4th. That it be accompanied with strong public presumption of its truth.

SEC. 4. I admitting accusations against a Minister or Elder, the rule prescribed in 1 Tim. v. 19, shall always be observed, and accusers must come forward openly to support the charge.

SEC. 5. If Ministers of the word have committed any public gross sin, which would render their appearance in the pulpit, under such circumstances, highly offensive, it shall be the duty of the Consistory, in order to prevent scandal, to shut the door against such criminal, and refer him to be tried by the Classis as soon as possible. The proceedings of the Consistory in such cases are at their peril, and are not to be considered as a trial, but only a prudent interference and binding over the person accused to the judgment of his peers. In case of like offences by the Elders and Deacons, they shall, upon trial and conviction, immediately be removed from their office by the Consistory.

SEC. 6. The following are to be considered as the principal offences that deserve the punishment of suspension, or removal from office, viz. False Doctrine or Heresy, Public Schisms, open Blasphemy, Simony, faithless Desertion of Office, or intruding upon that of another, Perjury, Adultery, Fornication, Theft, Acts of Violence, Brawlings, Drunkenness and scandalous Traffic; in short, all such sins and gross offences as render the perpetrators infamous before the world, and which in a private member of the church would be considered as deserving excommunication.

SEC. 7. If any member of the church shall be duly convicted of an infamous crime by any civil court, he shall, ipso facto, be debarred from the exercise of the peculiar functions of any ecclesiastical office with which he may be invested, and excluded from the privileges of the church, until he shall have established his innocence, or manifested by repentance to the ecclesiastical judicatory to which he is amenable.

ARTICLE IV.

Of Process and Trial.

SEC. 1. Offences may be brought before a judi catory by individual accusation or common fame. In the former case, the process must be in the name of the accuser or accusers. In the latter, no person need be named as the accuser.

SEC. 2. In exhibiting charges, the times, place, and circumstances shall be accurately stated in writing, that the accused may be enabled the better to defend himself.

SEC. 3. Great caution is to be exercised in receiving accusations where there is good reason to believe that they are preferred through passion or improper and unchristian motive; or where the accuser is under censure, or not of good character, or has the prospect of temporal advantage.

SEC. 4. All citations shall be issued and signed by the President or Clerk, who shall also furnish citations for such witnesses as may be required on either side.

SEC. 5. A copy of the accusation shall be furnished to the accused, at the time when the citation is served; which citation shall designate the time when, and place where, the accused shall put in his answer. Not less than ten days shall be allowed to intervene between the time appointed for receiving the answer of the accused and the trial of the case, unless by consent of all parties interested.

SEC. 6. When the accused refuses to obey the citation, he shall be cited a second time, which second citation shall always be accompanied by a notice, that if he still refuse to appear, at the time and place appointed, he shall not only be liable to censure for contumacy, but that the judicatory will proceed to the trial and decision of his case as if he were present.

SEC. 7. The trial shall be impartial. The witnesses, after being sworn, or solemnly affirmed,

shall be examined in the presence of the accused, and he shall be permitted to cross-examine them.

SEC. 8. To establish an accusation against any member of the church, the testimony of more than one witness is required. The evidence shall be faithfully minuted, and with the sentence, or deci. sion, be entered on the records, and the parties shall be allowed copies of the same at their own expense, if desired."

SEC. 9. No complaints in cases of scandal shall be admitted, unless brought forward within the space of one year and four months after the crime hall be alleged to have been committed; excepting when it shall appear that unavoidable impediments prevented the bringing an accusation sooner.

SEC. 10. No professional counsel shall be permitted to appear and plead in cases of process in any of the ecclesiastical courts. But if any ac. cused person feel unable to represent and plead his own cause to advantage, he may request, or the President may appoint any Minister or Elder, belonging to the judicatory before which he appears, to prepare and conduct his cause as he may judge proper. But the Minister or Elder so engaged, shall not be allowed, after pleading the cause of the accused, to sit in judgment as a member of the judicatory.

SEC. 11. Such as obstinately reject the admonitions of the Consistory, or have been found guilty of the commission of a public or otherwise gross offence, shall be suspended from the Lord's supper, which act of suspension may be published at the discretion of the Consistory; and being suspended and repeatedly admonished without discovering marks of repentance, the church shall then proceed to the last remedy, namely, Excommunication, agreeably to the adopted form, and conformably to the word of God. But no person shall be excommunicated without the previous advice of the Classis.

SEC. 12. Before the church proceeds to excommu.

nication, the obstinacy of the offender shall be publicly notified to the congregation, declaring his offences, together with the particular care and attention bestowed on him, by admonition, suspension from the Lord's table, and by repeated remonstrances. The congregation shall also be exhorted farther to admonish the delinquent, and to pray for him. This procedure shall be comprised in three several steps. In the first instance, the name of the offender shall not be mentioned, that he may in some measure be spared. In the second, with the advice of Classis, his name shall be expressed. In the third, the congregation shall be informed, that unless he repenteth, he will be excluded from the communion of the church; so that if he remain obstinate, his excommunication may take place with their tacit approbation. The interval between these notifications shall be at the discre. tion of the Consistory.

SEC. 13. When an excommunicated person becomes penitent, and is desirous of being again reconciled to the church, such desire shall be publicly declared to the congregation, either before the administration of the Lord's supper, or at some other seasonable opportunity; that if no objections are offered, he may, on declaring his repentance, be publicly readmitted to a participation of the Lord's supper, agreeably to the form appointed for that purpose.

SEC. 14. The General Synod shall have power to make all such rules and regulations as may be necessary for carrying the foregoing articles into execution, except where provision is thereby made for that purpose.

SEC. 15. No alteration shall ever be made to the foregoing articles, but by previous recommendation from the General Synod to the respective Classes, and the consent of a majority of the same to such proposed alteration, together with the final determination and resolution of the General Synod for the time being.

APPENDIX.

No. I.

Form of a Professoral Appointment.

To the Rev.

The General Synod of the Reformed Dutch Church in North America, reposing confidence in your piety, learning, and talents, have elected you a professor in their Theological College at New Brunswick. The branches in which you are to instruct the youth committed to your charge are, with such modifications as the Synod

may hereafter direct.

in

To free you from worldly cares and avocations, while discharging the duties of your office, we promise and oblige ourselves to pay to you the sum of payments, yearly and every year, so long as you continue Professor in our Seminary as aforesaid. For the assumption of the powers, and the execution of the duties of your office in the Theological Department of the College, this is your commission, and may the Head of the Church render your labours useful and plea

To all whom it may concern, In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the great Head of the Church,

we send greeting:

Be it known, that

to the Classis of

having presented testimonials of his lite