FEDERATION OF THE CHURCHES.
How the Papacy Was Formed.
WE have seen what a great error it is for people to expect the conversion of the world, and that the nations of this world shall be transformed into the kingdom of God. We have seen what an immensely greater error it is to form a federation of churches or of any other kind to accomplish the conversion of the world, and to make the nations of the world the kingdoms of God. But of this whole subject, and in this whole connection, the very chiefest of all errors,—the fundamental error—is the idea of federation itself. We have stated that it was by federation—by just such a principle, just such a form, and just such working of church-federation—that the Papacy was made, in all that it has ever been. And of all the evil things that have oppressed and afflicted this world the Bible presents the Papacy as the supreme. That this error of federation may be seen, in fairest and truest way, to be the fundamental error that it is, we shall here present the plain, unmodified story of it, as it is set down in the unquestionable history. That story is as follows: The Original Christian Plan.
"Altho all the churches were, in the first age of Christianity, united together in one common bond of faith and love, and were in every respect ready to promote the interests and welfare of each other by a reciprocal interchange of good offices; yet with regard to government and internal economy, every individual church considered itself as an independent community, none of them ever looking in these respects beyond the circle of its own members for assistance, or recognizing any sort of external influence or authority. "Neither in the New Testament, nor in any ancient document whatever, do we find anything recorded, from whence it might be inferred that any of the minor churches were at all dependent on, or looked up for direction to, those of greater magnitude or consequence; on the contrary, several things occurred therein which put it out of all doubt that every one of them enjoyed the same rights, and was considered as being on a footing of the most perfect equality with the rest. "Indeed it can not,—I will not say be proved, but even be made to appear probable, from any testimony, divine or human, that in this age it was the practise for several churches to enter into, and maintain among themselves, that sort of association which afterward came to subsist among the churches of almost every province,—I allude to their assembling by their bishops, at stated periods, for the purpose of enacting general laws, and determining any questions or controversies that might arise respecting divine matters. "It is not until the second century that any traces of that sort of association from whence councils took their origin, are to be perceived;* when we find them occurring here and there, some of them tolerably clear and distinct, others again but slight and faint; which seems plainly to prove that the practise arose subsequently to the times of the apostles, and that all that is urged concerning the councils of the first century, and the divine authority of councils, is sustained merely by the most uncertain kind of support, namely, the practise and opinion of more recent times."—Mosheim, "Commentaries," Cent. I. Sec. XLVIII. Beginnings of Early Federation.
Of this matter in the second century, the record is as follows: "Altho, therefore, all the churches had, at the commencement of this century, various laws and institutions in common, which had been received from the apostles themselves, and were particularly careful in maintaining with each other a certain community of tenets, morals, and charity; yet each individual church which had a bishop and presbyters of its own, assumed to itself the form and rights of a little distinct republic or commonwealth; and with regard to its internal concerns was wholly regulated by a code of laws, that, if they did not originate with, had, at least, received the sanction of the people constituting such a church. "During a great part of this century, all the churches continued to be, as at first, independent of each other, or were connected by no consociations or confederations. Each church was a kind of little state, governed by its own laws, which were enacted, or at least sanctioned, by the people. But by degrees all the Christian churches within the same province united and formed a sort of larger society, or commonwealth, which, as is usual with confederated republics, held its conventions at stated seasons, and in them deliberated for the common advantage of the whole confederation. This custom first arose among the Greeks, with whom such confederation of several cities, and the consequent conventions of their delegates, had long been in use. In process of time, when experience had shown its utility, this practise found its way over all the Christian church. "In process of time, however, the very great advantages attending on a federation of this sort becoming apparent, other provisions were induced to follow the example of Greece, and by degrees this form of government became general throughout the whole church; so that the Christian community may be said, thenceforward, to have resembled one large commonwealth made up, like those of Holland and Switzerland, of many minor republics. These conventions or assemblies, in which the delegates from various churches consulted on what was requisite to be done for the common welfare of the whole, were termed synods by the Greeks, and by the Latins councils. To the laws enacted by the deputies under the powers with which they were invested by their respected churches, the Greeks gave the name of canons or general rules, and by this title it also became usual for them to be distinguished by the Latins. "The associations, however, thus introduced amongst the churches, and the councils to which they gave rise, altho not attended with certain benefits and advantages, were, nevertheless, productive of so great an alteration in the general state of the church, as nearly to effect the entire subversion of its ancient constitution. "For, in the first place, the primitive rights of the people, in consequence of this new arrangement of things, experienced a considerable diminution, inasmuch as, thenceforward, none but affairs of comparatively very trifling consequence were ever made the subject of popular deliberation and adjustment; the councils of the associated churches assuming to themselves the right of discussing and regulating everything of moment or importance, as well as of determining all questions to which any sort of weight was attached. Whence arose two sorts of ecclesiastical law, the one public or general, and thenceforward termed 'Canonical,' from the canons; the other private or peculiar, consisting merely of such regulations as each individual church deemed it expedient, after the ancient manner, to enact for itself. "In the next place, the dignity and authority of the bishops were very materially augmented and enlarged. In the infancy, indeed, of councils, the bishops did not scruple to acknowledge that they appeared there merely as the ministers or legates of their respective churches, and that they were, in fact, nothing more than representatives acting from instruction; but it was not long before this humble language began by little and little to be exchanged for a loftier tone; and they at length took upon them to assert that they were the legitimate successors of the apostles themselves, and might consequently, of their own proper authority, dictate laws to the Christian flock. To what an extent the inconveniences and evils arising out of these preposterous pretensions reached in after time is too well known to require any particular notice in this place. "Another effect which these councils had, was to break in upon and gradually destroy that absolute and perfect equality which had reigned amongst the bishops in the primitive times. For as it was necessary that some certain place should be fixed on for the seat of council, and that the right of convening the assembly and presiding therein as moderator, as well as of collecting the suffrages and preserving the records of its acts, should be vested in some one or other of its members, it for the most part became customary to give a preference in these respects to the chief city of the province and its bishop, and hence in process of time, sprung up the dignity and authority of 'metropolitans,' a title conferred by way of distinction on the bishops of principal cities. These associations of churches, situated within one and the same province, soon gave rise to the practise of many different provinces associating together; and hence a still greater disparity, by degrees, introduced itself amongst the bishops. "In fine, this custom of holding councils becoming at length universally prevalent, the major part of the church assumed the form of a large civil commonwealth, made up of numerous inferior republics; to the preservation of which order of things it being found expedient that a chief or superintending prelate should be appointed for each of the three grand divisions of the earth; and that, in addition to this, a supreme power should be lodged in the hands of some one individual bishop; it was tacitly assented to that a certain degree of ecclesiastical preeminence should be recognized as belonging to the bishops of Antioch, Rome, and Alexandria, the principal cities in Asia, Europe, and Africa, and that the bishop of Rome, the noblest and most opulent city in the world, should, moreover, take the precedence amongst these principal bishops, or, as they were afterward styled, patriarchs, and also assume the primacy of the whole Christian Church throughout the world."—Id. Cent. II., Sec. XXII., XXIII., with Mosheim, "Eccl. Hist." Book I., Cent. II., Part II., Chap. II., Par. 11. [This important article is continued in our next.]