Presbyterianism - 1840 Author:Samuel Miller 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: othor Church, now on earth. An humble attempt to evince the truth of this position, will occupy the following pages. For the fulfilment of the purpose in view... more », I shall endeavour, very briefly, to consider the History of Presbyterianism; its doctrine, its order, or form of government; its worship ; and its comparative advantages. In each of these respects, unless I am deceived, it will be easy to show that it approaches nearer than any other Christian denomination, to the Apostolical modei. To prepare the way more fully for the ensuing discussion, it may be proper to state, that there are four distinct forms of Church order, each of which claims a scriptural warrant; the Papal, or spiritual monarchy—the Episcopal, or spiritual prelacy—Independency, or spiritual democracy—and Presbyterianism, or spiritual republicanism. The first maintaining the necessity of one supreme, universal, infallible Head of the whole Christian body throughout the world, as the authorised vicar of Christ. The second, contending for an order of clerical prelates, above the rank of ordinary ministers of the Gos- pel, who are alone, in their view, empowered to ordain, and without whose presiding agency, there can be no regular Church. The third, holding that all ecclesiastical power resides in the mass of the Church members, and that all acts of ecclesiastical authority are to be performed immediately by them. While in the fourth and last place, Presbyterians, believe, that Christ has made all ministers who are authorised to dispense the word and sacraments, perfectly equal in official rank and power: that in every Church the immediate exercise of ecclesiastical power is deposited, not with the whole mass of the people, but with a body of their representatives, styled Elders ; and that the whole visible ...« less