Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1880-12-22

law OF the church-chapter Y, VIIl--was
part of that specific directory for church
discipline referred to in the above section
at the very time the church was adopted,
and therefore, adherence to the rule was
and is prerequisite to attaining and re-
tanning membership in the corporation.
I Although the present Form Of Gorernmsn;
was sameuded and ratified in May, 1921,
vet the substance of VIII, chapter Y, was
part of the organic law of the church, not
oaiy as adopted by the late Synods of New
York aud Philadelphia, as far back as l1OS,
! and was most likely brought across the At
! lantic, and therefore only Ie-adopted in the
corporation Of 1921. See ANTE, pages 10
and lGg The present Form of Govern
ment OF the Presbyterian Church is divided
into three books,
LIST. OF Government,
2nd. Discipline,
/ 3rd. Directory of Worship.
! The charter expression, Directory ol
Church Discipline,'' is taken by the Master
! to have been then (lSO7) intended 10 COM
prise generally the substance Of what in
/ 1921, was divided into the above three head
/ ings. That which is now tie very first
chapter of Book |. Of Government, was first
drawn up by the Synod OF New York and
Philadelphia, and preiiNed 10 the form OF
. Go, ernmeht, as published by that body in
l1sS. In that year the Synod OF New Y orli
and Philadelphia arranged the plan on which
the Presbyterian Church is now governed.
i The Synod was divided into four Synods,
and gave place to the General Assembly as
! the Supreme body, which met for the first
time in 1857. Now this exhibits the reason
/ why the Master states that VIII of chap
/ ter y, of Book of Government is compre-
I hended within and by the expression OF
s of the charter. These early corpora
tions would scarcely have subscribed to part
and not all of the Form of Government.
| II they had, they would not have been Pres
/ byterians, and we must conclude they acted
/ consistently, else they had not been in sub
/ ordination to the PreSbyteries OF Donegal
and Huntingdon, as the record shows them
TO have been. Then how can it be argued
that the clear expression of = of the char
ter can be nulliied, rendered nugatory, by
the -- and obscure expression (as re-
lating TO the subject matter of the argument
in this connectionJ OF 3, in --, ''Tha,
the power OF the board of trustees shall ex-
tend .-' TO fixing and paying the
salary OF the minister.
But suppose the Master TO be in error, in
his construction as to what was compre-
headed by the words ''direc;ory fer church
discipline in 5 ,, aud let US move a step
further.
This charter became operative March l,
1907, seventy-three years ago. How many
of the subscribers thereto or Others who
were members of the religious society at
that time are now herel The Master can
not answer the question excepting by say
ing. that in Judging from ordinarily excep-
tioual cases OF longevity, there can be but
few. Almost all must have passed away,
and the few, if any, left be gray yheaded and
very aged men, the s.Silver cord" of whose
mortality is near unloostd. The great ma
jority OF these corporators are those who
have become attached 10 the worshipping
congregations of both churches since
1921. when the present book of church
government was adopted, aud all these
must have joined these congregations,
recognizing them as portion of the Pres
byferian Church, and by connecting them
selves Herewith contracted themselves as
constituent individuals in subordiGation 10
the constitution and rUles as contained in
that form OF gOyerument-in them hsvc
they ever since enthusiastically lived and
moved, through them procured their minis
tiers, by them have their representatives IN
Presbytery, Synod and General Assembly,
and under their provisions were the appeals
in this cause carried TO the highest Judi
caiory OF the Church. In that Constiiu-
tion or Form of Government are We TO ind
the standard by which we are to judge this
act of division, end il the Church is to be
free we can Judge it by no other. II the
state imposes Law upon it for its Internal
relations, beyond what is necessary Tor the
order aud security OF the : tate, then is it
not free. The State not having instituted
any positive law for the case, We must re-
sort 10 the law 10 which the parties have
always heretofore submitted. Before civil
authority the question is, not which party
has the majority, but which is right accord
ing 10 the Law by which the body has hith-
eY,o conserted to be governed. Eleven
States have l., sub to an analogous rule
IN both their internal sud external relations,
but especially she latter. net tha, 'hete Is
any civil authority TO control ant judo
them, but because surrounding States, and
the world, and God control them" Sutler
VS.. The Ref. Dutch Church, 6 Wright, 500
otherwise, it would be standing in the way
OF church progression, thereby directly con-
trolling ecclesiastical action. and positively
contravening the provisions of the Consti
tutions, State and Federal, prohibiting the
civil Law from exercising such jurisdiction.
The Church moves ever onward, and the
nearly nineteen centuries past have seen
changes of faith and formula, rule and prac-
tice how varied and great, only the student of
church history can know, and notwithstand-
ing charters and parliamentary enactnents,
new rules of practice and discipline adopted
by the church as a great whole, have never
been permitted TO work forfeiture of title
held in trust for the perpetuation of the
faith aud practice of the Church. SO if
this charter seeks to limit and conservcthe
government rules of practice of Prestyte-
rianism back to what they may have been
in 1907, if changed from then, then the
church is not Presbyterian, while the trust
and its uses are-the charter may stand