DIGEST OF THE ACTS AND DELIVERANCES OF THE General Assembly OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. COMPILED By the Order and Authority of the General Assembly. BY REV. WM. E. MOORE. PHILADELPHIA: PRESBYTERIAN PUBLICATION COMMITTEE. 1334 CHESTNUT STREET. NEW YORK: A. D. F. RANDOLPH, 683 BROADWAY. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1861, by WM. L. HILDEBURN, (In trust for the Presbyterian Publication Committee,) In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. C. SHERMAN & SON, PRINTERS, S. W. Cor. Seventh and Cherry Sts., Philadelphia. EDITOR'S PREFACE. It is with much satisfaction that this volume is presented to the churches by the Presbyterian Publication Committee. The need of a new, reliable, and complete DIGEST OF THE ACTS AND DELIVERANCES of the General Assembly has been long and deeply felt. To the great body, whether of our laymen or of our ministers, it has been practically an impossibility to have the decisions of the highest judicatory of the Church upon topics of the greatest interest and importance. Full files of the Minutes of the Assemblies of even a single generation are rare. The records of earlier Assemblies are far more rare. And even were they in the hands of our church officers, they would be useful for reference only at an expenditure of time that would seldom be justifiable. Hence, the want of a well-arranged and fully-indexed Digest of these Acts and Deliverances. Such a Digest the committee have now the satisfaction of publishing. For its preparation, they and the churches are indebted to the patient, laborious, and skilful services of the Rev. William E. Moore, of West Chester, Pennsylvania. The time and toil which has thus been expended by one will be saved to many. Without the obtrusion of his personal opinions, or of unauthentic documents, the compiler has, with modesty and impartiality, allowed the successive General Assemblies to declare their own views and to expound their own positions. He has rigidly adhered to the preparation of a Digest. By the aid of its full table of contents and alphabetical index, any topic discussed in the Digest will be readily found. The typography and materials of the volume, it is hoped, will not disparage the excellence of its contents. |