Excerpt from Proceedings of the Seventh General Council of the Alliance of Reformed Churches Holding the Presbyterian System: Held at Washington, D. C., 1899 The Washington Council was the seventh in order of the great gatherings of Reformed and Presbyterian Churches, by which these exhibit to the world their Spiritual unity as forming one body in Christ. The project Of a world-wide Visible Church organization has never been countenanced by the Alliance. On the contrary, this has always maintained that Spiritual unity is quite compatible with Visible separation, and has confined itself to promoting among its members a more distinct consciousness Of the unity already existing between them, and to encouraging them to oo-operate in the matters whereunto they are already agreed. A Visible and universal Church organization can never be regarded as the only or even the best method for manifesting to the world the true oneness of the believers in Christ Jesus. Such a method may be in harmony with the system that characterises the Roman Catholic Church, or find favor in the eyes Of even some Protestants, but is as unwarranted by Scripture teaching as it would be perilous to spiritual life. The method adopted by the Alliance is one wholly different. On every side this sees numerous branches of the Christian Church, many Of which have existed for lengthened periods, and in ways many and important, done good service in the cause of Christ. Recognizing these facts, it assumes that these Churches will continue to exist, and urges them to group themselves together according to some recognized principle of association, be this doctrine, polity, worship, or what it may, and thus Show before the world their true inner unity. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

With relative documents bearing on the affairs of the Council and the state of the Presbyterian Churches throughout the world

This fascinating volume collects the proceedings of the General Council, a key moment in the history of the Presbyterian Church. The Alliance of Reformed Churches Holding the Presbyterian System discusses issues such as church governance, theological debates, and pastoral care. This book sheds new light on the challenges and opportunities facing the church at this critical juncture. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.