are to be presented at a previous hour of the same day or of the preceding day, according to public notice, to the Stated and Permanent Clerks, acting as a Permanent Committee on Commissions."

"3. The Lord's Supper is to be celebrated by the Assembly on the evening of Thursday, the first day of their sessions."

"4. The evenings of the days of session are assigned to popular meetings in the following order:

"The evening of Friday, the second day, to the Sabbath-school interests of the Church.

"The evening of Monday, the fourth day, to Missions among the Freedmen.

“The evening of Tuesday, the fifth day, to the Home Mission Work.

"The evening of Wednesday, the sixth day, to the Foreign Mission Work.

"The evening of Friday, the eighth day, to the cause of Temperance."

"5. The reports of the Standing Committees shall be considered at the times herein designated, viz.:

66

'Ministerial Relief, Saturday, at 10 o'clock a. M. "Freedmen, Monday, at 10 o'clock A. M.

"Home Missions, Tuesday, at 10 o'clock A. M.

"Aid for Colleges and Academies, Tuesday, at 3 o'clock P. M.*

“Foreign Missions, Wednesday, at 10 o'clock A. M. "Publication, Wednesday, at 3 o'clock P. M.

"Education, second Thursday, at 10 o'clock A. M. "Benevolence, second Thursday, at 3 o'clock P. M. "Church Erection, second Friday, at 11 o'clock A. M. "Temperance, second Friday, at 3 o'clock P. M."

*Minutes G. A. 1885, p. 841.

"6. The Stated Clerk shall receive all memorials, overtures and other papers addressed to the General Assembly, shall make record of the same, and then deliver them to the Standing Committee on Bills and Overtures."

"7. All special committees appointed by one General Assembly to report to the next Assembly shall be ready to present their reports on the second day of the session."*

"The following was made a Standing Order of the Assembly with reference to the apportionment and limitation of time in the consideration of the Reports of Boards and Committees, and in the proceedings of the Assembly:

"1. That the Standing Committees on Home Missions and Foreign Missions have cach two and a half hours; and those on Education, Publication, Church Erection, Ministerial Relief, Freedmen, Temperance and Aid for Colleges have each one and a half hours.

"2. That the Secretaries and the Chairmen of the Standing and Special Committees be requested to make their statements within the limits of half an hour."† May an Elder be chosen Moderator?

In the Session the Pastor or some other Minister of the Presbytery is the proper Moderator. In emergencies, when a Minister cannot be obtained "without great inconvenience," an Elder may preside.‡

In the higher courts such an emergency cannot occur. The word "Minister" is not used in describing the Moderator; several ministerial duties are required of him, such as preaching a sermon, offering the ordaining prayer, and pronouncing the apostolic benedic* Minutes G. A. 1884, pp. 81, 107. † Ibid., 1885, p. 597.

See pp. 129, 130.

tion. The Moderators of the Assembly are always Ministers.*

How shall the Moderator open and close the meetings?

With prayer. This is required in the higher courts,† and the Assembly sustain the exception to the Sessional records when this is not done.‡

What is an Adsessor?

In the Reformed (Dutch) Church a Vice-Moderator is chosen, and called the Adsessor. In 1878 a proposition was referred to the Committee on Revision of the "Book of Discipline," that a similar officer be elected annually in our Assembly. In the Church of Scotland the Assessor is the official adviser of the Moderator.§

The person appointed to make and preserve the records of a meeting is called the Secretary or Clerk. In courts of our Church this officer is called the Clerk. "Every judicatory shall choose a Clerk to record their transactions, whose continuance shall be during pleasure. It shall be the duty of the Clerk, besides recording the transactions, to preserve the records carefully, and to grant extracts from them whenever properly required; and such extracts, under the hand of the Clerk, shall be considered as authentic vouchers of the fact which they

* Minutes G. A. 1885, pp. 838-840.

+ Form of Government, ch. x., sect. xi.; ch. xi., sect. v.; ch. xii., sect. viii. See pp. 239, 257, 303.

Presbyterian Digest, p. 194; Minutes G. A. 1877, p. 575. See pp. 176, 538. Ibid., 1878, p. 102. See p. 531.

declare, in any ecclesiastical judicatory and to every part of the Church."

How long does a Clerk continue in office?

*

His "continuance shall be during pleasure." He is the permanent officer of the judicatory, and often retains his position for many years. At first the Clerk of Presbytery was elected at each meeting. This was the custom in Synod until the organization of the Assembly. In 1773 the Synod of New York and Philadelphia re-elected the Clerks of the preceding year, and after that date sometimes re-elected one or both Clerks-not, however, continuing them in office longer than for two years. Must the Clerk be a member of the judicatory? The Moderator and Clerk are ministerial officers. "In respect to their office they are servants merely, and not members of the body. Of the Clerk this would seem to be unquestionably true." "As far as any provision of the book is involved, it is plain that a judicatory may select any convenient person, though not a member, to record its transactions and discharge all other duties pertaining to a Clerk. For the part of those duties usually devolved upon a temporary Clerk we believe it is no infrequent thing for a Presbytery to employ a Licentiate or other person, not a member of the body." So the N. S. Assembly said in 1861.† Yet, as he is "to preserve the records," he should be under the control of the court.

Who is the Clerk of Session ?

Any one chosen by the Session. Generally, he is a member of the Session. It is his duty to make a true record, which must be approved at the next meeting, to take

* Presbyterian Records, pp. 9, 48, 234, 291, 437.
† Presbyterian Digest, p. 461; New Digest, p. 176.

charge of the books and papers, to give certified copies of portions when properly requested (by order of Session), to issue citations, to present the minutes to the Presbytery for its review, to keep the sessional registers and the records of congregational meetings called by the Session.* Who is the Clerk of Presbytery?

One chosen by the Presbytery, and generally a member. His duties are to keep the record, which must be submitted to the Synod for review every year, together with a full report of changes and a narrative of the state of religion. A similar report and narrative must also be sent to each General Assembly.†

What is a Stated Clerk ?

In the Presbytery, the Synod and the General Assembly it has been found that the Clerk needs assistance, especially during the meetings of those judicatories. The Clerk is called the Stated Clerk, to distinguish him from those appointed to help him. At first, the Clerk was able to perform the whole duty required, but after the union of the two Synods of New York and Philadelphia his work so increased that in 1763 he was granted an assistant. They were called the Clerk and his Assistant. At the organization of the Assembly the title "Stated Clerk" appears in describing the Clerk of that body, and the Clerk of Presbytery, of Synod and of the General Assembly have since been called the Stated Clerk of those judicatories.§ His salary was in 1870 fixed at $400 per annum. In addition to the duties described above, the Assembly in 1801 added that of notifying the Presbyteries if their commissioners neglected their duties, were inattentive to the rules of decorum or left the Assembly † See p. 235. New Digest, p. 174.

* See pp. 171-176.

Presbyterian Records, p. 322.