i. The Committee on the Records of the Synod of Sandusky reported, That they had examined the same, and recommend their approval, with the following exception :

On page 49, on motion to approve records of Presbytery of Michigan, the following exception was made by members of Synod: "With the exception to so much of the record as excepts to the sessional records of the Westminster Church, Detroit, and the church in Pontiac, for the failure to close meetings with prayer.

"While the Synod regards it as eminently proper to open and close the meetings of session with prayer, yet, as the matter is left by the Form of Government at the discretion of the session; and as such meetings are sometimes held under circumstances which render the formal opening and closing with prayer inconvenient, the exercise of the discretion of the session is not properly a matter of censure by Presbytery." The exception was lost.

It is the opinion of your Committee that Synod erred in declining to sustain this exception, it being in harmony with the Form of Government of our Church.-1863, p. 48, O. S.

j. The Synod of Columbus, "except that on several occasions, if the sessions of this Synod were opened with prayer, there is no record of the fact."-1872, p. 68.

VI. It shall be the duty of the Synod to keep full and fair records of its proceedings, to submit them annually to the inspection of the General Assembly, and to report to the Assembly the number of its Presbyteries, and of the members and alterations of the Presbyteries. 1. The Records must be Full and Fair.-Reasons for Decisions must be Recorded.

a. Synod of Pittsburg, except resolution on page 74, disapproving of the proceedings of a Presbytery, without assigning the reasons.-1820, p.

728.

b. Synod of Ohio, except a minute on page 243, disapproving of a decision of a Presbytery, and ordering said Presbytery to reconsider that decision, without any reasons being assigned.-1827, p. 202.

c. Absentees must be Recorded; Judicial Cases must be Stated. The records of the Synod of Philadelphia were approved, with the following exceptions, viz.:

1st. That there is no record of absentees from the meeting.

2d. That it appears, from page 282, that an appeal and complaint was issued in the usual form, without any intimation of what the sentence or proceeding was against which the complaint was made.

3d. That it appears, from page 273, that another complaint was issued, without any record of the proceeding complained of or the body whose proceeding was the subject of complaint.-1852, p. 216, O. S.

d. Resolution must be Recorded; Nature and Reasons for Decision. The records of the Synod of Ohio were approved, with the exceptions, 1st. That on page 77 it is stated that after discussion certain resolutions were adopted, as follows. None of these resolutions appear on record, and their character is not described. 2d. In a judicial case, on its issue, the final record, containing the sentence of the court, is defective, inasmuch

as its statement gives no clue to the merits or significance of the decision, or reasons for it.-1861, p. 315, O. S.

e. Overture Answered must be Described.

The Committee on the records of the Synod of Pittsburg presented the following report, which was adopted:

The Committee on the records of the Synod of Pittsburg report, recommending their approval, with exception of a minute, page 152 of the records, where an overture from the United Presbyterian Synod of Pittsburg appears to have been answered without any description being given of it.-1865, p. 541, O. S.

f. Papers must be Preserved, Pages numbered.

The Committee on the records of the Synod of Wisconsin presented the following report, which was adopted:

The Committee on the records of the Synod of Wisconsin report, recommending their approval as far as written, with these exceptions: 1st. The pages are not numbered. 2d. There seems to have been a want of proper care in the preservation of papers, as the Committee on the Minutes of the General Assembly made a verbal report which was accepted, but the report is wanting. This thing the Synod itself condemns in the case of the Presbytery of Dane.-1865, p. 541, O. S.

g. Judicial Cases must be Described.

Synod of Cincinnati. On pp. 6 and 13 a complaint was received, referred and decided, without any statement in regard to the character of said complaint.-1865, p. 553, O. S.

h. Reasons must be Recorded.

The Committee on the Synod of Onondaga reported, recommending that they be approved as far as written, with the following exception:

On page 186 we find the Synod administering censure to the Presbytery of Cayuga for an act of discipline toward one of its churches, on the ground that the reasons for such discipline were not given according to the requirements of our Book of Discipline; yet on the next page we find said Synod reaffirming the acts of a church censured by its Presbytery, and reversing the decision of the Presbytery without giving the required reasons for such a singular proceeding.

The report was adopted.-1863, p. 277, N. S.

i. The Synod (of Illinois) have not discharged their duty. They ought to have spread upon their record everything which influenced their judg ment in the case.-1840, p. 303, O. S.

j. The Committee on the Records of the Synod of Cincinnati reported

as follows:

1. That they have examined the records, and move they be approved as far as written, with the following exceptions, that on page 36 the minute is defective in that a complaint was received, referred and decided, without any statement with regard to the subject matter of said complaint. 2. This defect in the record disables this Assembly from deciding as to the validity of the recorded reasons given for the decision of the Synod in the case on page 37.

3. This defect in the minutes is the more to be excepted against, inasmuch as i records the implied censure of the complainant, while the As

sembly is deprived of the opportunity to pass upon the case.-1866, p. 50, O. S.

See alse Book of Discipline, chap. vii., sec. i., sub. sec. iii.

2. The Records Should be Fair.

a. The records of the Synod of Northern Indiana were approved, with the exception of the mode of recording the minute of a joint session of the two Synods of Indiana and Northern Indiana, which, instead of being written, is cut from a newspaper and pasted in the book.-1868, p. 640, O. S.

b. Sundry Omissions and Irregularities Censured.

The records of the Synod of Wisconsin were approved, with the following exceptions, viz.:

1. The records are marked by several verbal omissions and the neglect of orthography and punctuation, and the absentees of 1852-1853 are not recorded.

2. During the sessions of 1852 there is no evidence that the Synod read, corrected or approved the records, though on page 16 it appears that the records of that year were read twelve months after in Synod, though still there is no evidence that they were approved by it. The minutes of 1853 do not appear to have been ever read or approved in Synod. And the records of 1854 were not read and approved till the meeting of 1855.

3. On page 23 it appears that the Synod, October 13, 1853, adjourned to meet at Neenah the second Thursday of October, 1854. A quorum having failed to meet at that time, the members present adjourned to a different time and place (Madison, October 26), and there is no evidence. that any steps were taken to cause their moderator to notify all the ministers and church sessions of the new meeting. This is contrary to the spirit of the precedents approved by the Assembly (see minutes 1796, p. 113; Baird, p. 212), and transcends the liberty allowed for such cases by the third general rule for judicatories.

4. On pages 23, 27 and 32 are recorded adjournments without any evidence that the sessions were closed with prayer.

5. On pages 35, 36, the report of a Committee of Review on the Records of the Presbytery of Dane, containing an exception against the action of the Presbytery for appointing Rev. J. W. Sterling its lay commissioner to the General Assembly, is entered on the records of Synod without any record of its adoption by Synod; and again it is stated that this report was amended by striking out the exception, and there is still no evidence of its adoption as amended. Also, on pages 39, 40, the report of a committee touching the complaints of J. Y. Smith is made a part of the records of Synod, though, so far as these records show, it was only accepted and laid on the table.

6. The records of the Synod's action on the complaints of said J. Y. Smith against the Presbytery of Dane are not complete enough to fulfill the demands of the Book of Discipline, chap. iv., sec. xxiii., which says that the record ought to "exhibit everything which had an influence on the judgment of the court." No exception is proposed against the action of Synod touching those complaints, inasmuch as they have been brought before this Assembly through another channel (the Judicial Committee) and passed upon.-1856, p. 520, O. S.

3. The Records must be Presented Annually.

a. Ordered, That the minutes of the respective Synods be laid yearly before the General Assembly, to be by them revised.—1789, p. 7.

b. Overture No. 6 was taken up, viz., a request of the Synod of Indiana, that the General Assembly be requested to dispense with synodical reports

in future.

Resolved, That this request cannot be granted because it is unconstitutional.-1830, p. 302.

c. Resolved, That the respective Synods make yearly reports to the General Assembly of all the licensures, ordinations and installments, translations and deaths, and whatever changes may take place among the members within their bounds.-1789, p. 7.

d. The Committee on Overture No. 7, viz., "a request from the Synod of Ohio to change the form of statistical reports from the Synods to the General Assembly," made the following report, which was adopted, viz.: That inasmuch as the General Assembly has required all the Presbyteries to send up their statistical reports immediately after the last stated meeting prior to the next succeeding Assembly, and as these reports anticipate the information communicated in the synodical reports about a year; therefore,

Resolved, That each Synod shall not be required to report in detail, but simply to report to the Assembly, the number of its Presbyteries, and of the members and alterations of the Presbyteries, agreeably to the sixth section of chapter eleventh on Form of Government.-1832, p. 371.

e. The Committee on the Records of the Synod of Wisconsin reported that they have been subjected to an increased amount of labor in examining the minutes of this Synod in consequence of the failure of the stated clerk to send up the records annually to the Assembly, as our rules require. The minutes of this body have not been brought under the inspection of the Assembly since May, 1860, leaving an accumulation of four years of unexamined and unapproved records.

There are indications that the stated clerk has been delinquent in punctually recording the annual minutes as taken by the temporary clerk. In this way the records were probably not in readiness to be sent to the Assembly at the proper time by the commissioners annually appointed.

With these exceptions, the Committee recommended that the records be approved as far as written, in the usual form.

The report was adopted.-1864, p. 482, N. S. [See 1856, p. 519, O. S.] f. Records of the Synod of Wabash approved, except that they have not been presented to the Assembly since 1859.-1861, p. 462, N. S.

g. Records of Synod of Columbus, except that these records have not been presented to the Assembly since the reconstruction of the Synod in 1870.-1872, p. 68.

h. Resolved, That the stated clerk be directed to remind the Synod of Alta California of its neglect of duty in the failure for several years to send its records to the General Assembly for review.-1868, p. 15, N. S.

i. The Synods of Atlantic, China, Harrisburg, Illinois South, Indiana North, Kansas and Pacific were directed, at their next regular meeting, to call their stated clerks to account for not having sent up their records to this Assembly.-1872, p. 68.

4. The Records must Show all Changes in the Presbyteries. "The records of the Synod of Albany approved as orderly and correct, excepting that the Presbyterial reports are not so fully recorded as to exhibit in detail even the changes which take place from time to time in the Presbyteries."-1811, p. 479.

5. The Record should State the Body to which a Corresponding Member belongs.

a. The proceedings of the Synod of Albany approved, with the exception of having invited several ministers to take their seats as corresponding members, without describing the ecclesiastical body to which such ministers belong.-1815, p. 578.

b The records of the Synod of Illinois approved, "except the Rev. Messrs. James H. Dickey, Dewey, Whitney and W. Comstock, ministers of the Church of Jesus Christ, being present, were invited to sit as corresponding members," the bodies to which the ministers respectively belong not being mentioned.-1840, p. 296, O. S.

c. The records of the Synod of Peoria were approved, with the exception that on page 28 mention is made of a minister being invited to sit as a corresponding member without designating the ecclesiastical body to which he belonged.-1846, p. 18, N. S.

d. The records of the Synod of Illinois, p. 440, "do not state the ecclesiastical connection of the Rev. Amasa Lord, who was invited to sit as a corresponding member."-1857, p. 387, N. S.

6. The Minutes should be Read and Approved.

a. The records of the Synod of Cincinnati approved, except "the omission at the opening of each session to read the minutes of the previous session, with no evidence in the records that the minutes were approved by Synod."-1849, p. 177, N. S.

b. Synod of Wabash, except "that on pp. 51 and 52 the Synod met and proceeded to business without reading the minutes of the previous day's session. On page 59 the Synod closed its annual sessions and adjourned without reading or approving the minutes of the clerk."-1854, p. 500,

N. S.

c. The records of the Synod of Wisconsin, except that "during the sessions of 1852 there is no evidence that the Synod read, corrected or approved the records; though on p. 16 it appears that the records of that year were read twelve months after, in Synod, though still there is no evidence that they were approved by it. The minutes of 1853 do not appear to have been ever read or approved in Synod. And the records of 1854 were not read and approved till the meeting of 1855."—1856, p. 520, O. S. d. The records of the Synod of Pennsylvania were approved, excepting "that it does not appear from the book that the records have ever been approved by the Synod."-1857, p. 387, N. S.

e. Synod of Arkansas, "the minutes were not read and approved.”1860, p. 34, O. S.

7. The Minutes should be Attested by the Stated Clerk.

a. The records of the Synod of Tennessee are not attested by the stated clerk.-1854, p. 500, N. S.

b. The records of the Synod of Kentucky not approved by the Synod, and some not attested by the stated clerk.-1854, p. 501, N. Š.

c. Synod of Wabash, "not signed by the stated clerk, as our Church order requires."—1862, p. 28, N. S.

8. Absentees must be called to Answer.

a. The Committee appointed to examine the records of the Synod of Virginia reported, and the book was approved to page 83, with the exception