These are properly classed among devotional meetings, because the
transaction of church business should always be done in a devotional
spirit and be connected with devotional exercises.
_Hints._--1. The pastor is, _ex officio,_ the presiding officer in all
meetings of the church, and should ordinarily preside. Ruling,
presiding, is a function distinctly assigned in the New Testament to
the pastoral office (1 Thess. v. 12; 1 Tim. iii. 4, 5; Heb.
xiii. 17)--a function which would seem clearly to include that of
presiding in the assemblies of the body. He should be familiar with the
established rules of order in deliberative bodies; but in applying them
he should not make a parade of parliamentary rules nor ordinarily put
them in the form of law. An easy, quiet, prompt manner in presiding
should be carefully cultivated: it makes great difference in the
effectiveness and despatch of business and the comfort of the church.
2. Unanimity is to be earnestly sought; but when it cannot be attained
it is usual to accept the decision of the majority. The reception of
members, however, should be unanimous--certainly so far as the question
relates to Christian character; otherwise, members would enter whom a
part of the church do not fellowship. Ordinarily, objections to an
applicant may be avoided by proper care in previous inquiries
respecting him; but if made, the case should be deferred, and a
committee appointed to receive and examine the objections. If the
objections are evidently made in a wrong spirit, the church should
overrule them, and the objectors, persisting, should be put under
discipline. It is evident that the careful pastor, foreseeing such a
result, would dissuade, if possible, the applicant from presenting
himself, and thus avoid discord in the church, unless this course would
inflict injury on the candidate and cover up wrong in the church.
3. Secure, if possible, a full attendance of members, and make the
meeting thoroughly religious in its tone and spirit. The contempt into
which church disciplinary action sometimes falls is often due to the
fact that few members are present, and the moral power, therefore, of
the church is not behind their action, and that the manner, if not the
spirit, of their proceedings befits rather the secular character of a
political gathering than the seriousness and dignity of a church of
Christ. Especially should the reception, the discipline, the exclusion
of a member, or the election of a deacon or a pastor be an act of
solemnity, and, as far as possible, be done by the whole body.
+SECTION V.+