the case.

tried by his peers and found guilty. These peers, too, are of the "vicinage," and fully competent to understand and appreciate all local circumstances bearing on Does not the civil law mean something in providing for "a jury of the vicinage"? There is profound significance in the independence of each church, so far as the trial and the exclusion of a guilty member may be concerned. While, therefore, it cannot be said that the independent form of church government secures an absolutely satisfactory corrective church discipline, it may be said that the discipline so provided for is the most satisfactory that can be had.

7. It cherishes a sense of individual responsibility.

This is a matter of great importance, for Christianity is an intensely personal thing. It has to do with men in their individual relations to God. There is no such thing as the regeneration of masses of men, nor is there regeneration by proxy. The great change takes place in the individual heart. Nothing is more personal than regeneration. When the materials of a Christian church are reduced to units, the units are found in regenerated persons. There is personal repentance, personal faith, personal baptism. In making a profession of Christianity, personal obligations are recognized and publicly assumed. Church relations. do not impair, but intensify, a sense of individual responsibility. An impressive consciousness of this fact

is indispensable to a proper performance of church duties.

To show that the independent form of church government cherishes a sense of individual responsibility, it is sufficient to say that all matters coming before a church are decided by the votes of the members. They vote as individuals; and, as a majority rules, no one can tell but his vote may be decisive. Surely, then, every vote should be intelligently given; and this view of the case is a strong argument in favor of sanctified intelligence. Questions of great importance must be decided.

These questions not only involve the spiritual welfare of the church itself, but often have an important bearing on the local interests of the community and the general interests of the kingdom of Christ. Church-officers are chosen by the suffrages of the members. How essential that the right man be appointed as pastor! In order to this, church-members must be acquainted with the purity of his Christian character, and also with his doctrinal soundness. A vote referring to two points so vital as these must be given under a sense of responsibility. The influence of deacons has much to do with the condition of a church, and therefore the best men should be appointed to the office. A church too must decide what objects of Christian work should receive its encouragement and patronage. These objects may be

so numerous that all of them cannot receive attention, and if so, there must be a selection of those deemed most important. What shall be the proportion of pecuniary aid given to Home Missions, Foreign Missions, Publication Work, and Ministerial Education, the church must decide. The decision is no trivial matter. It calls for a union of knowledge and piety.

One of the most painful duties of a church is to deal in a way of discipline with unworthy members. In all the proceedings in such cases the laws of Christ are to be sacredly observed. These laws, then, must be understood that they may be intelligently applied. A member who is guilty of "disorderly conduct," and who fails to give satisfaction by penitence and reformation, must be excluded. It is a solemn thing to withdraw the hand of fellowship, and it must be done under a sense of responsibility. When, according to apostolic command, "a heretic " is to be "rejected," the act of rejection is to be performed by the church. A renunciation of the fundamental doctrines of the gospel demands this step. As a general thing, the members of a local church, having been regenerated by the Holy Spirit and justified by faith in Jesus Christ, are competent judges of sound doctrine. They may not understand many theological niceties, but they know the way of salvation. They "have an unction from the Holy One" (1 John ii. 20).

In view of all these considerations, showing what obligations rest on church-members and what duties are required at their hands, I affirm with strongest emphasis that the independent form of government cherishes a sense of individual responsibility. Those who have to decide great questions by their votes are in a responsible position. This fact impresses them; they cannot ignore it; they would not if they could. Their responsibility as church-members is to the Head of the church-the Lord Jesus Christ-and it is stamped with all the sacredness of the blood of his atoning sacrifice. Let the church-member take his stand by the cross, remembering that he has been individually redeemed by him who died thereon, and he will cherish a sense of individual responsibility. He will feel the weight of the personal obligations resting on him. The doctrine of church independency will deepen his consciousness of these obligations; for it will teach him that he is not a cipher, but a man—A REDEEMED MAN, and ere long to be A GLORIFIED

MAN.

CONCLUSION.

The foregoing pages show that there is something distinctive in the principles of Baptists. They differ from all other denominations; and the difference is so

great as not only to justify, but to demand, their separate existence as a people. They are God's witnesses, and they are his only witnesses who "tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth," on the points referred to in this volume. Should their testimony be suppressed, in what religious denomination could "the whole truth" concerning the subjects of baptism be found? Not one. The question, Who should be baptized? would receive an answer in positive conflict with the teachings of the New Testament. Who but Baptists declare" the whole truth" with regard to the exclusive baptismal act and the symbolic import of the act? If there are others, where are they? We know not. Nor do we know of any people, besides Baptists, who maintain "the whole truth" on the subject of a regenerated church-membership, embracing, as it does, the vital point that we come to the church through Christ, and not to Christ through the church and its ordinances. Baptists proclain in the audience of the whole world that persons have nothing to do with church relations and gospel ordinances till they are regenerated. Among whom, except Baptists, is the doctrine of church independency fully exemplified? Throughout this broad land we look in vain for the exemplification. Truly, Baptists are important witnesses; for they testify important things, and theirs is the only testimony on these important matters.