CHURCH OFFICER • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Church officer

... appointed head. By the command of God all the members of that household are required to yield him reverence and obedience. But he can not carry his parental authority into the church or the state; nor can he appear in his family as a magistrate or church officer. The obedience due to him is that which belongs to a father, and not to a civil or ecclesiastical officer, and his children are not required to obey him in either of those capacities. In like manner the officers of the church have within ...

— Cotton is King and The Pro-Slavery Arguments • Various