COMMENTARY :
F.P. Ramsay, Exposition of the Book of Church Order (1898, p. ), on :
194.--III. If the charge be one of gross crime or heresy, and the accused persist in his contumacy, the court may proceed to inflict the highest censure.
Otherwise, one could always escape excommunication by being contumacious. The principle underlying these regulations may be stated thus : refusal to honor the court's citations or to plead at its bar--that is, refusal to recognize the court--is itself a sin against the Church and its Head so serious as to call for suspension, whether there is any other offence or not ; and that persistence in this sin raises a presumption of guilt in respect to the charge of the indictment, a presumption strong enough to require the court to act upon it when the offence charged is so grave as to require excommunication for the honor of religion. It is assumed that there can be no trial in the absence of the accused ; but the commencement of process is always preceded by inquiry that has resulted in the commencement of process.
"Amend BCO 32-6 To Clarify Provisions for Contumacy"
Whereas, the honor of Christ and His church are damaged by persons who assail the rules to flout the court; and
Whereas, BCO 32-6 is vague, in that the provisions for contumacy are never clearly "hereinafter provided;" and
Whereas, the framers of the BCO intended that contumacy should be dealt with in a timely, and expeditious manner;
Therefore, be it resolved, that the session of The Rock Presbyterian Church overtures the twenty-sixth General Assembly to change the Book of Church Order 32-6 from its present reading :
"if he appear and refuse to plead he shall be dealt with for his contumacy, as hereinafter provided."
To read instead :
"if he appear and refuse to plead, or flout the court and/or otherwise reject its authority, he shall be dealt with for his contumacy immediately."
The Committee on Constitutional Business, in its report (M27GA, pp. 229-230), noted:
Overture 15 - from North Georgia Presbytery
"Amend BCO 32-6 To Clarify Provisions for Contumacy"
Response :
It is the advice of the Committee that Overture 15 is not in conflict with any portion of the Constitution.
The Committee also noted that, contrary to the second, "whereas" of the overture, the words "hereinafter provided" in BCO 32-6 refer to provisions for dealing with contumacy rather than provisions for defining contumacy. In addition, the Committee noted that the word "flout" may not be any clearer than the word "contumacy".