YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY THE LIBRARY OF THE DIVINITY SCHOOL SIX ESSAYS ON CONGKEGATIONALISM. ' My general impression is, that in the minds of the men of highest intellect a preparation is going forward for a new epoch ; a period of serious and yet free research after the reality of Christianity among the Catholics, and of advancement in the same direction among the learned Protestants, with a quick growth and spread of congregational life.' Btjnsen. RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS SIX ESSAYS CONGREGATIONALISM. LONDON : LONGMANS, GEEEN, AND CO. 1869. ijjttizs lOBtm?.? wrr aaTnT» i.iiiiuR-Mjrs *-oo niiv huoomsiuims iU U14XK1H.1 '• .HOtl.KO'l PREFACE. The aim of this volume is twofold : first, to describe the religious system of Congregationalists, whether Baptist or Independent, and the forms of character and opinion which it has contributed to produce ; and, secondly, to explain the basis of reason on which Congregational Nonconformity rests. The writers do not claim authority to speak as the representatives of others, but they think it probable that the opinions they have expressed are commonly held by Congregationalists, or at least are prevalent in the younger generation of them. For the freedom with which each writer has set forth his own views has not prevented a substantial agreement between themselves. CONTENTS. Congregational Polity By William Mitchell Fawcett, Barrister-at-Law . 1-59 The External Eelations of Congregationalism By Thomas Martin Herbert, M.A., Minister of the Independent Church at Cheadle, near Man chester 60-90 The Congregationalist Chaeacter By Edward Gilbert Herbert, LL.B., Barrister- at-Law 91-132 Congregationalism and ^Esthetics By Thomas Harwood Pattison, Minister of the Eyehill Baptist Church at Newcastle-on-Tyne . 133-168 Congregationalism and Science By Philip Henry Pye-Smith, M.B., B. A. . . 169-201 The Spirit of Nonconformity By James Anstie, B.A., Barrister-at-Law . . 202-278 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. THE CONGEEGATIONAL POLITY. Upon one or other of two different ideas as to the object and functions of the Christian Church would seem to be based all the many different forms of ecclesiastical polity. The church may either be conceived of as affording a means of mediation between God and man ; as endowed with the power of remitting sins, and intrusted with the revelation of the Divine will ; or it may be looked upon simply as a congregation of believing men, associated for purposes of mutual edification, and the observance of Divine ordinances. The former theory seems neces sarily to involve a hierarchy : the latter finds natural expression in a democratic polity. As Eoman Catholicism is the type of the one view, so Congre gationalism is the literal embodiment of the other. The Congregational Church is nothing more than an association of persons of spiritual character, united B 2 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. by voluntary consent for the accomplishment of spiritual objects. The members have all, before admission, professed belief in Christ and a desire to live according to His precepts. But neither is mem bership regarded as a guarantee of salvation, nor non-membership as a certain proof of perdition. The church neither claims to open nor to close the gates of heaven. Nor does it possess free legislative power ; for the laws of the association, and the religious ordinances to be observed by it, are already prescribed. On matters not only of doctrine but of church government, the leading consideration with the Congregationalist is not what is expedient, but what saith the Scripture ? He believes that the New Testament contains all the principles of order and discipline requisite for constituting and governing Christian Societies, and in the organization of his church he professes to be guided by the model thus furnished.* He does not indeed usually go the length of asserting, with some of the old Noncon formists, that whatever is not expressly authorised by the New Testament is forbidden : but when the silence of his statute book upon certain points of * ' Principles of Church Order and Discipline ' (issued by the Congregational Union), sect. 2. See also Wardlaw ' On Congrega-, '..' tional Independency,' Payne's ' Church of Christ Considered,' sect. 7, and ' The Church of the New Testament,' by R. F. Weymouth, M.A. ' THE CONGREGATIONAL POLITY. 3 detail compels him to decide such matters for him self, he is careful to base his procedure upon some general principle derived from inspired authority.* The New Testament supplies few express pre cepts of unmistakably universal application with reference to the constitution of the church ; but the Congregationalist regards the institutions adopted by the Primitive Church, and recorded in Scripture, as having been so adopted and recorded in pursuance of Divine commands : and in general he considers such commands, to whomsoever addressed, to be obligatory on Christians of all ages. He denies that the altered circumstances of the church necessitate any changes in the essentials of its government or discipline. He denies indeed that any alteration can ever occur in the materials of the church ; for these he holds to be everywhere and in all ages the same.f According to his view, the materials of the church are persons possessing a certain belief and a particular character ; and however much these persons may, in different ages and countries, vary in worldly position, in temperament, or in civilisation, these external cir cumstances do not, in his opinion, afford any ground for introducing modifications in a system which has reference to men solely in their religious capacity. * ' Christian Churches,' by Dr. Angus, p. 68. f "Wardlaw, p. 15. b2 4 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. But to this general principle of rigid adherence to the New Testament model nearly all Congrega tionalists admit a class of exceptions in cases where practices of the Primitive Church were, as they believe, exclusively adapted to the peculiar circum stances of the apostohc age. No Congregational Church has ever attempted to enforce, even in the most modified form, the community of goods ; nor (on this side of the Tweed at least) has the washing of feet, or the kiss of charity, or the love-feast,* been adopted as an ordinance of the church ; nor has a distinct order of evangelists, or a plurality of pastors, been deemed an indispensable part of the organiza tion. It is true that the evidence afforded by the New Testament, of the nature, and perhaps even of the existence in the Early Church, of some of these observances, is of the slenderest kind, but with reference to others there is ample detail and conclusive proof. In the latter cases the rejection of the prac tices thus clearly ascertained would appear to imply that before any institution of the Primitive Church is grafted on its modern analogue, enquiry is to be made as to whether the reasons for such institution still exist. If the Primitive practice is adapted to the circumstances of our times, and seems fitted to contribute to the welfare of the church, it is forth- * Jude, v. 12. THE CONGREGATIONAL POLITY. 5 with adopted ; if it is incongruous with our habits, and would be inconvenient or ridiculous, it is rejected on the ground that it can never have been intended as a permanent observance. Thus it appears that the Congregationalist, in the constitution of his church, actually has recourse, within certain limits, to the principle of expediency. He disavows it as a general criterion, but he admits it as a means of distinguishing among Divine institu tions those which are perpetual from Others of a tem porary or local character. The Congregationalist cannot complain of the ap plication to his own system of the test which he him self employs. "With the question as to whether the Congregational form of church government has or has not the sanction of Divine authority, I do not in tend to deal ; nor do I propose to discuss the prior and more important point, as to whether any par ticular form of organization is imposed on the church. It may or may not be right to adopt the Congrega tional polity; I wish to consider whether it is expedient. The matter to be treated of in these pages is simply how far Congregationalism, as a means, is likely to conduce to the edification of the members of the church, and the spread of religious truth. Prom this point of view I shall attempt an analysis of the leading characteristics of the system. 6 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. I. One of the distinctive peculiarities of Congre gationalism is the hmitation of the designation of Church to a number of persons meeting in one place. There is no such thing as the Congregational Church, in the same sense as we speak of the Church of England or the Free Church of Scotland. There is no common authority to which all the units are subject. Each church is complete within itself, and neither in the election nor supervision of its officers, nor in the management of its affairs, is it liable to any extraneous interference. The tendency of this system is often represented as being to constitute a series of small religious societies, possessing no mutual adhesiveness, and no means of joint action. The observation, however, to some extent at least, would appear to rest on a confusion of the ideas of independence and isolation. The independence asserted by Congregational Churches is not indepen dence of associate action, but independence of autho ritative control. Of the connection which depends on subjection to a common superior they are cer tainly destitute, but it cannot be said that there is any lack among them of spontaneous fellowship and co-operation. The fellowship of the churches is so complete, that when a person is admitted as a mem ber of one, he is thereby practically made free of all the other societies of the same denomination. Letters THE CONGREGATIONAL POLITY. 7 of dismissal are furnished to members about to change their residences, and every church at once receives into fellowship any person thus recom mended. Fellowship is also promoted by the help churches give to each other by means of collections. Co-operation is principally maintained by Associa tions composed of the churches within a particular area. Meetings of pastors and delegates are held at regular intervals, for purposes of devotion and the transaction of business. To these assemblies reports are sent, from the associated churches, detailing their spiritual condition, and containing various statistics relating to their members. Arrangements are made with reference to the annual services and collections throughout the district for denominational institu tions ; cases of churches desiring assistance to free their chapels from debt are also considered, and if deemed deserving, are formally recommended. Be sides these district Associations there exists in each of the two Congregationalist denominations a general Union, holding half-yearly meetings, attended by pastors and delegates. These confederations, like the Associations, expressly disclaim all legislative power or appellate authority, and define as their objects the promotion of extended fellowship and unity of exertion, the obtaining of accurate statistical information relative to the churches, and the general 8 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. maintenance of the civil rights of Protestant Dis senters. In these various ways Congregational Churches, while preserving an absolute independence of ex ternal control, are enabled to maintain a very real fellowship and co-operation among themselves. It is more difficult to see how conflict of doctrine and practice is prevented among a multitude of indepen dent communities, each of which is, in theory, free to adopt for itself any interpretation of the doctrines and precepts of Scripture which may appear right to the majority of its members. There are apparently but two formal means pro vided for checking the growth of heretical opinions and practices. One of these is the power assumed by the Associations of judging of the orthodoxy of the constituent churches. Admission to the Asso ciation is taken as a recognition of soundness in the essentials of doctrine, discipline, and practice,* and the privileges of association may be withdrawn from * ' Hints on Associations,' Congregational Union Tracts, No. III. p. 5. As these tracts are frequently referred to in this Essay, it may be well to explain that they are issued by the Congregational Union of England and Wales, and that most of them appear to have been read and adopted at some meeting of the Union, previously to publication. They only profess to represent the views of the Independent denomination, but on most questions of ecclesiastical polity the Independents and Baptists are agreed. THE CONGREGATIONAL POLITY. 9 any church which is deemed defective in these respects. The other check on heresy is the system of chapel trusts. Upon the erection of a chapel, the building is vested in a number of persons as trustees for the church to assemble within its walls. The trust deed frequently stipulates that the church using the chapel, and the minister officiating therein, shall hold certain specified theological doctrines. The doctrines thus set forth, and the language in which they are expressed, are, as a rule, nearly identical in the different deeds, and the trusts thus declared are un alterable, save by an Act of the Legislature ; for 'it is not competent for the majority of the congregation, or the managers of the property, to say, " We have altered our opinions — the chapel in future shall be for the benefit of persons of the same persuasion as ourselves." ' * If the trustees do their duty, there fore, the possession of the chapel involves conformity on the part of the church occupying it to a standard of theological opinion. But it is obvious that neither of these means can be regarded as an effectual preventive of conflicting doctrines and practices among the various churches of the same denomination. Connection with an * The words of Lord Eldon, in the case of Attorney-General v. Pearson, 3 Mer. 409. 10 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. Association is by no means essential to the prosperity of a church, nor is it in any way identified with the building over which the trustees claim authority. If the latter body were to enforce conformity to doctrines, of which the church disapproved, the result would simply be the migration of the occu pants to another edifice. But in point of fact, matters never arrive at this crisis, because the trustees are in practice merely formal personages, reluctant to inter fere with the discretion of the church, and imbued with a wholesome dread of theological controversy. In nearly every case, they regard the will of the church as their supreme law, and confine their inter vention to the enforcement of that will, in cases of disputes between the members and the pastor. Where a church is united, it will generally be permitted to take its own course. Where a church is divided in opinion upon the advisability of a proposed innova tion, the trust deed occasionally serves as a weapon in the hands of a minority opposed to the change ; and instances have occurred where ministers invited to take a pastorate have been at the pains to ascer tain whether their theological views are in strict accordance with the doctrines of the trust deed. But this proceeding is certainly unusual. Pew mem bers, and probably not very many pastors, are ac quainted with the provisions of the deed, or can tell THE CONGREGATIONAL POLITY. 11 you the names of the legal owners of the buildings in which they worship. To speak of chapel trusts as an effective endowment of dogma displays con siderable ignorance of the practical working of the system. On points of trifling importance, or with reference to which no very strong opinion is held, the trust deed may exercise some influence ; against changes in practice it may afford some protection, because such changes are susceptible of easy proof. But, even in this case, the penalty attached to non compliance with the provisions of the deed is too slight — evidenced by the ease with which new chapels are built — and the imposition of the penalty is too uncertain, to exercise much coercive influence on the church. When to these causes of inefficiency, there is added the difficulty of proving heresy in mere opinion, the inadequacy of the trust deed, as a conservator of dogma, becomes manifest. It may be this conviction which has led to the growing preval ence, in modern trust deeds, of the practice of either wholly omitting any specification of doctrine, or of expressing it in the most general and indefinite form. Practically, every church is at liberty to hold any theological opinions, and to adopt any mo:le of worship. Yet there is, as a matter of fact, a remarkable uniformity of practice, and an absence 12 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. of doctrinal differences, among the churches of each of the two Congregationalist denominations. Vari ous reasons may be assigned for this result. The most obvious is that the Congregationalist, re jecting all formal creeds, is free from the natural reaction which follows the imposition of these re straints. A more complete explanation, however, may be found in the fact that there are certain opinions, and practices understood to be held by Congregational Churches, and since the act of joining those societies is wholly voluntary, and usually unaccompanied by any temporal benefit, it must be sympathy with these opinions and practices, and nothing else, which induces a person to become a member of a Congre- tional in preference to a Methodist or Presbyterian Church. The Congregationalist member has become such because he believes the doctrines generally understood to be held by Congregational Churches to be true, and approves of the form of church government adopted by them. All the influences to which he is exposed during his membership tend to strengthen this belief and approval ; but if, in spite of these influences, he should be led to change his opinions, there is nothing to prevent him from also changing his Church. He will most pro bably transfer his membership to some other deno- THE CONGREGATIONAL POLITY. 13 mination, whose sentiments more nearly resemble his own. It is quite possible, however, that this absence of conflicting doctrines and practices is partly the result of widely different causes. The Congregationalist member may feel no very strong sympathy with the doctrinal beliefs of his fellows ; he may not trouble himseK to arrive at a decision on moot points of theology; but he has often either an hereditary attachment to the church, or a feeling of personal respect and affection for the pastor, and in either case he will be disposed to acquiesce in the doctrines and practices adopted by the religious society he desires to join. The members of the church, it is to be remembered, are generally drawn from the congregation, and have all their lives been accus tomed to hear one set of doctrines, and to observe one form of worship. It is not surprising that when they feel it their duty to join some Christian society, they should rather take for granted than seriously ex amine the tenets of the church towards which all their associations and feelings tend. No assent to any for mal creed is required from the member on his admis sion ; and the counsels of the pastor, after that event, are directed more towards his growth in ' grace ' than in theological knowledge. Living the Christian life is deemed more important than discussing the moot 14 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. points of Christian doctrine, and while the advance ment of the neophyte in the one is sedulously in culcated, he has often, for his progress in the other, to depend on his own unstimulated efforts. Perhaps, therefore, the general unity of doctrine and practice observable among Congregational Churches, may be to some extent more passive than active, and due rather to absence of theological discussion, than to intelligent preference for any particular order of faith or discipline. In so far as this is the case it is to the pastors and not to the members we must look for an explanation of the absence of doctrinal differences. What then are the guarantees for the orthodoxy of the pastor ? There may be reckoned among these his professional training, his asso ciation with ministerial brethren, and the system of trusts already referred to ; but there are no other means, outside the church, of excluding heretical teaching. The early Independents made ordination a prac tical test of the soundness in doctrine of their ministers. They deemed that rite to be ' indispen sably necessary, and to belong essentially unto the call to office,'* and considered it expedient that 1 in so great and weighty a matter as the calling and choosing a pastor, every church should consult and * Owen's True Nature of a Gospel Church, p. 83. THE CONGREGATIONAL POLITY. 16 advise with the pastors of neighbouring congrega tions ; and that, after such advice the person consulted about. ... be duly ordained and set apart to his office. . . . wherein it is ordinarily requisite that the pastors of neighbouring congregations concur with the preaching elder or elders, if such there be.'* Even the Congregationalists of the last century deemed it improper for a pastor to administer the ordinances of the Lord's Supper and Baptism until he was ordained, though they admitted that a layman might lawfully exercise these functions. But at the present day the rite of ordination has become little more than a form. It is not looked upon as conveying either office or qualification for office, or as a mode of admission to a priestly order, or even as a designation to the work of the ministry ; f but simply as an induction to the pastorate. It is not even deemed to be a confirmation of the choice of the church, but only a recognition and public celebration of the event.J The ceremony is per formed by persons selected by the candidate ; the concurrence of these persons is generally given * Heads of Agreement assented to by the United Ministers, formerly called Presbyterian and Congregational, Ch. II. ss. 2, 4, 5, 7, (quoted in Eclectic Review, Vol. 5, Third Series, p. 426.) f See Fuller on Re-ordination. Collected Works,Vol. 5, p. 280. \ The Congregational Ministry, by A. Wells. Congregational Tracts X. p. 32. 16 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. without special enquiry into his antecedents, and often as a matter of course. Ordination is no longer considered as an indispensable pre-requisite to the exercise of any part of the pastoral function, and is not unfrequently dispensed with. In fact, neither on church nor pastor is there any effective extrinsic restraint upon the most perfect freedom of thought and speech. Some amount of common belief there must necessarily be among the members of every voluntary religious association, because without it they would neither have come together nor could they remain united. But while a belief in the essentials of Christianity is expected from every member of a Congregational church, I shall presently have occasion to point out how considerable is the latitude of opinion permitted even on these matters. In like manner, the views of the pastor, especially on his entering upon the office, must generally accord with those prevalent in the church, because men will not choose as teachers those who, in their opinion, will promulgate error. But the pastor, as the recognised exponent of doc trine, has incessant opportunities, both in public and private, of influencing the beliefs of the members, and of modifying them in accordance with his own ; and the limits of toleration allowed him on points of doctrine, if in other respects he be acceptable, THE CONGREGATIONAL POLITY. 17 are very wide. The general unity of sentiment among the pastors and members of Congregational churches shows that the absence of restraints on free thought and speech is no inefficient preserva tive of harmony, while it is obviously the surest guarantee of sincerity. It has been well said that while Churchmen subscribe creeds without beheving them, Congregationalists beheve them without sub scribing. The funds required for the support of the minister and the conduct of public worship are usually derived from the voluntary contributions of the congregation. In connection with a few old chapels endowments exist, and in some places the revenue of the minister is eked out by a grant from the Home Missionary Society, or the Itinerant Society connected with the District Association ; but these cases are so exceptional as to call for no special notice, beyond the passing remark that endowments are generally found to conduce to inactivity on the part both of congregation and minister, and not unfrequently give rise to serious difficulties when the church desires to change its pastor. For ob taining the contributions of the congregation various means are adopted, but the most usual are pew rents and weekly offerings. Until recently pew rents constituted almost every- c 18, RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. where the great source of revenue, but that system has of late, in many places, fallen into ill odour, and in some churches has been superseded by the practice of weekly offerings. The idea of parcelling out the House of God into a number of small leaseholds is not a pleasant one, but there is some reason for thinking that the objection is more senti mental than practical. For, if the tendency of the system in extreme cases is to create the feeling that the chapel is a private affair — the exclusive property of a number of persons who choose to worship together — this pernicious feeling is neutralized by other considerations incident to the Congregational system. The influence and success of the minister are intimately connected with the increase of his congregation. The pressure of the pecuniary bur dens attending the maintenance of public worship is likely to be lightened in proportion to the number of attendants. Hence, even on merely selfish grounds, every congregation is eager to welcome outsiders to seats in their chapel. But there are higher motives common to all Christians, which prompt the members of Congregational churches to go into the highways and hedges, and to bring in those who have neither position nor purse. More or less sitting room in nearly every chapel is regularly appropriated to casual wor- THE CONGREGATIONAL POLITY. 19 shippers ; but there are not ordinarily to be found in these buildings free seats placed far apart from the fashionable quarter, judiciously constructed so as to produce the utmost discomfort to the free sitters, and obviously intended to hold up to re probation the heinous crime of poverty. Even in chapels where every pew is let, the doorkeepers cheerfully find for the stranger in fustian a place among the regular worshippers. As a matter of fact, the system of pew rents is found to be an effective mode of securing a steady income ; it is not burdensome to the seat-holders, it promotes regularity of attendance, fosters a home-like feeling of attachment to the chapel, and enables the minister to see at a glance whether any of his accustomed hearers are absent from public worship. The offertory system, though rather extensively adopted, has not yet, perhaps, been tried long enough to warrant the expression of any decided opinion upon its merits. It is unfamiliar to Con gregationalists, rather troublesome both to the hearers and the managers, liable to fluctuation, and apt to afford to the parsimonious a covert means of shirking their proper share of the expenses of the chapel. When carefully organized however, so as in fact to constitute a system of guaranteed sub scriptions, it has been tried with success, and may 20 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. prove a good substitute for pew rents. But the regular subscriber is quite as likely as the pew- renter to claim, as a right, sittings in the chapel towards the funds of which he contributes. It has been reckoned as a fatal defect of voluntary churches, that those who find the money must necessarily be the rulers ; because, as it is said, they have it in their power to withdraw the pecuniary support on which the organization depends. This is a sample of a good many objections urged against Congregationalism by writers who are not practi cally acquainted with the working of the system. It is a very fine theoretical difficulty: it looks likely to be true; yet, nevertheless, it is almost wholly without foundation. In some small country con gregations there may perhaps be men whose single contributions are so large, in comparison with the gross sum raised by all the other members of the congregation, as to render the withdrawal of such contributions hazardous to the existence of the society. Under these exceptional circumstances, it is quite conceivable that the man who pays for everything will be permitted to have everything his own way. But to assert of the great body of Congregational churches that they necessarily become timocratic, in the sense of being governed by one or two large subscribers, is ludicrously in- THE CONGREGATIONAL POLITY. 21 correct. For, in the first place, the greater part of the revenue of these churches is almost invari ably derived from numerous contributions of small amount. Every member, and indeed every hearer, is expected to add something to the common fund. In this sense, certainly some of those who find the money rule ; but they do so, not because they have provided the money, but because they are members of the church. The largest subscriber to the funds of the society, if he has not this qualification, is excluded from taking any part in the decision of its affairs. J£ he has joined the church, the character istic attitude of his 'fellow-members is not deference, but jealousy. Where wealth is accompanied with high character, zeal, ability, and wisdom, these qualities will of course secure for their possessor influence; but there are few societies in which wealth, without these accompaniments, will avail so little. Most Congregationahst ministers can recall instances of men of wealth whose persistent efforts to thrust themselves into the diaconate have been frustrated by the steady opposition of their fellowr members, deeming them unworthy of the office. Another evil sometimes alleged to result from the independence of the churches is the undue in fluence of the principle of competition. Each church, it is said, is anxious to fill its chapel and let 22 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. its pews, and a temptation is thus afforded to the use of questionable expedients in order to ' draw ' a congregation. There might be some ground for apprehending the existence of this tendency, if it were not a perfectly well-known fact, that congrega tions collected by these means melt away like snow on the roof of a house. That Congregational churches in general are proof against this tempta tion, if it does exist, must be obvious to anyone who is acquainted with the simplicity which charac terises their worship, the plain-speaking earnestness of their preachers, and the unobtrusiveness with which their Christian work is accomplished. But the point worthy of notice in this objection is the admission that the voluntary system stimulates the zeal and activity of the churches based upon it. And this, I suppose, no one will care to deny. It cannot be disputed that men will interest themselves more zealously in the prosperity of a church when it is maintained by them than when it is maintained for them. A voluntary combination is more likely to be active than an association formed by decree of the State. And as at least one of the chief functions of the church — the evangelization of man kind — is dependent for its efficient performance upon the zeal and activity of the members, the admission above-noticed constitutes an important THE CONGREGATIONAL POLITY. 23 reason in favour of a religious organization which founds itself exclusively upon the voluntary principle. The positive advantages flowing from the in dependence of the churches are to some extent those which may be urged in favour of any scheme of local self-government. The Christian people of each locality may be supposed to be better ac quainted with their own spiritual wants, and with the spiritual needs of their neighbourhood, better fitted to judge as to the proper mode of supplying those needs, and more zealous in applying the re quisite means for their alleviation than any central authority is likely to be. But it cannot be denied that Congregationalists pay a somewhat heavy price for these advantages, in the want of any recognised external means of settling the intestine strife which sometimes arises in their societies. Jealousy of any interference with the independence of the churches has hitherto prevented the formation of any central board, or council of arbitration, to which questions in dispute might by mutual consent be referred for decision. The result is that churches sometimes originate more in dissen sion than in Christian zeal, and are planted in par ticular places, not because they are needed to supply spiritual wants, but because a number of dissidents choose to sever from their brethren. These feeble 24 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. and hostile communities are the weakness and the reproach of Congregationalism.* n. Another well-known characteristic of Con gregationalism is the vesting in the members of the ultimate authority in all church affairs. The elec tion and dismissal of the officers, the admission of members, the exercise of discipline, and the general conduct of the concerns of the society are all regulated by the votes of the members assembled in church meeting. It is this peculiarity which has most frequently excited the animadversion of hostile critics. The wisdom and impartiality of the govern ing body are doubted ; the system is said to be cumbrous and uncertain in action, productive of divided counsels, and destructive of the influence which ought properly to belong to education and character. These allegations must be admitted to be sufficiently serious, and are usually supported by a large array of confirmatory instances. In con sidering them, it may be well to look separately at the actual effects of the system in each of the above- mentioned branches of jurisdiction. * It appears from the ' Baptist Handbook ' for 1868 that out of 2,382 Baptist churches in Great Britain and Ireland there are 41 churches with less than 10 members ; 717 having from 10 to 50 members, and 3 churches having 4 members each. See an analysis of these statistics in the ' Freeman ' newspaper for January 24, 1868. THE CONGREGATIONAL POLITY. 25 (1.) In the election of the two classes of officers of the church — the pastor and the deacons — all members, male or female, have equal votes, and the decision of the majority prevails.* There is usually little difficulty attending the selection of persons for the office of deacon. The primary qualification for that position being the possession of good business abilities, the choice is generally limited to men who have shown special activity and aptitude in the management of the various agencies in connection with the church. As a general rule, the result of the system is to place in the office of deacon the members of best social position, not by any means necessarily on account of their rank or wealth, but because they have often business knowledge and leisure. But there are almost invariably associated with these persons at. least an equal number of individuals chosen from among the poorer members, rather perhaps with a view to represent the feelings and wishes of that class ; though, curiously enough, experience would seem to show that these special representatives are often less concerned to consult the wishes of their class than are the other deacons. The pastor is the person most nearly concerned in * In some cases the rule is that the majority must consist of two-thirds, and in others of three-fourths, of the members present at the meeting. 26 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. the selection of suitable men as his coadjutors, and the candidates are sometimes actually nominated by him ; but whether this is so or not, his influence is generally sufficient to prevent any serious division of opinion upon the election. In the choiae of the pastor the case is widely different. The range of selection is not necessarily limited; there is not always any settled criterion of qualification, and the result of the election being a matter of vital interest to each member, he is less likely to submit to any influence tending to interfere with his freedom of individual choice. Candidates for the pastorate are generally introduced to the church by the deacons, who are influenced in their selection either by personal knowledge, applica tions of ministers desirous to undertake the pastoral office, or the recommendations of other ministers. The carelessness with which these recommendations are given is a source of much evil, their object too often seeming to be rather to find a place for a man than a man for a place. The persons selected by the deacons are invited to preach on probation, and this ordeal, apparently unavoidable as it is, and useful when properly managed, sometimes, by the injudicious nomination of too many candidates, degenerates into a species of ecclesiastical competi tive examination. Trial sermons are preached by THE CONGREGATIONAL POLITY. 27 candidate after candidate in succession, party feeling is engendered, and an actual rupture is sometimes occasioned. But there are, nevertheless, causes counteracting this tendency to division. In most churches there are men whose character or abilities give to their opinion great weight with their fellow-members, and whose preference for a particular candidate will have much influence on the decision of the church. A discriminating selection by the deacons of the preachers on probation is also an important means of securing unanimity, and the general and very prudent disinclination of ministers to accept a ' call ' which is not the result of a unanimous or nearly unanimous vote, operates as a check on the wil fulness of the majority. As a matter of fact, it is believed that settlements of Congregationalist pastors are, in the greater number of cases, the result of ' calls,' which are at least unopposed.* The same authority which elected the pastor has the power at any time to remove him from his office. In point of strict law, nothing can be more insecure than the position of the Congregationalist minister. He is at most only tenant at will to the * Of the invitations to pastorates recorded in the ' Baptist Magazine' for 1866 as accepted, more than half are expressly stated to have been unanimous. 28 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. trustees, and his interest in the chapel, and the dwelling-house sometimes attached to it, may be determined by a mere demand of possession, without any previous notice to quit. Under the trust deed he is only entitled to the use of the pulpit so long as he remains pastor of the church. As his contract with that society is rarely made for any definite period, it may usually be terminated by either party at any time. The precariousness of the pastor's legal tenure has been supposed to be in strict accordance with the actual duration of his relations with the church. Popular favour is fleeting ; a discontented clique may be formed against him, and, if not expressly dismissed, he may be driven from his office by vulgar annoyance and abuse. The average length of Congregationahst pastorates is commonly set down at a very low figure, and there are certainly circumstances which seem to render that result probable. Not only have dis affected members more opportunity of venting their discontent, and domineering members of asserting their authority, under the Congregational than under less popular forms of church government, but minis ters, like other men, are generally desirous of bettering their position, and are not altogether unsusceptible to the attractions of a wider sphere of labour, increased salary, or greater personal influence. Moreover, the pastoral relation is often hastily formed on a very THE CONGREGATIONAL POLITY. 20 inadequate acquaintance, and as there is no recog nised provision for preliminary curacy, a young man without experience is often placed in a position requiring wisdom, which experience alone can impart. It is difficult to arrive at the truth with reference to the alleged short duration of Congregational pastorates, because the statistics commonly published give no information as to how far the changes they record are due to death or illness. Probably, as a matter of fact, these changes are more frequent than under the Presbyterian or Episcopal systems, but a good deal less frequent than is commonly supposed.* But it is by no means to be assumed that frequent changes in the pastorate are necessarily detrimental to the spiritual interests of a church. Pastors, like other men, are sometimes idle or imprudent, or quarrelsome or incompetent, and in all these cases the power of dismissing them is an unquestionable benefit. Wherever, indeed, there does not exist cordial sympathy between them and their flock, it is at least doubtful ' whether the continuance of the relation is desirable ; and even where the pastor and * From the ' Baptist Handbook' for 1867 it appears that, out of 1,305 pastors of Baptist churches in England, the date of whose settlement is given, more than half, or 770, have held their posi tions for five years and upwards, and nearly a third, or 426, for ten years and upwards. The ' Congregational Year Book ' does not give the date of settlement of each pastor. 30 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. his church are united, it is not clear that the best interests of the latter are consulted by a long con tinuance of the same pastorate. It is well known that the founders of Methodism were so fully convinced of the advantages of periodical change, that they adopted it as a fundamental part of the organization of their ministry. 'We have found,' writes Wesley, 'by long and constant experience, that a frequent change of teachers is best. This preacher has one talent, that another. No one whom I ever yet knew has all the talents which are need ful for beginning, continuing, and perfecting the work of grace in a whole congregation.' * It is often objected, with considerable show of reason, that the tendency of popular election is to lower the standard of attainments required from the pastor. The majority of the electors being persons of little education, are supposed to have no great appre ciation of the benefits of learning. In their estima tion, it is said, fluency ranks higher than knowledge, and the candidate who can rant" and rave stands the best chance of obtaining their votes. This is an exaggeration ; but it contains some amount of truth. The tendency of the Congregational system is to lay more stress on preaching than on any other of the pastoral functions. The pastor is mainly the recog- * Quoted in Stevens' ' History of Methodism,' vol. ii. p. 372. THE CONGREGATIONAL POLITY. 31 nised instructor of the church and congregation ; it is by his trial sermons chiefly that his fitness for the office is ascertained, and it is probably true that a brilliant preacher would generally be chosen in pre ference to a learned but slow-tongued divine. But, on the other hand, it must be remembered that preaching talent is by no means inconsistent with the possession of knowledge. Fortunately, indeed, edu cation develops oratorical gifts, and supplies a solid basis for their display. This truth is extensively recognised by Congregationalists, and a large number of colleges are supported by their voluntary con tributions, for the express purpose of educating young men destined for the ministry. The selection of the men from whom the future pastors are to be chosen usually rests in the first place with the churches, whose privilege and duty it is said to be to call forth such of their members as may appear to be qualified to sustain the office of pastor.* This calling forth generally takes the form of a re commendation of the person called for admission to one of the denominational colleges, and is fre quently preceded by his preaching one or more trial sermons before the church. Before entering the college the candidate must pass an examination in rudimentary knowledge, and answer certain * ' Principles of Church Order and Discipline.' 32 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. queries as to his religious character. He is then received on probation, and if his conduct and pro gress in studies are satisfactory, is subsequently accepted as a student for the full course, which varies in length in different colleges from six years to four. During this period he is expected to devote his time to the acquisition of knowledge, both secular and theological ; his progress being tested by periodical examinations. In the greater number of colleges the students live within the walls, but in some few institutions they. lodge elsewhere, and only meet for purposes of instruction. It may be doubted whether the system of training ordinarily adopted is the best which could be de vised. The monastic seclusion of college life cannot be a fitting preparation for a position like that of pastor, in which common sense and know ledge of human life are essential to success. Men who are to act as spiritual guides ought to know something of the pitfalls which beset the way of life; priests Should study passion ; how else cure mankind, Who come for help in passionate extremes. Much time is consumed in the laborious acquisition of the elements of the Greek and Hebrew languages, which, in these days of critical commentaries, might THE CONGREGATIONAL POLITY. 33 be better employed in the study of the art of effective public speaking. The small number of students in each class tends to produce a benumb ing effect. On the other hand, the system is not without advantages. The students are thrown into constant intercourse with the President, and if he be a gentleman, and a man of high moral tone, his influence cannot fail to be extremely beneficial. Moreover, the theological instruction given in some of these colleges is said to be very careful and complete. From the men thus trained for the work of the ministry the vast majority of the Congregationahst pastors are chosen.* As a matter of fact, therefore, it must be admitted that Congregationalists are not * Bather more than two-thirds of the Independent ministers, whose names are given in the 'Congregational Year Book ' for 1867, are stated to have been educated at some denominational college, preparatory institution, or university. Of the remaining third more than half have received private training, and out of 1,826 ministers in England, only 242 are recorded to have received no specific theological education, or none known to the compilers of the Year Book. There appear to be no similar statistics attain able with reference to the Baptist denomination, but judging from the number of students educated for the ministry in their colleges, it may be presumed that the standard of ministerial education is not much lower. From the ' Baptist Handbook ' for 1867, it appears that there are 10 Baptist colleges in England and Wales. In 9 of these the number of students is given, amounting to 255. 34 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS indifferent to the education of their ministers, nor can it be fairly said that the general result of the mode of election adopted by them is to place in the pulpits of the denomination men whose qualifications for the office have not been tested. It is doubtless a lamentable fact, that here and there are to be found persons who have ascended at a step from the plough to the pastorate ; but, as a general rule, the Congregationahst minister will be found to have undergone at least four distinct tests of his capacity. The church of which he is a member first calls him forth to the ministerial work ; he has then to satisfy the college authorities of his qualifications ; next, he must undergo the ordeal of a period of probation and- of repeated examinations, and he has finally to convince some church of his fitness for the office of pastor. But the great advantage of the Congregational system in this respect is that it vests the right of choosing and dismissing the chief spiritual officer in spiritual persons. However much weight may be given, in the choice of a pastor, to merely oratorical qualifications, these alone will seldom enable him to retain his position. For it must not be for gotten that besides the function of preaching, he is expected to visit the members of his flock and to afford them religious counsel, to instruct them by THE CONGREGATIONAL POLITY. 35 example, and, above all, to set them a model of the cultivation of a devotional spirit. Moreover, it is his recognised duty to act as a missionary in the neighbourhood of his chapel, not only directing the evangelistic efforts of his church, but taking an active part in the work of Christianizing the neglected parts of the district.* It is obvious that without devout zeal it is impossible that the pastor can satisfactorily fulfil these multifarious duties, and the right of dismissing him is placed in persons who, from the opportunities they have of near observa- * Journalists, whose notions of Congregationalism seem to be exclusively derived from their own prejudiced imaginations, have asserted that the tendency of the system is to confine the religious and benevolent operations of the church to its own members. No one in the slightest degree familiar with Congregational churches will need any demonstration of the absurd incorrectness of this statement ; but it may be well to append a summary of a report recently presented, relating to the operations carried on by the church at Hare Court Chapel, Canonbury. Out of 4,3002. raised by this society in 1868, for religious and benevolent purposes, above 3,800Z. was devoted to the support of the following in stitutions : Five braneh churches — one in the most destitute part of Bermondsey ; three rooms for religious services, and several others for mission meetings; three day-schools, five Sunday or ragged schools; two large and several smaller week evening- schools — the total aggregate of scholars being upwards of 2,000 ; a home for thirty destitute children at Farnham, and a children's nursery in a destitute part of Islington ; besides penny banks, coal clubs, temperance societies, and Bands of Hope. d 2 36 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. tion, and their own spirituality of character, are best fitted to judge as to whether he does possess this indispensable requisite. But this dependence of the minister on his people is sometimes objected to, as having a tendency to interfere with the faithful discharge of his duty. ' Can he,' it is asked, ' " warn, reprove, and instruct in righteousness," when by so doing he may offend the persons on whom his daily bread depends ? ' A very slight acquaintance with Congregational churches would suffice to show the erroneousness of the assumption on which this objection rests — the assumption, namely, that a congregation like best the preacher who brings himself nearest to the level of their passions and prejudices. Men do not go to chapel expecting to be flattered, but hoping to be edified. The religious teachers most in favour among Congregationalists are not the dispensers of honeyed words and soothing remarks on the general excellence of mankind, and the particular virtues of the congregations before them, but the stern up holders of the dogma of the natural depravity of the human race, the preachers of self-distrust, and the unflinching denouncers of evil. That the dependence of the minister on his people tends to increase his zeal can hardly be doubted, and is, indeed, admitted by the very objection above- THE CONGREGATIONAL POLITY. 87 noticed, which proceeds on the supposition that the pastor will do his best to please his flock. ; In most cases the dissolution of the relation of minister and people is accomplished without diffi culty. The pastorate of a discontented church is a position so little enviable, that its occupant is generally glad, by retiring from his office, to free himself from the discomforts attaching to it. An express dismissal of the pastor is exceedingly rare. If, after being dismissed, he obstinately refuses to give up his position, there is always open to the church the effectual remedy of with holding the supplies. It sometimes happens, how ever, that an unscrupulous man, who has found his way into the office of pastor, succeeds in forming a party in his favour among the members, and is enabled to defy all attempts to remove him. Suspicions of immoral or unchristian conduct may attach to him, but it is often difficult to adduce satisfactory evidence of his guilt; members are reluctant to bring forward accusations against him, and, by a skilful use of the arts of flattery and insinuation, he is able to retain a. majority of the church in his favour. The trustees are generally, by the terms of the trust-deed, bound by the decision of the majority, and, under these circum stances, there exist positively no means of ousting 38 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. him. No course is then left to the minority, exposed to the ill-will alike of the pastor and of his sup porters, than to secede from the church, and to leave the unworthy occupant in undisturbed posses sion of his office. (2.) Persons are admitted to the church by the vote of the members, upon the report of deputies who, after the candidate has been examined and proposed for admission by the pastor, are appointed by the church to converse with him privately, and to make inquiry with respect to his general conduct and character. This preliminary investigation and report have the merit of securing publicity, and of challenging objections from every person who is likely to know of any. The examination by deputies also places a useful check on the pastor, who might otherwise be tempted to introduce unfit persons into the church, either to magnify his own usefulness as a preacher, or to add to his adherents in case of a conflict with his people. On the other hand, it relieves him of much of the responsibility attending the decision of cases of questionable fitness. It is, however, matter of serious doubt with many thoughtful Congregationalists whether the system, especially when accompanied with the requisition from the candidate of written or oral 'experi ences,' given publicly before the church, does not THE CONGREGATIONAL POLITY. 89 tend unduly to discourage the young and sensitive, to diminish the sense of personal responsibility, and to give a preference to talkativeness over quiet penitence. Though formerly extensively adopted, this strange ordeal of ' experiences ' has now be come the exception rather than the rule, and, since Scripture affords no express directions on the subject, it is deemed open to each church to use any means of satisfying itself of the spiritual character of can didates for admission. There is a perceptible ten dency to relax the ancient regulations, and to smoothen the road from the congregation to the church.* (3.) In administering the discipline of the church, the members usually proceed on the report of deputies appointed to inquire into the alleged offence ; the pastor having previously ascertained that there exists a primd facie case against the accused. If the deputies find that the matter is proved, the pastor suggests the mode of proceeding to be adopted, basing his recommendation on some general principle, or particular precept of the New * See ' Church Fellowship Promoted,' Congregational Union Tracts No. 9. p. 8 ; ' Congregationalism in relation to Modern Society,' by Dr. Vaughan, p. 180 ; also the discussion on Terms of Membership at the Autumnal Meeting of the Congregational Union 1868. 40 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. Testament. Upon his advice the church generally acts, either admonishing, suspending, or excluding the guilty member. In meting out the extreme penalty, a distinction is drawn between penitent and impenitent offenders. The former, especially where the offence was unpremeditated, are usually allowed, after a pubhc reprimand, or a temporary suspension from the privileges of membership, to remain in the church ; the latter are visited with the full rigour of exclusion. It has been doubted whether the tribunal invested with this power is likely to exercise it with fairness. Personal dislike and party-feeling have been sup posed to interfere with the impartiality of the members, and the contributions of the rich man have been thought to operate as an inducement to the exercise of leniency towards his faults. It is pro bably true that in exceptional cases, where party- feeling has run high in a church, the power of ex clusion has been used cruelly and unjustly to serve the selfish ends of a majority. But, as a general rule, full opportunity is afforded to the accused of clear ing himself of the charge. The investigation by the deputies is usually patient and impartial, though it is to be regretted that the evidence is not always taken in presence of the accused. It is not probable THE CONGREGATIONAL POLITY. 41 that the other evil alleged against the system has any foundation in fact, for the majority of Congregation alist members being persons of humble condition, are not likely to sanction the application of a more rigorous discipline to their own than to any other class. Moreover, there is this to be said in favour of vesting the exercise of discipline in the members, that the general character and antecedents of the accused are known to many at least of his fellows, and that the close relations often existing between them render the punishment of offences prompt and certain. Open sin seldom fails to reach the ears of the pastor or the deacons, and the penalty follows close on the heels of the crime. But the strongest reason for making the power of exclusion dependent upon the votes of the members is the consideration that, in a voluntary fellowship there can be no advan tage in retaining an individual of whose unworthi- ness his fellow-members are satisfied ; for from such a relation there can arise neither cordial cooperation nor mutual edification. To be dismissed from the church upon insufficient evidence is doubtless a hardship to the person so treated, but to be com pelled to meet in religious communion a man believed to be of evil fife, to be obliged to keep in the church an individual whose connection with it brings dis- 42 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. grace, would be grievous wrongs to the whole body of members. It is worthy of special notice that the discipline of the Congregational church is almost exclusively limited to cases of immoral or unchristian conduct. Instances of the infliction of any penalty for heretical opinions are extremely rare. Denial of the essential articles of Christian faith is, theoretically, a ground of exclusion ; but heterodoxy is hard of proof, and there is no authoritative Congregationahst creed. Each church has the right to decide for itself what are fundamental truths, and any infringement of the right of private judgment is viewed with extreme jealousy. It is not identity of behef, but spirituahty of character and purity of life which are the essentials of membership. The inquiries made of the candi date before admission are chiefly directed to ascer tain whether he possesses these attributes, and seldom refer to any but the essential articles of Christian faith, such as a belief in the Divinity of Christ and His atonement (a doctrine which the candidate would not be required to define). It is a mistake to suppose that in Congregational churches peculiar stress is laid upon theological opinion. The points which are likely to be brought promi nently forward in the teaching of any church are those which are distinctive of it. But the theolo- THE CONGREGATIONAL POLITY. 43 gical views prevalent among Congregational churches are held by them in common with many other Evangelical bodies ; their distinctive characteristics are the requiring of spirituality of character in the members and the adoption of a particular form of church government. (4.) In the general conduct of the affairs of the church, according to the strict Congregational theory, every separate question as it arises ought to be submitted to the unbiassed decision of the whole body of members. The pastor, though the president of the church, possesses, in strictness, no executive authority ; for he is unable to do anything without the sanction of the church. On no single point, it is believed, has he any recognised right to act on his own authority. Theoretically, his function in the government of the church would seem to be simply that of an assessor, who expounds the meaning of the laws which the members apply to particular cases. In hke manner, the deacons are the servants of the church. To them belong the administration of the temporalities of the society, the care of the fabric of the chapel, the management of the finances, and the distribution of the alms of the church. But, on all these matters they are subject to the direction of the members, who have a right to 44 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. intervene upon every detail of administration. All executive power resides in the members, and not in the pastor or deacons as such.* But it is easy to see how cumbrous this constant reference to the church would be liable to become ; how wanting in promptitude and certainty would be the resulting action. A modification of the system has been very generally adopted in the larger churches of the Congregationahst denomina tions. Under this plan, a conference of the pastor and deacons is held before each meeting of the church, and at this cabinet council all questions to be brought before the members are discussed, and a course of action is decided upon, which, in the name of the deacons, is subsequently* recommended for the adoption of the church. In this way unanimity of sentiment may be frequently secured ; for questions placed before the meeting are accom panied with explanations which obviate the danger of misconception, and, while the ultimate decision is left to the members, advice is tendered, which, as the result of careful dehberation, must ne cessarily have weight. The tendency of the system is doubtless to place in the hands of the pastor and deacons a large discretionary power * ' Church Meetings,' by the Rev. Geo. Smith ; ' Congrega tional Union Tracts,' No. 21. p. 13. THE CONGREGATIONAL POLITY. 45 in the administration of the ordinary business of the church, for the appeal to the members soon becomes exclusively reserved for questions of special importance or interest, and the pastor and deacons assume the entire administration of matters of routine, holding themselves accountable to the members only for their general conduct of such matters. The advantage of the system is not, however, the direct authority thus conferred upon this committee, but the opportunity afforded to them of influencing the decisions of the members on affairs of importance. • The arrangement, which is, in fact, simply an adaptation of the mode of organization adopted by all our great voluntary reli gious and benevolent associations, to some extent seems to blend the steady and dehberate action of autocratic government with the ready acquiescence and wide interest which result from a popular vote. It also tends to counteract the evils which sometimes attend government by the majority. I am disposed, however, to think that these evils have been a good deal exaggerated. I have already stated that cases have occurred in which a majority, stimulated by unchristian animosity or party-feeling, have made an unfair and arbitrary use of their power ; but persons familiar with the practical working of the system will readily admit that, as a genernI 46 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. rule, considerable deference is shown to the wishes of the minority. In the last resort, indeed, the latter hold in their hands a weapon of .no httle efficacy — the threat of secession. But there is usually an acquiescence, more or less cheerful, in the decisions of the majority. The persons com posing the minority on the question of to-day know that they may be in the majority on the next matter which comes up for decision, and there flows from this knowledge a disposition on all hands to recognise the rights of the majority. Human ingenuity has yet to discover a mode of government under which every individual can have his own way on every question. At present it seems difficult to conceive of a system of church government giving greater liberty of choice to individuals than one in which each member has a direct voice in all the decisions of the church. III. Every matter of church government, from the election of the pastor to the management of the finances, is regarded as the exclusive prerogative of the members of the church. Those persons in the congregation who have not this qualification, including sometimes the larger part of the minister's hearers, are not admitted to vote on his election. Though contributing to the funds of the church, THE CONGREGATIONAL POLITY. 47 they have no voice in their appropriation. Taking his model of ecclesiastical pohty from the primitive ages, when the hearers were always communicants, the Congregationalist finds no place in his system for members of the congregation who have not joined the church. Only persons of spiritual character are held to be competent to deal with spiritual concerns, or to enjoy spiritual communion. Only truly reli gious persons are deemed capable of furthering the objects of Christian fellowship. This denial of the privileges of membership to all who cannot adduce satisfactory evidence of spiritual character, as it is one of the most prominent features of Congrega tionalism, is also the commonest mark for the attacks of its assailants. Apart from the alleged unscrip- turalness of the distinction thus drawn — with which in these pages I do not propose to deal* — it is objected that the process of selection is attended with insuperable difficulties, no test having yet been discovered which indicates with absolute certainty the fact of spirituahty of character. But no such test is required. That which the Congregational church demands from the applicant for admission is such reasonable evidence of this fact as is con- * But as to which see an admirably concise statement of the Congregationalist view in ' Christian Churches,' by Dr. Angus, p. 39. 48 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. tained in a profession of faith in Christ and a consistent life. There would seem to be no more absurdity in an inquiry into the worth of a man's spiritual life than in a similar investigation by an insurance company with reference to his physical life. In neither case can absolute certainty be attained ; in each there are criteria from which an opinion may be formed, fallible of course, but not more so than the judgments on which men act in other matters. But it is alleged that the sharp line of separation thus established between the Church and the world, renders Congregationalism dependent for its success upon the prevalence and vitality of the Evangelical theory. It is certainly probable that theological opin ions, resembling those now termed Evangelical, may have suggested the principle of purity of communion to the founders of Independency. As a matter of fact, at the present day Congregationalism is almost in variably allied with those opinions. But, though har monising with Evangelical doctrines, it is by no means inseparable from them. The Congregationalist system of investigation into the qualifications of ap plicants for admission demands no other condition than an ascertainable difference between people. If that difference does exist ; if some have more holi ness and spirituality of character than others ; if THE CONGREGATIONAL POLITY. 49 some have a real faith in Christ, and others have not, there is room for the application of the process, whether the difference may be ascribed in each case to a special Divine call and a change of character, or to a gradual development of the higher part of man's nature, or to any other cause. IV. The equahty, as spiritual persons, of all the members of the church, is another fundamental characteristic of Congregationalism. Within the sacred fold all secular distinctions are dropped ; character and holiness are the only recognised grounds of distinction. The poorest member has, not only in theory, but in practice, the same right of speaking and voting as the richest. High and low, learned and ignorant, master and servant — all are brethren in Christ, and as such entitled to the same privileges.* Unfortunately this principle of equality is applied to other distinctions than those of wealth or rank. The most youthful member has an equal vote, in the decision of the affairs of the church, with the oldest and wisest Christian. The convert of yesterday has an equal vote with men who have grown grey in the * See the testimony on this point of a writer by no means biassed in favour of Congregationalism, in the ' Fortnightly Review,' vol. iii. N. S. p. 502. E 50 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. service of their Master. The women are usually admitted to the same privilege. In many churches these inexperienced persons compose a large section of the members, and the result is sometimes shown in a proneness to precipitate action, and a tendency to judge more by the feelings than by the reason. In more purely spiritual matters the same prin ciple is adopted. The pastor, though the recognised teacher, is not regarded as possessing any 'priestly au thority, or special faculty of interpretation. There is no part of his duties which may not be performed by any lay member ; for the administration of the rehgious ordinances of the church is usually restricted to him only for the sake of order and solemnity.* The deference with which his expositions of Scripture are received is simply that which is due to the opinions of a man who has specially devoted himself to the study of the Word. He may suggest, but it is the duty of his hearers to refer his suggestions to the sole recognised criterion of truth, the Word of God, as interpreted by their individual judgments. It is not easy to overrate the benefits resulting from this view of the pastoral office. The pastor, instead of being regarded as a member of a distinct order, is looked upon simply as one of the brethren. His * ' The Congregational Ministry,' by A. Wells, ' Congregational Union Tracts,' No. 10. p. 14. THE CONGREGATIONAL POLITY. 51 interests are the same as theirs ; he has the same need of prayer and watchful self-examination. The result is that a large amount of confidential inter^ course is established between the preacher and his hearers. He becomes familiar with the daily life and special needs of his flock, and can adapt his sermons to their circumstances. He is often not only their spiritual adviser, but their trusted friend and confidant. His counsel is sought on difficulties connected with their temporal affairs, and he is enabled practically to inculcate on others his own high standard of morality. It is worth considering, however, whether in the Congregationalist lay ministry the theory of spiritual equality is not pushed to a somewhat undesirable length. Though the consent of the pastor is usually obtained before a member begins to preach, this is not always deemed an indispensable preliminary. There are no means provided for eliciting and testing preaching talent. There are no graduated ranks of exhorters and local preachers. The tyro, instead of serving an apprenticeship in the vestry, steps at once into the pulpit. No one can claim the right to instruct or supervise him. His progress in theo logical knowledge depends on his own exertions ; his glaring defects of speech or manner, his inco herent paragraphs, and wearisome repetitions are E ¦> 52 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. unreproved. The consequence is, that the lay preacher often mistakes his mission. In place of a simple and earnest exposition of the truths of Christianity, he aims at oratory; and while gazing at the -stars, steps back into the ditch. Equality ^ though probably essential to perfect brotherhood, by no means necessarily imphes it. One grand defect of the Congregational system would seem to be the absolute want of any formal provision for confidential meetings, each composed of a small number of members, and avowedly held for the purpose of the interchange of senti ment on subjects relating to the mutual edification and cooperation of the persons taking part in it. There are church-meetings; but these are gatherings of all the members, and are principally devoted to business ; there are also prayer-meetings, but they are open alike to members and non-members, and, from their formal monotony, are often avoided by the persons best qualified to take part in them.* There is no institution of Congregationalism corre sponding to the great feature of Methodism, the class-meeting. The reason of the omission has pro bably been a well-founded objection to the practice of requiring each member, from time to time, to * Address of the Chairman of the Congregational Union, ' Congregational Year Book,' 1864, p. 51. THE CONGREGATIONAL POLITY 63 unbosom to his fellows the inmost workings of his spiritual life. There can be little doubt that this feature of Methodism, while occasionally subserving the highest purposes of Christian fellowship, does in very many cases lead to insincerity and formality. But it is not necessary to import this element into Congregationalism. What would seem to be needed in the organization of the Congregational church is an arrangement for meetings of nine or ten members at a time, for the purpose of freely and confidentially discussing the results of their individual Christian work, the hindrances they meet with, and the best means of helping each other. Naturally, rehgious or doctrinal difficulties occurring to any one would come up for consideration ; sympathy would be evoked, and holy emulation created. Each church, instead of being a mere collection of guerillas united to one leader, but knowing little of each other, would be a compact regiment, organized in com panies, each man accustomed to fight shoulder to shoulder with his comrades. At present, Congrega tional church fellowship is too often in reality only fellowship with the pastor. Once admitted, the member is sometimes wholly neglected and for gotten by his fellows. The true conception of the Congregational church, as a brotherhood of co-workers, is occasionally de- 54 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. graded into the notion of an association of co-payers. There is sometimes a tendency towards devolving the whole work of the church, both as regards the edification and oversight of the members and the increase of their numbers, on the pastor. He is expected to combine an active visitation of his flock, and a general supervision of the concerns of the society, with a diligent and laborious preparation for the pulpit. Men with rare faculties for preaching have to spend days in work which would be equally well accomplished by any experienced member. The time of the pastor is frittered away, and his energy consumed in numerous petty details, from which, by a very slight amount of arrangement, he might be wholly relieved. One result of this concentration of functions in the pastor is the torpor which sometimes characterises a church during vacancies in the office. The outward form of the organization remains, but the living spirit is wanting. If the interval be protracted, the congregation dwindles, the charitable agencies of the church begin to droop, and its discipline is relaxed. There is a want in these cases of the self-motive power of Methodism. Membership, without specific Christian work — a thing which ought to be as rare as membership without spirituality of character — is a matter of by no means infrequent occurrence. The THE CONGREGATIONAL POLITY. 55 idea of individual responsibility and effort, which is the very basis of the Congregational theory of church government, is here and there in some danger of being supplanted by that perversion of the notion of associate action which holds that everything may be done by a paid deputy. It would be manifestly unjust to charge an evil hke this upon a system in spirit diametrically op posed to it. Yet Congregationalism is constantly credited with faults really incident to human nature. If men in general, as Napoleon said, are but great children, the imperfections of childhood must be expected to attach to every human institution. The Congregational church-meeting is sometimes the scene of foolish strife, but so is the Church of England vestry or the Presbyterian Kirk-session. The more active and eagerly interested men are in promoting an object, the more likelihood is there of division of opinion. Indifference generally secures apparent unanimity. If, therefore, Congregational churches are chargeable with more frequent dis sensions than other societies, one reason may be, that there is more religious activity among their members than among the members of some other denominations. Other evils affecting the Congregational churches of the present day may be traced to the class of 56 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. society from which their members are chiefly drawn. If the lower middle class is saturated with the com mercial spirit, its religious institutions are not likely to be free from the same influence. Novelists who hold up to ridicule the Congregational Salem may find similar food for their humour in our town- councils, boards of guardians, and wherever indeed the small shop-keeping classes rule. When Congre gational churches shall be less exclusively recruited from one section of the community, many evils, now deemed necessary accompaniments of their form of ecclesiastical pohty, may be expected to disappear. With the infusion of a larger number of the work ing classes, may come a more perfect conception of brotherhood ; with the addition of a larger propor tion of the educated classes, there may be fostered that diffidence of individual opinion, taught by know ledge and intercourse with the world, which is so important to the harmonious working of a demo cratic society. But, in the meantime? — Well, I have attempted to point out that even the imperfect Congregation alism of our day does not, either in theory or practice, involve isolation of the churches, or result in antagonistic doctrines and practices. I have stated reasons which lead me to believe that the THE CONGREGATIONAL POLITY. 57 evils sometimes attending the popular government of these societies have been grossly exaggerated ; that the system does not necessarily or usually lead to division of opinion upon the election of the pastor, or to incessant changes in the pastorate ; that it does not tend to lower the standard of attainments required from the occupants of that office, or to render them subservient to their people; that the discipline of the church is not, in general, unfairly administered ; that the majority does not syste matically disregard the feelings and wishes of the minority; that the so-called purity of communion adopted by Congregational churches is neither im practicable nor necessarily identified with any nar row system of theology ; and, that the delay and uncertainty which might attend reference to the members on every matter of detail have been obviated in a large number of instances by the adoption of the committee system. Apart, however, from these negative merits, the Congregational mode of church government, when properly understood, offers positive advantages of a high order. Based on the voluntary principle, and inculcating individual responsibility, it can hardly fail to be promotive of religious activity. Vesting the government in the members, it secures in them a genuine interest in the welfare of the society. 58 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. Associating men, not in accordance simply with geo graphical limits, but as the result of their own free choice, it tends to foster sociahty and cooperation. It repudiates all human creeds, and leaves it to the living generation to say what is the true interpre tation of Scripture. It disavows for its clergy all priestly authority, and by making them dependent on the people for support, encourages harmony of feeling and cordial intercourse between the minister and his hearers. It rejects any order of exclusive instructors and encourages every man to apply his individual judgment to the ascertainment of the truth. And, independently of all advantages of a spiritual nature, there must be some national benefit in the existence of a large number of communities, each member of which professes to conform his life to a high moral standard, and is bound under penalty of exclusion to abstain from open sin. It has been said, however, that the Congregational system is too exalted in its requirements for ordinary human nature. Eehgious organizations, we are reminded, have to be worked, not by sages and saints, but by the very commonplace men and women we see around us. As the most ingenious tool is useless without a workman competent to wield it, so a mode of church government which requires from ordinary men a more than ordinary THE CONGREGATIONAL POLITY. 59 amount of virtue and wisdom is worthless for practical purposes. But the answer to this is obvious. If Congregationalism, for its complete success, requires in the members of the churches forbearance and spiritual wisdom, it does not call for these extraordinary qualities from ordinary men, but from men who have pledged themselves to follow, as best they may, in the footsteps of' the Great Pattern of these virtues. If Congrega tionalism requires in the pastors of the churches enthusiasm and self-sacrifice, it does not appeal to men who merely preach to hve, and whose expectations of reward extend only to worldly honours and advantages, but to men who, having dedicated their lives to the service of the flock, look for a crown of glory hereafter at the hands of the Shepherd and Bishop of Souls. The very conscious ness that the church cannot prosper without the prevalence of exalted virtues, is the best means of promoting their cultivation. It is no discredit to a Christian church that without Christianity it cannot succeed. 60 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. THE EXTERNAL RELATIONS OF CONGRE GATIONALISM. It will be my endeavour, in this Essay, to explain and justify the relation in which Congregationahsts stand to other Christian churches and Christian men. In their own churches, a spiritual qualification is the vital condition of membership ; and it is some times supposed that they must therefore regard persons outside their communities as destitute of that qualification. The truth is, however, that their system absolutely forbids them to make this invidious assumption. The inference would be natural, if an outward rite were the essential condition of membership, for such a condition would not be imposed except from a belief of its necessity, and its observance or omission would be a simple question of fact. But since spiritual convictions are the determining considera tions, no rigid line can be drawn, because such convictions are but partially revealed to human observation. To attribute this exclusiveness to Con- EXTERNAL RELATIONS. 61 gregationahsts, is, therefore, to transfer to them the consequences of theories which they repudiate, and from which it is the distinction of their system to be free. This mistake further supposes that they confound their limited communities, composed of persons who associate on the ground of their prior connection with Christ, with the Universal Church, composed of all who participate in that connection. This im portant distinction is kept present to the minds of Congregationahsts, for it is interwoven with their fundamental beliefs. No unequivocal sign distinguishes the men who compose that invisible company, but Congregation alists conceive that Christian faith and character are the most trustworthy marks by which they may be known. Naturally, therefore, they make the possession of these qualities the principal condition of membership in their churches; but the signs appear in multitudes, who, from a preference for different modes of organization, or from other causes, are not connected with their societies. It is then the wide qualification of Christian con victions and character, not the narrow one of certain views on ecclesiastical polity, or the accidental one of membership in their communities, which, in the opinion of Congregationalists, introduces men to the 62 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. Kingdom of Christ. And they would be false to their distinctive principle if their Christian sympa thies were bounded by the limits of their own socie ties, and were not extended with equal cordiality to every servant of Christ beyond them. On the other hand, a rule of Christian recognition, based on personal allegiance to Christ, cannot con form to ecclesiastical organizations which have been framed without reference to this qualification. The rule requires that members of such organizations should be esteemed as Christian brethren in virtue of their Christian faith and conduct ; but as Con gregationahsts hold that Christian churches should be communities of believers, they cannot regard churches in which membership is independent of conviction as possessing that character. Even in the case of societies which are based on the allegiance to Christ of those who compose them, this rule prescribes a double caution; first, that since human judgments cannot, hke divine decisions, pronounce upon the heart, some may be included who are unworthy ; secondly, that the invisible tie may unite many whom circumstances exclude from enrol ment in a Christian community. The same rule determines the attitude of the members of a Con gregational church towards that large class of their fellow-worshippers who remain outside the society, EXTERNAL RELATIONS. 03 . and renders it impossible that they should be regarded as excluded by that circumstance from the kingdom of Christ. This principle of personal allegiance to the Divine Christ, which governs both the external relations and the internal organization of Congregational churches, has its rise in the primary Christian beliefs of Con gregationalists. Indeed, it should be remembered that the principal terms of communion adopted by every Christian church are not dictated by mere expediency, but are the natural and neces sary products of its fundamental ideas of Chris tianity, and are, therefore, incapable of wide modifi cation. In order to illustrate further this leading principle of the Congregational polity, it will be useful, therefore, to make reference to the con victions from which it springs. It does not come within the scope of this essay to furnish evidence in support of these convictions, or to answer ob jections to them. They are simply mentioned so far as seems necessary to explain the relations in which those who hold them stand to other Christian people. Christ, then, is believed by Congregationalists to be the Divine Head of a kingdom or society, the animating principle of which is personal allegiance to Himself, expressed in worship and in service. 64 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. Of the subjects of this invisible empire, some are pilgrims on earth, and some have arrived in heaven, and their muster-roll is a sealed book in the keep ing of Christ. Now Congregational churches are simply associa tions of persons who, humbly claiming connection with this Church Universal have therefore formed themselves into societies, in obedience, as they be lieve, to the command of Christ, with a view to their spiritual benefit, and in order to propagate the faith. Hence personal conviction must be the indispensable condition of membership in their com munities. It would be suicidal for them to estabhsh societies on the basis of the connection of their members with the Kingdom of Christ, and yet re ceive associates irrespective of what they hold to be the prime requirement of connection with that kingdom. Hence also it is an entire misapprehension to suppose that the members of a Congregational church assume, by their reception of a candidate into their fellowship, to open to him the doors of the Kingdom of Heaven. Introduction into one of their communities is so far from being regarded as equi valent to introduction there, that the visible society, in admitting an applicant, proceeds upon evidence that the more momentous step has already been taken. EXTERNAL RELATIONS. 65 The place in the Kingdom of Christ assigned by Congregationahsts to children, is further evidence that they regard its limits as wider than those of their churches. They believe that ' of such is the kingdom of heaven,' but the admission of children to their churches is deferred to the time when they are able intelligently to seek it. The members of Congregational churches acknow ledge, then, that they form but a fraction even of that division of Christ's servants which dwells upon earth at one time, and do not assume that the boundaries of their societies are conterminous, even as far as they go, with those of His kingdom. Still, associating, as they do, on the ground of their personal connect tion with Christ, and for the purposes which He came to serve, and beheving that, in the establishment of these visible societies, they follow the course adopted at His instance by His first disciples, they regard their churches as sacred by right of Divine sanction, and look up to Christ as their presiding Head, the Lord of their collective as well as of their individual life. Further : Congregationalists regard the statements of the New Testament writers concerning the relations of Christ to God and to men as authorita tive declarations respecting Him. Therefore they hold, among other tenets, that He was God manifest in flesh, and that His death was the propitiation for F 66 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. human sin. These and other such momentous facts about Him being accepted by them, enter as essen tial constituents into their conception of Christ. They conceive that they cannot ignore these facts when disclosed, any more than they could have anticipated them before they were revealed. As parts of the image of Christ which has been divinely presented, they are as necessary to its completeness, in the view of Congregationalists, as His moral qualities. While, however, there is substantial agreement among them as to the great outhne of Christian doctrine, greater diversity exists in details, and greater freedom in expression, than existed formerly. Hence their churches are composed of Christian disciples, who not only revere Christ's moral excel lence, but share certain cardinal convictions respect ing Him. I shall refer afterwards to doctrinal opinions considered as checks, justifiable or other wise, upon Christian intercourse with those who do not share them. * These two qualifications, then, the one of personal devotion to Christ, and the other of definite opinions respecting Him, determine imperatively the con stitution of Congregational churches; but, though constrained to a loyal observance of these boun daries, their members are urged both by duty to EXTERNAL RELATIONS. 67 their Lord, and by the wish to communicate a valued privilege, to offer cordial welcome to all who are disposed to join their ranks. Of course every society must, for its own preserva tion, employ measures to ensure the observance of the conditions on which it is framed. And hence Congregational churches are bound to seek evidence that candidates for their fellowship are in living communion with Christ as the Divine Redeemer of the sinful. In point of fact, that evidence chiefly consists of the known character of the individual, harmonizing with his desire to enter the community. It is customary, however, for one or two members of the church to hear from the lips of the applicant his desire, and his reasons for it ; and his admission proceeds on their testimony. These preliminaries, inherited from another state of society, operate undoubtedly, and injuriously, as many Congrega tionalists think, to deter from membership some persons who would otherwise seek it ; but there is an increasing disinclination to anything inquisitorial in these interviews, and the practice is capable of much modification, and is likely to receive it. There remains outside each Congregational church a body of persons who join statedly in its worship, larger in general than the church itself, and called, by a name misleading to strangers, the congregation^ F 2 68 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. But several reasons concur to prevent the persons so designated from being viewed by their friends within the pale as ' excommunicated persons,' to quote a phrase recently applied to them. They would hardly form, as they do, a majority of pro bably every worshipping assembly of Congregation alists, if they thought they were so regarded. In the first place, as already pointed out, Congrega tionalists do not affect to determine the limits of the kingdom of Christ ; but, like others, they judge men by the fruits that they show ; and where Christian character appears, whether within or without their societies is quite immaterial, they trace it to the source from which their own inner life springs. On the contrary, where actions are observed inconsistent with a Christian character, no formal enrolment in a Christian society, whether Congregational or not, intercepts the inference which would otherwise be drawn. Moreover, most church members know too well the conscientious misgivings which made them hesitate anxiously and long to avow their own dis- cipleship, and are too conscious how much remains unchristian within them, to judge harshly estimable fellow-worshippers, who may be deterred from joining the church either by scruples or even by indifference, for this retards spiritual growth within the society as well as outside it. EXTERNAL RELATIONS. 69 The frequent intercourse between the two classes is a further guarantee against uncharitable judg ments. Often each class has representatives in the same family, and except in very large congregations, most of the worshippers know something of each other. It is known, also, that the preliminaries mentioned above, deter some who would' otherwise seek admission. These circumstances prevent reluc tance to do so from being matter of surprise or remark. Unwillingness to make open avowal of Christian faith and allegiance is doubtless a subject of regret to those who desire the growth of the church, and the decided loyalty of their friends, but on such grounds as these it is far from being regarded as necessarily a sin, or as involving exclu sion from the fold of Christ. The terms of union now described have been represented as imposed by the necessities of belief ; they are also recommended by considerations of expediency. Por common opinions are among the most natural and frequent causes of human associa tion. Among the most natural ; for the connection in a society of those who entertain them, does but embody in a visible shape that community of view which itself constitutes them a class to the mental eye. And among the most frequent; for the fol lowers of every school of philosophy and politics 70 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. are held together by the same tie of common behef. If, then, the convictions of Congregationahsts did not compel them to form themselves into societies, yet their sympathy in Christian hopes and obedience would prompt them to do so. And as sympathy would naturally draw together men who participated in these hopes and duties, so the want of it would naturally keep aloof persons who did not heartily share them. And that a large proportion of the people who take part in public worship do not heartily share them, is not an uncharitable supposi tion, but an obvious fact. That fact — surely a most pertinent one to consider in framing a Christian organization — obtains a natural recognition in the Congregational pohty. And yet it is continually charged on the system, that it creates an invidious distinction between fellow- worshippers, calculated to produce assumption on one side, and a recoil of ahenation on the other. It has been mentioned above that the evil com plained of, like many of the evils discovered by critics at a distance, is not generally felt by those who are supposed to be injured by it. If that be so, the objection falls to the ground. And an examination of the Congregational system would show that this abuse could proceed only from a misunderstanding. Its adherents would not simply EXTERNAL RELATIONS. 71 be doing violence to its reverential spirit, but would entirely misapprehend its nature, if they considered any man excluded from the Kingdom of Christ because he stood aloof from their churches. And unless some such exclusion be supposed, the alleged abuse could not arise. It is curious that Congre gationahsts, whose system is conspicuously free from this reproach, should be charged with it by those who exclude unbaptized persons from the fold of Christ. The Christian life is doubtless attended with temptations to spiritual pride, but Christianity fur nishes safeguards against it. They consist of the awe of spirit, and the lowly mind, which are as essential to a disciple of Christ as the sanctity which stands aloof from surrounding iniquity. And there is no reason why the virtues of reverence and humility should be less prized and practised by Congrega tionahsts than by other Christian people. Their association for the purpose of spiritual growth is certainly not calculated to lower those virtues in their esteem. Every one observes that some men render earnest allegiance to Christ, and others make no secret of their rehgious indifference. In this state of things, it seems the most natural course that those who feel strongly should associate together because they feel strongly. But though this constantly happens when 72 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. persons are interested in other subjects, it is com plained of as uncharitable in religion. To place for mally on the same footing men deeply impressed with religion, and men avowedly unconcerned about it, is indeed consistent in those who ascribe to baptism an efficacy which they deny to mere per sonal conviction. This theory is not widely accepted in England, but general practice has long been in harmony with it. Perhaps this is why such an obvious arrangement as association on the basis of common convictions seems to many less natural in religion than in anything else. Another question which requires to be met is, whether the association of persons who are strongly assured of the claims of Christianity is conducive to their spiritual welfare. Congregationalists are persuaded that their polity does promote the well-being of the church. The idea of belonging to a sacred society, all the members of which have deliberately, avowed .their aUegiance to Christ, tends to stimulate the languor of the spiritual life. Persons so associated, hke the early Christians, as Phny describes them, pledge them selves thereby to abstain from evil. At the frequent meetings of the society, the members virtually re new their vows ; and thus, by the visible association and its accompaniments, the responsibilities of the EXTERNAL RELATIONS. 73 Christian" 'disciple are- kept constantly present to his mind. Connection with such a society is so far from producing in its members a self-satisfied feeling of superior sanctity and exemption from the necessity for spiritual vigilance, that it awakens sohcitude — unless the Christian hfe of the church has sunk to a deplorable ebb — lest the level of attainment should fall miserably below the level of profession, lest vows so lofty and comprehensive should be disastrously broken. Such, at least, is the feehng prevalent among young candidates for membership in Congregational churches, and to preserve and intensify this feehng among all the members is a prominent aim of their ministers. Allegiance to Christ is the very bond of their union, enthusiasm in His service the breath of their hfe. This en thusiasm varies, however, in different churches, and fluctuates in each, and is too feeble in all. And in proportion as the standard of Christian devoted- ness attained is high or low, the connection between the members is strong or weak, and the fruits of the connection many or few. If Christian profession be merely nominal, the tie which unites the society is broken ; it may still seem a body, but it is a corpse. No doubt formalism always threatens, and often impairs, the health of this sacred feeling as of 74 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. every other ; but a society in which earnest convic tion forms the very basis of union, possesses at any rate a surer guarantee for its continued vitality than there can be when personal conviction is not essen tial to membership. And, obviously, whatever power the society de rives from the participation of its members in this soul-stirring allegiance depends on that participa tion being the well-understood condition of member ship. The freedom of intercourse and the closeness of union among the members, would both be im paired by the comprehension of numbers who do not actively share their allegiance and their hopes. Por a church of moderate size, whose members meet often to survey their Christian heri tage, and revive their Christian aUegiance, attains to a unity of feeling like that which animates a family ; the social instinct, which is inseparable from the idea of a church, obtains scope for development ; and, by means of it, Christianity fulfils its double purpose of bringing men together, and bringing them to God. And as the freedom of family inter course is restrained in the presence of strangers, so the fraternal feeling of the Christian society would be in great measure destroyed, if it included persons who have little sympathy for the purposes it exists to serve. And yet, in the church, as in the family, EXTERNAL RELATIONS. 75 guests are heartily welcomed, new members are received into fellowship with rejoicing, cordial feel ings are entertamed towards similar communities, and brotherly intercourse among the members is the nurse, instead of the enemy, of charitable feelings towards all. Naturally the resemblance is carried still further, for internal dissensions and unbecoming exclusiveness are to be found in Christian societies as well as in famihes. It is impossible, indeed, that men divided by the wide distinctions of society should be brought into such close brotherhood as Christianity contemplates unless they meet on the ground of common, and definite, and strong convictions. To dispense with such convictions would, by enfeebling the bonds of the society, be a sacrifice outweighing any advan tage to be obtained by enlarging its borders. The loose association of many lukewarm adherents would be a poor substitute for the warm fraternal feeling of a deeply-impressed few. Moreover, Congregational churches are brother hoods in which a broad equality of need and of privilege sets social distinctions aside. This equality is faithfully expressed in their democratic consti tution, by means of which they still promote the aim towards which the Christian church powerfully laboured in her early years, and for which she 76 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. needs to strive again, that of bringing into true union classes long estranged by the barriers of rank and station. It has been justly observed that an opposite ten dency is at work where societies of fellow-worshippers dispense with a spiritual qualification, inasmuch as a monetary qualification is apt to take its place. Por in the absence of a governing body possessing autho rity on spiritual grounds, the seatholders of the place of worship naturally constitute the ruling class, and then the condition of membership is a money pay ment. On the other hand, such of the seatholders in a Congregationalist chapel as are not members of the church, have no voice whatever in the regu lation of its spiritual affairs ; though they are often Consulted by courtesy, in a more or less formal man ner, on matters of worship and finance. It may be objected that exclusive Christian socie ties are incompatible with the purpose of Christ to establish a brotherhood wide as the race of man. The answer is, that Congregational churches are not exclusive in any sense inconsistent with univer sal brotherhood ; ani that the brotherhood con templated by Christ, as represented in the New Testament, was to be formed by inspiring all men with active allegiance to Himself, not by rendering that allegiance a merely nominal recognition; by EXTERNAL RELATIONS. 77 Christianizing the world, not by secularizing the Church; by summoning the many to share the enthusiasm of the few, not by exposing their fervour to the contagion of prevaihng indifference. I have now described the constitution of a Congre gational church, so far as this affects its relations to Christian men beyond its borders, and shown that this constitution is determined by the fundamental convictions respecting Christianity held by Congrega tionahsts ; and one or two reasons have been men tioned, independent of these convictions, which may be urged in its favour. The legitimate conclusion is, that the external relations of Congregationalists, in theory at least, are particularly tolerant and free. Their theory requires them to give unhesitating Christian welcome to every man whose life bears evidence to his spiritual connection with Christ, whatever the Christian organization to which he be longs, and even if he be unconnected with any. The existence of their churches, and the sacred character which they ascribe to them, are, indeed, evidences that they regard the visible association of believers as of Divine institution, as invested with peculiar privi leges, and therefore as necessary to the perfect development of the spiritual life. But this is not inconsistent with the belief that it is personal ap proach to Christ, not connection with any visible 78 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. society, which unites men to God ; and that only this, and this by itself, effects their entrance into the Kingdom of Christ. Christian character is the sole evidence of this union which is at once acces sible and trustworthy; formal evidence respecting it is, therefore, the prime condition of membership in their churches. As to persons who do not seek admission, as no judgment is called for, so none is pronounced ; but the informal evidence of Christian character which general intercourse supplies is interpreted with a wide charity. This rule of Christian recognition does not heed the boundaries of sects, but fastens upon all who are loyal to the Divine Christ, whatever name they bear ; and Con gregationalists, if they always suffered this principle to lead them, would lose sight of human divisions in surveying the Christian world and the history of the Church ; and would mark only, or chiefly, the hearts which Christ has enlightened, whose bright ness illuminates regions widely separated by the barriers of systems and the wastes of years. Except, indeed, for our constant and unhappy ex perience of the mutual estrangement and animosity of Christians, it would seem incredible that men inspired with this allegiance, and impelled by it to make ag gressive efforts on surrounding irreligion, and opposed in those efforts by mighty forces of evil, should not EXTERNAL RELATIONS. 79 unite before the common foe, with a cordiality suffi cient to bear down all internal differences, in the face of the one vast difference of being for Christ or against Him. Such hearty cooperation among all who agree as to the great outlines of the Christian faith is as natural as relations less cordial are grievously un natural. It is a strange reproach that men who are ranged under Christ's banner of love, and whom circumstances have placed side by side in the field, should not only labour entirely apart, but look coldly on each other's exertions, and make their opposition to each other as marked as their hostility to the kingdom of sin. The charge of dividing Christian men from each other cannot, if the account here given be correct, be laid to the theory of Congregational churches ; it must be confessed, however, that practice has fallen short of theory. If we inquire for the causes, other than narrow ness of mind and intolerance, which divide Christian men from each other, two obvious ones present them selves, the one natural and legitimate, the other the subject of energetic protest on the part of English Congregationalists. Diversity of creed on fundamental points, I call a natural and legitimate obstacle to union among Christians. It is too readily assumed that such alien- 80 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. ation is always due to intolerance. No doubt bigotry often accompanies it, and increases the estrangement wherever it is present; but if bigotry be absent, radical divergence of view is itself sufficient to pro duce it. Por as community of view on any subject has a tendency to draw men together, so difference of opinion has a tendency to separate them. This appears where the difference is merely intellectual, but the separation will of course be wider when the question at issue excites strong emotions, and will increase in proportion to its gravity ; so that no differences are likely to produce such wide alienation as differences of religion, because these have to do with the deepest convictions of the soul. For example, if, of two earnest men, one regards the Founder of Christianity as entitled to Divine homage, and the other renders Him such reverence only as is paid to men who have been eminent in goodness, the two cannot heartily unite in Christian worship or enterprise. Each may credit the other with perfect sincerity, each may refrain from pronouncing on the other any sentence of condemnation, each may admit the possibility that his own view is mis taken, and desire for the other perfect freedom of thought and of action; but while one pays Di vine worship where the other withholds it, strong religious sympathy cannot unite them. Their differ- EXTERNAL RELATIONS. 81 ence of opinion is of such a nature as to keep them apart in matters of religion, even without the slightest admixture of intolerance. To object to such dis junction where differences are fundamental, is to pro test against a natural law, to be deaf to the inevitable discords of jarring behefs. On the other hand, though discordant opinions may prevent Congregationalists from cooperating in religious worship and effort with some Christian churches and Christian men, this does not imply any judgment on the relation in which those from whom they are thus separated stand to the great Kingdom of Christ. Their theory instructs them to leave such questions, as beyond the province of man. The point at which diversity of view becomes in compatible with cordial association is not one to be determined by individual feeling, but belongs rather to an impartial logician to decide. But obviously the differences of creed which divide Congregation alists from Unitarians, for example, and from Roman Catholics, are sufficient to justify them in standing apart. So the nature of each scheme of Christian be lief renders possible, or impossible, the alliance of its adherents with those of other schemes ; and therefore the charge brought against Christians of breaking the Church into exclusive sections, instead of forming G 82 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. one organization in common with all who would not disown the Christian name, is, in many cases, no just accusation at all. A wide scheme of comprehension is consistently held by men who regard the pure and reverent spirit of Christianity as its only essential fea ture; but even they might be expected to perceive that such a union must, in the nature of things, be impracticable for all who hold certain doctrines to be of essential importance too. For men who can consistently unite to form one Christian organization must at least agree on the points which they deem essential to a Church of Christ. Now it is a famihar rule in classification, that a class comprehends a smaller number of in dividuals if the attributes common to its members are numerous than if they are few. For example, the class of humming-birds is less numerous than the class of birds, but humming-birds have all the attributes of birds, and additional characteristics besides. And it is because these additional charac teristics are made attributes of the class that other birds are excluded. In like manner, conditions deemed essential to a Christian church must, in proportion to their number, limit its comprehensive ness, and exclude from it persons who might other wise be embraced. Yet these conditions cannot be dispensed with ; if they could, they would not be EXTERNAL RELATIONS. 83 essential. To embrace those who receive and those who reject Christian dogma is impossible, and an external union to coexist with and conceal such disagreements, must be unsound and unhealthy. It follows, too, that a man's readiness to unite in religion with persons of widely divergent opinions should depend on the nature of his behef more than on the temper of his mind. A man with an indefinite creed might be expected, in spite of an illiberal disposition, to unite freely in Christian fellowship with persons with whom another, of more definite views, though of a more generous character, could have little religious sympathy. It is equally anomalous that Christian men, whose faith rests upon the same foundation, should stand aloof from each other. Here, where the differences are superficial, and the points of agreement funda mental, the same natural tendency operates in favour of union which in the case just mentioned operates against it. Apart altogether from intolerance and charity, logical necessity divorces men who radically differ, and unites men who radically agree. And reverence for truth, as well as genuine unity, re quires that both necessities should be observed. The common tendency is to exaggerate small differences, and not to extenuate large ones. But there is a leading cause of estrangement between a 2 84 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. Congregationahsts and many of their fellow-Chris tians in England, which exemplifies both these evils. I mean the alhance of one Christian organization with the State. On the one hand, its supposed advan tages bring nominally into one enclosure men whose deepest convictions are confessedly inconsistent. And on the other hand, those who are within and all who are without this one organization are inevi tably estranged, even though their convictions sub stantially agree. This is inseparable from the nature of the arrangement as it exists in England. For, by the Church so established, the State undertakes to provide for the spiritual wants of the nation. The ministers of the Church are the functionaries of the State employed for that purpose. The country is divided into districts, and with the spiritual welfare of the people in those districts the ministers are officially charged. It is not strange that the man entrusted with the cure of souls in a parish should regard every other Christian organization within it as intruding unwarrantably into a province consigned by rightful authority to his care ; that he should view its leaders as every State functionary must view private individuals who assume his functions, and ts adherents as guilty of revolt against authorized spiritual rule. This must happen, unless his Chris tian sympathies. get the better of the feelings natural EXTERNAL RELATIONS. 85 to his position. Unchristian as it may be to dis countenance exertions made in the holy cause of Christ, by men with whom he agrees in all his most important convictions, he acts inconsistently with the position he fills by affording them any encouragement. And his flock, who uphold the theory, are apt to share its natural antipathies. On the other hand, the knowledge of Noncon formists that the course they have taken at the bid ding of conviction is so regarded by the members of one Christian community, chills the cordial feelings towards them which both their sympathies and their principles prompt them to indulge. Apart from individual intolerance, nothing, on their side, but fundamental differences of opinion would divide them from their fellow-Christians ; but cordial re lations cannot exist unless they are mutual. And they can hardly be mutual between men, some of whom regard the rest as guilty of revolt against authorized spiritual rule. The Liberation Society makes a natural and legitimate protest against these inevitable evils attending the connection between a Church and the State. All Congregationalists, indeed, do not trace these evils to their source, and some shrink from the contention which the protest in volves. To a certain extent, and incidentally, aliena tion is increased by this opposition, but it is a direct 86 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. step towards the remedy ; and men who denounce what they deem an injustice, cannot fairly be charged with nourishing an animosity because they strike at its roots. The external relations of Congregationalism are, therefore, so far as its distinctive principles are con cerned, relations of amity and alhance with all the servants of Christ, to whatever ecclesiastical organi zation they belong, qualified only by the natural estrangement which divergent behefs on fundamen tal questions must always produce. Questions of church polity are not so essential as to alienate Congregationahsts from those who differ from them in this respect, and offer no barrier, therefore, to the fraternal feeling they entertain towards all out side their churches who are loyal to the Divine Redeemer. They protest against the State inter ference which chiefly and inevitably raises such a barrier in England. And they desire the free and natural play of Christian sympathies, unaffected by hindrances or helps from any extraneous cause ; in virtue of which, Christian men would group them selves into societies exactly as common convictions and convenience attracted them, or stand peacefully apart if sufficient differences separated them ; a state of things which demands as its condition perfect religious equality. EXTERNAL RELATIONS. 87 Congregationahsts, indeed, were the first, or among the first, to advocate entire rehgious toleration, of which the complete rehgious equality they now demand is the ripened fruit. And inasmuch as perfect religious equality is the surest guarantee for freedom of thought, they may claim to have been upholders of that freedom. It may be useful, in conclusion, to compare the Congregational pohty, in respect of liberality towards Christian people beyond its borders, with some other existing pohties. The hberahty of opinions, it need hardly be remarked, is not a test of their truth. Divine disclosures must naturally have a dogmatic and exclusive character, such as can scarcely belong, even in kind, to rehgious opinions which do not claim to be special revelations from God. For one can hardly conceive that an external revelation claiming Divine authority, like the Bible, should not speak on the gravest questions in the language of positive assertion. But it would be unbecoming for a man whose rehgious opinions were framed independently of such a distinct authority, to ascribe to them a certainty that should command the assent of others. His lack of a standard of appeal external to himself should pro duce a kind of diffidence which otherwise he could not feel. But though statements clearly defined, 88 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. and demanding acceptance, are almost inseparable from the idea of an external revelation, the narrow or liberal character of theological views is a matter deserving of regard. The members of churches which teach that bap tism alone introduces the person baptized into, the Kingdom of Christ, without reference to his per sonal conviction, have a clear fine of recognition drawn, beyond which it is impossible for them to pass. They are bound by their theory to exclude from the Church of Christ those who have every title except the ceremonial one, and are equally bound to include in it those who have no title but that. The Kingdom of Christ on earth is iden tical, in their view, with the visible company of the baptized. They cannot, therefore, have cordial relations with the members of churches which deny this efficacy to baptism. If these churches practise baptism, they may assign to its observance a signifi cance which those who administer it disclaim ; but only on that supposition, and then imperfectly, can they reciprocate the fraternal feehngs with which Congregationahsts, among others, would regard every servant of Christ in their ranks. In the case of persons unbaptized, even this recognition must be withheld. EXTERNAL RELATIONS. 89 The truth or falsehood of this theory is not now in question ; but whether true or false, it does not permit the churches which maintain it to have cordial relations with Christian men who repudiate the spiritual efficacy of rites. Christian sympathies, however, continually transgress limits with which experience is continually at war. The external re lations of Congregationalists are, from the nature of their behefs, not only more liberal than those just described, but more conformable to the fact that the fruits by which Christ taught that His followers should be known appear in men who differ widely on questions of pohty, and ritual, and faith. Another form of ecclesiastical polity would com prehend within one great Christian organization Englishmen of every variety of opinion who would not disown the Christian name. This broad con stitution is consistently reared on the belief that definite Christian doctrines are unattainable, if not undesirable. In England such a church would be virtually coextensive with the nation, which is the ideal desired. The supporters of this view ap proach, in one particular, the upholders of the priestly theory, to which, in essential respects, they are diametrically opposed, for both make member ship independent of personal conviction. It may 90 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. be this connecting hnk which enables them, though differing so widely, to maintain an external union as members of the Established Church in England. This theory of comprehension is, doubtless, more liberal than the Congregational system, inasmuch as its advocates would embrace, not only in their Christian sympathies, but even in their ecclesiastical enclosure, almost ah who differ from them, as well as all with whom they agree. But in their advo cacy of this principle they seem to forget, as re marked before, that it is impossible for those to accept it who, like the adherents of the priestly and Congregational theories, hold certain convictions and a spiritual character to be of essential importance in the constitution of a church. Such persons must cease to deem these conditions essential before they could accept it. The advocates of this theory are, therefore, labouring for an unattainable end. But though these considerations must prevent Congrega tionalists from uniting in such a scheme of compre hension, the preceding pages will have shown that these obstacles mterpose no such barrier, on their part, to Christian intercourse. 91 THE CONGREGATIONALIST CHARACTER. My object is to describe as truthfully as I can the character of Enghsh Congregationalists. The nature of the undertaking is inconsistent with definite accuracy of delineation, for character is never a de finitely settled thing ; it is always moving. This is true of individuals, but it is a fact of still greater importance in the character of classes ; and since the movement of ideas is made at different rates of progress in different people, and the starting-point of some men is in advance of the final achievement of others, any comprehensive class of persons pre sents at the same time several successive stages of development. Whatever quahties, therefore, are ascribed to the class must be understood to charac terize individuals in very various degrees. I desire to give such a description as may assist the reader in judging whether the Congregationahst character is one which he would find repellant or attractive of his sympathy, if differences of religious name were not made the boundaries of rehgious 92 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. fellowship. I assuredly do not assume that every reader will find it altogether attractive. It is enough to justify the attempt that sometimes the mutual antipathies of men depend on their igno rance of each other. Such a purpose will not be served by sketching merely superficial characteris tics. It demands the exhibition of the essential quality, if there be any, really distinctive of Con gregationalists. In a class determined by rehgious affinities, this common element must be less actual than ideal. It is not always to be found in what men do ; for similar pursuits and actions may spring from diverse motives. It is not always in what they are ; for men of qualities the most opposite are drawn together by religious affinities. It consists rather in those common standards of right and wrong which, welded together, form a man's ideal type of character, that conception of what he ought to be, what he aspires to be, which hes indeed far beneath the surface of his mind, but yet makes the foundation of his character, and determines what its form shall be. As sympathy in aspiration tends to make friendships, so the bond of rehgious fellow ship is a common ideal of rehgious character. Such an ideal is not often consciously adopted^ but I beheve we all have it. We take it at first from those who are round our infancy and youth, THE CONGREGATIONALIST CHARACTER. 93 as they took it from the generations before them. It is created not by their precepts or express instruction, but by their unconscious yet continual distribution of praise and of blame. And it is subject to the same law of perpetual movement as that which governs the rest of our character. But it does not vary with individual peculiarities. It is only the more thoughtful who amend or reconstruct for themselves their original standards of right and wrong. And even they are affected by the form of their inherited ideal. Whatever reconsideration it may undergo, its original hnes, deeply ingrained in early formed habits of thought, are almost indelible. With most men these standards are readjusted from time to time, not by their considered judgment, but by the average tone of their associates, which advances as pubhc opinion on other matters ad vances. In this way the ideal of the class moves on. It is not the same as it was. It will not re main what it is. Every religious body has an ideal type. Within the Church of England one party finds it in the comforter of the sorrowful, who, without nicely calculating where he may be most useful, simply beheves that his field of labour is where there is greatest suffering ; who, burning to express his love to Christ by acts of self-sacrifice, rejoices more 94 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. in the sacrifice itself than in the good done to others ; who schools his religious emotions into disciplined conformity with ecclesiastical appoint ments, and fasts with a real humiliation, and feasts with unfeigned joy, at the bidding of the Church ; who, with a nature more sensitive than strong, loves to linger in the by-ways of devotional feeling, and seems (as if the gold were greater than the temple) to care for practices which are at the best mere stimulants of devotion, as if they were the indispens able conditions of worship. Another section concedes less merit to faith and more to reason. It restrains any grasp of creed so passionate as to exclude new arguments. Its law of life is the direct practical one of love to God and man, with a special emphasis on the latter as the more visible duty ; its work is to be done where it will tell the best, deriving no attraction either from the sacrifice it costs, or from the misery of its objects ; it cultivates the natural character so far as it is good ; and, with these practical objects secured, insists that creed should be a speculation, and the search for truth unembarrassed by any apprehension of fearful consequences attending honest failure. The third, on the contrary, takes for a model one whose first object is to be well assured that he is justified by faith, and who strives to conquer sin, THE CONGREGATIONALIST CHARACTER. 95 first because sin clouds the clearness of his assu rance, and secondly because holiness is beautiful ; who considers it essential to his salvation that his natural character should be completely changed, and at the same time resists the tendency to regard Christian virtues or good works as the ground of a hope of salvation ; and whose confidence of his own security, far from encouraging a selfish indifference, makes him labour with ardent effort that others, both at home and in heathen lands, may enjoy the same privilege. Passing on to the churches originated by the Wesleyan revival, we find a new ideal ; but to see it in its most vivid distinctness, we must go back to the earher days of the* movement. The Wesleyan of those times, believing as he did in the supreme importance of conversion, was yet not so much the man of creed as the man of emotion. His penitence was full of tears ; his love was passion ; calmness was to him a sign of spiritual chill ; his feeling was most encouraging when it was almost an agony ; he thanked God if he could sincerely exclaim : — I thirst, I faint, I die, to prove The greatness of redeeming Love, The love of Christ to me. A type of man different from all these forms the Congregationalist ideal. Less fervid than the Wes- 96 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. leyan, but with religious feelings more equable; insisting upon doctrine hke the Evangehcal, but still with a love of intellectual freedom as real as that of the Broad Church, though more restrained both by faith and by prejudice ; unlike the Ritualists in his disregard of the machinery of devotion, in his view of the simple and direct relations established between God and man, and in his appreciation of the best enjoyments of this world, and resembling them in impatience of any control of rehgious work by secular authority, the Congregationalist has many both of the virtues and of the faults of other sects, but these qualities are cast in a distinctive mould of his own. In order to show the growth of this ideal, I must first describe what it was one or two generations ago, and then point out how that conception has been modified. I believe that this is the only way to understand what it is now. Even where the conception is obsolete, it is not wholly dead. What, then, is the Christian man, according to the idea of the Congregationahst in the early part of this century? His first object was the life of the soul. He carried on an unceasing conflict with the wickedness of his own heart. He was careful not to trust to good works for his hope of salvation, but he rejoiced in every conquest over sin as a proof that the grace THE CONGREGATIONALIST CHARACTER. 97 of God was in him. He desired to maintain in the intervals of other occupation an habitual contempla tion of the grandest truths of revelation. The great ness of God, and all the infinite perfections of the Divine Being, the immortahty of the soul and its responsibility, the fall of man into sin, and above all the great scheme of redemption by the sacrifice of Christ, these were the topics on which he trained his mind to dwell ; and his soul was in health if he thus became possessed by a love toward God, deep and calm, but not therefore the less unspeakable. The value of the Sabbath-day, as he loved to call it, lay in the opportunity it afforded for cultivating this contemplation. He sought to keep at a dis tance all disturbing ideas. The inviolate tranquillity of the day was protected by that welcome command ment of God which, in his view, prohibited all other occupation and, according to his spiritualized in terpretation of it, all other trains of thought, whether of business or pleasure, or simply of pain, if the pain were not so suggestive of the Divine chastisement, as to lead up to his beloved theme. But it was not only this that made the day precious. Its chief privilege was the service of the sanctuary. The great aim even of his private prayer was that his heart might be in tune for public worship. But, there, in fellowship with others in praise and in h 98 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. prayer, his mind retained the same calm tone. His highest praise was the simple and serene expression of the great thoughts of his hfe : To show Thy love by morning light And talk of all Thy truth at night. In prayer he rejected every kind of mediation, besides the One Mediator between God. and man. When the congregation assembled to pray, he be lieved that Christ, faithful to His promise, was in the midst of them, not waiting the bidding of the priest. It was mere mockery to make music beau tiful or ceremonial splendid, when his Maker was looking for the sacrifice of a contrite spirit, and the praise and the prayer of the heart. Nor could he rest content with a liturgical form. It damped his ardour even to suspect that the minister was giving utterance to premeditated prayers. The spontaneous outpouring of one spirit to God aroused more power fully the sympathetic action of the rest. His soul did not wait passive until the completion of each petition. Almost every expression, as it passed, touched some eager feeling of praise or of desire. The effort thus to keep pace in sympathy with his fellow-worshippers demanded a more versatile energy of emotion than the smooth and easy pathways of a familiar liturgy, but it brought its own reward in the higher intensity of prayer it made possible. THE CONGREGATIONALIST CHARACTER. 99 It was in harmony with this simplicity of form and strenuous vigour of spirit, that the sermon should dwell mainly on the fundamental truths of his belief. The preaching of the Word was one of the leading elements in his Sabbath privileges. It aroused his mind, and gave to the great doctrines a vividness, which the secular engagements of the week had dimmed. With these thoughts the un seen world became real. To the eye of faith it seemed present. Thus the day was to him the type of heavenly rest and enjoyment. It was not only one of his most efficient means of grace, but also the standard up to which he strove to raise the whole of his hfe as far as his worldly duties would permit. But his worldly duties were duties still to be done with his might. He had a high appreciation of the virtue of industry, and a constraining sense of the value of time, as a talent for the full employment of which, to its last fractions, he was responsible. He beheved in the holiness of the family relations, and he regarded home affections as one of the chief gifts of God, to be enjoyed ungrudgingly, and yet to be kept sub ordinate to the love of Christ ; while domestic trials formed one of the most powerful means employed by his Heavenly Father for exercising his faith. In all questions of great importance, and even in H 2 100 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. determinations of minor matters, he professed, in the language of the Old Testament imagery which he loved, to be guided by the pillar of cloud and of fire, leading him where he should go, and direct ing him where he should rest. If he could not see the heavenly sign, it was only that the eye of faith was dim. Some indication of the will of God would be found, if only he would pray and patiently wait for it. For he beheved, with a peculiar intensity, that all his concerns were in the hands of God, and that all things would work together for his good. Whatever calamity he might encounter, his faith told him that it was a needed disciphne, that he might be as gold tried in the fire, purified for the Master's use; and this, whether it came in the form of his own sickness or pain, or of a wound to his affection, or of merely material loss. Thus his life in the world, while he strove to keep it distinct from the life of the soul, ministered to his soul's health. He knew that whatever he did, he might do all to the glory of God ; no matter how he was employed, it might be As ever in his great Taskmaster's eye. The influence of this ideal has not passed away, but no such limited range of interest and of thought would be now held worthy of imitation. Congrega tionalists now demand both a freer speculation in all THE CONGREGATIONALIST CHARACTER. 101 matters connected with theology (so far as this is consistent with a firm hold of the most important articles of their faith), and a more extended sym pathy with various modes of thought and of feel ing, not intimately connected with religion. That summary and sweeping dismissal of the interests of this world, which appeared, even to some of the old Congregationalists, a sign that their treasure was in heaven, is now condemned as weak, if not wicked. Truths which are fundamental are no longer re garded as entitled to such exclusive attention. The habit of desiring moral excellence chiefly for the sake of its evidential value as a sign of grace, has given way to a pursuit of Christian virtues for their own sake. The habitual conception of the Deity, which before united to the idea of the Father in heaven, the Old Testament image of Jehovah, has, I think, lost something of its old awfulness. And, at the same time, that behef in the particular Divine arrangement of his life, which was connected, in the mind of the old Congregationalist, with the idea of an Almighty Father watching- over the interests of His children, is now rather dependent on the con ception of a Supreme Ruler of the Universe, arrang ing aU things for all creatures, in answer to their prayers or without them, not in spite of natural laws, or by temporary suspension of them, but by 102 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. means of predetermined events, following one an other in the regular successions to which the name of natural laws is commonly given. I do not intend to imply that the type of cha racter thus described is the model towards which all Congregationahsts direct their aspirations. The most free-minded members of every sect will seek an ideal exempt from any peculiarity of sect, or place, or time. On the other hand, there have been those who aimed lower ; to whom salvation meant nothing more than security from future punishment ; who reduced the standard of Christian character to mere compliance with the prohibitions of a religious profession, and limited their aspirations to what was significantly termed a consistent deportment. But these ideas are passing away, and I beheve that the conception I have attempted to present has had a great effect in forming the Congregationalist character. The tendency of the present day is to soften whatever there was of Puritan rigour in the ancient type. The Puritan habits of Congregationalists were, in their origin, a protest against the prevaihng morals, and the improvement of morals has removed the ground of the protest. Novels have in the hands of some writers become pure, and Congre gationalists read them. Dancing can be enjoyed THE CONGREGATIONALIST CHARACTER. 103 without entering society which laughs at religion, and Congregationahsts enjoy it. Cards and billiards have ceased to be a pretext for gambhng, and Congregationahsts build billiard-rooms, and indulge in rubbers of whist. They abundantly patronize the pubhc musical entertainments which have grown into popularity in recent years, and they do not consider the enjoyment of the stage sinful, al though, since they are alive to the moral dangers which are rife in our theatres, the habit of attending them has not found its way into Congregationalist families. It is not true that these exemptions relieve the moral code of every Congregationahst. Those who are already in the yellow leaf, whose moral antipathies are habits long formed, retain their old and once well-warranted dislike of many of these things ; and all, young and old, whose ideas have been httle affected by the progress of the time, entertain the same objections. Hence ministers whose example is powerful for evil as well as for good, even' though they regard these amusements as intrinsically harmless, often feel bound to abstain from them for the sake of weaker brethren ; but the tendency is clear to abolish restrictions. All these innovations are signs of the advance of a rationalistic mode of thinking, which forces on the reconsideration of questions deemed before to have 104 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. been concluded by the express language of Scripture. Congregationalists are growing more and more im patient of that intellectual conservatism which is displayed in a blind adherence to received opinion. Generally liberals in politics, and opposed to all ecclesiastical and traditional authority, their habits of mind compel them to hold this attitude towards the free investigation of matters of faith. Probably they would not so readily admit such questioning, if they were less confident that their belief is in the main true, and that truth has nothing to fear from inquiry. But many of them think that we have yet much to learn that may throw light on our religious beliefs, both from further study of the Bible and from investigation into history and science, and hold it wrong to shut the eyes against any such light. Hence they habitually hold in sus pense many subordinate matters of belief. Their creed is much less complete than it was. They do not expect to find in each other any decided opinion on some points of theology which in times past would not have been considered open to doubt ; and the number of questions is increasing on which current opinion is avowedly in suspense. One sign of this tendency is that the authority attributed to the Old Testament has dechned. The fourth commandment is less frequently appealed to THE CONGREGATIONALIST CHARACTER. 105 as regulating the observance of Sunday, which has indeed become more a matter of feehng than of rule. If there are rules for the day, they are based, not on Divine command, but on spiritual expediency. If some Congregationalists on that day hve on plainer fare, or deny themselves any of the comforts they are accustomed to, it is that their servants may find it a day of rest. If they abstain from mixing in general society, or confine themselves to reading which suggests thoughts of religion, it is because they prize the serenity of mind which these habits favour, and because they beheve that in this way they are more likely to attain to that energy of faith and prayer in which, if they consecrate the day to its pursuit, they find an exceeding great reward. The Congregationahst form of worship exhibits a similar relaxation. Those natural attitudes of stand ing to sing and kneeling to pray, attitudes made natural by a strength of ancient habit which not even Puritanism could utterly eradicate, have been introduced into the practice of the congregations, but with this distinction, that while standing to sing is universal at the ordinary services of the Sunday, kneehng, for which the old pews were never con structed, is much less general. The hymns are taken from a wider field of choice. The hymn-books now 106 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. in general use have been lately compiled, and in the compilation it was no ground of preference that the writer was a Dissenter. The music is more varied, and frequently includes chants and anthems. Here and there a liturgy is employed, but always, or nearly always, in addition to extemporaneous prayer. At the same time I do not think there is any ground for the allegation that there is a ritualistic movement among Congregationahsts. A new feel ing for art is almost universal, and it affects the ideas of all men on worship. In obedience to this influence, the worship of Congregationalists has con formed to higher aesthetic standards. No doubt, they sometimes attach an undue measure of im portance to their music and their architecture. But it should be remembered that art, either in music or architecture, may help worship so long as it does not attract attention to itself. It attracts attention to itself when it is more elaborate or striking than what the worshipper is accustomed to, and then only it becomes a hindrance. The mind of the worshipper, therefore, is itself the measure by which the amount of attention to be paid to art in the regulation of worship should be tested ; and the actual advance in the aesthetic tastes of almost every class, not only justifies, but recommends, on grounds of spiritual expediency, a similar advance in worship. THE CONGREGATIONALIST CHARACTER 107 The Congregationalist certainly has no sympathy with that ritualism which is intended to symbolize sacerdotal or sacramentarian doctrines, and his read iness to bring any suggested innovation to the test of its practical value as an aid to worship is his best safeguard against excessive elaboration. It would be an exaggeration to represent that the whole body of Congregationahsts is on the look-out for improvements. They are not all free from the conservatism of long-trodden ways, and it still often happens that in meetings frequented only by a select few out of the ordinary congregation, old-fashioned feeling follows its own bent, and the people sit to sing and stand to pray. This is the practice in many churches at the Lord's Supper, and it is worthy of remark, that this service, the chief and most dearly prized of all, retains in the greatest completeness the ancient simplicity of Congregationahst worship. It is usually celebrated once a month, and it is the right and duty of every member of the church to attend.* By courtesy (except in the case of * In some Congregational churches, there is a rule excluding any member who has been absent for a certain number of suc cessive monthly celebrations of the Lord's Supper, without ex press excuse. This is not intended as penal, but the practice of never omitting one of the regular opportunities of attendance at this service is so general, that repeated absence is treated as evidence of an intention to retire from the church. 108 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. churches composed of what are called Strict Com munion Baptists) members of any other Congre gational church who happen to be present are in vited to become communicants. There are cases in which the invitation is extended to all who are disposed to come, but although the presence as spectators of persons who are not members of any Congregational church is always desired, the com mon rule is that they should not participate in the bread and the wine. This rule, however, is often so far relaxed, as to admit any one present who is understood to be (in the Congregationahst inter pretation of the phrase) a believer in Christ; but its further relaxation is impeded by the prevalent feel ing that the sacredness of the service in large mea sure depends on the confidence in each other's faith and spiritual love which the communicants may possess. This confidence is the basis of that sympathy, that communion of saints, which to the Congregation alist is essential to the due celebration of the Lord's Supper. To him the elements have no mysterious agency. The words of Christ, ' Do this in remem brance of me,' cannot be obeyed by a solitary act. He regards them as enjoining on a church an act of communion, that is, of united remembrance of Christ, and thus he recognises in the institution not only an THE CONGREGATIONALIST CHARACTER. 109 efficient aid to the religious hfe, but also one of the strongest bonds of Christian fellowship. The sentiment which surrounds the service is illus trated by the strong preference that a minister should preside, although no rule is violated when the ordi nance is administered by a layman. The preference is justified by the natural desire that the proceed ings should be conducted by one who will observe the greatest decorum, and that they should be free from any irregularity which might engage the attention ; but it is no doubt often associated in the minds of the unthinking with a dim notion of a sanctity in the office of a minister indispensable to the due administration of so sacred a service. The form is very simple. There is no altar, but the bread and wine are placed on a table covered with a white cloth. A hymn is sung, and then the words of St. Paul describing the Last Supper are read. Sometim es the minister gives a short ad dress, but if he does, his tone is more subdued than at other times. Then, after a short prayer, he repeats the words of the apostle, which tell how our Lord broke the bread, and puts a plate into the hands of each of the deacons, who so carry the broken bread round to the people, as they sit in the pews. After a short interval of silence and another prayer, he dis tributes the cups of wine in like manner, with the 110 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. words describing how our Lord took the cup. A col lection is made for the benefit of the poor members of the church, and, after another hymn, the bene diction is pronounced. Thus, not a display of feeling, but a reserve and restraint of all outward ex pression of emotion, is characteristic of the service. And yet no spectator, observing the pervading stillness which makes audible even the tick of the chapel clock, and the reverent quietness of man ner with which the deacons perform their office, and seeing how each communicant after taking the bread and the wine bends the head in silent thought or prayer, could doubt that the occasion was one of the deepest and most solemn feehng. The firm hold, however, which the simplicity of this service has on the minds of Congregationahsts, is no disproof of the gradual decline of Puritanism. Congregationalists in these days have fewer dis tinguishing peculiarities of any kind, and they have lost much of that sense of being exceptional which aggravates all sorts of oddities. They know better what other people are, and they care more to be like them. This change is due to several characteristics of the present day. One is the pre valent habit of trying to understand other people of all kinds. The habit is not peculiar to the present time, but it is peculiarly strong. It is fostered by THE CONGREGATIONALIST CHARACTER. Ill the fast increasing freedom of communication be tween distant places, and it extends even to literary tastes. Among many signs of it, one of the less obvious, but not the more equivocal, is the popu larity of novels in which the story is accompanied by a running analysis of motive and character. Another cause of the change is the great quantity of periodical and other light literature common to all the world, and read by Congregationalists as much as by other people. This tends to give similar ways of thinking, if not similar opinions, upon the current topics of the day. It is by readiness of com munication upon these subjects that people are brought together. The Clergyman and the Dissenting minister might long have read Hebrew and Greek, each in his study, without being any the nearer to each other. But now people of every sect and creed find that whatever they talk about, if it is not ecclesiastical, their opinions and their modes of reasoning are very much ahke, or else are divided by lines not coincident with religious differences ; and the public objects, political and philanthropic, pro moted in common by many different religious parties, increase their unity of feeling. The improved political position of Congregation ahsts has had the same effect. They now regard themselves simply as one among several ecclesiastical 112 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. bodies, all of them soon to be on an equal pohtical footing. It is, however, a mistake to suppose that all of them share in the agitations of the Liberation Society. Many men are Congregationahsts because they love the forms of their worship, and believe in the practical advantages of their church organization, and yet they do not consider that duty requires them to assume towards their fellow-Christians an aggressive attitude and a hostile criticism, even with the view of abolishing that connection of the Church of England with the State, which they regard not only as a political evil, but also as a grave mistake of religious policy. The preaching in Congregationahst chapels has likewise been affected by the influences already described. But the general distaste for dogma, and the great advance made in the science of biblical interpretation, have been more immediately active in promoting the change. Congregationahst ministers, with few exceptions, embrace the fundamental doc trines of their predecessors ; but they do not so closely confine their preaching to them. The preacher of past generations professed, with almost literal truth, that he came among his people know ing nothing among them save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Whatever his text, and whatever lesson he intended to teach, his thoughts sooner or THE CONGREGATIONALIST CHARACTER. 113 later swung round by a natural gravitation to the one fundamental subject ; and some ministers made it their boast, that they never preached a sermon which did not contain a statement of ' the plan of salvation.' The preaching of the present day is much more varied and interesting, though often less profound and less useful. This variety is quite consistent with the narrower range of positively delivered dogma. Rehgious thought has lost some of the intensity of concentration, and there are times when the older people sigh for a more constant presentation of those ' grand truths ' which were the food of their early piety. Certainly the doctrine of the redemption of mankind by the atonement of Christ holds a pro minent place in the sermons of the most influential preachers. AU these changes show that the traditional elements entering into the character of the Con gregationahst have been greatly modified by the spirit of the age. But he abates nothing of his individual responsibility for his belief. He is accustomed to recognise no superior authority in matters of religion. Any minister or Christian brother may instruct him, but the final decision rests with his own private judgment alone. The church has no authority. He has joined its ranks 114 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. probably because he had previously adopted its belief, but on any point of doubt he cannot divide his responsibility with the church, or the minister, or any spiritual guide whatever. Besides these traditional elements of character, he is affected by a class of influences dependent on the Congregationalist idea of the constitution of a church, and on his position as a member of such a body. He believes that there is a Divine command to believers to form themselves into churches, that is, into societies of people who meet together for worship, and work together for mutual edification and the good of others. By most Congregation alists, therefore, the church is not regarded as an association existing merely by the will of its members. Being formed by Divine authority, it is secure of the Divine sanction and the Divine blessing. It claims to have Christ Himself for its head. Union writh it gives each member a sacred character, which could be conferred by no other society. He shares the honour and the responsibility of all its acts, and he derives energy from the thought that he and his brother members are thus bound together for one great object. This consciousness is not the only important result of his membership. He is brought into frequent contact with the other members of the church, and THE CONGREGATIONALIST CHARACTER. 115 also with the rest of the congregation, men and women differing from himself in age, in education, in pursuits, and in social position. This association is usually closer in churches of long standing than in those which have few years to count, and sometimes it is very cordial. There are many occasions for it besides the ordinary Sunday services. The perio dical administration of the Lord's Supper ; the meet ings of the church, where the admission of members or any other matter of church action is considered ; the weekday meetings for prayer and for preaching, and occasional social meetings of the members of the church and congregation, all afford such oppor tunities. At most of these meetings, the smaller audience, the more informal conduct of the pro ceedings, and the fact that those only, for the most part, attend them who have a more than common interest in their objects, give a greater conscious ness of sympathy. These are the occasions when the individual Christian stands out more distinctly from the general throng, and when particular in terests and events, and personal hopes and fears, may be fitly made the subject of united supplication ; and as the people separate, with the familiarity of friend ship, and with a tone of feeling elevated by their act of common worship, kindly greetings are exchanged, and friendly inquiries are made and answered. I 2 116 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. Such intercourse, when it is repeated week by week through long courses of years, and through the changes which belong to every career, and is asso ciated with their common work as members of the same church, tends to produce a happy intimacy and confidence between different classes and characters, which is usually beyond the experience of those who have not this opportunity of enjoying it. It is neither the principle nor the practice of the members of a Congregational church to remain inac tive until the minister sets them in motion. The most energetic and experienced are willing to accept the office of deacon, which casts upon them the respon sibility of the practical administration of its affairs, including the entire management of the finances, and sometimes also the arrangement of the services. Many other members of the church, if less ex perienced, are not less willing to exert themselves in the common enterprise, and they bring to the work of the church the energy which distinguishes them as men of business. The Sunday School and similar projects are organized and carried out with the en couragement certainly, but usually without the active cooperation, of the minister. When a new church is to be formed, or a new chapel is to be built, the work is generally done by laymen. Natural dis position makes some ministers wish to have a part THE CONGREGATIONALIST CHARACTER. 117 in everything their people do, but others are glad to keep to their own peculiar field of labour, and elsewhere to see their people acting independently of themselves. The laity, at least, is not governed by the feeling that the initiative of every movement must be with the minister. In every congregation there is a large number of persons who are not members of the church. There are people in Congregationalist chapels, as there are in other places of worship, who, caring little about religion, only come because they do not wish to violate a social custom. But others, who are not indifferent, decline to become members of the church, although they know that the accession of new members is always heartily welcomed. One reason is that they are unwilling to say anything to the delegates of the church about their most sacred and secret feelings, and to permit their language on such a subject to be reported publicly to the church. The objection would probably have less power if it were always known how little more than formal the visit of the delegates is. It is, in fact, much more to personal observation than to any discovery of the delegates that the church trusts in admitting new members. The report of the delegates seldom contains any new evidence beyond the direct and dehberate avowal of the candidate, that he believes 118 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. himself to possess the qualification of faith in Christ, an avowal already implied in his request for admis sion. The attention of Congregationalists is awake to the evil of permitting such a form to narrow the gates of their churches, and a remedy is being graduaUy introduced. There are others who have the idea that the act of joining the church would impose on them a higher rule of Christian life, and they fear lest, by possible inconsistencies, they should bring discredit on their profession. Others, again, who cannot look back on any great spiritual change, are deterred by a doubt whether they have ever been converted. These ideas perhaps have the greatest effect on those who, though they have been brought up in rehgious habits, have allowed the natural period of ado lescence to pass by without seeking admission. Such feelings might not lead to a decision never to take this step, but they do cause an indefinite and practically permanent postponement of it The cure for these errors is intelligent and faithful teaching, and the efforts of ministers are constantly directed to their removal. The result, however, of these obstacles to mem bership is, that there remains outside the fold a number of people who are willing to take part in the Sunday School, in district visitations, and other THE CONGREGATIONALIST CHARACTER. 119 enterprises belonging to the work of a church. This cooperation is heartily welcomed and encouraged by the members of the church, who are so far from wishing to give emphasis to the distinction between themselves and such fellow-labourers, that in these organizations the hne becomes invisible. For, holding that Scripture recognises the exist ence of a class of persons who are not of the King dom of Christ, they yet do not presume to decide with confidence who are within its boundaries and who are beyond them ; still less do they affect that the hne is accurately drawn by the hmits of their own churches. On the contrary, every new mem ber is admitted on the assumption that he already belongs to that brotherhood of all behevers which alone can claim the title of the Church of Christ, and the existence of the scruples I have mentioned is recognised as keeping outside the circle of their own members many even of their fellow-worshippers who are not wanting in the spiritual qualification. The characteristics I have thus attempted to de scribe are not evenly distributed over the whole surface of Congregationalism. As a general rule, the member of the church is more under the in fluence of the Congregationahst ideal than his fellow- worshipper who has not joined its ranks ; but the 120 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. latter is usually in advance in the relaxation of Puri tan habits. In comparison with him, the deacon is further removed still; he is generaUy somewhat below the average level of the church members in the relaxation of Puritan habits, and rather more distinctly impressed with the Congregationalist type. To both rules, however, there are abundant ex ceptions. The minister is subject to so many special in fluences, that some further delineation of his character is necessary to complete the present sketch. The Congregationahst minister sometimes has the advantage of a good general education, carried on without interruption to the time when his profes sional training begins. But more frequently he comes from those ranks of the middle class in which education ends with schooling and schooling ends early. He leaves school for business, sometimes for a place behind the counter. He becomes a member of the church, to which circumstances have directed his choice. By his high character, by his earnestness in good works, by his thoughtful habits, or by indications of probable ability as a preacher, the attention of the church is called to his fitness for the ministerial office, or his own spontaneous aspirations take the lead, and he seeks the advice of his friends before it is voluntarily offered. THE CONGREGATIONALIST CHABACTER. 121 But however express and emphatic the advice of friends and the recommendation of the church may be, it is well understood that the ultimate decision must rest with his own conscience. He is bound to seek in prayer for heavenly guidance, and at the same time to take into consideration his own fitness and inclination, and every relevant circumstance, in judging whether he is likely to be more useful as a minister than in any other calling. There are many, however, with whom the problem takes another shape. They beheve that it is the prero gative of the Head of the Church to select the men whom He wiU accredit as His ambassadors, and that in some way He makes manifest to them the fact of their election. The question, then, which such a man asks himself is, whether he is in fact called to the service ;* although it must be admitted that the evidence of the call consists of precisely those considerations of personal fitness and the concur rence of favourable circumstances which would have determined the more practical question of probability. The student for the ministry usuaUy goes to the theological coUege with httle of the openness of mind derived from education, and with a high idea of the important office for which he is destined. The * See an article on the ' Call to the Ministry ' from the Watch man and Reflector, reprinted in the Freeman of July 17, 1868. 122 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. opportunities of preaching and of conducting public services which occur early in his college career cul tivate his self-importance, and the conspicuousness of his position give prominence to his weaknesses. But the tone of thought in a college is determined partly by the influence of the tutors, partly by the men who have been longest in training and who have the greatest mental power, and this tone of thought is one of the most important of the in fluences which transform the crude student into the useful minister. Even when he leaves college, however, he is still a young man. He may have thought, and read a good deal, but he is ignorant of the world and the ways of men ; and unless he be a man of more than average insight and though tfulness, his preach ing is ineffective. It is not tiU he has had some experience of pastoral work, that he learns what wiU reach the heart of his hearers, and every diffe rent degree of earnestness is shown by different men in availing themselves of this experience. To the most ardent the time is rich in instruction. Such a man, entering upon the work of the ministry, and exchanging collegiate seclusion for the business of life, finds that the mission to be accomplished in the future which has been the dream of his coUege days is turned into a practical duty. To the old sense of THE CONGREGATIONALIST CHARACTER. 123 consecration to this mission is now added the stimu lus of definite work to be done or neglected to his disgrace. He begins to act with men who are neither students nor professors. He finds that the energetic people in the congregation with whom he has entered into a partnership of labour look at some things from a new point of view, and that they are not always wrong. In his pastoral visits he has a sense of responsibihty, often an object of his own to carry through, some counsel to give, some needed but unasked sympathy to offer ; he acquires a habit of considering noble purposes in the midst of the intercourse of common hfe ; and his bearing in the world takes a new character, because it has a new purpose. He is especially at pains to under stand the young men of his congregation, that he may gain their confidence. This study of his people gives a fresh point and meaning to his sermons. His sympathy with actual sorrow and his anxiety for individuals infuse a spirit into his efforts which would not come from the vague sense of duty. He usuaUy marries early, and if there is any tendency in domestic hfe to absorb too much of his interest, its general effect is helpful. Sometimes his young wife is a feUow-labourer, whose feminine alertness of perception aids his own. She helps him to do his duty when duty is difficult, and her quick sympathy 124 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. opens to him ways of usefulness which he could not have approached alone. Ignorance of the world, however, does not stand in his way only at the beginning of his career. The ministers of every religious body often display the same defect in many ways, most notably perhaps by the very unpractical and conventional nature of those remarks which they are wont to miscaU the practical application of their discourses. The lessons of society can only be learned by an observer on its own level, and the exceptional character which clings to minis ters of religion wherever they move makes it difficult for them to learn from experience. The relation of a pastor to his people certainly gives him peculiar op portunities of observing men, but he often sees only one side of them, and while his position requires great tact, its prominence exposes his mistakes to public notice and criticism. It is perhaps principally this publicity which has given to ministers the reputation of being as a class deficient in worldly wisdom. Con gregationalist ministers are not free from this defect, although it may be true that they merit the reproach less than others. Certainly some of the most eminent and useful among them are specially distinguished by their common sense and their insight into men. The Congregationalist minister is not usually accus tomed to much intellectual society of a high order. THE CONGREGATIONALIST CHARACTER. 125 His habitual circle does not frequently extend far beyond the people of his own and the neighbouring congregations, and since these congregations are, with some exceptions, composed of the trading and work ing classes, he has few associates not of his own pro fession whose education has been carried on after their school-days. The requirements of his profession, however, encourage his sympathies more than his an tipathies. His duty is not to seek in society for his own amusement or improvement, but to foster what ever he can find that is intelligent, or energetic, or high-minded, or self-sacrificing in his people, and the more not the less when it is associated with inferior qualities. Hence Congregationahst ministers are dis tinguished by a hearty appreciation of very moderate merit wherever it is to be found, and by a ready toler ance, and even enjoyment, of society which would be uninteresting to men of the same reading and culture in other professions. This habit of estimating charac ter is obviously more just than the rough discrimi nation made by general society, in which, while real moral exceUence is not wholly disregarded, an undue value is aUowed to qualities which only make or dinary intercourse easy and pleasant. It might seem hazardous to describe so admirable a quality as reaUy characteristic of the order, if it were not that it is the most noticeable in men whose 126 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. sympathies are naturaUy slow and whose perception of character is naturally blunt. And the apparent praise is quahfied by an important consideration. Every man's standard of exceUence is relative to his own habits, and the minister probably has not less than other men of theory and preconception to warp his observation. The merit he so readily recognises is his own notion of what is good, and this sometimes a prejudiced one ; and his tendency is, or at least was, to put a low estimate on virtues unconnected with religious feelings and habits. It is often said, that the relation of a Congre gationalist minister to his flock as their voluntary nominee, supported by their voluntary contributions, must prevent that honesty in declaring his convic tions and fidelity in administering rebuke which is to be found among pastors whose income is in dependent of their people. This charge is always an inference of probability, not an observation of fact. Calumny is as busy with the names of Dissenting ministers as with any other names, and although the charge is often brought against the class, I have never heard it alleged against an individual. A minister's views of truth may be affected by prejudice, or igno rance, or sentimentality, or mental obscurity, or egotism ; but whatever they are, he has, as a rule, too much care for his conscience and respect for his THE CONGREGATIONALIST CHARACTER. 127 office to abate anything of them in his teaching. He sometimes pertinaciously adheres to a style of preaching and a presentation of doctrine which he knows to be distasteful to his hearers, and brings down the rebuke of the church, or a penal exclusion from it, upon the largest contributors to his income. And a deeper view into human nature would show this kind of subserviency to be reaUy improbable. Men do not go to chapel to have their self-satisfac tion flattered; their hunger is for rehgious emo tion, be it happy or painful. They had rather be stirred by rebuke than not stirred at aU ; and every minister knows that, even if a particular hearer could be unworthily courted, his only hope of that success which is recommended as well by worldly motives as by his hohest aspirations depends on the utmost honesty and fidelity. The minister is certainly dependent on the church in this sense, that a dissatisfied church may, if it wiU, remove him. It is, however, a very rare oc currence for a church to remove their minister. The vote of removal, or the actual withdrawal of his income, is universally regarded as a measure only of the last resort, and rather than make decla ration of their dissatisfaction, churches will often wait for years, in the hope that the minister will voluntarily retire. He cannot fad to discover when the church 128 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. has ceased to desire that he should remain over them ; and whde the delicate feeling of some ministers would compel them to resign on the first suspicion that this was the case, men less sensitive or more helplessly controlled by pecuniary necessity would wait until they saw an opportunity of succeeding to some other pulpit. The relation of the minister to the church is not found in practice to restrict his liberty of thought. When dissatisfaction exists it is very rarely caused by his creed. He would not have become their minister if he had not been, at the time when he entered on the office, in agreement with them on the principal articles of their faith. The instances are rare in which men abandon convictions which have been impressed upon them in the years of youth, and adopted by the judgment of their man hood, unless it be in obedience to some new dis covery or mode of thought which affects all classes of people who read. But then, no difficulty arises ; for the church, or at least that part of it which possesses the authority derived from education, moves with him. If common opinion should soon recede from the old doctrine of everlasting punish ment, the minister will partake in the general movement with his people. Such cases have been frequent in recent years. The new views, not long THE CONGREGATIONALIST CHARACTER. 129 since introduced, but now adopted by many Con gregationahsts, as to the verbal nature of inspira tion, and as to the supposed geology of the book of Genesis, are examples. The period of transition may give to some minds a passing distress or distrust of each other, but these feelings wear out as time advances. There is nothing to mark the bitter moment, bitter to those who keep the old opinion, when the change is made. No alteration of for mularies, no Act of Parliament or deliverance of law courts* is necessary to make it complete. The minister's dependence on the wiU of the church might indeed limit his freedom of inquiry, if its wiU were that he should not inquire freely. But Congregationalists are, as I have already said, so impatient of a bhnd adherence to received opinion, that a profession that inquiry was dangerous would be more likely to forfeit their confidence than to win their favour. Certainly, the minister who takes up new views, which do not shake the foundations * There is no exception to this proposition arising out of the constitution of Congregational churches. An apparent exception exists in the very rare cases in which doctrinal trusts inserted in chapel deeds are enforced by the Court of Chancery. Such trusts, however, are not a part of the system they are intended to maintain, and it is becoming less and less usual to insert them. When they are inserted, they are seldom used. E 130 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. of the common faith, does not thereby lose his influence. Hence, in his study, the Congregationahst minister enters upon the investigation of theological ques tions, I believe, without any thought whatever of possible injury to himself connected with the result of his inquiries. It does not occur to him to ask himself what he wiU be expected to believe. He is too firmly convinced of the truth of his most fun damental convictions to fear that they wiU be shaken ; and the love he has for them, the way in which they are bound into his hfe, is enough, without any thought of possible loss of income, to make him pause long before any evidence which seems to undermine them. But if he were compeUed to surrender them, he would feel, unless he were destitute of aU sense of Christian honour, that it was impossible to re main longer the spiritual guide of people with whom he had so deeply lost sympathy. He would, indeed, in the case supposed, beheve that the church from which he was parting was in error ; but, seeing that his prime function as their minister was not to be their intellectual guide, but to exercise a spiritual and moral power, and that this must needs fail when his faith, right or wrong, was so different from theirs, he would not wait for the church to express its dissatisfaction. THE CONGREGATIONALIST CHARACTER. 131 In spite then of the special influences to which ministers are exposed, they are affected, as their people are, by the tendencies of the time. They do not constitute an exception to the general propo sitions applicable to the Congregationalist character. The description of that character, here attempted, is not given for the sake of an argument in favour of the system under which it grows. Even if its merits are capable of being so employed, its faults cannot be fairly used against the system until Con gregationahsts have at command as much of the good irifluences of education and refinement as the rehgious bodies with which they are compared. Congregationalists have changed with the changing spirit of the age, and they will make further ad vances when new opportunities are put in their power. The change which their character owes to the decline of Puritan habits may to some minds sug gest the idea that Congregationalism likewise wiU die out. It does not belong to my subject to supply conjecture as to the future. I will only point out that the true inference from the facts I have pro duced is contradictory of this idea. Puritan habits have declined because Congregationalists are some times willing to refer their rules of conduct to principle, and let them stand or fall by the result. K 2 132 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. The principle which justifies their ecclesiastical polity is that of spiritual expediency ; that is to say, their pohty seems fitted to promote the objects which every church professes to hold supreme. Thought ful men are ready to consider any innovations, whether by way of confederation or of internal re form, which might make the machinery more effi cient. But of aU possible innovations, the least likely to promise such a result is the surrender of the fundamental principle, that men living in the same neighbourhood, who possess the sympathies arising from simdar rehgious character, should unite in organization for Christian worship and Christian work. 133 CONGREGATIONALISM AND ESTHETICS. ' It is not perhaps much thought of, but it is cer tainly a very important lesson, to learn how to enjoy ordinary hfe, and to be able to relish your being with out the transport of some passion, or gratification of some appetite.' This sentence from the ' Spectator ' * very happUy describes the object of this essay. We wish to find out what the influence of Congregational dissent is on culture and taste; and since there is a certain repressive power in our principles, which has even been declared to be antagonistic to the growth of art, we shall have to inquire how far this power is to be suffered to go, and at what point it passes beyond the line drawn by the writer of the essay in the ' Spectator,' and becomes not only a governor but a tyrant. I use the term aesthetics because it expresses more accurately than any other Enghsh word the subject of which I am about to treat. Although not free * No. 222. 134 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. from a savour of affectation, it must stand, in the absence of a homeher expression, for the science which concerns itself with the theory and philo sophy of taste. At the very outset I confess that there may seem something even presumptuous in coupling together Dissent and Taste. What possible connection can there be between them? Is not Dissent, in the judgment of what are caUed the better classes, a direct violation of good taste ? Sydney Smith's country squire, when he hears of a Dissenter, feels an im mediate impulse to commit ' it to the county gaol, to shave its head, to alter its customary food, and to have it privately whipped.' This ignoble rebel has no right to have any tastes. It is a perpetual eye sore by its very existence. It must not even be admitted to any but a neuter gender. Does it not hve and move and have its being in open defiance of the respectabihties of life ? We ourselves may never go the length of the country squire, but there are very few of us who are entirely free from this feeling. The Englishman has a deep-seated horror of eccentricity ; and Dissent, in the general opinion of members of the Church of England, is only after aU a species of eccentricity, more or less harmless as it is more or less pronounced. In its most extra vagant forms it caUs for solemn encyclicals ; in its CONGREGATIONALISM AND ESTHETICS. 135 milder phases it only requires to be serenely tabooed, or at most Gorgonized from head to foot With a stony British stare. If the reader is a Dissenter, he wiUbe able to recall his pecuhar feehngs in a parish church, and he wiU no doubt confess that they are totally different from those he has in a meeting-house. There is a pleasant sensation of doing the right thing, as he takes his seat amongst the magnates of the town, and the weU-fed, weU-dressed members of the Estabhshment. He exchanges the amateur for the professional in the reading-desk. A complacent insouciance steals over him unsought as he listens to the ' proper Lessons for the Day ' ; his tone is calmly patronising as he gives out his vocal con tribution toward the responses in htany and creed. The sermon, which is very likely so commonplace that it would banish the preacher from a dissenting pulpit, is patiently suffered here, for it comes with aU the authority of the bishop of the diocese. The best sportsmen are very often those who carry no hcense ; but, for aU that, no one will dispute that it is more respectable to bring home an empty bag with the Squire than to labour under the plentiful plunder of the poacher's gun. The peculiar feehng which I have thus indicated 136 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS, is never attained out of the Church by law estab lished. We only stand on the borders of it in the Presbyterian church; in the Congregationahst chapel, where very hkely even the gown is discarded, and the minister in the pulpit is precisely what he is out of it, we are hopelessly unrespectable. With most Englishmen, doing the right thing and thinking the right thing simply mean doing and thinking what the voice of respectabihty pronounces right. A man of taste is a man who does not violate the proprieties of hfe or run counter to general opinion. This may not be a very exalted view of the subject, but I am writing of things as they are, and with the majority of men and women in this country I beheve this to be a true statement of the case. It is plain that Nonconformity openly defies this re spectable level. It is very rigid and stern ; in certain of its aspects, it is even bare. Undoubtedly it is too aggressive to be sentimental. The force of circumstances often obliges the Dissenter to put altogether on one side poetry and imagination ; strong convictions oblige him to stick closely to the prose of life ; he has to deal much in stubborn facts. But when it is remembered that the Dissenter is not a mere incarnation of system ; that he reaUy does possess feelings, perceptions, and tastes in com mon with other men ; that education and culture CONGREGATIONALISM AND ^ESTHETICS. 137 teU on him as much as on any of his feUow-country- men ; that he yearns, oftentimes passionately, for ' hght and sweetness ' ; that the harmony and per fection which go to make up the fulness of hfe are quite as essential to his constitution as to that of any other man ; when aU this is remembered, it becomes a question worth asking : What influence has Con gregationalism, one form of Dissent, on aU this? No one, after a moment's consideration, wiU answer 'None whatever.' Our Nonconformity does affect materially our doctrine, our practice, our worship, our training, our modes of thinking, and indeed our whole hfe. It speaks with more or less authority on all these ; it lays down its laws or gives its counsel about each of them. Therefore, it must be a power telling on taste. Whether it fosters or opposes refined feeling, becomes a question of deep interest to those of us who wish to cultivate our nature, and indulge our lawful inclinations. It is, indeed, a question of deep interest for aU. Nonconformity is on the increase. As men learn to think for them selves, I beheve it wiU go on to increase. The results of the last Census show conclusively that Dissent was never before so powerful in England as it is now. It is, therefore, imperative on us to ask whether its spirit is not friendly to good taste, and whether its influence does not tend to foster and 138 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. encourage the enjoyment of hfe, not in a selfish way indeed, but as hfe ought to be enjoyed, and as God meant that it should. The subject of ^Esthetics and Congregationalism is one peculiarly fitted to us to-day. As long as Dissent was fairly defined by, and confined to, that word, so long it concerned itself very httle with mere questions of taste. It had stern work to do ; hard and strong words were to be spoken ; action was to be taken which had, considered in itself, nothing very lovely. A system that consists simply in differing from another system, and in opposing it tooth and nail, has its work cut out for it ; but that work is opposition only. Speaking as a man of taste, Mr. Matthew Arnold has said : ' Notwith standing the mighty results of the Pilgrim Fathers' voyage, they and their standard of perfection are rightly judged, when we figure to ourselves Shake speare or Virgil — souls in whom sweetness and light, and all that in human nature is most humane, were eminent^-accompanying them on their voyage, and think what intolerable company Shakespeare and Virgil would have found them ! ' Of course, if Shakespeare was always dramatizing, and if Virgil was always composing Georgics, this might be true enough. But we know well enough, that, under the steel armour of duty worn by the Puritan con- CONGREGATIONALISM AND ^ESTHETICS. 139 fessors, beat hearts tender and passionate as Shake speare's or VirgU's. There were springs of poetry and feeling, of sweetness and light (to use Mr. Arnold's own phrase), which sometimes flashed into sudden sight, such as either the Latin or the Enghsh bard might have envied, and must have admired. But there are of necessity times when questions of sentiment he dormant. Wesley was a man of fine classical attainments and predUections, but no whis per of this escapes his lips when he fronts the wild sinful mob around the Cornish mine, or when he stands to preach upon his father's tomb to the wondering villagers of Epworth. It is necessary to remember how often Dissent has been, nolens volens, forced into direct antagonism with taste. In the days of Wycliffe and Huss, of Luther and Knox, taste, with a few remarkable exceptions, clung to conservative institutions, just as the dehcate ivy clings to the venerable oak ; it shrank back in sensitive horror from the radical innovators. In what visible forms did poetry, paint ing, and sculpture reveal themselves then ? They were High Priests in the very Temples that these reformers were sworn to hurl down. The canvas glowed with a Madonna ; the human voice 01 divinest note rose from the choir ; the pure marble petrified an appeal to the passions ; the goldsmith's 140 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. art was expended on a chahce or a censer ; the architect, himself probably a priest, aspired after nothing nobler than to conceive and execute a chapel to Our Lady, or to his Patron saint. LongfeUow speaks of the days of Albert Diirer as a time ' when art was stiU religion ' : it would surely have been more true to fact to say that then religion was still art. The Roman Cathohc faith in its ritual and its worship from first to last was, and stiU is, a powerful appeal to man's sensuous nature. Lutheranism, Protestantism, Puritanism, Independency, on the contrary, were aU appeals to reason against the sensuous. They were resolute returns to the simple forms and teachings of Scrip ture. They were bound to make a dead set against the creed of the merely sensuous, which has been defined by one of its most accomplished and most forlorn exponents, in words worth our considering : 4 Art is not, like fire or water, a good servant and bad master, rather the reverse. She will help in nothing of her own knowledge or free will ; upon terms of service you wiU get worse than nothing out of her. Handmaid of religion, exponent of duty, servant of fact, pioneer of morality she can not in any way become. Her business is not to do good on other ground, but to be good on CONGREGATIONALISM AND ^ESTHETICS. 141 her own ; aU is well with her while she sticks fast to that.' * The men whom I have named above were aU in their course of action so many followers of Paul in his course of action on Mars' HU1. There he stood to appeal against the sensuous as it ran riot around him, to protest against the worship of the passions, and to plead for a God ' that dwelleth not in temples made with hands.' This contrast between the voluptuous religion of Athens and the unadorned faith of the Jewish tentmaker has been constantly repeated. Congregationalism is a case in point. I am bold to affirm that these reiterated protests have had their effect. Men are getting to hsten to reason in these highest matters, and to put mere taste and culture in their proper places ; to give to them, if not the lowest, certainly not the highest room. No doubt voices wUl have to be raised to-day, as in every age, to speak out the old truth ; because the flood of sensuous, passionate feeling still sends its waves into the souL and wiU as long as man remains what he is. But the memory of such vigorous outbreaks cannot die away. The reformer now-a-days finds his work all the easier for heroic precedents. He only echoes the deep convictions which have issued from the lips of true men in * Swinburne's ' Blake,' p. 90. 142 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. every age since Jesus Christ spoke with Divine authority to the woman of Samaria. On the other hand, we must beware of running into the opposite extreme. We live in comparatively peaceful times. There are, in the great body of Congregationalists, men who have little of the aggres sive spirit in them, men of fine tastes and delicate sensitive temperaments. How far shaU they be allowed to encourage their predilections in favour of culture? The war may have to be waged in our own midst. I believe that it will. Dissenters from Dissent may arise who shaU protest as earnestly against the license given to taste in our worship and home life as ever the older Nonconformists did when they went out to do battle against the Church of Rome or the Church of England. It is quite possible in the present day that a weU- educated Nonconformist may speak somewhat after this fashion : — ' I demand my share of light and sweetness quite as distinctly as Mr. Matthew Arnold and his school, being assured that it is desirable that I as weU as they, without turning traitor to my principles, should " relish my being " and " enjoy ordinary life." God surely made me a man before circumstances made me a Dissenter. I wish to live a life completer and more melodious than ever the life of the mere agitator and protester can be.' CONGREGATIONALISM AND ^ESTHETICS. 143 This is not the peevish whine of the disturbed dilet tante ; it is the perfectly righteous ambition of the man who takes broad and fair views of the purpose and possibdities of his being. I can imagine such a case as this. The ideal and the caricature Dissenter are both equally rare ; but the man to whom I am now referring is by no means so uncommon. A fair share of education, even as English education now goes, and an ordinary amount of common sense, wiU very probably produce just such a man. Now our object is to discover what effect Congre gationalism wiU have upon him in the direction of culture and taste. It becomes a question of some importance to decide how far the principles he has adopted wdl square with his pursuit of light -and sweetness. It is no mere personal question either. To those who are ambitious of raising the tone of Enghsh thought and the standard of English taste this is a matter of general interest. Let us suppose the case of a young Enghshman, brought up in Nonconformist principles, standing on the threshold of active hfe. He has probably endured the ordinary share of preaching, and from what he has heard and forgotten, there stiU survives a flavour of Calvinistic doctrine, just as much, I mean, as would be caught from most Congregation alist pulpits. When the broader teachings of real 144 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. life begin to affect him, what will happen? As these meet the somewhat dark doctrinal stream there wiU of course be a ferment and effervescence ; but when that has subsided, what wiU be left ? When the fine arts appeal to his sensuous nature — and Dissenters are men of like passions with others — and when these appeals in picture, poem, or oratorio take a religious shape, how wiU the simple, severe worship to which he has been accustomed regulate his judgment ? When he begins to learn how proper a thing it is for a man to have his thinking, in certain matters, done for him — to subscribe rather than to search — how wiU the freedom to which he has been accustomed hinder his seeking solace at this source of respectability ? I_f his hfe is at aU worthy the name, I think there must be some sort of harmony in it. He wiU not suffer his taste to be the substance whilst his princi ples act the inferior part of shadow. The two can not hve together except in moderate peace one with the other. A man with any amount of self-respect does not want to suffer from a chronic moral indi gestion ; it is not life to live if our principles are to play the role of Sancho Panza's physician, and cry ' Absit ' to every second dish that commends itself to our taste. To reconcile these two will often be no easy CONGREGATIONALISM AND ^ESTHETICS. 145 task. The Nonconformist of the seventeenth cen tury had to use the Sword. The Nonconformist of the nineteenth oftener needs the Trowel. We have to build up for ourselves a life. In our dilemma we turn back to the New Testament for precedents. There is no need here to open up the question whether precedent is equaUy binding with precept. My present purpose is sufficiently served when I point out that from the New Testament we learn how possible it is, whilst cultivating taste, to dissent from established forms and rituals. The Gospel and Acts of the Apostles are undoubtedly the records of what certain decided nonconformists thought and felt, as weU as of what they said and did. Peter and Paul, and John, hved and died conformists only within the very narrow limits of their own churches. Christ himself was a dissenter aU His hfe. Yet we never notice any conflict between the love of the beautiful and the strictest adherence to Christian principles in the Apostles. No one can read the Great Biography without being conscious of a fine harmony, an exquisite effortless unity, which plays freely through aU Christ's words, thoughts, and actions. He came to bring hght and sweetness to man. He was the preacher of the beautiful. By His miracles He restored physical beauty, by His parables He extoUed moral beauty, by His life He 140 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. exhibited saintly beauty, by His death He restored heavenly beauty. Moreover — though we may never have noticed it — in the hearts of His foUowers there was certainly a deep persuasion that they were reconciled to the divine order of things. There is no restless sense of discord in Paul's speeches or John's letters. These men were apparently quite convinced that they had found . . . earthly things made even Atone together. So far, then, we have very noble precedent for our conviction that it is possible, whilst dissenting from established forms of faith and worship, to cul tivate a pure and healthy taste. This is an im portant point gained, because it proves that there is no sound reason why, so long as we hve in the spirit of Christ and His first disciples, we should not enjoy hfe to the fuU. I pass on now to examine more in detaU how far the tastes of an educated man wiU accord with Congregationalist principles, as bodied forth in some of their prominent points. And firstly for our worship. I begin with this, because it is here that peculiarities of taste will be likely first of all to betray themselves. An observer unused to Dissenting forms must be struck with many features in our worship quite new to his CONGREGATIONALISM AND ^ESTHETICS. 147 experience. For instance, the absence of symbo lism. We have no traditional behefs to be declared in carving or painting. We are utterly careless, except for practical purposes, whether the building in which we worship lies east and west, or north and south. Whether there be chancel or transept, aisle or nave, is of no consequence whatever. AU that is, is seen. There is not the least appeal to the imagination. The worshipper is turned in upon him self ; the budding will not help him at aU to direct his thoughts heavenward or Godward by suggesting pious and poetical fancies. Then there wUl be something noticeable to a stranger to Nonconformist worship in the absence of aU ritual. There may be an order of service, but it wiU be the order dictated by circumstances, not by precedent. We desire to use only such forms as suit us best. We aim at common worship. There fore we make no distinction based on principle between what the minister has to do and what the people. There is a marked simplicity in the Non conformist service. It may even be charged with being bald and bare. The member of the Estab lished Church, accustomed to see rehgion cloaked and cumbered with many vestments, wiU shrink from her in her primitive nakedness. But this repression of all adornment arises not from poverty 1 2 148 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. * of conception, but from the natural outworking of principle. We do not believe in appeals to the sensuous nature of man. There may be, and often is, the intensest relish for beauty, in colour and form, for sweet sounds and passionate emotion, and yet all the while no spark of divine fire, no single aspira tion from the soul. We reckon it to be right, there fore, to appeal through the ear to the reason, the inteUect, and the heart. A bhnd man can follow and thoroughly rehsh our service. We wiU not run the risk of counterfeiting true and pure religion by a sensuous conception which may be fair in all that wins the fancy and ravishes the senses, but is all the while inspired by no breath of God. But I do not beheve that taste is disparaged by such a course — quite the contrary. This absence of all suggestive ornament, this baldness, if you will, maybe in the most perfect taste. It is true to our behef ; it refuses to introduce jarring elements. In this way we do homage to true aesthetic laws. If in the churches of other communions the richest symbolism is in keeping, in Nonconformist meeting-houses there ought to be implicit trust in the power of simphcity, from floor to ceiling, from porch to pulpit. Taking taste in this connexion to mean that which satisfies most rigidly the requirements of our worship, I should CONGREGATIONALISM AND" ESTHETICS. 149 say that there is ample scope for.it to have full play, and to exercise a wonderful influence over our service. That it has not yet enjoyed aU the hcense that is al lowable to it is quite true. There is plentiful room for improvement in the conduct of the large majority of services performed in our Dissenting chapels. But the same thing is true of the service as ordinarily per formed in the Church by law established ; and the Nonconformist has the advantage, in knowing that he can improve and refine his service without being brought to book for doing so by his spiritual superiors. But without at aU sacrificing principle, and with out altering the main features in our service, there might undoubtedly be a reformation in many matters of minor detail. That this should be effected is the more important because, to educated people, the en joyment of a religious service so much depends on httle things. The charge brought against Dissenters of paying undue attention to the sermon and neglect ing the previous service has reason in it. The ques tion too often is, not what good effect was produced by the whole act of worship, but only what was the text, and what the discourse. I can remember that the effect of a weU-conducted service, marked by no extravagancies, noticeable for no wonderful degree of expressed fervour, but only reverent, quiet, and 160 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. decorous, on a man of sensitive and perhaps over- refined taste, was to move him to tears. The faults in Congregationahst services, taking the average of chapels now occurring to the writer's memory, are certainly chiefly faults of taste. Three objections are raised to our Dissenting wor ship as generally conducted, which affect the present inquiry ; and each objection has , some reason in it. The first is the absence of any clear and har monious connexion between the various parts of the service. There is a perceptible and very awkward disjointedness, which jars on the unaccustomed senses of a stranger far more than most Dissenters themselves are apt to imagine. The hymn and the prayer, and the reading, ought aU to be connected with the subject of the discourse. Instead of that, in many cases, each runs in its own pecuhar groove. The hymn is not unfrequently chosen out . of de ference to a favourite tune, and at other times to suit the frame of mind in which the minister happens to be. The prayer is often open to aU the more serious objections urged against a read liturgy; it has the form, but lacks the power, of the Enghsh service. The reading of the Scripture is regulated by no discernible law except again the fancy of the pastor, who becomes a law to himself. So the wor* shipper finds his power of concentration continually CONGREGATIONALISM AND ^ESTHETICS. 161 uprooted, and transferred from one part to another, until most hkely it is altogether destroyed. The second objection is to the impromptu spirit which betrays itself in our worship. Of course to one accustomed to the ritual of the Established Church this wiU assume an unfair and exaggerated magnitude. But after due aUowance for this has been made, it is impossible to deny that our service does suggest, too frequently, the wondering inquiry, 'What next ? ' The fitness of things has not been sufficiently considted ; we violate the unities when they ought to be re spected. We fad to distinguish sufficiently between the impromptu, and the extempore. The one is the sign of the sloven ; the other may be the highest ex ceUence of a weU-disciplined mind. Along with these errors of taste I am afraid that we must plead guilty to the graver fault of appa rent irreverence. I say apparent, because it exists, I am sure, oftener in appearance than in reahty, and because as a matter of fact there is quite as much reverence felt by the Nonconformist as by the Esta blished minister. But we cannot run any risks in this direction. It is one feature of our service that any carelessness or undevoutness must betray itself. A liturgy guards against this by throwing the priest on other resources than his own; so that whilst there is reaUy a total absence of reverence, there may be 152 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. apparently a due regard to it. We have no such refuge provided for us. And sometimes, from haste to reach the sermon, and the prominence given to this part of the service, which is the most favourable to the display of personal vanity, conceit, or ignorant assumption, we are driven to the conclusion, that the devotional and reverent spirit is at a very low ebb indeed. For these errors the people and the minister are both responsible. It is not my object now to suggest improvements in our Congregational worship, except in so far indeed as they may suggest themselves also to any reader of these pages. , But it is my honest conviction that, whatever justice there may be in these three objections, a finer education in matters of taste would go very far to put matters right. It is astonishing how often, in all questions of aesthetics, Evil is wrought by want of thought, As well as want of heart. Closely connected with this subject of worship is that of the ministers who are to lead it. Here it is plain at once that culture of some sort wiU be essential, and that the more widely-spread education becomes, the higher will be the standard of culture demanded ;by the congregation. It has often been said that the Church of England owes a great deal of its power to the fact that it puts down a gentleman in every CONGREGATIONALISM AND ^ESTHETICS. 153 parish. Formerly this was more true than it is at present. The clergyman of the last century — the chaplain to the lord, the tutor of the heir, the con stant guest of the squire — was generaUy a gentleman. And there can be no doubt that his good breeding was often the best thing about him, and effected more good than his actual ministry. The influence of a Dissenting minister on his people, however, is much greater than the influence of a clergyman of the Established Church. The clergyman is the servant of a great system, the exponent of articles, creeds, ritual, and rigidly-defined sacraments. He is but the out ward and visible sign of the church. To the church, therefore, the chief attention will be paid, not to him. But the Nonconformist minister stands in a totally- different relationship to the people. He is, in the Congregational body at least, amenable to no higher earthly authority than the fellowship which elects him as its pastor. The affections and interests of his hearers wiU therefore turn to him as their represent ative man. This arrangement suggests at once certain great perils, which would be very serious objections to the system were they not counteracted by other attendant safeguards. But it is also attended by many advantages. And nowhere are .either the perils or the advantages more quickly seen than in this question of taste. It becomes a matter of considerable importance to have in our 154 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. pulpits men of culture and refinement. Instinc tively they wiU influence their hearers. I beheve that the charge of vulgarity and coarseness brought against the Dissenting parson in some of our later novels and caricatures is due, in so far as it is a just charge, to two causes. First, the education of the minister has been very imperfect ; his early advantages have been few ; he has risen from the lower ranks of society, and has not had the tact or the opportunity for learning ' sweeter manners ' ; and, secondly, into hands thus untutored has been placed, not a liturgy ready made, but, instead, the duty of conducting a service with no extraneous aids beyond a Bible and a Hymn-book. To give fair play, therefore, to aesthetics in worship, we ought to have a ministry educated to a degree as high as, if not higher than, the candidates for holy orders who come from the old universities. At present our Dissenting coUeges, whatever their virtues, have little or no influence in the direction of aesthetic culture. They are stiU maintained in a very primitive style. The students are treated like boys at a second-rate boarding-school. The House laws of Rugby are superior to any that I am acquainted with in the Dissenting colleges. Consequently the student is often only a big awkward lad, with all the conscious raw ness of the hobbledehoy cropping out beneath a CONGREGATIONALISM AND .ESTHETICS. 156 ludicrous assumption of the cloth. And when, from the candidate on probation, the student progresses to the accredited pastor, the chances are that he stiU retains a noticeable amount of clay from the pit out of which he was digged. But I cannot too distinctly enforce on the reader's mind the unfairness of any comparison between the Nonconformist minister and the clergy man of the Establishment. If, with aU the advantages of gentle birth, a high class education, and a liturgy ready to his hands, the clergyman often offends against the canons of taste, exhibits a lamentable ignorance about his own Church, lets dust and decay do their work unchecked, is slovenly and, therefore, irreverent in the conduct of the service, how plain is it that the Congregationahst wUl be hkely to err in the same direction. He comes, in most cases, from the lower middle class of society, has had a training at his coUege which in this matter of culture has been worse than useless — a Russian veneer over the Tartar beneath — and has been thrown on his own shrewdness and quickness of observation to learn the comme-il- faut of a life better and more refined than the life to Which he was born and bred. Until we have a more perfect system of training, and until the Dissenting ministry is supphed less exclusively from one class of the community, it wiU be hard work for culture to have fair play and no disfavour among us. With a 156 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. better training, and a more general drafting into the ranks of the ministry from the various classes of the community, the very liberty of Congregational wor ship, and the social power of the minister, would result in an influence for refinement on the people, such as the Estabhshed Church, as it is at present restricted, cannot hope to exercise. It is worth while, in the next place, to consider the working of our Nonconformist principles in the matter of education generally. By education I do not mean merely the schooling of the peda gogue, but the whole training to manhood through which we pass before we come to years of discretion. This is the education that affects a man's tastes and pursuits in after-life. The question is now coming to be considered on this broad basis. We are asking, not how much Latin or Greek, or mental phdosophy or mathematics, a lad has had crammed into him, but what he has learned from aU these, and how he can use whathe has got. Good digestionis certainly as essential as good food. So in our training. Whilst there should be no contempt for precedent and autho rity, there should yet be a commending of truth simply for her own sake, a fearless appeal to the reason, a constant endeavour to train the scholar to think for himself. It is very plain that our principles have something to do with this. If it be an object to be CONGREGATIONALISM AND .^ESTHETICS. 157 desired to encourage young men to exercise the right of private judgment in educational matters, then the young Congregationahst is in a fair way to attain that end. For it is because of this obstinate habit, which some men have acquired of making up their own minds, that there is any Nonconformity at aU. The teaching of our national biography un doubtedly is, that the men who have compassed the loftiest achievements have gained their power less by great learning than by a sturdy simplicity, a temper which dreaded nothing more than falsehood and deceit, a spirit which, with an almost sacred passion, asked PUate's question, ' What is truth ? ' This is the education that has gone furthest to enrich our Enghsh literature with some of its noblest works. Now since this spirit is in its very essence nonconformist, we look, naturaUy enough, that Dissenters should be found high up in the list, as authors of note. The fact is in harmony with our expectation. Milton, Bunyan, Defoe, Foster, Robert HaU, were men whose success was the direct result of their religious convictions. That which had .the greatest influence in directing their course was the very spirit, bold and fearless, which was engendered by their Nonconformity. What we learn is not so important as how we learn. Now 158 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. the education which consists largely in knowing how to reason is fostered by the very fact of a Dis senting home and parentage, even if nothing further be taught on the subject. I need not enlarge on this, or trace out the inevitable working of this spirit of inquiry. It is enough to assert that the young Nonconformist should be of all men the freest from mere fashion, just because he has been trained to use his own judgment, and, perhaps a little too rigidly, to apply the utilitarian test of ' Cui bono ? ' There is one point of great interest, which has very likely already suggested itself to the reader of this essay, in considering the question of Congregation alist aesthetics. I mean our architecture. Here, if anywhere, our principles ought to take to themselves an outward and visible form. In the matter of chapel-building the Dissenter has pecuhar advantages, inasmuch as he is generaUy obliged to build for him self. He does not inherit a venerable fabric. But at the same time this very advantage demands a careful education in taste. The churchwarden may have execrable ideas on what is beautiful or fitting, but he is restricted from doing very much mischief. The clergyman knows generally next to nothing about church architecture, but his ignorance is pre vented from becoming offensive unless there be a caU for the restoration of his church ; and even then his CONGREGATIONALISM AND .ESTHETICS. 159 part of the business is often confined to raising the funds and irritating the architect. He is com paratively harmless. It is not so with the Con gregationalist deacon or minister. The architect of the chapel is powerless on many points where the architect of the church is supreme. He cannot plead precedent. He must put up a building in which all can see and all can hear. To these two essentials aU questions of style and design ought to be subservient. The rival claims of Classic or Gothic must be heard and judged with constant reference to the inquiry, Which answers our pur pose best? Hitherto Congregationahsts have not sufficiently perceived that this is the case. They have been so enamoured of the national style, that they have sown the land over with miserable imita tions of Gothic churches. But as our principles are understood, and acted out, this abuse wUl cease. We want neither chancel nor transept, for we have no altars ; we want no high-pitched roofs, for we have no incense to wreath up its curhng smoke, and no surpliced choristers to pour forth chant and response. Unlike the old monks, we have no reh gious sympathies to embody in our architecture. They did the very best that they could for their ritual. A Romish church would be as unsuitable for a Dissenting service as a Dissenting service 160 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. would be for a cathedral church. The Church, at the time when Gothic architecture reached perfec tion, delighted in gorgeous processions and cere monies. It was eminently spectacular ; it appealed continually to the eye. But with us it is emphaticaUy true that ' faith cometh by hearing.' I beheve that a refined and weU-educated Congregationalist must reject Gothic, just because if it pleases his eye it wiU violate his convictions ; or if, on the other hand, it satisfies his principles and demands, it must outrage his sense of beauty and harmony. If Gothic has to be rejected it can fare little better with Classic architecture. That may indeed gain in adaptabihty to our purpose, but in its association it is even less suitable. What teaching is there for us in classic plans or classic details ? But the very fact that neither of these two styles answers our requirements opens up a field for the exercise and embodiment of our principles. The Congregationalist is to think for himself, and to speak for himself, free from the bondage of precedent ; why should he not also design for himself? Here is wide scope at once for taste. The Congregationahst stands up unhampered by ecclesiastical necessities ; he has only to make his chapel convenient for sight and sound. Of course there wiU be forbidden ground for us, which is a very Eden to the church architect; CONGREGATIONALISM AND .ESTHETICS. 161 We cannot indulge in symbolism; no hidden lan guage will be spoken to the initiated by carving or capital ; no quaint fancy will lurk in boss or bracket. AU that is wUl be seen and understood by aU ; no arriere pensee wiU be found sacred to the learned in emblems and traditions. We need nothing more than the apostles needed when they first met in the upper chamber. We have added no rites to their simple service, and therefore we require nothing more than they required. But all the while it must be remembered that we are free to employ the orna mental as well as the useful. There is no reason why we should not devote the same taste which adorns the dwelling-house to making God's house a Palace Beautiful for aU who enter it. We must preserve harmony in proportion ; and in colour we may have frescoed walls and painted glass ; we may caU in the art of the sculptor and the worker in metals. If this has not been done as yet in our chapels, it is not because our principles would be violated thereby, but only because the limited funds at our disposal have in most cases obliged us to stick very closely to what was absolutely necessary. When it is remembered that the money for raising the host of chapels which the Congregationalist bodies have built in the last half century has been M 162 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. aU raised amongst themselves, inasmuch as there has been no ecclesiastical commission to fall back upon, no lay impropriators to appeal to, no wealthy patron to draw from, I think it is a most remarkable testi mony to the power of our principles, not only that the buildings have been raised, but that they are so pleasing to the eye and so satisfactory to the judg ment. Exceptions to the canons of good taste are becoming rarer, and while the practice of chapel budding is rapidly on the increase, the art of chapel building certainly begins to keep pace with it. I have considered this question of architecture in connexion with the education of the layman, rather than the position of the minister, because it especi ally commends .itself to the people. From them the designs for the chapel must come, in most cases, and not, as in the middle ages, from the clergy ; they will suffer or enjoy most in propor tion as the building is in bad or good taste ; their comfort or discomfort will be mainly affected by its plan and arrangement. The beauty and ease of the theatre are matters of deeper interest to the audi ence than to the actors : it is just the same in our chapels. Very often the minister knows less than anyone else in the building about its comfort or beauty. He is too active to be much affected by them ; but the hearer has more opportunities for CONGREGATIONALISM AND AESTHETICS. 163 being critical. And only a simple and suitable chapel wUl subdue this spirit of criticism, and give, instead, that quiet sense of pleasure which con tributes much more than is generally supposed to worshipping with profit. Besides, a chapel carefuUy thought out in design and substantially executed in honest materials is a lasting proof of the power of the Congregationalist system to clothe its principles decorously and in suitable garb. It wiU even become, if inteUigently planned, an invaluable embodiment of the special tenets wherein we differ from the other Churches of Christendom. A chapel such as we have hberty to build, if we have but the taste and funds which are equally requisite, would be a constant protest against an inordinate veneration for tradition. It would be a sdent appeal against the sensuous. It would be a plea eloquent and majestic from its very simphcity, against the letter which kdleth when the spirit has no longer any hfe. We have yet to speak of the effect of Congre gationalist training on our view of amusements and recreations. The subject opened up is a very large one, and becomes continuaUy of greater present im portance. The absolute need of some sort of relax ation cannot be denied. We work now, especially in M 2 164 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. large towns, at a rate that could not be sustained without plentiful change to the mind. And what ever may be the extent of emigration from our country, it is plain enough by this time that emigra tion will not prevent the increase of population and the preoccupation of every place of advantage, making our existence here a struggle for life. This being so, it is weU for us to see what pleasant change from hard toU Congregationalist principles permit. There is a very widespread persuasion that evan gehcal rehgion is opposed to much that offers to meet this demand. The persuasion is a correct one. The battle between Puritans and Play-goers has been waged under various rallying cries for many generations. This matter claims our attention now all the more because an education in refined taste cannot be complete without a good deal at which devout people have been wont to look askance. But it is to be remembered that the standard of what is allowable and what dangerous has varied constantly. The ' Index Expurgatorius ' of to-day is quite another volume from that in which our fore fathers read the extent of their license to be gay. Nothing is more noticeable, for example, than the change of opinion in the Fine Arts. Poetry, paint ing and music are assiduously cultivated now by the grandchildren of those who saw in them only so many CONGREGATIONALISM AND .ESTHETICS. 106 forms of vanity. And it is worthy of remark, too, that this growth in a taste for the fine arts has been contemporaneous with the growth of Nonconformity. The question therefore does constantly arise, how far these two powers are at enmity one with the other. Now, when we remember what the effect of Congre gationalism is on the mind, how it tends to free from shackles of precedent and fashion, how it makes aU action purely personal, it wUl be seen at once that there can be no clearly defined hne. Each man must choose for himself, what to accept and what to reject. A very shght amount of good taste, and the fearlessness to assert and exercise it, would lead most men instinctively to shun the imbecUe recrea tions for which certain persons, accidentally dowered with high rank, but to whom the law of compen sation has refused any natural refinement, have set the fashion. If the Congregationahst Dissenters of England are carefully trained in the intelligent exercise of their principles, and possess in addition the advantages of home culture, they may possibly acquire such a power in this matter of amusements as shaU create a higher class of entertainment than that now in vogue. But we cannot lay down a rule equally binding upon all. There is assuredly a satisfaction to certain parts of our nature in the tragedy and the comedy, and even in the farce. 166 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. Only the fear of excess can account for avoiding the luxury of whist and billiards. There is no law in our Church government which proscribes every kind of amusement. But the natural working of our principles is in the direction of an increased earnestness and seriousness, which wiU make much that is not to be condemned to be at the same time avoided as not convenient. No doubt the subject of recreation must hve in a perpetual state of action and reaction: the via media of to-day was the ScyUa of yesterday and wiU possibly be the Charybdis of to-morrow. But this much can be considered as settled — that whatever disturbs the even balance of a weU trained mind is to be avoided. This being granted, the higher the mental training the wider wiU be the field in which we may take our ease. Even in the comparatively narrow province of Taste, it is a fact that we owe a great debt to the men who have persisted in thinking for themselves. Very often they startle by their undisguised scorn of time-honoured authority, but to them we are never theless infinitely indebted. This spirit of noncon formity (using that word in its wider sense) pro duced for us the paintings of Hogarth, the plays of Goldsmith, the poetry of Wordsworth, and the fiction of Fielding. We have nothing worse to fear CONGREGATIONALISM AND ^ESTHETICS. 167 from it than certain extravagances, and an education in good taste wiU be the most effectual cure for these. I believe that it wiU be evident to any candid mind that the aesthetics of Congregationalism are not so barren and repeUent as has often been supposed. It is true that in our worship we reject many external aids to devotion ; we leave the sentiment of piety to spring up within, not beheving in its being fostered by outward expressions of sentiment. In doing this we foUow the highest model. The conspicuous feature in the sanctuary raised by Herod was — ' the absence of any statue or sacred animal to represent the indwelling Divinity. With the exception of the cherubs, which were merely ornamental and sym bolical, the awestruck description of Pompey when he entered the Holy of Hohes was already true — " Vacuam sedem, inania arcana." '* It is true also that Congregationalist principles wiU have a repressive influence in many developments of education, in the training of the ministry, in the relaxation of the mind. But when aU has been said that can be said by these principles in the way of anathema, there wiU remain a very wide field for the free exercise of taste. There wiU grow up within the mind of the Nonconformist, accustomed to a simple * Stanley, Jewish Church, ii. 222, 168 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. worship, blest with an intelligent education, hear ing a judicious, well-trained minister, at home in the playground of poetry, painting, and music, a broad healthy passion for whatsoever things are pure and lovely and of good report. Thus armed, he wiU be ready for the sterner work of life. He will, by virtue of this culture, . . . know the seasons when to take Occasion by the hand, and make The bounds of freedom wider yet. Meanwhile this spirit of Nonconformity performs no mean task if it train to love beauty, to seek for truth, to give their rightful dues to the demands of our being for hght and sweetness, to read with a fresh delight the moral shut Within the bosom of the rose. CONGREGATIONALISM AND SCIENCE. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. In estimating the relative advantages offered by different forms of Church Pohty, it is important to consider what attitude they encourage towards the enquiries and the results of Science. This term is no doubt often used vaguely. But whUe the word ' philosophy ' has of late years been more and more restricted to investigation in morals and metaphysics, ' science ' is generaUy and perhaps usefully apphed only to knowledge of those phe nomena which can be apprehended by the senses ; and in this meaning the word will be here employed. What is often caUed ' the scientific spirit ' or method is simply that carefulness, caution, and sobriety which have always been recognised as essential in the search after truth, and these are no more now than in any previous age confined to the students of natural science. But since Bacon wrote there has been increasing unbelief in meta physical dogmas, in arguments from analogies, and in the possibihty of solving problems in physics by 170 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. a sufficiently powerful mind thinking long enough and hard enough about them. 'Non fingendum nee excogitandum sed inveniendum quid natura faciat aut ferat ' are Bacon's own words. The process of interrogating nature by observation and experiment, guided only by that ' dry light ' which this great master recommended, has led since his time to the establishment of a vast mass of facts and to the induction from them of many brilliant generahzations. The amount and organic strength of what has been already attained, and still more its rapid and continual increase, fill aU students of science with unbounded confidence in their method of enquiry and admiration for the achievements of the Novum Organum. It is with this ' scientific spirit ' that the Church has now to deal. For a long time, at least in Protestant countries, the progress of physical science not only was not hostile to Christianity, but in many ways strengthened it. Indeed, during the seventeenth and eighteenth cen turies, partly perhaps from the personal character of such men as Harvey, Newton, Barrow, Boyle, Leibnitz, and HaUer, natural science was one of the chief allies of rehgion ; and it was among the philo sophers, in Bohngbroke and Voltaire and Hume, that the assaUants of Christianity were found. The line of defence so ably occupied by Paley, was long CONGREGATIONALISM AND SCIENCE. 171 maintained. The Bridgewater Treatises (1829) were projected and written in the interest of natural theo logy, and when the British Association for the Ad vancement of Science was founded in the year 1831, many of its foremost promoters were ministers of rehgion, and probably few regarded it as in any way opposed or even neutral to Christianity. At present the state of things is evidently dif ferent. Astronomy, in the person of Galileo, had assaded the Papal interpretation of the Scriptures as early as the seventeenth century. Physics as ex pounded by Descartes, and chemistry by Priestley, seemed to lead to many unorthodox results. In later times the new science of geology raised the most widespread fears of the rehgious world ; and it was certainly not by any generally accepted solution of difficulties, but rather by a dying out of the controversy, when aU had been said that could be on both sides, that geology has now come to be an orthodox pursuit, and hke botany and entomo logy much cultivated by country clergymen. But the rapid growth of physiology and other branches of the science of organic life has brought them still more strongly into coUision with many generally prevalent views of religion. When the late Sir WiUiam Lawrence dehvered his lectures before the CoUege of Surgeons, on Physiology, Zoology, and 172 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. the Natural History of Man (1816-19), his views were thought so novel and so dangerous that he withdrew the whole of the pubhshed edition from circulation. Yet at the present time these lectures contrast favourably, not only in ability but in the modesty and reverence of true science, with the utterances of some modern anthropologists. Not only are we now told that the scriptural account of the Creation, the FaU of man, the Deluge, the Exodus, the various miracles of the Old and New Testaments, can be proved with scientific certainty to be false, but so-called natural theology would seem to be in as great jeopardy as revealed reh gion. Marks of design in the creation are denied, and all teleological explanation condemned as worse than useless.* The separate existence of the soul, * Unless naturalists are contented to accumulate isolated facts, without any attempt to discover their mutual relation and to form some hypothesis of the mode of origin of the material universe — and they never have, and probably never will, so far renounce all speculation — there seem to be three suppositions on which the facts of natural history may be explained, setting aside that of chance as too improbable to be seriously considered, even if the existence of chance at all were not out of harmony with modern philosophy. First there is the teleological theory which explains all organic structures as contrived in order to accomplish certain ends, most, but not all, of which apparently conduce to the well- being of sensitive creatures. Next comes the hypothesis that all such organisms are constructed with reference to a certain type or idea, and consequently obey the law of symmetry. Lastly there CONGREGATIONALISM AND SCIENCE. 173 the responsibility of human actions, and the reality of providence are more than questioned, and the is the theory, often put forth at random, but lately supported by Mr. Darwin, with reasoning so patiently elaborated and so mode rate, with learning so extensive and accurate, and authority so great, that it is already accepted by many of those best qualified to judge in this country and abroad. It supposes that all animals and plants at present known have arisen by the operation of a variety of ' natural causes' (i.e. causes we are familiar with as now working), producing existing forms from some one or more primitive organisms by gradual development and elimination. Many who hold this view deny the evidences of design to useful ends, and point out mistaken applications of the teleological theory, while they treat ' transcendental anatomy ' (as the appli cation of the doctrine of ideal types used to be called) with con tempt. How, they ask, can teeth which never cut the gums be of any use ? and as to their necessity for homotypal symmetry, what should we think of an architect who put on the top of some magnificent cathedral a fragment of thatch to denote its relation to the rude hut of which it is the fully developed idea ? But is it clear that these theories are mutually exclusive ? Each seems to be the necessary conclusion from certain well-known facts. No one can help seeing that the existing order of the world does produce, and is adapted to produce, a large amount of happiness to all sentient beings; and the more closely organic nature is studied, the more admirable and, if we may so say, ingenious do the contrivances appear by which this result is ob tained. If we meet here the mysteries of pain and death, how ever difficult it is to reconcile them with the mere deist's creed, they are in perfect harmony with the revelation which deals with the mysteries of suffering and of sin. Again, no careful student can shut his eyes to the marvellous unity and symmetry of living forms, or fail to recognise that ideal and intellectual beauty which consists in order, and trans cends even the natural loveliness which appeals to the senses. This world is indeed a Kosinos. And, to accept the illustration 174 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. absurdity of prayer is demonstrated in a daily news paper. Nothing can put the change which has occurred during, the last thirty years more clearly than a comparison of the addresses dehvered before the British Association during the last few years with those of its earlier meetings. But we have not yet exhausted the hst of sciences, and there are not wanting signs that when the last of Comte's series — sociology — develops out of the very colourless science of wealth, which has hitherto been called political economy, inductive physical science wiU claim an authoritative voice on many of a great biologist already referred to, we do find in all pure styles of architecture a constant reference to the primitive and common forms of which they are the development. So that if we recognise in the construction of the world those Divine thoughts of which the highest human art is a faint echo, we may well believe that the Great Architect did not plan this earth only as a palace to dwell in, or a temple to worship in, but also as a school where His children may learn so much of His mind, that they may hereafter behold with no unfamiliar wonder the more perfect revelations of His glory. If the theory of natural selection be true — and let those who would judge of the Darwinian hypothesis judge of it from the works of its author — it would admirably explain both the bene ficent adaptation and the harmonious unity of the creation; but assuredly it would not diminish our estimate either of the one or of the other. Both must have been present to the Divine foreknow ledge from the beginning, and if this was the method by which His will has been and is now being accomplished, no Christian ought to feel anything but thankfulness for such increased know ledge of the working of infinite wisdom. CONGREGATIONALISM AND SCIENCE. 175 questions of morals and of religion as yet deemed little amenable to such method of investigation. It has been well pointed out that the antagonism often asserted to exist between science and religion appears greater than it really is, partly from the personal opposition too often felt and expressed by the champions on either side, and partly from our habit of personifying each department of human thought, and endowing it with all the ambitions and jealousies to which men are subject. But however dispassionately we may regard the ques tions at issue, there can be no doubt that many apparent results of scientific enquiry and apparent conclusions both from revelation and from natural theology affect the same questions and sometimes in a contrary sense. It is therefore obviously necessary for those who are convinced of the truth of Chris tianity to discover some ' modus vivendi ' with science even if a complete reconciliation be at present im possible. PracticaUy there appear to be only two con sistent ways in which Christians can deal with this important question, and they have been adopted more or less in harmony with the doctrines of two widely different schools of rehgious thought and of Church pohcy. One is that persistently adopted by the Church of Kome ; and we must not suffer 176 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. Protestant prejudice to hinder our at least attempting to do justice to this mode of viewing the question. An inteUigent Catholic priest would probably reason somewhat as follows. The Christian rehgion is not only certainly true, but necessary for the salvation of each individual, and for the well-being of society. There are, no doubt, possible objections to many of the doctrines of the Church, as there are to every other kind of truth ; but if this authority be not received, there is no guarantee for the acceptance of revealed religion at all. Natural theology would soon be attacked by the same weapons, and if once the behef in a Supreme Being were destroyed, there would remain no adequate sanction even for common morality. Absolute truth is undiscoverable by human reason ; and supposing we could imagine that Atheism were proved to be true, it would be better to live honest and rehgious lives as good Cathohcs, than to spend a short existence of philo sophic nihilism in vice and consequent misery. The essence of religion is submission both of the reason and of the will to Divine authority. More over, the most absolute commands are, in the long run, the most easily allowed and the best obeyed. Since Luther set the authority of the Church at defiance, even the amount of Catholic truth which CONGREGATIONALISM AND SCIENCE. 177 the heretical sects carried with them has steadily dechned. Throughout Germany — the most intellec tual of Protestant countries — Eationalism, Infidelity, and Materialism have overridden Protestant ortho doxy. The same is true of Holland and of the Eeformed Churches of the Continent generally. In America, Mormonism and other yet more monstrous heresies bear witness to the danger of setting private judgment against what has been held always, and in aU places, and by aU good Cathohcs. Even in England, where a schismatic, though professedly Catholic, Church stiU exists, it is not difficult to see that the reign of compromise is drawing to an end. The old insular conservatism, made tenfold more intense by the long struggle with the Eevolution at the beginning of the century, is now being shaken. The wave of European democracy has reached Britain at last, and with it Continental Atheism. The cry for liberty is but a demand for hberty to sin. The worship of humanity is apostacy from God. The rights of man are revolt against the Creator. Indeed, on phUosophical as much as Christian grounds, the ' rights of man ' are as inadmissible as the doctrine that aU men are born free and equal. We aU have duties to God, to the State, to one another, but rights we have none. The temporal powers ordained of God are consist- N 178 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. ently enough contemned by those who reject Divine authority in spiritual matters, and even the -natural ties of the family, on which society ultimately reposes, are but lightly esteemed. The rights of women are cla morously demanded, that they too may enter upon the inheritance of unbelief which modern philosophy pro vides for men. Education is to be either purely secular or overtly anti-Christian ; and even children are taught to dispute rather than to obey, lest reverence for human or divine authority should find any place on earth. Nor are signs wanting that the ordinary rules of morality wdl not long maintain their force, when deprived of the sanction of authority. Many things which to every Christian conscience are crimes, cannot be shown to be wrong by merely rational arguments ; and even if it were otherwise, what is more contrary to experience than to expect that the greatest good of the greatest number, or the beauty of virtue in the abstract, should control the strongest passions and ambitions of human nature ? While then the task of checking irreligion and vice by authority is imperative, it is not by any means so hopeless as Protestants suppose. They ask triumphantly whether men can be made moral by Act of Parliament. Directly, no doubt, they cannot ; but by restraining the outward indulgence of evil, its hold upon the character is weakened, and CONGREGATIONALISM AND SCIENCE. 179 the enormously evil effects of example are prevented. Quid leges sine moribus vano3 profciunt? Little, no doubt; but good laws may produce by force of habit those very manners which tend at least to foster the higher motives from which they ought to spring. The majority of men are, and apparently always must be, in the condition of children as regards independent knowledge and investigation.* No Christian, and probably no one else, ' unless he were maintaining a thesis,' could help acknowledging the priceless benefit of a boy or girl being kept from actual vice by authority, or even by force. Nor need we shrink from admitting generally, that persecution, if it can be carried out on a large enough scale and for a long enough time, is justified by the results. It is sad of course to inflict death, or any punishment, upon a feUow-creature ; and he only can do it with a clear conscience who for the same object would yet more willingly sacrifice himself. But if the life of the soul be more precious than that of the body, ought not false doctrine to be sup pressed at least as earnestly as disease ? In Spain, in Italy, in Belgium and in Bohemia, where heresy * The inhabitants of the globe have been described as ' about 800,000,000, mostly fools ' ; and the Daily Telegraph assures us that it has the largest circulation in the world. n 2 180 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. was thoroughly and systematically put down, the Catholic religion is firmly established at the present moment, and probably even candid Protestants will admit that there is more active Christianity in the parts of the Low Countries which were retained under Spanish rule than in those which achieved their freedom. And what is at once effectual and necessary and acceptable with the populace, is also the soundest policy with the more instructed classes. It has been weU observed, that the mind rests before a confessedly insoluble difficulty with as much satisfaction as if it were perfectly explained ; and the Catholic religion has never wanted within her pale men of the highest cultivation, and many distin guished in those paths of science which do not wander on forbidden ground. The spirit which I have thus attempted to repre sent is essentiaUy the same whether the dogma of the Pope's supremacy be added to that of an infalli ble Church, or whether a bhnd unreasoning submis sion to the letter of the Bible and the accepted theological creeds be substituted for it. This attitude of uncompromising support of authority in religious matters is one that we shall probably see largely adopted in this country, no less than abroad, as the growing strength of modern Liberalism compels CONGREGATIONALISM AND SCIENCE. 181 Conservatives everywhere to make their creed more consistent and pronounced. Such opinions, more over, will always find support both in cynical unbelief and in impatience of uncertainty. But, in the first place, one may object that this, like Strafford's and aU other ' thorough ' systems, is not so successful as its advocates would have us suppose. The world is too large for heretical opinions to be stamped out hke the cattle plague. There was, indeed, a time when the power of the Popes was almost as extensive as that of the ancient Cassars, and no rebel could flee from such wide dominions ; but that has passed away for ever. Now, though you drive out heresy with a pitchfork, it will always come back, for it has become part of human nature itself. Indeed, the only effect of unyielding Cathohc pohcy appears to have been to render Protestantism impossible by substituting in fidelity. In this generation we have grown familiar with the plaintive lamentations of the Holy Father over France and Italy, and now the sole remaining strong holds of Austria and of Spain are rudely attacked. Moreover, we may weU ask a conscientious Catholic, whether the moral state of those countries, in which heresy has been most completely crushed, is entirely satisfactory. Very lately the most eloquent preacher 182 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. at Notre Dame bitterly contrasted the Bible-reading and Sabbath- keeping habits of England and Northern Germany with the indifference or unbehef of edu cated men in Catholic Europe. And should the comparison be extended to the almost heathen superstition of the Spanish and Italian peasantry, the result would not be more favourable to the policy of unyielding opposition to free enquiry. On the whole, comparing the obvious and enormous evils of rehgious persecutions and rehgious wars with the doubtfulness of the result, one may well ask whether the end is worth the cost. All Christians must agree that one great object of religion is to promote human happiness and concord, and these results seem very imperfectly obtained, or directly contravened, by such a system. But there is another aspect of rehgion which more especially affects its relations to science. If we put aside all the foreign additions which have made organized Christianity, whether Protestant or Catholic, what it now is, and judge it, like any other system, by the account given by its Founder and its first preachers, we find that it pretends to be much more than a good system of government. It claims to be true. Not only does it everywhere insist upon that spirit of honesty which is utterly opposed to concealment and to shifts of policy, but it professes CONGREGATIONALISM AND SCIENCE. 183 to give a veracious and accurate account of subjects upon which truth, if attainable at all, is manifestly of the very highest importance. Christian morahty would never have obtained the hold it has upon mankind were it not founded upon statements of facts supposed to be real. The Hebraism, to use Mr. Arnold's term, which insists upon doing rightly without caring to think truly, is neither Christian nor even Jewish ; it is, in fact, only a form of that selfish love for practical results and safe conclusions which we have been taught to caU Philistinism. Even the Jewish religion did not pretend to be a comfortable one, or a useful one, or a successful one, but to be the only true one. And to ascertain truth, we must examine evidence by that exceUent gift of God, our reason ; so that we may weU say with Luther, 'What is contrary to reason is cer tainly much more contrary to God.' In the New Testament reason is always appealed to ; argument and persuasion are everywhere em ployed ; and if authority is claimed, it is only because the fullest investigation is invited, nay, demanded, into the foundation of that authority. The highest praise is awarded to those who did not take the new teaching on trust, but searched to see if it were true or not. Calm and dispassionate judg ment is again and again enjoined, and the attainment' 184 RELIGIOUS REPUBLICS. of truth is everywhere represented as the highest blessing to man. Indeed, the whole of revelation goes on the assumption to the truth of which the Spirit of God bore witness among the heathen: ouSsy dvOpdiirvo "hufieiv ju,sT^bv, ov %api(ra.