18. If the previous question be decided in the affirmative, the main question shall be immediately put without debate; if in the negative, the debate may proceed. 19. A question shall not be again called up, or reconsidered at the same sessions of the judicatory at which it has been decided, unless by the consent of two-thirds of the members who were present at the decision; and, unless the motion to reconsider be made and seconded by persons who voted with the majority. 20. A subject which has been indefinitely postponed, either by the operation of the previous question, or by a direct motion for indefinite postponement, shall not be again called up during the same sessions of the judicatory, unless by the consent of three-fourths of the members who were present at the decision. 21. Every member, when speaking, shall address himself to the moderator, and shall treat his fellow members, and especially the moderator, with decorum and respect. 22. Without express permission, no member of a judicatory, while business is going on, shall engage in private conversation; nor shall members address one another, nor any person present, but through the moderator. 23. No speaker shall be interrupted, unless he be out of order, or for the purpose of correcting mistakes or misrepresentations. 24. It is indispensable that members.of ec clesiastical judicatories maintain great gravity and dignity while judicially convened; that they attend closely, in their speeches, to the subject under consideration, and avoid prolix and desultory harangues: and when they deviate from the subject, it is the privilege of any member, and the duty of the moderator, to call them to order. 25. No member, in the course of debate, shall be allowed to indulge in personal reflections. 26. If more than one member rise to speak at the same time, the member who is most distant from the moderator's chair shall speak first. 27. When more than three members of the judicatory shall be standing at the same time, the moderator shall require all to take their seats, the person only excepted who may be speaking. 28. If any member act, in any respect, in a disorderly manner, it shall be the privilege of any member, and the duty of the moderator, to call him to order. 29. If any member consider himself as aggrieved by a decision of the moderator, it shall be his privilege to appeal to the judicatory; and the question on such appeal shall be taken without debate. 30. Members ought not, without weighty reasons, to decline voting, as this practice might leave the decision of very interesting questions to a small proportion of the judicatory. Silent members, unless excused from voting, must be considered as acquiescing with the majority. 31. It is the duty of the moderator to appoint all committees, except in those cases in which the judicatory shall decide otherwise. 32. The person first named on any committee, shall be considered as the chairman thereof, whose duty it shall be to convene the committee; and, in case of his absence, or inability to act, the second named member shall take his place, and perform his duties. 33. When various motions are made with respect to the filling of blanks with particular numbers or times, the question shall always be first taken on the highest number, and the longest time. 34. When the moderator has commenced taking the vote, no further debate or remark shall be admitted, unless there has evidently been a mistake; in which case, the mistake shall be rectified, and the moderator shall recommence taking the vote. 35. When a vote is taken by ballot in any judicatory, the moderator shall vote with the other members; but he shall not vote in any other case, unless the judicatory be equally divided; when, if he do not choose to vote, the question shall be lost. 36. The yeas and nays on any question shall not be recorded, unless it be required by one-third of the members present. 37. All judicatories have a right to sit in private, on business which, in their judgment, ought not to be matter of public speculation. 38. Besides the right to sit judicially in private, whenever they think it right to do so, all judicatories have a right to hold what are com monly called "interlocutory meetings," or a sort of committees of the whole judicatory, in which members may freely converse together without the formalities which are usually necessary in judicial proceedings. 39. Whenever a judicatory is about to sit in a judicial capacity, it shall be the duty of the moderator, solemnly to announce from the chair, that the body is about to pass to the consideration of the business assigned for trial; and to enjoin on the members to recollect and regard their high character, as judges of a court of Jesus Christ, and the solemn duty in which they are about to act. 40. In all process before a judicatory, where there is an accuser, or prosecutor, it is expedient that there be a committee of the judicatory appointed, (provided the number of members be sufficient to admit of it without inconvenience) who shall be called the Judicial Committee; and whose duty it shall be, to digest and arrange all the papers, and to prescribe, under the direction of the judicatory, the whole order of the proceedings. The members of this committee shall be entitled, notwithstanding their performance of this duty, to sit and vote in the cause, as members of the judicatory. 41. But in cases of process on the ground of general rumour, where there is, of course, no particular accuser, there may be a committee appointed, (if convenient) who shall be called the Committee of Prosecution, and who shall conduct the whole cause on the part of the prosecution. The members of this committee shall not be permitted to sit in judgment in the case. 42. No member shall retire from any judi- 43. The moderator of every judicatory, above |