Though each Church or congregation in primitive times had its own peculiar rites and ceremonies, each had disciplinary power to enforce their observance upon its own members. This was proper to avoid confusion, to unite its activities and maintain peace.

In this post-Reformation period conditions of Church life have materially changed. In early times the general Church was made up of congregations or parishes holding the essential doctrines of the Christian faith though they differed in minor observances. Now the general Church consists of different branches or denominations; aggregations of churches which hold the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith but have different forms of Church government and a variety of rites and ceremonies. Rules and regulations for Church government must be established, and an order of public worship must be provided.

The power to do this in the Methodist Episcopal Church is lodged with its General Conference and is exercised under certain constitutional limitations. The Church has power also to enforce observance of the rites and ceremonies it may adopt. The candidate for admission to membership is asked, "Will you cheerfully be governed by the rules of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and hold sacred the ordinances of God?" The answer must be affirmative. Thus every person who unites with the Church enters into a solemn covenant with the Church as a whole. He adopts its Articles of Religion, assents to its discipline and to its rites and ceremonies, so long as they are not repugnant to the Word of God. He may at any time sever the connection, but may not inveigh against her doctrines or discipline.

The Church by her authorized agencies has prepared an order of public worship, and proper forms for the administration of the sacraments, the burial of the dead,

the reception of persons on probation and into full membership, and other public services. All these should be observed in the spirit and in the letter, by ministers and members. Most of these rites and ceremonies are administered by the ministry, who should follow with care the prescribed forms, without omissions or additions, except in things made discretionary with them.

When any man through his private judgment willingly and purposely breaks the rite or ceremony of his Church he assumes to be wiser than the constituted authority by which they were prepared, or the great body of the Church by which they are approved. The following proposition laid down by Hooker, though written more than three hundred years ago, has an application to present times and will commend itself to wise and prudent men: "Where neither the evidence of any law divine, nor the strength of any invincible argument otherwise found out by the light of reason, nor any notable public inconvenience, doth make against that which our own laws ecclesiastical have, although but newly, instituted for the ordering of these affairs, the very authority of the Church itself, at least in such cases, may give so much credit to her laws as to make their sentence touching fitness and conveniency weightier than any bare and naked conceit to the contrary; especially in them who can owe no less. than childlike obedience to her that hath more than motherly power."1

If the order of public worship or the sacramental rites were left to private judgment there could be no order, and sometimes no decency. The patience, wisdom, and authority of Saint Paul were taxed by this in the Church at Corinth. If private judgment were exercised against the decisions of the Church there could be no uniformity, 1 See Ecclesiastical Polity, book v, chaps. vi-ix.

and the very existence of the Church as a visible society would be endangered. According to the Article, offenders against the order of the Church wound the consciences of weak brethren, and should be openly rebuked.

Great care should be taken to preserve the unity and peace of the Church. To this effect is the exhortation of Saint Paul: "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment" (1 Cor. I. 10).

Every particular Church may ordain, change, or abolish rites and ceremonies, so that all things may be done to edification.

This has special reference to the time of the Reformation, but is true in every age. The Church of Rome had destroyed the distinctions of all national Churches and produced to a great extent uniformity in doctrine, ceremonial, and discipline. England threw off the yoke and established a national Church. In divesting herself of the intolerable burden of rites and ceremonies she abolished such as cast a shadow upon the truth and dimmed the glory of the gospel. She authorized others also that would tend to edification.

In the United States there is no national Church, but a number of well-organized Churches, all having equal rights and privileges. One of the largest and most thoroughly organized is the Methodist Episcopal Church. It adopted its rites and ceremonies, largely taken from the Anglican Church, with certain additions peculiar to Methodism. These additions-such as class meetings, love feasts, and watch-night services-were all of them adopted with a view to the edification and spiritual development of the members of her communion.

ARTICLE XXIII

OF THE RULERS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

The President, the Congress, the General Assemblies, the Governors, and the Councils of State, as the Delegates of the People, are the Rulers of the United States of America, according to the division of power made to them by the Constitution of the United States, and by the Constitutions of their respective States. And the said States are a sovereign and independent Nation, and ought not to be subject to any foreign jurisdiction.1

1As far as it respects civil affairs, we believe it the duty of Christians, and especially of all Christian Ministers, to be subject to the supreme authority of the country where they may reside, and to use all laudable means to enjoin obedience to the powers that be; and therefore it is expected that all our Preachers and People, who may be under the British or any other Government, will behave themselves as peaceable and orderly subjects.

I. THE ORIGIN

The abridgment of the Thirty-nine Articles made by Wesley contained twenty-four Articles. The Conference of 1784, when the Methodist Episcopal Church was organized, added this, "Of the Rulers of the United States of America," and numbered it XXIII.

It was first printed in the Sunday Service in 1786, and was changed in 1790 by adding the words "The President," and in 1804 the phrase "the general act of confederation" was changed to "the Constitution of the United States," making the Article comport with the changes in our civil government. The note was added to the Article in 1820.

II. THE AIM

The purpose of the Article was to embody the views of the Church on the question of the right of the people of the colonies to declare themselves a sovereign and independent nation.

In the Sunday Service, or Liturgy, which Mr. Wesley prepared and sent from England for the use of the Methodists he inserted a form of "Prayer for the Supreme Rulers of the United States." "It is probable that he did not consider himself sufficiently well acquainted with our civil institutions, at that early period, to frame an 'Article' under this head, and hence the addition of this Article by the Conference of 1784, in conformity with the prayer in the Sunday Service."1

III. THE EXPOSITION

The President, the Congress, the General Assemblies, the Governors and the Councils of State, as the Delegates of the People, are the Rulers of the United States of America, according to the division of power made to them by the Constitution of the United States, and by the Constitutions of their respective States.

The significance of this declaration can hardly be understood without noting the time in which it was made. It was written in the last days of 1784. The Declaration of Independence was made in 1776, and for seven years thereafter the Revolutionary War was waged. The new scheme of federal government called the Articles of Confederation was not adopted by all the colonies until 1781, and peace was not declared until 1783. It was a time of readjustment and of some uncertainty as to the status the nation would hold. The Article was written before a 1 Emory, Defense of the Fathers, sec. vii.