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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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708 History bf the Irish Pxesbytefitins ,
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For a long period the Scotch col-, leges have been the usual place of resort for divinity students of the Presbyteriaa persuasion from the North of Ireland . These have principally frequented the University of Glasgow , whiph has long been distinguished for Professors of eminent abilities .
In 1770 , various regulations were adopted by the General Synod , prescribing to students of divinity a par- * ticular course of study at College , and directing that they should be reguljajrly examined by the several Presbyteries . One of the ministers was , at this time .
directed to write to the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh , to request that the Professors would be particular and circumspect in granting certificates to Irish students .
Ja 1804 , rules still more full and precise were enjoined by the Synod : aijd , in 1807 , the subject having been again brought under review , the following regulations were adopted in place of all former regulations : —
1 . That students intending to become candidates for the ministry , shall be examined and approved of by a Presbytery of this Synod , in the Greek and Latin languages , geography and English grammar .
That such students having read Virgil , Horace , Sallust and Cicero de Officiis , the Greek Testament , Homer , Xenophoii ' s Cyropaedia , may be examined in such of these books as the
Presbytery may find sufficient to satisfy them of their possessing a competent knowledge of the Greek and Latin languages . That the Presbyteries report annually to the Synod the names of the students they have examined and approved of , and shall give such students certificates pf their approbation .
2 . That it be recommended to the Presbyteries , that every student shall be examined by his Presbytery , on his return from college , each session , in the sciences he has studied , during that session .
That the intervals between the college sessions shall be spent in studying the following subjects—civil history , Jewish antiquities , ecclesiastical history , Bible criticism and divinity , as the Presbyteries may find proper to prescribe . The Presbyteries to re * quire specimens of composition , elocution and devotional exercises ,
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3 . That students be permitted t # enter on presbyterial trials , upon their studying divinity , Hebrew , and Church history , in a regular seminary of learn - ing , one session after taking a degree in arts .
4 . If any student should have com * rneuced his studies , without a particular view to the ministry , or should come from another church , and afterwards direct his attention to the
Presbyterian ministry , upon presenting himself to a Presbytery , he shall be examined , as other students are , at their entrance ; and if found qualified , he shall be placed on the same footing with students who have attended the
same number of sessions that he has done . 5 . Should any Presbytery license any young man to preach the gospel , in violation of these rules , such licence shall be deemed null and void , and the Presbytery so offending subjected to the severe censure of this Synod .
The following is a sketch of the practice of the Synod with respect to licence and ordination . A candidate for the ministry having acquitted himself in his examinations , and in delivering the necessary disana in ueiivering xne necessary
discourses , * to the satisfaction of the Presbytery , is then licensed to preach the gospel . In this act , two-thirds of the Presbytery present must concur . He is now denominated a probationer , and is under the controul and direction
of his Presbytery . When a congregation is desirous of inviting a minister or probationer on trials , two-thirds of the Presbytery regularly assembled must concur in the invitation . The candidate is then
regularly transmitted from the Presbytery to which he may belong . On being heard for the time appointed , commonly a month , the minds of the congregation are taken respecting him ; two-thirds being necessary to form a majority ; and these reckoned from the number , quality and stipend of those who vote . The minister who
takes the poll , is directed by an authentic list of voters , put into his hands ? These are—a homily , a lecture , an exegesis or common head , a presbyterial exercise and a popular discourse . Besides these , various specimens are frequently required from young men before they arc entered on trials .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1824, page 708, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2531/page/4/
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