On Electing Ruling Elders

Concerning the persons who are properly entitled to vote in such an election, there has been some diversity of opinion.  That all the male members of the church in what is called “full communion” have this right, there can be no question.  In this, all are agreed.  But, it has been maintained, not indeed with the same unanimity, yet it is believed by a large majority of the most judicious and enlightened judges, and probably on the most correct principles, that all baptized members of the church, who must be, of course, regarded as subject to the government and discipline administered by these rulers, are entitled to a voice in their election.  And, where there are female heads of families who bear the relation of membership to the church in either of the senses just mentioned, and who are not represented by some qualified male relative on the occasion, it has been judged proper to allow them to vote in the choice of ruling elders, as is generally the case in the choice of a pastor.

From: An Essay on the Warrant, Nature, and Duties of the Office of the Ruling Elder in the Presbyterian Church, Together with a Sermon on the Ruling Elder Preached in Philadelphia, May 22, 1843 by Samuel Miller; reprint (Dallas: Presbyterian Heritage Publications, 1999), pp. 266-267.  First published (minus the sermon) in 1831.  The sermon was first published in 1844.

Samuel Miller (1769-1850) was Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Church Government at Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey, from 1813 to 1848.

 

Faith Shown by Works

My hearers, can they who are dead to sin live any longer therein?  Can they whose temper necessarily and uniformly includes a hatred to every wicked and false way be still found to delight in pursuing them?  (Can he whose heart is filled with love to God frequently and habitually allow himself to practice those things which he knows are hateful in his sight?)  Can they who delight in holiness and who take pleasure in obeying all the divine commandments, notwithstanding this, prefer a course of known and deliberate sin?  My hearers, these suppositions are all contradictory and, therefore, impossible.  They are as inconsistent with truth and the nature of things as to imagine that all the habits and inclinations of any mind may be pure and holy, but that it may, notwithstanding this, be generally inclined to those things which are wicked and unlawful in their nature.

We are led, then, by a very natural and easy process to the desired conclusion.  If faith can exist in no other mind than that which is renewed and sanctified by the Holy Ghost; if every soul that is thus renewed and sanctified is under the government of gracious principles and holy dispositions; if it be impossible, as has been proved, for any soul who is under the government of these dispositions to avoid correspondent acts of the will, or holy actions, then it is evident that there is an infallible and necessary condition between faith and good works.

From: “Faith Shewn by Works,” a sermon on James 2:18, preached by Samuel Miller at Dover, Delaware, on October 26, 1792.  At the time he preached this sermon, Miller was just shy of his 22nd birthday and was still a licentiate of his Presbytery.  Published in The Confessional Presbyterian: A Journal for Discussion of Presbyterian Doctrine & Practice, 1 (2005), p. 5.

Samuel Miller (1769-1850) was Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Church Government at Princeton Theological Seminary, in Princeton, New Jersey (1813-1850).  He was the second full-time professor to be appointed to the faculty.

 

Usefulness of Creeds and Confessions

It is easy to show that confessions of faith, judiciously drawn and solemnly adopted by particular churches, are not only invaluable as bonds of union and fences against error, but that they also serve an important purpose, as accredited manuals of Christian doctrine, well fitted for the instruction of those private members of churches who have neither leisure nor habits of thinking sufficiently close, to draw from the sacred writings themselves a consistent system of truth.  It is of incalculable use to the individual who has but little time for reading, and but little acquaintance with books, to be furnished with a clear and well arranged compend of doctrine, which he is authorized to regard, not as a work of a single, enlightened, and pious divine, but as drawn out and adopted by the collected wisdom of the church to which he belongs.  There is often a satisfaction to plain, unsophisticated minds, not to be described, in going over such a compend, article by article, examining the proofs adduced from the Word of God in support of each, and “searching the Scriptures daily to see whether these things which it teaches are so or not” (cf. Acts 17:11).

From: Doctrinal Integrity: On the Utility and Importance of Creeds and Confessions and Adherence to Our Doctrinal Standards by Samuel Miller (Dallas: Presbyterian Heritage Publications, 1989), p. 28.

This material was originally published as two separate books: The Utility and Importance of Creeds and Confessions: Addressed Particularly to Candidates for the Ministry by Samuel Miller (Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1824) and Adherence to Our Doctrinal Standards: Letters to Presbyterians on the Present Crisis in the Presbyterian Church in the United States by Samuel Miller (Philadelphia: Anthony Finley, 1833).

The Rev. Samuel Miller (1769-1850) served as a Presbyterian pastor in New York, New York for over 20 years.  In 1813, he was selected as the second Professor at Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey.  For over 35 years, he labored there as the Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Church Government.