Presbyterian Constitution: For The Signal Of Liberty

Mrssrs. Editors: - PerniU onc of your reners=, to ask Rév Mr. West, whose letter of Jify 17tli yöu hnve recernly pnblished, if lie wil] be so kind as lo give the 'chapïer and verse where the Constitn!ion of the Presbvterian Churci, r,quires a Scssion or Presbylery lo receive to ts communion and fellowsliip q mernber coming froui a sister Ses.sion or Piesbyten' wtth ''clean certiricates." As yet tliere ís no proof in any thing he lias s.iid in that letter, that those Presbyteries and Se.ssions w'hich refuse to admit io their pnlpits and communions slavoholder?, th'ough they liayn "clean certifícate?," have oced "dirrclly in ?h face of the practice of the constitutiun of the chtirch." There are those in the Presbyterian church wbo believe that Sessions and Presbyterios have a riglit to exánime persons applyinj for admission to üwsa bodies, bpth in reference to doctrine and practice, noMvithstandin they iomo with "clean certiricates" from eister bodies; and if the examination is to have no nfluence upon the question of their reception, ill it amounts to, is a mere farce. If we mistnke nor, Jlr. West liimsdf has not alwnys believed that Presbyteries and Sesstons must "receive ministers and mrnbers :omir.g from other parts of the church," j :èüse they have "clean certiricates."Ifour recollectioi) t-crves u.=,he has been beard to contend very etrenuously, on the floor of h's own Presbytery, for tlie nght of scssions and Presbyteries to examine persons coming from oiher sessions and Presbyteriea with "clean certificatcs." Suppnse, thcn, they exercise the right, ond ns a consequeuce tay to a slaveholder, "we cannnt receive yoti tri onr pulpit or comtnunion, lü! you repent of slaveholdiug?" VVhat then becomes of Mr. YVests position, that ecclesiasticol bodies thus octing, viólate the constitulion of the churcii? 'Consisfency is n jewel'" - and I doubt not that Mr. West nlways iniend to wonr il in h is crown . But il is honestly believed that hehas taken ground in his Mier, not only un lennble, but inconsistent wit Ji his fonner portions. Wil! he have the {rooflness to furnish some proof from the constituí ion of the Presbyterian church. that lie 13 correct in what hesays about the obligation of Preeby teries and Sessions to receive persons cominc frorn oilier Presbyteries o(id Sessions witii ''clcnr certificóles'' on 6ucli cerlificates: or su y that herctofore he has taken wrong ground.