attends to various schemes of benevolence, among which are prominent, foreign and home missions, and ministerial education. Considering the comparatively short time in which this progress has been made, it appears to be highly encouraging.

AMERICAN PRESBYTERIANS.

THE word Presbyterian is often used in a wide sense as characterizing a large portion of the Protestant church, It embraces all those denominations which are opposed to prelacy. In prelatical church government and usages, a large number of sects are included. Thus, the Greek Church alone is made up of "The Greek Church proper," "The Russian Greek Church," "The Georgian and Mingrelian Churches," "The Nestorian Churches," "The Christians of St. Thomas," "The Jacobites," "The Copts," "The Abyssinians," "The Armenians," and many other minor denominations. "The Roman Church," "The English Episcopal Church," and "The American Episcopal Church," are also each of them a portion of that great family of churches included under the term Prelacy. These all agree in one great fundamental principle. They believe that ecclesiastical government is a gift from Christ to priests, and that they possess the power of transmitting this authority to their successors. They differ in respect to their acknowledged head; some of the Greek Christians acknowledging one Patriarch, and some another, and some the Roman Pontiff. Some Romanists also acknowledge the Pope, and some deny his supremacy. The English Episcopal Church acknowledge the king, or, during the

present reign, the queen, as their head; while American Episcopalians account diocesan bishops as the highest ecclesiastical officers.

Presbyterians differ from Prelatists in respect to the source of ecclesiastical authority; and are divided, perhaps, into an equal number of minor denominations. They hold that all ecclesiastical authority is derived from the church itself; that the teaching office is transmitted by a plurality of presbyters or bishops; and that the whole body of believers, either as associated, or by their representatives, participate in the government. A bishop, according to the views of Presbyterians, is the pastor of a single congregation. Sometimes, as in the church of Ephesus, mentioned Acts xx. 28, several bishops or pastors unitedly presided over the spiritual instruction of a single worshipping assembly. This general system is sometimes termed "parity," because a leading feature of it is the equal official dignity of Christian ministers. Prelacy and Parity divide the Christian world.

The Presbyterian church, in this general denomination, includes Lutherans, Dutch Reformed, Congregationalists, Baptists, Scotch, English, and American Presbyterians. Among these, the English Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and Baptists, allow the popular will in ecclesiastical matters to be expressed by the members of the church as occasion may demand; while the Dutch Reformed, Scotch, and American Presbyterians call for the exercise of popu lar liberty in the election of lay elders, as making a part of the ecclesiastical courts, and in the election and dismission of pastors, and in the entire control of the church edifices and congregational funds.

Presbyterianism acknowledges no authority, in respect to the doctrines and duties of the Christian church, but the will of God as found in the sacred Scriptures. It

maintains that God alone is Lord of the conscience, and hath left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men; and that the rights of private judgment, in all matters that respect religion, are universal and inalienable. It holds, that all ecclesiastical power is only ministerial and declarative; that is to say, that the Holy Scriptures are the only rule of faith and manners; that no church judicatory ought to pretend to make laws to bind the conscience in virtue of their own authority, and that all their decisions ought to be founded upon the word of God. Ecclesiastical discipline is purely moral and spiritual in its object, and ought not to be attended with any civil effects; hence it can derive no force whatever but from its own justice, the approbation of an impartial public, and the favor and blessing of the great Head of the church. The officers of the Presbyterian church are bishops or pastors, ruling elders, and deacons. The pastor is the spiritual teacher of the congregation. preach the gospel in the church on the Lord's day, to instruct the people by occasional lectures, to superintend the catechismal teaching of the young, and to visit the sick and bereaved, and console them by spiritual counsel adapted to their necessities. Ruling elders are elected by the people as their representatives in the ecclesiastical courts, and to co-operate with the pastor in watching over the spiritual interests of the congregation. They are designated by the Apostle Paul under the title of "governments," and as "those who rule well," in distinction from such as labor in word and doctrine. Deacons are secular officers whose duty is the care of the poor, and the reception and disbursement of the charities of the congregation.

He is expected to

The Session is the primary court of the church, and consists of the pastor and the ruling elders. The pastor is the president, and has the title of "Moderator

of the session." In this primary court originates all the legislative action of the church. If the superior courts would take any step involving new constitutional princi ples, they are obliged to send the question down to the church sessions, that they may thus know the will of the church itself, before any revolutionary measures can be adopted. The session is also charged with the duty of watching over the spiritual interests of the congregation, It can summon offenders to an account for their irregularities, or their neglect of Christian duty. It can investigate charges presented by others, and admonish, rebuke, or suspend or exclude from the Lord's table, those who are found to deserve censure, according to the degree of their criminality. It is the business of the session also to appoint a delegate of its own body to attend, with the pastor, the higher judicatories of the church. It is required of the session to keep a fair record of all its proceedings, as also a register of marriages, baptisms, persons admitted to the Lord's Supper, deaths, and other removals of church members, and to transmit these records, at stated periods, to the presbytery for their inspection.

A Presbytery consists of all the ministers, and one ruling elder from each church within a certain district. Three ministers and as many elders as may be present are necessary to constitute a quorum. The presbytery has power to receive and issue appeals from church sessions, and references brought before them in an orderly manner; to examine and license and ordain candidates for the holy ininistry; to install, remove, and judge ministers; to examine and approve or censure the records of church sessions; to resolve questions of doctrine or discipline, seriously and reasonably proposed; to condemn erroneous opinions which injure the purity or peace of the Church; to visit particular churches for the purpose of inquiring

into their state, and redressing the evils that may have arisen in them; to unite or divide congregations, at the request of the people, or to form or receive new congregations; and, in general, to perform whatever may be deemed necessary to the spiritual welfare of the churches under their care.

A Synod consists of several presbyteries united. Not less than three presbyteries are necessary to compose a synod. It is not made up of representatives from the presbyteries, as presbyteries are of representatives from the sessions. On the contrary, each member of all the presbyteries included in its bounds is a member of the synod, so that a synod is nothing different from a larger presbytery, constituted by a combination of several presbyteries into one. The synod reviews the records of presbyteries, approving or censuring their proceedings, erecting new presbyteries, uniting or dividing those which were before erected, taking a general care of the churches within its bounds, and proposing such measures to the General Assembly as may be for advantage to the whole church. The synod is a court of appeal for the presbyteries within its bounds, having the same relation to the presbyterial courts which the presbyteries have to the sessions.

The General Assembly is the highest judicatory in the Presbyterian Church. It is constituted of an equal delegation of pastors and elders from the presbyteries. In one branch of the Presbyterian Church in America, the General Assembly is an appellate court; in the other it is only an advisory council, except that it possesses power to review the proceedings of the inferior bodies, and to decide, as a supreme court, the meaning of the constitution. The General Assembly is not necessary to the most per fect development of Presbyterian Church government,