ELDER, an office-bearer in Presbyterian churches. The name is an exact translation of the Greek presbyte,ros, which occurs frequently in the New Testament, and from which the English word priest is derived. That the presbyteroi of the churches of the apostolic age were not priests in the special sense of that word, in which it denotes a person appointed to offer sacrifice on behalf of others, and to appear for them before God, is admitted by Protestants in general; but there remains much division of opinion as to the precise meaning of the term, and the bearing of the passages in which it occurs on the subject of church government. See BISHOP, INDEPENDENTS, and PRESBYTERIAN ISM. All are agreed, indeed, that bishops and all pastors of congregations are included among elders in the Scriptural use of the term; but the ordinary use of it is now limited to Presbyterian churches, and in them it has become the usual designation of the office bearers associated with the minister of each congregation in the care and oversight of the flock. The argument for this class of office-bearers will be found briefly stated in the article PRESBYTERIANISM. They exist in the greater number of the churches of the reformation; and even in the church of England, bishop Burnet states that their intro duction was only prevented by queen Elizabeth's dislike to a proposal, in which, with Burleigh and others of her advisers, she saw danger of an abatement of her prerogative, " since, if the concerns of religion came into popular hands, there would be a power set up distinct from hers, over which she could have no authority.• In some Protestant churches, elders are appointed only for a certain.term of office; but more generally it is until death, resignation, removal from the bounds of the congregation, or deposition.
The appointment of elders takes place variously: in the established church of Scotland, they have generally been nominated by the kirk-session (consisting of the minister and elders); in the other Presbyterian churches of Britain and America, they are elected by the congregation. In most of the churches of the continent of Europe, which have any kind of connection with the state, there is some regulation of the civil law or of the civil authorities in this matter. The ordination of elders takes place in the congregation, but usually without imposition of hands; a difference between the mode of ordination of elders and ministers for which it is not easy to account, and which has certainly tended to produce a general impression that a greater difference of office subsists than the advocates of Presbyterianism admit. In the established church of Scotland,' the elders have very generally discharged the functions of deacons (q.v.), at least as mnch as those which, according to the theory of Presbyterianism, belong to their own office; an example which, until recently, was almost universally followed in other Presbyterian churches. According to the Second Book of Discipline of the church of Scotland, it is the duty of elders to watch over the spiritilapwlfare of the people, to admonish, to visit the sick, to assist in 'the examination of petsonS seeking admission to the Lord's table, etc. Elders, along with ministers, compose all the courts or assemblies of the Presby terian churches, and have equal votes on all questions.