non-residence; and if not, that measures be taken to transfer the relation of such ministers to the Presbyteries in the bounds of which they reside. -1836, p. 272.

6. Ministers without Charge must Unite with the Presbytery within whose Bounds they Reside.

5. That ministers without charge are required to unite with that Presbytery, within the geographical limits of which they ordinarily reside, or are nearest to, and to which they shall be amenable for the proper charge of their ordination engagements.-1870, p. 88.

7. The above Rule Defined and Affirmed.

dis

The Committee on Bills and Overtures reported back Overture No. 32, which was adopted as explanatory of principle 5, page 88, of the Minutes of the Assembly of 1870, as follows:

The Assembly, in reconstructing the Church, did, by the act of reconstruction, design to return to the exact language of the Form of Government, which declares that a "Presbytery consists of all the ministers and one ruling elder from each congregation within a certain district. Ministers residing within the geographical limits of a Presbytery were, ipso facto (provided they were in good standing in the Presbytery to which they belonged), members of that Presbytery, and should have been so enrolled."

After the Presbyteries were reconstructed, all ministers uniting with them could only be received by regular letters of dismission and recommendation.

The Assembly also affirms the duty of ministers to unite with the Presbyteries within whose bounds they reside; except where their ministerial labors are in an adjacent Presbytery.-1872, p. 94.

[For a case where a minister was not in good standing, see Discipline, chap. x., sec. iii., 3, case of Jno. F. Severance.]

8. Presbyteries to be Defined by Geographical Lines or Lines of Travel.

1. That each several Presbytery, with the ministers and churches within its limits, be defined as to boundaries by geographical lines, or with respect to the most convenient lines of travel.-1870, p. 88.

9. Presbyteries may not be Organized so as to Cover the same

Ground.

a. A memorial from David M. Wilson, of the Presbytery of Kingston, Synod of Tennessee, praying this General Assembly to give an authoritative deliverance in reference to the right of a Synod to organize a colored Presbytery on territory included in Presbyteries already existing.

The Committee on Polity recommend that this request be granted, and that the authoritative deliverance be made according to the definition of a Presbytery, in chap. x., sec. ii., of our Form of Government, viz.: "A Presbytery consists of all the ministers, in numbers not less than five, and one ruling elder from each congregation within a certain district." The General Assembly must forbid the organization of more Presbyteries than one upon the same ground, allowing no distinctions of race or color, or language to interfere with the unity and simplicity of that oversight which the constitution of this Church requires. Adopted.-1873, p. 525.

b. The Committee (on Polity) would give the same reply to the application for a German Presbytery that was given to the application for a colored Presbytery. (See above.) Adopted.-1873, p. 539.

c. The Committee on the Records of the Synod of Tennessee recommended their approval, except that the organization of a Presbytery as authorized by the action of Synod, recorded on p. 361 (see a above), would be irregular, for the reason that the new Presbytery would cover territory already belonging to other Presbyteries, and the same territory thus come under the jurisdiction of different Presbyteries. Adopted.— 1873, p. 506.

III. Every congregation which has a stated pastor has a right to be represented by one elder; and every collegiate church by two or more elders, in proportion to the number of its pastors.

Overture No. 17, from a member of the Synod of Pittsburg, as follows: Is a church having two pastors, one aged or infirm, the other associate or co-pastor, entitled to two elders in Presbytery and Synod? Or what is the meaning of a "collegiate church," in chap. x., sec iii., of the Form of Government?

The Committee recommended this answer:

The general principle of our polity is that there shall be in our church courts an equal number of ministers and ruling elders. But vacant churches are entitled to a representation. The term "collegiate church" is used in two senses, first of a church with more than one pastor; second, of two or more churches united under the care of one pastor. The report was adopted.-1868, p. 651, O. S.

IV. Where two or more congregations are united under one pastor, all such congregations shall have but one elder to represent them.

1. United Congregations Represented by one Elder.

An overture from the Synod of Mississippi, asking, "When two or more congregations have separately called one and the same minister to become the pastor of each church, and he accepts these calls, and is installed over these congregations as pastor, are these churches entitled to one or more elders to represent them in Presbytery?" The Committee recommended the following resolution, which was adopted, viz.:

Resolved, That the question be answered in the negative.-1847, p. 377, O. S.

[The meaning of the above is that the united congregation are entitled to be represented in Presbytery by one elder.]

2. Where a Minister is Pastor of one Church, and Stated Supply of another, each is entitled to be Represented.

Where a minister is at the same time pastor of one church, and acts as stated supply of another, has each of said churches a right to be represented by its own elder, at the same meeting of the Presbytery or Synod? or does this case come under the rule chap. x., sec. iv., Form of Gov

ernment?

The Assembly answer, That churches having stated supplies only are not such churches as are contemplated in the article referred to, and

have a right of representation according to the principles of the Form of Government, chap. x., sec. v.-1851, p. 15, N. S.; also 1847, p. 377, O. S.

3. Churches in different Presbyteries under one Pastor, as permitted by the Reconstruction Act.

Overture No. 16, from the Presbytery of Kittanning, asking further action from the Assembly in reference to churches in different Presbyteries united in one pastoral charge.

The Assembly judge any additional action upon the subject to be unnecessary, as the action of the previous Assembly was intended to cover all such cases, and is valid, until repealed.-1872, p. 86.

The action referred to is as follows, viz.:

4. That, when two or more congregations, on different sides of a synodical or presbyterial line, are under one pastoral charge, they shall all, for the time, belong to that Presbytery with which the minister is connected, but only so long as such pastoral relation continues.-1870, p. 88.

V. Every vacant congregation which is regularly organized shall be entitled to be represented by a ruling elder in Presbytery.

1. Every Congregation is Vacant which has not a Pastor duly Installed.

a. Should every congregation be considered as vacant which is not united to any minister in the pastoral relation? and if it should, is not every such congregation entitled to be represented by a ruling elder in Presbytery?

Resolved, That from a comparison of sections iii. and v. of chap. x., Form of Government, it is evident that every congregation without a pastor is to be regarded as a vacant congregation, and consequently, if regularly organized, is entitled to be represented by a ruling elder in a Presbytery.-1843, pp. 190, 196, O. S.

b. When a domestic missionary has organized in his field of labor two or more churches to which he statedly ministers, though not installed as pastor over any of them, are these churches to be considered vacant, and have they a right each to send an elder to represent them in Presbytery?

Answer: That in the cases specified the churches are vacant, and entitled to be represented by elders.-1860, p. 38, O. S.

[See iv., above.]

VI. Every elder not known to the Presbytery shall produce a certificate of his regular appointment from the church which he repre

sents.

VII. Any three ministers, and as many elders as may be present belonging to the Presbytery, being met at the time and place appointed, shall be a quorum competent to proceed to business.

1. A Quorum may be Constituted wholly of Ministers. a. Resolved, That any three ministers of a Presbytery, being regularly convened, are a quorum competent to the transaction of all business, agree

ably to the provision contained in the Form of Government, chap. x., sec. vii. [Yeas 83, nays 35.]-1843, p. 196, O. S.

In answer to memorials on this subject, the Assembly

b. Resolved, That the last Assembly, in determining that three ministers are a quorum of the Presbytery when no ruling elders are present, did not detract in any degree from the dignity and importance of this office, nor did they question the perfect right or duty of elders to be present and take part in all acts of government and discipline, but only declared that according to the true intent and meaning of our constitutional rules, their absence does not prevent the Presbytery from constituting and transacting business if three ministers are present; and this decision is based upon the fact that ministers are not only preachers of the gospel and administrators of sealing ordinances, but also ruling elders in the very nature of their office. [Yeas 134, nays 45.]-1844, p. 370, O. S.

[Against this action of the Assembly a protest was entered by twentyeight members of the Assembly. For protest and answer see Baird's Collection, revised ed., pp. 71, 75. The Assembly disavows the charges by the following:]

c. Resolved, That this Assembly, in reaffirming those decisions of the last Assembly which have been called in question, design to maintain the purity, order and peace of the Church, and the continued and faithful observance of those principles and regulations which have heretofore been found to consist with true Christian liberty and secure the common welfare of all classes in the Church. Also, they reaffirm and maintain the scriptural authority of the office of ruling elder, and the great importance and solemn obligation of the attendance of elders on the meetings of the judicatories of the Church, and of their equal participation in the exercise of government and discipline.-1844, p. 371, O. S.

2. Less than three Ministers cannot be a Quorum.

The records of the Synod of Genesee were excepted to because the Synod made two clerical members of Presbytery a quorum for business.-1857, p. 387, N. S.

3. Less than a Quorum can do no Presbyterial Act other than to Adjourn.-They cannot Receive a Member, so as to form a Quorum.

The Committee appointed by the last Assembly with reference to a presbyterial quorum presented their report, which was adopted, and is as follows:

The overture is presented in three several branches, and is in the following words, viz.:

1st. Has any number of members of a Presbytery less than a quorum for the transaction of business, as mentioned in the Form of Government, chap. x., sec. vii., authority to transact any business except to adjourn? Have they authority to receive members into the Presbytery, to send delegates to the General Assembly, etc.?

2d. And where members received into the Presbytery by a number less than a quorum take up charges on "common fame" against a minister of the gospel belonging to such Presbytery, is a trial founded on charges so taken up authorized by our Book of Discipline?

3d. Is a Presbytery duly organized, when the moderator and temporary clerk are ministers, who have not been admitted into the Presbytery by a quorum for the transaction of business? And is any business transacted

by a Presbytery so organized constitutional, especially the trial of a minister of the gospel?

The Committee are unanimous and unhesitating in the following views, presented under the several branches of the overture in their order:

As to the first branch of the Overture:

The law of a quorum is not a mere rule of procedure, a provision of order, but a matter respecting the very being of the judicatory. Any number of members less than the constitutional quorum do not make a judicatory, and are not competent to any organic act. Nor can they, by associating others with themselves, under the pretence or form of receiving them as members of the judicatory, make a constitutional quorum. Their acts are simply null and void. Ex nihilo nihil fit. This statement applies to every judicatory in the series from the church session to the General Assembly.

Any number of persons less than "three ministers and as many elders as may be present belonging to the Presbytery," do not constitute a Presbytery, and are not competent to do a presbyterial act. Of course they have not "authority to receive members into the Presbytery," nor "to send delegates to the General Assembly." Ministers received by them do not thereby become members of the Presbytery, and, if they assume to act as such, they are simply aliens and intruders. Commissioners sent by them to the General Assembly should not be allowed to sit, when the facts of their appointment are understood.

The doings of such a meeting should not have a place on the records. But if the stated clerk records them, the Presbytery itself, when constitutionally organized, should take action to adopt or disaffirm them; and, in failure of this, the Synod, under its power of review and control, should, on inspection of the records, notice the unconstitutional proceedings, and require the Presbytery to make the necessary correction.

Were it necessary to confirm these positions, it would be sufficient to refer to the decision of the General Assembly (Digest, p. 105) in regard to a quorum of sessions, to the effect, that what is "necessary to constitute a quorum," is "necessary to form a session;" and to the deliverance of the Assembly of 1860 (see Minutes, pp. 260, 261), on an overture respecting certain disorderly proceedings of a church, in which the principle is involved and affirmed, that an unconstitutional act" is "utterly null and void;" and that "being void," it "works no effect."

As to the second branch of the Overture:

66

"Taking up charges" is equivalent to "entering process," or "commencing process." (Cf. "Book of Discipline," chap. iii., sec. v., with chap. v., secs. ii. and v.) It is the beginning, or first formal step, of a judicial proceeding; and is of course the act of the judicatory. Now, all the provisions of the "Book of Discipline," in relation to the trial of persons subject to the jurisdiction of a judicatory, presuppose and assume, that "the charges have been taken up," as well as that every subsequent step of the proceedings has been had by the judicatory itself. Hence the "Book of Discipline" does not "authorize" the trial of a minister of the gospel by his Presbytery, "on charges taken up" by individuals usurping its prerogatives, but only on charges taken up by itself.

The "Book of Discipline," however, prescribes (chap. vii., secs. i. and iv.) that "no judicial decision of a judicatory shall be reversed, unless it be regularly brought up by appeal or complaint."

The trial of a minister, under the circumstances proposed in the over