The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-19

this was not because there was a great
work to be done, but because the day of the
Lords coming was at hand. When he
came ii was well He should find his chosen
ones in fellowship and communion.
NEED OF ORGANIZATION FELT.
Gradually, however, the necessity for or
ganization impressed itself upon them. The
first pressure came from the distribution OF
charity. These early Christians were almost
all of them poor-freemen, ex-slaves, hall
beggars. 1t Is impossible for us to conceive
the depth and breadth of poverty in the Ro-
man empire, and those from whom the
church was chiefly recruited were the poor
est of the poor Now and then Some rich mar
also accepted Christ as the Messiah. And
those who were not quite so poor as the
poorest contributed their funds and there
began to be a distribution of goods. Now
that is always a difficult thing. Done care
lessly: It does more harm than good: II
provoked the first controversy in the Chris
tian church. The Greeks said: The He
brews are getting more than their share
think the Greeks have since sometimes said
the same thing in our own time And the
Hebrews answered it by saying: We wifi
elect a college of Greeks, seven of them
they shall all be Greeks, and they shall take
the whole thing into their own hands, AnC
so the first organization was made.
And then, growing out of this organiza-
ton and in connection with 1t, there was
also, as these assemblies for worship con-
tinued, the necessity of someone to super
wise and direct the worshiping, to see that
1t was done i'm order, to prevent those from
talking who had not anything to say-quite
an important function to be performed
sometimes in religious as well as in secular
gatherings, and SO there came to be an
oversight over the worship and oversight
over the charity. And then another over
sight was required. 1t was a migratory
period. Men travelled back and forth-not
as much as they do now, but still in no
small measure-and men came from distant
communities, saying We are Christians,
help us. Just as soon as there was any
money to be given or any food there were
trampS ready to take it. Then, as now, 1t
became necessary to have some courage
and caution to see to it that the tramp was
a worthy tramp and the beggar a truly de-
serving beggar. And so the church came
into the fashion of giving letters to those
who belonged to this little fellowship, to
those who had been accustomed TO worship
with them, and when a man went away
from home he took a letter from the over
seer OF his worshiping assembly, certifying
that he belonged to this brotherhood at
EpheSuS this brotherhood at Rome, or
wherever ii might be.
'And these men who had~ the power to
grant the letters very soon got, through
that power, power to determine who were
members and who were not, who should re-
celve the letters and who should not. More
over, after a little the preaching ceased to
be quite so simple as it was at first. Let
tiers were written by various apostles to
different churches. Records were given of
the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.
These were sent first to one church and
then to another. And then the churches
exchanged these letters, one with another.
And then false letters were foisted upon the
people. There was great deal more of
fraud and forgery in that time than in
ours, and pious forgery and pious fraud
were not considered altogether Legitimate.
And there were letters purporting to come
from Paul and letters purporting to come
from Peter, which Paul and Peter had
never written and never seen. And it was
necessary that some one should have
charge Of the records, and this person who
had charge of the records would naturally
exercise some judgment whether the rec
ords were right or wrong. And so, little by
little the power grew in the hands of the
overseer, or episkopos, as he was called, or
was the simple pastor, or Overseer, or
bishop of a single church. When the
churches came into utilization he became
the bishop of a group of churches in a
town, and then of larger district.
SLOW DEVELOPMENT.
$50 gradually, the oversight of the
churches grew up. First, out of necessity
of order in the worship; next, out of neces-
sity of distribution in the administration of
charity; next, out of necessity of determin-
ing who were members and who were not
and, finally, out of necessity of determining
what the legitimate documents and the real
basis of religious instruction were. In the
earlier period the organization grew into
different forms, according to different local
tiles. Broadly speaking, they were three.
For these Christians, not having any idea
of permanent work or permanent order OF
organization, naturally took on their pecul-
lar form in Organiza ton from the cOmmun-
ity in which they happened to live. There
were three forms of organization current in
the first century-the Jewish, the Greek and
the Roman.
The Jewish organization was oligarchic.
A few, the elders, the older men, came by
sort of natural prescription to exercise
authority in the village, in the synagogue.
1t came to them through their influence,
through their character. 1t came somewhat
as chieftainship come into the North Amer
lean tribes They were not elected; they
were not appointed they grew into their
office. But, having taken their office they
ruled. They were judges. They had the
power to discipline. They controlled the
service of the synagogue. They We're the
governing body. And where, therefore, a
Christian church was made largely up of
Jews 1t took on the Jewish organization
Then there were elders oil. presbuteroi and
these elders were themselves the govern
ing force in the church.
Greece, on the other hand. was a democ
racy. 1t is true that it had at this tim,
passed under monarchical control but it i.
also true that it maintained it's democratic
spirit, and. wherever it could, something O.
it's democratic institutions. Our town meet
ing may almost be said to be borrowed from
the early Greek democracies Where, there
fore, Christians were mainly gathered out o
q Greek community they took on the Greel
form of organization Then the whole con
gregation gathered together, by show o
hands they elected their officers and thes,
officers exercised the same kind of author
ity and control which they were accustomed
to exercise in the Greek association.
FINALLY, in Rome, the organization was
rnonarchical, 1T was centralized. One mar
in each province, one man in each city and
finally one man over all, at the head in
Rome And where. therefore, the church
was made up of Romans, it took on the
Roman form. generally. Sometimes the
man was elected; sometimes he put himself
into office, by his superior influence, by his
superior power, by his superior tact He
came to be recognized as the head of the
local church. and then the head of the vari-
Gus group of churches. So that for a time
there were the three forms of organization
more or less differentiated-the jewish OF
oligarchic: the Greek, or democratic; the
Roman, or monarchcal.
Looking back across time, the Episco-
palian says We have the authority of the
Apostolic churches and the Congregation
alist says, We have the authority of the
Apostolic churches and the Presbyterian
says, We have the authority of the Apos-
tolic churches and every one and all they
are of the same authority-that is, no au-
thority at all. The Congregationalists have
Presbyterians have the authority of a
Jewish oligarchy, and the Episcopalans
and the Romanists have the authority OF
a Roman monarch. 1t does not come with
in my province tonight to discover Which
of these organizations is the best. That is
quite another matter. That is a question to
be determined by practical efficiency. All
that am trying to do is to unroll the his
tory of the past, and l have tried to tell
you what that history is.
PAUL AS THE INSPIRER
when Paul began his preaching this
work of organization which l have de-
scribed of course, had not taken place He
was himself the instigator and inspirer of
the life out of which the organization grew
He went from cjtv 10 oitv and from tou.,,