ture was then prepared and submitted, of tenor following:—
Whereas many learned, eminent, and devoted Christian men in different Churches have expressed doubts as to whether marriage with the Sister of a deceased wife be prohibited by Holy Scripture:
And whereas it appears to the undersigned questionable whether the passages adduced in the Confession of Faith do prove the unlawfulness of such marriages:
Whereas, further, the practice of this Church in dealing with persons so married has been to excommunicate them, and the undersigned entertain doubts as to this manner of dealing by the Church being defensible on Scriptural grounds:
Therefore it is humbly overtured to the Rev. the Synod, &c., that the portion of our standards, to wit: the 4th section of the 24th chapter of the Confession of Faith, which implicitly teaches the unscriptural character of such marriages, be carefully reconsidered, and such relief be afforded to parties concerned as the Synod may deem to be conformable to the word of God.
W. T. McMullen, John Jennings,
John Laing, W. Ormiston,
D. Waters, J. M. Gibson,
D. Wardrope, Robert Wallace,
A. Young, William Cochrane,
D. H. McVicar, John MacColl,
R. Edmondson, Wm. Moore,
Thos. Wardrope,
Montreal, June 10, 1868.
After full discussion, the Synod resolved "That the prayer of the overture be not granted, but that the Synod affirm its continued adherence to the declaration of the Westminster Confession on the subject of the overture." This motion was carried over a proposal "to remit to Presbyteries to consider the subject and report to next meeting of Synod, as to whether the law of the Church should not be so altered as that the Church Courts may be relieved of the responsibility of
