campbell, viz.,
the promotion of Christian union on the Bible alone, was
the guiding star of this new movement. The company of
people who had now heartily entered into it soon began to
feel that, in order to carry out with successful effort
their purpose, they must organize themselves into a well-
ordered permanent association. At a meetind held on the
headwaters of Buffalo Creek, on the 17th of August, 1809,
it was decided that they would formally unite themselves
into a regular body, under the name of **The Christian
Association of Washington” - the place being in Washington
county. This act and this date may be regarded as the
actual beginning of our reformation in an organized form. 1
The Christian Association thought of itself, not as
a church or as a new religious denomination, but as a soci
ety for the promotion of Christian union among all the
denominations. Its members still held membership In the
various churches of the region. As a subsequent meeting
of this Association, a Declaration and Address presented
by Thomas Campbell, setting forth some of the principles
which should guide them in their efforts to bring the
Church into closer conformity to scriptural teaching. Errett
Gates gives the following brief summary of the Declaration:
The Declaration sets forth the motives and purposes of the
association as follows: ’ Moreover, being well aware, from
sad experience, of the heinous nature and pernicious ten
dency of religious controversy among Christians, tired and
sick of the bitter jarrings and janglings of a party spirit,
would desire to be at rest; and, were it possible, we
would also desire to adopt and recommend such measures as
would give rest to our brethem throughout all the churches ;
as would restore unity, peace and purity to the whole church
of God.* * Our desire, therefore, for ourselves and our
bre them would be that rejecting human opinions and the
inventions of men, as of any authority, or as having any
place in the Church of God, we might forever cease from
further contentions about such things; returning to and
1
Garrison, J. H., The Reformation of the Nineteenth
Century, 38-9.
72
holding fast by the original standard; taking the divine
word alone for our guide; the Holy Spirit for out teacher
and guide, to lead us into all truth; and Christ alone, as
exhibited in the word, for our salvation: that by so doing
we may be at peace among ourselves, follow peace with all
men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.’
Then follows a statement of the purpose and program of the
Association: To form a religious association for promoting
simple and evangelical Christianity^ under the name of the
Christian Association of Washington; to contribute a certain
sum to support a pure gospel ministry and supply the poor
with the Scriptures; to encourage the formation of similar
associations; to consider itself not a church, but as a
church reformation society; to countenance only such minis
ters as adhere closely to thé example and precept of Scrip
ture in conduct and teaching; to entrust the management of
the Association to a standing committee of twenty-one; to
hold two meetings a year; to open each meeting with a ser
mon; and to look to the friends of genuine Christianity for
the support of their work.” 1
Alexander Campbell, the son, arrived in America just
as the Declaration and Address was coming from the press.
He had also broken with the Seceders and consequently joined
with his father in the promotion of the new faiths. With
his natural ability for leadership, he quickly stepped be
fore his father and became the *Apollos” who ^watered” the
seed already planted by the father.
Another current of independent origin, which arose
in ”The Springfield Presbytery”, led by Barton W. Stone,
joined the main stream of the Christian Association. The
two bodies of people so closely related in ideas and prin
ciples could not permanently remain apart, and thus the
forces were united in the advancement of their ideals.
Thomas Campbell, seeing that the Christian Associ
ation was tending toward another religious party, made over
tures for union with the Presbyterians. The offer was
1
Gates, Errett, The Story of the Churches, The Disciples
of Christ, 46^7^. ~
73
unanimously rejected by the Synod on the ground that he
taught doctrines contrary to the Confession of Faith.
The enthusiasm of the reformers carried them into
a seeming spirit of egotism that narrowed the possibility
of their endeavors. Their pet theory and motto, ”when the
Scriptures speak, we speak; where the Scriptures are silent,
we are silent”, seemed to only apply where they could be
the sole interpreter of what the Scriptures were speaking#
This was soon discovered in their conclusions as to baptism,
as ”they soon came to see that infant baptism and sprinkling
and pouring were wholly unknown to the New Testament; that
only believing penitents were proper scriptural subjects^
and that immersion was the one true meaning of baptism and
1
the only practice of the primitive church#”
When it became known among the Baptists that the
Church at Brush Run, under the leadership of the Thomas and
Alexander Campbell, had adopted immersion as the scriptural
form of baptism, and that their views of church government
vfere very similar to those of the Baptists, they made over
tures to the Campbells to Identify themselves with the Bap
tist Association* The offer was accepted and they united
with the Redstone Baptist Association. It was soon learned,
however, that there were wide differences in their beliefs
and each held view out of harmony with the other. Bittér
opposition developed to the point that Thomas Campbell and
the reformers voluntarily withdrew from the association.
1
Garrison, J.H., The Reformation of the Nineteenth Century, 52
74
Henceforth, the Churches identified with the Reformation
were regarded as independent of the Baptists and of any other
existing religious organization#
The rapid growth of the body as an independent move
ment and its continued successes confirmed the belief of its
leaders in the correctness of their principles and teachings.
It very early developed a consciousness of scriptural cor
rectness and infallibility, which placed them in the light
of a very narrow and exclusive sect. There was an element
among them that contracted the spirit of a sect, thou^ all
the time professing hatred of sectarianism. Thus, in the
action of protesting against denominational ism, they appar
ently have added another to the divisions of the Church.
In polity the Disciples of Christ agree substantially
with the Congregationalists and Baptists, with the exception
that the distiction of clergy and laity is repudiated in
theory. ^However,” Small remarks, ”for ’the sake of order
and efficiency* they have elders or ministers and deacons.
But all Christians are *royal priests of God*, and may
baptize, administer the Lord*s Supper, and do whatever needs
1
to be done.” The Churches are organized into districts.
State, and National conventions; nor for discussion or de
cisions in matters of doctrine or discipline, but only for
cooperation in the benevolent work of the denomination. No
ecclesiastical courts are recognized as having authority
over the local Churches#
1
Small, Charles, H., Cornerstones of Faith, 357.
75
The doctrinal teachings of the Disciples are Evan
gelical, holding the generally accepted orthodox teachings
of the Arminian type. The central thought in their en
deavors, however, was the repudiation of all human it ary
creeds and a restoration of primitive Christianity. In
their attempt to restore the apostolic standards, they
attached to themselves peculiar forms of worship and doc
trinal beliefs that appear as marks of peculiarity.
The ordinance of Baptism was greatly emphasized as
being the final act by which persons came into Christ. The
fact concerning the ordinance of BaptlsA as being one of the
two sacraments instituted by Christ for the Church has never
caused any controversy or point of difference, but as already
\
noted, the mode" by which the ordinance is ministered has
been the point of contention and strife, as each person en
deavors to prove his method by the teachings of the Scriptures.
The Disciples of Oirlst are not void of this peculiar
ity. We read from Schaff, ” In regard to the action of bap
tism, the Disciples are in accord v/ith the Baptists# Immersion
with them is the only baptism that is scriptural, and that
1
could be universally accepted. ” They contend that the
scripture referring to ” being buriéd with Him By baptism”
can only be interpreted as meaning immersion. It is so strong
ly believed with them that one of their historians has stated
that: ” It is the only ordinance (immersion) representing
1
8chaff- Herzog, Encyclopaedia of Religious Knowledge, I, 645.
76
both the burial and the resurrection of Christ* The early
Christians were immersed,they were not sprinkled or poured* ••
It is distressing, therefore, to see water sprinkled upon
2
a person as baptism in the sacred names of deity. ”
The sacred sacraments of the Lord’s Supper which was
instituted by Christ as a means of unifying his followers
as they meditated upon his sacrificial suffering, has prov
ed to be one of the greatest sources of disaffection and
disunion. The study of the Disciples of Christ introduces
another phase of difference among the Protestant Churches*
Their literal interpretation of the Scriptures bearing upon
the actions of the primitive Christians brought the obser
vance of the Holy Communion into a weekly practice. The
Disciples ” break the loaf”, in commemoration of the suf
ferings and death of Jesus, every first day of the week, as
an essential and divinely ordained part of the sanctification
of the Lord’s Day. In accordance with the affirmation that
”the disciples came together on the first day of the week to
break bread,” and with the example of the early believers
in Christ, they hold that Christians should now observe the
sacrament every first day of the week in memory of the resur
rection of Christ *
The disciples of Christ now constitute an organized
movement of Christian people away from subtle creeds and
philosophical refinements and divisive sectarian dogmas,
back to the primitive simplicity and unity of the Church.
2
A Layman, The Church of Christ, 267.
And the movement, #iich has come to be known as the Refor
mation of the Nineteenth Century, has developed into a vast
army of constituents. Even though the Disciples had their
incipiency in the thought of unifying the forces of Protest
antism, they have now become one more denomination with
which to reason in the plan of an amalgamation of all Churches.
CHAPTER VIII
CONCLUSION
It has been plainly shown in the foregoing study
that there were certain fundamental principles which
underlay the cause for the inception of each denomination.
It has revealed certain facts which are entirely perti
nent to the present day study of propaganda concerning
the growing attitude toward unification of certain Protes
tant denominations. A recapitulation of the entire list
of all the inceptional causes would not be desirable, nor
practical, but a bird’s eye view of the fundamental reasons
will suffice for this present study#
There are a few general elements Miich are apparent
in each of the denominations. These will be listed with
out extended comment, as they are self-explanatory.
First, it was interesting to note that each denomi
nation traced the reason for its beginning back to the
primitive church of the Apostolic New Testament experience.
This fact will be a very delicate subject in the program
for unification adjustment.
Second, individual prejudice, with an unwi 11 Ingness
to compromise, was evident among the leaders. A seeming
spirit of the tyrannous dominion of human traditions had
made void the law of God.
79
Third, a ” personal ” ambition of the leaders was
obviously present. This was depicted in the spirit of
egotism shown#
Fourth, a seeming ” individual infallibility ” in
interpretation of the Scriptures concerning the polity and
doctrinal teachings#
The study reveals that the whole history of Protes
tantism has been a continual demonstration of the impos
sibility of uniting on the basis of a complete theology^
even a professedly Biblical theology# ” The exercise of
the right of private judgment,” says Garrison, ” is a
guarantee that there will always be many differences of
opinion as to what the Bible teaches upon certain points
1 ;
of doctrine #” Thus^ the attempt to reduce Christianity
to its simplest and purest fom by emphasis upon the feel
ing of the individual as the criterion of religion, has
quickened and enthused the Church, but has contributed
little to the solution of the problem of unity, and in
fact has played the role of first place in the cause for
disunion among the Churches#
It appears to the writer that the unity of the
Church is to be baaed, not upon a complete system of Bib
lical or dogmatic theology, nor upon anything which is to
be found within the individual himself; but upon the auth
ority of Qirist and the simple terms which He has laid down
as conditions of salvation#
1
Garrison, J.H., The Story of a Century, 102-3.
80
I can think of no better way to list the specific
deductions made in the study concerning the peculiarities
of each denomination than the following. It will not be
necessary to relate again the prevailing conditions of the
Church, or state the time of the inception of the new de
nomination, but only that which must be dealt with in the
thought and plan of unification.
PRESBYTERIAN
Calvinism
Synodical Government
Liberal Observance of Ordinances
Fedobaptism
CONGREGATIONAL
Calvinism
Local Independency
Church Fellowship
No Creedal Form
Liberal Observance of Ordinances
Fedobaptism
BAPTISTS
Calvinism
Local Independency
Restricted Observance of Ordinances
Restricted Baptismal Form
Anti-Pedobaptism
METHODIST
Arminianism
Episcopacy
Liberal Observance of Ordinances
Fedobaptism
Lay Ministry
CHRISTIAN
Arminianism
Apostolic Custom
Restricted Baptismal Form
Weekly Observance of Lord’s Supper
No Creedal Form
Anti-Fedobaptism
81
The traditions of the denominational life have been
grounded into the consciences of the constituents of each
Church# This only can be overcome by the continuance of
educating the present and oncoming generation to avoid the
individual prejudices of the past; and an elevation of the
principle of Christian Brotherhood, which will pave the way
toward a united Protestantism#
We are looking hopefully and confidently forward to
the time when each denomination shall not exist as a frag
ment of the Church ; and, in the words of a recent thesis^
because there are elements of essential good in all the
denominational standards of faith and procedure, we can
hope to see the day when by mutual consent they will be
come melted in the cureible of understanding, and there
will come a willingness to exchange ’the poor charity of
mutual forbearance’ for ’the benign consciousness of in
ward sympathy and active co-operation’. 1
The writer does not expect that this consumât ion
will be reached by the absorption of the religious neighbors
into any ’ ’ one” denomination, but by the pervasion of the
whole brotherhood of believers with the spirit of the Master,
so that the multitude of them that believe shall be of one
heart and of one soul#
1
Anderson, Elmer Stuart, Thesis- Church Unity & Denominationalism
82
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Anderson, Church Unity and DenominatIonalism. Thesis
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, 1927.
Bacon, Leonard W., The Story of the Churches-The Congre-
gationalists. The Baker & Taylor Co., New York, 1904.
Buckley, James M., History of Methodism. Harper &-Brothers,
New York & London, 1898.
Bames, Lemuel Call, Two Thousand Years of Missions Before
Carey. The Christian Culture Press, Chicago, 1902.
Belcher, Joseph, Religious Denominations. John 2. Potter,
Philadelphia, 1861.
Caughey, James, Methodism in Earnest. John Early, Richmond
& Louisville, 1851.
Clark, William, The Anglican Reformation. Charles Scrib
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Discipline of Methodist Episcopal Church. The Methodist
Book Concern, 1928.
Dryer, George H. History of the Christian Church. 5 vols.
Jennings & Fye, Cincinnati, Eaton & Mains, N.Y. 1903.
Fallows, Samuel, Bible Encyclopaedia & Scriptural Dictionary.
The Howard-Severance Co., Chicago, 1903.
Fisher, George Park, History of the Christian Church.
Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1904.
Fisher, George Park, History of the Reformation. Charles
Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1885.
Fagley, Frederick L., The Congregational Churches.
The Pilgrim Press, Boston & Chicago, 1925.
83
Faulkner, John Alfred, The Story of the Churches-The
Methodists # The Baker & Taylor Co., New York, 1903.
Garrison, J.H., The Story of a Century. Christian
Publishing Co., St. Louis, 1909.
Garrison, J.H., The Reformation of the Nineteenth Century.
Christian Publishing Co., St. Louis, 1901.
Gates, Errett, The Story of the Churches-Disciples of
Christ. The Baker & Taylor Co., New York, 1905.
Green, John Richard, Short History of the English People. ,
The Copp, Clark Co., Toronto, 1888.
Hausser, Ludwig, The Period of the Reformation 1517-1648.
Robert Garter & Bros., New York, 1868.
Hays, George P., Presbyterians. J.A. Hill & Co.,
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Hazel tine, Katharine S., Pilgrim Follov/ers of the Gleam.
The Pilgrim Press, Boston & Chicago, 1919.
Hooker, Elizabeth, United Churches. George H. Doran,
New York, 1926.
Hurst, John P.., The History of Methodism. Eaton & Mains,
New York, 1902.
Hurst, John F., Short History of the Christian Church.
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Kellar & Stewart, Protestant Europe; Its Crisis and Outlook
George H. Doran Co., New York, 1927.
Lee-Luccock-Dixon, The Illustrated History of Methodism.
The Methodist Magazine Publishing Co., St. Louis &
New York, 1900.
84
Lucas, George H., The Political Significance of Calvinism
In Scotland. Thesis,University of Southern California,
Los Angeles, Gal., 1918.
Luccock, H. & Hutchinson P., The Story of Methodism.
The Methodist Book Concern, New York, Cincinnati, 1926.
Moffatt, James, The Presbyterian Churches. Double day,
Doran & Co., Inc. Garden City N.Y. 1928.
Pennington, Levi, Debate Between P.M. Thompson and O.A. Burgess
Centinel Printing and Binding Establishment, 1868.
Potts, Henry H., Back to Oxford. Eaton & Mains, New York,
Jennings & Pye, Cincinnati, 1903.
Phelan, M., Handbook of all Denominations. Cokesbury Press,
Nashville, Tenn. 1924.
Philadelphia Presbyterian Board, The Constitution of the
Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.» Presbyterian
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Board of Education, Boston, 1856.
Reed, R.C., History of the Presbyterian Churches of the World.
The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, 1917.
Sanford, Elias, B., A History of the Reformation. The S.S.
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85
Small, Charles H., Corner-Stones of Faith. E.B. Treat & Co.,
New York, 1898.
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& Taylor Co., New York, 1901.
Snape, John, The Contribution of the Baptist Denomination to
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bytériens . The Baker & Taylor Co., New York, 1903.
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86
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New York & London, 1906.

Asset Metadata

Creator Young, Claude Wheeler (author)

Core Title A study in the unification of certain Protestant church denominations in the light of their historical beginnings

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Degree Master of Theology

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag OAI-PMH Harvest,philosophy, religion and theology

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c39-158267

Unique identifier UC11311683

Identifier EP65002.pdf (filename),usctheses-c39-158267 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier EP65002.pdf

Dmrecord 158267

Document Type Thesis

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Rights Young, Claude Wheeler

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Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

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