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Note 6.—Each church owes courtesy and comity, fellowship and fraternity, to all others; but it owes subjection and allegiance to none, and is under authority to Christ alone.

Note 7.—In matters of business and in the exercise of its authority in administration, the will of the church is expressed by a majority vote of its members. But the nearer that majority approaches to unanimity, the more satisfactory and emphatic are its decisions.

Note 8.—Councils may be called, presbyteries convened, or committees of reference chosen for advice in cases of moment, but they are all advisory only, and in no case authoritative. There is no higher, and no other court of appeal in ecclesiastical affairs, than the individual church.

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church officers [1]

The Scriptural officers of a church are bishops and deacons. Bishops are in the New Testament also called “presbyters,” “elders,” and “overseers.” Their duties and services have mainly reference to the spiritual interests of the body, though they properly have the oversight of all its concerns. The deacons have principal charge of the temporalities of the church, so as to relieve the pastor in that department of labor. They are, however, to be counselors and helpers of the pastor in all departments of his work. The qualifications for both offices are set forth in the Epistles to Timothy and Titus.