fellowship

Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.

Companionship; consort; society.--Johnson. With us it is often used in religious writings and discourses instead of the word communion, to denote "mutual intercourse or union in religious worship, or in doctrine and discipline."


TO FELLOWSHIP

A verb formed from the preceding noun. To fellowship with, is to hold communion with; to unite with in doctrine and discipline. This barbarism now appears with disgusting frequency in the reports of ecclesiastical conventions, &c., and in the religious newspapers generally. Mr. Pickering, in the Supplement to his Vocabulary, says he had just become acquainted with the word. The following is the first example which he gives:

We considered him heretical, essentially unsound in the faith; and on this ground refused fellowship with him.--Address to the Christian Public, Greenfield, 1813.

If the Christian Alliance could not fellowship with the Southern slaveholders for gain, they ought to say so outright.--Speech at the Christian Alliance Conference, May 8, 1847.

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