charged on us, Brmonimn^ and that idiidi is the eoft* tention of these times, the auikoritatufe Prttb$ttnd ffovemmeniy in all the subordinationa and prooeedingi of it." During the Conmionwealth they stood oo la improved footing, Cromwell being an Indepefidcat, with many of the men who overthrew the tyranny of Charles I. Eminent Congregationalist nunisten woe appointed chaplains, or placed in ^'»^^^"g poritkiw in the universities, among whom were Joim Owea, Thomas Goodwin, Gale, Howe, Chamock, Bridge Nye, Caryl, and GreenhilL While steadily tncTCM- ing in the subsequent reigns, Congregationalfata ra*> lutely opposed all union of Church and State. Ihe most important early public proceeding was the meet- ing of elders and messengers at the Savoy, in Loadwi, hi 1669. They then issued *^ A Declaration of the Faith and Order owned and practiced in the Congre- gational churches in England.'* The dm'lftrat?*" of faith, known as the '* Savoy Confession,'* was a modi- fication of the Westminster Confession, changing do^ trinal statements only slightiy, but excluding every- thing Presbyterian in polity, and changing the Weit- minster theory of the relation of the Church and State so as to deny the authority of magistrates to interfere with ecclesiastical liberty. This Confession is the oae which, slightiy amended, was adopted by the Ameri- can Synod of 1680, and reaffirmed by the AmericaB National ConncQ m 1865. The ** Toleration Act** of 1669 gave shelter to the Congregation aliwts, bat ai that time they, as well as the Baptists, were lev com- pared with the Presbyterians— the throe i^M^irug ^ nominations of Dissenters. The Congr^pataonalisti had increased considerably at the date of the uotewum of George I, in whose time that defection ftom ortiiS' dox doctrine appeared which so greaUy in-volTed the Presbyterians ; from that the Independents were ftm, to which the labors of Watts and Doddridge w«it greatiy conducive. In 1727, on the adoption of a role by the Congregational ministers of the metzvpolis for making up their list, there were found to be filly bub- isters in that city. In 1784 a writer says that all the Independent ministers were Calvinists. In 1831 was formed the Cohobboatiokal Unioit op EssLaxD AND Waues, **on a full recognition of their own dis- tinctive principles, viz. the Scripturpl right of ercry separate church to maintain perfect independenot in the government and administration of its own partiei^ lar afiUrs." This Union meets annually. '* Protest- ing against subscription to any human formularies ss a term of communion,'* the Union declares the " Piia- ciples of Religion** as held by their churches. Ths English and Welsh churches are associated in locsl unions or associations. The Congregationalists tam- ing the COHOBEOATIOHAI. UiaOK OP SoOTUkXP tTsec their immediate origin to the enteqsises of Bobertsod James Haldane (q. v.) in 1798 and subsequent yesis. Originally having no idea of forming churches, when God blessed their labors their converts instinctively drew towards each other. Places of wonhip were built in several of the largest towns, in which cfanr^ es were formed. The Union was organized in 1812. The oldest Congregational churches in Ireland data respectively from 1760, 1787, 1798, and 1796. The churches are united in a Union. In the British eolo> nies there are churches forming the following UnioBS, vis. Victoria, New South Wales, QueenslaQd, South Australia, Tasmania, and Natal, besides those of Can- ada, and Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, wliich an regularly reported with the statistics of the United States churches. ^
8. Continental Europe,— VUnkm dm EgHtrn Enm^ Uques de France^ which was formed in, August, 1819, slKHTtly after the secession from the JB^Iise Jt^brmk ot the late Frederick Monod and those who nebei with him, though not denominated Congregataonsl, holds to tiie essential principle of that polity in ^bk constitutional declaration: "Each church which m-
CONGREGATIONALISTS 4W CONGREGATIONALISTS
ten the unicm preserves the liberty of determining for itself its own constitution, eccording to its convic- tion and necessities. . . . Every church must be con- stituted on tlie principle of individual confession of £Edth, with a guarantee of discipline being exercised by the church itself.** It is a union of self-sustaining churches, and hence is small ; but a large number of churches dependent on aid are in sympathy, and are lepresented at the biennial meetings. In Switzbbp LAND the free churches of Yaud are united on a basis which, though Presbyterian in form, secures the Inde- pendence of each. "Riere are also independent church- es in Neufchi&tel and Berne. These all, with the Free Church of Geneva, the independent churches of the north of«France, compose the alliance of Free or Inde- pendent Evangelical churches founded in I860, admit- ting all churches free of state control which aocept the simple Evangelical Confession of Faith adopted by the Alliance, practise a scriptural discipline, recog- mse the ministry as a divine institution, and engage in the propagation of the "GospeL In Italy evan- gelical communities are being formed, since the estab- Uslmient of the kingdom, upon independent principles, but no definite statements can be given at present re- garding actual organization into churches.
4. OOer Parts qf (he BMSti— Missionary churches exist in all parts of the missionary world, established by missionaries of mainly the London Missionaiy So- dety, the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions, and the American Missionaiy Association.
IL DocTBnrBS.~l. In Amaica.-^Th.t Congrega- tional churches are ** orthodox" in the general sense of Christendom, holding that the Scriptures are the only rule of Ciith and practice, and that no creeds may be imposed on any ; yet it is the duty of the churches to set forth declarations of the understand- ing of the Scriptures in Confessbns of Faith. Alleged erroneous opinions are to be tested, however, not by the Confessions of Faith, but by the Scriptures. They are, in their views of human nature, Angustinian in distinction fr<mi Pelagian, and, as regards the method of the divine government, Calvinistic in distinction from Arminian. While no power can impose a creed on the churches, and each Church adopts its own for- mulas, yet the principles of fellowship, hi which a eooncfl of churches is called for the recognition of a new Church, secures a general agreement in doctrine. For a more general standard, the Westminster Con- fession was adopted by the synod of 1648; that of the Savoy (a slight modification) by the synod of 1680. The General Association of Massachusetts, comprising 600 ministers, declares the Westminster Catechism to be its standard of doctrine. The National Council of I860 declared, nem, con,, " our adherence to the fiuth and order of the apostolic and primitive churches held by our fethers, and substantially as embodied in the confessions and platforms which our synods of 1648 and 1680 set forth or reaffirmed." The study of the- ology has been pursued with great earnestness by Con- gregationalists, and, as a consequence, many shades of opinion are held, while as a body they stand within the Unes indicated. Ver^ many theological writers of great power have published systems or criticisms upon points in divinity, from which has arisen a view of Calvmism often styled the ^ New England theol- ogy," which has many adherents, and which doubt- le^ aff'ects the views of those who do not adopt it as a whole. Its origm is ascribed to the works of the first Jonathan Edwards, who, from his sympathy with the "great revival," directed his powerful energies to "^ explanations of truth as should remove obstacles supposed to be found in the then understanding of Calvinbm. The views which he promulgated were 8nb}ected to the scrutiny of his son. Dr. Jonathan £d- JJ^"ds; and those of both were developed or modified ^ a school of writers, among whom may be named Hopldns, West, Smalley, Bellamy, Emmons, and