Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Congregationalism

Con′gre·ga′tion·al·ism (kŏn̲′grē·gā′shŭn·al·ĭz'm), n. 1. That system of church organization which vests all ecclesiastical power in the assembled brotherhood of each local church.

2. The faith and polity of the Congregational churches, taken collectively.

☞ In this sense (which is its usual signification) Congregationalism is the system of faith and practice common to a large body of evangelical Trinitarian churches, which recognize the local brotherhood of each church as independent of all dictation in ecclesiastical matters, but are united in fellowship and joint action, as in councils for mutual advice, and in consociations, conferences, missionary organizations, etc., and to whose membership the designation "Congregationalists" is generally restricted; but Unitarian and other churches are Congregational in their polity.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.