sense, includes not only the reformation of offenders and the removal of scandals, but also the prevention of offences by the proper instruction and training of the children of the Church in knowledge and godliness; and that to this end it is the duty of the Pastor and Sessions to take authoritative supervision of the instruction of youth, so far as to see to it that the baptized children of the Church are properly instructed in the family and Sabbath-school.”*

The question, however, has often been asked, How far and in what sense are those persons who were baptized in infancy, but are non-communicants, subject to church discipline? In 1799 the public standards were considered to contain a sufficient answer. It has several times been referred to the serious consideration of Ministers and Presbyteries, and to learned committees, whose reports have been indefinitely postponed. No authoritative answer has been given. The theory of many is that these persons are subject to church discipline in the same sense that communicants are. This is denied by others. The usage is, that the baptized non-communicants are subjects of the discipline (teaching) of the Church, as is described in the "Directory for Worship" (ch. ix., sect. i.), but are not liable to judicial prosecution. This is distinctly stated by the Southern Church: "In the one sense (inspection, training, guardianship and control) all baptized persons, being members of the Church, are subject to its discipline and entitled to the benefits thereof; but in the other (judicial prosecution) it refers only to those who have made a profession of their faith in Christ."‡ The second chapter of their "Book of Church Order" is devoted to "The Discipline of Non-communicating Mem*Minutes G. A. 1878, pp. 25, 26. † See p. 134. Book of Church Order, Part II., ch. i., sect. ii.

bers," in which is described the oversight they should receive. "If they exhibit a wayward disposition and associate themselves with the profane, the Church should still cherish them in faith, and ought to use all such means as the word of God warrants and the Christian prudence of church officers shall dictate, for reclaiming them and bringing them to appreciate their covenant privileges and to discharge their covenant obligations." Those "who submit with meekness and gratitude to the government and instruction of the Church are entitled to special attention."

To what judicatories are persons primarily responsible?

Baptized members and communicants are primarily responsible to the Session of the church to which they belong.* "If a church becomes extinct, the Presbytery with which it was connected shall have jurisdiction over its members, and grant them letters of dismissal to some other church. It shall also determine any case of discipline begun by the Session and not concluded."+ "A member of a church, receiving a certificate of dismission to another church, shall continue to be a member of the church giving him the certificate, and subject to the jurisdiction of its Session (but shall not deliberate or vote in a church meeting, nor exercise the functions of any office), until he has become a member of the church to which he is recommended, or some other evangelical church; and, should he return the certificate within a year from its date, the Session shall make record of the fact, but he shall not thereby be restored to the exercise of the functions of any office previously held by him in that church."

* Presbyterian Digest, p. 127. See p. 133. † Book of Discipline, sect. 112.

Ibid., sect. 109.

Members under censure or sentence remain under the care of the Session which tried them.* Ruling Elders and Deacons are communicants, and are therefore subject to the Session. Yet under certain circumstances an Elder may be tried by the Presbytery.† Candidates and Licentiates, though under the care of the Presbyteries as to their studies, are yet members of a particular church, and are therefore responsible to the Session for their Christian character and conduct.‡

All Ministers are primarily responsible to the Presbyteries to which they belong.§ "If a Presbytery becomes extinct, the Synod, with which it was connected, shall have jurisdiction over its members, and may transfer them to any Presbytery within its bounds. It shall also determine any case of discipline begun by the Presbytery and not concluded." || A Minister permitted by the Presbytery to demit his office "returns to the condition of a private member in the church;" his name is stricken from the roll of Presbytery, and he receives from that body "a letter to any church he may desire to connect himself with." This rule also applies to one deposed from the Ministry.T

"The judicatory to which a church member or a Minister belongs shall have sole jurisdiction for the trial of offences whenever or wherever committed by him."** "But the higher judicatories may institute process in cases in which the lower have been directed so to do, and have refused or neglected to obey."††

*Directory for Worship, ch. x., sects. iv. and vii.

Who may pronounce the benediction ?

"The benediction is an authoritative blessing of the people of God in the name of Christ. It partakes partly of the nature of a prayer, and partly of the declaration of the will and purpose of God. .. When the form nature is changed,

is used by Licentiates or others, its and it assumes the character of a prayer merely. It is doubted by some whether the form should ever be used by Licentiates. Our Church has not, however, given any deliverance on the subject." Such is a note in the "Assembly's Digest," p. 108. It is evidently a ministerial act, and is so regarded in all denominations. Licentiates are not Ministers.* In the "Form of Government” it is frequently referred to, but only as pronounced by Ministers.†

CHAPTER VIII.

OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT, AND THE SEVERAL KINDS OF JUDICATORIES.

I. Is a definite form of government necessary?

"It is absolutely necessary that the government of the Church be exercised under some certain and definite form." This is evidently as necessary in the Church as in the State. If laws are to be obeyed and executed, they must be definite and known. No individual, much less a body of men, can be governed by general and changing opinions or principles. God has given, there

* See

p. 355.

+ Form of Government, ch. xii., sect. viii.; ch. xv., sect. xiv.; Directory for Worship, ch. vi., sect. v.; ch. vii., sect. v.; The General Rules for Judicatories, xliv.

fore, a definite law, forms of worship and government.* What God has appointed cannot be unnecessary. Those societies or churches which have no definite form of government are in frequent confusion and trouble (Ezek. 43: 11, 12; 2 Tim. 1: 13; Gal. 6: 16; Phil. 3: 16).† Where should we look for a form of church government?

We should look to expediency, to the nature of the Church as the kingdom of Christ, to the Scripturesespecially of the New Testament—and to the practice of the primitive Church and of those churches which were not corrupted. "We hold it to be expedient, and agreeable to Scripture and the practice of the primitive Christians, that the Church be governed by congregational, presbyterial and synodical assemblies."

What form of church government is thus taught?

Expediency, the nature of the Church, the Scriptures and the practice of the early Church, we hold, unite in teaching the Presbyterian form of church government; that is, that the Church should be governed by courts composed of Ministers, all of the same order, and of Elders, representing the people, chosen by them, ordained to their office and having an equal voice in all questions with the Ministers; and that these courts should be congregational, presbyterial and synodical assemblies, the smaller being subject to the larger, and all to that body which represents the whole Church (Matt. 18: 15–20; Acts 15 2-28; 1 Cor. 5: 4; 1 Tim. 4 : 14).‡

* See the ten commandments, the ceremonial law and the government under Elders in the Old Dispensation, and in the New Testament the definite qualifications and duties of church officers and courts, and the laws to be administered and the penalties to be inflicted. † See p. 30. What is Presbyterianism? pp. 8-76.