The Practical Church Member: being a Guide to the Principles and Practice of the Congregational Churches of New England. By John Mitchell [pp. 243-268]

Mitchell's Chutrch Mem?nber.
by the ministers and ruling elders from the several Presbyteries; but opens no door for admitting to a complete membership and vote any other description of persons. It was
deliberately deemed, therefore, that our fathers, in forming,
this plan of correspondence, had gone beyond their constitutional warrant, and that we were, of course, bound to retrace
our steps.
2. Another argument for abolishing the voting system,
was drawn from the fact before stated, viz. that all the delegates from strictly Presbyterian bodies were excluded, by
agreement, from this privilege. It was thought unsuitable
that this diversity should any longer exist, and that it was
better to place all the delegates from corresponding bodies
upon an equal footing.
3. A number of years after the formation of our articles
of correspondence with the New England Churehes~ our
own form of government was received, and in regard to some
minor points, amended. One of these amendments consisted
in taking away from our own corresponding members,
the right of voting. As the constitution of the Church had
stood before, when a member of one of our Presbyteries
happened to be-present at the session of another Presbytery,
he was, as a matter of course, invited to sit as a corresponding member; and as long as he occupied such a seat, it was
his privilege not only to take part in the debates, when he
thought proper, but also to give as effective a vote as if he
were a stated and plenary member of the Presbytery irn
which hie held this temporary seat. On the revision of our
constitution, in 1821, it was judged best, for weighty reasons,
to declare, that such corresponding members, should, thereafter, be allowed to sit and deliberate, but not to vote. In
these circumstances, was it unkind or unreasonable to withdraw from the delegates of corresponding sister Churches, a
privilege which we had deliberately thought proper towithdraw from the ministers of our own denomination when they
sat as corresponding members?
4. But one of the most conclusive reasons whieh prompted
us to wish for the abolition of the voting system, was the
great inequality of the power included in this privilege, as
enjoyed by the two parties. On the one hand, it is well
known that our General Assembly is a judicial body; that
its decisions are authoritative, and bind the Churches which
are represented by its members. On the other hand, it is
equally well known, that the general Associations of all the:
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