Private persons separating from al synne, and joyning together to obey Christ their, king, priest and prophet, as they are bound, are a true visi-ble Church, and haue a Charter given them of Christ therto, being but two or three. Mat. 18,20. Smyth and his company constituted their first church by covenant, ‘the Lord assisting them’. The visible church thus constituted was seen as the ‘only

doi:10.4324/9780203166505-115

Chapter

Private persons separating from al synne, and joyning together to obey Christ their, king, priest and prophet, as they are bound, are a true visi-ble Church, and haue a Charter given them of Christ therto, being but two or three. Mat. 18,20. Smyth and his company constituted their first church by covenant, ‘the Lord assisting them’. The visible church thus constituted was seen as the ‘only

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ABSTRACT

Smyth’s appreciation for ministry does not cloud his view of where church authority begins. ‘The brethren joyntly have all powre both of the Kingdom & preisthood immediately from Christ & that by vertue of the covenant God maketh with them.’ But in spite of the gift of this power to and its nominal retention by the congregation, elders normally exercise ‘the publique actions of the Church, eyther of the Kingdom or preisthood’ on its behalf. The only powers which elders may not exercise on their own are ‘Elections & communication’. Moreover, ‘the presbytery hath no powre, but what the Church hath & giveth vnto it: which the Church vppon just cause can take away’. In a doctrine later rejected by General Baptists, in the interim between elders, the church may preach the word and administer the sacraments on its own.13