History Of Methodist Reform, Volume I - Media Sabda Org

Art. 16th. Any government, that does not allow the people to meet, deliberate, and decide upon
matters that concern themselves, is evidently oppressive. For those who are not the representatives
of the people, to make laws for them, and then deny them the freedom of candid inquiry and honest
animadversion, is a measure, as irrational as it is unjust. The maxim which assumes, that the ministry
have a right to rule and dictate exclusively, in the great concerns of religion, is the fruitful source of
implicit faith, which tamely and without inquiry, receives instruction at the hands of men, as
authoritative and final — impiously receiving "for doctrines, the commandments of men, and
perverting the oracles of God." When the ministry judge and determine for the people, without their
legitimate concurrence; as matter of right, conformity becomes a question of policy, instead of
resulting from conscience and principle. A government which denies to the governed, the right to
inquire, remonstrate, and demand withheld justice — which from its structure and operation is
calculated to darken the understanding and mislead the judgment — and thus compel obedience to
its measures, in the groat interests of right and wrong, must be essentially unjust, and ought not to
be substituted to.
Art. 17th. No power possesses so fatal a principle of increase and accumulation in itself, as
ecclesiastical power. Its facilities for reproduction and multiplication are m any and fearful, and
should be vigilantly guarded against by all, who consider the image of God, as closely connected
with the rights of man. And whenever the growth and manifestation of this power, in any of its
innumerable forms and modes of operation, shall clearly amount to an invasion of Christian rights,
the injured and oppressed, should resist the encroachment with manly decision and unyielding
remonstrance. In every church, where the principle of representation is excluded in the affairs of its
government, the right of private judgment becomes a nullity, and faith and practice, are necessarily,
to a great extent, the offspring of prescription. The right of deciding what are the will and mind of
God, in matters of faith and discipline, by prescriptive interpretation, is conceded in the scriptures,
to no man, or body of men exclusively: of course, the right of judgment belongs to all, equally and
inalienably; and when the ministry avail themselves of the indifference, inattention, or ignorance of
the people, brought under their charge from time to time, to constitute themselves their legislative
masters and executive guardians, they usurp the dominion of conscience, and although never
complained of, are de facto religious tyrants, because they assume and exercise rights, that do not,
and cannot in the nature of things, belong to them. It should not be overlooked, moreover, that when
the ministry are considered by the laity, us the sole judges and depositories of faith and discipline,
the people lose the only powerful motive, the only direct incentive, they can possibly have, to inquire
and decide for themselves, in the infinitely momentous concerns of truth and duty. Such a monopoly
of power by the ministry, tends directly to mental debasement, consequent indecision of character,
insincerity, and misguided zeal.
Art. 18th. That form of ecclesiastical polity, under which the revenues of the church, proceed from
the people when they have no participation in the enactment of its laws, furnishes no proper
constitutional balance of power; for the legislative counsel of the church, consisting of the ministry
alone, have it in their power, at any time, to render the contributions of the people to an amount
sufficient for their competent supply and even their affluence, not a voluntary service, but a condition
of membership, when such government ceases to be free, and necessarily becomes tyrannical. Any
government which places the public property of the governed, in the hands of its rulers, so that it
must proceed from their gift exclusively, without any constitutional negative in its appropriation on