' Dnto of ^ll. of
Forinr.tion. Student*.
Western College, Plymouth 1T52 16
Eotherham College 1T50 19
Brecon College 1760 ?A
Cheshuut College 1768 27
Airedale Collesre, Bradford 17Si 20
Hackney CollcLre 1706 20
Laucashire Cdllege ISOG S3
Sprint; Hill, Birmindiam 1S38 21
New College, Lourlon 1S50 40
Cavendish Theological College, Man- chester
II. Doctrines. — " In support of their scheme of Con~ gregational chiurches, the Independents observe that the word tKK\i](Tia, which we translate 'church,' is always used in Scripture to signify either a single congregation, or the jilace where a single congregation meets. Thus that unlawful assembly at Ephesus, brought together against Paul by the craftsmen, is called tKKXrjaia, a church (Acts xix, 32, 39, 41). The word, however, is generally appUed to a more sacred use, but stUl it signi- fies either the body assembling, or the place in which it assembles. The whole body of the disciples at Corinth is caUed the Church, and spoken of as commg together into one 2ilace (1 Cor. xiv, 23^. The place into which they came together we find likewise called a church : ' When ye come together m the chuixh — when ye come together uito one place' (1 Cor. xi, 18, 20). Wherever there were more congregations than one, there were likewise more churches than one. Thus, 'Let your ■women keep silence in the churches,' tv rale tKKXrjaiatg (1 Cor. xiv, 34). The whole nation of Israel is indeed called a church, but it was no more than a smgle con- gregation, for it had but one place of public worship, namely, first the tabernacle, and afterwards the temple. The catholic Church of Christ, hia holy nation and king- dom, is likewise a single congregation, having one place of worship, that is, heaven, where all the members as- semble by faith and hold communion ; and in which, when they shall all be fuUy gathered together, they will in fact be one glorious assembly. Accordingly we find it called ' the general assembly and chturch of the first-bom, whose names are written in heaven.' Besides these, the Independent can find no other description of a church m the New Testament ; not a trace of a diocese or presbytery consisting of several congregations, all subject to one jurisdiction. The number of disciples in Jerusalem was certainly great before they were dis- persed by the persecution in which Paid bore so active a part. Yet they are never mentioned as forming dis- tinct assemblies, but as one assembly, meeting with its elders in one place — sometimes in the Temple, some- times in Solomon's porch, and sometimes in an upper room. After the dispersion, the disciples who fled from Jerusalem, as they could uo longer assemble in one
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place, are never called a Church by themselves, or one church, Out the churches of Judrea, Samaria, and Galilee (Acts ix, 31 ; Gal. i, 22). Hence the Independent con- cludes that in Jerusalem the words church and coii/jre- ijtition were of the same' import ; and if such was the case there, where the Gospel -ivas first preached, he thiidts we may reasonably expect to find it so in other places. Thus, when Paul, on his journey, caUs the eld- ers of the Church of Ephesus to INIiletus, he speaks to them as the joint overseers of a single congregation : ' Take heed to yourselves, and to all the Hock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers' (Acts xx, 28). Had the Church at Ephesus consisted of different con- gregations, united under such a jurisdiction as that of a modern presbytery, it would have been natural to say, ' Take heed to yourselves, and to the flocks over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers ;' but this is a way of speaking of which the Independent finds no in- stance in the whole of the New Testament. The sacred writers, when speaking of all the Christians in a nation or province, never call them the Church of such a na- tion or province, but ' the churches of Galatia' (Gal. i, 2), 'Me churches of IMacedonia' (2 Cor. viii, 1), ^the church- es of Asia' (1 Cor. xvi, 19). On the other hand, when speaking of the disciples in a city or town who might ordinarily assemble in one place, they uniformly call them a Church; as, 'the Church of Antioch,' 'the Church at Corinth,' 'the Church of Ephesus,' and the like.
" In each of these churches or congregations there were bishops, sometimes called 'elders,' and deacons; and in every church there seems to have been more than one elder, and in some a great many, 'who all la- bored in word and doctrine.' Thus we re*d (Acts xiv, 23) of Paid and Barnabas ordaining elders (to be bish- ops and deacons) in everj' church ; and (Acts xx, 17) of a company of elders in the Church of Ephesus, who were exhorted to ' feed the flock, and to take heed to them- selves, and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost had made them overseers.' But of such elders as are found in modern Presbyterian churches, who neither teach nor are fit to teach, the Independent finds no ves- tige in the Scriptures, nor in the earliest uninspired writers of the Christian Church. The rule or govern- ment of this presbytery or eldership in a church is not their own, but Christ's. They are not lords over God's heritage, nor can they pretend to more power over the disciples than the apostles possessed. But when the ad- ministration of the apostles in the Church of .Jerusalem, and other churches where they acted as elders, is in- quired into by an Independent, it does not appear to him that they did anything of common concern to the Church without the consent of the midtitude ; nay, it seems they thought it necessary to judge and determine in discipline, in presence of the whole Church (Acts vi, 1-G; XV, 22; 1 Cor. v, 3,4, 5). Excommunication and absolution were in the power of the Church at Corinth, and not of -the elders as distinguished from the congre- gation (1 Cor. V ; 2 Cor. xi). The apostle, indeed, speaks of his delivering some unto Satan (1 Tim. i, 20); but it is by no means clear that he did it by himself, and not after the manner pointed out in 1 Cor. v, 4, 5 ; even as it does not appear, from his saying, in one epistle, ' that the gift was given unto Timothy by putting on of his hands,' that this was not done in the presbyter;) of a Church, as in the other epistle we find it actually was. The trying and judging of false apostles was a matter of the first im'portance, but it was done by the elders with the flock at Ephesus (Rev. ii, 2 ; Acts xx, 28) ; and that whole flock did, in the days of Ignatius, all partake of the Lord's Supper, and pray together in one place. Even the power of binding and loosing, or the power of the keys, as it has been called, was by our Saviour con- ferred, not upon a particular order of disciples, but upon the Church. ' If thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother; but