No. XIX. From Rev. Francis J. Collier, of Ohio Presbytery, asking the General Assembly to decide whether it is right for a Clerk of Presbytery, in recording the licensure of a candidate, to use any other form than that prescribed in the Book.

The committee recommend that an answer be made in the affirmative; (see Form of Government, chapter xiv., section 8): "and record shall be made in the following or like form." Adopted.

No. XX. A petition and memorial of Benjamin F. Avery, D. McNaughton, and James A. Linch and Thomas J. Hackney, Ruling Elders in the Walnut Street Church, in Louisville, Ky., praying for such redress as in the wisdom of the General Assembly may seem fit and necessary to redress the grievance of said church as set forth in said memorial and petition, report that they have considered the matter referred, and recommend the adoption of the following:

WHEREAS, On the second day of January last, 1866, D. McNaughton, Benjamin F. Avery, and James A. Linch were duly elected Ruling Elders by the congregation of said church, and on the sixth day of January the said D. McNaughton was installed, and Benjamin F. Avery and James A. Linch were duly ordained and installed Ruling Elders in said church;

And WHEREAS, Louisville Presbytery, after the election of said elders, with the apparent design of discrediting said election, denied to one of this number a seat in said Presbytery, notwithstanding he had been duly elected to represent said church at a meeting of said Presbytery;

And WHEREAS, It is evident that the peace of said church and its congregational rights are in great danger unless this Assembly shall interpose its authority; therefore, this General Assembly, by virtue of its authority and obligation to give advice and instruction in all cases submitted to them, does hereby declare that the said D. McNaughton, Benjamin F. Avery, and James A. Linch are to be recognized and acknowledged as Ruling Elders in the said church, and all church courts and pastors subject to, or under the care of this Assembly, are solemnly enjoined to respect and maintain their authority as such. Adopted.

PROTEST.-Rev. Thomas A. Bracken, of West Lexington Presbytery, for himself and others, offered the following Protest against the action of the Assembly in this matter, which was admitted to record, and is as follows:

The undersigned do most respectfully and most earnestly protest against the decision of this Assembly in regard to the Walnut Street Church, under the care of the Presbytery of Louisville, for the following reasons:

1. This decision is in its nature and effect a judicial decision, made upon the report of a committee without the least regard to any of the forms of procedure laid down in the Book of Discipline, and, as appears to us, in violation of every principle and requirement of the form of government of the church. The case was not before the Assembly either upon complaint, appeal, reference, or review and control, in one or other of which ways only could it be regularly brought under their jurisdiction. The parties were never before the Assembly at all; the Presbytery could not be, because it had been previously excluded from the body. Nothing of the nature of evidence touching the matter involved was heard by the Assembly. It was, therefore, impossible for the Assembly to know whether or not the ruling elders were or were not duly elected and ordained.

2. The decision is, in our judgment, subversive of all the rights of all the lower courts and of the private members of the church. It breaks down all the safeguards of the Constitution, and lays prostrate at the feet of any casual

majority of the General Assembly the Christian immunities and liberties of Presbyteries, sessions, ministers, and people. No one can be safe under a government administered in such a manner. It must have the effect to give a license to the disorderly, and make victims of those who would endeavor to maintain the integrity of the Constitution and enforce in a regular manner the discipline of the church. It sanctions the principle that the General Assembly, mero motu, may take up a case of discipline pending before a church session, and, upon the ex parte petition of the party under trial, turn out the members of the court, put the accused in the place of the judges, and practically require the court to submit to the criminals; that when a question of privilege, and that too involving the vital question of the legality of an election and ordination to the eldership, is pending in a Presbytery, the General Assembly may interfere to decide that question without having the parties whose claims are to be determined before them, and whilst the Presbytery itself is precluded from the possibility of being heard; that when a Synod has appointed a committee to attend to business brought before it and report to Synod, before that committee have had time to report, and therefore before their action can have become of binding force, or be subject to the review of the Assembly in any constitutional manner, the Assembly may, upon the ex parte report and recommendation of an ex parte committee, declare the acts and doings of the aforesaid committee of Synod to be final and binding, even to the extent of quashing process of discipline regularly instituted, practically constituting a new session and setting aside one already existing.

3. The charge against Louisville Presbytery of having denied to one of these persons, at whose instigation this matter has been pressed upon this Assembly, a seat in said Presbytery," and "with the apparent design of discrediting" his election and ordination as a ruling elder, contains a most impious imputation upon the motives of that Presbytery, and that based upon an assertion of what we have reason to believe is contrary to fact. It appears from evidence, both printed and oral, that the Presbytery has not denied any one of these persons a seat in that body. That question is still under consideration by them upon the report of a committee to whom the whole matter was referred at the motion of the party claiming the right to a seat, and the committee was composed of members of the Presbytery named by said party. This report was prepared with due diligence and presented at the earliest possible moment; but it being impracticable for the Presbytery to continue longer in session at that time, and they having previously determined to hold an adjourned meeting, said report was laid over to that meeting, then to be fully considered and acted upon. So far, therefore, as the action of the Presbytery is to be taken as evidence of its design, it would seem to be apparent that they designed to do nothing hasty or to the prejudice of the rights, ecclesiastical or civil, of any of the parties to this case.

4. The plea of necessity under which this decision was pressed to a vote is dangerous and delusive. No necessity existed for the intervention of the Assembly in this business at this time, but such as the party urging the plea of necessity had himself created. That necessity consists, as is apparent from the paper adopted by the Assembly itself, in an anxiety to bring the decision thus obtained to bear upon and control the civil court, in a case now pending before that court, in which the said party is the plaintiff. And the Assembly have thus, both by their action and by the very terms of it, rendered it impossible to prevent the injurious impression that this venerable body has gone out of its way and set aside the fundamental laws of the Church and the essential forms of procedure, in order to reach a decision

with the express purpose of prejudicing the property rights of one of the parties in a case now under litigation. It is the Assembly, therefore, not the Presbytery, who, by their action, are imperiling the rights of the members of the congregation of the Walnut Street Church. Against the perversion of this high court of the Church to such a use we do most earnestly and solemnly protest.

The General Assembly has no power under the vague pretext of "redressing grievances," or "by virtue of its authority and obligation to give advice and instruction in all cases submitted to them," upon a mere memorial or petition, to override the constitutional prerogative of the lower courts; to confirm or reverse their decisions; to interfere with their proceedings, or to anticipate their action in matters regularly before them and in which they have primary jurisdiction.

MINISTERS.

Anderson, D.D., S.J.P.
Bracken, Thomas A.
Brookes, D.D., Jas. H.

Forman, A. P.

McAfee, R. L.

Van Dyke, D.D., H. J.
Yantis, D.D., J. L.

PRESBYTERIES.

St. Louis.

West Lexington.
St. Louis.

Upper Missouri.

Missouri.

Nassau.

Lafayette.

RULING ELDers.
Bredell, Edward
Buchanan, G. W.
Jones, Isaac D.
Marshall, Glass
Swallow, G. C.

PRESBYTERIES.
St. Louis.
Lafayette.
Lewes.

West Lexington.
Missouri.

ANSWER. John M. Krebs, D.D., of New York Presbytery, was appointed to answer the Protest, which is as follows:

In answer to the protest of Mr. Bracken and others, in the case of the Walnut Street Church of Louisville, the Assembly declare that the election of new elders in that church was ordered by Kentucky Synod on a review of the whole case upon a memorial from the congregation, and was conducted and consummated by the committee appointed by the Synod with plenary powers; all of which is established by the attested records of Kentucky Synod and of the committee appointed by that Synod, the premises meeting all the circumstances and requirements of the case.

No. XXI.-Relating to an appeal of Rev. L. R. Lockwood, of Dubuque Presbytery, presented by his counsel, Rev. James Remington, of Buffalo City Presbytery.

This appeal against Iowa Synod for not sustaining his appeal from the Presbytery of Dubuque, was dismissed by the last Assembly, on the ground that no reason accompanied the complaint, and there was no evidence that any notice of complaint was given to the Synod. Mr. Lockwood now memorializes this Assembly, and alleges that the required notice of appeal was given to the Synod, and that he was then, and still is, prevented from attending the Assembly during its last and present sessions, and he asks that his appeal may be reinstated, and referred to the next Assembly for trial.

The committee recommend that his request be granted. He further asks that the Assembly direct Dubuque Presbytery to grant him a new trial, on the ground of new testimony,

The committee recommend that this application be referred to Dubuque Presbytery, to the end that if the new testimony be found of sufficient importance to justify, that Presbytery may afford Mr. Lockwood the relief he asks. But if, in their judgment, a new trial ought not to be granted, that then the appeal shall stand for trial on the record as now existing, before the next General Assembly. Adopted.

No. XXII. To release property in Winona, Minnesota. The committee recommend that the Trustees of the General Assembly be and they are

hereby authorized to release all their interest in lot No. 3, block No. 26, in the city of Winona, in the State of Minnesota, on which is erected the church edifice now or lately occupied by the Presbyterian church in that city; provided that a deed of trust shall be executed by the proper legal parties to the said Trustees of the General Assembly, vesting in them an interest in the property on which the new edifice for the use of said church shall be erected, with the same covenants and conditions expressed in the deed by which they now hold their interest in said lot No. 3, block No. 26, in the city of Winona.

No. XXIII.-From Donegal, New Lisbon, Redstone, Southern Minnesota, and Washington Presbyteries, and from Mr. S. E. Parsons, concerning the new book of Chants, Psalms, and Hymns, with music, called "THE HYMNAL," mostly expressing opinions adverse to its adoption by the General Assembly, and some of them making valuable suggestions for its improvement. The committee make no recommendation concerning these memorials, inasmuch as the subject to which they refer has come before the Assembly in another way. Adopted.

No. XXIV.-An inquiry concerning Synodical Correspondence, from S. C. Jennings, D.D., of Ohio Presbytery, and Rev. Francis J. Collier, of Ohio Presbytery, in regard to our Form of Government, chapter xii., section 5, which says: "To the General Assembly belongs the power of corresponding with foreign Churches on such terms as may be agreed upon by the Assembly and the corresponding body," and in view of the exception taken by the Assembly to the records of Tennessee Synod in 1827, p. 134, of the Minutes, and as found recorded in full in the Assembly's Digest, p. 506-has any Synod a right to institute a correspondence by delegation with the Synod of another denomination or branch of the Church? The committee recommend as an answer to the particular question contained in the overture that no legislation is necessary on the subject. Adopted.

No. XXV.-Memorials from New Jersey and Philadelphia Synods, and from Lewes, Newton, Northumberland, Oxford, Palmyra, and Toledo Presbyteries, from a Convention of Ministers and Ruling Elders, which met in this city (St. Louis, Mo.) on the second evening previous to the meeting of this General Assembly, from Thomas L. Janeway, D.D., of New Brunswick Presbytery and Henry J. Van Dyke, D.D., of Nassau Presbytery; all having reference to the deliverances of the General Assembly for the last five years on the rebellion and slavery," and to the relations of our Church with the ministers and churches in the Southern States, formerly under the care of the General Assembly.

The committee recommend the following, which was adopted:

That the memorial of the Convention be approved and printed in the Appendix to the Minutes of the General Assembly. As the General Assembly has considered substantially the matters embraced in said memorial, and expressed by its action its judgment, it is deemed unnecessary to suggest any additional measure for rebuking the spirit of rebellion against the authorty of our highest court, in a few sections of our Church.* The dissatisfac

*The Convention which adopted the "Memorial" was suggested by the following communication, which appeared in the newspapers of the Presbyterian Church:

"To the Ministers and Ruling Elders of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. "I beseech you, brethren, to whom I have been so long subject in the Lord, to impute the free

dom I use in thus addressing you, to my great
love for that Church which is the common mo-
ther of us all. She is about to select, by her
Presbyteries, which you constitute, the commis-
sioners, from among yourselves, who will soon
constitute her next General Assembly. That
great tribunal is, for us, the supreme organized
and visible assembly of our portion of the Holy
Catholic Church; yea, however others may scoff

tion and discontent consequent upon the deliverance of the Assembly of 1865, are abating with increased knowledge of the design and propriety of