stantially by the last Assembly (see Minutes, page 12);* and whilst they recommend that the party asking it be referred to that response, they also recommend that the Assembly affirm the impropriety of a church court reaching and recording such grave result of discipline as excommunication from the church without a strict adherence to those forms of fair, impartial trial by which alone the result may be justified. If an accused person confess judgment, the actual process may be shortened, but should not be dispensed with.

The reply of the Committee was adopted.-1866, p. 268, N. S.

4. The vote of the Session is the Reception to Membership.-It must involve Baptism.-The Use and Authority of Local Confessions and Covenants.

The Committee on Bills and Overtures reported on Overture No. 9, making inquiry concerning the relation of persons received, by act of session, during the interval of such reception and the subsequent sacramental Sabbath. The report was adopted, and is as follows:

In answer to the several questions contained in the above overture, the Assembly refers to the Form of Government, chapter ix., section 6, in which the reception of "members into the church" is expressly specified as one of the duties and powers of the church session. For this purpose the Session is the church, and its act of admission the act of the church. When, therefore, an applicant for admission by letter is received by a vote of the session, he is at once a member of the church, entitled to all the privileges, and subject to all the responsibilities, of this relation.

The same rule equally applies to candidates for admission into the church on a profession of their faith. The vote of the session is the essential and final act by which they are thus received, and needs no subsequent action of the church to give it reality or validity. The administration of baptism according to the word of God, in the case of unbaptized persons, must, of course, be involved in, and attendant upon, this sessional act, either at the time, which would be entirely proper, or at a subsequent period appointed for this purpose. The session, if thus choosing, may prescribe a public profession of faith before the whole church. as a convenient usage, and for this purpose may employ a church confession and covenant. This is the practice with many sessions, and, where this practice is adopted, it is proper that the officiating minister or clerk of the session should report a statement of the fact in accordance therewith, and that the report should be formally entered upon the record of the session.

It is well, however, to remember that the confessions of faith and covenants in use among local churches, though regarded by many as convenient and useful, and certainly sanctioned by a very prevalent usage, are nevertheless not essential to the organization of a church, or the establishment of membership therein, since they are not the authoritative standard of faith or practice in the Presbyterian Church. Such confessions and covenants, with the accompanying form of a public profession, may or may not be used, as shall seem most expedient to the session. Whether used or not, the vote of the session is, by the constitution of the Presbyterian Church, the act on which the membership depends, and, in all cases, the records of the session should be made to correspond with this fundamental principle of the polity of the Church.

*The response was, "That the party asking the above question be referred to the Book of Discipline, chap. iv., and that such session be urged to follow strictly the order laid down therein."-1865, p. 12, N. S.

These principles cover all the points submitted in the above overture. Their application is simple, and hence the Assembly sees no occasion for giving a more detailed and specific answer to the several questions presented for its consideration.—1865, pp. 22, 23, N. S.

5. An Unbaptized Person applying for Admission to the Church must be Baptized.

The Committee on the Polity of the Church reported an overture, asking "whether a vote of a session entitles a person to the privileges of the church, who is not baptized and has not made a public profession of faith." They recommended the following answer:

The vote of session does not entitle an unbaptized person to the privileges of the church, for the reason that baptism, as our Confession of Faith declares (chap. xxviii., sec. 1), is declared to be a sacrament for the solemn admission of the party baptized into the visible Church.

The public profession of one's faith may for sufficient reasons, as our Directory of Worship allows, be omitted; but the exceptional case does not respect baptism, which precedes the admission of the party to the Lord's table. The vote of the session to this effect must be conditioned upon the baptism, and can in no case be a substitute for the sacrament itself. The report was adopted.-1867, p. 496, N. S.

See Directory for Worship, chap. ix., sec. iv.

6. Members of other Churches should be Received only on Certificate.

Nor can the Assembly forbear to regret that the session of the church of Chillicothe had not acted in a more formal manner in receiving Mr. McCalla, and had not required a regular certificate of dismission from the church to which Mr. McCalla belonged before they received him.-1821, p. 21. [See Form of Government, chap. xi., sec. i.]

7. Members should be Received to the Church only by a Session Regularly Constituted.

The Committee to whom was referred the subject involved in so much of the records of the Synod of Cincinnati as relates to the admission of persons to church privileges at the great meetings common in that region, made the following report, which was adopted, viz.:

That they have given this subject a careful consideration, and recommend the adoption of the following resolutions, viz.:

a. 1. Resolved, That the order of the churches requires that all persons making a public profession of religion, be introduced to the communion of the church only by an individual session regularly constituted.

b. 2. Resolved, That it is the right and duty of sessions to take the exclusive oversight of their respective congregations, and the practice of one session admitting to a Christian profession persons belonging or intending to belong to a congregation under the care of another session, is irregular.-1832, p. 373.

c. The same Committee reported an overture, asking if it be in accordance with ecclesiastical law and order in the Church, to receive members of another church who have not been regularly dismissed, with a view to such a change of relation.

The Committee recommended that, so far as churches in our own connection are concerned, the question be answered in the negative, and refer to the Book of Discipline, chap. xi., sec. 1.

The report was adopted.-1868, p. 58, N. S.

8. Representation in the Superior Courts Required.

a. Mr. McNish's reasons for not bringing an elder or representative with him, were heard and sustained.

Mr. Henry's representative of the congregation being absent, and his reasons for not coming being inquired into, he said the present condition of his people made it necessary that there should be a particular collection made by the congregation for defraying the charges of the representative to the Presbytery, and it was allowed that there should.

The reasons of Mr. Pumry's elder's absence were inquired into and sustained.-1716, p. 43.

b. The Synod do recommend it to the several Presbyteries belonging to their body to call those sessions to account that do not send elders to attend upon the Synod and Presbyteries, and to enjoin these sessions to call those elders to account that do not attend upon judicatories, when sent by them.-1753, p. 256.

9. Attendance on the Superior Courts Enforced.

a. Upon calling over the roll it being found that many of the elders have gone home without leaving any reasons for their so doing, the Synod do order that such elders as do withdraw from the Synod without leave, shall be left to the censure of their sessions, and report made thereof to the next Synod. And the Synod do recommend it to the several congregations to defray the necessary charges that their elders be at, during their attendance upon the Synod.-1735, p. 117.

b. The records of the Synod of Pittsburg were approved, with the exception, "that ruling elders were not called upon for reasons for absence, as in the case of teaching elders.-1859, p. 531, O. S.

10. The same Elder must Represent his Church at an Adjourned Meeting who Represented it at the Stated Meeting.

Exception to the records of the Synod of Columbus, "That on p. 73, this minute is made: Your Committee would recommend that Overture No. 2, 'Can a Session be represented by a different elder at adjourned meetings of Presbytery, be answered in the affirmative. Adopted.' This action of the Synod is in direct variance with a deliverance of the Assembly of 1827."-1872, p. 68.

The deliverance referred to is as follows, viz.:

Resolved, That in the judgment of this General Assembly, the construction of the Constitution, (Form of Government, chap. xxii., sec. 1,) which allows commissioners, after holding their seats for a time, to resign. them to their alternates, or which allows alternates to sit for a while and then resign their places to their principals, is erroneous; that the practice growing out of this construction is inexpedient; and that it ought to be discontinued. [Adopted.]-Minutes, 1827, p. 209.

[See the deliverance in full, Form of Government, chap. xxii., sec. ii., on commissioners to the General Assembly. The reasoning adopted by the Assembly, however, applies to the case in hand only when a given subject is adjourned over, as a trial begun, etc. The Assembly of 1827 evidently had not adjourned meetings of Presbyteries in mind.]

11. The Session has no Power to Prohibit Collections Ordered by the Assembly.

a. Ordered, That every minister, according to our former agreement, propose the collection for the fund to his congregation, and as it is a syn

odical appointment, it is inconsistent with our Church government to be under the check or prohibition of a church session; they indeed may give or withhold their charity, but may not prevent a minister to propose it publicly, according to our appointment. Ordered, likewise, That every Presbytery take care of the conduct of their members, how they observe this agreement previous to their coming to the Synod, and that they gather the collection from absent members.-1755, p. 215.

b. Whereas, it appears that some of the congregations under the care of this Assembly, though duly informed of the injunction made at our last sessions respecting the raising of contributions for the support of missionaries to the frontiers of the country, have not complied with the same, the Assembly, therefore, thought proper to continue the above-mentioned order, and do hereby enjoin it on all the Presbyteries to give particular attention that every congregation raise the specified contribution, and that all the contributions be sent forward as soon as possible to the treasurer of the General Assembly.-1790, p. 24.

For powers of the session over house of worship, see under chap. ii., sec. iv., v., a. b. above.

For powers of session over church music, see Directory for Worship, chap. iv., sec. iv.

For powers of the session when a congregation is vacant and in settling a minister, see Form of Government, chap. xv., sec. i., par. i., ii. and iv.

VII. The pastor has power to convene the session when he may judge it requisite; and he shall always convene them when requested to do so by any two of the elders. The session shall also convene when directed so to do by the Presbytery.

VIII. Every session shall keep a fair record of its proceedings, which record shall be at least once in every year submitted to the inspection of the Presbytery.

1. The Records Should be Full.

It appearing from the official certificates of the stated clerks of all the courts below, that important documents in evidence before the session which first tried the case of Beck and McMahon were not sent up to the Presbytery and Synod, it is therefore ordered that this case be sent back to the Presbytery of Charleston for a new trial, and that the session of the church of Columbia be directed to correct their record, and to send to the Presbytery an authentic copy of all the evidence and all the documents before them.-1843, p. 186, O. S.

2. Testimony in Judicial Cases must be Engrossed upon the Records.

Also Overture No. 6, from the Presbytery of Catskill, asking whether, in cases of judicial process by church sessions, the testimony of witnesses should be engrossed on the Book of Permanent Record. The Committee recommended that the following answer be given:

The testimony of witnesses, in all cases of judicial process by church sessions, should be engrossed on the Book of Permanent Records. The end to be secured by such a record is indicated in our Book of Discipline, chap. iv., sec. xxiii., where it is required that everything which had an influence on the judgment of the court must be exhibited by the record.

Files are liable to be separated from the Book of Permanent Records, and nothing but what is contained in the Record may be taken into consideration in reviewing the proceedings in a superior court.

The recommendation was adopted.-1862, p. 34, N. S.

3. Records once Approved by a Superior Judicatory may not be Altered by the Inferior.

Also Overture No. 7, from the session of the Church of Wabash, Indiana, on the following questions:

1. After the records of a church session have been examined and approved by the Presbytery, and those of the Presbytery in like manner approved by the Synod, has either the session or the Presbytery a right or any authority to change or erase the record?

2. If not, has the session any legal right to make a second record declaring the first erroneous and void?

The Committee recommended that the following answer be given:

A record, once approved by a higher court, cannot be altered or annulled by a lower one. If there be an error in the record, the remedy is to be sought by an application to the highest judicatory that has endorsed such mistake.

The recommendation was adopted.-1862, p. 34, N. S.

IX. It is important that every church session keep a fair register of marriages; of baptisms, with the times of the birth of the individuals baptized; of persons admitted to the Lord's table, and of the deaths, and other removals of church members.

4. Statistical Reports should show only the Actual Membership. Resolved, That the Presbyteries be instructed to institute inquiries among the several churches under their care, as to the number of their communicants; so that it may be ascertained, that the utmost care has been taken to clear their church registers of all deceased, dismissed, and lost members; and that it may thus be known what is the actual membership of each of their churches.-1869, p. 272, N. S.

[See Discipline, chap. x., on Jurisdiction.

5. Ordained Ministers not to be Enrolled as Members of the Church they. Serve.

Whether ordained ministers of the gospel ought not to be considered church members, and to have their names enrolled on the sessional records of the church, where they are settled as pastors, or stated supplies, which question the Committee recommended to be answered in the negative. Adopted.-1843, p. 176, O. S.