Democratic ecclesiasticism Author:George Turner Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CONTENTS. Chapter. Page. I.—Introduction 11 II.—The Argument from Matt, xviii. 15—17 16 III.—On the Case of the incestuous Corinthian ... 31 IV.—T... more »he Argument from the Epistles to the Angels of the seven Churches of Asia 67 V.—The general Directions of the New Testament relative to the Admission of Members and the Exercise of Discipline 79 VI.—Democratic Ecclesiasticism condemned by other Scriptures 87 VII.—Pastoral Responsibility—Distinction between the Office and the Officers—Popular Rights 104 VIII.—Concluding Observations 114 chapter{Section 4DEMOCRATIC ECCLESIASTICISM. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. By Democratic Ecclesiasticism we mean that system of church-government which makes the supreme power to reside " in the people;" and which affirms that all matters of church-order and discipline ought to he canvassed in popular assemblies of the church, and determined by popular vote or suffrage. This title is adopted, not in a tone of disparagement, much less with a design to give offence. It is true that the opinions which are here combated are embodied in what is commonly designated " Congregationalism ;" and we might have adopted this term in our title-page. For not doing so, we have, however, the following reasons: First, "Congregationalism" denotes a system with several important parts of which we have, at present, no direct concern; and, while dealing with a part only, we decline a phraseology which might seem to pledge us to an examination of the whole. Secondly, we do not take up this question at all with any direct reference to others, hut simply as a matter which concerns ourselves. Besides, we are well aware that theories often become greatly modified in their practical working; and we have no intention to affirm that the positi...« less