The Historical Development of the Book of Church Order

Chapter 49 : The Ordering of Public Worship

Paragraph 2 :

49-2. Let the people assemble at the appointed time, that all being present at the beginning they may unite with one heart in all the parts of public worship. Let none unnecessarily depart until after the blessing be pronounced.

DIGEST: The substance of paragraph 49-2, with minor differences primarily of punctuation, dates to at least 1786, as part of the second draft of the PCUSA Constitution. The phrase "be careful" was deleted from this paragraph in _____.

BACKGROUND AND COMPARISON :
PCA 1973, Adopted text, DfW 2-1 [M1GA, Appendix, p. 155]
Continuing Presbyterian Church 1973, Proposed text,
PCUS 1933, DfW II-1
Let the people be careful to assemble at the appointed time, that all being present at the beginning they may unite with one heart in all the parts of public worship, and let none unnecessarily depart until after the blessing be pronounced.

PCUS 1925, DfW, I-5
and
PCUS 1894, II
Let the people be careful to assemble at the appointed time; that, being all present at the beginning, they may unite, with one heart, in all the parts of public worship; and let none unnecessarily depart till after the blessing be pronounced.

PCUSA 1789, DfW, I-5
Let the people be careful to assemble at the appointed time; that, being all present at the beginning, they may unite, with one heart, in all the parts of public worship : and let none necessarily depart, till after the blessing be pronounced.

PCUSA 1786, DfW, 2d Draught
Let the people be careful to assemble at the appointed time, that, being all present at the beginning, they may unite, with one heart, in all the parts of public worship : and let none necessarily depart, till after the blessing be pronounced.