a new election." * In 1880 this was changed by inserting the words "being a commissioner" after the words. "the last Moderator present."† How shall the Assembly be opened? After the sermon the Moderator shall open the session with prayer. The committee of arrangements appointed the previous year generally makes a partial report, and a recess is taken, after which the Standing Committee (the Stated and Permanent Clerks) report on the commissions. Irregular commissions are referred to a special committee, the roll is completed and nominations for Moderator are called for. Any commissioner may nominate a candidate. The candidates shall vote and withdraw. The vote is taken viva voce, and a majority of all the votes elects the Moderator. A committee is appointed to bring him to the chair. The former Moderator shall then say, "Sir, it is my duty to inform you and announce to this house that you are duly elected to the office of Moderator of this General Assembly. For your direction in office, and for the direction of this Assembly in all your deliberations, I place in your hands this book, containing the rules for judicatories adopted by the Assembly, which I doubt not will be carefully observed by both in conducting the business that may come before you. And, praying that Almighty God may direct and bless all the deliberations of this Assembly for the glory of his name and for the edification and comfort of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, I resign my place and office as Moderator." The newly-installed Moderator generally makes a short reply as he takes the chair, and the Assembly is ready for business.‡ * Presbyterian Digest, pp. 201, 205. + Minutes G. A. 1880, p. 45. Presbyterian Digest, pp. 203, 205. See p. 489. May a Moderator serve more than once? There is no rule prohibiting a re-election, but usage seems to forbid it, as no case of re-election has yet occurred.* May the Moderator have a double vote? “When a vote is taken by ballot in any judicatory, the Moderator shall vote with the other members, but he shall not vote in any other case unless the judicatory be equally divided; when, if he does not choose to vote, the question shall be lost." This casting vote, however, cannot be given if he has already given a (ballot) vote.† May he at any time leave the chair? In a judicial case, if the Moderator is a member of the court appealed from or a party in the case, he cannot retain his seat. The last Moderator present, or one chosen by the Assembly, shall take the chair. In 1866, in the O. S. Assembly, the former Moderator, Rev. J. C. Lowrie, D. D., seems to have been present, but by vote Rev. J. M. Krebs, D. D. (Moderator in 1845), was called to the chair.‡ When may a commissioner deliberate and vote? Not "until his name shall have been enrolled by the Clerk, and his commission examined and filed among the papers of the Assembly." VIII. How shall each session of the Assembly be opened and closed? "Each session of the Assembly shall be opened and closed with prayer. And the whole business of the Assembly being finished, and the vote taken for dissolving the present Assembly, the Moderator shall say from the chair, 'By virtue Presbyterian Digest, pp. 203, 204. Ibid., p. 204; Minutes G. A. 1866, pp. 7, 48. *Assembly's Digest, p. 854. of the authority delegated to me by the Church, let this General Assembly be dissolved; and I do hereby dissolve it, and require another General Assembly, chosen in the same manner, to meet at on the day of A. D. After which he shall pray and return thanks, and pronounce on those present the apostolic benediction." In addition to the prayer and benediction an appropriate psalm or hymn shall be sung.* In 1879 the Moderator in dissolving the Assembly added the words to the above formula, "in the First Presbyterian Church of Madison, Wis." When the Assembly met they did not assemble in that church, but in the State Capitol. The record shows that in the vote appointing the place of meeting no building was mentioned. The following action was taken : That "the Assembly, and not the Moderator, has the right and the power of fixing the place of meeting. The Assembly fixed the city of Madison, and left the present Assembly to seek its own place or house in which to meet. This Assembly selected this hall, after it was so kindly and generously tendered by His Excellency the governor of this State. There can be no question but that the meeting in this hall is regular, and in conformity with the order of the last Assembly and of the law and constitution of the Church."† 24* * General Rules for Judicatories, xliii. See p. 497. CHAPTER XIII. OF ELECTING AND ORDAINING RULING ELDERS AND DEACONS. I. Should there be definite rules for the election and ordination of church officers, binding on all the churches? The Church is one. The officers of a particular church have duties to the whole Church, the most important of which are performed in the several judicatories. In these they ought to meet and act with each other as "representatives of the people," elected and ordained in the same way. The presence of unordained committee-men in our church courts under the Plan of Union was a great evil and unconstitutional.* "Having defined the officers of the Church, and the judicatories by which it shall be governed, it is proper here to describe the mode in which ecclesiastical rulers should be ordained to their respective offices, as well as some of the principles by which they shall be regulated in the discharge of their several duties." II. How are officers to be elected? "Every congregation shall elect persons to the office of Ruling Elder and to the office of Deacon, or either of them, in the mode most approved and in use in that congregation." The ecclesiastical principles must be the same—the mode of carrying out these may differ in the several churches. The Elders and Deacons must be elected by the people, but whether this shall be done directly or indirectly is determined by the usage in each church. In 1827, recognizing the right of every church in this matter, the Assembly said that "they are inclined to believe that the spirit of our constitution would be most fully sustained * See p. 263. by having in all cases a direct vote of the congregation in the appointment of Elders." The mode most approved and in use may be changed by a vote of the congregation.* Who determines when it is expedient to have an election ? The congregation may petition the Session to call a meeting for that purpose. The Session must judge whether it be expedient. If it refuse, a complaint may be made to Presbytery, who may order the Session to call the meeting. The Session may suggest the number to be elected, and nominate the persons, but cannot interfere with the freedom of the election.† Does irregularity invalidate the election ? If the meeting be called without the action of the Session or a higher court, it is irregular. In 1856 the O. S. Assembly decided, in the case before it, that the irregularity was not sufficient to invalidate the election, yet recommended that the Elders and Deacons thus elected cease to act until the Presbytery deems the church reasonably harmonious in receiving them in their official capacity. In 1835 the Assembly declared that the election of Elders for a term of years is irregular, but this cannot invalidate the ordination of those thus elected. In 1798 certain persons were selected by the Pastor and ordained as Elders without an election by the people. The Assembly declared that they were not Elders, and must be regarded as private members only.§ Who may vote for Elders and Deacons ? In 1822 the Assembly declared that it was desirable * Presbyterian Digest, p. 341. See p. 56. † Ibid., pp. 337, 341, 350. Ibid., pp. 338, 342. See p. 294. ? Ibid., p. 337. |