der which they became a separate ecclesiastic body with episcopal su- THE EPISCOPAL IDEA: AMERICAN EPISCOPAL METHODISM. Development of British and American Methodisms compared. 1. The Connectional Idea. Wesley's authority supreme, represented by a general assistant. The people have no share in government. A 2. The Question of the Sacraments. Ordination of elders in Vir- ginia, and its discontinuance. Solution of the question in 1874 by Wesley's ordination of elders and a general superintendent. The or- ganizing of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 3. The Development of Autonomy. Why Wesley's office could not be perpetuated whole and entire. The Conference took his place even be- 4. Further Developments. The presiding elder's office. The Quad- 5. Later Forms of Organization. An exclusively ministerial govern- 6. The Bishop's Power. Theoretically open to serious objection, prac- 7. Is the Episcopate in Methodism an "Order?" 8. Episcopal Limitations. The bishop has no legislative function, no 9. Power of This Polity. Its adaptiveness-ministerial character- 10. Perils. Its temptations to ambition-extreme demand for wis- dom in bishops and presiding elders-inevitable breaking up of pas- torates that might well have been continued-toleration of inefficient The Question Stated. The affirmative answer. Two senses in which the phrase "by divine right" may be used. 1. The Exegetic Argument. Inconclusive, but supported by (1) the sense of restfulness in that which is accepted as unchangeably fixed, (2) the feeling of exultation in a divinely ordered form, (3) the exi- gencies of controversy, (4) the practical effectiveness of the idea. The 2. A Priori Considerations: (1) Would so important a matter be left indeterminate? (2) May not the Church of the Old Covenant be here taken as a prototype? (3) Are not doctrines and morals author- itatively taught? (4) A prescribed form necessary to good govern- 3. The Congregational Argument. The proposition. The proof as to (1) discipline, (2) election of officers, (3) legislation. Insistence that New Testament precedents are here universally binding. De- fects of the proof. Present position of Congregational churches. Con- gregationalism catholic, not sectarian. 4. The Presbyterial Argument. Divergence of view as to the three divinely revealed laws. The proofs and their defects. Catholicity. 5. The Prelatic Argument. Not mighty in the Scriptures, but leans upon ecclesiastical history. Exemplified in "The Church and the Min- istry." Proofs offered. Practical application of the theory. 6. The Papal Argument. The final appeal to the pope. But the Protestant final appeal is to the Scriptures. What estimate shall we the expedient. Not Rights but Love the Upbuilder. PAGE I. Formative Ideas in Church Organization. Hence the need of spir- itual insight. Prophetic teaching in Israel; in the apostolic churches. 2. Protest against the Suppression of Prophetic Teaching. Mon- 3. The Christian Prophet's Gift and Messages. Spiritual insight 4. Faults of the Prophet: (1) Clouded vision, (2) unfaithfulness, (3) failure to appreciate the difficulties of administration. 5. Faults of the Administrator: (1) Resting in the Church as an end, (2) satisfaction with external success, (3) selfish perversion of 6. No Conflict between Spiritual Insight and Administration. The real need is their combination in the person of the office-bearer. Par- What Would Its General Fulfillment Mean to the Church? INTRODUCTORY. As we go on to make acquaintance with our subject, we shall find ourselves looking at it from three distinct but closely related points of view-the historic, the biblical, the formative. I. The main lines of church organization, from the apostolic period down to the present time, will have to be taken account of. For to know whence a thing came is a long step toward finding out what it is and what it stands for. Without the light of the past, indeed, the bearings of many a present fact or idea would be unintelligible. Could a man know himself with no book of memory in which to read? And history is the memory of an institution. Therefore we need to take the historic view-point. 2. But the pages of the history which we shall have to follow will lead back to a written record which is also history and much more. It will lead back to the Bible. In these Scriptures we shall find the origin of Christianity, and hence the germs of its subsequent organization. We shall learn something of the mind of its Author. We shall read the declaration, broad and clear, of its Divine purpose. Therefore it is needful to take the biblical view-point. But in connection with these two points there arises a not uncommon historic difficulty. The sources of information, it will become evident, are insufficient for an unbroken line of knowledge. The comparatively few notices of church organization in the New Testament are not in every instance easy of interpretation. Then, too, with the close of the New Testament record, there begins a period of great obscurity-the "tunnel" period, it has been called-which continues for a generation. True, there have not been wanting, especially of recent years, able explorers in this field-or this church-history "tunnel," with the light at either end and almost nothing but darkness within. But when the witnesses, after more or less independent research, come to offer testimony and conclusions, they agree not among themselves. Hence, uncertainty in the mind of the learner. To (xxiii) cite one prominent instance, who can be sure that he knows the origin of the single episcopate? Among the contending guides, all alert and apparently competent, the ecclesiastic tourist is liable to some bewilderment as to whose lead he would best follow. Indeed, he will be tempted, at more points than this one, to harbor the suspicion that the unknown, and especially the unknowable, may be the occasion of much controversial speech. "Why, that question admits of no answer," said the cat to the owl, in their fabled colloquy. "Of course not," replied the bird of wisdom; "what would we philosophers have to do if the question were settled?" As with the philosophers, so sometimes with their friends the scholars and antiquarians. After all, therefore, it behooves the common man to depend somewhat on his own thinking and a great deal on his own common sense. He will be reminded, moreover, that in many things one has to rest content with the tantalizing joy of questioning, conjecture, and research. It would be unreasonable, however, to complain of shadows that are by no means peculiar to this or any other subject of scholarly investigation. Still more unreasonable would it be, through either love or fear of the shadows, to imagine them darker than they actually are. Much is knowable. Even to those of us who must remain outside the charmed circle of expert research, and compare the conclusions of the specialists with our own scantier and less immediate knowledge, a fair construction of the Church's numerous and diverse types of polity seems quite possible. 3. There is still another direction which any seriously interested inquiry into our subject will be sure to take. Examine even a machine, utterly helpless and "dead" though it is in itself, and you will find, as the innermost thing which it contains, an idea. It is all compact of thought. No matter whether it be simple or elaborate in structure, prehistoric or modern, a mortar-and-pestle or an aëroplane, to search out the embodied thought is essentially to know the machine. And shall not the same thing be found true of an ecclesiastic structure-of any form of polity and government built round religious experiences, ideas, and undertakings? If, then, as Dr. A. M. Fairbairn has recently phrased it, "every question in polity rests on a prior and more radical question in religion," to know the religion is to touch the heart and forecast the growth of the polity. Therefore, that we may see more plainly how this comes to be, let us take the formative view-point. And just here it may somewhat clear the way to remember the large significance of the familiar word "idea" as we shall have to use it throughout. It means a truth in the mind-a truth as apprehended. Our idea of service, unity, authority, or any other great spiritual truth, is that truth, or Divine idea, so far as it has made itself known to us. But something more. Such an apprehended truth is a force. That is to say, it excites motives which move the will to action. It pulsates with energies, like a seed cast into the ground: "the seed is the word of God." Taken into heart and conscience, it bears the fruit of well-doing. Far from abiding alone, like an idle fancy or a conception in pure mathematics, it makes for character and conduct. For instance, let a Christian congregation take in the idea of a life of voluntary service to men in the name of the Son of Man, let them lift up their eyes and see the little world of their own neighborhood or the larger world of mankind as their Lord's harvest field calling for reapers; and whatever latent love for souls or passion for the glory of Christ may be in them will be quickened into activity. Or, let them have the Pauline vision of Christian unity, and so far as they are also possessed of the Pauline spirit of Christian fidelity, it will inspire them, as it inspired him, to give diligence to "keep the unity of the Spirit," both in themselves and for the whole Church, “in the bond of peace." So likewise with all the ideas that enter into the economy and organization of the Church. Viewed from one side, they stand for truths. Viewed from the other side, they stand for forces, Studies in Religion and Theology," p. 5. |