Page:Historical Lectures and Addresses.djvu/52

 of Congregationalism. 1. The separation of the faithful from sinners. Each congregation consisted of believers, and its object was to maintain a high standard of purity and holiness among its members. 2. Resistance to all outward control, either on the part of the State or of a hierarchy. Each congregation was to be a voluntary body. Membership, besides depending on fitness, was to be a matter of free choice. 3. To guard this freedom each congregation was to be an independent unit, having the sole right to manage its own affairs, appoint its own teachers, and determine its own doctrine.

Browne's system failed in practice, and he returned to the bosom of the Church. But the principle of separatism lived on and had its martyrs. England, holding to its belief in uniformity, could find no place for men who held separation not only to be permissible but an absolute duty. A little band of men so minded found a refuge in Holland, and there strove to work out their ideal of a Christian Church, which proved in practice to be no easy matter. Browne's system of church government had been practically democratic. The next exponent of Independency, Henry Barrow, who died on the scaffold for his opinions, strove to avert the evils which might flow from so broad a basis by emphasising the authority of the ministers and elders. While he condemned the aristocratic system of Presbyterianism, he supposed it possible that the elders should lead and the people should exercise their liberty in following. This narrow distinction was difficult to observe in practice, and the Congregation of Amsterdam tended to fade