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.This it was in fact if not in organization before 1784.2 "The influence of the American Environment on the Conception of the Church in American Protestantism,"Church History 11 (September 1942) : 18192.3 Quoted in ibid., p.188, from The Works of John Locke, In Ten Volumes, 11th ed.(London, 1812), 6 : 13.Page 127belief as well.Possessing an otherworldly comprehension of the union of believers, those Presbyterians, Baptists,and especially Methodists who found themselves in the South faced with a ruling religious institutionhoweverineffectivethat equated church and state, had special reason to define the church in voluntaristic terms.Richard Furman, for example, in "A Sermon on the Constitution and Order of the Christian Church" (1789), definedthe true church as a group of individual saints, known with certainty only by God.In particular, he argued, "That theChurch of Christ is not National is apparent from this that Christ has promised his Presence to two or three met inhis Name."4 Here, in the local congregation, was to be found that voluntary society of believers who constituted thegospel church.It had long seemed blatantly obvious that the institutionalized church as it had existed in the colonialSouth contained many members who never had intimated any converting knowledge of God.Hence there werepractical and theological reasons for the dissenters' position on disestablishment, for, as the prominent Baptist ElderJohn Leland wrote, they believed "that pure Christianity would gain much by such a dissolution."5 Francis Asbury,upon confronting an opposing establishment in Connecticut in 1794, repeated these views when he wrote bitterly of"ecclesiastical chains" and ''iron walls of prejudice."6From this understanding of the church developed the peculiarly American concept of denominationalism.Sidney E.Mead has aptly defined this organizational term: "a voluntary association of like-hearted and likeminded individuals,who are united on the basis of common beliefs for the purpose of accomplishing tangible and defined objectives."7Following the complete disestablishment of the Anglican Church in the South, all religious groups were thrownupon their own resources.As a voluntary society of converted believers, each denomination was forced to usepersuasion to maintain its position and hopefully augment its membership.Such a religious body could grow only byconverting individuals.4 Richard Furman, "A Sermon on the Constitution and Order of the Christian Church, Preached before theCharleston Association of Baptist Churches, 1789," Ms in South Caroliniana Collection, University ofSouth Carolina, Columbia, S.C.5 John Leland, "An Oration, Delivered at Cheshire, July 5, 1802, On the Celebration of Independence:Containing Seventeen Sketches, and Seventeen Wishes," in Leland, The Life and Writings, p.264.Leland hadbeen a pioneer defender of religious freedom in Virginia until 1791 ; then, having found success, he moved toMassachusetts and continued his struggle till death a half-century later.6 Asbury, Journal and Letters, August 10, 1794, 2 : 22.7 Mead, "Denominationalism: The Shape of Protestantism in America," Church History 23 (December 1954) :291.Page 128This emphasis on suasion changed the primary role of the minister from that of counseling and performance of ritualto that of evangelization.The minister now had one central concernto convert unbelievers and hence increase thelocal church congregation.Such congregations often united into associations, synods, or conferences, but their aimwas no higher than encouraging the evangelical efforts of the individual congregations.The outlook of the popularsouthern churches was personal, provincial, and noninstitutional.Closely related to the clerical concern with local affairs and individual conversions was what Lefferts A.Loetscherhas termed "at least the shadow of catholicity [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]