us from that which is usually allowed to it. We invest it not with the awfulness of a sacrament, but regard it as a sweet and precious feast of holy memories, designed to quicken our love of Christ and cement the ties of our common brotherhood. We therefore observe it as part of our regular worship, every Lord's day, and hold it a solemn, but joyful and refreshing feast of love, in which all the disciples of our Lord should feel it to be a great privilege to unite. Sacred to the memory of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,' is written on this simple and solemn family feast in the Lord's house.

"8. The Lord's day-not the Jewish Sabbath-is a New Testament observance, which is not governed by statute, but by apostolic example and the devotion of loyal and loving hearts.

"9. The Church of Christ-not sects-is a divine institution. We do not recognize sects, with sectarian names and symbols and terms of fellowship, as branches of the Church of Christ, but as unscriptural and antiscriptural, and therefore to be abandoned for the One Church of God which the New Testament reveals. That God has a people among these sects, we believe; we call on them to come out from all party organizations, to renounce all party names and party tests, and seek only for Christian union and fellowship according to apostolic teaching. Moreover, while we recognize the seeming necessity for various denominational movements in the past, in the confusions growing out of the Great Apostasy, we believe that the time has now fully come to expose the evils and mischiefs of the sect spirit and sect life, and to insist on the abandonment of sects and a return to the unity of spirit and the union and coöperation that marked the churches of the New Testament. We therefore urge the Word of God against human creeds; faith in Christ against

faith in systems of theology; obedience to Christ rather than obedience to church authority; the Church of Christ in place of sects; the promises of the gospel instead of dreams, visions, and marvelous experiences as evidences of pardon; Christian character, in place of orthodoxy in doctrine, as the bond of union; and associations for cooperation in good works instead of associations to settle questions of faith and discipline.

"It will thus be seen that our differential character is found not in the advocacy of new doctrines or practices, but in rejecting that which has been added to the original simple faith and practice of the Church of God. Could all return to this, it would not only end many unhappy strifes and unite forces now scattered and wasted, but would revive the spirituality and enthusiasm of the early church; as we should no longer need, as in the weakness of sectism, to cater to the world's fashions and follies to maintain a precarious existence. Zion could again put on her beautiful garments and shine in the light of God, and go out in resistless strength to the conquest of the world. To this end, we are not asking any to cast away their confidence in Christ, or to part with aught that is divine; but to cast away that which is human, and be one in clinging to the divine. Is it not reasonable? Is it not just? Is it not absolutely necessary, to enable the people of God to do the work of God?" ("Our Position," by Isaac Errett, pp. 6-11.)

It seems appropriate to note in the conclusion of this chapter the fact that there is on the part of the Disciples agreement with the Baptists as to the proper form and subjects of baptism, but when the specific design of the ordinance is considered, Disciples and Baptists seem to part company. The former maintained that " regeneration must be so far accomplished before baptism that the sub

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ject is changed in heart, and in faith and penitence must have yielded up his heart to Christ; otherwise baptism is nothing but an empty form. But forgiveness is something distinct from regeneration; forgiveness is an act of the Sovereign; not a change of the sinner's heart; and while it is extended in view of the sinner's faith and repentance, it needs to be offered in a sensible and tangible form, such that the sinner can seize it and appropriate it with unmistakable definiteness. In baptism he appropriates God's promise of forgiveness, relying on the divine testimonies: 'He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.' 'Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.' He thus lays hold of the promise of Christ and appropriates it as his own. does not merit it, nor procure it, nor earn it, in being baptized; but he appropriates what the mercy of God has provided and offered in the gospel. We therefore teach all who are baptized that if they bring to their baptism a heart that renounces sin and implicitly trusts the power of Christ to save, they should rely on the Saviour's own promise, He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.' ("Our Position," pp. 12, 13.)

He

On the subject of church government Disciples are, in the main, in harmony with the Congregationalists and Baptists. For the sake of order and efficiency they have elders or bishops, deacons and evangelists, yet in the absence of these the members are taught to meet, to keep the ordinances, and encourage one another to love, to good works, and to administer baptism and partake of the Lord's Supper, or do whatever needs to be done to promote their own growth and the salvation of sinners. Nevertheless, as soon as suitable gifts are developed persons are chosen to act as elders and deacons, and to serve

in any other ministry the church may need. The position and authority of eldership in a congregation of Disciples is about the same as in a Presbyterian church.

They have no ecclesiastical courts, properly speaking, outside the individual churches, but it is becoming somewhat general to refer difficult cases to a committee mutually agreed on by the parties concerned, their decision to be final. (See "Our Position," p. 14.)

Their position on the subject of union among believers for evangelistic work has been stated with a reasonable degree of fullness. While they make to their brethren of every name a distinct and definite proposition, which they believe to be thoroughly Scriptural also, looking to the reunion of believers, they rejoice in every utterance which tends to break down sectarian barriers, and hail with gladness every step which condemns the folly and wickedness of denominationalism. They have, however, generally, no faith in the practicability of uniting denominations, as such, on any merely human basis, however liberal. The union cannot be Christian unless it is union in Christ, in those things which Christ enjoins, neither less nor more.

CHAPTER IX.

LITERATURE AND EDUCATION.

THE Disciples have been fruitful in the production of literature, especially of a periodical and polemic character. Their movement was, as has been abundantly shown, in the interests of peace and union among the people of God. Theological reconstruction and contention were no part of the original program. A campaign of theological and ecclesiastical war was not so much as thought of by the pious men who were moved by the Spirit of God to undertake to lead the people back to Christianity according to Christ. It was certainly not the purpose of Thomas Campbell when he wrote the "Declaration and Address" for the Christian Association in 1809 to engage in controversy with his brethren, and no one who is at all acquainted with the gentle spirit of Barton Warren Stone can for a moment think of him as a polemic. He was prominently a man of peace.

Thomas Campbell especially, and Alexander, his son, entertained a natural aversion to everything which looked in the direction of theological pugilism. The former never conquered this aversion. The latter, however, did to such an extent that in the minds of many people he is thought of chiefly, if not altogether, as a theological polemic. Alexander Campbell's published debates, are with the Rev. John Walker, a minister of the secession Presbyterian Church in 1820; with the Rev. W. L. Maccalla, of the Presbyterian Church; with Robert Owen, the Socialist;