THE WARRANT, NATURE, AND DUTIES, OF THE OFFICE OF THE RULING ELDER, IN THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. BY SAMUEL MILLER, D.D. PROFESSOR OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY AND CHURCH GOVERNMENT IN THE WITH AN INTRODUCTORY ESSAY, BY THE MDCCCXXXV. GLASGOW: JOHN REID & CO. EDINBURGH:-OLIVER & BOYD. LONDON: WHITTAKER AND CO. DUBLIN: JOHN ROBERTSON AND CO. ΤΟ THE MINISTERS AND ELDERS OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES. REVEREND AND RESPECTED BRETHREN, THE substance of the following Essay was delivered from the pulpit, in the form of a sermon, more than twenty years ago, and subsequently published. In consequence of repeated solicitation from some individuals of your number, I have thought proper to alter its form, to enlarge its limits, and to adapt it, according to my best judgment, to more general utility. It has long appeared to me, that a more ample discussion of this subject than I have hitherto seen, is really needed. And if the present volume should be considered as, in any tolerable degree, answering the desired purpose, I shall feel myself richly rewarded for the labour which has attended its preparation. |