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* CONGREGATIONALISM. 282 CONGREGATIONALISM. sion have rosulted, are judged by American Con- grcfiationalism to demand the advice of neigh- boring churches. At the request of a cliurch, or of a i)arty in a divided church, the representa- tives of neighboring church.es meet in an 'advis- ory council' — a leniporar)- liody assembled to con- sider the particular case. Its composition de- pends solely on the invitation, and may be drawn from a distance, though usage regards a council the majority of the membership of which is not from the vicinage as seriously irregular. Its authority is not jvidicial, but its advice is seldom disregarded. On completing its work, an 'advisory council' is dissolved, and the min- utes are left with the cliurch with which it met. Is'o member of the council is taken from the church which calls it. The council does not re- port to any other organization than the church which asks its advice. Early Congregationalism in England and America recognized the desirability of gather- ings representing the comnnmion as a whole in occasional important exigencies. Thus, the min- isters and delegates of the New England churches gathered at Cambridge, Mass., in 1637, when the supposed heresies aroused by Mrs. Anne Hutchinson were considered, and again in 1646- 48. when English religious politics induced them to formulate their system of church govermnent in the 'Cambridge Platforn;.' The favor which English Congregationalists experienced from Cromwell induced an assembly at the Savoy Palace. London, in 1658, v/hich set forth Congre- gational faith and practice. Besides these gen- eral gatherings, meetings of representatives of colonies and districts were held as necessity re- r|uired. Massachusetts called such assemblies to consider the proper recipients of baptism in 166'2, and to find remedies for the declining state of religion in 1070-80. Connecticut sum- moned such a gathering in the height of the ex- citement of the 'Great AAvakening' in 1741. Less formal and distinctly ecclesiastical, but never- theless a factor of weight in the religious life of the province, was the annual convention of min- isters of Massachusetts which met from early Colonial days, at the time of the May election. Pcnnancnt Orpanizations. — Local stated meet- ings of ministers for discussion of matters of ecclesiastical interest existed in England under the Commonwealth, and were introduced into Massachusetts in 1690. By 170.5 there were five such associations in the province, by which candi- dates for the ministerial office were examined and licensed; and in 1708 the system was extended to Connecticut, where, besides these local gatherings, an association representative of the whole Col- ony was formed that has assembled annually from 1700 to the present time. Similar State bodies were organized in Vermont in 1705, in Massachusetts in 1S0.3, in New Hampshire in 1800. an<l have since extended everywhere where Congregationalism has gone in America, while minor local meetings, often coextensive with county lines in their const l.-.iency, are universal in American Congregational practice. During the early part of the nineteenth century, how- ever, the feeling was strongly manifest that these stated meetings, which were at first of ministers only, should be made really representative bodies by the admission of delegates of churches. This has been widely accomplished. In each State, and in most subdivisions of States, where Con- gregationalism is organized, there is now a body meeting for discussion at least once a year, and composed of the pastors and the elected delegates of the churches. The ])ressing questions of the decade previous to the Civil War led to the gathering at Albany, in 1852, of the first con- vention representative of American Congiega- tionalism as a whole that had assembled since 1648; and at Boston, in 1865, a similar repre- sentative council was held. In 1871 the "Na- tional Council of the Congregational Churches of the LTnitcd States" was formed. This body has since met regularly every third year, and can hold special sessions at any time at the re- quest of any five State organizations of churches. Its membership is elected by the local and State bodies into which the churches are grouped, and the number of delegates chosen is propor- tionate to the number of local churches and of the commimicants in the bodies by which they are .appointed. The decisions of the National Council, like those of the smaller bodies into which the Congregational churches of the United States are grouped, arc not mandatory or judi- cial ; but the free discussion of matters of com- mon concern, their investigation by competent committees, and the recommendation of courses of action by vote, have much weight with the churches. The churches of Canada are not con- stituents of this 'N.ational Council,' but are organized in the 'Congregational Unions' of 'Ontario and Quebec' and of 'Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.' In the United States, Congregational churches are normally united by permanent representative bodies of three kinds, the larger in a true sense superior to the smaller: (1) The local associa- tion or conference ; ( 2 ) the State association : (3) the National Council. The usage of Great Britain is much less developed. Independency is more nearly the condition of English than of American Congregationalism. As has been point- ed out, English Congregationalism does not have the 'advisory council.' But an approxima- tion to the American system of mutual respon- sibility and helpfulness exists in the county and district associations, in which English Con- gi'cgational churches have long been grouped. Some of these bodies may have come down from the days of the Commonwealth; but their modern development began in Hampshire in 1781, whence they rapidly extended over England. By these 'associations' or unions the good standing of Congregational churches and ministers is certified, church advancement is superintend- ed, and denominational fellowship variously exj)i'essed. Besides their cooperation in these local associations, the Congregational churches of Great Britian are federated in two larger bodies, the Congregational LTnion of Scot- land, organized in 1813, and the Congre- gational LTnion of England and Wales, formed in 1832. The semi-annual meetings of the last-named assembly are the most influential events in modern English Congregational life. The sense of mutual fellowship characteristic of modern Congregationalism has its further illustration in the formation of an 'Internation- al Congrerrational Council.' representative, by appointed delegates, of the churches of all lands info which Congregationalism has penetrated. Its first meeting was held at London in 1891,