Formation of the Congregational Union
“Whatever importance,” writes IMr James, in “an account of a few of the more remarkable incidents of my ministerial life,” at the close of his Autobiography, “whatever importance attaches to the Congregational Union, I was one of its original projectors. When some of my seniors felt grave objections to this confederation, as containing a germ of mischief in the way of an organised controlling body, I thought their fears groiuidless, and went into the association with my whole heart. I well remember that excellent and wise man, Mr Griffin, of Portsea, taking me aside at one of its first meetings to discuss the project, and saying to me, ‘I see you will have much influence in the formation and guidance of this Union, I hope you will be very careful what you do.’ By this he evidently thought there was some danger ’ looming in the distance.’”
Mr Griffin’s apprehensions were shared by very many; and it is rather curious, now that a quarter of a century has gone by, to look upon the exaggerated alarms and the exaggerated hopes with which the Union was originally regarded. The battle was fought in the columns of the World newspaper, and of the Congregational Magazine, both of which have been extinct for many years. It was alleged that the scheme threatened the equality of pastors and the independence of churches.” It is for us to profit by the past.
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Episcopacy arose out of the presidency of the more influential men in the assemblies of presbyters holding equal rank; and the churches lost their internal rights by appealing to the wisdom of such assemblies. Metropolitans next claimed priority of provincial bishops. Patriarchates were at length erected, and the pastoral chair of a single church became, in the end, a throne lifted high in supremacy over all the churches. Hierarchies have sprung from the most inconsiderable beginnings.”*
An objection hardly less grave was, that the project would constitute the Independents an organised community, that all the afBliated churches would become responsible for the purity of discipline and doctrine of every individual church belonging to the Union, and for the orthodoxy and Christian character of every minister and every delegate. It was declared that although the promoters of the Union might disclaim the authority and power of a court of appeal, it would inevitably assume and exercise the prerogatives it repudiated.
“On what principle,” writes one,” are the churches to be admitted into union 1 Shall every separate society bearing the designation of an independent church be entitled to admission t Then how many communities, from which, in our separate state, we have been compelled by conscience to withhold fellowship, will be incorporated 1 This is too starthng a proposition to be entertained. But what, I ask, shall be the rule of admission 1 What symbol of orthodoxy shall be proposed 1 And what tribunal shall be erected to decide the question of Christian purity t And supposing the Union happily organised, and every difficulty overcome, is the Church, once united, to be considered as bearing an indehble character 1 Is the seal of incorporation never to be broken 1 Should error insinuate itself, or should an unholy ministry be tolerated, what steps shall the national union take 1 Unless we are to give the sanction of the incorporated body to every such case of error or immorahty, an investigation must be instituted, and a court of inquiry must be erected; evidence must be received on the one side, and appeal cannot be refused on the other. In cases also of division, although your correspondent can scarcely conceive of the ignorance that would appeal to the Union, I cannot conceive how appeal is to be avoided: should division of feeling issue in the formation of a separate church, such an investigation must take place as shall determine whether the
* Congregational Marjazine, 1831, p. 95. separating community is to be recognised or rejected; that is to say, whether it shall be authoritatively pronounced a true church, or visited with sentence of excommunication.”
On the other hand, it was urged that the isolation of the Independent churches of England had enfeebled their evangelistic eflPorts, and seriously hindered the full and public assertion of their ecclesiastical principles; that the ministers and churches were ignorant of each other, and that mutual acquaintance would promote mutual sympathy and help; that only by a “Union” could fraternal intercourse be maintained with Congregational churches and other bodies of Christians throughout the world; that the Union would procure accurate statistical information relative to the Congregational churches of England and of other countries; might assist in the extension of Congregationalism through the colonies of the British Crown; might not only “inquire into the present method of collecting funds for the erection of places of worship,” but might “consider the practicability of introducing some improved plan;” might assist in maintaining and enlarging the civil rights of Protestant Dissenters. The fears of those who predicted evil, were answered by appealing to Scotland, in which for eighteen years a Congregational Union had existed without interfering with the independence of the churches; and to New England, where CongregationaUsts had been very completely organised from the earliest years of their history, and had even found that independency was practically maintained, although the associations had apparently ^’iolated the essential principles of the Independent polity, by entertaining and determining appeals from the confederated churches.
Mr James was among those who believed that the Union might be productive of great good, and that the evils apprehended would prove altogether imaginary. In the autumn of 1830, a meeting of the ministers of Stafford, Worcester, and Warwick, who were attending the anniversary services of the London Missionary Society in Birmingham, was held in Carr’s Lane vestry, and they formally expressed their approval of the project. In May 1831, at a meeting of delegates, ministers, and officers of churches, in
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the Congregational Library, Finsbury Circus, London, “to consider the subject of a General Congregational Union,” Mr James moved, “That it is highly desirable and important to estabKsh a Union of Congregational churches throughout England and Wales, founded on the broadest recognition of their own distinctive principles, namely, the scriptural right of every separate church to maintain perfect independence in the government and administration of its own particular affairs.”
At the adjourned meeting, the resolution, having been revised and expanded, was finally passed in the following form: — “That it is highly desirable and important to establish a Union of Congregational churches and ministers throughout England and Wales, founded on a full recognition of their own distinctive principles, namely, the scriptural right of every separate church to maintain perfect independence in the government and administration of its own particular affairs; and therefore, that the Union shall not in any case assume legislative authority, or become a court of appeal.” A provisional committee, in compliance with the instructions of the meeting, drew up a report of the proceedings, and transmitted it, with a circular letter, to the officers of the county associations throughout England. The documents were also addressed to the secretaries of the Congregational Union of Scotland and Ireland; to the Board of Congregational Ministers in London and its vicinity; to the officers of the Congregational Unions and Associations in New England; to the missionaries professing Congregationalism at Calcutta, Madras, in South Africa, and certain islands in the South Seas; and to the editors of the Congregational and Evangelical magazines. Criticism on the plan was invited, and information likely to be interesting to its promoters.
In May 1832, upwards of eighty ministers and twenty-five lay delegates met in the same place to consider the letters which had been received in rej)ly to their communications, and it appeared that out of thirty-four English county associations twenty-six were most fervently disposed to the Union, “four declined for the present,” from the remaining four no answer had been received. Mr James moved the adoption of the report of the provisional committee, and its ado2:ition was immediately followed by a resolution declaring that a “General Union of Congregational churches and ministers throughout England and Wales ‘BE NOW FORMED.’” Later in the morning he introduced a paper containing a declaration of the Principles of Faith and Order of the Congregational body, “drawn up by an individual at the request of several brethren in town and country.” * The paper was read, and at the adjourned meeting it was resolved —
“That this meeting respectfully invite the opinion of the associated ministers and churches on the following questions: — Whether, in accordance with the example of our Nonconformist ancestors, it be desirable to present to the public a declaration of the leading articles of our faith and discipline? and whether, if it be deemed desirable, that declaration should be made by such a statement as the following, which has been read, but not discussed, in the meeting of the Union, subject to such modifications as may be suggested and generally agreed on at the next annual meeting?”
Also — “That the committee be instructed to prepare a letter to accompany the proposed declaration, carefully stating its object to be the communicating of information to the public, on the doctrines generally held and maintained by the Congregational denomination, at a period when so much ignorance and misrepresentation prevail upon those subjects.”
There was reason for apprehending that by this “Declaration “the whole scheme might be wrecked. Independents had been so long struggling against enforced subscription to articles and creeds as the condition of enjoying civil rights and church communion, that the very name of a Confession of Faith excited the gravest fears. And yet in earlier times it was no uncommon thing for our fathers to repel the slanders and correct the misapprehensions of enemies by” declaring “their faith.” Independents have never held the unlawfulness of publishing declarations, or expositions of their existing sentiments and practices; and if this be all that is meant by Confession of Faith, it is wrong to represent them as enemies to them. But these public formularies are generally viewed in a
* Conr/rcQational Magazine, 1832, p. 381.
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very different light. They are used as standards and tests by which the faith and orthodoxy of the present and future generations are to be tried, and to which a solemn subscription on oath is required, binding the subscriber to abide all his life in the principles thus professed. This, when extending to a large book of human composition, when made a test of character, a qualification for office, and an evidence of unity, is what Independents object to; as what the law of Christ does not enjoin, what has never promoted the peace, purity, or unity of the Church, and what has powerfully retarded the progress of truth.” *
Mr Orme, from whose life of Owen this extract is taken, enumerates several Confessions of Faith which were issued by both sections of the Independents, Baptists and Paedobaptists, from 1596 to 104)8. But the most important document of this kind was that which was adopted by the Savoy Conference in 1658.
Cromwell, shortly before his death, reluctantly granted permission for the holding of an assembly of “elders and messengers from the Congregational (Pcedobaptist) churches of England and Wales,” and on the 29th of September about two hundred, representing one hundred churches, met at the Savoy, and their deliberations lasted a whole fortnight. Owen and Goodwin, Nye, Caryl, and Greenhill were prominent in the discussions. In the preface to their Declaration, said to have been written by Owen, it is said: —” We confess that from the very first all, or at least the generality, of our churches have been in a manner like so many ships — though holding forth the same general colours — launched singly, and sailing apart and alone on the vast oceans of these tumultuous times, and exposed to every wind of doctrine, under no other conduct than that of the Word and Spirit, and their particular elders and principal brethren, without associations among themselves, or so much as holding out common lights to others whereby to know where they were. But yet, while we thus confess to our shame and neglect, let all acknowledge that God has ordered it for His greater glory, in that His singular care and power should have so watched over each of these as that
* Orme’s Life of Owen, p. 228.
all should be found to have steered their course by the same chart, and to have been bound for one and the same port; and that, uion the general search now made, the same holy and blessed truths of all sorts, which are current and warrantable among the other churches of Christ in the world, should be found to be our lading.” *
Nearly one hundred and eighty years after this, the ministers and delegates of the Congregational churches of England and Wales rejoiced in the same general concurrence of belief among the churches they represented; and the Declaration of Faith and Order, prepared by Dr Eedford, of Worcester, and presented to the meeting in the Congregational Library by Mr James, is believed still to represent the convictions of the churches and ministers adhering to the Union. This document is of sufficient importance, as illustrating Mr James’s theological and ecclesiastical opinions, to require a place in this volume. I give the original paper presented by him to the Union in 1832; some of its details have since been slightly altered. The prehminary notes were prefixed by the secretaries on issuing the Declaration to obtain on it the judgment of the churches: —
“DECLARATION.
“The Congregational Psedobaptists of England and Wales hold the following doctrines as of Divine authority, and as the foundation of Christian faith and practice. They also form and govern their churches accorduig to the principles hereinafter stated: —
“PRELIMINARY NOTES.
“1. It is not designed, in the foUowdng summary, to do more than state the leading doctrines of faith and order maintained by the denomination of Christians in question.
“2. It is not proposed to offer any proofs, reasons, or arguments, in support of the doctrines herein stated, but simply to declare what the denomination at large beheves to be taught by the pen of inspiration.
“3. It is not intended to present a scholastic or a-itical confession of faith, but merely such a statement as any intelligent member of the body might offer as containing the leading principles of the denomination.
* Orme’s Life of Owen, p. 231.
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“4. It is not intended that the following statement should be put forth with any authority, or as the result of a general and critical discussion of the doctrines professed.
“5. It is not to be understood that the particular wording of the following statement has been approved by the whole body, but that it is merely the language of an individual, and approved in the main by those who submit it as a declaration of what is believed and practised throughout the Congregational denomination.
“6. Disallowing, as they do, the utility of creeds and articles of religion as a bond of union, and protesting against subscription to any human formularies as a term of communion, they are yet willing to declare, for general information, what all beUeve in common; reserving to every one a right of explanation, and the most perfect liberty of conscience.
“7. They deprecate the use of the following statement as a standard to which assent should be required, though they have no doubt as to the general prevalence of these principles throughout their churches.
“8. Upon some minor points of doctrine and practice they charitably differ among themselves, allowing to each other what each claims from the whole — the right to form an unbiassed judgment of the Word of God; but yet, agreeing most cordially and generally in maintaining the great doctrines herein declared.
“9. They wish it to be observed, that notwithstanding their jealousy of subscription to creeds and articles, and their general disapproval of the imposition of any human standard, they are far more agreed in their doctrines and practices than any church which enjoins subscription, and enforces a human standard of orthodoxy; and they believe it may be confidently affirmed, that there is no minister and no church among them that would deny the matter of any one of the following doctrines of religion: each might prefer to state his sentiments in his own way and in his own words, but the statement of each, if taken separately, would be found in substance to contain the following fundamental truths: —
“PRINCIPLES OF RELIGION.
“1. The Scriptures of the Old Testament, as received by the Jews, and the books of the New Testament, as received by the primitive Christians from the evangelists and ajiostles, they believe to be Divinely inspired, and of supreme authority. These writings, in the languages in which they were originally composed, are to be consulted, by the aids of sound criticism, as a final appeal in all controversies; but the ordinary version of them into the English language, pubUshcd under civU authority, they consider to be adequate for the ordinary purposes of Christian instruction and edification.
“2. They believe in one God, essentially holy, just, and good; infinite, eternal, and immutable in all natiural and moral perfections; the Creator, Supporter, and Governor of all beings and of all things.
“3. They believe that God has revealed HimseK to man in the Scriptures under the threefold distinction of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; to each of which Divine Persons are attributed the same infinite and immutable properties, perfections, and prerogatives. The mode of the Divine existence, as a Trinity in unity, they profess not to understand: the fact they cordially believe, but the mystery of the Godhead they are content, in this life, to reverence and adore.
“4. They believe that Jehovah created man in His own image, pure from evil bias, sinless, and, in his kind, perfect.
“5. They believe that the first man disobeyed the Divine command, feU from his state of innocence, and involved himself and all his posterity in a state of guilt and depravity.
“6. They believe that all mankind are born in sin, and that a fatal inclination to moral evil, utterly incurable by finite means, is inherent in every human being.
“7. They believe that God designed before the foundation of the world to redeem fallen man, and that He made very early disclosures of His mercy toward this sinfid race, which were the grounds of faith and hope to many among the antediluvian world.
“8. They believe that God revealed more fully to Abraham the covenant of His grace, and, having promised that out of his descendants should arise the Deliverer and Redeemer of mankind. He set him and his posterity apart as a race specially favoured of God, and devoted to His service; and that hence a Church was formed and carefully preserved in the world, under the Divine sanction and govenmient, untU the birth of the promised Messiah.
“9. They believe that, in the fuhiess of the time, the Son of God was manifested in the flesh, being born of the Virgin Mary, but conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, and that our Lord Jesus Christ was both the Son of man, as partaking fully and truly of sinless human nature, and the Son of God, as being in every sense equal with the Father and ’ the exjjress image of His person.’
“10. They believe that Jesus Christ the Son of God revealed, either personally in His own ministry, or by the Holy Spirit in the ministry of His apostles, the whole mind of God for our salvation, and that by His obedience to the Divine law while He lived, and by His sufferings unto death. He meritoriously ’ obtained eternal redemption
LIFE OF JOHN ANGELL JAMES.
for us;’ having thereby satisfied Divine justice, ‘magnified the law,’ and ’ brought in everlasting righteousness.’
“11. They believe that after His death and resurrection He ascended up into heaven as a Mediator for us, and that He ’ ever liveth to make intercession for all that come unto God by Him.’
“1 2. They believe that the Holy Spirit is given in consequence of Christ’s mediation to quicken and renew the hearts of men, and that His influence upon the human soul is indispensably necessary to bring a sinner to true repentance, to produce saving faith, to regenerate the heart, and to perfect our sanctification.
.”13. They maintain that we are justified through faith in Christ; and that not of ourselves, ’ it is the gift of God.’
“1 4. They believe that all who will be finally saved were the objects of God’s eternal and electing love, and were given by an act of Divine sovereignty to the Son of God, but that this act of sovereignty in no way interferes with the system of means nor with the grounds of human responsibihty, being wholly unrevealed as to its objects, and therefore incapable of becoming a rule of human duty.
“15. They believe that the Scriptures teach the final perseverance of all true beUevers to a state of eternal blessedness; though not irrespective of a constant faith in Christ, and uniform obedience to His commands.
“1 G. They believe that a virtuous life will be the necessary eS”ect of a true faith, and that good works are the indispensable fruits of a vital union to Christ.
“17. They believe that the sanctification of true Christians, or their growth in the graces of the Spu-it, and meetness for heaven, is gradually carried on through the whole period during which it pleases God to keep them in the present Ufe, and that at death their souls are perfectly freed from all remains of evU, and are immediately received into the presence of Christ.
“1 8. They believe in the perpetual obligation of baptism and the Lord’s Supper: the former to be administered to all converts to Christianity and their children by the appUcation of water to the subject; and the latter to be pubhcly celebrated by Christians as a token of faith in the Saviour, and of love to each other.
“19. They believe that Christ will finally come to judge the whole human race, that the bodies of all men vnU be raised again, and that, as the Supreme Judge, He will divide the righteous from the wicked, will receive the righteous into life eternal, but send away the wicked into everlasting punishment.
“20. They believe that Jesus Christ designed and directed His followers to live together in Christian fellowship, and to maintain the communion of saints; and that for this purpose they are jointly to observe all Diline ordinances, and maintain that church order and discipline which is either expressly enjoined by inspired institution, or sanctioned by the undoubted example of the apostles and apostolic churches.
“PEINCIPLES OF CHURCH OEDEE AND DISCIPLIXE.
“1. They hold it to be the will of Christ that true believers should voluntarily assemble together to observe religious ordinances, to promote mutual edification and holiness, to perpetuate and propagate the gospel in the world, and to advance the glory and worship of God through Jesus Christ; and that each society having these objects in view in its formation is properly a Christian chui’ch.
“2. They believe that the New Testament alone contains, either in the form of express statute or in the example and practice of apostolic men and churches, all the articles of faith necessary to be believed by a Christian, and all the order and discipline requisite for constituting and governing Christian societies; and that human traditions, fathers, and coimcils possess no authority over the faith and practice of Christians.
“3. They acknowledge Chiist as the only Head of the Church, and the officers of each church, under Him, as ordained to administer His laws impartially to all; and their only appeal, in all questions touching their religious faith and practice, is to the Sacred Scriptures.
“4. They believe that the New Testament authorises every Christian church to elect its o^l officers, to manage all its own affairs, and to stand independent of, and irresponsible to, all authority saving that only of the Supreme and Di’ine Head of the Church, the Lord Jesus Christ.
“5. They believe that the only officers placed by the apostles over individual churches are the bishops or pastors, and the deacons, the number of these being dependent upon the numbers of the church; and that to these, as the officers of the church, are committed respectively the administration of its social worship, its discipUne, and its temporal concerns — subject, however, to the approbation of the church.
“fi. They believe that no persons should be received as members of Christian churches but such as make a credible profession of Chi-istianity, are living accoixling to its precepts, and attest a willingness to be subject to its discipline; and that none should be excluded from the fellowship of the church but such as deny the faith of Christ, violate His laws, or refuse to submit themselves to the discipline which the Word of God enforces.
“7. The power of admission into, and rejection from, any Christian church they beUeve to be vested in the church itself, and to be exercised oidy through the medium of its officers.
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“8. They believe that Christian churches should statedly meet for the celebration of public worship, for the observance of the Lord’s Supper, and for the sanctification of the first day of the week.
“9. They believe that the power of a Christian church is purely spiritual, and should in no way be corrupted by union with temporal or civil power.
“10. They believe that it is the duty of Christian churches to hold communion “with each other, to entertain an enlarged affection for each other as members of the same body, and to co-operate for the promotion of the Christian cause; but that no church, nor union of churches, has any right or power to interfere with the faith or discipline of any other church, further than to disown and separate from such as, in faith or practice, depart from the gospel of Christ.
“11. They believe it is the privilege and duty of the church to call forth such of its members as may appear to be qualified, and indicated by the Holy Spirit, as suitable persons to sustain the office of the ministry; and that Christian churches unitedly ought to consider the maintenance of the Christian ministry, in an adequate degree of learning, as one of its especial cares, that the cause of the gospel may be both honourably sustained and constantly promoted.
“1 2. They behove that church officers, whether bishops or deacons, should be chosen by the free voice of the church, but that their dedication to the duties of their office should take place with especial prayer, and by solemn designation, in the act of imposition of hands, by those already in office.
“13. They believe that the fellowship of every Christian church should be so liberal as to admit to communion in the Lord’s Supper all whose faith and godliness are, on the whole, undoubted, though conscientiously differing in points of minor importance; and that this outward sign of fraternity in Christ should be coextensive with the fraternity itself, though without involving any compliances which conscience would deem to be sinful.”
Had Mr James been a member of a Convocation, Conference, or General Assembly, he would have become a powerful ecclesiastical chief. He possessed all the qualities by which men acquire authority. When business had to be done, his eloquence was characterised by remarkable vigour, directness, and practical sagacity. He inspired his friends with confidence and courage, and conciliated the respect of his opponents. He was free from “crotchets.” He had none of the self-will which disposes some men to give their bitterest enemies a comjjlete victory, rather than win a triumph by
FOr>MATIO>- OF THE COXGKEGATIOXAL UXIOX. slight and unimportant concessions to theii- allies. His character was a power among his brethren.
In the Congregational Union, which claims neither legislative nor executive prerogatives, there was comparatively little scope for the operation of these gi-eat qualities; but his counsel, and the influence of his temper and spirit, were eminentl)’^ beneficial. He was chairman of the Union in 1838, preached the autumnal sermon at Bradford in 1852, and again at Cheltenham in 1857. He was a regular attendant at the meetings, and took his full share in all the more important discussions, and at last he reviewed his connexion with the origin and history of this important organisation with satisfaction. A quotation from his Autobiography introduced this chapter, another may very properly close it.
The Union, if it has not accomplished all the good its friends Autobiopredicted and expected, has not produced any of the evils which ^^^’’’^ its opponents foretold. It is a question, however, which ought to be seriously considered, whether it is doing all for the denomination which it is capable of doing. Considering how large a portion of the missionary week is occupied by the meetings of the Union in London, and nearly a whole week at the autumnal meeting in the provinces, the work done hardly pays for the time spent in doing it Much gratification, I know, is furnished by the meetings to the brethren who attend them; but ten days or a fortnight in these busy times forms a long period to be so employed. Had it done nothing more than call forth the Lectures which have been delivered and published under its auspices, it would have achieved a good work. The Christian Witness and the Church Member’s Penny Magazine are also among its fruits, which have not only given out much useful religious knowledge and edification, but have raised a fund for the relief of our aged ministers. I claim to have been the proposer of these works, or rather of one of them, for it was intended originally to have been but one. I shall ever consider it an honour to ha%^e done what I did in common with others, for thus gathering together into a body the disjecta membra of our denomination.