[Form of Gov., chap. x., sec. viii.—Digest of 1873, pp. 147, 148.]
Overture No. 19 was also submitted, which propounds the following question: Is it the duty of Presbyteries, when elders or deacons from the Methodist Episcopal Church apply to become ministers of our Church, to recognize their ordination as sufficient, or to ordain them, as in the case of other candidates? The committee recommended that this query be answered by reference to the action of the General Assembly on this subject in 1821. This action is to this effect: It is the practice of the Presbyterian Church to regard the ordination of all Protestant Churches as valid. Re-ordination is not, therefore, required; but the same qualifications are expected as are demanded of all other candidates. Adopted.
This is a very pithy paragraph, and might be made the text for a long discourse on ecclesiology. It involves the questions, What is ordination? Who has the right to ordain? What is essential to the validity of orders? When is re-ordination proper, and when is it schismatical? To answer these questions satisfactorily would require more time, logic, and research than some of our brethren seem to think the whole department of Church government calls for. We heartily agree with the decision above quoted, and wish the far-reaching principles it involves were fully comprehended. We are persuaded many would feel their Presbyterianism undergoing a most healthful expansion, as these principles exert their appropriate influence.
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