It is the purpose of this chapter to deal more fully with the fundamental principles of ecclesiastical government. These principles have their most comprehensive application and operation in the General Eldership, our highest ecclesiastical authority, hence it is fitting that they should be discussed in this connection. At the same time it should be remembered that they are also applicable to the narrower governmental spheres of the annual Eldership and the local church.

      Polity, as we have seen, is the form or constitution by which an organization is governed. And government implies control by exercise of authority and the administration of laws.

      This indicates that the General Eldership, and also the annual Elderships, are legislative as well as co-operative. If there were no interests except those which are strictly identified with the local churches, an annual Eldership would not need to be more than a convention for the discussion, in an advisory manner, of the best plans and [57] methods for local church activities. But very early in our history church extension work was undertaken in which all the local churches were interested and to the support of which they contributed. This enterprise required management beyond the plans of local church work. It became necessary for the Elderships to adopt rules and regulations, and to make them mandatory to an extent sufficient to prevent confusion and promote the work. The same necessity is created by every other enterprise which is more general than the restricted limits of the local church. And even the matter of co-operation requires a certain amount of legislation for its successful promotion.

      The same principles are applicable to the General Eldership. In the early days, when we had no publishing plant, and no college, and when all of our work was missionary work, it is easy to understand why the General Eldership was more co-operative in character and less legislative than it can be under present conditions. Now we have extensive publishing and educational interests, and specific departments of missionary work, all of which are under the direction of the General Eldership, and for the control and promotion [58] of which certain rules and regulations are needed.

      Every organization must have laws. The General Eldership is an organization. Hence it must have laws for its proper government. It is true that our work will be in vain unless we are bound together by the ties of spiritual unity. It is also true that spiritual unity cannot be produced by human laws. It must be begotten of God. But these laws are necessary to protect the unity which God produces, by restraining us from doing the things which might destroy it.

      Since, therefore, the General Eldership must have laws for its proper control and the management of its interests, from whence shall these laws come? We answer, from the General Eldership itself. But what about the Bible as our law? So far as furnishing laws for religious organizations is concerned, the Bible does not go beyond the local church. The Bible record, which tells of the officers and government of the local church, does not extend to any wider organizations, because there were none. All such organizations as our annual Elderships and the General Eldership are post-apostolic. They are human organizations, made necessary by the growth of the Church. Now, since these are man-made [59] organizations, they must be controlled by man-made laws. The laws of the General Eldership must be the result of its own voice and vote as expressed by the majority. These laws must not only be made, but they must also be changed from time to time. Such changes are required, not necessarily by the mistakes of the past, but by the growth of the present.

      Fundamentally, our present Constitution is the same as that adopted by the first General Eldership in 1845. Its germinant principles, however, have been growing in proportion to the growth of the General Eldership. Amendments have been adopted from time to time in order to more clearly define and apply the principles of the Constitution.

      The first article of the Constitution defines the General Eldership to be the "general and associated body of the ministers and people of the annual Elderships."

      This article was amended by the General Eldership of 1905, as follows:

      "The provisions of this Constitution shall be considered as a form or plan of government of a general character, and they shall be construed as to extend to annual Elderships, churches, [60] societies and individual members within the bounds of the General Eldership."

      The amendment simply states in plainer words the principle embodied in the original Article. The General Eldership, in framing and adopting a Constitution, made a law for itself. Since it consists "of the ministers and people of the annual Elderships," its law must exceed to each of its constituent parts. "The ministers and people" sustain relations to local churches and to annual Elderships, and in these relations they must be governed by the laws governing these bodies; but they also sustain certain relations to the General Eldership, in which they, as well as annual Elderships, churches and societies must submit to its general government.

      In doing so they are submitting to a government which they, "the ministers and people," through their regularly elected representatives, have made for themselves. A pure democracy, in which the whole body of people meet to make the laws, has never been possible except among limited classes. The next best thing that a people can do is to elect representatives to make laws for them. Such laws are, therefore, of their own [61] making: for "what you do by your authorized agent you do yourself."

      The Constitution of a body is its supreme and fundamental law. But it is only the framework. So the various actions of the General Eldership are parts of its laws, as well as its Constitution, and both must "extend to annual Elderships, churches, societies and individual members within the bounds of the General Eldership."

      While the provisions of the Constitution of the General Eldership "extend to annual Elderships, churches, societies and individual members within the bounds of the General Eldership," the most emphasis is placed on the annual Elderships. There are reasons for this. The annual Elderships are the most important organizations within the bounds of the General Eldership. It is from them that delegates are sent to constitute the General Eldership. And, when the General Eldership finds it necessary to extend the provisions of its Constitution to other organizations or individual members, it generally does so through the annual Elderships to which they belong. [62]

      How to adjust the questions of centralized power and individual liberty is a perplexing problem, as shown by the many kinds of civil government and church polity.

      In our own country, the first "Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union Between the States" formed but "a rope of sand." They who had cultivated a hatred for kings were slow to consent to any centralizing of authority. "In their anxiety to be without a master, they left themselves without a government."

      The Congress, being unable to assess or collect taxes (this being wholly within the States), could command no confidence in its credit. The Federal Government, in short, "was despised abroad and disobeyed at home." The Confederation failed because it lacked the power that a general government must have.

      This condition led to a convention which framed the Constitution of the United States, giving to the General Government the power to enforce its laws, not only in a general way, but also in and over the States.

      But sometimes it is said that the States formed the general government, instead of the general government forming the States. From this [63] viewpoint erroneous conclusions are drawn. What are the facts? The original States, of necessity, formed the general government. But how? "By conceding to it the essentials of sovereignty." Since then the general government alone can establish a State, and all subsequent States are products of our national life.

      In the making of a State, a Territory calls a convention, and frames a proposed State Constitution, which is submitted to Congress along with a petition for admittance. In doing this it is customary for this proposed State Constitution to declare the Constitution and laws of the United States to be its highest law. If Congress acts favorably, a new State comes into existence.

      The law of each State consists of two parts--the Constitution and the laws of the United States, and the Constitution and laws of the State. The second must not conflict with the first. The sovereign power is in the whole people. The power of general control has been delegated by the people to the general government, and the power of local control has been reserved to the several States. The Constitution and laws of the United States are the supreme law of the whole country, not only because the United States [64] is superior to the State, but also because the Constitution and laws of the United States are a part of the Constitution and laws of each State.

      From this proper point of view the government of the United States is a very good illustration of that of the General Eldership. The original Elderships, those of East Pennsylvania, West Pennsylvania and Ohio, formed the General Eldership, in 1845, "by conceding to it the essential of sovereignty." Since then the General Eldership forms the annual Elderships. That is, they can come into existence only by its authority. One of the Articles of the General Eldership's Constitution, the twenty-third, is as follows:

      "The General Eldership shall have the exclusive right of establishing new Elderships, specifying their titles, and of altering and fixing the boundary lines of all the annual Elderships."

      The General Eldership of 1905 added the following Amendment to this Article:

      "Each Eldership thus established shall faithfully co-operate with the General Eldership, whose Charter and Constitution are the supreme rule of co-operation for all the Elderships. Any act, or article of incorporation of any annual Eldership, contrary to the provisions of the [65] General Eldership Constitution, or to actions taken thereunder, or in pursuance thereof, is unconstitutional, and null and void."

      From the foregoing Article and Amendment it is clear that the annual Eldership is subordinate to the General Eldership in all general matters. The annual Eldership has its local affairs, within the bounds of its own territory, which it manages according to its own Constitution and laws. This management is not to be interfered with except when it conflicts with the Constitution and laws of the General Eldership, in which case its actions are "null and void." An Eldership, like a State, has a two-fold law. It is governed by the Constitution and laws of the General Eldership, and also by its own Constitution and laws. And the latter must always be kept in harmony with the former.

      The annual Elderships are on an equality, and it is a part of the polity of the General Eldership to see that this equality is respected. For example, the General Eldership provides (in Articles 29 and 30 of its Constitution) that "All persons expelled from any given Eldership, or whose Certificates of Ordination have been surrendered, recalled, or annulled, shall be treated [66] as such by all the Elderships." And that "No preacher shall be transferred from one Eldership to another without mutual consent." Also (with certain exceptions which it specifies) that "No member of one Eldership shall remove into the territory of another Eldership or labor within its territory, without becoming a member of said Eldership and coming under its jurisdiction."

      Every well regulated form of government has three fundamental functions: first, the law-making function; second, the law-interpreting function; third, the law-administering function. These we commonly speak of as the legislative, judicial and executive functions.

      All three of these functions are found in the government of the General Eldership. The General Eldership can make laws, and it can also interpret and administer its laws. The legislative function it has wisely reserved exclusively to itself. The General Eldership alone has the power to make and change our general laws. The judicial and executive functions it has committed largely to its several boards. [67]

      The General Eldership meets but once in four years, and then for only a few days. This is often enough to make the changes that may be necessary in our laws, and hence the legislative function need not be exercised except by the General Eldership itself, in its quadrennial sessions. But it is not often enough for the application and execution of these laws, and so the judicial and executive functions have been committed by the General Eldership to its boards.

      The boards which the General Eldership has provided for the carrying on of its work are the Board of Publications, the Board of Directors of the Publishing House, the Board of Missions (which has charge of both home and foreign missions), the Executive Board, the Board of Education, and the legal body, the Corporation, which consists of the Speaker, the Treasurer, the Journalizing Secretary, the Transcribing Secretary and the members of the Board of Publication, the Board of Missions, the Executive Board, and the Board of Education. Its function is to hold and control the property of the General Eldership.

      Four of these boards, as well as the Corporation, represent the General Eldership specifically; [68] the Executive Board represents it generally, and more fully than any other board. It does such work as commonly comes to it, and also such work as cannot be done by the other boards. These four boards do not have much to do with the application and execution of our laws. They are elected to manage publishing, missionary, and educational interests.

      The Executive Board, on the other hand, largely exercises the judicial and executive functions of the General Eldership. For instance, it has, according to Article 12 of the Constitution, "the right and power to remove from office, in case of misdemeanor or malfeasance in office, any of the officers or agents of the General Eldership, and to fill all vacancies which may occur." In order to do this it is necessary for the Executive Board to investigate the case, interpret and apply the law, and determine who may be guilty "of misdemeanor or malfeasance in office." In so doing, the Executive Board is exercising judicial functions. In removing the guilty one from office, it exercises executive functions.

      This article was amended by the General Eldership of 1905 so as to extend the jurisdiction of the Executive Board "to all cases under the [69] Constitution not otherwise provided for," and to permit it to "act as a court of intermediate appeal in such other cases." In dealing with officials or agents of the General Eldership, the Executive Board inflicts the penalty for guilt. In dealing with the other persons, "the judgment of the Board shall be certified to the annual Eldership of which the accused is a member, or to its Standing Committee" for appropriate action. The annual Eldership should, of course, report its actions in such cases to the Executive Board, that the General Eldership may in due time learn whether its jurisdiction and judgment have been properly regarded.

      What is embodied in the foregoing amendment in general terms is stated more specifically in Article 27, which reads as follows:

      "Section 1. All matters of controversy, difficulties and wrongs which may occur in any Eldership shall be investigated and settled by the proper tribunals thereof. And in all these cases the action of the Eldership having jurisdiction over the same shall be final, except when an appeal is taken from its decision to the General Eldership, or its Executive Board. And in that case notice thereof must be given to the President of the [70] Eldership and to appellee within thirty days after the trial of the case.

      "Section 2. The Executive Board of the General Eldership shall be an intermediate court of appeal in such cases.

      "Section 3. In no case shall it be deemed expedient or lawful for the members or tribunals of any other annual Eldership to interfere with such matters. And in case of such interference it shall be the duty of the General Eldership, or its Executive Board, to hear all complaints or charges that may be made, and if the same shall be sustained, said judgments shall be certified to the annual Eldership of which the accused is a member, or to its Standing Committee, which shall take suitable action in accordance therewith."

      There are times when difficulties occur in an annual Eldership that are not satisfactorily settled, and from the decision of which an appeal is taken to the General Eldership. If this occurs shortly after a meeting of the General Eldership, these difficulties must remain in an unsettled condition for nearly four years, sometimes to the great detriment of the churches. The purpose of Sections 1 and 2 of the foregoing article is to [71] make the Executive Board "an intermediate court of appeal in such cases," in the hope that such difficulties may be settled at once.

      Law, penalty, judgment and execution are the elements of true government. The General Eldership provides law. Sometimes it inflicts the penalties through its Executive Board, and in other cases this is left to the annual Elderships. In the first case the Executive Board must render judgment and execution, and in the second judgment only.

      The General Eldership, in Article 26 of its Constitution, gives its Executive Board original jurisdiction "in all controversies and difficulties arising between the members of any two or more annual Elderships." Provision is made for an appeal to be taken, in the usual way, from the decision of the Executive Board to the General Eldership.

      The General Eldership long ago, in Article 25, pledged itself to "assiduously guard against schisms in the churches and earnestly labor and pray for the promotion of Christian union, and harmony, and peace." The General Eldership in 1902, and again in 1905, amended this article so that section 2 now reads: [72]

      "That the method shall be, upon information of irregularities in teaching, practice, or polity, furnished by an Annual Eldership or its Standing Committee, or, in the absence of such official information, upon due information obtained otherwise, for the General Eldership, or its Executive Board, to express its judgment on matters thus brought before it, and require the Annual Eldership, or Elderships, involved to carry said judgment into effect."

      This not only prescribes the method of procedure, but also authorizes the Executive Board to act, so as to prevent destructive schisms which might occur while waiting for the General Eldership to meet.

      From what has been said it will be seen that the General Eldership has a form of government with all the elements necessary for its proper management and control; that its Constitution is not like the first "Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union Between the States," which formed by "a rope of sand." Instead of this we have, like the present government of the United States, law and the power to enforce them.

      This idea of government is not a new one. It has been in the Constitution from the beginning. [73] The first General Eldership, in 1845, after framing a Constitution substantially the same as our present one, adopted and signed the following resolution in order to ratify it:

      "Resolved, That we, the undersigned ministers and bishops of the Church of God, being assembled in General Eldership, and having maturely considered and amended the several articles of the foregoing Constitution, do, for the declarative glory of God, for the good of his Church, for the better government of ourselves, and for the more efficient co-operation with each other, establish, confirm, ratify and adopt the same."

      This was signed by the thirteen delegates present, the name of John Winebrenner heading the list. It shows that the provision of the Constitution were intended for "government," as well as "co-operation."

      The actions of the General Eldership, and the provisions of its Constitution, are reasonable and wise. Instead of despising government, we should respect it. Without it, neither the rights of individuals nor the protection of general interests can be assured. When law is properly respected and obeyed it prevents confusion and [74] promotes order; it commands confidence and encourages activity; it prevents wrong-doing and helps us "to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

      In pointing out the principal methods by which our form of government is made operative, we have called attention to only a few of the thirty-three Articles that compose the Constitution of the General Eldership. The reason is, that most of these Articles deal with the ordinary duties of officers and agents of the General Eldership, and with such duties of its several boards as are easily understood, and which do not pertain primarily to our church polity. The only exception is the Executive Board, which has much to do in our general government. Quite a number of duties are specifically delegated to it, and in addition to these it is given jurisdiction over "all cases under the Constitution not otherwise provided for." That is, any case that cannot properly go before any other board or body must go before the Executive Board. It is also empowered to "act as a court of intermediate appeal in such other cases." The General Eldership has made its laws, but it is not in session to interpret, apply and execute them. This duty it has therefore [75] delegated to its Executive Board, thus vesting it with both judicial and executive powers. And in this way our church government is in constant operation.

      There is a sense in which we have personal and local interests, and sentimental preferences; but in the work of the General Eldership we must manifest equal concern for all of the interests, Elderships, churches and individuals within our borders. Our local success depends upon our general success. Our churches cannot prosper without the prosperity of our publishing, educational and missionary interests. The prosperity of these general enterprises depends upon the co-operation of the entire brotherhood according to the rules and regulations that govern us. The purpose of our constitutional provisions, therefore, is, as the framers of our first General Eldership Constitution broadly stated it, the glory of God and the good of his Church. [76]

[PCG 57-76]