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PRESBYTERIANISM
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PRESBYTERIANISM , a highly organized See also:form of See also: Only com- municants exercise the rights of membership. They elect the See also:minister and other office-bearers. But, in contrast with Congregationalism, when they elect and " See also:call " a minister their See also:action has to be sustained by the presbytery, which See also:judges of his fitness for that particular See also:sphere, of the measure of the congregation's unanimity, and of the adequacy of See also:financial support. When satisfied, the presbytery proceeds with the ordination and See also:induction. The ordination and induction of ministers is always the See also:act of a presbytery. The ordination and induction of elders in some branches of the Church is the act of the See also:kirk-session; in others it is the act of the presbytery. The kirk-session is the first of a See also:series of See also:councils or church courts which are an essential feature of Presbyterianism. It Kirk- consists of the ministers and ruling elders. The minister Kirson. is ex officio See also:president or See also:moderator. Without his presence or the presence of his duly-appointed See also:deputy the meeting would not be in order nor its proceedings valid. The moderator has not a deliberative, but only a casting See also:vote. (This is true of the moderator in all the church courts.) Neither the session nor the congregation has See also:jurisdiction over the minister. He holds his office ad vitam See also:aut culpam; he cannot demit it or be deprived of it without consent of the presbytery. In this way his See also:independence among the people to whom he ministers is to a large extent secured. The kirk-session has oversight of the congregation in regard to such matters as the See also:hours of public worship, the arrangements for See also:administration of the sacraments, the See also:admission of new members and the exercise of church discipline. New members are either catechumens or members transferred from other churches, The former are received after See also:special instruction and profession of faith; the latter on presenting a certificate of church membership from the church which they have See also:left. Though the admission of new members is, strictly speaking, the act of the session, this See also:duty usually devolves upon the minister, who reports his See also:procedure tothe session for approval and See also:confirmation. Matters about which there is any doubt or difficulty, or See also:division of See also:opinion in the session, may be carried for See also:settlement to the next higher See also:court, the presbytery. The presbytery consists of all the ministers and a selection of the ruling elders from the congregations within a prescribed See also:area. The presbytery chooses its moderator periodically from The among its ministerial members. His duty is to see Prespytery. that business is transacted according to Presbyterian principle and procedure. The moderator has no special See also:power or supremacy over his brethren, but is honoured and obeyed as See also:primus inter pares. The See also:work of the presbytery is episcopal. It has oversight of all the congregations within its See also:bounds; hears references from kirk-sessions or appeals from individual members; sanctions the formation of new congregations; superintends the See also:education of students for the See also:ministry; stimulates and guides See also:pastoral and evangelistic work; and exercises discipline over all within its bounds, including the ministers. Three members, two of whom must be ministers, form a See also:quorum; a small number compared with the important business they may have to transact, but the right of See also:appeal to a higher court is perhaps sufficient safe-guard against abuse. Presbytery meetings are either See also:ordinary or occasional. The former are held at prearranged intervals. Occasional meetings are either in hunc effectum or See also:pro re nata. The presbytery fixes the former for specific business; the latter is summoned by the moderator, either on his own initiative or on the requisition of two or more members of presbytery, for the transaction of business which has suddenly emerged. The first question considered at a pro re nata meeting is the action of the moderator in calling the meeting. If this is approved the meeting proceeds; if not, the meeting is dissolved. Appeals and complaints may be taken from the presbytery to the See also:synod. The synod is a provincial council which consists of the ministers and representative elders from all the congregations within a specified number of presbyteries,- in the same way as The Synod the presbytery is representative of a specified number of congregations. Though higher in rank and larger than most presbyteries it is practically of less importance, not being, like the presbytery, a court of first instance, nor yet, like the See also:general See also:assembly, a court of final appeal. The synod at its first meeting chooses a minister as its moderator whose duties, though somewhat more restricted, are similar to those of presbyterial moderators. The synod hears appeals and references from presbyteries; and by its discussions and decisions business of various kinds, if not settled, is ripened for See also:consideration and final settlement by the general assembly, the supreme court of the Church. The general assembly is representative of the whole Church, either, as in the Irish General Assembly, by a minister and See also:elder sent See also:direct to it from every congregation, or, as in the TheQenerai Scottish General Assemblies, by a proportion of dele- Assembly. See also:gates, ministers and elders from every presbytery. The general assembly annually at its first meeting chooses one of its ministerial members as moderator. He takes See also:precedence, primus inter pares, of all the members, and is recognized as the See also:official See also:head of the Church during his See also:term of office. His position is one of See also:great See also:honour and See also:influence, but he remains a See also:simple See also:presbyter, without any special See also:rule or jurisdiction. The general assembly reviews all the work of the Church; settles controversies; makes administrative See also:laws; directs and stimulates missionary and other spiritual work; appoints professors of See also:theology; admits to the ministry applicants from other churches; hears and decides complaints, references and appeals which have come up through the inferior courts; and takes See also:cognizance of all matters connected with the Church's interests or with the general welfare of the people. As a judicatory it is the final court of appeal; and by it alone can the graver censures of church discipline be reviewed and removed. The general assembly meets once a See also:year at the See also:time and place agreed upon and appointed by its predecessor. By means of this series of conciliar courts the unity of the Church is secured and made See also:manifest; the combined, simultaneous effort of the whole is made possible; and disputes, instead of Conciliar being fought out where they arise, are carried for See also:settle- Courts. ment to a larger and higher judicatory, See also:free from See also:local feeling and See also:prejudice. As See also:access to the church courts is the right of all, and involves but slight expense, the See also:liberty of even the humblest member of the Church is safeguarded, and local oppression or injustice is rendered difficult. The weak point in the system is that episcopal superintendence being exercised in every See also:case by a See also:plurality of individuals there is no one, moderator or See also:senior member, whose special duty it is to take initial action when the unpleasant work of judicial investigation or ecclesiastical discipline becomes necessary. This has led in some quarters to a See also:desire that the moderator should be clothed with greater responsibility and have his See also:period of office prolonged; should be made, in fact, more of a bishop in the See also:Anglican sense of the word. Though the See also:jus divinum of presbytery is not now insisted upon as in some former times, Presbyterians claim that it is the church polity set forth in the New Testament. The case is usually stated somewhat as follows. With the See also:sanction and under the guidance of the Apostles, See also:officers called elders and deacons were appointed in every newly-formed church.' They were elected by New the people, and ordained or set apart for their sacred Testament work by the Apostles.' The elders were appointed to Authority. See also:teach and rule;' the deacons to minister to the poor.' There were elders in the church at See also:Jerusalem,' and in the church at See also:Ephesus;' See also:Paul and See also:Barnabas appointed elders in the cities of See also:Lycaonia and See also:Pisidia;' Paul left See also:Titus in See also:Crete to appoint elders' in every See also:city ;3 the elders amongst the strangers scattered throughout See also:Pontus, See also:Galatia, See also:Cappadocia, See also:Asia and See also:Bithynia received a special exhortation by See also:Peter.9 These elders were rulers, and the only rulers in the New Testament Church. Just as in the See also:synagogue there was a plurality of rulers called elders, so there was in every Christian church a plurality of elders. The elders were different from the deacons, but there is no indication that any one elder was of higher rank than the others. The elder was not an officer inferior and subordinate to the bishop. The elder was a bishop. The two titles are applied to the same persons. See Acts xx. 17, 28; " he sent and called for the elders of the church... . Take heed to all the See also:flock over which the See also:Holy See also:Ghost hath made you bishops." See also Titus i. 5, 6: " ordain elders . . . for a bishop must be blameless." This is now admitted by See also:modern expositors.10 The elders were chosen by the people. This is not expressly stated in the New Testament but is regarded as a necessary inference. When an apostle was about to be chosen as successor to Judas, the people were invited to take See also:part in the See also:election ;I' and when deacons were about to be appointed the Apostles asked the people to make the choice." It is inferred that elders were similarly chosen. It is worthy of See also:notice that there is no See also:account at all of the first See also:appointment of elders as there is of deacons. Probably the recognition and appointment of elders was simply the See also:transfer from the synagogue to the Church of a usage which was regarded as essential among See also:Jews; and the See also:Gentile churches naturally followed the example of the Jewish Christians.13 The elders thus chosen by the people and inducted to their office by the Apostles acted as a church court. Only thus could a plurality of rulers of equal rank act in an efficient and orderly way. They would See also:discharge their pastoral duties as individuals, but when a See also:solemn ecclesiastical act, like ordination, was performed, it would be done, as in the case of See also:Timothy, by " the laying on of the hands of the presbytery ";14 and when an authoritative decision had to be reached, as in regard to See also:circumcision, a synod or court was called together for the purpose." The action of Paul and Barnabas at See also:Antioch" seems to See also:accord with Presbyterian rather than Congregational polity. - The latter would have required that the question should have been settled by the church at Antioch instead of being referred to Jerusalem. And the decision of the council at Jerusalem was evidently more than advisory; it was authoritative and meant to be binding on all the churches." The principle of ministerial parity which is fundamental in Presbyterian-ism is founded not merely on apostolic example but on the words of See also:Christ Himself: " Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you." 18 From the foregoing outline it will be seen that Presbyterianism may be said to consist in the government of the Church by representative assemblies composed of the two Alternative Deflattlons.classes of presbyters, ministers and elders, and so arranged as to manifest and realize the visible unity of the whole Church. Or it may be described as denying (i) that the apostolic office is perpetual and should still exist in the Christian Church; (2) that all church power should be vested in the clergy; (3) that each congregation should be independent of all the See also:rest; and as asserting (I) that the people ought to have a substantial part in the government of the Church; (2) that presbyters, i.e. elders or bishops, are the highest permanent officers in the Church and are of equal rank; (3) that an outward and visible Church is one in the sense that a smaller part is controlled by a larger and all the parts by the whole.19 Though Presbyterians are unanimous in adopting the general system of church polity as here outlined, and in claiming New Phil. i. 1. 9 Acts xx. 17. 2 Acts vi. 2-6. Acts xiv. 23. • i Tim. v. 17; Titus i. 9. 3 Titus i. 5. • Acts vi. 1, 2. 9 I Peter v. 1. Acts xi. 29, xv. 2, 4, 6, xvi. 4. 10 See Bishop See also:Lightfoot's exhaustive See also:essay in his See also:volume on the See also:Epistle to the See also:Philippians. '' Acts i. 15-26. " Acts xv. 6-2o. 12 Acts vi. 2-6. " Acts xv. 2. u Acts xiv. 23. " Acts xvi. 4. 14 Timothy iv. 14. 18 Matt. xx.25, 26 ; See also:Luke xxii.2 5, 26. 19 Proceedings of Seventh General Council of the See also:Alliance of Re-formed Churches holding the Presbyterian System (See also:Washington, 1899) Testament authority for it, there are certain See also:differences of view in regard to details which may be noticed. There is no doubt that considerable indefiniteness in regard to the precise status and rank of the ruling elder is See also:coin- Divergent views. monly prevalent. When ministers and elders are associated in the membership of a church court their equality is admitted; no such See also:idea as voting by orders is ever entertained. Yet even in a church court inequality, generally speaking, is visible to the extent that an elder is not usually eligible for the moderator's See also:chair. In some other respects also a certain disparity is apparent between a minister and his elders. Practically the minister is regarded as of higher See also:standing. The duty of teaching and of administering the sacraments and of always presiding in church courts being strictly reserved to him invests his office with a dignity and influence greater than that of the elder. It was inevitable, therefore, that this question as to the exact status of the ruling elder should claim See also:attention in the discussions of the See also:Pan-Presbyterian Alliance. At its meeting in See also:Belfast in 1884 a See also:report was submitted by a " See also:committee on the eldership " which had been previously appointed. According to this committee there are prevalent three distinct theories in regard to the office and See also:function of ruling elders: I. That while the New Testament recognizes but one order of presbyters there are in this order two degrees or classes, known as teaching elders and ruling elders. In teaching, in Theories of dispensing the sacraments, in presiding over public the ThRum, eories o worship, and in the private functions by which he Blden ministers to the comfort, the instruction and the improve- ment of the people committed to his care, a pastor acts within his See also:parish (or congregation) according to his own discretion; and for the discharge of all the duties of the pastoral office he is accountable only to the presbytery from whom he received the See also:charge of the parish (or congregation). But in everything which concerns what is called discipline—the exercise of that jurisdiction over the people with which the office-bearers of the church are conceived to be invested, he is assisted by See also:lay-elders. They are laymen in that they have no right to teach or to dispense the sacraments, and on this account they fill an office in the Presbyterian Church inferior in rank and power to that of the pastors. Their See also:peculiar business is expressed by the term " ruling elders." 20
II. A second theory is contended for by Principal See also: 2' 1 Tim. iv. 15, v. 17; See also:Col. iv. 17. of teaching, administering the sacraments, visiting the flock pastorally, and taking oversight, with his See also:fellow elders, of all the interests of the church. To See also:share with the minister such general oversight is not regarded by intelligent and influential laymen as an incongruous or unworthy office; but to identify the duties of the eldership, even in theory, with those of the minister is a sure way of deterring from accepting office many whose counsel and influence in the eldership would be in-valuable.' Another subject upon which there is a difference of opinion in the Presbyterian churches is the question of Church Establishments. The view, originally held by all Presbyterian churches in Great See also:Britain and on the See also:Continent, that See also:union with and support by the See also:civil government are not only lawful but also desirable, is now held only by a minority, and is practically exemplified among See also:English-speaking Presbyterians only in the Church of Scotland (see SCOTLAND, CHURCH OF). The See also:law-fulness of Church Establishments with due qualifications is perhaps generally recognized in theory, but there is a growing tendency to regard connexion with the See also:state as inexpedient, if not actually contrary to See also:sound Presbyterian principle. That this tendency exists cannot be doubted, and there is See also:reason to fear that its influence, by identifying Presbyterianism with dissent in England and Scotland, is unfavourable to the general See also:tone and See also:character of the Presbyterian Church. Those who favour state connexion and those who oppose it agree in claiming spiritual independence as a fundamental principle of Presbyterianism. That principle is spiritual /n- equally opposed to Erastianism and to Papacy, dependence. to the civil power dominating the Church, and to the ecclesiastical power dominating the state. All Presbyterians admit the supremacy of the state in things secular, and they claim supremacy for the Church in things spiritual. Those who favour a Church See also:Establishment hold that Church and state should each be supreme in its own sphere, and that on these terms a union between them is not only lawful but is the highest exemplification of Christian statesmanship. So See also:long as these two See also:spheres are at all points clearly distinct, and so long as there is a desire on the part of each to recognize the supremacy of the other, there is little danger of See also:friction or collision. But when spiritual and secular interests come into unfriendly contact and entanglement; when controversy in regard to them becomes inevitable; from which sphere, the spiritual or the civil, is the final decision to come? Before the See also:Reformation the Church would have had the last word; since that event the right and the duty of the civil power have been generally recognized. The origin of Presbyterianism is a question of See also:historical See also:interest. By some it is said to have begun at the Reformation; Origin by some it is traced back to the days of See also:Israel in See also:Egypt; by most, however, it is regarded as of later Jewish origin, and as having come into existence in its present form simultaneously with the formation of the Christian Church. The last is Bishop Lightfoot's view. He connects the Christian ministry, not with the worship of the See also:Temple, in which were priests and sacrificial See also:ritual, but with that of the synagogue, which was a local institution providing spiritual edification by the See also:reading and exposition of Scripture .3 The first Christians were regarded, even by themselves, as a Jewish See also:sect. They were spoken of as " the way."4 They took with them, into the new communities which they formed, the Jewish polity or rule and oversight by elders. The appointment of these would be regarded as a See also:matter of course, and would not seen to call for any special notice in such a narrative as the Acts of the Apostles. But Presbyterianism was associated in the 2nd See also:century with a See also:kind of episcopacy. This episcopacy was at first rather congregational than diocesan; but the tendency of its growth was undoubtedly towards the latter. Hence for See also:proof that their ' Report of Proceedings, Third General Council of the Alliance of Reformed Churches, &c. (1884), pp. 373 seq. and App. p. 131. z See also:Exodus iii. 16; iv. 29. ' St Luke iv. 16 seq. ' Acts ix. 2.church polity is apostolic Presbyterians are accustomed to appeal to the New Testament and to the time when the apostles were still living; and for proof of the apostolicity limo,* of prelacy Episcopalians appeal rather to the See also:early Episcopacy. Church fathers and to a time when the last of the Apostles had just passed away.' It is generally admitted that distinct traces of Presbyterian polity are to be found in unexpected quarters (e.g. See also:Ireland, See also:Iona, the See also:Culdees, &c.) from the early centuries of church See also:history and throughout the See also:medieval ages down to the Reformation of the 16th century. Only in a very modified sense, therefore, can it be correctly said to date from the Reformation.
At the Reformation the See also:Bible was for the great See also:mass of both priests and people a new See also:discovery. The study of it See also:shed floods of See also:light upon all church questions. The leaders of the The Reformation searched the New Testament not only for Reformers. doctrinal truth but also to ascertain the polity of the
See also:primitive Church. This was specially true of the Reformers in See also:Switzerland, See also:France, Scotland, See also: They did not get their ideas of church polity from one another, but See also:drew it directly from the New Testament. For example, See also: When their ministers, moved by an intense desire to keep the Church pure by means of the exercise of scriptural discipline, claimed special spiritual rule over the people, it was not wonderful that the latter should have been reluctant to submit to a new spiritual despotism. So strong was this feeling in some places that it was contended that the discipline of ex-communication, if exercised at all, should be exercised only by the secular power. A second powerful influence was of a different kind, viz. municipal See also:jealousy of church power. The municipal authority in those times claimed the right to exercise a censorship over the citizens' private life. Any See also:attempt on the part of the Church to exercise discipline was resented as an intrusion. It has been a See also:common See also:mistake to think of Calvin and contemporary Reformers 'See Lightfoot's Essay in Commentary on the Epistle co the Philippians. ' See also:Knox, Winran, See also:Spotswood and See also:Douglas—all of them John—were the other commissioners. as introducing a discipline of stern repression which made the See also:innocent gaieties of life impossible, and produced a dull uniformity of straitlaced See also:manners and hypocritical morals. The discipline was there before the Reformers. There were civil laws which regulated clothing, See also:food and social festivity. Hence friction, at times, between the Reformers and civic authorities friendly to the Reformation; not as to whether there should be " discipline " (that was never doubted) but as to whether it should be ecclesiastical or municipal. Even, therefore, where people desired the Reformation there were powerful influences opposed to the setting up of church government and to the exercise of church discipline after the manner of the apostolic Church; and one ceases to wonder at the See also:absence of See also:complete Presbyterianism in the countries which were forward to embrace and adopt the Reformation. Indeed the more favourable the secular authorities were to the Reformation the less need was there to discriminate between civil and ecclesiastical power, and to define strictly how the latter should be exercised. We look in vain, therefore, for much more than the germs and principles of Presbyterianism in the churches of the first Reformers. Its See also:evolution and the thorough application of its principles to actual church life came later, not in See also:Saxony or Switzer-See also:land, but in France and Scotland; and through Scotland it has passed to all English-speaking lands. The doctrines of Presbyterianism are those generally known as evangelical and Calvinistic. The supreme See also:standard of Theology. belief is the Word of God in the See also:original See also:languages. The subordinate See also:standards have been numerous, though marked by striking agreement in the See also:main See also:body of Christian doctrine which they set forth. Much has been done of See also:late years to make these subordinate standards of reformed doctrine more generally known. The following See also:list is fairly complete: Switzerland.—First Helvetic See also:Confession (1536). Geneva Confession (1J36). Geneva See also:Catechism (1545). England.—See also:Forty-two Articles (1553). See also:Thirty-eight Articles (1563). Thirty-nine Articles (1571). See also:Lambeth Articles (1595). Irish Articles (1615). See also:Westminster Confession (1644-1647). Larger and Shorter Catechisms (1647). France.—Confessio gallicana (1559). Scotland.—Scottish Confession (1560). Westminster Confession (1647). Larger and Shorter Catechisms (1647). See also:Netherlands.—Frisian Confession (1528). Confessio belgica (1561). Netherlands Confession (1566). See also:Hungary. Hungarian Confession (1562). Bohemia. Bohemian Confession (1609). The form of worship associated with Presbyterianism has been marked by extreme simplicity. It consists of reading of Presby- Holy Scripture, psalmody, non-liturgical See also:prayer terian and preaching. There is nothing in the standards Worship, of the Presbyterian Church against liturgical worship. In some of the early books of order a few forms of prayer were given, but their use was not compulsory. On the whole, the preponderating preference has always been in favour of so-called extemporaneous, or free prayer; and the Westminster See also:Directory of Public Worship has to a large extent stereotyped the form and order of the service in most Presbyterian churches. Within certain broad outlines much, perhaps too much, is left to the choice of individual congregations. It used to be customary among Presbyterians to stand during public prayer, and to remain seated during the acts of praise, but this peculiarity is no longer maintained. The See also:psalms rendered into See also:metre were formerly the only vehicle of the Church's public praise, but See also:hymns are now also used in most Presbyterian churches.' See also:Organs used to be. regarded as contrary to New Testament example, but their use is now all but universal. The public praise used to be led by an individual called the " See also:precentor," who occupied a See also:box in front of, and a little See also:lower than, the See also:pulpit. Choirs of male and See also:female voices now See also:lead the church praise. Presbyterianism has two sacraments, See also:baptism and the Lord's Supper. Baptism is administered both to infants and adults by Sacraments. pouring or sprinkling, but the mode is considered immaterial. The Lord's Supper, as generally ob- served throughout the various Presbyterian churches, is a See also:close ' Principal See also:Rous's version is the best known and most widely used. It is an English work. Somewhat reluctantly it was accepted by Scottish Presbyterianism as a substitute for an older version with a greater variety of metre and See also:music. " Old See also:Hundred " and " Old 124th " mean the tooth and 124th Psalms in that old book.See also:imitation of the New Testament practice ; and where it is not marred by undue prolixity commends itself to most Christian people as a solemn and impressive service. The old plan of coming out and taking one's place at the communion table in the body of the church is unhappily seen no more; communicants now receive the sacred elements seated in their pews. The dispensing of this rite is strictly reserved to an ordained minister, who is assisted by elders in handing the See also:bread and the See also:cup to the people. The administration of private communion to the sick and dying is extremely rare in Presbyterian churches, but there is less objection to it than formerly, and in some churches it is even encouraged. Presbyterian discipline is now entirely confined to exclusion from membership or from office. Though it is the duty of a minister to warn against irreverent or profane participation in Discipline. the Lord's Supper, he himself has no right to exclude any one from communion; that can only be done as the act of himself and the elders duly assembled in session. A See also:code of instructions for the guidance of church courts when engaged in cases of discipline is in general use, and bears See also:witness to the extreme care taken not only to have things done decently and in order, but also to prevent hasty, impulsive and illogical procedure in the investigation of charges of See also:heresy or immorality. Cases of discipline are now comparatively rare, and, when they do occur, are not characterized by the bigoted severity which prevailed in former times and was rightly denounced as unchristian. The extent to which the Presbyterian form of church government prevails throughout the world has been made more manifest in See also:recent years by the formation of a " General Council of the Alliance of Reformed Churches holding the Presbyterian System." At a representative See also:conference in See also:London in 1875 the constitution of the council was agreed upon. The first council met in See also:Edinburgh in 1877. Since then it has met in See also:Philadelphia, Belfast, London, See also:Toronto, See also:Glasgow, Washington and See also:Liverpool. Churches which are organized on Presbyterian principles and hold doctrines in harmony with the reformed confessions are eligible for admission to the alliance. The See also:object is not to form one great Presbyterian organization, but to promote unity and fellowship among the numerous branches of Presbyterianism throughout the world. On the See also:roll of the general council held at Washington in 1899 there were sixty-four churches. The See also:statistics of these and of sixteen others not formally in the alliance were 29,476 congregations, 26,251 ministers, 126,607 elders and 4,852,096 communicants. Of these eighty churches, twelve were in the See also:United See also:Kingdom, twenty on the continent of See also:Europe, sixteen in See also:North See also:America, three in See also:South America, ten in Asia, nine in See also:Africa, six in See also:Australia, two in New See also:Zealand, one in See also:Jamaica and one in See also:Melanesia. The desire for union which led to the formation of the alliance has, since 1875, See also:borne remarkable See also:fruit. In England in 1876 two churches united to form the Presbyterian Church of England; in the Netherlands two churches be-came one in 1892; in South Africa a union of the different branches of the Presbyterian Church took place in 1897; in Scotland the Free Church and the United Presbyterian became one in 190o under the designation of the United Free Church; in Australia and See also:Tasmania six churches united in 1901 to form the Presbyterian Church of Australia; and a few months later the two churches in New Zealand which represented respectively the North and South Islands united to form the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand. " In no portion of the See also:empire," it has been said, " does the See also:British See also:flag now See also:fly over a divided Presbyterianism, except in the British Isles themselves." II.—HISTORY IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES From this general outline of Presbyterianism we now turn to consider its evolution and history in some of the countries with which it is or has been specially associated. We omit, however, one of the most important, viz. Scotland, as the history is fully covered under the See also:separate headings of SCOTLAND, CHURCH OF, and allied articles. Switzerland. The Swiss, owing to their peculiar See also:geographical position and to certain See also:political circumstances, early manifested independence in ecclesiastical matters, and became accustomed to the General Statistics. management of their church affairs. The work of See also:Zwingli as a Reformer, important and thorough though it was, did not concern itself mainly with church polity. Ecclesiastical affairs were, as a matter of course, wholly under the management of the cantonal and municipal authorities, and Zwingli was content that it should be so. The work of See also:Farel, previous to his coming to Geneva, was almost entirely evangelistic, and his first work in Geneva was of a similar character. It was the See also:town council which made arrangements for religious disputations, and provided for the See also:housing and See also:maintenance of the preachers. When Calvin. Calvin, at Farel's invitation, settled in Geneva (1536) the work of reformation became more constructive. " The need of the See also:hour was organization and See also:familiar instruction, and Calvin set himself to work at once." The first reforms he wished to see introduced concerned the Lord's Supper, church praise, religious instruction of youth and the regulation of See also:marriage. In connexion with the first he desired that the discipline de l'See also:excommunication should be exercised. His plan was partly Presbyterian and partly consistorial. Owing to certain circumstances in its past history, Geneva was notoriously immoral. " The rule of dissolute bishops, and the example of a turbulent and immoral clergy, had poisoned the morals of the city. Even the nuns of Geneva were notorious for their conduct."' Calvin suggested that men of known See also:worth should be appointed in different quarters of the city to report to the ministers those persons in their district who lived in open See also:sin; that the ministers should then warn such persons not to come to the communion; and that, if their warnings were unheeded, discipline should be enforced. It was on this subject of keeping pure the Lord's Table that the controversy arose between the ministers and the town councillors which ended in the banishment of Calvin, Farel and See also:Conrad from Geneva. In 1538 the ministers took upon themselves to refuse to administer the Lord's Supper in Geneva because the city, as represented by its council, declined to submit to church discipline. The See also:storm then See also:broke out, and the ministers were banished (1538). It may be convenient at this point to consider Calvin's ideal church polity, as set forth in his famous Christianae religionis institutio, the first edition of which was published in 1536. Briefly it was as follows: A separate ministry is an See also:ordinance of God (Inst. iv. 3, i. 3). Ministers duly called and ordained may alone preach and ad-minister the sacraments (iv. 3, to). A legitimate ministry is one appointed with the consent and approbation of the people under the See also:presidency of other pastors by whom the final act of ordination (with laying on of hands) shall be performed (iv. 3, 15). See also:Governors or persons of advanced years selected from the people and associated with the ministers in admonishing and exercising discipline (iv. 3, 8). This discipline is all-important, and is the special business of the governors. His system, while preserving the democratic theory by recognizing the congregation as holding the church power, was in practice strictly aristocratic inasmuch as the congregation is never allowed any direct use of power, which is invested in the whole body of elders. His great object was discipline. With regard to the relations between the Church and the civil power, Calvin was opposed to the Zwinglian theory whereby all ecclesiastical power was handed over to the state. Calvin's refusal to administer the See also:sacrament, for which he was banished from Geneva, is important as a matter of ecclesiastical history, because it is the essence of the whole system which he subsequently introduced. It rests on the principles that the Church has the right to exclude those who are unworthy, and that she is in no way subject to the civil power in spiritual matters. During the three years of his banishment Calvin was at See also:Strassburg, where he had been carrying out his ideas. His recall was greatly to his honour. The town had become a See also:prey to anarchy. One party threatened to return to Romanism; another threatened to See also:sacrifice the independence of Geneva and submit to Berne. It was See also:felt to be a political See also:necessity that he should return, and in 1541, somewhat reluctantly, he returned on his own terms. These were the recognition of the Church's spiritual independence, the division of the town into parishes, and the appointment (by the municipal authority) of a See also:consistory or council of elders in each parish for the exercise of discipline. These terms were embodied in the famous Ordonnances ecclesiastiques de l'eglise de Geneve (1541). The four orders mentioned 3 See also:Lindsay, Hist. of the Reform. ii. 9o.in the Institutio are recognized: pastors, doctors, elders and deacons. The pastors were to preach, administer the sacraments, and in See also:conjunction with the elders to exercise discipline. In their totality they form the See also:venerable compagnie. A newly-made pastor was to be settled in a fixed charge by the See also:magistrate with the consent of the congregation, after having been approved as to knowledge and manner of life by the pastors already in office. By them he was to be ordained, after vowing to be true in office, faithful to the church system, obedient to the laws and to the civil government, and ready to exercise discipline without fear or favour. The doctors were to teach the faithful in sound learning, to guard purity of doctrine, and to be amenable to discipline. The elders (Anciens, commis, ou deputes See also:par la seigneurie ou consistoire) were regarded as the essential part of the system. They were the See also:bond of union between Church and state. Their business was to supervise daily life, to warn the disorderly, and to give notice to the consistory of cases requiring discipline. To form the consistory all the elders with the ministers were to meet every See also:Sunday under the presidency of one of the syndics or magistrates. This court could See also:award censures up to exclusion from the sacrament. Manifestly the arrangement was a See also:compromise. The state retained control of the ecclesiastical organization, and Calvin secured his much-needed system of discipline. Fourteen years of friction and struggle followed, and if there came after them a period of See also:comparative See also:triumph and repose for the great reformer it must still be remembered that he was never able to have his ideal ecclesiastical organization fully realized in the city of his See also:adoption. The early Presbyterianism of Switzerland was defective in the following respects: (1) It started from a wrong See also:definition of the Church, which, instead of being conceived as an organized community of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, was made to depend upon the preaching of the See also:gospel and the administration of the sacraments. As these implied a duly appointed minister, the existence of the Church was made to depend upon an organized ministry rather than an organized membership. It calls to mind the Romish See also:formula: "Ubi episcopus ibi See also:ecclesia." (2) It did not maintain the scriptural right of the people to choose their minister and other office-bearers. (3) Its independence of civil control was very imperfect. (4) And it did not by means of church courts provide for the manifestation of the Church's unity and for the concentration of the Church's influence. " Calvin," says Principal Lindsay, " did three things for Geneva all of which went far beyond its walls. He gave its Church a trained ministry, its homes an educated people who could give a reason for their faith, and the whole city an heroic soul which enabled the little town to stand forth as the citadel and city of See also:refuge for the oppressed Protestants of Europe." 2 France. It is pathetic and yet inspiring to study the development of Presbyterianism in France; pathetic because it was in a time of fierce persecution that the See also:French Protestants organized themselves into churches; and inspiring, because it showed the power which scriptural organization gave them to withstand incessant, unrelenting hostility. It would be difficult to exaggerate the influence of Calvin upon French Protest- antism. His Christianae religionis institutio became Imo' nce. a standard See also:round which his countrymen rallied in the work and See also:battle of the Reformation. Though under thirty years of See also:age, he became all over Europe, and in an exceptional degree in France, the See also:leader, organizer and consolidator of the Reformation. The work which the See also:young Frenchman did for his countrymen was immense.3 The year 7555 may be taken as the date when French Protestant-ism began to be organized. A few churches had been organized earlier, at See also:Meaux in 1546 and at See also:Nimes in 1547, but their members had been dispersed by persecution. T'''ench See also:Prior to 1555 the Protestants of France had been for Protes tant- the most part solitary Bible students or little companies ism. meeting together for worship without any organization. But in that year the following incident was the beginning of a great See also:movement. A small See also:company had been accustomed to meet in the lodging of the sieur de la Ferriere in See also:Paris near the Pre-aux-Cleres. At one of the meetings the See also:father of a newly-See also:born See also:child explained that he could not go outside France to seek a pure baptism and that his See also:conscience would not permit his child to be baptized according to the See also:rites of the Romish Church. After prayer the company constituted themselves into a church: See also:chose See also:Jean le See also:Macon to be their minister, and others of their number to be elders and deacons. It seemed as if all France had been waiting for this event as a See also:signal, for organized churches began to See also:spring up every- 2 Hist. of the Reform. ii. 31. 2 Ibid. ii. 158. where immediately afterwards. Within two years Meaux, See also:Poitiers, See also:national and provincial. Under the See also:protection of the See also:edict the See also:Angers, See also:les Iles de See also:Saintonge, See also:Agen, See also:Bourges, See also:Issoudun, Aubigny,
See also:Blois, See also:Tours, See also:Lyon, See also: In 1801 and 1802 See also:Napoleon took into his own cedure of the churches. It contains this fundamental statement hands the independence of both See also:Catholic and Protestant Churches, the of Presbyterian parity, " Aucune eglise ne pourra pretendre primaute national synod was abolished, and all active religious propaganda ni domination sur 1'autre; ni pareillement, les ministres d'une was rigorously forbidden. In 1848 an assembly representative eglise les uns sur les autres; ni les anciens ou diacres, les uns sur of the eglises consistoriales met at Paris. When it refused to discuss les autres." The various church courts, familiar to us now as points of doctrine a See also:secession took place under the name of the Presbyterian, are explained. The consistoire or session consisted Union des eglises evangeliques de France. This society held a synod of the minister, elders and deacons (the latter without a vote), at which a confession of faith and a book of order were See also:drawn up. and was over the congregation. The colloque or presbytery was Meanwhile the national Protestant Church set itself to the work composed of representative ministers and elders (anciens) from a of reconstruction on the basis of universal See also:suffrage, with restrictions, See also:group of congregations. Next in order was the provincial synod but no result was arrived at. In 1852 a See also:change took place in its which consisted of a minister and an elder or See also:deacon from each constitution. The iglises consistoriales were abolished, and in each church in the See also:province. Over all was the general or national parish a presbyterial council was appointed, the minister being synod. Some of the arrangements are worthy of notice. When president, with four to seven elders chosen by the people. In the a church was first formed the office bearers were elected by the large towns there were consistories composed of all the ministers people, but there the power of the congregation ceased. Future vacancies in the eldership were filled up by the office-bearers. The eldership was not for life, but there was always a tendency to make it so. When the ministry of a church became vacant the choice of a successor rested with the colloque or with the provincial synod. The people, however, might object, and if their objection was considered valid redress was given. Later the synod of Nimes (1572) decreed that no minister might be imposed upon an unwilling people. Deacons, in addition to having charge of the poor and sick, might catechize, and occasionally offer public prayer or read a written See also:sermon. The president or moderator of each church court was Primus inter pares. The remarkable feature of French church polity was its aristocratic nature, which it owed to the system of co-optation; and the exclusion of the congregation from direct and frequent interference in spiritual matters prevented many evils which result from too much intermeddling on the part of the laity. Up to 1565 the national synod consisted of a minister with one or two elders or deacons from every church; after that date, to avoid overcrowding, its See also:numbers were restricted to representatives from each provincial synod. On questions of discipline elders and deacons might vote; on doctrinal questions only as many of these as there were ministers. " II is interesting to see how in a See also:country whose civil rule was becoming gradually more absolutist, this ' Church under the See also:cross' framed for itself a government which reconciled, more thoroughly perhaps than has ever been done since, the two principles of popular rights and supreme control. Its constitution has spread to Holland, Scotland (Ireland, England), and to the great See also:American (and Colonial) churches. Their ecclesiastical polity came much more from Paris than from Geneva."2
To trace the history of Presbyterianism in France for the next thirty years would be to write the history of France Itself during that period. We should have to tell of the great and rapid increase of the Church; of its powerful influence among the nobles and the bourgeoisie ; of its direful persecutions ; of its St See also:Bartholomew See also:massacre with 70,000 victims; of its regrettable though perhaps inevitable entanglements in politics and See also:war; and finally of its attaining not only tolerance but also See also:honourable recognition and protection when See also: Under the persecution, a large number were killed, and between four and five millions of Protestants left the country. Early in the 18th century Antoine Court made marvellous efforts to restore Presbyterianism. In momentary peril of See also:death for fifteen years, he restored in the Vivarais and the See also:Cevennes Presbyterian church polity in all its integrity. In 1715 he assembled his first colloque. Synods were held in 1718, 1723, 1726 and 1727; and in a remote spot in Bas See also:Languedoc in 1744 a national synod assembled—the first since 166o—which consisted of representatives from every province formerly Protestant. From 1760 owing to the See also:gradual spread of the sceptical spirit and the teaching of See also:Voltaire more tolerant views prevailed. In and of delegates from the various parishes. Over all was the central provincial council consisting of the two senior ministers and fifteen members nominated by the state in the first instance. In 1858 there were 617 pastors and the Union des eglises evangeliques numbered 27 churches. The Netherlands. From the geographical position of the Netherlands, Presbyterianism there took its tone from France. In 1562 the Confessio belgica was publicly acknowledged, and in 1563 the church order was arranged. In 1574 the first provincial synod of Holland and Zealand was held, but See also: The " kerk-raad " (kirk-session) met weekly, the magistrate being a member ex oficio. The colloque consisted of one minister and one elder from each congregation. At the See also:annual provincial synod, held by consent of the states, two ministers and one 3 Ibid. ii. 222, 223. elder attended from each calque. Every congregation was visited by ministers appointed by the provincial synod. In 179, of course, everything was upset, and it was not until after the restoration of the Netherland States that a new organization was formed in 1816. Its main features were strictly Presbyterian, but the minister was greatly See also:superior to the elder, and the state had wide powers especially in the nomination of higher officers. In 1851 the system now in force was adopted. The congregation chooses all the officers, and these form a church council. England. Presbyterian principles and ideas were entertained by many of the leading ecclesiastics in England during the reign of See also:Edward VI. Even the See also:archbishop of See also:Canterbury favoured a modification of episcopacy, and an approach to Presbyterian polity and dicipline; but attention was mainly directed to the settlement of doctrine and worship. See also:Cranmer wrote that bishops and priests were not different but the same in the beginning of Christ's religion. Thirteen bishops subscribed this proposition: that in the New Testament there is no mention made of any distinctions or degrees in orders but only deacons and priests or bishops. Cranmer held that the See also:consecration of a bishop was an unnecessary rite, and not required by Scripture; that election and appointment to office were sufficient. The bishop of St Davids was of the same opinion. See also:Latimer and See also:Hooper maintained that Bishops and presbyters were identical; and Pilkington, bishop of See also:Durham, and Bishop See also:Jewel were of the same mind. The latter, about the time of See also: On Presbytery the loth of See also:November 1572 the authors of the '` Ad-of Wands- See also:monition " set up at See also:Wandsworth what has been worttr, called the first presbytery in England. They adopted a purely Presbyterian system which was published as the Orders of Wandsworth. Similar associations or presbyteries were formed in London and in the midland and eastern counties; but the privy council was hostile. Only in See also:Jersey and See also:Guernsey, whither large numbers of Huguenots had fled after the St Bartholomew massacre, was Presbyterianism fully permitted. Cartwright and See also:Edmund Snape were ministers there; and from 1576 to 1625 a completely appointed Presbyterian Church existed, under the rule of synods, and authorized by the See also:governor. The action of the See also:Commons in 1584, stimulated by the opposition of the Lords, showed that the principles of Presbyterianism were strongly held. Bills were introduced to reduce the position of a bishop to well-nigh that of prirnus inter pares; to place the power of See also:veto in the congregation; to abolish the See also:canon law and to establish a presbytery it every parish. These proposals were rendered abortive by the unflinching use of the See also:queen's prerogative. In 164o See also:Henderson, See also:Baillie, See also:Blair and See also:Gillespie came to London as commissioners from the General Assembly in Scotland, in response to a See also:request from ministers in London who desired to see the Church of England more closely modelled after the Reformed type. 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