The Historical Development of the Book of Church Order

Chapter 14 : The General Assembly

Paragraph 8 : On Final Adjournment

14-8. The whole business of the Assembly being finished, and the vote taken for final adjournment, the moderator shall say from the chair:
By virtue of the authority delegated to me by the Church, I do now declare that the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America is adjourned, to convene at ______________ on the _________day of ________________A.D.
After which he shall pray and return thanks, and pronounce, or cause to be pronounced, on those present, the apostolic benediction.

[DIGEST: The present PCA text is in substance unchanged from that of the PCUS 1867 draft. The denominational designation is of course changed, and there have been minor diferences of capitalization and spelling.]

BACKGROUND & COMPARISON:
PCA 1973, 15-7, Adopted text, as printed in the Minutes of General Assembly, p. 136
The whole business of the Assembly being finished, and the vote taken for final adjournment, the Moderator shall say from the chair:
"By virtue of the authority delegated to me by the Church, I do now declare that the General Assembly of the National Presbyterian Church is adjourned, to convene at ________________on the ________________day of ____________A.D.," after which he shall pray and return thanks, and pronounce, or cause to be pronounced, on those present, the apostolic benediction.

Continuing Presbyterian Church 1973, Proposed text, p. 19
The whole business of the Assembly being finished, and the vote taken for final adjournment, the Moderator shall say from the chair:
"By virtue of the authority delegated to me by the Church, I do now declare that the General Assembly of the ____________________
is adjourned, to convene at ________________on the ________________day of ____________A.D.," after which he shall pray and return thanks, and pronounce, or cause to be pronounced, on those present, the apostolic benediction.

PCUS 1879, V-6-6
The whole business of the Assembly being finished, and the vote taken for dissolving the present Assembly, the Moderator shall say from the chair: "By virtue of the authority delegated to me by the Church, let this General Assembly be dissolved, and I do hereby dissolve it, and require another General Assembly, chosen in the same manner, to meet at ________________on the ______________day of ____________A.D. ;" after which he shall pray and return thanks, and pronounce on those present the apostolic benediction.

PCUS 1869 draft, V-6-7
The whole business of the Assembly being finished, and the vote taken for dissolving the present Assembly, the Moderator shall say from the chair: “By virtue of the authority delegated to me by the Church, let this General Assembly be dissolved, and I do hereby dissolve it, and require another General Assembly chosen in the same manner, to meet at ________________on the _______________day of ____________A. D. ;” after which, he shall pray and return thanks, and pronounce on those present the apostolic benediction.

PCUS 1867 draft, V-6-7
The whole business of the assembly being finished, and the vote taken for dissolving the present assembly, the moderator shall say from the chair—“By virtue of the authority delegated to me by the church, let this general assembly be dissolved, and I do hereby dissolve it, and require another general assembly chosen in the same manner, to meet at ________________, on the ______________day of ___________, A. D. ;” after which, he shall pray and return thanks, and pronounce on those present the apostolic benediction.

COMMENTARY:
F.P. Ramsay, Exposition of the Book of Church Order (1898, p. ), on :
91.--VI. The whole business of the Assembly being finished, and the vote taken for dissolving the present Assembly, the Moderator shall say from the chair: "By virtue of the authority delegated to me by the Church, let this General Assembly be dissolved, and I do hereby dissolve it, and require another General Assembly, chosen in the same manner, to meet at ________________on the ______________day of ____________A.D. ;" after which he shall pray and return thanks, and pronounce on those present the apostolic benediction.
For convening special meetings of the Assembly or of a Synod see paragraph 55 [= PCA 10.3, second paragraph]. The same Assembly, once dissolved, cannot be reconvened.