The Eldership of the Church of Scotland - The Divine Authority of the Office, the Duties and Qualifications, Popular Mode of Appointment, Historical and Practical Views, Comprising Also a Rare Tract by Guthrie the Martyr, Etc #272545

Having recently had my attention called more particularly than usual to the Eldership in the Presbyterian Church, I found in common with friends in different quarters a great want of works on the subject, embracing in a short compass such knowledge regarding the office as seemed most desirable to diffuse at the present day. The Rev. Dr. Burns of Paisley, in his important work on Pauperism, has a chapter on the Eldership; but the book is now almost inaccessible, and the chapter is written chiefly with an eye to the Eldership, in connection with the management of the poor. The Rev. Mr. Lewis of Dundee published a valuable pamphlet on the subject a few years ago; but it is chiefly designed to stir up to the faithful discharge of the duties of the office, by contrasting the present with the past state of the Eldership in Scotland, and showing, from a particular example, what still may be done even in a large town. This is a very important view, but does not exhaust the points as to which many wish for information, especially at the present day. The Presbyterian Review, of Nov.1834 and Jan.1835, contains two admirable articles on the Eldership, understood to be written by Alexander Dunlop, Esq., advocate himself a noble specimen of an able and devoted Elder of the Church of Scotland. But the work is not generally accessible, and the views discussed chiefly regard the office as it appears in the standards of the Church, its present state, the causes of its decline, and the means of its renovation the last consisting mainly of a recommendation of the popular election of the elders by the communicants of the church.