The government or conduct of the affairs of a church; the form of polity upon which a church is organized for the exercise of authority and discipline, as Episcopal, Presbyterian, Congregational.
1594. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., III. (1617), 91. I somewhat maruaile that they especially should thinke it absurd to oppose Church-Gouernement … vnto matters of Faith.
1670. Walton, Life Hooker, 37. Able to … determine what laws were fit to be made concerning church-government.
1882. J. Taylor, Sc. Covenanters, 19. The Presbyterian system of Church-government was re-established.
