That if the preceding scriptural and rational principles be steadfastly adhered to, the vigour and strictness of its discipline will contribute to the glory and happiness of any church. Since ecclesiastical discipline must be purely moral or spiritual in its object, and not attended with any civil effects, it can derive no force whatever but from its own justice, the approbation of an impartial public, and the countenance and blessing of the great Head of the Church Universal.

These catholic and liberal views, are the basis upon which the structure of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, rests. It does not regard itself as the Church, but only as a particular branch of the Catholic or Universal Church of Christ, which consists of all those persons in every nation, together with their children, who make profession of the holy religion of Christ, and of submission to his laws. It regards Papacy and Diocesan Episcopacy as great usurpations of ecclesiastical power, and highly unfavourable to the dissemination of the pure gospel, and uncongenial with our republican institutions. Yet, while Presbyterians believe that the parity of the clergy, and a representation of the laity in the officers denominated ruling elders, are important features of the Apostolic Church, clearly discernible in the New Testament, they do not deny the validity of ordinances, because mixed with the errors and usurpations of prelacy. On the contrary they dare not disown any church which holds Christ the head, and which is by him made the instrument of edifying spiritual believers, and extending substantial Christianity.

The officers of the Presbyterian Church are bishops or pastors, ruling elders, and deacons. "The pastoral office is the first in the church both for dignity and usefulness." The person filling this office is designated by different names in the New Testament, names expressive of various duties. As he feeds the flock of God, he is called their pastor or shepherd. As he has the oversight of a congregation, he is called their bishop or overseer. As he is expected to exhibit the gravity and wisdom of age, he is called a presbyter or elder. As he is sent a messenger to the church, he is termed an angel. As he is entrusted with means of reconciling sinners, he is spoken of as an ambassador. And as he dispenses spiritual blessings, he is called a steward of the mysteries of God.

Ruling elders are elected by the people as their representatives. In conjunction with the pastor they exercise discipline. They are designated in the scriptures under the title of governments, and of those who rule well, but who do not labour in the word and doctrine.

Deacons are also regarded as distinct officers in the church. Their official duty is the care of the poor, and the reception and disburse

ment of the charities of the congregation. These duties are often performed by the elders, and it is not deemed indispensable that deacons should be appointed, unless the interests of the congregation demand it.

The session consists of the pastor or pastors, and the ruling elders of a congregation, and is the primary judicatory of the church. The pastor is its presiding officer, called the moderator. This court, thus constituted, has power to watch over the spiritual interests of the congregation, to inquire into the Christian deportment of the members of the church, to call before them offenders, and also to investigate charges presented by others, to receive members into the church, to admonish, to rebuke, to suspend, or to exclude from the sacrament of the Lord's Supper those, who are found to deserve censure, according to the different degrees of their criminality. It is the business of the session also to appoint a delegate from its own body to attend with the pastor, the higher judicatories of the church. It is required to keep a fair record of all its proceedings, as also a register of marriages, baptisms, persons admitted to the Lord's table, deaths and other removals of church members, and to transmit these records to the presbytery for their inspection.

The

A presbytery consists of all the ministers and one ruling elder from each church, within a certain district. Three ministers, and as many elders as may be present, are necessary to constitute a quorum. presbytery has power to receive and issue appeals from church sessions, and references brought before them in an orderly manner; to examine and license candidates for the holy ministry; to ordain, install, remove and judge ministers; to examine, and approve or censure, the records of church sessions; to resolve questions of doctrine or discipline, seriously and reasonably proposed; to condemn erroneous opinions, which injure the purity or peace of the church; to visit particular churches, for the purpose of inquiring into their state, and redressing the evils that may have arisen in them; to unite or divide congregations, at the request of the people, or to form or receive new congregations; and in general to perform whatever pertains to the spiritual welfare of the churches under their care. The presbytery also keeps a full record of its proceedings; and its doings are subject to the revision of the synod, which is a court of appeal standing in a similar relation to the presbytery with that of the presbytery to the church session.

A synod is a convention of the bishops with one elder from each church in a larger district; it must include at least three presbyteries. The synod is the court of the last resort in all cases of a judicial

nature, so that the whole appellate jurisdiction of the church is limited to its final decision as a PROVINCIAL ASSEMBLY; having supreme control in its own appropriate sphere, though subordinate to the General Assembly, as to the review and constitutional oversight of its acts.

The synod reviews the records of presbyteries, approving or censuring their proceedings, erecting new presbyteries, uniting or dividing those which were before erected, and taking a general care of the churches within its bounds, and proposing such measures to the General Assembly, as may be for advantage to the whole church. The General Assembly is the highest judicatory of the Presbyterian Church.

It is not necessary to Presbyterian government, nor is any court higher than the presbytery; but it has the advantage of representing all the congregations of this denomination in one body. It is constituted of an equal delegation of bishops and elders, in the proportion of one minister and one elder from each presbytery; and these are styled, commissioners to the General Assembly.

Since the session of 1840, the Assembly exercises no judicial power, as it had formerly done, the synod now being the highest court of appeal.

In other respects the General Assembly possesses powers analogous to those of the inferior courts, in reviewing the records of synods, and approving or censuring them. It also gives advice on subjects brought up to it in an orderly and consistent manner; and constitutes a bond of union among all the churches. To the General Assembly also, belongs the power of deciding in all controversies respecting doctrine and discipline; of reproving, warning, and bearing testimony against error in doctrine, or immorality in practice in any church, presbytery, or synod; of erecting new synods when it may be judged necessary; of superintending the concerns of the whole church; of corresponding with foreign churches, on such terms as may be agreed upon by the Assembly and the corresponding body; of suppressing schismatical contentions and disputations; and, in general, of recommending and attempting reformation of manners, and the promotion of charity, truth, and holiness, through all the churches under their care: provided, that all these powers and relations of the Assembly shall be construed as exclusive of all the proper appellate jurisdictions of the church, in cases of a judicial nature. No modification of the constitution, or of constitutional rules can be introduced by the General Assembly, till such modifications shall have been transmitted to the presbyteries, and written answers approving of the same shall have been returned by at least a majority of them. The sessions of

the General Assembly are held regularly once in three years. The synods meet annually, and the presbyteries once in six months.

There are provisions also, in the form of government, for convening any one of these judicatories for a special meeting, if any special exigencies shall demand such a step.

The public worship of God in the Presbyterian Church is not conducted by a prescribed liturgy. This church thinks it obvious that no forms of prayer, no prescribed liturgies were used in apostolic times, and she dares not introduce human inventions into the mode of her worship. It cannot be supposed that Paul kneeled down on the shore, when he parted with his friends at Tyre, and read a prayer from a book; or that Paul and Silas used a prescribed form when they prayed at midnight in the prison at Philippi. The Lord's Prayer forms no objection to these views, because it is not given in the same words by any two of the Evangelists. Besides, it contains no clause. asking for blessings in the name of Christ, which our Saviour himself solemnly enjoined upon his church, before he withdrew his personal presence. In the subsequent inspired history we find no allusion to this form of prayer, nor any reference to either saying or reading of prayers, both of which modes of expression are natural for those who employ precomposed forms. Socrates and Sozomen, respectable ecclesiastical writers of the fifth century, both declare, that in their day, "no two persons were found to use the same words in public worship." And Augustine, who was nearly their contemporary, declares in relation to this subject, "There is freedom to use different words, provided the same things are mentioned in prayer."

In forming her "Directory for the Public Worship of God," the Presbyterian Church regards the holy scriptures as the only safe guide; therefore she does no more than to recommend a judicious arrangement of the several parts of the public service, throwing upon the pastor the responsibility of preparing himself for a proper and edifying performance of those acts of worship, which shall be suited to the ever-changing wants of the congregation.

The sacraments of the church are regarded as being two only: baptism and the Lord's Supper. The former is ordinarily performed by Presbyterians by applying the water to the subject, though they do not deny the validity of immersion. Baptism is administered to adult believers and their infant offspring; but none are admitted to participate in the Lord's Supper who have not given evidence of personal piety, and of understanding the significance of the ordinance.

No rite is looked upon as possessing any intrinsic influence. Presbyterians do not believe that an influence of a mysterious kind passes

from the hands of the presbytery into the spiritual nature of one set apart by them to the sacred office. On the contrary they regard the call to the ministry as proceeding from God. The candidate professes to have been moved by the Holy Spirit to desire the sacred office. He declares that he does, as far as he knows his own heart, seek the office of the holy ministry from love to God, and a sincere desire to promote his glory in the gospel of his Son. When the presbytery is satisfied that these professions have been made sincerely, and understandingly, they impose hands upon the candidate as a solemn recognition of one, whom they believe God has by his providence and grace "put into the ministry."

They deny also that any mysterious grace accompanies the water in baptism, or that the bread and wine in the Lord's Supper possess any new qualities after a blessing has been invoked by the officiating clergyman. They look for no other influence from religious rites than that, which results from a wise adaptation for enforcing truth, by striking symbols, and creating hallowed associations. They deprecate the doctrine of the transmission of a power to human hands to create ministers at will, or to convey certainly any grace to sinners, as tending to inflate the ministry with pride, to impart to them an influence which God never intended, and to sink the people into a degrading superstition.

From the same apprehension of the evils of superstition, and from the want of a warrant in the word of God, they reject Godfathers and Godmothers, and the sign of the cross in baptism, and holy days, and kneeling in the Lord's Supper and bowing at the name of Jesus, and the rite of confirmation, and the efficacy of consecrated grounds in the burial of the dead.

The doctrines of the Presbyterian Church are Calvinistic. They are so called, not because Calvin invented them. They were the doctrines of all the leading Reformers; of the Waldenses, for five or six hundred years before the Reformation; of Augustin and the primitive Church, and especially are they distinctly exhibited in the word of God. This system of doctrine is clearly set forth in the Westminster Confession of Faith, and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms.

Without pretending to expound fully the great principles, more amply unfolded in the standards of the church, we may say, briefly, that the Presbyterian Church maintains that, since the fall of Adam, and in consequence of his lapse, all men are naturally destitute of holiness, alienated entirely from God, and justly subject to his eternal