fession of the alleged crime for which the said Shepherd was deposed, or of any profession of penitence for it, or of any conference with the judicatory which deposed him.

2. That the appeal of the Presbytery of Onondaga, so far as it relates to the rescinding of their vote to restore the Rev. John Shepherd, be and hereby is sustained, on the second reason of appeal, and upon that alone; because the Assembly judges that a minister of the gospel, when once restored by presbyterial authority, cannot be deprived of his office, except it be by a new process and conviction.-1818, p. 687.

31. The Decision Reverses all the Judicatories below and Restores the Appellant.

The Assembly took up the appeal of Dr. John Rollins from a decision of the Synod of West Tennessee, affirming a decision of the Presbytery of Mississippi, affirming a decision of the Session of the First church of New Orleans, by which he had been excluded from the privileges of the church.

Dr. McAuley was appointed to manage the cause of the appellant.

The sentence of the Synod appealed from, the reasons on record which were assigned by the appellant for his appeal, and the whole record of the proceedings of the inferior judicatories in the case, including all the testimony and the reasons of their decision, were read.

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Dr. McAuley was then heard in support of the appeal. Only one member of the Synod was present, and he declined saying anything. The ties then withdrew. And the roll was called in part to give the members an opportunity to express their opinion.

The Assembly resumed the appeal of Dr. Rollins. The remainder of the roll was called. After which the final vote was taken, when the appeal was sustained, and the decision of the Synod was reversed, and Dr. Rollins was restored to the privileges of the church.-1830, p. 307.

32. The Decision Declares and Decides the Several Issues Involved.

The Committee appointed to express the judgment of this Assembly on the memorial and complaint of the session of the Fifth Church of Philadelphia, recommended the adoption of the following resolutions, which were accordingly adopted, viz.:

1. Inasmuch as the act of the Synod of Philadelphia, uniting the Second Presbytery of Philadelphia to the Presbytery of Philadelphia, was in contravention of the act of the General Assembly passed in 1832, by which that Presbytery was erected, and inasmuch as the act of the Synod aforesaid, by an appeal, was to be reviewed and acted on, by the next General Assembly; therefore,

Resolved, That the complainants of the Fifth Church erred in changing their presbyterial relation, and uniting with the Second Presbytery of Philadelphia Synodical.

2. While Presbyteries have the right, according to the Constitution, to visit the churches under their care, to take measures to correct any evils that may exist in them, nevertheless, as in this case, the session presented no request, and there was no apprehension that the pulpit would not be supplied, the Assembly think the Second Presbytery erred in insisting on the right to supply the pulpit of the Fifth Church under the then existing

state.

3. As the majority of the session felt themselves constrained to leave their house of worship, and were accompanied by a large number of the

communicants, and as they had a show of reason for applying to the Second Presbytery Synodical, by the act of the Synod of Philadelphia forming that Presbytery, the decision of the Second Presbytery in declaring the four elders no longer elders of the Fifth church under their care, if designed to affect either their character or their standing, is hereby declared to be void.

4. In the opinion of this Assembly, the entire Fifth church is under the care of the Second Presbytery of Philadelphia, and it is hereby declared to be an integral part of it.—1834, p. 452.

[For resolution 5, see Form of Government, chap. xiii., sec. vii. 2.]

33. The Decision Restores the Status in Quo.

The unfinished business of the morning was resumed-viz.: the appeal and complaint of Thomas Bradford, Esq., and others, against a decision of the Second Presbytery of Philadelphia, dividing the Fifth Presbyterian church in Philadelphia into two churches.

The calling of the roll was finished, when the final vote was taken.

The question was put, "Shall the appeal and complaint be sustained ?" and was carried in the affirmative.

Whereupon it is ordered and decreed by this General Assembly that the act and decision of the Second Presbytery of Philadelphia, which divides the Fifth Presbyterian church of the city of Philadelphia into two distinct churches, be and the same is hereby reversed; and the said Presbytery is hereby directed to restore to the Session of said church the book of minutes of said Session.-1835, p. 478.

34. A Superior Judicatory may not Compel an Inferior to Reverse its Decision, without Assigning Reasons.

a. The report of the Committee on the records of the Synod of Pittsburg, as amended, was adopted as follows:

Your Committee would respectfully report that the records have been well kept, and are in good order.

And would further report that on pages 214 and 215 we find this minute: "The Judicial Committee report," etc., etc. (See Minutes.)

The case appears to have been taken up, and the parties heard; and on page 227 it is recorded, "The complaints," etc., etc.; also, "A committee," etc.; and on page 231, "The report of said committee," In not sustaining," etc. We also find, on page 227, this minute, "The Committee on the Records," etc.

With reference to this action, your Committee would respectfully move the adoption of the following minute-viz.: Inasmuch as it is contrary to the spirit and principles of the Presbyterian Church, and subversive of the true design of ecclesiastical discipline, for a superior judicatory to compel an inferior court to reverse its decision, rendered after a full, fair and impartial trial, without assigning and placing on record some specific reason for such reversal, that the records, so far as they relate to this point in this case, be disapproved.-Adopted 1874, p. 86.

b. The Judicial Commission appointed in case No. 5, being the appeal of Mrs. M. J. Browning from a decision of the Synod of Geneva, presented the following report, which was ordered on record as the judgment of the Assembly:

That the Assembly sustain the appeal:

1. Because a superior court cannot order an inferior court to rehear a case already decided, when no intimation of additional evidence is given,

2. Because, in sending back the case the Synod passed by the Presbytery in which the case had once been adjudicated.

3. Because reference is by a lower to a superior court, and is voluntary and not subject to the order of a higher court.-1878, p. 34.

35. The Decision Explains the true Intent of the Action Complained of.-Deposition after Reception to Membership in Presbytery does not Impair Good Standing.

The General Synod of the Reformed Church in America complained against the Presbytery of Philadelphia Central, for the following causes: 1. The Presbytery, on the 9th of June last, received under its care a congregation which had, until that time, been under the care of a Classis of the Reformed Church, and had been known as the Third Reformed church of Philadelphia, and united it with the Western Presbyterian church of Philadelphia, giving the new organization the name of Immanuel church.

2. On November 17, 1873, the Presbytery received, as a member, Rev. Charles Wadsworth, a member until then of the Classis of Philadelphiathe Classis having refused to grant him letters of dismission.

The delegate of the Reformed Church, as instructed by the General Synod, presents these facts to the consideration of the General Assembly, alleging that the action of the Presbytery "is not in accordance with the friendly spirit of the terms of the correspondence which exists between the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church and the General Synod of the Reformed Church.”

The Special Committee reported, and their report was adopted-viz. : Your Committee, after attentive study of the case, reach the following conclusions:

1. There is no reason to think that the Presbytery had any disposition to encroach upon the province of the Classis, or to disturb either the pastoral or ecclesiastical relations of one of its congregations.

They appear simply to have been willing to receive, in brotherly love, a congregation and a minister who wished to come to them from a sister Church, to whose judicatory no unkindness and no discourtesy was intended, and with which the Presbytery desired the most cordial fellowship.

2. The Presbytery seems to us to have erred in not directly consulting the Classis, so as to make sure that there had been no mistake as to the facts, and that the fraternal spirit in which the Presbytery desired to act might have been manifest to the Classis from the beginning.

3. While we regret this unintended lack of courtesy on the part of the Presbytery, we cannot deny the right of a congregation or of a minister to withdraw from the jurisdiction of either a Classis or Presbytery for reasons such as those alleged in this case. To forbid this would seem to us "not in accordance with the friendly spirit of the terms of the correspondence" between the two bodies, and an injurious abridgment of congregational and ministerial liberty.

4. The question of property is to be left to the civil tribunal. The Assembly exhorts the congregation to submit it frankly and unreservedly, and by no means to imperil spiritual interests by protracted or strenuous litigation.

5. The Assembly cannot regard the act of the Classis, in deposing Mr. Wadsworth, after his reception to membership in the Presbytery, in the state of facts already recited, as impairing his good standing in the Church and the ministry.-1874, pp. 62, 63.

C. When the judgment directs admonition or rebuke, notice of appeal shall suspend all further proceedings; but in other cases the judgments shall be in force until the appeal is decided. [VII. iii. 15.]

1. An Appeal Arrests all further Proceedings until it be Issued. It moreover appears that the General Assembly of the year aforesaid, having adopted the protest of the members of the Synod of Kentucky as their own act, did declare that Mr. Craighead had been deposed, whereas the decision of the Synod was suspension; and although the Synod did direct the Presbytery to which Mr. Craighead belonged to depose him, if he did not, at their next stated meeting, retract his errors, yet this sentence could not have been constitutionally inflicted, because Mr. Craighead appealed from the decision of Synod; the effect of which was to arrest all further proceedings in the case until the appeal should be tried; therefore, the sentence of the Assembly declaring Mr. Craighead deposed does not accord with the sentence of the Synod, which was suspension.-1822, p. 52.

[Where the case is continued at the request of the appellant, the sentence remains in full force until the case is issued.-1858, p. 580, N. S. See sec. xcvii. above, case of C. H. Baldwin.—M.]

2. Suspension is Continued until the Issue of the Appeal, which must be at the next Meeting of the Judicatory above.

T. F. Worrell requested the Assembly to answer the following question -viz.: Whether, when a person is suspended from the church by a Session, and restored by the Presbytery, the notice of appeal by the Session continues the person under suspension; and if so, how long can such suspension be continued without the appeal being issued?

The Committee recommend that the following answer be returned-viz. : That the notice of appeal does continue the person under suspension until the appeal is issued, which must be at the next meeting of the upper court. The recommendation was adopted.-1862, p. 597, O. S.

3. An Appeal against Certain Action does not Debar the Judicatory from Acting upon the continued disturbed State of a Church.

The question of a dissolution of the pastoral relation between Dr. McPheeters and the Pine Street church was originally brought in an orderly manner before the Presbytery, by petition from a minority of said church, and a personal tender of resignation by the pastor, and after all the constitutional steps were taken with care and deliberation was decided by the Presbytery, acting for the peace and welfare of the church.

That which was called an appeal and complaint to Synod from that action could not so suspend all further proceedings as to prevent the Presbytery from considering and acting upon the continued disturbed state of that congregation.-1864, p. 327, O. S.

[See Form of Government, chap. x., sec. viii., xii., 54. See also Book of Discipline, sec. lxxxv. One-third of a judicatory can suspend the operation of a complaint.-M.]

4. Where a Session is Dissolved, an Appeal continues the Right of the Elders as to the Higher Judicatories until it is Issued. An overture from the Presbytery of Louisville:

"When, by an act of Presbytery, a church Session is dissolved, and

the elders composing said Session are ordered to cease any longer to exercise their office, does an appeal from this action to a higher court, by said elders, secure to them the right to sit in the various judicatories of the Church until said appeal is decided ?"

Answer. The effect of an appeal is to continue all the rights of the elders, as to representation in the higher courts, until the appeal is finally issued by the higher judicatories.-Adopted 1881, p. 587.

[Under the present book this could be entertained as a complaint only, in which case sec. lxxxv. provides that one-third of the members may stay the execution of the decision until the final issue of the case.-M.]

CI. The judicatory whose judgment is appealed from shall send up its records, and all the papers relating thereto and filed with the record. If it fails to do this, it shall be censured; and the sentence appealed from shall be suspended until a record is produced on which the issue can be fairly tried. [VII. iii. 16.]

1. Copies made by the Appellant not Sufficient.-The Records or Authenticated Copies Required.

3. That by the "forms of processes," etc., Mr. Bourne ought to be "allowed copies of the whole proceedings" in his case; yet "the judicatory appealed from" is, by the same rules, "to send authentic copies of the whole process;" his copy, therefore, which he says was taken by himself, but is not shown to the Assembly, is not sufficient; his affidavit is not required by the course of proceeding in this body; and the three papers presented by him are not to be considered as the commencement of a cause, or the entry of an appeal in this judicatory. Nevertheless, Mr. Bourne shall not suffer inconvenience which the Assembly can prevent on the account of any failures of the inferior judicatories, if a default should in future appear on their part, the evidence of such circumstance being not as yet made clear to this Assembly.-1816, p. 627.

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2. On the Failure of the Judicatory to send up Authenticated Copies of the Testimony, the Appeal is Sustained.

The Committee appointed to prepare a minute on the decision of the Assembly sustaining the appeal of Mr. Pope Bushnell from a decision of the Synod of New York, affirming the decree of the Presbytery of Hud son, by which the said Mr. Bushnell had been suspended from the privileges of the Church, made the following report, which was adopted, viz.: That the appellant having given due notice that he did appeal, appeared regularly before the Assembly; and that while the Presbytery and Synod have sent up their records in the case, neither has forwarded to this Assembly an authentic copy of the testimony taken on the trial. The Assembly did therefore decide that Mr. Bushnell's appeal be and it hereby is sustained, so that he is restored to all his rights and privileges as a member of the Church of Christ.-1826, p. 187.

3. Where Judicatories Fail to Send up Documents, the Case is

Remanded.

a. 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 were not sent to the Presbytery and Synod, it is therefore

Ordered, That this case be sent back to the Presbytery of Charleston