ECCLESIA: Church Problems Considered, IN A SERIES OF ESSAYS. EDITED BY HENRY ROBERT REYNOLDS, D.D., PRESIDENT OF CHESHUNT COLLEGE; FELLOW OF UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON. ADVERTISEMENT. R5 THE principles of self-government, and of personal and congregational freedom, are asserting themselves with great force through the entire ecclesiastical sphere. Reverence for conscience is widely associated with the craving for truth. Those who have enjoyed any special opportunities for acquiring knowledge, or whose opinions on controverted questions represent a peculiar phase of our national life, are encouraged to speak freely. The present is not, therefore, an inappropriate time for writers who have long been practically acquainted with the excellencies and aims of a considerable section of the Free Churches of Britain, to give combined utterance to some of the theological, ecclesiastical, and political principles, which are more or less embodied in these organizations. The following Essays have been written independently of each other. This circumstance may be held to explain occasional repetition of arguments from different points of view, and some variations of sentiment. The authors are severally and solely responsible for the ideas they have ventured to express. JANUARY, 1870. M313162 |