authority of the General Assembly at defiance. These Presbyteries are also directed to report hereon in writing to the next General Assembly. All this to the end that the whole Church may have quietness and repose. Preferred by E. P. Humphrey, D. W. Fisher, O. Beatty.

HENRY DAY offered the following:

WHEREAS, This General Assembly has had brought to its notice a certain paper called a "Declaration and Testimony," which it is alleged was adopted by Louisville Presbytery, September 2, 1865, and which imports to be signed by ministers and ruling elders belonging to other Presbyteries; and, WHEREAS, in the judgment of this General Assembly the said paper is a most flagrant and unwarranted attack on the dignity and authority of the General Assembly, derogatory to its character, tending to bring odium and disrepute on the highest judicatory of the Church, and to increase agitation and alienation in the bosom of the Church, schismatical in effect, contumacious in spirit, unjust and untrue in its statements; now, therefore, this General Assembly, in defence of its authority, in the exercise of its high prerogative to suppress schismatical contentions and disputations, reproving, warning, and bearing testimony against error in doctrine and immorality in practice, and in the fulfillment of its sacred duty to secure the union, peace, and mutual confidence of all our churches, does

Resolve, 1. That this General Assembly considers the alleged action of the Louisvile Presbytery, and of the ministers and ruling elders who have signed, published, and disseminated the said paper called the "Declaration and Testimony," as worthy of the gravest censure of this body, and as an offence against the authority, peace and harmony of the Church, and as a sin against the Lord Jesus Christ, the great Head of the Church.

2. That the Synod of Kentucky is hereby required, at its next meeting, to proceed in an orderly manner to try the Louisville Presbytery for the said alleged offence of adopting, publishing and disseminating the said "Declaration and Testimony," and that they, by their records at the next General Assembly, do show what it has done in the premises.

3. That this Assembly does hereby require and enjoin on the said Louisville Presbytery to reconsider its action in adopting said "Declaration and Testimony," to cease from disseminating the same, and from all agitations and contentions which tend to disturb the peace and harmony of the Church, and to submit themselves to the lawful authority of the Church of Christ as exercised by the General Assembly; and that by their commissioners they report their action in the premises to the next General Assembly.

4. That each and all the Presbyteries with whom any of the subscribers to said Declaration and Testimony are connected, are hereby required at their next meeting to proceed against such subscribers, and try them for said alleged acts in signing and giving publicity to said document; and if it is found that they have been guilty of offence in so doing, that each of said Presbyteries respectively do censure their conduct, and require such members to confess their error and to cease from their agitations; and such Presbyteries are hereby required by their commissioners to appear at the next General Assembly and report their action in the premises, and, while such persons are under process as aforesaid, to suspend their privilege of deliberating and voting as members until the process is finally issued; and it is further ordered that the members of said Presbyteries, who have not subscribed said "Declaration and Testimony, "shall have the authority of such Presbyteries respectively, shall exercise its proper functions, and shall have charge of the Presbyterial Records and all property.

HENRY A. BOARDMAN, D.D., offered the following: The attention of the General Assembly has been called to a pamphlet, entitled "A Declaration and Testimony," purporting to have been adopted by the Presbytery of Louisville on the 2d day of September, 1865. This pamphlet contains various statements, which, if taken in their literal import, we regard as disrespectful to the General Assembly, pregnant with schism, and adapted to foster a spirit of insubordination throughout our bounds. The Assembly is unwilling to believe that the Presbytery of Louisville designs to place itself in an attitude of rebellion against the just authority which Christ has established in his Church, or that it will deliberately sanction the use of words and phrases which seem to set at defiance the higher judicatories of the Church. Willing to give the members of that Presbytery time for reflection, the Assembly contents itself, for the present, with admonishing them of their grievous error, and directing them to review their whole procedure in this matter, and to make a full report of their action in the premises to the Synod of Kentucky at its next stated session, and also to the next General Assembly.

The Synod of Kentucky is instructed to take such order in the case as may, in their judgment, best conduce to the purity and harmony of the Church and the interests of true religion. And since this case has manifestly excited much feeling, and threatens to disturb still further the peace of our communion, we exhort all concerned to cultivate a spirit of forbearance and conciliation, to merge all private and personal aims in a paramount devotion to the interests of truth and righteousness, and humbly to invoke for themselves and the churches with which they are connected the healing, reviving and sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit.

Preferred by

PHINEAS D. GURLEY, D.D., offered the following as a substitute for the report of the committee, which was adopted. It is as follows:

Resolved, 1. That this General Assembly does hereby condemn the Declaration and Testimony as a slander against the Church, schismatical in its character and aims, and its adoption by any of our church courts as an act of rebellion against the authority of the General Assembly.

Resolved, 2. That the whole subject contemplated in this report, including the report itself, be referred to the next General Assembly.

Resolved. 3. That the signers of the Declaration and Testimony, and the members of the Presbytery of Louisville who voted to adopt that paper, be summoned to appear before the next General Assembly and answer for what they have done in this matter; and that until their case is decided they shall not be permitted to sit as members of any church court higher than the session.

Resolved, 4. That if any Presbytery shall disregard this action of the General Assembly, and at any meeting shall enroll, entitle to a seat or seats in the body one or more of the persons designated in the preceding resolution and summoned to appear before the next Assembly, then that Presbytery shall ipso facto be dissolved; and its ministers and elders who adhere to this action of the Assembly are hereby authorized and directed in such cases to take charge of the Presbyterial records, to retain the name and exercise all the authority and functions of the original Presbytery, until the next meeting of the General Assembly.

Resolved, 5. That Synods, at their next stated meetings, in making up their rolls, shall be guided and governed by this action of the General Assembly.

Dr. Gurley read his reasons for offering this substitute, which were, on motion, ordered to be inserted in the Minutes of the Assembly. They are as follows:

1. Because it condemns in strong yet just and appropriate terms the Declaration and Testimony, pronouncing it a slander against the Church, schismatical in its character and aims;" which it manifestly is.

2. Because it declares the adoption of the Declaration and Testimony by any of our church courts to be an act of rebellion against the authority of the General Assembly; which it manifestly is.

3. Because it summons the signers of this Declaration, and the members of the Presbytery of Louisville who voted for its adoption, to appear and answer for their conduct before the General Assembly, the body against whom they have offended, and the only body which, in the present circumstances of the Church, can properly and without embarrassment consider and adjudicate the case.

4. Because it summons them to appear before the next Assembly, thus giving them ample time for reflection, for repentance, and for making up their reply.

5. Because, in the mean time it forbids their sitting in any church court higher than the session-an abridgment of privilege which we are bound to make in fidelity to our erring brethren and to the peace of the Church.

6. Because it saves us from even the appearance of taking action in this case, which is too summary and severe. Though we might lawfully dissolve the Presbytery of Louisville at this time, no such great or perilous exigency has arrived as makes such an extraordinary proceeding necessary, nor is it expedient. It is better for the Assembly, better for the Church, and better for all the interests in any way concerned in this case, that justice should be secured and administered in the ordinary way and by the ordinary methods.

7. I urge the adoption of this substitute, because it provides that in case any Presbytery shall disregard this action of the Assembly and permit the signers of the Declaration and Testimony, or those who voted to approve it, to sit in the body as members, that act of rebellion, according to an authoritative declaration of the Assembly, dissolves the Presbytery, and causes its powers to pass at once into the hands of those who respect the highest court of the Church, and are willing to submit to its authority.

8. Finally, in answer to the objection that the General Assembly has no right to pass beyond the lower courts and deal with individuals. I would say, our Form of Government expressly gives to the General Assembly the power of suppressing schismatical contentions and disputations ;" and this clearly implies the power of dealing directly with the persons or parties who are engaged in such contentions and disputations.

The ayes and nays were called on Dr. Gurley's substitute, and are as follows:

Anderson.D.D.,S.J.P Breck'dge,D.D.,W.L. Halliday, D.D., D. M. Smoot, R. K.

Humphrey,D.D.,E.P.
McAfee, R. L.

Spillman, J. E.
Travis, J. M.
Umsted, Justus T.

Van Dyke, D.D., H.J.
Yantis, D.D.. J. L.
Ministers, 22.

Dr. Monfort moved that it be the sense of the Assembly that the above paper take effect at the close of the sessions of this Assembly, and that the signers of the "Declaration and Testimony" continue until then to occupy their seats.

PROTEST. ISAAC D. JONES presented the following Protest, which was read and admitted to record, and on motion it was declared to be the sense of the Assembly that it required no answer:

The undersigned hereby respectfully protest against the resolutions adopted by the General Assembly upon the subject of the alleged action of the Louisville Presbytery on a paper entitled "A Declaration and Testimony," &c.

1. First, because in adopting said resolutions, the General Assembly has assumed power and jurisdiction over matters and persons not brought within their cognizance for such action according to the constitution of the Church. In our judgment, the jurisdiction of the Assembly is limited by the constitution of the Church to the matters expressly or impliedly described in the 4th and 5th sections of chapter xii. of our Form of Government; and that this jurisdiction can only be properly exercised in the mode prescribed in our Book. In the case in question it is not pretended that the matters acted upon were before the Assembly in any of the "four ways in which a cause may be carried from a lower judicatory to a higher," as laid down in the Book (in chapter vii. of Book of Discipline), unless it be claimed under sub-section five of the first section of said chapter vii. The said first section makes it the duty of every judicatory above a church session, at least once a year, to review the records of the proceedings of the judicatory next below. The fifth sub-section recites that judicatories may sometimes entirely neglect to perform their duty, by which neglect heretical opinions or corrupt practices may be allowed to gain ground, &c. "In any of which cases their records will by no means exhibit to the superior judicatory a full view of their proceedings. If, therefore, the superior judicatory be well advised, by common fame, that such neglect or irregularities have occurred on the part of the inferior judicatory, it is incumbent on them to take cognizance of the same, and to examine, deliberate, and judge in the whole matter as completely as if it had been recorded, and thus brought up by the review of the records. If, then, on examining the records of the Synod of Kentucky, no action appeared therein upon the subject of the Declaration and Testimony, and the Assembly "be well advised by common fame" of matters connected with that paper which in their judgment ought to have engaged the attention and incurred the animadversion of the Synod, what is the process required? By sub-section vi. of said first section it is provided that "when any important delinquency or grossly unconstitutional proceedings appear in the records of any judicatory, or are charged against them by common fame, the first step to be taken by the judicatory next above is to cite the judicatory alleged to have offended to appear at a specified time and place, and to show what it has done, or failed to do, in the case in question; after which the judicatory thus issuing the citation shall remit the whole matter to the delinquent judicatory, with a direction to take it up and dispose of it in a constitutional manner, or stay all further proceedings in the case, as circumstances may require. To this proceeding the Assembly is bound strictly to adhere when it proceeds on common fame. It may take "the first step," that of citation: "after which" it shall remit the whole matter to the delinquent judicatory. But in the case in question the Assembly are not at liberty to proceed on common fame. The records of the Synod of Kentucky are before them for "general review and control," and they show that the matter of the Declaration and Testimony was under consideration by them, first on a paper offered by the Rev. Dr. R. J. Breckinridge; and secondly, on the complaint of the Rev. J. P. McMillan against the action of the Louisville Presbytery in the matter of said Declaration