Art. IX. THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. THE General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America met in Farwell Hall, Chicago, Ill., on the 17th of May, 1877. It was organized by the election of the Rev. James Eells, D.D., of Oakland, California, as Moderator, whose prompt and wise rulings, firm and courteous bearing, greatly facilitated the dispatch of business and promoted the order of the body. The time required for the judicious selection of committees and preparation of business is represented to have left the body with little to do the first three days of the session. The evils of such a state of things are so many and obvious that none will dispute the importance of devising a remedy. For this we have not far to seek. It can be had in two ways: I. Arrangements may be made for proceeding forthwith with the reports from the boards of the church, although these must usually go to their appropriate committees, whose reports must come in, before the Assembly becomes ready finally to dispose of the questions that may arise. Still, we think arrangements might be made by which all matters pertaining to them, not involving debatable questions of policy, might be at once disposed of, such as hearing the reports, with the general statements and speeches of the secretaries and others. 2. Another way of occupying the first days of the meeting is to hear, discuss and dispose of reports of committees appointed by previous Assemblies to report to the next. There are always some such reports to be made, often on important subjects. In the Assembly at St. Louis, in 1874, the majority and minority reports of a committee on the consolidation of the boards were made at the very beginning of the session, and the time of the Assembly from the very first was fully occupied with the discussion and disposal of this subject, when not occupied with other matters. Thus full justice was done to this great question of that session, while other matters received their usual, but, in too many cases, inadequate attention; we say inadequate, because some crude deliverances, abstract and concrete, were hastily rushed through the body near its close. Many such would die before coming to their birth, if they could be properly dis cussed. Fortunately most of these lie dead upon the records, and are never heard of afterward. But some live to cause a sad amount of needless irritation and discord. We shall proceed to notice a few of the topics which engaged the attention of the Assembly. REDUCED REPRESENTATION. Both overtures sent down by the previous Assembly to the Presbyteries, for such a change in the basis of representation as will sufficiently reduce the size of the Assembly, were rejected by decisive majorities. This result disappointed no one. The report of the committee appointed by the last Assembly on the subject was also presented. Although this virtually advised acquiescence in the present basis for a time, with an enlargement of the minimum number of ministers requisite to institute a Presbytery, in order to mitigate the growing inequality in the basis of representation, and slightly check the increase of the Assembly, yet the sense of the evils of the present system is too keen and wide-spread to admit of any quietus not provided in their removal or abatement. It was forced upon the Assembly by the utter absence of invitations from any place for the next Assembly. No place wanted, or felt itself equal to, the task of entertaining so vast a body for two weeks. It has been quite a fashion to decry reference to the burden upon hospitality as a petty thing, very unworthy to come into the argument on this subject. This will do for romance and sentiment; and if these were the only elements in the case, it might safely be ignored. But excessive demands upon hospitality have their own way of compelling consideration. When no place can be found willing to undertake the burthen, it being too grievous to be borne, then it will have weight in the argument and policy adopted. The case of the annual conventions of the American Board, so often alleged for the purpose of showing that the entertainment of vast numbers of people may be easily accomplished, is not parallel. That is a meeting for only two or three days. it extend itself for a fortnight, and how many places would be found to welcome the convocation? The churches in the cities in which the Assembly has met since the reunion have, after exhausting the possibilities of private hospitality, been put to an expense of thousands of dollars for the enter Let tainment of the body. What conceivable justice is there in the whole church imposing such an assessment on the Presbyterians of a single city? The subject, therefore, has not been and cannot be laid to rest. The Assembly referred the whole subject to a new committee, of which Dr. Van Dyke was Chairman. They renewed the recommendation of Synodical representation on the basis of two delegates, one Minister and one Elder for every fifty ministers or fractions thereof. The result was that after recommitment and amendment, following the most searching discussion, it was agreed by a nearly unanimous vote to send down the following alternative overtures to the Presbyteries: Shall Chap. XII, Sec. 2, of the Form of Government, be so amended as to read: "The General Assembly shall consist of an equal delegation of Bishops and Elders from each Synod in the following proportions, viz. Each Synod consisting of not more than fifty ministers shall send one minister and one elder; and each Synod consisting of more than fifty ministers shall send two ministers and two elders; and in the like proportion for any fifty ministers in any Synod; and these delegates so appointed shall be styled Commissioners to the General Assembly. "The Commissioners shall be chosen by the Synod with due regard to the rights of its Presbyteries. If the Synod send three or more ministers or three or more Elders to the General Assembly, not more than one-third of its Commissioners, and if it send two ministers and two elders, not more than one-half of its Commissioners, in any year, shall be taken from the Presbytery, and in a series of years equal to the number of Presbyteries in any Synod. At each stated meeting of the Synod it shall be determined and announced which of the Presbyteries composing it are entitled to furnish Commissioners to the General Assembly to be held next to the one ensuing, and to how many Commissioners, ministers, or elders, or both, such Presbyteries are respectively entitled. And prior to each election of Commissioners by the Synod, the list of the Presbyteries entitled to furnish Commissioners at that time shall be read, and each such Presbytery shall be called on to nominate, through its representative or representatives, who shall have been designated by it for the purpose, as many Commissioners as it is entitled to furnish, and an equal number of alternates. If such nominations are not made, the Synod shall, nevertheless, proceed with the election; every Presbytery shall be represented by at least one minister and one elder." Also, shall Chap. XXII., Sec. 1, be so amended as to read: "The Commissioners to the General Assembly shall always be appointed by the Synod from which they came at the meeting next preceding the meeting of the General Assembly, and as much as possible to prevent all failure in the representation of the Synods arising from unforeseen accidents to those first appointed, it may be expedient for each Synod to appoint an alternate to each Commissioner to supply his place in case of his necessary absence"? And in Art. II. shall the word "Presbytery," wherever it occurs, be changed to "Synod"? Your Committee recommend that the foregoing overture be transmitted by the Assembly to the Presbyteries for their action. Your Committee also recommend that the following alternative overture be transmitted to the Presbyteries: Shall Chap. XII., Sec. 2, of the Form of Government be amended so as to read: "The General Assembly shall consist of an equal delegation of Bishops and elders from each Presbytery in the following proportion, viz. Each Presbytery consisting of not more than forty ministers actually engaged in ministerial work as pastors, co-pastors, pastorselect, stated supplies, evangelists, missionaries, professors in theological seminaries, or those assigned to the work of the Church by the General Assembly, shall send one minister and one elder; each Presbytery consisting of more than forty and less than eighty ministers, employed as above specified, shall send two ministers and two elders; each Presbytery consisting of more than eighty and less than 120 ministers, employed as above specified, shall send three ministers and three elders in like proportion for each additional forty ministers actually engaged in ministerial work; and these delegates so appointed shall be styled Commissioners to the General Assembly"? It was also ordered that meanwhile, until a decided reduction of the Assembly can be accomplished, an assessment be made upon the churches of two cents per member, in addition to that now made for the mileage fund, to be paid to the Committee on Entertainment for each Assembly, so as to aid them in making provision for it. This is simply just. It lays upon the whole church, and not the Presbyterians of some single city, the burden of paying for that portion of the entertainment of Assemblies to which private hospitality is inadequate. In regard to the overtures themselves, it is not unlikely that one will defeat the other. But together they voice and evince the almost unanimous judgment of our church that the As sembly ought to be reduced, and its readiness to work at the problem till some satisfactory solution is reached. In regard to the comparative merits of these overtures we have only to say that the Synodical method affords the easy and natural basis for a reduction of representation, which can be carried to any extent as the future growth of our church may require, and always preserve the nearest possible approach to a substantial equality of representation of the different portions of the church. We see no conceivable objection to it on principle. The Book, chap. xi:' 1., defines the Synod thus: "As the Presbytery is a convention of the Bishops and Elders within a certain district, so a Synod is a convention of the bishops and elders within a larger district." It is only a larger Presbytery. But for reasons so well understood that they need not here be specified, there is a widely prevalent and deeply-rooted aversion to taking the power of election out of the hands of the Presbyteries. We and, so far as we know, all the advocates of reduction are desirous of still conserving this Presbyterial privilege so far as is possible without sacrificing other essential principles. Although we have favored the two previous overtures in favor of Synodical representation, yet in the failure of these we ourselves have also in committee recommended one much less to our taste, in the hope it might prove more acceptable. It counted as the basis mainly pastors and missionaries, and retained the present number, 24, as the unitary basis of representation of Presbyteries by one pastor and elder. It was rejected summarily, to say nothing more. The same has been true of every attempt at thorough reduction thus far made, by retaining Presbyterial and evading Synodical representation. In the overture now made for Synodical representation, provision is made to secure to each Presbytery of the Synod the nomination of its due proportion of delegates, in the hope of thus meeting the demand for Presbyterial, while adopting the method of Synodical representation. It remains to be seen whether it will be accepted and ratified as an adequate concession to that demand. The alternative overture still retains the representation exclusively by Presbyteries. It makes 40 the unitary basis instead of 50, the number adopted in the overture of last year, which was objected to by an overwhelming majority. It |