OHEISTIAN UNION. 



125 



is a lost sinner, standing in need of a Saviour ; 

 that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, one with 

 the Father, to be honored and worshiped as 

 equal with the Father, and the Saviour of the 

 world, tasting death for every man, dying for 

 us, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God ; 

 that the Holy Spirit is the Divine Renewer and 

 Sanctifier of believers ; that the future life is 

 one of endless rewards of grace for the right- 

 eous, and of endless punishments of desert for 

 the wicked." The Cincinnati basis of union 

 was designed to set forth such truths as form 

 the common faith of God's people, in a few 

 pertinent passages of Scripture, which, in the 

 judgment of the general Church of God, 

 affirm them. " But it is distinctly to be under- 

 stood that it is the substance and not the form 

 about which we are anxious ; and therefore we 

 hereby declare that we will recognize as gen- 

 uine Union Christian ministers and churches 

 all who assent to these principles, no matter 

 in what manner they are expressed ; that is to 

 say, we will recognize and affiliate with all 

 churches or ministers who believe 1. That 

 every church of Christ should receive to its 

 fellowship all whom Christ receives ; 2. That 

 every minister of the gospel should teach the 

 common faith of God's people, and not hereti- 

 cal errors which oppose that faith. We there- 

 fore declare that we regard the basis of the 

 Evangelical Alliance, the Principles of the 

 Christian Churches of the South, as published 

 by the Christian Board of Publication at Suf- 

 folk, in 1867, and the statement of doctrinal 

 principles on page 38 of the Christian Union 

 Year-Boole, published in Columbus, Ohio, in 

 1866, as expressing these catholic principles ; 

 and that we shall regard the hearty acceptance 

 of either of them as fully equivalent to the ac- 

 ceptance of the Cincinnati basis of union, and 

 will welcome to the fraternity of the Union 

 Christian Churches of America all who accept 

 and hold either of these kindred bases of 

 union." 



A committee had been appointed at the con- 

 vention held in Cincinnati in 1874, to prepare 

 a plan of cooperation for the Union Christian 

 Churches of America. The committee pre- 

 sented a report, embodying a review of the 

 whole ground of the relations of churches to 

 each other, and concluding with the outline 

 of a plan for the definition of those of the 

 churches entering into the Union. It consid- 

 ered the different systems of church organiza- 

 tion under the three heads of Episcopal, Pres- 

 byterian, and Congregational, and decided that 

 no one of them had been found exclusively at- 

 tended with the Divine sanction, but that each 

 had its advantages of which it was proper for 

 the Church to avail itsel'f . It regarded the true 

 church of any particular place to be formed of 

 all the believers of that place ; recommended 

 the earnest advocacy of this view ; and ad- 

 vised the holding, wherever practicable, of 

 ministers' meetings composed of all those who 

 could be recognized as Christian ministers of 



the place. Such a meeting would constitute 

 the presbytery of the church in that place. It 

 was not meant that the church in any one 

 place should consist of only one congregation 

 meeting in only one place 'for worship. Ne- 

 cessity or convenience would often, as it act- 

 ually does in most places, require division into 

 several congregations ; but all the congrega- 

 tions should be united into one organization. 

 Each congregation should be given a large 

 measure of autonomy, or self-government; 

 should be allowed to select its own pastors and 

 deacons, and have an equal voice in choosing 

 the general secretaries and other office-bear- 

 ers which the general interests of the whole 

 church in the city might require. It should 

 be the aim to appropriate, "or rather," the 

 report says, "to claim for the church of God 

 all the power, the efficiency, the force there 

 may be in each of the modes of church organ- 

 ization now extant the Episcopal, the Presby- 

 terian, the Congregational. We believe there 

 are Scriptural and very useful elements in 

 each." Only one form of church government 

 was objected to the Independent. This form, 

 it was declared, " seems entirely destructive of 

 all Christian unity, and so inadmissible. . . . 

 A congregation assuming such an attitude be- 

 comes necessarily a sect by itself." 



The report concluded with the following sug- 

 gestions : 



1. That we adop^t catholic principles with regard 

 to this whole subject of organization. That is, we 

 should not allow ourselves to adopt prejudices 

 against, or form partialities for, any particular style 

 of organization ; but allow all Union Christian 

 Churches to adopt either the Episcopal, Presbyte- 

 rian, or Congregational plan as they shall deem most 

 expedient or Scriptural, provided they do not ex- 

 clude from their fellowship any true believer or 

 minister of Christ. 



2. That no mode of organization adopted by any 

 Union Christian congregation should be regarded as 

 in the slightest degree impairing the most cordial 

 relations between Union Christian ministers and 

 churches. 



3. That, for the present, our cooperation should 

 find expression in annual conventions similar to the 

 present, in which we can exchange views freely, and. 

 cultivate mutual fraternal intercourse. 



4. That we should, if practicable, form a mission- 

 ary society to extend our principles by tracts and 

 other publications, and especially to give aid and 

 support to missionaries and missionary churches 

 upon our frontiers who are desirous of exchanging 

 a sectarian basis for a Christian Union one, or to en- 

 courage scattered disciples to form themselves into 

 Union Christian churches. 



5. Any congregation adopting the Cincinnati basis 

 of union, or any of the kindred bases, setting forth 

 substantially the same principles, shall be entitled. 

 to two delegates to these conventions. Each min- 

 ister of the gospel, who has signified his approval 

 of the Cincinnati basis or either of the kindred bases, 

 shall be also entitled to membership in our annual 

 conventions. 



The report was unanimously adopted, to- 

 gether with its recommendations. At the close 

 of the year fifty-five ministers had signified 

 their approval of the basis of union adopted 

 at Cincinnati in 1874. 



