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Resolved, That he retain his seat as a member of the Assembly.-1835, P. 471.

b. But the Time of its Exercise may be left to the Decision of the Church. In defining its own action, the Assembly is not to be understood as deciding that in any case the actual service of the eldership should be either permanent or limited; but while the office is perpetual, the time of its exercise in each individual congregation may be left to the decision of the church itself, according to the mode approved and in use in such church.— 1872, p. 75.

2. Restoration to Church Privileges does not Restore to the Eldership.

When an elder has been suspended from church privileges and again restored to the privileges of the church, is he also restored to his office as a ruling elder?

The two things are distinct; and since an elder as well as a minister may be suspended from his office and not from the communion of the Church, so there may be reasons for continuing his suspension from his office after he is restored to the privileges of the Church. He cannot be restored to the functions of his office without a special and express act of the session for that purpose, with the acquiescence of the Church.-1836, p. 263.

3. An Elder without Charge can Sit in no Church Court. Resolved, That no ruling elder who has retired from the active exercise of his office in the church to which he belongs can be admitted as a member of a Presbytery, Synod or General Assembly.-1835, p. 489.

VII. Whenever a ruling elder or deacon, from either of these causes or from any other, not inferring crime, shall be incapable of serving the Church to edification, the session shall take order on the subject and state the fact, together with the reasons of it, on their records; provided always, that nothing of this kind shall be done without the concurrence of the individual in question, unless by the advice of Presbytery.

1. Elders who cannot Acquiesce in the Decisions of the Superior Courts should Resign.

A petition from the members of the session of the Third Presbyterian Church in this city, asking advice of this Synod with respect to the execution of their office in consequence of the judgment of the Synod respecting that church. After it was duly considered, they returned the following answer, viz.: The Synod advise them to continue to act as elders, but in case they cannot, consistently with what they apprehend to be their duty, continue as such and act upon the decisions of Synod, that they may resign their office, and the congregation proceed to choose other elders who may have freedom to act according to the determinations of the Synod.-1772, p. 435.

2. Ruling Elders may Cease to Act in order to Promote the Peace of the Church.

a. The Assembly earnestly recommend to the whole session, including the majority and the minority, in view of the state of the Fifth Church, to take the constitutional steps and cease from acting as ruling elders in that congregation, and that the entire Church take immediate measures to elect a new bench of elders, with a view to promote the peace of the Church and secure the permanent settlement of the gospel ministry among them. And further, that it be recommended to the persons so elected not to accept the office unless they shall obtain the suffrages of at least two-thirds of the electors participating in the election.-1834, p. 453. 3. The Superior Court directs an Elder to Cease to Act. With the consent of parties, the complaint (of Mr. William B. Guild against the Synod of New Jersey) is sustained "pro forma," but under existing circumstances in the congregation Mr. Guild shall cease to act as a ruling elder in the Third Church at Newark, N. J.-1863, p. 35, O. S.

[The complaint was that the Synod had by a Committee visited the Third Church to see if any member of the session was unacceptable to the people.]

4. The Presbytery, without the Request of the Session or of Members of the Church, may declare that an Elder shall Cease to Act.

Overture No. 46, from the session of the Presbyterian Church at Ironton, Missouri, in reference to the power of the Presbytery to declare that a member of the session shall cease to be an acting elder without any request from the session or any members of the church.

The Committee would recommend the following answer (see Form of Government, chap. x., sec. viii.): Presbytery has power to visit particular churches for the purpose of inquiring into their state, and redressing the evils that may have arisen in them, and to order whatever pertains to their spiritual welfare, without being requested by the session. The report was adopted.-1869, p. 924, O. S.

5. If a Member of Session be Unacceptable, and the Matter cannot be Arranged by Consent, the proper step is to Memorialize Presbytery.

Overture No. 20, from two members of the General Assembly, with the inquiry: "Has a church session the right to submit to their church members the acceptableness or non-acceptableness of the acting board of ruling elders, or any portion of the board, and to ask the church to settle the question by a vote of the members ?"

In case of unacceptableness on the part of any member of a church session, and the matter cannot be amicably arranged by consent of parties, the proper method of redress is by memorializing the Presbytery to give such direction as in its judgment the necessities of the case may require, under the provisions of the Form of Government, chap. xiii.-1867, p. 369, O. S.

The report was adopted.

6. When an Elder resigns, the Presbytery is not Competent to order his Restoration.

Dr. S. F. Day, declining to have his children baptized, his wife being a Baptist, the session of the Wooster church, in which he was an elder, was advised by the Presbytery that in such a case (proposed in thesi) the elder should be removed from office. Hereupon Dr. Day gave notice to the session that he resigned the eldership. At a subsequent meeting of Presbytery, upon a memorial from Dr. Day, the Presbytery reconsidered its action, and ordered the session to restore him. Upon appeal the Synod sustained the Presbytery. A complaint was taken up by the pastor, the Rev. James H. Baird, and by the session. The following was the decision. [See Baird's Digest, p. 70.]

Whereas, It appears from the record that Dr. Day was removed from the session of the church of Wooster by his own resignation of his office in that church, and not by the judicial action of the session, it was not competent to the Presbytery to order his restoration to office by the session; and therefore the judgment of the Synod of Ohio confirming such action of the Presbytery was erroneous and ought to be and is hereby reversed, and the complaint of the session, so far as it relates to this point, is sustained.--1854, p. 33, O. S.

[See above, chap. ix., sec. ii., c, for a case where an elder refuses to act, and has left the church.-1869, p. 912, O. S.]

7. The Official Relations of an Elder to his Church terminate with his Dismission.

The Presbytery of Iowa City desire the Assembly "to determine when the rights and privileges of ruling elders and private members cease, on their receiving letters of dismission; and whether the same rule obtains as in the dismission of ministers from a Presbytery."

The Assembly reply:

The established rule of the Presbyterian Church in relation to the dismission of a minister from his Presbytery is "that in all ordinary cases all the rights and privileges of an individual in a Presbytery cease when at his request his dismission is granted."

He may, however, within any reasonable time before he has used his letter of dismission, return it to the Presbytery, and then claim all his former rights and privileges; but until he has used his letter he is amenable to the Presbytery which has dismissed him.

[See Digest, New, chap. ii., sec. viii.]

Your Committee have not been able to find any specific rule in our Form of Government or in the Digest in relation to the dismission of ruling elders or of private members from any particular church, indicating the precise time when their rights and privileges in that church from which, at their own request, they may be dismissed cease; but we have no hesitation in declaring our belief that the same guardian care which is extended over dismissed members is, by the very genius and intent of our excellent Form of Government, designed also for the protection of regularly dismissed elders and private members, as well as for the preservation of the peace and purity of the Church.

We therefore respectfully recommend to this Assembly the adoption of the following resolutions: That,

1. The dismission of a ruling elder by letter from a church terminates his official relations with that church.

2. A letter of dismission, whether issued to a ruling elder or private member, terminates the relations of the person dismissed with the church giving the letter, except so far as said church is responsible for its watch and care over him during the period of transition.

3. These rights and privileges can be regained in that church by returning the letters of dismission to the authority which gave them.

4. These rights and privileges can be secured in any other church within the jurisdiction of this General Assembly, by virtue of such certificates, provided they are presented to the session thereof within one year from their date; and until they are presented such persons are amenable to the church from which the certificates were received.-1867, p. 512, N. S. [The "Rights and Privileges" referred to in sec. iv. are those of membership only. An elder can exercise his office only by virtue of an election.]

8. The Return of a Letter Unused Restores to Official Position.

The Committee on Polity reported the following case and question: Mr. C., an acting elder of the church of C., having taken a certificate of dismission, and having retained it about three years, returned it to the session of the church of C., giving satisfactory reasons for not using it, and was restored to the membership of the church. Does the receiving again by the session reinstate Mr. C. as an acting elder of the church of C.?

The Committee recommended that the answer be in the affirmative.
The report was adopted.-1868, p. 58, N. S.

CHAPTER XIV.

OF LICENSING CANDIDATES OR PROBATIONERS TO PREACH THE GOSPEL.

I. THE Holy Scriptures require that some trial be previously had of those who are to be ordained to the ministry of the gospel, that this sacred office may not be degraded by being committed to weak or unworthy men; and that the churches may have an opportunity to form a better judgment respecting the talents of those by whom they are to be instructed and governed. For this purpose Presbyteries shall license probationers to preach the gospel, that after a competent trial of their talents, and receiving from the churches a good report, they may in due time ordain them to the sacred office.

1. Preaching without Licensure Condemned as Irregular. a. Upon information that David Evan, a lay person, had taken upon him publicly to teach or preach among the Welsh in the Great Valley, Chester county, it was unanimously agreed that the said Evan had done very ill and acted irregularly in thus invading the work of the ministry, and was thereupon censured."

Agreed that the most proper method for advancing David Evan in necessary literature to prepare him for the work of the ministry is that he lay aside all other business for a twelvemonth, and apply himself

closely to learning and study under the direction of Mr. Andrews, and with the assistance of Mr. Wilson and Anderson, and that it be left to the discretion of the said ministers when to put said Evan on trials, and license him publicly to teach or preach.-1710, p. 17.

b. The Assembly disapproves the conduct of Mr. McCalla in preaching the gospel before he was regularly licensed.-1821, p. 21.

2. On the Licensing and Ordaining of Women to Preach the Gospel.

a. Overture No. 39, from the Presbytery of Brooklyn, requesting the Assembly to adopt and transmit to the Presbyteries for their approval such rules as shall forbid the licensing and ordaining of women to the gospel ministry, and the teaching and preaching of women in our pulpits, or in the public and promiscuous meetings of the Church of Christ.

The Committee recommend this answer: That there is no necessity for a change in the Constitution of the Church touching this question; and the memorialists are referred to the deliverance of the Assembly of 1832, which expresses the judgment of this Assembly.

Adopted.-1872, p. 89.

b. [The deliverance referred to is as follows, viz.:]

To

Meetings of pious women by themselves for conversation and prayer, whenever they can conveniently be held, we entirely approve. But let not the inspired prohibitions of the great apostle of the Gentiles, as found in his Epistles to the Corinthians and to Timothy, be violated. teach and exhort or to lead in prayer, in public and promiscuous assemblies, is clearly forbidden to women in the holy oracles.-Pastoral Letter, 1832, p. 378.

[See under chap. xii., sec. v., Letter No. 11.]

3. Education for the Ministry.

[For a full history of the early efforts of the Presbyterian Church to enlarge her ministry by aiding pious youth needing assistance, see Baird's Digest, Revised Edition, pp. 388-399.] In 1819 the Assembly resolved to establish a General Board of Education.-Minutes, 1819, p. 712, viz. :

a. The Board of Education Established.

The Committee appointed to draught a Constitution for establishing a General Board of Education, agreeably to the resolutions adopted by the Assembly on the subject, reported one, which being read and amended, was adopted, and is as follows, viz. :

I. There shall be a General Board of Education, known by the name of The Board of Education, under the care of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America.

II. The Board shall consist of thirty-six members, of whom there shall be twenty ministers and sixteen elders, one minister and one elder to be chosen from each Synod, and the remainder from Philadelphia and from a distance convenient to it. Seven members, including the President or Vice President, shall be a quorum to transact business.

III. The whole number of members shall be divided into four classes, one-fourth to be annually elected.

IV. The election of the members of the Board shall be made by nomination and ballot by the General Assembly.

V. The officers shall be a President, three Vice Presidents, a Recording

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