His manuscript was placed in the hands of judicious brethren, the intimate friends of its author, - who after careful perusal decided that to publish it would be an injustice to his memory. It was a first hasty draught, and lacked the finishing touches of his graceful pen.

When, by the providence of God, it fell to my lot to be the conductor of a public religious journal, the want of such a book became still more manifest. A few articles, hastily prepared for the CHRISTIAN WATCHMAN and other periodicals, having met with unexpected favor, I resolved to study thoroughly the principles of church polity for my own benefit. The task was so pleasant, and the materials for a book so abundant, that a few hints from my brethren, added to what seemed an inward conviction of duty, were sufficient to convince me that at some distant day the results might be given to the public. At my request, Mrs. Knowles readily placed the manuscript of her late husband in my hands, with liberty to make such use of it as I judged proper. His plan was found to be very different from mine; but his sound judgment and correct taste, his catholic spirit and practical wisdom as a pastor, qualified him in an eminent degree to give good counsel for the government of churches; and his judicious remarks have rendered me valuable assistance in preparing the Third Part of this work.

That the results will be as satisfactory to others as the labor has been pleasant and useful to myself, is too much to expect. My post of duty made me an involuntary spectator of the assaults on our church principles with which the organs of various ecclesiastical

bodies were teeming; while the evils arising from the misapplication of those principles were equally manifest. The partisans of prelacy, apostolic succession, and territorial churchism, represented us, like forsaken Israel of old, as "without a king and without a prince, without a sacrifice and without a pillar, without an ephod and without teraphim."

In the prosecution of these inquiries, my only desire was to follow truth, wherever it might lead. For the ties of sect I care little; for names, still less. If the Baptist churches were not true churches, I would leave them. My first inquiry after the true principles of church constitution, therefore, was, What, and where, is the church? And what oracle must I consult? The church? Must I ask the church to tell me what and where is the church? I might as well go to Delphi, or Dodona, or the shrine of Jupiter Ammon, to inquire who is the god, and where is his temple. Yet this gross begging of the question, helped out by a little circle reasoning, where the more conclusive arguments of the dungeon and the rack are not available, is all the answer that bigoted churchism has to offer. Do we appeal to tradition? The responses are like the echoes of Babel. They have led some to believe that their Jerusalem is the only place where men ought to worship; others to contend as strenuously for "this mountain," or for their Themis, their Delos, or their Bura, according to the responses which they fancied were divine. But we demand an independent, unimpeachable witness: we therefore reject them all, and turn to the inspired oracles of the living God.

To the Bible the Bible only-this primary ques

tion is referred: What is the church?

This is the real point of divergence from the divinely modelled culture of Christ's visible spiritual kingdom, into the cheerless mazes of Abrahamic covenants, faith by proxy, ordinances without faith, territorial churches, prelacy and popery. This is the great question of the age. The Rationalist is laboring to solve it—in his sense of the term by the help of unassisted reason, if that can be called reason which runs riot from its Maker; the Papist by abjuring reason in his blind submission to what he calls "the church;" the Baptist by exalting reason to be the interpreter and reverent pupil of God's word. The first would set up human reason to judge the Bible and the church; the second allows "the church" to judge the Bible and to impose on reason the most abject silence; the third maintains that the Bible, interpreted by reason, is to rule the church. The first deifies, the second debases, the third exalts, reason to her true place. The Bible is the church's supreme law, reason is her court. The Bible is the compass; reason, lighted by the spirit of God, is the binnacle lamp. If all Christians would go to the Bible for an answer to this first question, if they would accept none but that which the Bible gives, if they would abide by that- that only-union would soon take the place of discord. But error on this point is fruitful of other errors. And here the grand error of Christendom arose that ancient error, whose pestiferous seeds have filled the world with tares. Old as it is, it must be rooted up, for our Heavenly Father hath not planted it.

Hitherto, Baptists have paid but little attention to the

subject of Church Polity. As the bold advocates of spiritual Christianity in its primitive form, as faithful martyrs of religious freedom, as laborious missionaries to the heathen, they have contributed to every other department of theological literature; but the organic principles of church constitution have received little of their attention. So far as I know, this is the first attempt to exhibit the Baptist Church Polity in systematic order. Some portions of the work will, of course, occupy a field which I have attempted to explore without a guide. In those portions which have long been common ground, it is quite probable that I have fallen into some trains of thought similar to those whose works I have read. As the design of the book is to prove what is true, rather than to expose what is false, it contains no controversy. It was undertaken for the special benefit of all Baptists, as members of Christ's visible family, not to settle disputes on minor points, but to exhibit, in their native strength, beauty, and harmony, those great principles on which they all, or nearly all, unite; in the belief that it will thus be more extensively useful. It claims no authority over the judgment of any church, or individual. It must stand or fall by its own merits. But the principles which it advocates will stand for ever, and be honored as the bulwarks of all true liberty, of sound doctrine, and of active piety.

It is proper to acknowledge my indebtedness for valuable suggestions, to the Reverend Professors Ripley and Sears, of Newton Theological Institution, to whom the manuscript was submitted, and to the Rev. Dr. Sharp of this city, who examined portions of the work.

To the Rev. Baron Stow, D. D., who, in addition to an examination of the manuscript, has read all the proof sheets as the work was going through the press, I return thankful acknowledgments.

Go, then, child of many prayers, on thy unpretending mission of light and love; promote, in some small degree, the intelligence, the harmony, the spirituality, the beauty, the stability, the usefulness, of the household of God, and the author will be amply rewarded for all his toil. For while thus employed among the outworks of Zion, telling her towers, marking her bulwarks, considering her palaces, it has been delightful to contemplate the surpassing glories of that inner temple, where the Church of the Redeemed behold the King in his beauty, and all are filled with his love. May that love animate all his churches below, that Zion may be the joy of the whole earth, that her righteousness may go forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp that burneth.

Boston, March, 1847.

W. C.

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