Excerpt from Extracts From the Minutes of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America: A. D. 1804 Leaving. Then, the Conressrou of Farm and Carnenrsrvrs of our Church untouched; your committee took into confideration the Form of Government, dire&o1y for worlhip and forms of pro' cess. Thefe (as has already been hinted) were confidered as (land ing on other ground than our creeds. The word of god in regard to thefe, rs much lefs fpecific and particular, than in articles offaith. Many things in this part ofa church organization, are, and mull be, left to chliliian prudence, and modified by the peculiar circum fiances of religious focieties, guided by the general lights which the fcripture holds forth. -here churches in one country, may, and perhaps ought to differ from thofe of another. We have already differed very confidoerably from the church of Scotland from which we derived our origin. And as it is difficult, perhaps impollible, for any man, or body ofrnen to anticipate all the circumllances or cafes which may turn up in practice, under a general rule or law, which is framed to provide for them, experience will point out fome errors and many deficiencies; and thus may fuggeli many real amend ments Amendments too, not liable to the mofl material objee'tions that have been flared in the former cafe ()n this part of our ecclefiafiical polity then, the work in fome meafur e of ozr own bands, the committee have ventured to propofe a confiderable num ber of amendments; remarking, however, and begging that the te mark may be particularly regarded, that the alterations propofed, are of fuch a nature, that if the whole of them lhould be adopted; they would not alter, but only explain, render more practicable, and bring nearer to perfection, the general fyliem which has already gone into ufe. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.