They saw that their conception of the Sacrament might easily be perverted into the coarse, mechanical conception of it which was prevalent in the Roman Church and the English Church, and they therefore inserted the following caution:

"Although it be a great sin to contemn or neglect this Ordinance, yet grace and salvation are not so inseparably annexed unto it, as that no person can be regenerated or saved without it; or that all that are baptized, are undoubtedly regenerated." 26

That they should have thought it necessary to insert this caution is a decisive proof of the objective value which they attributed to the Sacrament.

The Declaration of 1833 makes no attempt to explain the meaning of baptism; it does nothing more than define its subjects—“ converts to Christianity and their children”; its mode" by the application of water to the subject in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost' " its" perpetual obligation." 27

; and

Its account of the Lord's Supper is, if possible, still more unsatisfactory. It affirms a theory of the rite which leaves absolutely nothing in it but the expression of the subjective religious life of those who take part in it; it is "to be celebrated by Christian Churches as a token of faith in the Saviour, and of brotherly love." This is to make it nothing more than the signing of a Confession of Faith, and the singing of a hymn containing expressions of love for the saints. The characteristic idea of a sacrament as a revelation of Christ in a symbolic act, is wholly lost.28

The Savoy Declaration, on the other hand, gives this account of Sacraments in general :

"I. Sacraments are holy Signs and Seals of the Covenant of Grace, immediately instituted by Christ to represent him and his benefits,29 and to confirm our interest in him, and solemnly to engage us to the service of God in Christ according to his Word.

26 Declaration of the Faith and Order, etc., chap. xxix., 20

Principles of Religion, xviii.; Declaration, 8. For a statement of a theory of baptism which is probably now held by a considerable number of Congregationalists, see the chapter on the Christian Sacraments in R. W. Dale, Manual of Congregational Principles, 126-141. 28 Ibid., xviii.; ibid., 8.

29 Not to represent our faith and love.

"II. There is in every Sacrament a spiritual relation, or sacramental 30 union between the sign and the thing signified; whence it comes to pass, that the names and effects of the one are attributed to the other.

"III. The grace which is exhibited in or by the Sacraments rightly used, is not confined by any power in them," neither doth the efficacy of a Sacrament depend upon the piety or intention of him that doth administer it,32 but upon the work of the Spirit, and the word of Institution, which contains together with a Precept authorising the use thereof, a Promise of benefit to worthy receivers." 33

Of the Lord's Supper the Savoy theologians declare that—

"I. Our Lord Jesus in the night wherein he was betrayed, instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood, called the Lord's Supper, to be observed in his Churches unto the end of the world— [Why? As a token of our faith in the Saviour and of our love for each other? No; but]-for the perpetual remembrance, and shewing forth of the Sacrifice of himself in his death, the sealing of all benefits thereof unto true believers, their spiritual nourishment, and growth in him, their further engagement in and to all duties which they owe unto him, and to be a bond and pledge of their communion with him and with each other."

"VII. Worthy Receivers outwardly partaking of the visible Elements in this Sacrament, do then also inwardly by Faith, really and indeed, yet not carnally and corporally, but spiritually, receive and feed upon Christ crucified, and all benefits of his death; the Body and Blood of Christ being then not corporally or carnally in, with, or under the Bread or Wine; yet as really, but spiritually present to the Faith of Believers in that Ordinance, as the Elements themselves are to their outward senses." 34

The transition from the doctrine of the Sacraments contained in the Savoy Declaration to the doctrine of the Declaration of 1833 had been gradual. Early in the present century the traditional theory of the objective element in the Sacraments still survived, but the subjective theory of their

30 Hanbury, Historical Memorials, iii. 543, has " 'fundamental " for sacramental "—an obvious misprint, as 64 sacramental is not only in the original here, but also in the corresponding passage of the Westminster Confession.

31 But there is grace confessed; and to "exhibit " does not mean merely to "show," but to "administer or "impart."

32 But there is efficacy, of which the Declaration of 1833 says nothing.

33 Declaration of the Faith and Order, etc., chap. xxviii., 19. 34 Ibid., chap. xxx., 20-21.

meaning was securing ascendency. Dr. Pye Smith and Dr. Halley frankly renounced the earlier position, and they were followed by the overwhelming majority of the Congregational ministers of the last generation. In more recent years there has been a reaction in favour of the central principle of the Savoy theology, which insisted on the objective value both of Baptism and of the Lord's Supper; but it is probable that the sacramental article of the Declaration of 1833 still represents the general belief of English Congregationalists.

CHAPTER V

THE WORK OF THE CONGREGATIONAL UNION OF ENGLAND AND WALES

VISIT OF Dr. Reed and Dr. MathESON TO THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA-CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES IN CANADA-APPEALS FOR HELP FROM CANADA AND AUSTRALIA-PROPOSAL TO ESTABLISH AN INDEPENDENT SOCIETY FOR COLONIAL MISSIONS-THE SOCIETY ADOPTED BY THE CONGREGATIONAL UNION-WORK OF THE SOCIETY -ITS RELATONS TO THE UNION-THE HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY; ITS ADOPTION BY THE UNION-THE IRISH EVANGELICAL SOCIETYTHE CONGREGATIONAL Board of EDUCATION-CHAPEL BUILDING SOCIETY-PASTORS' INSURANCE AID SOCIETY-THE SOCIETIE : SEPARATED FROM THE UNION-PUBLICATIONS OF THE UNION -MAGAZINES TRANSFERRED ΤΟ TRUSTEES-HYMNALS ISSUED

BY THE UNION-CONGREGATIONAL LIBRARY-CONGREGATIONAL
LECTURE-THE MEMORIAL HALL-JUBILee of the UnION.

A1

I

T the meeting held in May, 1832, for constituting the Union a long and cordial letter was read from the Rev. Dr. Thomas Snell, Secretary of the General Association of the Congregational Churches of Massachusetts; at the meeting held in May, 1833-the first annual meeting—an equally friendly letter was read from the Rev. Dr. Ezra Stiles Ely, the " Stated Clerk " of the Presbyterian Church of the United States; and the Rev. Dr. Samuel Cox, an eminent Presbyterian minister from New York, addressed the Assembly. Dr. Ely proposed an "interchange of delegates " between the Churches of America and England, and the proposal was immediately accepted.1 The committee were directed to "make the requisite arrangements for endeavouring to procure two or three brethren to proceed to America, in the spring of 1834,

1 See ante, pp. 693-695, and Congregational Magazine, March, 1833, 184-186.

2

so as to be present at the meetings of the General Assembly in Philadelphia; and also at such meetings of the Congregational Body in New England as they may be able to visit ; and to collect and communicate such information as will be mutually interesting respecting the state of religion in both countries." Mr. (afterwards Dr.) Andrew Reed, of London, and Mr. (afterwards Dr.) James Matheson, of Durham, consented to undertake what Mr. Reed, in his farewell address, described as "the hazardous service." 3 They sailed from Liverpool in March, 1834, spent several months in the United States and in Canada, and on their return pub- · lished an account of their journey. Their report on the religious condition of Canada gave a powerful impulse to the formation of the Colonial Missionary Society a year or two later.

A few Congregational Churches had been founded by emigrants from New England-Churches at Liverpool and Chebogue in Nova Scotia, in 1760 and 1767; at Sheffield, in New Brunswick, in 1762; at Stanstead, in East Canada, in 1816.5

In 1770 a house for Congregational worship was hired at St. John's, Newfoundland, and a Mr. Jones, who belonged to a company of artillery stationed in the town, became its pastor. In 1775 he obtained his discharge, and was regularly ordained to the ministry. A chapel was built in 1790; and when Mr. Reed and Mr. Matheson visited the colony, it was under the pastorate of the Rev. D. S. Ward, who had been a student at Hackney College. In 1819 a Church was formed in what were called the Talbot settlements, by Mr. Joseph Silcox, who, before he left England, had been a member of the Church at Frome under the pastorate of the Rev. Timothy East. The Church consisted of fifty-two members; they were scattered over three townships, in each of which a log house or a barn was used for a preaching-station. It was under such conditions as these that a few Congregational Churches were founded in Canada before 1830.6

2 Congregational Magazine, March, 1833, 379.

3 Ibid., April, 1834, 240.

A Narrative of the Visit to the American Churches, by Andrew Reed and James Matheson, 1835.

Waddington, iv. (1800-1850), 436-440.

• Ibid., 432-435, 440-442.