Page:The church manual (Church of the Brethren 1916).djvu/26

Rh The elders present take the voice of each member, one by one, to determine whether they are all satisfied to have him ordained, and if no serious objections are found, the ordination is proceeded with in the following order, or after the following form:

Dear brother A. B., the church having called you to the ministry of the Word, and, on trial, found you faithful in your calling, now proposes to advance you to the full ministry by ordaining you an elder, or bishop, by the laying on of hands by the presbytery. In ordaining you an elder, the church gives you all the rights and authority belonging to the ministry, such as presiding in council-meetings in which official members are tried, at home or abroad, if you are called to do so, in District or Annual Meetings; to give the charge to deacons, or ministers, and install them into their respective offices. In short, the church now invests you with all the rights and authority belonging to the eldership, you being equal with all the elders; this phrase nevertheless, in the apostolic injunction, "Ye younger, submit yourselves to the elder," still applies to you; and should you manifest an arbitrary, self-willed and domineering spirit, the church will hold you subject to her councils, and suspend you, and take from you all the authority she now gives you, and again reduce you to the laity, or even expel you from membership, if necessary.