Alexander Porter Goudy on the church’s power concerning the circumstances of worship

[Reformed Covenanter]

And here let us premise that Presbyterians admit that every church on earth has some power in this matter, intrusted to her by her Head. They admit that the church possesses what an eminent divine has termed the power of arrangement. That is, Christ permits every church to arrange all those circumstantial modes of worship, which though in general necessary by divine precept, are yet in particulars to be determined by human prudence. Such, for example, as the regulating the time at which public worship shall commence on the Sabbath, the place in which it shall be conducted, and things of a like nature. These are things which do not concern the essence or form of Christ’s ordinances or the moral conduct of Christians; they are matters which are connected with the regular proceedings of any society, and which human prudence is competent to settle.

But we ask, Is there not a plain and wide distinction between these and unwarranted human inventions? Does it follow that because the church is free to arrange matters like these, that therefore she is at liberty to enact rites which are neither required in Scripture, nor implied in, nor deducible from any injunction of the Bible? Does it follow that therefore she has a right to decree ceremonies which make important changes in Christ’s sacraments, and which are imposed on his people as indispensable terms of communion? Unquestionably not. ...

For more, see Alexander Porter Goudy on the church’s power concerning the circumstances of worship.