THE CONSTITUTION OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: BEING ITS STANDARDS SUBORDINATE TO THE WORD OF GOD, VIZ. THE CONFESSION OF FAITH, THE LARGER AND SHORTER TORY FOR THE WORSHIP OF GOD AS RATIFIED AND ADOPTED BY THE SYNOD OF NEW YORK AND AS AMENDED IN THE YEARS 1805-1908 TOGETHER WITH THE CONSTITUTIONAL RULES ADOPTED IN 1893-1907, PHILADELPHIA PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION COPYRIGHT, 1888, BY THE TRUSTEES OF THE PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION REVISED EDITION, COPYRIGHT, 1896, 1897, 1899, 1902. REVISED MARCH, 1910. Cilicbyterian Board 7-11-11g. 0 7011 RR ACTS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. May 29, 1839. Resolved, That the permission heretofore granted by the Assembly to publish the Confession of Faith in contravention of the copyright, be, and the same is hereby revoked. Resolved, That the PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION is hereby directed to take the charge, oversight, and agency of printing and selling the authorized copy of the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. Resolved, That the standing committees to supervise the publication of the Constitution, within the bounds of the several Synods, be, and the same are, hereby abolished. May 31, 1886. Resolved, That the Stated and Permanent Clerks be a committee to supervise the publication of any and all editions of the Constitution hereafter issued by the Board of Publication, and also of the Rules for Judicatories. May 22, 1891. Resolved, That no change of the text of any of the several Standards of Doctrine, Government, Discipline, and Worship, included in the Constitution, shall hereafter be made except after report to the General Assembly, and due constitutional procedure. ATTESTATION. The Clerks of the General Assembly, as the Permanent Committee appointed to supervise all editions of the Constitution, having carefully examined this edition, herewith state that the text has been carefully compared with those of the editions of 1789, 1797, 1815, 1821, 1885, and 1888, the edition of 1789 being regarded as the Princeps, and also with the texts of the Amendments as they appear in the Minutes of the General Assembly. In their judgment, this edition contains what may be regarded as the authoritative text of the Constitutional Standards of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. The Proof Texts are those approved by the Assembly of 1894, and have been carefully edited. The Index has been greatly enlarged, and it is believed will prove a decided help in consulting the work. HISTORICAL SUMMARY. THE Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms were adopted, in 1729, by the General Synod of the undivided Presbyterian Church, as the "confession of their faith," excepting certain clauses relating to the civil magistrate. In 1788, the General Synod amended the Confession of Faith in Chapters xx., xxiii., and xxxi., made "a small amendment" of the Larger Catechism, and adopted the amended Confession of Faith and the Catechisms, the Form of Government, the Book of Discipline, and the Directory for Worship, "as the standard of our doctrine, government, discipline, and worship." Amendments of the Confession of Faith, since 1788, have been as follows: In 1886-87, by striking out from Chapter xxiv., Section 4, the clause forbidding marriage with a deceased wife's sister. In 1902-03, by adding Chapters xxxiv. and xxxv., and the Declaratory Statement as to Chapter iii. and Chapter x., Section 3; also by the alteration of Chapter xvi., Section 7, Chapter xxii., Section 3, and Chapter xxv., Section 6. The Book of Discipline was entirely reconstructed in 1884; and amendments and additions were made, 1894-1907. The Form of Government and the Directory for Worship have been amended and added to in various Sections between the years 1805 and 1908. The first Committee to "select and arrange the Proof Texts" was appointed by the General Assembly in 1792, and the proof texts were published in the edition of the Constitution issued in 1797. In 1888, a second Committee was appointed to revise the "Proof Texts," and to furnish proof texts for the Shorter Catechism. The work was approved by the General Assembly of 1894. The Standards were also adopted as the basis of Reunion, as follows: in 1758 by the Synods of New York and Philadelphia; in 1869 by the "Old School" and the "New School" Churches; and in 1906 by the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. 4 |