Religious Faiths, IV: The Polity of the Presbyterian Church

RELIGIOUS FAITHS.

IV. THE POLITY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

BR REV. N. E. CLEMENSON, MINISTER OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN LOGAN, UTAH.

A concise statement of the polity of the Presbyterian Church is desired. A theme the scope of which is sufficient to fill a volume is to be compressed into a brief paper. This fact forbids anything more than a clear and fair representation of the salient features of this polity, and precludes the possibility of special and extended argument in support of the position taken. The position itself therefore must be its own defense and answer to all opponents, at least for the present.

The polity of the Presbyterian Church is the mode of government of that Church. The authority of this government inheres in the sovereign people. The old maxim, the voice of the people is the voice of God, obtains and reigns in the polity. The form of this government is republican. The same principles underlie and ramify through this polity as are found in the government of the United States. The "Form of Government" of the Presbyterian Church and the Constitution of the United States rest on the same fundamental principles. The United States is a political republic, and each of its forty-five states has, and must have, a republican form of government. The Presbyterian Church is a religious republic, and each of its divisions or

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local churches has, and must have, a republican form of government. The differentiating feature is not in character, but in sphere. The same foundation ideas obtain in each, such as popular sovereignty and representation, but they operate in different spheres. The one acts in civil the other in religious matters. Each claims allegiance from the same subject, yet without trenching in the slightest degree on the rights of the other. The reason for this is that they are hemispheres, halves of a consistent whole and forming a complete sphere, adapted to man's twofold need in civil and moral life.

Possibly Uncle Sam owes more to Presbyterianism for the principal ideas that enter into his political structure than his subjects are aware of. At any rate, without insisting on this point, the fact ought to be known and appreciated by students of both civil and ecclesiastical government, that in both structure and authority these governments are homogeneous— representative in form and resting on the will of the people for their sanctions, to whom they are accountable. Here is the reason why neither of them can ever become hopelessly despotic. Under God, all their authority rises from the consent of the governed, who, by the use of the sovereign ballot, can correct both usurpation of right and abuse of power.

In Presbyterianism there are three great centralizing and governing ideas, known as parity of the ministry, government by elders and Presbyters, and legislative and appellate courts. These shall now receive attention in the order named.

By parity of the ministry is meant equality. There are no grades, no "higher and lower clergy," in the Presbyterian Church. The ministers of the Church are all "peers.'' They stand on a common platform, they are equal in authority, right, privilege, and are eligible to any position in the gift of the Church. It is not rank, grade or standing, but character and ability that count and are the basis of promotion. The power does not inhere in a head, class, or priesthood, but in the Church itself, the Body and Bride of Christ, which elects its representatives, and clothes them with all the authority they possess, it receiving its

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power directly from the Lord Himself, who is the Head, and the Dispenser of all spiritual blessing and power to His people.

It is at this point that Presbyterianism parts company with the various forms of ecclesiastical government known as prelacy, papacy, hierarchy. In the matter of polity the prelatic, papal, and hierarchic churches has nothing in common with Presbyterianism except existence. The direct tendency of each of these modes of government is despotic, and tyranny is their logical goal, as history abundantly illustrates. This is due to their elevation of a class, at the expense of the mass, to a point where pride and selfishness find full play, and spiritual rulers wield a scepter over the mass, whose duty becomes submission and unquestioning obedience, instead of sovereignty. Presbyterianism, on the contrary, tends to liberty, the enfranchisement of humanity, because it is a popular government and places the sovereignty in the hands of the people, who are the natural rulers of their own destiny. This makes the Presbyterial office a function of service to the Church, and not a spiritual tyranny. This great differentiating principle of Presbyterianism levels all classes of men to a common plane before God, making each person directly responsible to his Maker for v aat he is and does, thus providing motive for the greatest possible efficiency in Christian endeavor and holy living, while at the same time it furnishes the basis for the most untrammeled freedom within the bounds of the moral law. It puts every man on his mettle to make the most of himself and do the most for God. It is a mind-developing, soul-expanding, hero-making principle born of the truth, the vital breath of a living Christianity, issuing from the lips of the Master in this pregnant statement, "ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

The next salient feature of Presbyterianism is government by Elders or Presbyters. Each local church elects a bod}^ of men, a bench of elders, that becomes the representatives and ruling body in that church. An elder may be elected to serve in either of two ways, under the votary or the life system. The life system is permanent, and involves service for life. The votary is service for a specified term of

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years named at the time of election. Three years is the usual term under the votary system. The termination of the official functions, however, does not deprive the person of his official standing in the denomination. Once elected he is ever after an elder, unless deprived of his standing by regular process of law, either for unworthy conduct, or heretical opinion.

After election the presbyter is set apart to his holy calling by prayer and imposition of hands of the session of which he is to be a member, or by Presbytery's committee, if it is at the time of the organization of a new church, which Presbytery alone can form, either in person, or by a representative committee.

Government by elders is Biblical. It obtained in the Jewish, Old Testament, church. Each Synagogue had a bench of ruling elders, in whose hands the government and worship of the church rested. When the Apostles came after Pentecost, to organize the Christian Church, they carried the Synagogue idea over into the new dispensation, and gave the Primitive Church a Presbyter government.

The word elder is derived from two interchangeable Greek words. These are episcopos and presbuteros. Each signifies age, dignity, authority. As a matter of function they imply oversight. Episcopos is sometimes translated bishop in the New Testament, while presbuteros is rendered Presbyter. They are usually, however, translated elder, both applying to the same person and function. This will appear in what follows.

In Acts 20: 17-28 we have a fine example: In verse 17, Paul is represented as "calling the elders, 'presbuterous,' of the church," who came from Ephesus to meet him at Miletus. In verse 28 the Apostle gives these elders his final charge, in which he indicates their position as the governing body in the Ephesian Church. He says: "Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves, and to all the flock over the which the Holy Spirit hath made you overseers," 'episcopous,' to feed the Church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood."

Another instance is found in Titus, first chapter and fifth verse, where Paul commands his young friend, then in Crete, to ordain elders, 'presbuterous,' in every city.

Luke, who wrote the book of Acts, in recording the historic development of Christianity, says in Acts 14: 23, of Paul and Barnabas, the Gentile evangelists, "When they had ordained them elders, 'presbuterous,' in every church, and had prayed with fasting they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed."

Peter, in his first letter, chapter 5: 1-2, exhorts the elders, "presbuterous" of the churches to which he wrote, to "feed the flock of God, which are among you. Taking the oversight," ' 'episcoponutes. "

These illustrations will sufficiently indicate the interchangeable nature of the two words in the English New Testament known as elder and bishop. They have the same meaning in the Greek, are applied to the same governing body in the church, in some instances, and to the functions in that body in other cases. This body, or bench of elders, was found in each local New Testament church, as the representative and governing board. They had the entire spiritual oversight of the church.

The qualifications of an elder are named by Paul in his first letter to Timothy, in the third chapter, verses 1 and 7, where he calls attention to fifteen distinct elements of character, without which a person ought not to seek this office in a Christian church. In the same epistle (5: 17), the great apostle calls attention to the functions of the eldership, and incidentally classifies the members of this body. According to this verse there were two classes of elders in the early church, distinguished from each other by the work they were called to do. There were elders who "rule well," and therefore were "counted worthy of double honor." There were others who not only "rule well," but who also "labor in the word and doctrine," and were hence "especially" worthy of double honor. These two functions of ruling and teaching belonged to the eldership of the Apostolic Church, and must belong to every Christian church. The differentiating element was not rank or order, but quality, ability to do a certain work. A man might be a good elder, full of the Holy Spirit and able to rule well, yet have no qualification whatever for public speaking. On the other hand, an elder who

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had the teaching ability, as well as the qualities of the ruler, was called to fill the function of preaching. Quality of service therefore distinguished the ruling and preaching, the lay and clerical elders of the primitive Christian Church. Timothy was a preaching elder, and long filled the pastorate of the Ephesian Church. Peter also held this position (i Peter 5: i), "who also am an elder," though there is no reason to believe he was ever a pastor, but like most of the apostles, he was a traveling evangelist.

This double function in the eldership provides abundantly for the development of church life. Ruling elders are charged with the spiritual care and oversight of the church, protecting the membership against error and sin, and guiding them in the Christ-life of holiness and truth, by example, counsel, and spiritual discipline. Clerical elders, or Presbyters, have part in this care and oversight of the church, with the ruling elders, but their special work, that to which they give themseves with untiring energy, is to "feed the flock of God," "rightly dividing the word of truth," and "labor in the word and doctrine." Prayerful and studious men are they, "apt to teach."

Clerical elders are divided into four classes by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Ephesian Church (chapter 4: 11). These are "prophets," whose distinctive duty, in common with the other three classes to be named, is to tellforth the word and will of God to their hearers. They are ministers who temporarily supply a pulpit in a church that is without a settled pastor. "Evangelists" are ministers who travel from place to place, preaching whenever opportunity offers, in destitute regions, like Paul and Barnabas, and also holding protracted meetings for the evangelization of a community, as did Paul at' Corinth. "Pastors" are clergymen who have been regularly installed over churches, by the solemn act of Presbytery, as permanent ministers to their respective congregations. "Teachers" are ministers who are set apart as instructors in Christian colleges or theological seminaries, and who give their whole time to this work. Each of these four classes is under the jurisdiction of and amenable to Presbytery. In point of authority there is no dif

ference between these four classes on the floor of Presbytery, but an absolute parity.

Side by side with the eldership there is another New Testament body, known as the Diaconate, in the Presbyterian Church. This is the financial body of the church. The purpose of its organization was to "serve tables" (Acts: 6: 1-6) i. e. to have charge of all the temporalities of the church. The Diaconate receives and distributes the benevolence of the people in a systematic and orderly way, thus rendering to the church an important service, and purchasing to itself "a good degree" (Tim. 3: 13). The Diaconate of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America receives about fifteen millions of dollars annually, which it uses for the lubrication of the machinery of the denomination. Each local church has a body of deacons, just as it has its bench of elders, both being necessary to a properly organized Presbyterian Church.

The qualifications of a deacon are stated by the Apostle Paul (in 1 Tim. 3: 8-13), and are similar to those possessed by an elder. Space forbids a more detailed account of the Diaconate and its work, though it well deserves a much larger amount of attention than can here be given to it.

The third salient feature of the polity of the Presbyterian Church is its courts. Of these there are four, viz: Session, Presbytery, Synod, Assembly. They are both legislative and appellate courts, as will appear from the following representation of their composition and functions.

The first of these courts is the Session, the governing body of a local church. It has all the elements of a civil court, and is the primary judicatory of the Presbyterian Church. Its jurisdiction is limited to the particular congregation that creates it, and over which it presides. Its decisions while valid, are not absolute, being subject to review and modification by the courts above it.

The duties of Session are examination and reception of new members, administration of the Lord's Supper and baptism, trial and discipline of offenders, making such rules as in its judgment will best conserve the interests of the church and promote its spiritual life, keeping an accurate record of all

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its own proceedings, superintending all religious societies and services in the church, and exercising a general and spiritual care over the whole body of Christ committed to its charge.

Session is composed of two or more elders, elected by the church, and regularly ordained and installed over the congregation, and a pastor who is called by the church, installed and made moderator over the Session by Presbytery. Besides the pastor, who is always a member of Presbytery, the Session sends one of its members, who represents the church on the floor of Presbytery.

The second court of the Presbyterian Church is Presbytery. As a Session is created by Presbytery at the organization of a local church, so Presbytery comes into being by act of the General Assembly, which gives it jurisdiction over the churches and all Presbyterian work within a specified territory or geographical boundary, where the authority of Presbytery is supreme. The Presbytery of Utah is a good example. It controls all the churches, mission stations and schools, and holds the titles, as a corporate body, of all Presbyterian property within the limits of this state.

A Presbytery cannot be organized with less than five ministers, though when once created, three ministers with as many elders as may be present form a quorum and are competent to do every kind of Presbyterial business. In character Presbytery is a representative body. All the ministers within its bounds together with one ruling elder from each local church form its personnel. The standing authority and vote of each member, lay and clerical, is equal to that of every other. This parity on the floor of Presbytery gives each church an equal voice with every other, gives the weak and poor the same right and power as that enjoyed by the strong and rich churches. This principle operates also in one of the departments of our civil structure; each state has a parity of representation on the floor of the United States senate.

Like Session, Presbytery is a body of "overseers." Its duties are review and control. All Sessional records come under its eye once each year. Through this function it is kept in touch with the work done in and by each of the churches under its care. But it is not dependent on the

church records alone for its information. The representatives from the various churches regularly report to Presbytery. And Presbytery moreover has the right to appoint "visitation committees" whenever it chooses to do so, which visit the churches, and ascertain what is being done, in both quantity and quality of work, and report to Presbytery. Other phases of the work of Presbytery are examination, licensure, and ordination of candidates for the gospel ministry, location and transfer of ministers, organization of new churches, and legislative and judicial business.

Judicial cases that originate in Session often go up on appeal to Presbytery where they are usually adjudicated, though occasionally such cases pass on to Synod and even to Assembly before the final adjustment is reached. Though Presbytery, like Session, is subject to review by the higher courts of the church, and its decisions are occasionally set aside, it is, nevertheless, the unit of power and authority in the Denomination, Synod and Assembly, both being absolutely dependent on it, deriving both being and authority from it.

It would be both interesting and instructive at this point to trace the steps in a judicial case before this court, making the analogy to a civil court, and noting the protection afforded an accused person. For this, however, the reader is referred to the '-'Book of Discipline," in the constitution of the church, where the whole process is developed.

The third judicial body in the Presbyterian Church is Synod. This court, created by Assembly, must be constituted with at least three Presbyteries, with not less than seven ministers, and as many elders as may be present, to form a quorum to do business. Not more than three of these seven ministers may come from a Presbytery, the other four coming from the two Presbyteries, to avoid placing the balance of power in the hands of a single Presbytery on the floor of Synod.

Synod may be made up in either of two ways. It may be a "representative body," when the members are elected as delegates from the various Synodical Presbyteries, each Presbytery having its pro-rata of representatives. Or it may

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be a "Mass Synod," when the Synodical Presbyteries attend in a body, or such numbers of them as are able to be present, the balance sending excuses for absence, which Synod may or may not deem adequate.

Supervision, review of Presbyterial Records, legislative and judicial business are among the duties of Synod. The Presbyteries sustain the same relation to Synod as do Sessions to Presbytery. Like Presbytery, Synod is an appellate court, a convenient and important link in this ecclesiastical chain.

The General Assembly is the fourth, the supreme court of the Presbyterian Polity. Like Synod it is composed of representatives from the Presbyteries, differing in this: its personnel come from all the Presbyteries of the Denomination. Each Presbytery of not more than twenty-four ministers, sends two representatives, one lay and one clerical, to the annual meeting of Assembly held the latter part of May. If a Presbytery has a larger number of ministers than this, it is entitled to two additional commissioners for every extra twenty-four ministers, or fractional number not less than twelve. Seven ministers and as many elders of the commissioners appointed by the Presbyteries, assembled at the time and place designated, form a quorum of Assembly and can proceed with business.

The duties of Assembly are similar to those of Synod and Presbytery, though on a larger scale, and each court has distinctive functions peculiar to itself. The Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America has about six hundred commissioners at its annual session, which lasts ten days. These commissioners represent thirty-two Synods, two hundred and twenty-nine Presbyteries, about seven thousand five hundred Sessions, and in the neighborhood of one million communicants. The great Presbyterian Family, embracing all Presbyterians on the globe, aggregates something like twenty-five millions of souls, "persevering" in the "Faith once delivered to the saints."

The Assembly and Synods have annual meetings only, while the Presbyteries meet at least twice a year. Sessions

often have stated monthly meetings but convene as often as the needs of the particular congregation may require.

A "bird's eye view" of the Polity of the Presbyterian Church has thus been given, emphasizing only the more salient features, and omitting many important and interesting elements, which want of space does not permit us to discuss. Yet it is hoped that sufficient has been said to give the reader a fair conception of this form of ecclesiastical government, with the scriptural reasons for its existence; that its unity, simplicity, strength and beauty are apparent; that its flexibility and suitableness to meet the needs of the church under all circumstances and in every age is clear; and that its strong democratic character is a sufficient safeguard against that tyranny, which is so natural to human nature when entrusted with power, and a pledge of perpetual liberty to the people of God.

Concluding it may be said that this simple, rational, republican, scriptural form of church government has ever been the foe of tyranny, and the friend of humanity, coming as it does from Him who is truth itself and its Author. Historically it has breasted the storms and faced the wrath of prelacy, papacy, and hierarchy with the utmost intrepidity down through the hoary centuries, and all these combined have not been able to drive it from the face of the earth, or stay its triumphant march, but often have trembled and paled before its steady, resolute, and dignified advance, as did the crowned heads of Europe before the invincible Napoleon.